DEMORAY  There are countless clipboard utilities available, but ClipMenu is my current favorite for two big reasons:

1). It's FREE!

2). The features offered by ClipMenu can only be compared to the more expensive clipboard alternatives. No other free clipboard app that I've tried comes close to this.

Thanks to the developer for supporting the Mac community with this excellent utility.  
(Version 0.4.1)

DEMORAY  This game was not developed in the US. It's from an independent Czech game studio called Amanita Design.  
(Version 1.0.1)

DEMORAY  Machinarium is everything that independent games can be. I loved it!

It's a one-of-a-kind adventure/puzzle game that is visually gorgeous, mentally engaging and surprisingly funny.

The look of the game sets a unique mood right from the start. The hand-painted art depicts a decaying industrial future. If you've ever seen the movie "The City of Lost Children" you'll have an idea of what to expect visually. Lots of rusty reds and oxidized-copper greens. The art is 2-D, but the multi-layer techniques make the game a 3-D experience. (The same layering technique is used in several new adventure/puzzle games, like World of Goo and Aquaria).

You control a lovable little robot on his emotional quest through this world of broken machinery. The difficulty of the gameplay increases gradually, from fairly simple at first, to quite challenging as the game progresses. I use the word "challenging" in the best sense.

I could say so much more about this cool game, but you should really check it out for yourself. If you enjoy unique, puzzle/adventure games, you should definitely download the demo for Machinarium.  
(Version 1.0)

DEMORAY  In a previous review I gave RipIt five stars. I still use and love RipIt, as it has ripped many DVDs that other ripping apps couldn't manage. RipIt's decryption capabilities are the best I've come across for the Mac. However in recent weeks I've experienced a rather serious problem with RipIt that I've seen mentioned by others users.

The Issue:

RipIt will report a rip as being completed successfully, even when the rip is actually defective.

It's one thing for rip software to fail a rip, they all do it occasionally. It's another thing entirely for rip software to fail a rip and yet report it as successful.

In my case this problem has only occurred two times in about forty rips. Not bad odds. Yet the serious nature of this flaw means I now need to check each ripped file to make certain that it's a one-for-one copy of the original.

This issue needs to be addressed by the developers ASAP.  
(Version 1.2.12)

DEMORAY  The link on this page downloads version 3.1, not 5.0 as indicated.

However the developers site has the correct version available.  
(Version 5.0)

DEMORAY  This is a well-made piece of freeware. I'm glad it's ready for Snow Leopard now.

Too bad I can't download it because the developer's link and site are having problems.  
(Version rev405)

DEMORAY  Before Snow Leopard, I was someone who used Contextual Menus constantly. Why Apple trashed such a brilliantly simple and efficient tool is beyond me.

FolderGlance 2.5 is the first and only app, (that I've found), to bring proper Contextual Menus back to Snow Leopard.

I'm currently testing FolderGlance, and so far I like what I see.

The menus are customizable, and they allow you to do some slick things, like move and copy files right from the contextual menu.

Without purchasing a license, FolderGlance will be slightly less functional than the registered full version. For example: certain menu functions will work fine, but wont have the ability to dig infinitely deep into folder levels.

Some people might have trouble paying $20 for an app that used to be free. But for me, having Contextual Menues in Snow Leopard is definitely worth the price.  
(Version 2.5)

DEMORAY  I like DaisyDisk. It's a polished little utility with an attractive interface. But for you to state that there are no worthy alternatives is a bit disingenuous.

GrandPerspective is a free alternative that offers customizable color-coding, and uses a slightly different way to graphically display the files on your system. I actually prefer this graphic display method over the pie-chart that DaisyDisk uses.

WhatSize is a very nice shareware alternative that offers FIVE different display methods to chose from, including the pie-chart, bar-chart and table views.

Once again, DaisyDisk is a great app, but it's certainly not the only good choice.  
(Version 1.3.5)

DEMORAY  The developer's link is currently broken, even when I try to download it from their own site.

