STEVEN GOODHEART  Well, I used it for a week, and bought. Now, three weeks later, I have to say that Chronos hit it out of park with this one.

1) Been absolutely rock stable. Not a single crash.

2) The synching with Apple's iCal and Address book internal database has been flawless. I installed the program, SOHO Organizer went out and got the data, and voila! imported all my iCal and Address info. Also, it accurately synched my OmniFocus and The Hit List To-Dos and Events (of course, it should, since these synch to Apple's database too; it's all shared data.) Anyway, I had nary a problem with SOHO Organizer's import, which allowed me to hit the ground running. All I had to do what set up the Preferences (which offer some wonderful options for customizing how your calendars and data look.)

3) The feature set of this Calendar/PIM is really terrific, and much better implemented, in my opinion, than say, Now X 10.0. I'm not going to repeat all the features they tout on the Chronos website, except to say that they are pretty much as good as they say.

4) Features I especially like: the customizable Desktop Calendar and the ability to have your To Dos show up in the calendar, if you want. My favorite: how it automatically collects and shows you all e-mails connected to any contact. That's SO helpful. And I can attach almost any kind of file to a contact with ease. Best of all, I can attach any contact to To Dos and Events I create. Oh, and I love the built-in Journal -- it's so handy for notes and off-the-cuff writing.

As for the companion SOHO Notes, I have to say I just haven't used it. It looks pretty nifty, but at this point, I am absolutely wedded to DevonThink Pro 2.0. Nothing even comes close in terms of features, horsepower, flexility, ease of import of almost anything from almost anywhere, and best of all, incredible built-in artificial intelligence to massage, sort, and research your data. Simply the best, and this is no slight on SOHO Notes, which looks to have quite a bit of horsepower as well and certainly has great synergy with its partner Organizer.

So, with no crashes, no synch problems, and so many great features—and after three weeks of heavy, constant use—I have to give SOHO Organizer a solid 5 stars. It's really a great, usable, feature-rich, stable program. After all the travail and miscues and disappointments of some of the past releases, I'm very happy to say this, and am glad for Chronos.  
(Version 8.07)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Blessings to this software developer for creating a piece of software designed to help people deal with addictions and others things they want to quit. I've done a lot of counseling work in my life, and there are definitely people who would find this software helpful. Others, not so much. But so what? You've at least made this tool available, and nothing works for everyone.

Of course, as you point out, the only person who can make the change is the person "reading this sentence," or to paraphrase Gandhi, we must be the change we wish to see in ourselves. Even so, for some people, this could be a big help, so again, may you reap the good results of this good intent.  
(Version 1.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Wow, I only had to use this for a day to have it supplant NetNewsWirte, which I think very highly of.

I love the interface of this app, and I especially like how easy it is to send an article to Facebook, Twitter, Instapaper, ReadItLater, StumbleUpon, and Digg, to name a few.

The program seems every bit as fast, if not faster, than NNW, and it syncs great with Google Reader.

There are still rough edges...this is a beta, but wow, what a great start and great competition for NNW.   
(Version 0.9.14.434)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Hah, what a hoot! Silly fun. Works great on my Intel iMac with Snow Leopard 10.6.2. Thanks to Idle Time for the free screensaver.  
(Version 3.8)

STEVEN GOODHEART  After using Google Chrome for a couple of days, I'm impressed by two things -- how small a memory footprint the application has, even with lots of tabs open, and how little cpu it uses. It easily uses a third the amount of "wired" memory as my Webkit browsers, Safari, OmniWeb, and iCab.

The program is quick too, although I don't find it quite as fast as either Safari or OmniWeb in terms of screen drawing, but it's close.

The themes features is nice, but if you have multiple tabs open, most of the theme is covered by the tabs and you just seed the top edge. Firefox themes make a much more comprehensive and total change to the look of a browser.

Obviously, this is a very, very early beta, so it's missing a lot of things I'd expect in a release, like Open All Tabs in a folder and the like. I hope they consider doing saved Sessions too. In this feature, nothing touches the features and smoothness of OmniWeb, not Opera, not Firefox, not iCab.

If Google is looking to make a browser that can run on NetBooks or act as a kind of interface program for everything, it seems to me they have a great start with a program that's really fast and that use extremely small system resources compared to all other browsers. If they make it extensible, like Firefox, they will have a formidable contender.

But for now, for me, OmniWeb and Firefox, are my first loves.  
(Version 4.0.245.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Great app! Just discovered it...so many Twitter apps have stopped being supported or don't work with Snow Leopard. This does work with SL, and has a great interface. Plus, it's free! Thanks.  
(Version 2.2.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Thank you for your gracious reply and for clarifying your intent. It's just the the wording was such that it was hard (for me) to discern what the implications were to your post. I apologize for responding so defensively when you were just trying to help. I did send an e-mail to the developer, who said he was a baffled as anyone what it was about, since Adsense doesn't explain how they come to their conclusions. The developer also said he checked his site and it's totally clean so far as he can determine, and had contacted them to find out what was up.  
(Version 5.3.8)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Wait a minute! Sheepsystem's Bookdog site is a "malicious web site?" You've got to be kidding me, right? This is one of the best, most reliable, and honest developers of Mac software around.

This has got to be some mistake on Websense's part, or else this is post about it is malicious. It seems really irreponsible not to go to the developer with this "news" first before posting something like this here.

I just went to the Websense site, and anybody can report a "malicious" site by just plugging in a link and saying why they think it is "malicious." No indication of how Websense verifies any such reports or if their findings can be verified. Maybe Websense is a legit site, but if they don't explain their methodology for determining that a site is considered "malicious," how can the info be trusted?

By the way, I have no relationship to Sheepsystem except as a highly satisfied customer who has had nothing but a great experience with the software and with the developer when I've need to report a problem.  
(Version 5.3.8)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Thanks for the addition of the ability to disable Mail.app's option to auto-include names in copied addresses. That's so annoying, and it's great I can now disable it.

I have (and occasionally use) Onyx, TinkerTool System, and Cocktail but I still find that MacPilot is my favorite utility in terms of the interface, number of features, and ease of use. Also, MacPilot seems to be adding features and refinements at a much quicker pace than these others. I"d hate to have to choose between MacPilot and TinkerTool System, though. They are both terrific. Try them both out and see which one you grok better, but for my money, MacPilot is the best of the bunch.  
(Version 3.4.5)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I've finally had some time with TagoMan, and think it has a lot to offer the tagger.

First, a small point, but I'd change the name "Reorganization Manager" to just "Tag Manager." You don't really "organize" your tags there; that's were you find and modify your tags. I'd called it "Tag Manager." My two bits. :)

One of the advantages of TagoMan over say, Tagit (another fine and *free* program) is that you can tag files, e-mails, whatever, just about anywhere through either a hot-key or from the menubar. With Tagit, you have to drag the file you want to tag to the Tagit dock icon, and of course, this means Tagit is only for *files.* The scope of TagoMan is much broader and therefore more useful, which is no slight at all to Tagit.

I had no trouble finding or retaggin any of the files I tagged through the "Reorganization Manager." I'd give TagoMan a solid 4 or even 5 stars on functionality.

But I'd love to see some interface enhancements to make TagoMan even more useful. In the menubar, I'd love to see the addition of a list of tags I'm now using...either as a pop-up list in the menu, or as a menu choice that would take me to some place in the "Reorganization (Tag) Manager" where all my currently used tags are shown, as a list or cloud. Then, instead of having to do a search for tags, I could just click on a tag, and TagoMan would show me all items tagged with that tag.

Another advantage of this enhancement is this: I sometimes forget what in the heck I tagged something as. If I tagged something long ago, will it show up in "Recent Tags?" I want TagoMan to keep track of the tags I've used in a more global way, not just when I'm doing tagging by using the "recent tags" list. Another advantage in having the tags avaiable in the menubar is that I could select an item, and e-mail, or calendar event, etc, and then click on the menubar to select from a list of tags and just tag it that way. No need for me to see a dialog box unless I want to create and add a new tag.

None of these suggestions are criticisms of the program, which works great. It's just when you start using and relying on a utility like this, you begin to think of ways to speed up the process.

Anyway, kudos to the author...he or she has created a nifty free program that has become part of my workflow.  
(Version 2.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I use aLunch dozens of times a day. What an amazingly powerful and versatile program -- for free!The only thing I may use more often during the day is A-Dock, which I also highly recommend.

Thank you, developer, for this amazing gift to Mac users!  
(Version 3.6.5)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Very cool!  
(Version 2.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Thanks for the website updates....that most be a constantly changing and moving target!

