FORMICA  Now that it's sadly no longer working, has TorrentDam been abandoned by its developer? Shame.  
(Version 2.0)

FORMICA  For some reason, Command-Q does not have any effect when I want to quit Tucan Manager, nor does Command-H when I want to hide it. Oh well.  
(Version 0.3.9)

FORMICA  What is the difference between FilmRedux and ReduxEncoder? They appear to be made by the same developer, and both are "Based on Techspansion VisulaHub." What gives?  
(Version 1.2)

FORMICA  The COOLEST app I even installed! Seriously.  
(Version 1.5.8b)

FORMICA  This is truly one of the best apps out there, and it's FREE! Thanks a bunch, Devon Tech.!  
(Version 1.9)

FORMICA  Do you think the developers realize that their screenshot above is from Tiger Cache Cleaner?

Anyway, if you don't the need antivirus protection that this app offers, then save your money and get Onyx instead. It does most of the things SLCC does, and it does them better, and it does them for FREE!  
(Version 5.0.2)

FORMICA  I love this old app, but it has a major problem, and I don't know if it's just because I'm running it on a modern Intel system using OS 10.5.8 when it was probably designed on a Lisa-II (it's nearly that old).

The problem is that unchecking the preference to "Overwrite existing files" does not stick (meaning it's not persistent after the app has been shut down), so it always starts up with that pref checked, and that means that I can't just double-click on a .rar file to start the extraction if I don't want to overwrite the original archives (which I never do). So, I always have to open up unRarX 2.2 first and uncheck that pref before selecting the file(s) to extract, adding a step that most such apps long ago made erroneous when they added double-click-the-archive-to-start functionality.

It's not that big a deal, but it is just the kind of annoyance that will make me turn my head when some other cheap, nubile young unarchiver comes on the market.  
(Version 2.2)

FORMICA  I love this app and have used it for over a year. But it just takes too darn long to open after I've double-clicked on an archived file. Unfortunately, it's a long enough delay to cost it one star in what otherwise would be a 5-star review. Also, it still occasionally has the problem that the previous version had: it runs into some problem while unarchiving, so it makes that failure sound and gives an error message, but upon further inspection, they actually unarchived fine and are problem free.  
(Version 2.8)

FORMICA  I don't understand your comment - I never said AppDelete was free, I said AppCleaner was free.  
(Version 2.2.2)

FORMICA  This version seems like a nice app, but instead of having a text field where we can drag and drop a file AND can enter the file path (a.k.a. location) of a file to compress -- which is a time consuming way to do it, it would be better to have a text field where we can drag and drop a file and a BUTTON that would bring up an open dialog to find the file to compress, OR ALL 3. Otherwise, I like it and look forward to using it.  
(Version 0.821)

FORMICA  This has to be the very best app available for doing the things it does, even if it is free. Aces.  
(Version 3.5)

FORMICA  Why would you think that? If your input file is PAL then you would check the NTSC box to convert it to that standard. If your input file is NTSC then you would check the PAL box to convert it to that standard (if you're playing it outside of the US, Canada or Japan).  
(Version 3.5)

FORMICA  Without question the best movie player available. and FREE! Try it and see.  
(Version 0.6.4)

FORMICA  For the first time in years, when I upgraded my Late-2008 Unibody 13" 2.4 GHz MacBook from OS 10.5.7 (which always had a TON of screwed-up permissions that simply would not be fixed) to 10.5.8 ALL MY PERMISSIONS PROBLEMS WERE SOLVED! No more screwed-up permissions! Yippeeeee!  
(Version 10.5.8)

FORMICA  I have never seen an app with as many updates as this one -- according to VersionTracker.com, 17 updates since January 2009! Doesn't it bother people that a commercial app (i.e., one you must pay for) is perfected on the backs of those who pay for it? I mean I can understand a few updates per year, but 17 in less than 7 months? Maybe I'm just weird.  
(Version 3.0.1)

FORMICA  I cannot figure out the purpose of this app. I used it for three months and determined that it does NOT DOWNLOAD ANY FASTER THAN SAFARI or any other web app, and it crashes once a week. I used it in all its possible configurations, even for P2P, but it's simply no better than native apps, IT DOES NOT PROVIDE ANY BENEFIT.  
(Version 5.2.1)

FORMICA  I have tried AppZapper, and it's OK. However, when compared with AppCleaner 1.2.2, the difference is STRIKING. AppCleaner does most of the things that all of the reviewers below ask for, it finds ALL of the files associated with the main app you are deleting — EVEN FILES THAT ALL OTHER SUCH APPS OFTEN MISS — it is totally unobtrusive and doesn't impact your CPU or memory AT ALL as far as I can tell, IT WORKS AUTOMATICALLY when you maybe forget to startup AppCleaner and just toss an app into the trash ITS SmartDelete CATCHES IT AND ALSO AUTOMATICALLY CATCHES ALL ITS ASSOCIATED FILES AND OFFERS TO TRASH THEM FOR YOU! And perhaps most amazing is that it is so superior to all other such apps but is FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE! If you don't believe me, just check out the comments and reviews on AppCleaner's MacUpdate.com (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/25276) and VersionTracker.com pages (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32740&mode=feedback). That level of user satisfaction is far, far higher than all other such apps, illustrating that people love it for all its capabilities and performance — not just its price (which, again, is FREE!).

When you try AppCleaner, set the preferences to "Protect launched apps," "Protect default apps," and "Enable 3D transitions," don't forget to turn on SmartDelete, then one-by-one select the "Applications," "Widgets" and "Others" icons at the top of AppCleaner's main window, and with each one select the "Options" menu (in the Menubar) then "Select All" to instruct AppCleaner to protect all those apps, widgets and other resources from being accidentally deleted, then you can uncheck one-by-one all the ones that you don't want AppCleaner to protect. Trust me, you'll love this app with it set this way! Enjoy!

(Oh, and BTW, I am in no way affiliated with the makers of AppCleaner — I don't even know them. I just LOVE IT when truly great software is made available for FREE, and I feel such magnanimous developers should be promoted whenever possible, even when it's a bit annoying (as this comment is because it's in another app's MacUpdate space).  
(Version 1.8)

FORMICA  I have tried AppTrap, and it's OK. However, when compared with AppCleaner 1.2.2, the difference is STRIKING. AppCleaner does most of the things that all of the reviewers below ask for, it finds ALL of the files associated with the main app you are deleting — EVEN FILES THAT ALL OTHER SUCH APPS OFTEN MISS — it is totally unobtrusive and doesn't impact your CPU or memory AT ALL as far as I can tell, IT WORKS AUTOMATICALLY when you maybe forget to startup AppCleaner and just toss an app into the trash ITS SmartDelete CATCHES IT AND ALSO AUTOMATICALLY CATCHES ALL ITS ASSOCIATED FILES AND OFFERS TO TRASH THEM FOR YOU! And perhaps most amazing is that it is so superior to all other such apps but it too is FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE! If you don't believe me, just check out the comments and reviews on AppCleaner's MacUpdate.com (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/25276) and VersionTracker.com pages (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32740&mode=feedback). That level of user satisfaction is far, far higher than all other such apps, illustrating that people love it for all its capabilities and performance — not just its price (which, again, is FREE!).

When you try AppCleaner, set the preferences to "Protect launched apps," "Protect default apps," and "Enable 3D transitions," don't forget to turn on SmartDelete, then one-by-one select the "Applications," "Widgets" and "Others" icons at the top of AppCleaner's main window, and with each one select the "Options" menu (in the Menubar) then "Select All" to instruct AppCleaner to protect all those apps, widgets and other resources from being accidentally deleted, then you can uncheck one-by-one all the ones that you don't want AppCleaner to protect. Trust me, you'll love this app with it set this way! Enjoy!