I've tried to get this app several times over the past year and every time there's been a problem with the download link.

Is it just me, or has anyone else had this problem?  
(Version 2.1.6)

DEMORAY  This is a beautiful clock screensaver that works wonderfully on Snow Leopard, (as of version 1.4).

The "Decoration dimming" option is nice, however I'm not sure I understand the purpose of the "Background dimming" option. Why would I want to fade from a deep black background to a washed-out black background?

Wouldn't it be better to keep a deep, rich black background as the default?

And mysteriously, the background color option is linked to the Type color.

Perhaps these features serve a purpose on laptops, but I'm not sure what that would be.

At any rate, thank you for supplying the Mac community with this excellent, FREE screensaver.  
(Version 1.4)

DEMORAY  To see what this screensaver looks like, just click on the developers name above.

Pretty cool clock, especially since it's free.

BUT, this does not seem to work on Snow Leopard.  
(Version 1.0)

DEMORAY  The developer really needs to provide a sceenshot.

I mean come on, it's a screensaver. The image is all this product has to offer.  
(Version 1.0)

DEMORAY  Actually ALL 64-bit PrefPanes do this "close and reopen" behavior if you are booted in 32-bit. And 32-bit PrefPanes cause this if you're booted in 64-bit. It just restarts System Preferences app in 32 or 64-bit mode. Apple designed it this way.

This will happen until ALL PrefPanes upgrade to 64-bit.

An easy workaround is to make System Preferences always boot in 32-bit mode. Simply get info on the System Preferences app, (command+I).

Then click the box to "Open in 32-bit mode". Problem solved.

Good luck.  
(Version 1.0)

DEMORAY  IconXprit is a feature-rich, contextual-menu-based icon tool. I've been quite surprised to discover the many things it can do. The more I use it, the more potential I realize it has.

Previously I'd been using several other icon apps to do what iconXprit can do on it's own.

You can tell it was designed by someone who uses icon manipulation tools. It does everything I hoped it would do, and then some.

The name iconXprit is questionable, but other than that it's a great icon tool. : )  
(Version 1.3)

DEMORAY  In addition to MenuMeters and GeekTool, MenuCracker is also used by iStat Menus.  
(Version 2.0b1)

DEMORAY  RipIt ROCKS!

I recently downloaded demos for 7 of the most popular DVD ripping apps available for the Mac, (I wont mention names), because I was having problems ripping a few recently purchased DVD movies.

In short, all apps failed to rip these particular movies except RipIt.

There were various issues and errors given by the other 6 apps, some due to limitations of the rip software, some due to my particular system, (2009 Intel iMac), and several due to copy protection on the DVDs. Nevertheless, RipIt ripped every DVD I gave it without a single problem! I will be buying this app.

If your ripping software is working for you, great, stick with it. But if you're running into problems ripping DVDs like I was, check out RipIt. It WILL RipIt, and RipIt good. [whip-crack sound]  
(Version 1.2.12)

DEMORAY  I second this comment. Great little app, wish the developer supported Tiger.  
(Version 1.10)

DEMORAY  Azureus and Transmission are the two clear leaders for Mac torrent clients. Both offer excellent torrent information and control.

But each program has one major drawback, as far as I'm concerned:

Transmission wastes much time and bandwidth downloading Failed Data. (Failed DL is data that failed the checksum test and needs to be downloaded again).

Azureus has the drawback of including the obnoxious Fuze ad-ware on it's back. Thankfully, the Fuze software can be totally disabled in the Start preferences.

To me, that makes Azureus the choice.  
(Version 3.0.5.2a)

DEMORAY  TIGER USERS

This link is for the Leopard version only, NOT the Tiger version. Yes, they are different.

Here's the link to get Safari for Tiger:

http://www.apple.com/safari/download/  
(Version 3.1.1)

DEMORAY  bollywood

Thanks for the good info.