I love this program....it so cool the way it can grab entire recipes from a website and parse out all the elements for you automatically. And even if you want to grab a recipe at a non-supported site, the program can still grab all the images and text via a hot key or Services menu, and then help you quickly slice and dice via the smart interface. Good stuff..although now I probably have more cool recipes than I can possibly do in a lifetime! But, I have choices! :)  
(Version 1.2.3)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Slick, fast, easy to use and customize. Already has saved me a lot of time in just the first day of use (yes, I have Launchbar, and my browsers are set up with short-cuts) but as the previous reviewer says, this is even faster. And, its' free! You can't have too many good tools for the job, I say.  
(Version 1.1.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Wow, beautiful! thanks!  
(Version 1.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Totally primo app! And free! Thanks.  
(Version 2.16)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Their web site and videos totally intrigued me. When I have a chance, I definitely want to try this out. When I was a business programmer (long ago, ancient COBOL), a program like this would have seemed like sheer magic, and would have been enormously helpful in top-down design and decision trees. But I can also see how this could be hugely helpful to writers trying to figure out twisting or confused plots, or for people doing life planning. I won't rate this since I have't done hands on but this seems pretty amazing.  
(Version 1.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  You're most welcome! Glad you figured it out why it wasn't working for you....don't know that I would have! Best wishes, Steve  
(Version 10.01)

STEVEN GOODHEART  MACMAN8:

See my post below to MACINEN - you absolutely *can* import bookmarks from any browser that allows you to export its bookmarks as a dot html file.

Just do the export as .html from the non-Opera browser, then in Opera, after opening up Bookmarks, go to File >Import and Export >Import Netscape/Firefox bookmarks, and Opera will most definitely import the .html file you saved from Safari, or wherever.

Of course, how is a user to know he/she can do this via a Netscape/Firefox import? I only found out by experimenting. So, at the very least, Opera should at have a listing in their bookmark Import Menu to indicate Opera can indeed import a simple .html file!

As for wiping out one's old Opera bookmarks, the only time that happened to me was going from Opera 9.x to 10. But after that, installing all the betas of 10.0 and this 10.01 release, I never lost my old Opera bookmarks. I'm not arguing you didn't lose yours -- just reporting my own experience. Perhaps after reading your post, some users will want to take the precaution of making a backup copy of their Opera bookmarks, just in case, but I've never had to do this.

Anyway, I hope this helps if you still want to give Opera a try.  
(Version 10.01)

STEVEN GOODHEART  MACINEN:

I was surprised at your post -- I was pretty sure I had painlessly imported my Safari bookmarks when I first tried out Opera 10.0.

So, I just tried it again: Bookmarks >Manage Bookmarks, then to File Menu and Import and Export > Import Safari Bookmarks.

Did that, in about 2 seconds 4,000 plus Safari bookmarks were sitting there in a new folder called Safari Bookmarks. Ditto, Firefox, which also has over 4,000 bookmarks.

I'm using Safari 4.0.3 on Snow Leopard on a Duo Core iMac.

Wonder what the difference is between our two systems, that I get success and you a fail?

Btw, to avoid this kind of hassle, I use the amazing Bookdog to sync my bookmarks between browsers -- I use Firefox 3.0, Safari, iCab, and my main squeeze, OmniWeb, and Bookdog keeps everything in perfect sync, even dealing with the fact that Firefox doesn't allow the kind of dupes that the other browsers do.

Anyway, this isn't an ad for Bookdog - just wanted to say that Safari bookmark import flawlessly into Opera 10.0, and ditto on my laptop.

Also, if you really want to give Opera 10 a shot, and you can't get Opera's built-in import to work, just go to Safari, open the Bookmarks window and do an Export Bookmarks from the File Menu. In just a few seconds, you'll have a html file that Opera can open easily. Just tried it out to be sure, and again, my 4,000 plus Safari bookmarks were in Opera in a flash.   
(Version 10.01)

STEVEN GOODHEART  HOFMAN, thanks for the great tip about how to export with comments embedded! Skim is awesome, and it's great to know one can do this when sharing with others.  
(Version 1.3.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Thanks for the heads-up on DevonThink Pro. It's the absolute center of my information universe, so being able to link to it would be HUGE for this particular user.

Sorry to hear that EagleFiler and MacJournal can't be scripted by you....and thanks for the tip about linking to a group.

Haven't had time to thrash TagoMan 2 as I had hoped this weekend, but will certainly get to it soon.  
(Version 2.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Great review, and couldn't agree more! I'd love to see the additions you suggest, too. My impression from correspondence with the developers during the beta process is that the program will definitely continue to improve and evolve, but *not* become bloated -- just work "smarter."  
(Version 1.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Can't wait to try this. If it works, it's nothing short of revolutionary in terms of being able to connect information all over you Mac in different programs. Right now, a lot of programs support what DevonThink Pro calls "item links -- it looks something like this in DevonThink:

x-devonthink-item://28B5537C-C625-497B-81FB-F475036F4E8D

and if you paste and then click on that link in another program, like MacJournal, or OmniFocus, or EagleFiler, or iCal, or BusyCal, you are immediately taken to that item in DevonThink. Or in MacJournal, you can do a "Copy URL of Entry" which makes a link of your entry that looks like this:

macjournal://%23InBox/Test%20Entry

In many other Mac programs, you can paste this link and then when you click on it, you are taken directly to the MacJournal entry you got the "url" of.

Using this method, I can link any item in my DevonThink Pro 2.0 database, or in MacJournal, or OmniFocus, with an entry in iCal or BusyCal and vice versa. EagleFiler does this with a "Copy Record Link" which produces this kind of paste-able link:

x-eaglefiler://open?library=~/Documents/PIM%20Data/Eagle%20Filer%20Main%20Library/Eagle%20Filer%20Main%20Library.eflibrary&recordGUID=szU02WIaRAuibS9Ez-bZCQ

So, the ability to create dynamic links is already available in good Mac programs. But TagoMan 2.0.1 promises to take this kind of functionality to another level of connectivity and integration across your Mac apps. The "front end" looks good and I love the idea of having dynamically connected data sets across multiple programs.

I can't wait to give this a thrashing this weekend and see how it works out in practice. I'll post my impressions here when I'm more familiar with TagoMan 2, but I just wanted to say that the *idea* of this program is terrific and is something I wish was built-in to the Mac OS itself (more than just having item links/urls, as we have now.) I'm really curious to see how the implementation is in real life.  
(Version 2.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This program has a hell of a lot of horsepower and features for a free program. I own and use Mindjet MindManager for mind mapping, and this free program has an amazing amount of the same advanced features, like filtering, notes, hot links to the web and docs, and customizable icons that allow you filter. Plus, the program is quite zippy (on my Intel iMac with Snow Leopard) even though its Java-based. (Maybe I shouldn't expect it to be slow -- Personal Brain mind mapper is also Java-based and it totally responsive with its live links and way-cool animated navigation.)

The biggest difference between this free program and something like MindManager is the overall refinement of the user interface, the look and feel, and navigation. For example, unless I missed it, I didn't see a way in FreeMind to hoist a node, or hide other nodes so I could just see a node I wanted to focus on, and I missed MindManager's nifty ability to "Fit Selection" to your screen. (In a huge mind map, being able to select a node and its children, and then hide others, and then have your selected node expanded or shrunk to "fit to screen" is a huge aid in working with your data. Again, FreeMind may do these things, but I couldn't find out how, if it does. I found the bazillion icons all around the FreeMind window hard to interpret, though each icon did have a hover pop-up -- after a while, I guess you'd get to know what the icons meant.

That said, of course one might expect a paid program of the price of MindManager to be way more refined and visually appealing, but in terms of pure functionality, FreeMind has the majority of features even a hard-core mind mapper would want. If I didn't own MindManager, I think FreeMind would definitely be my program of choice. Kudos to the open source community for making a remarkably powerful and useful program.  
(Version 0.9rc6)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Slick time-saver! Great to have it for Snow Leopard. Thanks!  
(Version 1.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Every time I use this program -- just used it this morning to check a whole bunch of new images I imported into iPhoto recently and found several dozen dupes -- I think this is about the best $7.95 I've ever spent on anything. The program just *works* and has great built-in intelligence and best of all, safe-guards. I've tried other ways to find and elimnate dupes and really messed up my iPhoto library. With Duplicate Annihilator, I know my data is safe. This is a one-trick poney, but it's worth every penny. Highly recommended.  
(Version 2.23.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  WCityMike, thanks for the confirmation. Way cool program for a freebie.  
(Version 1.0b18)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Wow, this is gorgeous! Another winner from Daddio! Thanks!  
(Version 1.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Great to see a version of this screensaver reborn with Snow Leopard compatibility. Love the retro look and feel of this, Daddio!  
(Version 1.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Interestingly, their website says there's a new version 5.5 available, but the only download you can do is for a 5.0.4.

The new 5.5 version does have some way cool enhancements:

http://www.thebrain.com/site/personalbrain/download/PersonalBrain_5.5_Feature_List.pdf  
(Version 5.0.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This is a great "front end" for iCal, or my preferred calendar program, BusyCal (think of BusyCal as iCal Pro..one of my best software purchases this year.)

I can invoke Today from the menubar or with a global hot key -- and quickly see what's up and also add Events or Tasks, with priorities, alarms, and due dates on the fly. Also will do a nifty printout of your day's taks and events.