(Oh, and BTW, I am in no way affiliated with the makers of AppCleaner — I don't even know them. I just LOVE IT when truly great software is made available for FREE, and I feel such magnanimous developers should be promoted whenever possible, even when it's a bit annoying (as this comment is because it's in another app's MacUpdate space).  
(Version 1.0.5)

FORMICA  I have tried Yank, and it's OK. However, when compared with AppCleaner 1.2.2, the difference is STRIKING. AppCleaner does most of the things that all of the reviewers below ask for, it finds ALL of the files associated with the main app you are deleting — EVEN FILES THAT ALL OTHER SUCH APPS OFTEN MISS — it is totally unobtrusive and doesn't impact your CPU or memory AT ALL as far as I can tell, IT WORKS AUTOMATICALLY when you maybe forget to startup AppCleaner and just toss an app into the trash ITS SmartDelete CATCHES IT AND ALSO AUTOMATICALLY CATCHES ALL ITS ASSOCIATED FILES AND OFFERS TO TRASH THEM FOR YOU! And perhaps most amazing is that it is so superior to all other such apps but is FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE! If you don't believe me, just check out the comments and reviews on AppCleaner's MacUpdate.com (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/25276) and VersionTracker.com pages (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32740&mode=feedback). That level of user satisfaction is far, far higher than all other such apps, illustrating that people love it for all its capabilities and performance — not just its price (which, again, is FREE!).

When you try AppCleaner, set the preferences to "Protect launched apps," "Protect default apps," and "Enable 3D transitions," don't forget to turn on SmartDelete, then one-by-one select the "Applications," "Widgets" and "Others" icons at the top of AppCleaner's main window, and with each one select the "Options" menu (in the Menubar) then "Select All" to instruct AppCleaner to protect all those apps, widgets and other resources from being accidentally deleted, then you can uncheck one-by-one all the ones that you don't want AppCleaner to protect. Trust me, you'll love this app with it set this way! Enjoy!

(Oh, and BTW, I am in no way affiliated with the makers of AppCleaner — I don't even know them. I just LOVE IT when truly great software is made available for FREE, and I feel such magnanimous developers should be promoted whenever possible, even when it's a bit annoying (as this comment is because it's in another app's MacUpdate space).  
(Version 2.0)

FORMICA  Ooops, my mistake -- AppCleaner DOES in fact have a Select All capability under the "Options" menu in the Menubar. This really is THE GREATEST APP-AND-ASSOCIATED-FILES DELETING PROGRAM AVAILABLE, AND IT'S FREEEEEEEEE!  
(Version 1.2.2)

FORMICA  I have tried AppDelete 2.2.2, and it's kind of nice. However, when compared with AppCleaner 1.2.2, the difference is striking. AppCleaner does most of the things that all of the reviewers below have asked for, it finds files associated with the main app you deleted that ALL OF THE OTHER SUCH APPS MISS, it is totally unobtrusive and doesn't impact your CPU or memory AT ALL as far as I can tell, it works automatically, and it is FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE, FREE! It is truly better than ALL other apps of its kind, and yet it is FREE! If you don't believe me, just look at what "OTHER PEOPLE SUGGEST" above and to the right, just under the four-and-a-half stars this app has earned. As of this writing, of the four apps in this category that people recommend, CleanApp received 4 votes, AppZapper got 8, AppTrap garnered 10, and AppCleaner destroyed the competition with 49 VOTES!! That suggests a level of user satisfaction far, far higher than the others, so much higher in fact that it's apparent that people love it for all its capabilities and performance -- not just its price (which, again, is FREE!).

Try AppCleaner, and don't forget to set the preferences to "Protect launched apps," "Protect default apps," and "Enable 3D transitions," also turn on SmartDelete, then one-by-one select the "Applications," "Widgets" and "Others" icons at the top of AppCleaner's main window, and with each one select the "Options" menu (in the Menubar) then "Select All" to instruct AppCleaner to protect all those apps, widgets and other resources from being deleted, then you can uncheck one-by-one all the ones that you don't want AppCleaner to protect. Trust me, you'll love this app with it set like this! Enjoy!

(Oh, and BTW, I am in no way affiliated with the makers of AppCleaner, and I don't know them. I just LOVE IT when truly great software is made available for FREE, and I feel such magnanimous developers should be promoted whenever possible, even when it's a bit annoying (as this comment is because it's in another app's MacUpdate space).  
(Version 2.2.2)

FORMICA  There are any number of FREE audio recorders/editors, but WireTap Studio is $69? Isn't that a bit greedy?

My colleagues and I cannot believe the price of this app. even though Ambrosia is infamous for such pricing, but in this case they're made even more shameful and obvious by the lame justification they offered in the "What's New In This Version" section of their VersionTracker.com posting for Wiretap Studio, which unbelievably reads as follows: "These updates prepare our core Ambrosia productivity tools for the upcoming Mac OS X 10.5.7, as well as improve compatibility with Apple's latest hardware." Does any Mac developer ever release a new version of their software for that first BS reason? And do they ever release updates to fix a hardware incompatibility that NO ONE has complained about on any software review website since their last version was released? Clearly they just wanted to stop the bleeding that the recent release of Jack OS X and other FREE audio editors/recorders inflicted on their market share, and given their dishonorable past business practices, they had no compunction against releasing another pointless update and frivolously marketing WTS on those very same software review websites (which, as you'll see below, are key to their contemptible business plan). Gosh, Ambrosia didn't even claim to fix some of the previous version's bugs, or add one or two new capabilities to this latest version because they're waiting to do that in a future release without their potential customers constantly being reminded that there's new versions available for several FREE apps that do the very same things that WTS charges $69 for! Couldn't Ambrosia hide their unscrupulousness any better than that?

If you investigate the past of all FOUR VERSIONS of WireTap XXXXX, you'll discover that Ambrosia has a long history of greedy upgrade policies that piss off their existing customers, but that's how they keep adding new customers every year. And just to preempt the character assassination that I expect from Ambrosia after I write this expose, let me first explain that I have never met and I am in no way related to the makers of ANY of the apps mentioned here (other than my use of Jack instead of WireTap Anywhere because it's a great and FREE program), and I am NOT some disgruntled former Ambrosia employee or customer -- I have never bought any of their software because I caught on to their scummy software renaming scheme (explained in a minute) a couple of years ago when I first compared WireTap Pro against Jack and another great audio-input app called Audio Hijack (which charges $16 and $32 for the two versions of their WireTap competitor app).

