The Ultimate Introduction to Applescript, Part 2: Scripting Concepts and Samples

Applescript, that amazing resource many Mac users ignore because they think it’s too complex. Guys, Applescript is an amazing tool to get things done automatically, though I recognize many of you just don’t want to get started because you don’t have the right motivation, or you just don’t know enough about it. I wrote a post which collected the best examples of Applescript but still, there wasn’t a real introduction.

That’s why I asked my friend Jesse from iScript Netcast to get started on a posts series about Applescript. This is the second part of the series, be sure to read the first part “The Ultimate Introduction to Applescript” if you missed it. You can also get in touch with iScript Netcast on Twitter here.

Enjoy!

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Choosy: Choosing the Right Browser for You Since 2008

Though a few months ago I wrote a huge roundup about the ultimate list of browsers for Mac which featured more than 40 of them, there are actually 4 main browers: Safari, Firefox, Opera and Chrome. The rest is either made of variations / beta versions or just shit. That said, if you’re a designer or a developer it’s very likely that you need to test the websites you’re creating under different rendering engines. But what a pain can be to manually open overtime a different link in a different browser? A huge pain.

Here’s where Choosy comes in.

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Designing Fontcase

As a part of the MacStories Apps Tree event (where you’ll find a huge giveaway worth $10.000 of 300 Mac and iPhone apps licenses), I thought it would be nice to hear the voice of Mac developers about the steps that go into desigining and developing an application for Mac OS X.

This is the first guest post by Pieter Omvlee, developer of Fontcase. Fontcase is a beautiful font manager that enables the users to manage a font library with elegance. Read my review if you missed it.

Enjoy!

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Designing a Tablet Newspaper Application

This is one of the most interesting “I would make the Apple Tablet like this” post I’ve recently stumbled upon. Kyle Baxter from TightWind shares his thoughts about what he would like to see most in the tablet: newspapers. But instead of just converting the current newspapers layouts to the tablet screen, Kyle designed two mockups which show a revamped interface for the NYT, made of a top toolbar for easy navigation and a very few UI elements. I personally don’t think the Apple Tablet will be exclusively focused on saving the press industry, I believe there will be a built-in News.app, which will actually save both the press and RSS industry.

And if there’ll be a News app, I’d like to see a similar interface.

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Billings Touch Sneak Peek

Sebastian de With of Cocoia has just posted an exclusive sneak peek of the upcoming Billings Touch for iPhone.

Here are some screenshots from his blog:

And a brief description:

“I can’t divulge much about it yet, but the app does pretty much everything I ever dreamed of having in my pocket for my on-the-go demands. I’ve even come to use its timer as a punch clock next to my computer so I can even more effortlessly pause or resume my time tracking when I go off to brew a nice cappuccino.

In short: the app syncs with your Mac database of Billings (and vice-versa, new slips and invoices you created and tick off on your iPhone get synced back to your Mac over the air), and every single nook and cranny is wonderfully designed, as I’ve come to expect from Marketcircle.

It also works great without the desktop app: as a standalone app, it’s already a very powerful set of tools to add to your workflow.”

It’s looking great.

HootSuite for iPhone: the Owl for Professional Users

So you’re really serious about Social Media. You manage your brand’s Twitter profile, you have a blog or a personal portfolio to promote, you’ve just set up a Facebook page (speaking of which, here’s MacStories Facebook page) and you need to post your updates to both these social networks. As you should probably know there are many webapps out there which claim to be the “ultimate solution for professionals” but let’s face it: there are only 2 great web applications out there, CoTweet and HootSuite. They’re meant for people who need a powerful management tool for their social identities, providing features like support for contributors on the same account (long before Twitter decided to implement it by default) and email notifications. I’ve actually tested both CoTweet and HootSuite and guys, HootSuite is far better if you need to track your business on social profiles.

Today I’ll talk about HootSuite’s recently released iPhone application, priced at $1.99, which brings many features of HootSuite.com to your mobile device, with a very good user interface.

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Caffeinated: The Next Big Thing in RSS Readers for Mac?

I wrote many times how much I’m into Ember app: it’s a great place to find inspirational stuff and work in progress screenshots of Mac and iPhone applications. So, the other day I was browsing the Images section and stumbled upon this screenie of a RSS app for Mac  I never saw before: damn, it was sexy.

I tried to gather some additional info and I found out it was a screenshot of a working build of Caffeinated, an application that’s being developed by Curtis Hard. He was so kind to give me a quick preview of Caffeinated and guys - this one’s gonna be amazing.

Find out why.

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