Simplicity itself and great functionality -- highly recommended.  
(Version 1.8.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Wow, this looks like a monumental overhaul on Telestream's part to make this nifty (and to me, indispensable) utility work with Snow Leopard. Reading the changes they were forced to make to deal with 32 vs. 64 bit issues, I think they did all they could to maximize functionality of the program. Too bad QuickTime X doesn't support non-Apple formats, but at least QuickTime 7 still available. Although some might protest, the Silverlight support is also welcome to this user, since some sites require it, and frankly, I've never had any problem with it on my machine, and they give the option of not installing if you want.

The bottom line for me is that it's working great on my machine, within the limitations of the whole 32 bit vs 64 bit issues that so many developers are having to deal with now. Hats off to Telestream for a remarkably powerful program that gives a heck of a lot of functionality for *free.*  
(Version 2.3.0.14)

STEVEN GOODHEART  What a fabulous program - a Swiss army knife not only for video, but audio, as well. I found this looking for a program that would do good and quick conversion of those .flv files you get at some many sites when you want to grab a video.

When I looked at all the kinds of audio and video files this program would convert, I was totally blown away. It handles dozens of common and obscure file types. It's got to be a power-user's delight, but it's great for simple stuff, too. For example, it gives you a much faster way than iTunes to convert batches of MP3s to m4as, and of course, can quickly turn your m4as to MP3s if you need to. Change a .wmv file to a .mov, or vice versa? Piece of cake. The interface is simplicity itself, but if you look "under the hood," there is incredible horsepower here to change all sorts of settings for video/audio conversion -- stuff that goes way beyond my understanding of how these files are put together, but if you're a power-user, the settings are there for you.

With iVideo Converter, I am now confident that no matter what video or audio format I come across, I can find a way to convert or modify it to suit my needs. What could be better? A previous reviewer called this the "Graphic Converter" for video and audio files -- that's a real compliment, and in this case, well-deserved. Best of all, all these features and functions come for a little less than $10! I'm now a delighted registered user and recommend this program without reserve to anyone needing to manipulate and convert video and audio files.  
(Version 2.0.8)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This program does a terrific job of putting beautiful moving images on your desktop. Most of the built-in Quartz Compositions are beautiful and interesting, and it's also really cool being able to display a live web page on your desktop if you want.

But the big thing for me is how gracefully Mach Desktop handles running QuickTime files on your desktop. I have dozens of beautiful, and really huge, QT files, and Mach Desktop plays them all with ease. The QTKitserver that runs in the background seems to take way less cpu and memory than other ways I've tried to use to run a QT movie on the desktop -- like using Screeni, or SaverDesktop, or WallSaver to run the SaveHollywood Screen saver (it plays QT movies as a screensaver) on my desktop. Alas, SaveHollywood broke with Snow Leopard, so I can't even do that trick anymore.

After using Mach Desktop all morning, and trying out all kinds and sizes of movies, the Quartz Compostions, and putting different weg pages on my desktop, I was sold. The interface is easy to use and the prefs are a breeze to set up. It just works. I think it's a great buy for just $10, given all that it does, and best of all, it doesn't overtax my machine that way desktop screen savers, for example, seem to do. Highly recommended. The only problem I have now is that my desktop is often so engaging and beautiful, I just want sit and watch it!

  
(Version 0.64)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This has to be one of the most powerful ten buck "note takers" I've ever come across. You can hot-key create notes or grab text system-wide, you can tag what you grab, and use the tags to filter your files. The program creates auto-wiki links between document names and you can create you own wiki-links...it has built-in spell check and grammar check, URL link detection....just grabbed something from the web with a user-define hot-key? Want to append to what you just grabbed? A user-defined hot-key does it. The interface is brilliant, using side-panes for showing tags and the docs in your database, and is simplicity itself. Also, the file formats are all RTF, txt, or RTFD, so you're not trapped into a proprietary format with your data!

If I was not so wedded in data collection/organization/management to the *much* more expensive DevonThink Pro, I'd buy this program in an instant. In fact, I'm damn tempted to get it anyway, use it for quick and dirty (but smart) data collection, and then dump files into DevonThink for it's way smart artificial intelligence and other amazing features.

I just don't see how you can go wrong for $10 with this program, and the suite of programs that this program is related to called Automation is also brilliant and a damn good buy. I usually don't review a program I haven't bought (in this case, for reasons of redundancy with DTPro) but my test drive of this blew me away. AutoNotes is just a brilliant little piece of software.  
(Version 1.13)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Gosh, well, thanks! See you around the forum! Steve  
(Version 1.4b291)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Thanks for the Snow Leopard tweaks!

A-Dock X is one of my all-time favorite utilities...I use it dozens of times a day and it saves me so much time and effort. One of my favorite features is being able to type command-option-h to reveal the desktop while I'm in any program, and then hit it again to pop back to that program. Such a huge time-saver and more useful to me most of the the time than the Expose F11 reveal desktop. Great, great program at a great price.  
(Version 1.5.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I own and use OmniFocus and The HitList...but always keep an eye on Things to see if it's evolving/improving, since the perfect PIM has yet to be created, and I have no loyalty to any particular software -- if I find something better, I'm there.

So, what I see, especially since the addition of the programmer who created the brilliant, but fairly short-lived iGTD, is that the pace of improvement and changes with Things has been quite impressive....way more often and significant than my other PIMs (though in fairness to OmniFocus, they got so much right, I don't really expect big changes there, though they keep refining it. The HitList already has a terrific, intuitive interface, but my impression is that the focus seems to be getting synching and the iPhone thing going. In that area, OmniFocus is the gold-standard.)

Anyway, kudos to the Things folks. They are really improving their program. For example, this new list of changes and additions shows some real intelligence and definitely improves the functionality of the program. I'm impressed. Maybe not enough to buy yet *another* PIM -- I think I have a PIM addiction problem -- but if the program continues to improve at this rate and show such intelligence in changes to the interface/functionality, it's going to do just fine and win lots of new users.

  
(Version 1.2.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I just downloaded and installed the Snow Leopard beta, and -- woo hoo! -- I've got MailTags back! After a morning of testing, I haven't run into any serious problems...To Dos I create in MT are showing up right away in BusyCal (BusyCal is one of my favorite new programs -- think of it as iCal Pro) and tagging seems to be just fine.

Given the intelligent and cautious install instructions and caveats at the website and with the installer itself, no doubt this is a beta, but I have to say it's looking pretty darn good at this point. One thing I did do was to run the uninstaller before I did a fresh install of the Snow Leopard version, just to be safe and remove any pre-SL cruftiness.

Looks like MT is getting a significant facelift/reworking because of Snow Leopard, so though I've missed using it for a while, I'm really glad, in the end, for the change. I think we'll end up with an even better, stronger program. But for now, the main thing is that this is a workable version for Snow Leopard users, or at least, for this SL user. My two bits.  
(Version 2.3.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Dr. Girlfriend, your post so kicks bootay! Thanks for the great tips. I have found your posts to be so helpful and insightful, time after time. (I own and use Little Snitch, so great help there.) I too *love* PandoraJam, and like you have learned about so much new good music -- AND, that has led me to purchase *way* more music than I would have otherwise, had I not been able to catch some samples this way.  
(Version 1.4b291)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Sorry, typo, meant FONGD. Looking like Real will need an update soon. :)  
(Version 11.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Thanks for the suggestions, but like FOND says, there's no way to get to the Help menu, because it crashes immediately....I could try trashing the prefs, though at this point, I'm not sure I'll bother........if it weren't for the very occasional need for a Real Media data type, I just wouldn't install with this software.  
(Version 11.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  After initial install, crashes every time I try to open it with:

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGBUS)

Exception Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE at 0x0000000000000000

Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

and so on. Ugh. Running SL 10.6.1  
(Version 11.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Thanks, Bollywood! The .9.7a did a successful install, and SIMBL is working great.  
(Version 0.9.7)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Ditto on 10.6.1.  
(Version 0.9.7)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This is a nifty program, not only for popping up inspirational and self-motivation quotes, also but for helping to learn pieces of text or information you want to remember or memorize.

For example, I've been trying to memorize a poem, and so I entered in the verses and set up the prefs to do messages (verses) in list order. Message then pops up each verse of the poem in order, at the rate I want. I'm finally memorizing the poem.

I also like that you can save (and later, reload) any list of you create, so you can rotate lists or have an archive you can re-use later if you want.

All in all, a useful addition to my software tools at a very reasonable price that I was happy to pay.   
(Version 1.3)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Wow, this is a great piece of software. Super powerful and a very, very intuitive interface. Even though I own Tinker Tool System, I had to add this to my toolbox. I love how quickly and easily I can make deep system changes and I love how clear and understandable the the built-in help and explanations are. Really top notch -- just bought it!  
(Version 3.3.7)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I've tried just about every de-install app, and this is hands down the best I've ever used. It finds and removes obscure files and caches and the like that you'd never think of looking for or even know about. One of my best 2009 purchases, and it keeps getting smarter and better. Highly recommended.  
(Version 3.2.0b4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Always looking for a better, faster, more accurate way to get lyrics into my iTunes music library, I said, "what the heck," I'll give this a try. Used for an hour and bought it.