You see, TODAY AMBROSIA SELLS THIS AUDIO RECORDING APP CALLED WireTap Studio, AND AN AUDIO-INPUT APP CALLED WireTap Anywhere, WHICH WAS PREVIOUSLY CALLED WireTap Pro, WHICH ONLY SHORTLY BEFORE WAS CALLED SIMPLY WireTap! To help you fully understand Ambrosia's distracting, dishonest and entirely shameful marketing strategy, just surf over to MacUpdate.com (a company that does not cozy up to the software industry as shamefully as VersionTracker) and look at Ambrosia's posting about its WireTap Studio app (which has customer reviews and other types of feedback going back only to 2007, and which, to be honest, was an outstanding audio recording app -- not an audio-INPUT app like WTA -- when I tested it in 2008). Then check out Ambrosia's MacUpdate posting for WireTap Anywhere, the quality of which I cannot conscionably review here because when it was "originally released" (which really means RENAMED) in 2007, I refused to fully test it because of the unethical marketplace behavior that I describe here, and because I could afford to ignore WTA because of the availability of a truly outstanding and FREE alternative in the form of Jack OS X. When you look at WireTap Anywhere's MacUpdate posting you'll see that THE FEEDBACK GOES ALL THE WAY BACK TO 2003 -- 4 years before Ambrosia's own website claims that WireTap Anywhere was first released. This is because WireTap Anywhere was not really a new product in 1997 but was just a RENAMED VERSION OF WireTap Pro, WHICH IN TURN WAS JUST A RENAMED VERSION OF WireTap. Part of Ambrosi's strategy has been that very time they changed the name of their main app Ambrosia used that new name to claim that it was "really a whole new version that was completely rewritten and has a totally new set of capabilities!" In this way they repeatedly justified CHARGING ALL THEIR OLDER (and therefore more professionally settled/rich) CUSTOMERS A SECOND SHAREWARE FEE (if the customer wanted to obtain the newest version), and it gave the company a NEW OPPORTUNITY TO MARKET THEIR "NEW" MAIN APP, and it gave them a new opportunity and (specious) justification to DUPE THE SOFTWARE UPDATE WEBSITES LIKE MacUpdate.com (which first fell for it, then didn't fall for it) AND VersionTracker.com (which originally and to this day turns a blind eye to it) INTO LETTING THEM START OVER WITH A CLEAN HISTORY OF USER FEEDBACK IN ORDER TO ERASE ALL THE OLD NEGATIVE FEEDBACK, AND TO HELP THEM GIVE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS THE IMPRESSION THAT IT REALLY IS A NEW AND DIFFERENT APP (when all the old users but none of the new users know that, in fact, it is the same old app but with perhaps one more new capability, or maybe even just a different method of graphically organizing it). Non-critics of such disgusting business practices (like probably Ambrosia) call this "cross-grade" marketing, which is the production of several versions of one type of app that all have overlapping capabilities in order to justify a constant though confusing product upgrade cycle which enables the company to force some customers to pay repeatedly while still attracting a bevy of new customers every year. A lot of scumbag companies use this marketing "philosophy," though I'll let you decide which ones they are. Of course, for this to work, the company's apps have to be of sufficiently higher quality than their competition's apps or customers wouldn't put up with that sh!t and your company would slowly whither and die.

So, now you know.   
(Version 1.0.11)

FORMICA  Your defense is to compare your company and its products to Adobe? Wow, you really need to reevaluate your heroes, and perhaps also the expectations of Mac software consumers!  
(Version 1.0.4)

FORMICA  It's now 6 days after my original post, and 45 days after the first request for support that I sent to this company, 35 days after the 2nd, 25 days after the 3rd, 15 days after the 4th, and 5 days after the 5th, and this crappy, useless bunch of scammers still has not replied even once. Their website gives no address, no phone number, indeed no way of contacting them at all except the utterly useless email address info@pth.com -- please feel free to send them SPAM, insulting emails, anything you wish. That email address again is info@pth.com, and they are useless. They do not write usable software, and they don't support the ulcerous excrement they sell. Again, they are useless. If they have the cojones to contact me via this forum I would be pleased to hear from them if for no other reason to confirm that they still exist, and therefore that they simply do not care about users of their herpes-ridden products as I suspect.  
(Version 4.4.1)

FORMICA  I have enjoyed using PTHPasteboard for over a year, and it's become a staple in my computing repertoire. But something weird is happening to that company (PTHconsulting). The app is starting to do funny things, and customer service doesn't seem to exist anymore. A couple of months ago my pasteboard suddenly started to dump all of my items for no apparent reason. It was not in response to updating any system components, like the OS 10.5.7 update or a QuickTime update, it just suddenly lost all my clipboard items for no reason. And every time I re-enter my items PTHPasteboard loses them again within a few days or weeks. So, I wrote an email to customer support, and then another, and then another -- each one automatically addressed in my own email client (Entourage) when I clicked the "Contact Us" link on their customer support webpage. But no response was forthcoming. So, tomorrow I'm going to call them, and after crapping on them for ignoring my emails, maybe I'll discover WTF went wrong with PTHPasteboard 4.4.1. But I doubt it. In case they're as dead as I think they are, I just installed Clipboard Evolved.  
(Version 4.4.1)

FORMICA  This is a very nice little app. However, I really wish it offered the option of placing some kind of icon in the menu bar that I could use to start it up quickly and easily, instead of using up valuable space in the Dock. Also, it would be nice to have the option to adjust font size because it uses a tiny font.  
(Version 4.5)

FORMICA  SpotInside could not find a file that Spotlight and HoudahSpot could. I did a search on "Driver" and "Driver License" to find a scan of my driver's license called "Jay's Driver License.pdf", which is stored in my Pictures file, and SpotInside simply could not find the file no matter what I did, while both Spotlight and HoudahSpot found it immediately.  
(Version 1.0.1)

FORMICA  Actually, I realize now that it was not MPEG Streamclip that I used to make that first conversion of Underworld - Rise of the Lycans (720p).mkv, but rather Handbrake. Oh well.  
(Version 0.95b)

FORMICA  This is a MUCH better version (compared to my attempt with v. 0.94b, listed below). Conversion of Underworld - Rise of the Lycans (720p. .mkv) this time was far, far better, though it took nearly 3 hours. The audio is as good as the conversion I made with MPEG Streamclip, and the video was very good too, though somewhat brighter and with a small amount of attendant pixelation in the bright areas. Impressively, the Evom 0.95b conversion came in at only 1.91 GB, compared to the MPEG Streamclip conversion at 3.98 GB from the 4.37 GB original. Making very good progress, and with seemingly appropriate settings for the m4p converter. The developer said s/he would fix the audio problem, and by golly s/he did! Kudos.  
(Version 0.95b)

FORMICA  $40? For what? The major functions of this app are available FOR FREE in the iStat Pro Widget or iStat Menus, and in those cases the only value added is all the eye candy, so it's pretty, but it wastes a ton of screen space for essentially no useful purpose. This app does provide some functionality that the two iStat apps do not, such as: 1) Rules triggered "when certain conditions are met for a specified resource..."; 2) logging; and 3) system monitoring over a network. Those 3 major functions offered my CheckUp bur not by the iStat apps could be useful to network administrators, but not to average users.

And ChecUp offers a few other functions that are available FOR FREE by several other apps. So the bottom line is this: Is it absolutely necessary for you to have WITHIN ONE APPLICATION all of the otherwise FREE capabilities offered by a few individual apps? If yes, then is it still necessary at the cost of $40?

Even I would like to have all these functions provided by just one app. However, even if I were a network administrator, paying $40 for that convenience would be simply extravagant, considering that they're available for free in two or even three apps. At a price of say $5, I might consider buying Checkup. I suspect that most Mac owners feel just as I do -- judging the customer reviews on both CheckUp 2.5b2 MacUpdate and VersionTracker.  
(Version 2.5b2)

FORMICA  Fantabulous. Enabled me to fix the permissions of a Firewire drive that had somehow gotten screwed up, and now I can recover the data on the drive before erasing and reformatting it. I'm very pleased.  
(Version 1.51)

FORMICA  "Code optimization" is not a sufficient explanation about "What's New" in this version of iTool, considering that it WIPED LHOFM1's hard drive (see comments below). A fuller explanation and some indication that the developer has located and corrected the problem is required before I would even consider downloading and installing it on my system (even if it is free), and I surmise that many others feel the same.

And couldn't the developer come up with a better name than iTool? Maybe iWang, or iShwantz, or even iWanker! Do you call this app's output iLoad?  
(Version 2.0.09)

FORMICA  This is hands-down the best media info app available today, and it's free! I don't have time to go into detail about VideoSpec now, but I just wrote a MacUpdate review of MediaInfo Mac 0.7.17.3 which naturally compares that app with VideoSpec because it is the best of breed. You can find it by typing "VideoSpec" into the search field at the top of this page.

Seriously, if you work with video media, and especially if you're doing any kind of conversion from one filetype/container/codec/framerate/etc. to another, download this and MediaInfo Mac (and any others you can find), then run them both on the same video file side-by-side, and you'll immediately see why VideoSpec is an order of magnitude better.