I'll definitely give the nightly version a try.  
(Version 1.11)

DEMORAY  I really like Transmission and I WISH I could use it. It's stable, has good features, and a great price. However it has one big drawback: it wastes lots of time downloading HUGE amounts of Failed DL data, (Failed DL is data that failed it's checksum test and needs to be downloaded again). Sometimes the amount of Failed Data is larger than the amount of successful data, which means at least TWICE the download time.

I've tried every Mac Torrent client available and Transmission is the only client I've found to have this problem. I've talked to several users about this, and it looks like it might be a problem with the way Transmission handles DIAL-UP internet access. It seems to work better with broadband. But this problem occurs consistently with any file, any server, any peers, etc.

So if you use Transmission, check out how much failed data you're downloading:

Click on the "i" in the upper right corner to open the Torrent Inspector - Then click the second tab (Activity) - Look at the "Failed DL" info and see if you're wasting download time. The amount should be almost nothing.

I hope they address this issue soon so I can use this otherwise excellent app.  
(Version 1.11)

DEMORAY  I can't say enough good about this icon utility.

Developers are STILL releasing apps that attempt to do what FinderIconCM did perfectly four years go, with less than 1 MB, and for FREE!

• Want to badge your folders with their application icons?

• Want to copy and paste icons without having to open "Get Info" windows?

• Want to access your icon stock and apply your choice of icons instantly?

Do all these things as fast as you can right-click, using this brilliant Contextual Menu.

Unfortunately for us Mac users, it seems this developer has been busy with other things, so no Leopard support at this point.  
(Version 2.4)

DEMORAY  I bought this little movie tool, and each time I use it I'm glad I did.

I've got more expensive movie apps that can join movies, but I always use this one because it's so simple and efficient.

The Chapterize feature alone is worth the price.  
(Version 1.4.1)

DEMORAY  What a kick-a** little utility!

Provides everything you ever wanted to know about your Mac's graphic capabilities... and much more.

It runs great on my Tiger 10.4.11.

A bargain at twice the price.  
(Version 2.33)

DEMORAY  Error message given when starting either UB or PPC versions of PeekIt:

"incompatible cpu-subtype"  
(Version 2.6.1)

DEMORAY  Neither the UB 2.6.1 or the PPC 2.5.4 versions would even open on my Tiger 10.4.11.

It it me?  
(Version 2.6.1)

DEMORAY  I love this little puzzle game. I've got literally hundreds of puzzle games and I find myself playing this one quite often. It has always run flawlessly for me.

It's very simple to play, yet it can be quite challenging in an enjoyable way, (if you don't mind a little thinking).

It's an original concept in the puzzle genre, which is suffering from "match-three" overdose.

If you enjoy mind-bending puzzles, check this one out. IT'S FREE!

To the developer Holmes Futrell: Thanks for supporting the Mac community with this excellent free game. I hope you have some time in the future to make another set of puzzles for this great game.  
(Version 1.0.2)

DEMORAY  I love this little note-drawer app. I've tried dozens of note apps and this is the one I come back to. Plus... it's FREE.

It's as simple as Stickies, but the notes stay out of the way in a sliding drawer at the side of your screen.

One feature I would like to see is the ability to turn off automatic note saving. I prefer to choose what gets saved and when. Other than that minor issue, this has everything I want in a simple note app... and once again, it's free.  
(Version 1.7.3)

DEMORAY  SafariBlock conflicts with iGetter!

I've been trying to get SafariBlock to work for several versions now with no luck. When SafariBlock is installed in my InputManagers folder, right-clicking ALWAYS makes my Safari crash!

I finally removed the iGetter folder from the InputManagers folder, and now SafariBlock actually works.

I really hope this conflict gets fixed, because I LOVE my iGetter!  
(Version 1.3)

DEMORAY  I have the identical experience when I install SafariBlock.

When I right-click in Safari, it crashes.

When I remove SafariBlock, All's well again.

I'm using:

Safariblock 1.3

Safari 2.0.4

OSX 10.4.10

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.  
(Version 1.3)