This is the most accurate, versatile lyric finder I've ever used, and the interface is brilliant. When it doesn't automatically find and put lyrics in your song, which hasn't been often except for really obscure songs I own, iClip Lyrics then has a built-in web browser that automatically finds all the lyric search engines out there, and lets you click and choose. Now, instead of having to go to my browser to do my own search, the search is integrated right into the iClip. And when you do find it via your own search (powered by Google, with customizable settings in iClip) you just highlight them in iClip's browser page and it instantly copies and inserts your selection right into the song. Brilliant! This is the lyric search software I've been looking for. Highly recommended!   
(Version 2.0.6)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Double-click, seems to try to open for the briefest second, and then nothing. Snow Leopard on Core 2 Duo iMac.

I'd love to see this back and working. Don't give up!  
(Version 1.4b)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Huzzah -- well ahead of the October release date mentioned at the MS site, they released a great Snow Leopard compatible update that works like a charm. My MS Natural 4000 keyboard once again has full functionality (but many thanks for USB Overdrive for standing in the gap until then and giving me 90% compatibility). My MS cordless laser mouse is also fully functional, although USB Overdrive handled every feature of the mouse.

I love that the Pref Pane is 64-bit and so doesn't have to reload itself like a lot of my other Preference Panes do. Couldn't be happier, and as another reviewer has said, I give MS props when it does something right. As for their keyboards, I think they are the best on the market, and believe me, as someone who makes a living at a keyboard, I've tried dozens of different ones over the year and for me none have been as comfortable as MS's ergonomic series (4000, 6000, etc.) When I use a regular keyboard, without the MS's ergonomic's splayed layout, I feel like my arms and elbow are scrunched together (because they are), and my typing speed goes way, way down, not to mention getting aches and pains. Of course, there are other good ergonomic keyboards -- Logitec makes one-- but I much preferred the keyboard feel and functionality of the MS keyboard after trying both.

Anyway, this review is about the software update -- it's five star, and if you spend hours typing, you might want to look into Microsoft's ergonomic keyboards; they are superb.  
(Version 7.01)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Couldn't agree more! I think the Vuze interface is great and very easy to use. Of course, compared to a minimalist interface like Transmission's, I suppose one could call it "bloated," but that seems unfair. The aspirations and uses of Vuze go *way* beyond that of the simple but powerful Transmission. I love them both, and use them for different reasons. Vuze gets 5 stars as far as I'm concerned.  
(Version 4.2.0.8a)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Hey Star-Affinity....my post information is exactly the same as yours (I simply copied and pasted from the MS website), but in your post, the sentences are slightly rearranged, so I don't understand why what you posted gives more information or light on the subject.....just curious.  
(Version 7.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This is one of the best programs I've bought in the last year. It is tremendously versatile in terms of the kinds of pop-up notifications you can set and is my favorite Growl add-on, without a doubt. The programmer was right on top of Snow Leopard and changes to Growl itself, and best of all, the program keeps evolving...like the new iTunes features this update has added. Love it! Can't recommend enough.  
(Version 3.7)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I really like this little pref pane! It has a *heck* of a lot of customization and makes using Mail even more enjoyable -- and notifications much, much more informative. In the advanced settings, for example, you can have MailFX Pro look for e-mails from certain e-mail addresses and have it pop up a message window and/or have pop-up notifications from certain e-mails be a certain color. The animation is great and there are some fun alert sounds, too. There are a few rough edges -- some of the yellow explanatory pop-up messages (when you do a mouse-over) for various functions come up in French! Mon dieu! But the functions are pretty self-explanatory and that didn't get in the way of my figuring out things.

Used it for a few hours and bought it -- best $7.95 I've spent on shareware in a long time! Highly recommended.  
(Version 2.0.3)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Bought a license 9 years ago...used it for quite a while, and then had various Microsoft Intellitype keyboards and used MS's pref pane instead for customization (I'm no fan of MS, but they make a damn fine, comfortable, usable keyboard)

Then, with Snow Leopard, the IntelliType and IntelliMouse pref pane/driver mostly broke, and the MS site says there won't be a SL compatible pref pane until mid-October. (I posted info and the MS link at a recent review of the Intellitype software here on MacUpdate.)

Since I make a living with my keyboard, I really was in a bind, because I can barely type on a regular keyboard after being so spoiled by the comfortable, splayed-hand layout of the IntelliType boards....so, I thought, "Well, USBOverdrive was always rock solid for me, wonder if it will talk to my IntelliType Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboard." I downloaded it, tried, and was able to get back 95% of my IntelliType's special keys (the only thing USBOverdrive can't seem to program are the special "My Favorites" keys (1 through 5) although it *can* program the "star* key that the MS pref pane uses to program those 5 keys. Also, USB doesn't see the Windows "Apps" key on the right side of the keyboard, but I never used that even with the MS pref pane.)

So, to save my bacon, I happily bought a new copy of USBOverdrive and consider it money very well-spent. Not only can it program the heck out of just about any keyboard, including MS's Ergonomic Seri9es, but almost any mouse, giving full-functionality to my MS Laser 6000 cordless mouse to boot. (Of course, it also does all kinds of joysticks and other USB devices, but I don't use them.)

If I didn't want to be able to finally program "My Favorites" keys, I probably would just dump the MS pref panes for good -- but when MS finally comes out with the new pref panes, I'll probably want to program my "My Favorites" -- it's so handy to punch a button to open an app, switch, run a script -- almost anything you can think of. In the meantime, I'm very, very happy with USB Overdrive X 3.0 and am making my own "favorites" with various F-key combos. Hmmm, maybe I won't go back after all. :)

Anyway, this is a rock-solid, feature-packed piece of software with a very reasonable price and I highly recommend it to anyone who want to program their keyboard or mouse. It was a real god-send to me in my work.

  
(Version 3.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  OK, as I said in my review, I think the features in Stanza are good enough to pay for -- but at the Stanza site, it says the iPhone version is free, and I'll be darned if I can see where to pay for the Desktop version, and I've looked all over the site.

I saw a Stanza blog that said that Amazon bought them out recently..maybe that's why there's nothing to buy yet? Or maybe Amazon is going to offer this free to everyone, with perhaps the Kindle Reader in mind? Just speculating, but for now, as far as I can tell, Stanza desktop is as free as the iPhone Stanza, which makes Stanza, with all it's great feature,s an incredibly good deal in my book.  
(Version 1.0b18)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Yet another terrific app from Yellow Mug Software. My Microsoft Intellitype keyboard just went on the fritz, and I really missed being able to hit a button on the keyboard to control iTunes, or switch to it, but with SizzlingKeys, I'm doing things just as fast, plus I have even more control over what happens in iTunes, from anywhere. The Yellow Mug Software Bundle was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up, and the extra Pro features for SizzlingKeys are just icing on the cake. Highly recommended!  
(Version 3.3.5)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Used it a few minutes and immediately bought it. It's so easy to use and has a great, intuitive interface. The number of useful things this program does for a mere $8 is astounding. If you use iCal intensively, this is a great investment for a very reasonable price. A must-have.   
(Version 1.7)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Totally awesome -- for free! I discovered this nifty utility when I got the awesome BusyCal calendar program, and it's fixed up half a dozen synching and iCal (or BusyCal) duplicate problems with just a few clicks. Can't recommend it enough. It's brilliant!  
(Version 1.02)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I got FileChute when I bought the great Yellow Bug Bundle:

* FileChute for sending large files

* EasyBatchPhoto for batch image processing

* EasyCrop and EasyFrame for quickly making email or web-ready photos

* FolderBrander to help make folders easily identifiable

* And Pro upgrades to our freeware apps: SnapNDrag, SizzlingKeys, YemuZip and TapDex

I can honestly say this is the most bang-for-buck I've ever gotten for a mere $39.95 -- I've paid that much for a single program and not gotten nearly the value of this collection of great programs.

I got The Bundle mainly because of the great photo image tools, but what a pleasant surprise FileChute was! I couldn't believe how slick and easy it was to "send" files to friends without attachment headaches and file-size worries. With a few clicks I was set up with my MobileMe account and "sending" friends 100-plus megabyte files with nary a problem -- all with a simple link in an e-mail!

This program is well-worth it's modest price, and for a little more than double the money, you can get a great suite of tools if you're interested in Yellow Mug Bundle. And no, I have no relationship to Yellow Mug, other than being a very, very happy registered user of some of the best software I own.  
(Version 4.2.5)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Thanks! I did notice that great change -- really increased the functionality of SmillaEnlarger for me, and others, too, I'm sure. That tip about unchecking "Use Source Dir" is one I didn't notice, until I buried a few files, so thanks!

This is a tremendously useful free app -- many thanks!  
(Version 0.8.9)

STEVEN GOODHEART  ARVIDTP, thanks for the way cool tip! Not only good here, but for other apps, too, as you say. Really, really useful! Thanks for taking the time to post. Steve  
(Version 0.8.9)

STEVEN GOODHEART  One of the things I loved about OmniWeb is it's built-in shortcuts....powerful, and unlike KeyWurl and other SIMBL or Safari plug-ins, it doesn't break when a new OS comes out.