BTW, I don't know any of these developers. Like you, I wanted to know which was better for my purposes, so I downloaded 4 different ones and VideoSpec won fair and square right off the blocks. It helped VideSpec quite a bit that it's developer came out with its most recent version (0.7.5) right in the middle of my evaluation because he added an in-app movie player, reports exporting, minimum and maximum bitrate stats for vids using a variable bitrate method, and the in-app integration of the Bitrate Pro bitrate calculator, which reduces by one the number of apps I need to have open when working with videos.

Oh, did I mention that VideoSpec is FREE?  
(Version 0.7.5)

FORMICA  I tried the latest version of this, and I felt like I was back on a Windows 98 machine! There's nothing Mac-ish about this (cr)app at all.

Like the rest of you, I HATED Norton AntiVirus for years, but they've finally (v. 11) figured out how to make it work without sucking down resources in the background all the time. Of course, if you just copied at 4 GB movie to your HD it's going to be slightly noticeable while it checks it out, but it does so fast now and leaves plenty of resources for the other kids to play with. And it's a lot Macier than Sophos.  
(Version 4.9)

FORMICA  I agree with PCHARLES67 -- Meteorologist offers more weather data (if you choose to display it) and superior control over that data. Weather Vane does offer a fair amount of data, but it only displays it in a tooltip box with tiny writing, and like almost all tooltips everywhere, it doesn't display long enough to read all of it (or perhaps I'm just a slow reader!). Furthermore, Meteorologist can show the radar image for your location, but I'm guessing that few people use that function because it's buried a little deep. You have to open the Preferences, select the Cities tab, double-click your city's name, select the Weather Items tab, then put a check mark in the Radar Image checkbox, even though the word "None" in the "Unit" column is greyed out, giving the impression it's not yet implemented.

Anyway, Weather Vane is nice, but Meteorologist is superior in every way.  
(Version 2.1)

FORMICA  A sweet app. Works well. Thanks for keeping it free!  
(Version 0.9b10)

FORMICA  For UNPACKING archives, Zipeg is better, and it's FREE!

I spent a day upgrading my brother's family's three Macintoshes to 10.5 and partitioning each into main and emergency volumes, and I used Firewire drives and his new MacBook to backup and restore all the files and software of each. So, I was able to fully test BetterZip 1.8.1's unpacking capabilities. Two things drove me nuts: First, no matter how I set the preferences, BetterZip would never automatically unpack to the default location that I set (next to the archive), but instead would make me choose each time using the standard save-to dialog; Second, again despite my having set it to "Quit after last window closed," BetterZip would never automatically quit after unpacking an archive -- I always had to manually quit the application. For both these behaviors (and more), Zipeg is superior -- it unquestioningly saved all unpacked files in the same directory right next to their archives (just as I instructed in the preferences), and after first setting Zipeg to quit after a successful unpacking, it did so each time right after playing a little two-note song to signify completion. And as far as I can tell, Zipeg handles roughly the same types of archives as BetterZip, and it too allows you to see the complete contents of an archive before unpacking it. However, in my opinion the dialog Zipeg uses to display the contents of an archive before unpacking is more intuitive, more logical and easily understood. Of course, Zipeg is just an UNPACKER, and does not create archives like BetterZip can. However, there are several nice free utilities available for that as well (I like GUI Tar, but there are many), and for someone like me who does relatively little archive creating, those free alternatives are entirely sufficient. So for me, BetterZip slows down my workflow, while Zipeg speeds it up.  
(Version 1.8.1)

FORMICA  Unfortunately, PDFLab no longer seems to work in Mac OS 10.5.7. It's a terrible shame because it's one of my favorite apps.  
(Version 2.0.3r2)

FORMICA  Of all the various file deleting apps out there this is by far the best, and amazingly it's FREE! I can never understand how other developers can get away with charging for their file deleting programs when AppCleaner is so much better, catches more affiliated files, and is FREE! Kudos to the developer!

The only thing that could make it better is if the Applications, Widgets and Others sections each had a "Select All" checkbox so we wouldn't have to individually check each app, widget or other filetype to protect it. Whenever I have to reinstall my OS it takes about 5 minutes to check off all the apps, etc. that I want to protect with AppCleaner.

Nevertheless, this is an outstanding app from an outstanding developer.  
(Version 1.2.2)

FORMICA  A bit of confusion about the download -- the .dmg that is linked to here is titled "AllBookmarks-3.1.3," but upon opening it you'll find that it's really version 3.1.4.  
(Version 3.1.4)

FORMICA  Hmmmmm, I liked the previous version of Prism, and I was looking forward to more progress. But I could not get it to work on 3 different videos, it always gave an error but didn't shutdown. I hope I'm doing something wrong here, but if not I hope it's just a small bug that can be fixed.  
(Version 1.28)

FORMICA  LIVEUPDATE & AUTO-PROTECT NO LONGER WORK IN 10.5.7!!!

Since I updated to Mac OS 10.5.7 on my iMac and my MacBook, the Auto-Protect and LiveUpdate components of Norton Antivirus 11 (NAV) no longer work. LiveUpdate automatically or manually checks for and downloads new virus definition files and updates for all the components of NAV. Auto-Protect automatically scans my system in the background looking for viruses when I am on the Internet, downloading email, or using any kind of external disk. With those two components dead, Norton Antivirus 11 is now COMPLETELY USELESS. And I cannot download a fix because the utility that downloads such things is what needs to be fixed! Nor can I find a fix to download from the Norton or Symantec websites, which are possibly the worst customer support websites in the software industry.

Here are the two alert notifications NAV gave after I tried repeatedly to uninstall and reinstall it:

"Norton AntiVirus Error. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect could not continue. Please run LiveUpdate or reinstall Norton AntiVirus and restart. (Code: 10)"

"System extension cannot be used. The system extension "/Library/Application Support/Symantec/AntiVirus/NortonAutoProtect.bundle/Contents/Resources/SymApComm.kext" was installed improperly and cannot be used. Please try reinstalling it, or contact the product's vendor for an update."

Systems Info: Late 2006 Intel Core2Duo 2.16 GHz 20" iMac with 2 GB RAM, and Late 2008 Intel Core2Duo 2.4 GHz Unibody MacBook with 4 GB RAM, both now running OS 10.5.7.  
(Version 11.0.1)

FORMICA  There's already two other apps called "iVideo" -- didn't the developer of this one think to do a search on the name before listing it? Anyway, I tried it, and I wasn't impressed. It does not give you access to all the various codecs you may have installed in your QuickTime build, despite the fact that several free converters do.

There are many other apps available for free that do the same thing this does and way more, but they've been around a long time and so are PROVEN to work well. Check out any of these: Handbrake, VisualHub (no longer supported, but easy to find on the web), x264Encoder, xvidEncoder, mp4vEncoder, MPEG Streamclip, iSquint, Prism, VeescopeHub, ViddyUp!, Video Monkey, and others.  
(Version 1.0b10)

FORMICA  The brilliant developers failed to mention that you must be in the UK for this app to work.  
(Version 3.3)

FORMICA  Well, I tested Evom 0.94b by using it to convert 3 different video files into all of its available formats and comparing those to conversions of the same videos made with the latest versions of QuickTime, HandBrake (free) and MPEG Streamclip (free). The video quality of Evom's conversions was comparable to those of QT and HandBrake, but was substantially poorer than the conversion I made with MPEG Streamclip using the free x264Encoder QT plugin. The audio was another story -- it was substantially poorer in all cases. In fact, the audio was so poor that it completely overcame any advantage Evom accrues from its simplicity; so bad even that I removed it from my computer. If the developers of Evom can dramatically improve its audio conversion then I will again consider it for my super-simple conversion jobs (which is what it's made for). For now I will stick with the many other free alternatives that do a much better job, like HandBrake, MPEG Streamclip, VisualHub, iSquint, Prism, Video Monkey, The Exporter, etc.  
(Version 0.94b)

FORMICA  Well, I downloaded and screwed around with Evom 0.92b on my Late 2006 2.16 GHz iMac running 10.5.7 with 2 GB RAM for an hour and a half, and my impression is that it's OK since it's free, but there are other substantially better free and cheap shareware options available that give you much more freedom to customize your conversions. For instance, Handbrake gives you about 1,000 times more options and better documentation, and it's reasonably easy to use. Since Evom's main appeal is to those who are unfamiliar with video conversion, it might have a slight edge over Handbreak because it's so simple, but only if your conversion job fits within Evom's narrow parameters. It's sort of the same for ffmpegX, which is another great shareware app, but which has possibly the worst documentation around. Then there's MPEG Streamclip, and the old VisualHub and its recent spinoffs like Prism Video File Converter and VideoMonkey, x264 (one of the very best), and of course QuickTime Pro. So, I think Evom has a ways to go before it can compete with most of those mentioned here, but it's a good start.  
(Version 0.92b)

FORMICA  Indeed. WTF?  
(Version 0.92b)

FORMICA  It's not 90 minutes, but 90 seconds. And 5 Euros actually equals about $7.  
(Version 1.0b4)

FORMICA  KEVIN C put it best below, so I'm just going to copy and paste his comment in the hope that the author will pay attention:

Saves streams as AIFF and you then export to MP3 later. This fills up disks in no time. Not sure why the author isn't ripping directly to MP3.  
(Version 0.4.2)

FORMICA  I tried to remove a simple password protection put on it in Preview under 10.5.7, but it would not work no matter what I did.  
(Version 2.3)

FORMICA  I'm a big fan of uTorrent, but since I upgraded to 10.5.7 uTorrent 0.9.1.2 crashes every couple of hours. It doesn't matter if I set it to Limit upload rate manually or automatically. Anyone else having this problem?

Late 2006 20" Intel Core2Duo 2.16 GHz iMac with 2 GB of RAM  
(Version 0.9.1.2)

FORMICA  I have LOVED previous versions of this. But 1.0.3 keeps crashing all my video conversion apps! I haven't made it through a single conversion since this version came out (in all, maybe 11 attempts). Don't know enough to have any clue what's causing it on my 10.5.7 new MacBook.  
(Version 1.0.3)

FORMICA  $14.95 is way too much for this tiny little one-trick pony. Maybe $5...  
(Version 1.4.2)

FORMICA  Does not work on OS 10.5.7. The icon expands after being double-clicked, but then nothing. Oh well.  
(Version 0.4)

FORMICA  Nearly the same $ as 1Password, but only 1/5 the features. Safe Deposit Box is OK, but implemented badly.

Today I downloaded and futzed around for an hour or so with AllSecure 1.2.1, and my judgement is that it's very pretty but has nowhere near the motherload of 1Password's features for storage, management and automatic entry of passwords that utilize Mac OS X's well regarded Keychain and, even now better — the 1PW Agile keychain, that make your Internet experience much easier by entering all your usernames and passwords for you. 1PW and the Agile keychain integrate with all 8 of the most popular Mac Internet browsers, while AllSecure only works with Safari. 1PW also does double duty in Internet security, anti-phishing, web form filling, automatic strong password generation, and a bunch of other serious functions that are really useful on a daily basis. Plus, 1Password has an iPhone app that implements many of those functions on your cell phone/PIM, and lets you take all of it with you securely wherever you go.

Several of AllSecure's features are "cool," but aren't as practical as they are pretty. The most notable swing-and-a-miss is AllSecure's Safe Deposit Box. The description from AllSecure's Help file says "A Safe Deposit Box is a kind of AllSecure item that allows you to securely store up to 2GB worth of compressed files and folders. Files stored in a Safe Deposit Box are ZIP-compressed and AES-256 encrypted." This could be a terrific and quite useful feature — if it weren't so poorly implemented. After Safe Deposit Box compresses and encrypts your document, it locks it up inside a great graphical safe deposit box, but that's where the feature's namesake and purpose falls apart because the follow-through is a choke: It's just a little too complicated for regular use; it doesn't automatically delete the original file after it is zip-compressed and archived (and isn't the idea of this feature to make sensitive files not only inaccessible but invisible?). It should at least have a preference to allow the user to elect automatic deletion of the original file after compressing and archiving it — otherwise it just gives the file owner a little graphical thrill, but then leaves the original uncompressed, unencrypted file lying around for any other user to discover.

I know I come off as a friend, stockholder, or just plain BFF in the employ of 1Password, but I swear that I am in no way associated with that company or its personnel. I just really love 1Password, and if you checkout their VersionTracker or MacUpdate webpages (addresses below), you'll see that a lot of people are so enamored with that hunka hunka burnin' shareware that most have morphed into 1Password evangelists (kinda like Mac enthusiasts/perverts used to be about anything ‘Apple’, or at least we used to be, back before the iPod(s), the iPhone(s), and even OS 10.5 caught fire and people finally realized that Apple products — finally now including Mac computers — are simply better, and in fact there’s really very little in this world that ISN’T better than Microsoft products). Anyway, my point is that my negative appraisal of AllSecure is authentic — it is not a planted reacharound by or for the folks at 1Password developers Agile Web Solutions. Nowadays I'm a Cultural Geography professor, but I used to run White House political public relations initiatives for Bill Clinton, and later on for my own boutique PR firm. I occasionally miss my old line of work (and I dearly miss the coin), but sometimes I get my fix by temporarily shilling for an organization or product I like in a public forum like this. Today I found an opportunity to do just that by evaluating AllSecure, which really was fun to toy with (emphasis on "toy") and pass judgement on, but it gratified me far more by giving me a chance to publicly hawk one of my favorite Mac apps.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29889

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/21711/1password  
(Version 1.2.1)

FORMICA  $20? There are freeware options that have more functionality than this!  
(Version 3.8.17.6241)

FORMICA  When you install BurnAgain FS, you must also install the MacFUSE file system and its preference pane (for more info: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23729/macfuse). However, in the BurnAgain FS Help file it says "It is possible to uninstall the MacFUSE preferences pane without affecting BurnAgain FS. Please locate /Library/PreferencePanes/MacFUSE.prefpane and simply remove this file."

So, if BurnAgain does not need MacFUSE to work, then why is it installed? The Help file says nothing more than what is listed above. However, there is this statement in a different section of the Help file titled "Disk Filesystem Standard":

"BurnAgain FS burns a ISO9660 rock ridge standard filesystem. If you do not use BurnAgain FS from the start, only discs using that standard that are not closed can be appended by BurnAgain FS. Each session added requires a session overhead in addition to the content added.

"BurnAgain FS preserves all resource forks and mac specific file attributes by creating standard AppleDouble files. If you do not want AppleDouble files to be created, this can be disabled in the application preferences."

Does anyone have a clue why MacFUSE is installed with BurnAgain FS but removing it won't affect its operation?  
(Version 1.3)

FORMICA  I agree --please, Please PLEASE add a "Sleep Mac when download finishes" option! Otherwise, I love this app!  
(Version 1.60)

FORMICA  I apologize to anyone who took offense to my use of such strong language in my criticism of this software and its developer. Sometimes I get stuck in a linguistic mode in which nothing but superlatives will suffice, and it is then that I am the dumbest, meanest, and most useless commentator. I especially apologize to the developer, who is obviously a person of good intent, and who clearly has much greater skill than I in the creation of software.

Having said that (and truly meant it), here is my review of VideoVangelist (from memory) that disappeared from this site for reasons unknown, plus an update. The MacUpdate moderator asked that I submit a constructive review of this app rather than the stupid vitriol I issued earlier. In part, my last comments were in reaction to what I thought was unfair removal of an earlier review of VideoVangelist I posted here in February, but the review probably disappeared because of my own technological stupidity rather than editorial malice. Anyway, here is a description of my experiences with this app, which seem to track pretty closely with others' here.