But to my chagrin, after crafting my own shortcuts "by hand" I just discovered you can add a customized search and shortcut in OmniWeb with just a few clicks. I don't know *how* I managed to miss this after all this time of use, but in case others have too, here's all you have to do (yes, it's in the Help file, but somehow, I missed it)

***

The search field that appears in the default configuration for the Navigation toolbar comes with many popular sites that are available for searching. Simply choose a site from the menu that appears when you click the magnifying glass, type your search term(s), then hit Enter, and the results will be returned in the browser window.

Each Search Shortcut that appears in the menu is configured using the Shortcuts preferences.

You can easily add new sites to the list by visiting the site you want to add, clicking into the search field available on the site, and then clicking the Add Search button that appears on the status bar ( ).

You can also right-click or control click in the search field on the web page and choose Add Search Shortcut... from the contextual menu. If the search form on the website contains various options for configuring the search you will want to set those to the appropriate values before creating your new shortcut to ensure the correct query is submitted to the website when you use the search from the toolbar in the future.

When adding a new shortcut a dialog will appear that lets you choose a name for the shortcut as it will appear in the menu of available sites to search on.

***

Once I discovered this nifty trick, adding shortcuts is as easy as in FireFox. Way cool, quick, easy, and powerful. Can't believe I missed it! Hope this is of help to others who may have too.  
(Version 5.10.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  There must have been a lot of improvements in this since June -- I'm pretty impressed with this version.

It's lightning fast on my machine (Snow Leopard on a Core 2 Duo iMac) and has worked without a glitch so far. Of course, I immediately loaded up the great (free) Tofu to do a comparison, and I have to say, Stanza not only does what Tofu does, it adds a whole lot of functionality that Tofu doesn't have, the coolest being bookmarks. Bookmarks are very well implemented and really easy to set and use.

With Stanza, you can not only set the background color, as in Tofu's prefs, you can also set and create themes for font and background color and layouts. Stanza allows you to have 6 different kids of layouts -- horizontal scrolling (like a ticker tape!), two, three, or four columns, vertical scrolling narrow (1 endless single narrow newspaper-like column), and vertical scrolling wide (wide column (size of windwow) full screen scrolling. Of course, there's full-screen with any layout you choose, as well.

I haven't mentioned all the cool features, but even at this beta stage, it's worth $15 to me, the free Tofu not withstanding, because using Stanza with PDFs or whatever is a very, very pleasant visual experience, and bookmarks make it a must have for a researcher like me.   
(Version 1.0b17)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Get 2.1.1 for a startup crash with Snow Leopard.  
(Version 2.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I've tried them all, Transmission is simply the best, simplest, and easiest to use, but it's powerful, too.  
(Version 1.75)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This update, SafariStand 4.0SL169, works great on my Snow Leopard system -- no grayed out settings as some are reporting.

Good to have SafariStand back...man, do I hate not having OmniWeb style side-tabs! I feel like I'm tab blind without it.

And speaking of OmniWeb, when all my Safari plug-ins broke with Snow Leopard, I realized again how cool it is to have a browser like OmniWeb, with so many things just built-in to the browser that won't break with OS updates. SafariStand gives me side-tabs and workspaces - those are built-in to OW, and OW's workspaces are even more powerful and flexible. Many of Glims features are built-in to OW, but Glims does add useful features OW doesn't have. I am looking forward to having Safari's KeyWurl plug-in for shortcuts operative again for Snow Leopard, but OW's built in shortcut system is just as powerful and is tied in with its search engines. (KeyWurl's interface is nicer, though.)

In conclusion, 90% or more of the functionality I have to *add* to Safari with plug-ins is just built in to OmniWeb, and I don't have to worry about an OS update breaking SIMBL or plug-in. Plus, OmniWeb uses Webkit, same as Safari, so it's just as fast and responsive as Safari. Plus, it's free. So, when I'm not using FireFox for its awesome extensions, or if I need to use Services with my web research (since Services don't work in Firefox), my Webkit-based choice is OmniWeb. Safari is third, but when I do use it, I sure am glad to have plug-ins like SafariStand operative again.  
(Version 4.0SL169)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Apologies! I Love Stars is just working just *fine* on my Snow Leopard machine -- I made a really silly mistake -- don't ask! -- anyway, I love it and find it a most useful adjunct to iTunes 9.0.  
(Version 3.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  That's weird behavior, for sure. I downloaded this update...it ran for a few seconds, and then quit, disappearing from the menu bar. And indeed, the Force Quit menu didn't show it running.

If you want to clean everything out and start again, I Love Stars only seems to exist in the Application folder, where you installed it, and:

HD:Users:(you):Library:Caches:com.potionfactory.ILoveStars

and

HD:Users:(you):Library:Preferences:com.potionfactory.ILoveStars.plist

...of course, if you had it as a login item, delete it there.

Good luck on figuring this out. I'm curious to see if others can get it to run on Snow Leopard. It won't run on mine.  
(Version 3.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Awesome! Snow Leopard compatibility! Now works great. After installing SL, I missed using Wallsaver - thanks so much to the developer for this great *free* app!  
(Version 2.5.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Right on! SIMBL is a labor of love and over the years I've felt grateful for it every time I have an add-on or plug-in that works -- because SIMBL works. Many thanks to the developer, Mike -- I hope you feel the love, man!  
(Version 0.9.5b)

STEVEN GOODHEART  The more I've used 9.0, the more I'm liking it. The new layout of the iTunes store is much easier to use and navigate, and I like that iTunes U now has it's own special place in the library. (If you're into self-education and continuing education, iTunes U is simply awesome...has some world-class lectures (audio and videos) on almost every subject.)

I especially like the new Genius Mixes -- brilliant! At first, I couldn't figure out how to activate the darn thing. Then I found this article:

http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/22371/

as the article says:

To activate "Genius Mix" in iTunes 9, select “Update Genius" under iTunes' "Store" menu.

Once the Apple Store gets back to you, you'll see a new entry underneath your Genius Library called, not surprisingly, Genius Mixes. I've been playing various Genius Mixes all day today, and have been really enjoying discovering and rediscovering my own music.

  
(Version 9.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Huzzah! Full Snow Leopard compatibility and Instant Hijacking is back!

This is one my favorite programs, and one of its simplest built-in features -- the 10-Band EQ that you can add to any program you hijack -- adds so much richness and depth to the the music I play in iTunes, or from LastFM in my browser. YMMV, but I found AudioHijack's built-in EQ (which has pre-sets) to be every bit as good as SRS iWow iTunes audio enhancer plug-in and it has much less of a performance hit.

This is a five-star program with excellent tech support and at a great price. Can't recommend it enough.  
(Version 2.9.3)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I meant my comment to be about the upcoming version 8.0, not 7.0.6 -- sorry about that! As I said, I think that 8.0 has some really great features.....and despite my past experiences, I will give it a fair shake.  
(Version 7.0.6)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I know that Amazon has just about the easiest, most navigable website on the planet, but I have to say I really like this little app. It's got a great, simple interface and the way the multiple panes are set up make the program a real pleasure to use. The program makes a lot of information instantly available, by categories, in a visual way that my web browser can't. If I know what I'm looking for exactly, or just want to just zero in on a specific product, of course, I use my browser, but if I want to broaden my horizons or just browse to learn what's available in terms of something I'm looking for, then I much prefer this program. YMMV, but I think this is a great tool to have and best of all, it's just plain fun to use. Oh, and it's frickin' free!  
(Version 1.5.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I love and use Surf Canyon with FireFox, so I was excited to see a beta for the Mac....alas, after installing 1.1b, nothing happened....no bullseye, no Surf Canyon suggestions (since I use it with FF, I know what to look for)

I hope there's a viable beta soon...my experience with FireFox is that Surf Canyon does help with searches and it shows some definite intelligence in its suggestions...if it does the same with Safari, this is an Input Manager that I'll use.  
(Version 1.1b)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Wow, what a great update, and fixing Snow Leopard compatibility to boot! That does it, gotta donate today, long overdue for such a great free program!  
(Version 2.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Just heard back from Devon Technologies -- really fast response!

They said:

"just disable the option "Global Inbox in Save Dialogs" in the Install Add-ons... panel"

and sure enough, that did it!

(Of course, with Snow Leopard, you may in some instances have to go to System Preferences/Keyboard/Keyboard Shortcuts and enable the Service you are wanting to activate -- and change the keyboard command, too, if you want, another way-cool feature of Snow Leopard)

Good luck!  
(Version 2.0pb6)

STEVEN GOODHEART  After installing Snow Leopard, all my third-party Services, including DTPro 2 beta have disappeared -- I read that this would happen.

Alas, I can't seem to reinstall DTPros Services, because when I choose "Install Add-ons" from the Help menu, I get the regular dialog box, but when I click "Install" this crashes DTPro beta every single time.