Around Feb. 8, 2009, I installed VideoVangelist 1.2 and its libraries -- installing the libraries was against my better judgement because the installer did not include an uninstaller (it still doesn't), and now those libraries lurk without purpose somewhere on my hard drive. (If possible, could the developer please post instructions on how to remove them?). I setup an H.264 2-pass encode at "best" quality on a 2.07 MB MPEG-4 .mov file. Right off the bat mencoder crashed. Why was VV using mencoder on an H.264 file anyway? There are much more efficient means to decode/re-encode H.264. I thought that perhaps the libraries' installation had somehow gone awry, so I reinstalled them. However, the app crashed 4 more times before I finally got it to work its way way through the whole 90-second movie, then it unceremoniously finished. The 2 MB movie of my 3-year-old son playing the harmonica -- a file that played without problem in every movie app on my then-new 2.4 GHz Intel MacBook with 4 GB of RAM running OS 10.5.6 -- had been converted into a 34 MB file that was unplayable by the latest versions of VLC, Chroma, QTAmateur, Movist, MPlayer OSEx Extended, and QuickTime 7.6 with Perian. Thank goodness I had the foresight to uncheck the "Overwrite existing output files" setting which, when I first started up the app, was selected by default! I uninstalled VV, reinstalled it and the libraries, then tried converting several different filetypes into several other formats, with no success at all.

Then today with the new version 1.5 -- 19 iterations after version 1.2 -- I tried to do the same things on both my MacBook and my Intel iMac, all at the "best" quality setting, and I got the mencoder crash again several times and none of those conversions worked. I did get a .wmv to .avi conversion to work, but the resulting .avi was noticeably of much poorer quality than the original.

I am convinced that ROBOTANK, myself and others who have criticized the developer's refusal to test VideoVangelist on ANY Intel Macs have identified VideoVangelist's biggest problem. I think it is impeding the developer's progress and probably wasting his time. The app simply does not work on Intel Macs (at least not mine, ROBOTANK's, and others'), and his comment [below] on May 6 flies in the face of just about every Mac developer's experience: "The app does work. I have two PowerPC computers in my house and I test everything on both. Numerous tests are fun on all kinds of media and I wouldn't release anything unless I found it worked. I have only received a handful of issues over the life of the app. Having an intel mac or non intel mac makes no difference, it's the OS that is consistent between both processors. Since I only have the two PowerPC macs and all the tests I run work out, I release the app assuming that OS X is the same on PowerPC as on Intel." — This is the root of VideoVangelist's problem. It does not work on Intel Macs, and the developer refuses to test it on one to confirm that.

I'm sorry that I must give VV such a bad rating, but I vigorously tested it on 2 different Intel Macs and failed to get it to work even once, unless you count the very poor quality conversion mentioned above. I am moderately well skilled at using several free, shareware and even a couple of high end commercial video applications, including VisualHub (VV's forebear) and now FilmRedux and TranscoderRedux (both VisualHub's progeny), so it's not a competency issue. It just won't work.  
(Version 1.5)

FORMICA  TOMDOHERTY & BIDULE, the developer seems to have fixed your reported problem within one day! I'm curious if the new version does in fact work on 10.4.x because I have some 10.4 machines at work that I'd like to put this app on. Does 5.0.1 now work for you?  
(Version 5.0.1)

FORMICA  Fabulous! And FREE! Thank You!  
(Version 3.1.3)

FORMICA  This is a giant mistake. Running ANY software from the web is a mistake. It can do ANYTHING it wants with your information, and you would never know it. Now I am like most people -- I can't stand Microsoft. But when I am writing a letter on Word, I am very confident that the app isn't transmitting any of my own personal information back to Microsoft because I use an application called Little Snitch to alert me of ANY calls OUT of my computer. But if you are using a WEB-APPLICATION to write that letter, how do you know that any of the constant back-and-forth communication between your computer and the web-app's corporation doesn't include your personal information, like for instance your 1Password database, or you Passwords file, or your web browsing history, or whatever?

Go ahead and download the most recent version of Google Earth, then download Little Snitch. Just for one day, count how many times Google Earth calls home -- that is, calls out out over the web back to the home company to do GOD KNOWS WHAT (plus the HUNDREDS of other companies' that now call out to Google Analytics to keep track of their apps' updates). Also, keep track of HOW LONG each one of those calls home lasts. It is SCARY. GOOGLE EARTH ALONE CALLS HOME TWELVE TIMES EVERY DAY, and each call last around 22 seconds! Do you know how much information an application can transmit over a broadband connection in 22 seconds, especially if it had all day to look for whatever it is looking for and organize that info into a packet for rapid transmission during a 22-second broadband connection? What computer software could possibly have a need to call home 12 times a day, and what the hell are those apps telling the home company?

And now Mozilla Prism wants to create an independent platform for an unknown number of companies to create applications to do things like word processing, spreadsheet creating and management, and whatever else? That means that without a web browser as the underlying system, THERE WOULD BE NO SYSTEM MONITORING CALLS OVER THE INTERNET FROM YOUR COMPUTER BACK TO THE CORPORATION THAT CREATED THAT APP! Is that what you want -- LESS MONITORING OF CALLS HOME?  
(Version 1.0b1)

FORMICA  I agree. The latest version of Google Earth CALLS HOME EVERY TWO HOURS! What freakin' software could be updated that frequently? I am UNINSTALLING EARTH AND EVERY OTHER GOOGLE APP ON MY SYSTEM UNTIL THIS COMPANY REVERSES THEIR RECENT MEGALOMANIACAL WAYS.  
(Version 5.0.11733.9347)

FORMICA  This new version DOES NOT WORK AT ALL.

When you download this version to an Intel Core2Duo Unibody Aluminum MacBook (the latest version, released November 2008) running Mac OS 10.5.6, nothing happens -- the normal OS X automatic widget installer does not startup and attempt to install the widget as usual because, of course, it is a .zip file. So, you double-click the SigAlert.wdgt.zip file and you get a normal looking SigAlert.wdgt file, but still the OS X automatic widget installer does not appear! So, naturally you double-click the widget, expecting it to auto-install, but instead you get a message that says "The file "SigAlert.wdgt" is not a valid widget and you cannot install it."

I tried downloading it from MacUpdate.com and VersionTracker.com, but had the same results. I have used this widget for a couple of years, and I always updated it with no problem when new versions appeared. But this time it just won't work.  
(Version 2.0.2)

FORMICA  Yes, MIBRILANE, there is already a nice, free backup utility called iBackup that's been around since at least May 26, 2004 (when they first posted on VersionTracker.com). It was just updated March 30 to v. 6.6.2, so I doubt they just recently sold the rights to their name to these new guys

(http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/17007/ibackup).

I don't know how these new guys got access to the name. Maybe they just appropriated it without asking, figuring the freeware dudes won't have deep enough pockets to fight the theft of their app's name. Maybe we should all complain to MacUpdate's admin?  
(Version 1.1.3)

FORMICA  People, this is not a new concept, it has been around and currently exists in around 45 pieces of software. Apple hasn't implemented it because it's largely useless. It's in DiskWarrior, TechTool Pro, DriveGenius, and pretty much every other disk utility. But it doesn't tell you anything's wrong with your drive until the moment it dies. It's crap.  
(Version 2.0.1)

FORMICA  Your comment makes absolutely no sense.  
(Version 3.0.5)

FORMICA  It's been kind of fun watching the development of this app, sort of like the Little Rascals!  
(Version 1.2)

FORMICA  This add-on (filename: surfcanyon_gs.xpi) does not work with Firefox 3.5b4.  
(Version 2.0.4)

FORMICA  I just checked this developer's webpage, where it says they plan to sell this for $29 after the beta period. I agree with others here who think that's wayyyyy too much. Pass.  
(Version 0.3)

FORMICA  WOW! Movist is MUCH better than QuickTime Player. It's way more customizable: play speed can be adjusted from half speed all the way up to triple time, you can set a range within a movie's duration to loop, it will play partially downloaded movies, it's subtitling features are super customizable, and a whole bunch more. I'm changing the MIME type settings on my Mac so everything that would normally play with QuickTime now plays with Movist! And it's FREE!!!! Seriously, it's much, much better than any other movie player I've tried, including MPlayer OSX Extended, VLC, QT, Chroma, QTAmateur and NicePlayer.

Kudos to the developers!  
(Version 0.6.1)

FORMICA  Perian is just terrific. I thank everyone who is involved with this effort for making it possible for my new 2.4 GHz MacBook and older Intel 2.16 GHz 20" iMac (both running 10.5.6 & maxed out on RAM) to play so very many video and audio filetypes seamlessly, and especially for keeping it free! It works great - keep up the good work.

I know this isn't Perian's fault, but the only movie-related problem I have had is the inability to set my Perian-enabled QuickTime Player as the default .flv player. .flv files will play in QT Player, but whenever I try to make it permanent (by doing a Get Info on an .flv file, setting QTP as the Open With app, and then clicking Change All...), it immediately reverts back to MPEG Streamclip as the default .flv player. I don't quite know why this happens because Perian does make QT capable of playing .flv files, so why should the OS resist making that the default?

However, I was able to set Movist as the default .flv player, and that actually works out better because Movist is so unbelievably customizable that I prefer to use it to play EVERYTHING. In fact, today I changed the default player for ALL movie filetypes to Movist because it's so superior to QT (and it too is FREE!).

Anyway, kudos to the Perian developers!  
(Version 1.1.3)

FORMICA  I don't think your problem is caused by Perian because I have not had such problems and I have not heard anyone else complain of such problems. That leads me to believe that something else about your computer's setup is the source.  
(Version 1.1.3)

FORMICA  FOR STEVE CHOLERTON: It doesn't do much for your reputation to publicly attack PERSON1229 in such a snotty way for simply mistaking your app for a different one. And it makes you seem especially insecure when you format your attack as a separate comment rather than as a reply to his. I thought I would do the same to you to see how you like the town square treatment.  
(Version 1.0.0.6)

FORMICA  I have not yet determined how dangerous this app is to those who know how to use it, but I am quite certain that it could easily be perilous in the hands of an amateur who is willing to try anything. So, if you don't already know a fair amount about the several system maintenance and cleaning operations iTweax can do, you probably should nit use it until you've read up on them. You can start here: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/maintainingmacosx.html. But don't stop ther you should also download OnyX and read all its Help files (since iTweax doesn't have any).

In this reveiw am primarily comparing iTweax to OnyX, and so far I think OnyX comes out the clear winner in terms of capabilities. And considering all the little problems I've so far encountered with iTweax, I trust OnyX FAR more to carry out the many very powerful alterations that utilities of this sort are capable of. Partly that is because OnyX has been in very, very, very active development since its inception in June 2003 -- since then the developer (Joel Barriere) has released at least 102 versions!!!, and nearly all of them very highly lauded by some pretty particular Mac power users.

And now to the niggling details of iTweax:

There is no version number in the About menu.

Whenever I open it, it launches as a background application -- I have to click its window to bring it to the front just so I can verify with my password.

There is no mention on iTweax's MacUpdate.com page of the availability of Intel and PowerPC versions. There's just the Universal Binary that downloads from the link. The developer could easily list a couple of separate links for the Intel and PPC versions, rather than make us track down your website to find it ourselves.

More to come later.  
(Version 1.12)

FORMICA  I was just writing a MacUpdate.com review of iTweax, and since it's so much like OnyX, my review couldn't help but compare them. So, I surfed over to VersionTracker to see how many versions of OnyX there have been since its inception, and would you believe there's been at least 102 since June 2003? Now that's dedication to your craft !

I kind of like iTweax because it does many of the same things that OnyX does, but in a much lighter-weight program. But even though iTweax is just at the beginning of its development, there have already been some serious issues that made me thank my lucky stars for Joel and OnyX.

Nevertheless, I'm sure iTweax will improve over time (remember how long it took Joel to get the English translations right?). However, I could never abandon such a skillfully designed and long-tested old warhorse as OnyX (which has taken such good care of my Macs over the years) for some slim, nubile and flashy young startup like iTweax. Come to think of it, I guess I feel pretty much the same way about my wife.

Anyway, Kudos to Joel Barriere for working so long and hard to make the best app in its class, and then continuing to give it away for free (unlike C()cktail, Yasu, Leopard Cache Cleaner, etc., etc.) !!  
(Version 2.0.4)

FORMICA  Jack OS X 0.82 is FREE, but WireTap Anywhere is $129? Isn't that greedy?

My colleagues and I cannot believe that WireTap Anywhere (herein called WTA) still costs $129!! Please consider that Jack OS X 0.82 was just released 3 days ago on April 6, 2009, and it's a very high-quality but FREE open-source WTA competitor app which, like WTA, has been in development since at least 2003. Knowing that, one could conclude that Ambrosia Software (WireTap XXXX's author) is unsupportably greedy for asking $129 for WireTap Anywhere 1.0.4. Oddly enough, v. 1.0.4 inexplicably was the second version the company released today, after v. 1.0.3! I'm guessing that Ambrosia included in v. 1.0.3 some real improvements that have been in the works for some time, and then they decided they wanted to save those upgrades for a version they could release later, when they were all alone in the spotlight without any FREE competitors exposing their greed. I am quite certain that Ambrosia only released this new version of WireTap XXXX (this redacted app name is explained below) today because they wanted to limit the damage done (again) to their market share by the recent FREE release of Jack 0.82, which has really come into its own in the last few versions, and which makes their WTA asking price of $129 seem quite ridiculous to anyone who remembers that Jack OS X is also a great app, so maybe they should download and compare the two!

Ambrosia is infamous for these cheesy business shenanigans, but in this case they're made even more shameful and obvious by the lame justification they offered in the "What's New In This Version" section of their VersionTracker.com posting for WTA 1.0.4, which unbelievably reads as follows: "These updates prepare our core Ambrosia productivity tools for the upcoming Mac OS X 10.5.7, as well as improve compatibility with Apple's latest hardware." Does any Mac developer ever release a new version of their software for that first BS reason? And do they ever release updates to fix a hardware incompatibility that NO ONE has complained about on any software review website since their last version was released (which, in this case, was September 2008)? Clearly they just wanted to stop the bleeding that the recent release of Jack OS X inflicted on their market share, and given their dishonorable past business practices, they had no compunction against releasing another pointless update and frivolously marketing WTA on those very same software review websites (which, as you'll see below, are key to their contemptible business plan). Gosh, Ambrosia didn't even claim to fix some of the previous version's bugs, or add one or two new capabilities to this latest version because they're waiting to do that in a future release without their potential customers constantly being reminded that there's a new version available of a FREE app that does the very same things that WTA charges $129 for! Couldn't Ambrosia hide their unscrupulousness any better than that?

If you investigate the past of all FOUR VERSIONS of WireTap XXXXX, you'll discover that Ambrosia has a long history of greedy upgrade policies that piss off their existing customers, but that's how they keep adding new customers every year. And just to preempt the character assassination that I expect from Ambrosia after I write this expose, let me first explain that I have never met and I am in no way related to the makers of ANY of the apps mentioned here (other than my use of Jack instead of WTA because it's a great and FREE program), and I am NOT some disgruntled former Ambrosia employee or customer -- I have never bought any of their software because I caught on to their scummy software renaming scheme (explained in a minute) a couple of years ago when I first compared WireTap Pro against Jack and another great audio-input app called Audio Hijack (which charges $16 and $32 for the two versions of their WireTap competitor app).