Anyone else have this problem == and anyone else able to get DTPro's Services to be available under Snow Leopard? (I have sent Devon Technologies an e-mail about this.)  
(Version 2.0pb6)

STEVEN GOODHEART  From the MS website on 2009-09-02:

IntelliType Pro and IntelliPoint for the Mac version 7.0 is compatible with the 32-bit version of Mac OS® X 10.6 (Snow Leopard™). Microsoft Hardware is developing a 64-bit compatible version. This version will be availalbe on or before 10/2/2009. While in 64-bit mode, only basic device functionality will be available.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/downloads/default.mspx  
(Version 7.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Years ago, I used Personal Organizer (which worked great for me), and then early versions of SOHO (not so much).....the many messages here at MU tell some sad stories....

So now, here comes SOHO Organizer 7.0.4, apparently a complete Cocoa rewrite.....and I just looked at their web page....incredibly impressive interface and features.....state-of-the-art, in some cases....and I'm feeling a little like Charlie Brown with Lucy, she holding the football and telling Charlie that *this time* she'll hold it so he can kick it.....I want to think that *this time,* they got it right and are going to do the support right....

I must be a sucker, always looking for the "ultimate" PIM, but I have to say, that when the software is released (site say Sept 22) I'll be downloading the trial version and taking a look....I hope that this is the start of something good.  
(Version 7.0.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  There's kind of a nice human story here. Check out: "Welcome Bartek! Welcome iGTD Users"

http://culturedcode.com/things/blog/2009/08/welcome-bartek-welcome-igtd-users.html

Not to mention:

"[Bartek] also requested that we give free Things licenses to everyone who donated to iGTD, and we were very happy to oblige! Everyone who donated will receive an email with one or more free Things licenses, making sure that the value of licenses will exceed the amount of money donated."

Although I'm a happy registered user of OmniFocus, I have to say that the new Things 1.2, which already reflects some of Bartek's magic, is very tempting. With someone as talented and innovative as Bartek joining Cultured Codes fine programmers, the future of Things looks bright. I'm going to keep an eye on it in the future.  
(Version 1.4.5.7)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Thanks for upgrading this fantastic screensaver for Snow Leopard! This is one of my top-five favorite screen savers on my machine, and is endlessly fascinating to watch. This one definitely belongs in the abstract/geometric screen saver hall of fame, along with Euphoria, Flux, and Helios!  
(Version 1.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Have to say I'm extremely impressed with this new beta...the ability to sync with Google Reader is simply fantastic (even though some wrinkles are still being worked out -- this is, after all, a beta) *and* so is the ability to save articles you want to read later to the incredibly useful Instapaper (the keyboard command of control-p does it).

Also, if you use DEVONthink Pro, DTPro provides two AppleScripts to instantly add NetNewsWire items or flagged items to your database -- how sweet is that? (NetNewsWire and DEVONthink Pro are an amazing combo for research and vacuuming up and organzing information you find online.)

Everything about the beta seems to work better and my impression is that it's faster, too. None of the other RSS readers come close, in my opinion, and, amazingly, its free!  
(Version 3.2b23)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I'm so glad this is Snow Leopard ready -- I'd hate to think of using Snow Leopard without it. Sharpshooter is one of my most used utilities, and one of the best $15 dollars I've ever spent on shareware. I've never, ever had a problem with it, and it's saved me hours of time and frustration since I began using it. Couldn't recommend more highly!  
(Version 1.1b1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Damn, this is one fine program! A Swiss Army knife of decompression, and it seems to decompress stuff way faster, and more consistently than Stuffit Expander does (not to mention opening more file types.)

I made it the default app for all my decompression needs and have never looked back. Plus, it's free!  
(Version 2.0rc2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This program totally blew me away. It's just about everything iCal should have been, and more. I hardly know where to begin in terms of features I love.

It sync instantly and effortless with both of my PIMs - The Hit List and OmniFocus. It links to and syncs with the the calendars I choose in Google Calendar. It does To Dos and Recurring To Dos, the way I always wanted iCal to work, and I can *finally* see the notes and info of a To Do I select in the To Do list *without having to double-click and open a To Do* as one has to in iCal. (Or you can double-click and get a floating palette.) I can add my own BusyCal notes (in addition to the standard iCal type notes) and I can add my own *TAGS*!! The banners are beautiful, and I love the built-in weather subscription, which gives a 5 day forecast, and the lovely weather icons it creates.

Most of all, I love the interface....everything's so intuitive and easy to use. (Every day that I use it, I say to myself, "Why in the world didn't they make iCal work this way?"

In over a week of intensive testing and experimenting, I haven't had a single crash or loss of data. The synching with The Hit List and OmniFocus have been flawless.

Looking at some of the other comments here, I can see that a few people have some bugs and problems with the beta, and apparently there are some 'synch loop" issues to be worked out, but for me, this beta has been 100% golden. If this were available today, I'd buy it today. I can hardly wait to make the purchase, and I never want to go back to the restrictions and limitations of the present incarnation of iCal.

This is a brilliant piece of software...Apple should buy this and toss out iCal. It's that good.  
(Version 1.0b6)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This b6 beta has some nice new features...especially the new Reveal/Show and Markup toolbar additions, the new way to hoist, and the new way to expand and collapse the outline. The other improvements/refinement are welcome, but the "big dog" that's still missing for me is the tagging front-end. I really want to get into tagging my info, instead of using the old "Comments" method, and I'm eager to see who DevonThink implemented this. I think the awesome browser bookmarklets (which really allow me to fully use DTPro 2 in the Service-less Firefox as well as Safari and OmniWeb) gives a hint of what the "front end" might finally look like, and I'm eager to give it a go.

Otherwise, I'm pleased with the steady progress, even though I'm jonesing for the final product. By the way, this is one of the most bug-free, non-crashing Mac betas I've ever used, and I don't think there's any worry concern about "losing data" with such a great company, anymore than one would worry about investing data in betas of great programs like EagleFiler, MacJournal, or The Hit List, which I've done.  
(Version 2.0b6)

STEVEN GOODHEART  As a writer/editor, I can definitely see the appeal of this program. It does have a lot of editing/text manipulation horsepower. And yet, as I tried it out, I had this weird sense that I was suddenly back using WordStar on my first computer, a CP/M machine. I used WordStar and WordPerfect extensively, "back in the day" and knew by heart almost all of the embedded codes for formatting text. Then, WYSIWYG word processors began to make their debut, and it seemed like magic to see your actual formatting onscreen, rather than having to imagine what it would look like, until you printed, or did a formatting preview. After a while, embedded codes seemed so old-school and cumbersome to many people.

And now, 2009, 21st century, here comes Ulysses, with (very powerful) embedded codes and a WordStar-like embedded code paradigm! Of course, Ulysses is way more sophisticated, in many ways, than good ol' Wordstar, but I find it fascinating to see the power of embedded codes presented as way to do day-to-day editing, and not just layout, like LaTeX or the like.

I can definitely see how I could use the Ulysses approach as a way to get WYSIWYG out of the way, and endless tinkering with layout and format, and to really zero in on text creation and content. Of course, one can do this, with discipline, in a any good writing program, and one has to note that Ulysses also offers many, many other way-cool and data-base like features for keeping track of research and notes. I don't know if this has enough to move me away from Scrivenir or StoryMill, but it's definitely piqued my interest.  
(Version 2.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  IAMDORIAN - great review, and couldn't agree more. Love app and look forward to seeing its evolution.  
(Version 1.2.5)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Wow, drag and drop would be a great solution for now! Thanks for looking into that as a future upgrade possibility. For now, I'm just doing exports from iPhoto on stuff I want to work on in ImageEnlarger, and then go from there. ImageEnlarger is way cool. Thanks for creating it.  
(Version 0.8)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This is a fantastic program, for free!

The one thing I wish it could do, so far, that it doesn't (unless I missed how to do it) is some sort of integration with iPhoto. The problem is, if one import one's images into iPhoto, (as opposed to just linking to them, an option in the iPhoto prefs) then all your photos are hidden away from the Finder inside the iPhoto library. In other words, you can't navigate to the iPhoto image via ImageEnlarger's source/browse buttons.

I tried changing the External Editor in the iPhoto prefs from PhotoShop or Graphic Converter (or whatever one uses) to ImageEnlarger, and although iPhoto does then switch to ImageEnlarger, it doesn't open the image one selected for External Editing in iPhoto.

If there's a way to do this that I've missed, I'd sure like to know, otherwise, I wish that this great little program was iPhoto savy.

Thanks!  
(Version 0.8)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Wow, what a way cool program! Downloaded it, tried it about 5 minutes, and was immediately sold.

I never used the previous version, but I have to say that new interface is simply brilliant....didn't need to use help once, just all made sense and worked great. The special effects, relying on Core Image, are really outstanding. The program is just plain *fun* to use, and within minutes I created some marvelous new desktops. (The screensaver is great eye candy, too.)