You see, TODAY AMBROSIA SELLS AN AUDIO RECORDING APP CALLED WireTap Studio, AND AN AUDIO-INPUT APP CALLED WireTap Anywhere, WHICH WAS PREVIOUSLY CALLED WireTap Pro, WHICH ONLY SHORTLY BEFORE WAS CALLED SIMPLY WireTap! To help you fully understand Ambrosia's distracting, dishonest and entirely shameful marketing strategy, just surf over to MacUpdate.com (a company that does not cozy up to the software industry as shamefully as VersionTracker) and look at Ambrosia's posting about its WireTap Studio app (which has customer reviews and other types of feedback going back only to 2007, and which, to be honest, was an outstanding audio recording app -- not an audio-INPUT app like WTA -- when I tested it in 2008). Then check out Ambrosia's MacUpdate posting for WireTap Anywhere, the quality of which I cannot conscionably review here because when it was "originally released" (which really means RENAMED) in 2007, I refused to fully test it because of the unethical marketplace behavior that I describe here, and because I could afford to ignore WTA because of the availability of a truly outstanding and FREE alternative in the form of Jack OS X. When you look at WireTap Anywhere's MacUpdate posting you'll see that THE FEEDBACK GOES ALL THE WAY BACK TO 2003 -- 4 years before Ambrosia's own website claims that WireTap Anywhere was first released. This is because WireTap Anywhere was not really a new product in 1997 but was just a RENAMED VERSION OF WireTap Pro, WHICH IN TURN WAS JUST A RENAMED VERSION OF WireTap. Part of Ambrosi's strategy has been that very time they changed the name of their main app Ambrosia used that new name to claim that it was "really a whole new version that was completely rewritten and has a totally new set of capabilities!" In this way they repeatedly justified CHARGING ALL THEIR OLDER (and therefore more professionally settled/rich) CUSTOMERS A SECOND SHAREWARE FEE (if the customer wanted to obtain the newest version), and it gave the company a NEW OPPORTUNITY TO MARKET THEIR "NEW" MAIN APP, and it gave them a new opportunity and (specious) justification to DUPE THE SOFTWARE UPDATE WEBSITES LIKE MacUpdate.com (which first fell for it, then didn't fall for it) AND VersionTracker.com (which originally and to this day turns a blind eye to it) INTO LETTING THEM START OVER WITH A CLEAN HISTORY OF USER FEEDBACK IN ORDER TO ERASE ALL THE OLD NEGATIVE FEEDBACK, AND TO HELP THEM GIVE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS THE IMPRESSION THAT IT REALLY IS A NEW AND DIFFERENT APP (when all the old users but none of the new users know that, in fact, it is the same old app but with perhaps one more new capability, or maybe even just a different method of graphically organizing it). Non-critics of such disgusting business practices (like probably Ambrosia) call this "cross-grade" marketing, which is the production of several versions of one type of app that all have overlapping capabilities in order to justify a constant though confusing product upgrade cycle which enables the company to force some customers to pay repeatedly while still attracting a bevy of new customers every year. A lot of scumbag companies use this marketing "philosophy," though I'll let you decide which ones they are. Of course, for this to work, the company's apps have to be of sufficiently higher quality than their competition's apps or customers wouldn't put up with that sh!t and your company would slowly whither and die.

So, now you know.  
(Version 1.0.4)

FORMICA  I get that that this app is free (and thanks to the developer), but there are several free CD/DVD burning apps out there that do a lot more than this, like Burn 2.2u (the best), LiquidCD 2.0, and many others that, like this, are not really worth considering in the same light as the 2 mentioned above.  
(Version 4.26)

FORMICA  I get that that this app is free (and thanks to the developer), but there are several free CD/DVD burning apps out there that do a lot more than this, like Burn 2.2u (the best), LiquidCD 2.0, and many others that, like this, are not really worth considering in the same light as the 2 mentioned above.  
(Version 1.0)

FORMICA  I get that that this app is free (and thanks to the developer), but there are several free CD/DVD burning apps out there that do a lot more than this, like Burn 2.2u (the best), LiquidCD 2.0, and many others that, like this, are not really worth considering in the same light as the 2 mentioned above.  
(Version 0.3)

FORMICA  I get that that this app is free (and thanks to the developer), but there are several free CD/DVD burning apps out there that do a lot more than this, like Burn 2.2u (the best), LiquidCD 2.0, and many others that, like this, are not really worth considering in the same light as the 2 mentioned above.  
(Version rev393)

FORMICA  It's not a better option, heck, it's not even an option at $49, especially while the developer of Carbon Copy Cloner 3.2.1 allows us to use it full-featured FOR FREE (just by clicking Help > Donate to Bombich Software > I paid), though if you have any principles, you'll donate at least the recommended $10.

First of all, I am in no way associated with Bombich Software, I just really appreciate that they make an irreplaceable, constantly updated, full-featured backup/cloning app available for free if you really can't afford it. CCC has been one of the most lauded apps available since at least January of 2002 (check the reviews on VersionTracker.com to see them all since the beginning, or to read all the professional reviews just do a Google search on Carbon Copy Cloner). It's not the very BEST backup app available (like most, I prefer SuperDuper! or Synk, but you MUST pay for those), but CCC is by far the very best donationware backup app available, hands down, and it's the ONLY FREE ONE THAT MAKES FULL, BOOTABLE CLONES. And after you've made your fully bootable clone, later you can make quick, incremental backups to it that maintain its bootability and cloniness (to coin a lame term). Oh, did I mention that it is UNHOBBLED DONATIONWARE?  
(Version 3.2)

FORMICA  I've been using it since it was first released, and all I can say is that it's simply a great app. Thanks to the developer for making it free.  
(Version 2.1)

FORMICA  I couldn't agree with you more, and I've been saying that about this trashware for 3 years. Still, there are plenty of people who are mighty impressed with its gimmickry and so they trash your name whenever you criticize it. Stick with DiskWarrior.  
(Version 5.0.4)

FORMICA  This developer is a little flaky - released MovieConverter 1.41 but didn't get much interest. So, s/he changed the name and a couple days later released MovieConverter Studio 1.411, still to lukewarm response (which shocked me, because who wouldn't be thrilled about video software that can make ALL decisions for you?).

I'm a little leery of these new-name movie converters that suddenly appear, because somebody has been low-renting the same useless piece-of-crap converter to a whole bunch of different get-rich-quick goombahs, who then rename it, maybe splash on a different skin, then try to sell it to all the people in the world who suddenly discovered they can rip, convert, compress and burn their own version of "The Fountain" to play on their dad's widescreen and impress their girlfriends' pants off with their mad skills and decidedly cosmopolitan taste in film. I'm not saying that MovieConverter Studio-Mixer-Betamax 1.41112136 is one of those! How could I know, since it's completely hobbled and therefore incapable of expressing its capabilities? So, like many (I'm sure), I just trashed it rather than pay $20 for a license to something with NO street cred, because everything about it on the web -- very little, indeed -- was clearly written by the same French rockin', renamin' code warrior who wrote it, and the same person who hasn't yet heard about x264).

Of course, it's possible that I'm utterly wrong about this app, and to my chagrin it turns out that MovieTransmogrifier-Spa Edition v. Pi is actually the new pro bono, open source, developer-pays-YOU-ware, bane of the MPAA, mutant SorensonToastFairBrake-the-Ripper-MounterDVD2None-for-Dummies, well then my bad ;)  
(Version 1.41)

FORMICA  I can't believe that so many people think this thing is worth $17.22! Maybe $5, but $17.22 -especially when a new free version is in development called multiXFinder (http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/30492/multixfinder)?   
(Version 2.2.9)

FORMICA  If that's the way this app works then it's retarded -- even if it's FREE. I've used many, many different backup apps, some fairly expensive and some cheap or free, but no matter the price it should work logically. So, please tell me that the description above of how it restores is wrong.  
(Version 6.6)

FORMICA  Not a single thing about this massively overpriced junk that cannot be done better with FREE or donateware apps. Stay away.  
(Version 3.2)