For a desktop image nut like me, this is a must have...and the price is very reasonable for all the ease of use and features. Going to buy it today.  
(Version 2.3.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This is one of the most useful free programs that I own. The improved interface and preferences, and the new ability to insert Snippets, are fantastic. XMenu drills down long folder hierarchies with no delay, and if you customize the user-defined folder with files and folders, or aliases of them, you have incredibly easy and fast access to just about anything you need. And, it's free!  
(Version 1.9)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Wow, great update. Love the new functionality, especially the Boolean and Wildcards feature, which are like those in DevonThink and DEVONagent. Easy to use, speedy, customizable -- and free!  
(Version 4.5)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This is a great update. Love the new look of the interface and the new features. I've never had problems with this software and I've been using LabelWriters for many years now. Some of the early drivers and software were problematical, but I can say that at least for the last 4 years, this software has been rock solid for me, and happily, the updates have been much more regular for the Mac than they were in the early days of this equipment. Highly recommend this update.  
(Version 8.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Yes, that also doesn't work for me.....I sent a message to the Glim team about all of this, and they are working on it....no time frame yet for a fix...apparently, it's non-trivial.....interestingly, I am finding that Inquisitor works just fine with the final release.

Good luck!

Steve  
(Version 1.0b17)

STEVEN GOODHEART  If you mean one can no longer choose the Search Engine you specified in the Glims Search Engine preferences, yes, I have the same problem too.

By the way, I found with this version of Glims that Safari uses whatever is at the top of the Glims search engine list -- found that out after moving Wikipedia to the top of the Glims search list, and then quitting Safari. When I came back, all the searches I did in Safari's toolbar were all for Wikipedia..the only way I could change it back to Google was to move Google search back to the top of the Glims search list, and then restart. I hope this gets fixed soon -- and that it's fixable. It's great being able to specify the search engine one wants to use.  
(Version 1.0b17)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Was able to fix the customization of the Toolbar not sticking by deleting the Safari preferences:

User/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist

Works fine now - keeps standard Safari and SafariStand icons, etc. through a quit and restart.  
(Version 4.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I meant to say, "I can't get my customized icons to *stick* not "fit". As I said, the changes disappear after I quit and restart Safari.  
(Version 4.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I can't get my Toolbar customizations to fit -- I add the new icons, they show up after I close the customization, but when i quit and restart Safari, I see the new icons I added for the briefest moment, and then the default bar overlays everything.

Anyone else having this behavior? I can't even get the Top Sites or New Tab icon to stick. Oddly, the Evernote Icon sticks, and now seems to be forever a part of the Default Icon set.

Love to hear if this is something odd on my machine, or if others are having any trouble customizing their menu bar.

Thanks,

Steve  
(Version 4.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Please note that I'm not saying that Safari crashing on startup is necessarily or only due to the VideoBox plug-in! Just that that was the case on *my* machine, and the crash dialog box said so. Unless you are a user of VideoBox, you shouldn't have the offending plug-in.

However, if you have tried VideoBox and can't find it, it's SIMBL plug-in that's located at:

User:Library:Application Support:SIMBL:Plugins:

(right now, I only have SafariStand in the very last folder in this hierarchy -- good ol' SafariStand works!)

You might also try disabling or removing plug-ins from here:

User:Library:Internet Plug-Ins

or here:

Macintosh HD:Library:InputManagers

but, I'm just guessing.

Hope this helps someone.

Steve  
(Version 4.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Make sure you don't have a Plug-in that's incompatible with the new release. The first time I fired it up, it crashed, but the crash dialog box that popped up after the crash (which sends a crash report to Apple) helpfully said that the crash was probably caused by the TastyApps plug-in that VideoBox installs was the culprit. As soon as I disabled that plug-in, the new version fired right up.

The release Safari also told me, on startup, that KeyWurl (another SIMBL plug-in) hadn't been tested with this version of Safari, and so was disabling itself. I hope the developer puts out an update soon.

But after these two glitches, caused by add-ons, the new Safari ran and runs just fine, and is really fast. Hope these comments help you or others.

Steve  
(Version 4.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  What an amazing set of AppleScripts -- for free! Used with LaunchBar (what I use), or Quicksilver, or Namely (which looks cool, and I hadn't heard of it until it was mentioned in the description) or the like, and you have some real horse power here. Kudos to the developer for making such a cool set of tools available to the Mac community!  
(Version 20090425 build 0003)

STEVEN GOODHEART  EagleFiler continues to be one of the best and most useful programs I own and use every day -- and the updates and improvements keep on coming. I am especially happy about the new ability to recognize and import tags that are stored in a file’s extended attributes, for use with my tagging programs like Punakea. Also, being able to import from a Smart Folder is a way cool improvement that I immediately find useful. Support from Michael Tsai is as good as I've ever had with any Mac software I've used. Can't recommend EagleFiler enough. Steve  
(Version 1.4.5)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Same Growl message here...can't seem to be able to download anything. Intel Core 2 Duo 24 inch iMac, Mac OS 10.5.6  
(Version 3.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Just fyi, DevonThink Professional is on the verge of releasing the beta for the totally revamped Version 2.0....and as a DTP fanboy, I'm really psyched, since the promised features are exactly what I've been hoping for:

Multiple databases open at the same time

Boolean search operators replacing the current search

Smart groups (stored searches)

Documents are stored as-is, can be edited externally

Support for many common file formats

Support for QuickLook

Documents can be linked to from the outside using a URL

Overhauled, modern user interface

Intelligent tagging support

PDF splitting/joining/annotating

Global inbox replacing the import destinations chaos

Trash can

Undo/Redo

Tabbed browsing, viewing, and editing

Cover-flow-ish document browsing

Support for Skim files

Much improved RSS feed support

Document templates

Fully overhauled web interface

Man, I can hardly wait -- especially for smart groups and tags!!!

For those who don't own DTP yet, now would be a good time to buy, because they (and anyone who bought DTP after July 1, 2008) will get the new 2.0 for free, as explained at this link:

http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonthink/devonthink2.html

Man, I can't wait to get my hands on this beta. They are promising it before Christmas.  
(Version 1.5.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Whoa, this is damn nifty widget. A huge time-saver. Sure there are all kinds of websites that do conversions, but this sure is handy. As a science writer/editor/researcher, I highly recommended it!  
(Version 1.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This terrific app makes using the great WebShots picture site a breeze, and this new update definitely shows performance improvements. Thanks!  
(Version 1.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Exact same experience - question marks for photos, prefs won't load, can't send feedback. Really bad build.

24" iMac, 4 GB SDRAM, 3.08 Ghz Core 2 Duo, OSX 10.5.5  
(Version 1.1.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  All I can say is WOW! What a terrific update. Every new feature makes EagleFiler incredibly more usable and versatile.

The new custom smart folders are a huge leap forward in terms of being able to filter and modify one's data in EF. The sheer flexibility of the criteria one can use (17 different kinds, from tags to notes to labels to file size to URL to creation date to just about you-name-it), combined with the ability to nest criterion give me unmatched horsepower in terms of seeing my gigabytes of research data the way I want to see. If such powerful smart folders weren't enough, I can now add actions to the smart folders and further modify my data. Unbelievably cool! I'm only just beginning to see all that I can do with the new power of these smart folders. This is the first time I've begun to think that I could find a replacement for DevonThink Pro in my daily use; this version of EagleFiler is that much more powerful.

The new Stationery Folder function has immediately become a huge time saver for me - for example, I can now create MS Word files, or MindJet MindManager mind map files, instantly, from within EagleFiler based on templates I've created in these, or other, programs. Sweet!

I am especially loving and using the new tag cloud window for quickly see what tags I'm using with an item and for quickly adding or changing the tags I have assigned.

Now that I can drag individual e-mail messages into EF as free-standing .eml files, I'm finally going to start using EF as my mail archive database, because I really wanted to be able to store individual e-mail messages along side my other kinds of data in my EF folders. Now I can make a individual message a "to do" or "next action" based on tags and other criteria within the email message. And to top it off, I can search for these individual files with Spotlight, and not just within EF.

Although it's short bullet in the list of changes, perhaps the most important new function for me as writer/researcher has been the addition of a Find panel for searching *within* PDF and Web archives. This was one area where DevonThink Pro really outperformed EagleFiler for my daily research. I really needed to see *inside* the hundreds of PDFs I had, not just look at titles or tags. And what's more, EagleFiler does this search within PDFs and Web Archives much faster than DevonThink Pro does, though DTPro still has some advantages in its interface on searches.

As a user of Punakea, I'm really pleased to see the new options for importing tags, especially since the "Import as notes and tags" helps me get Punakea-style tags into EagleFiler without having to lose my non-Punakea style info in my Spotlight comments.

Finally, I've used the new contextual menus dozens of times today -- how cool is it to be able to select text and instantly make it the title of the something you've grabbed from the Internet or some PDF, or instantly to make a keyword in record a tag? Huge time-saver.

Yes, this is a rave review, but I think these improvements deserve my rave. I make my living as a writer/editor and I'm constantly doing research. EagleFiler has always been great in terms being able to instantly grab or import just about anything anywhere on my iMac or the Internet. But with these new features, it takes a huge leap forward in helping the end user filter, classify, and categorize data and research quickly and efficiently.   
(Version 1.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This visualizer is kind of neat, and adds a little bit of visual information about what's playing, to boot. Fun addition to my set of iTunes visualizers.  
(Version 1.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Uh, no, I'm not the developer, any more than you were the developer when you sang the praises of VisualHub in one of your posts.

I happen to be a science textbook writer/editor and have been a Mac user since the day I saw Steve Jobs show the first Mac at the old John Hancock building here in Boston over 24 years ago. Over the years I've beta tested dozens and dozens of good, bad, and ugly Mac programs, just for the fun of it.

It's too bad that some people are so cynical that when someone gets enthusiastic about a program, they think the person must have some hidden or ulterior motive. I have no relationship whatsoever with ChangeDesktop other than being a very satisfied user since the its first appearance. If you check my other posts on other programs, you'll see that, yes, I'm very enthusiastic about good Mac programs -- but does that mean I'm also the developer of DevonThink Pro, or MacJournal, or HistoryHound, or Safari Stand, or any of the other great programs I've used every day and reviewed here? No. Your cynicism flies in the face of the facts.  
(Version 3.0.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Fantastic! The best desktop image changer I ever used on the Mac is not only back, but it's better than ever. I'd give this six stars, if I could -- it's that good, that slick.

It's so easy to make customized image sets, whether you use iPhoto, Aperture, or choose your own image folders via dialog box and the Finder. Plus, check out how smart the "Smartfit" feature is....I *love* how the program deals with a mix of small and big images so that you get the best display for each size, and not pixillation when smaller images are blown up too big, as happens with one-size-fits-all settings in the Mac OS Desktop and ScreenSaver module, or vice versa, a big image gets cropped or distorted to fit. Plus, you can tell the program to just ignore images smaller than a certain pixel size.

The Smart Background color is cool, too, though most of my images are too big for it to show up much, but when doing small images, it's cool how often the background color feels right.

But the definite "wow" and eye-candy factor is the new and way, way cool transitions between images. I love watching the various ways the images change, and just set the transitions to "Random" so I can enjoy them all. (The Copy Machine setting is a riot!) And of course, you can customize the time between transitions and how long they take to happen.

I've been a user of ChangeDesktop since it's origin, and I was so bummed that it had not been updated for so long, and thus had problems with later versions of the Mac OS. But the wait was worth it -- the totally rewritten version is simply awesome, and still, unbelievably, free (though I'm going to make a donation, for sure). Check it out, you'll be amazed at how great this program is.  
(Version 3.0.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  First, let me say that DevonThink Pro is *the* indispensable program on my Mac. It's my "vacuum cleaner," which absorbs and classifies all the research and information I need to store in an incredibly useful way. I own Notetaker, MacJournal, Eagle Filer, and they have their uses, but nothing comes close to the horsepower and intelligence of this program.

Anyway, this 1.5.4 update is nice....the first thing I noticed is that the program now loads 4 or 5 times as fast as it did before - sweet! And yes, the wiki links really zoom now. And the improved Webkit integration shows too, and web pages and web archives open much faster. Haven't checked out all the improvements listed, but at first look, I'm really pleased with this update, mainly because of overall speed increases.

This program takes some time to learn, but it's not formidable, or anything, and there are really great tutorials at the DevonThink website. If you haven't tried this program out, give it a chance. The "artificial intelligence" is truly remarkable. Also, be sure to check out the horsepower of DTP's Service Menu and scripts...they gives you incredible power in terms of data import. And if you use DevonAgent in combo with DTP, you have unparalleled power for searching and classifying and sorting information.  
(Version 1.5.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Damn, this baby is fast! I mean noticeably faster than Safari 3.12, faster than Firefox 3, faster than Opera 9.5.2, faster than OmniWeb 5.8 sneaky peak -- plus, it's Webkit, so I can use the Services menu with Devonthink Pro, MacJournal, and every other Service friendly app I use every day. Only the fact that I use add-ons Saft and SafariStand with Safari makes Safari a slightly more useful browser for me.

iCab is also hugely customizable, and has lots of neat features, for example: iCab sends e-mail and emails pages, can speak the text on most web pages, has a very nifty Session manager built in, and has a lot of damn cool contextual menu items: back/forward/show source, download, check syntax, open in new window/tab, add url to bookmarks, open image externally, as well as some great submenus such as show all links. These are only a few of the cool features.

Some years ago, I paid for OmniWeb, and I've always been glad I did, as it's given me good service over the years as an alternative to Safari and Firefox. But I have to say I'm seriously thinking of sending my bucks to iCab to thank them for making such a great, FAST browser (even though the free version use is totally unobtrusive). It's that good.  
(Version 4.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Thanks for what you shared. I simply love SafariStand. If you want to see some more search strings, take a look at my review of Keywurl here at MacUpdate. You should be able to adapt them to SafariStand just fine...and, you just may find you decide to use Keywurl for this enhancement, though SafariStand certainly does a fine job. (I have no relationship to either SafariStand or Keywurl, except as a very happy user.)

Here's a quick answer to your AllMusic query, but do take a look at the Keywurl review for more queries (as well as to get an explanation of the code, below)

All Music

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?P=amg&sql=,Query,&opt1=1

Best wishes,

Steve  
(Version 3.1L161)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Whoa! This plug-in is stunning -- and incredibly useful. The first time I did clicked and grabbed to scroll to the right in the image gallery in a Google Image search, I was totally blown away by how the gallery tilted and rolled and flowed to the right as smooth as butter.

But it's not just a visual tour-de-force, it's really, really useful for a quick scan and look of dozens, even hundreds of images. (How I wish I'd had this when I was doing image research for science textbooks I was working on, when I'd literally looks at hundreds and hundreds of images a day!) Of course, not every kind of site is supported, but enough good ones are to make this plug-in really worthwhile for many folks.

I really like the Safari CoolIris's overall UI too. The only plug-in for Safari that even comes close to being this cool visually (and useful) is History Flow, part of the amazing, must-have SafariStand plug-in suite. The plug-in has also been rock-solid on my Intel iMac with Leopard 10.5.4 and gracefully tells you when a particular site isn't supported.

(Funny, while the website calls this plug-in "CoolIris (formerly PicLens)" the Mac Firefox 3.0 version add-on calls and installs itself as *PicLens* NOT CoolIris. In fact, you can still get the earlier CoolIris FF add-on called Cooliris Previews, but this shouldn't be confused with this new add-on that does the neat scroll/gallery 3-D display. Jeez, did that make sense?)

Anyway, CoolIris 1.8.0 etc. for Safari is a remarkable plug-in that I recommend to anyone.  
(Version 1.8.0.4257)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Huzzah, Instant Hijacking is back! No more having to quick iTunes, or whatever, to start 'jacking!

This is one of my all-time favorite programs. It's always been rock solid, and is powerful and versatile. Can't recommend enough.  
(Version 2.8.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I think this might be an issue of the Theme you use. With FF 3, I found that some Themes show the scroll bar, and some don't...I think there's even something about this on an official Firefox 3.0 FAQ page I saw. Do you not get a scroll bar even with the default FF theme?

What's weird is that I found that when I was using some themes, the right scroll bar wouldn't show, but I could still scroll the page with my scroll wheel on my mouse, and I could click and page up and down over where you'd expect to see the scroll bar, and it would work -- like having an invisible scroll bar area.

So try some new Themes....Phoenity Modern and Phoenity Reborn are handsome themes that do the scroll bar right, for example. For whimsy, try Red Cats, my wife's favorite. Alas, some of my other favorites, like Azerty III, don't show the scrollbar, but I expect the Theme creator will eventually fix this.

Hope this helps.   
(Version 3.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I'm using 3.0.1, so I doubt if it's a memory leak like there was in Beta 4. In fairness to FF, I have 25 Add-ons installed, and many of them are really powerful and feature rich, and I'm sure that they must add to the overall resource load:

Addblock Plus, All-in-one Sidebar, BlueOrganizer, Clipmarks, Customize Google, Define Word, Digg Firefox Extension, DownThemAll!. Fast Dial, Feed Sidebar, Firefox Search Sidebar, Firefox Showcase, Google Notebook, Interclue, OPML Support, PDF Download, Quartz PDF Plugin, Rewind/Fastforward Buttons, Sage-Too, Save Line in Folder, Scrapbook, Session Manager, SlimSeach, StumbleUpon, Surf Canyon Search Engine Assistant, Tab Mix Plus, Taboo, Toolbar Buttons URL Fixer...whew!

Yeah, that's probably "too many" :) but each of these really add-ons rock and add to the utility and ease of use of FF. I'd be curious to know if someone who is getting a much lower CPU load many feature-heavy Add-ons.

And look, this speed thing is all "relative," right? It's not like FF brings my machine to its knees or something! But if I have 6 to 10 other programs open that are also resource heavy, and I'm working on images or sound files, I definitely see the spinning beach ball more than I'd like, and things are noticeably slower when I use FF versus Safari -- but again, this is relative. When I think about what I'm doing, and the program horsepower I'm dealing with, it's pretty amazing. Still, when I can eventually afford to go from a 1.8 Ghz G5 iMac to a 3.0.6 Ghz Intel Core Duo iMac, I sure am going to do it! :)  
(Version 3.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Same experience here on my iMac G5.....according to Activity Monitor, FF uses 30 to 60% of my CPU and often jumps to 80%...typically about 40% with 5 or 6 tabs opens, way more if 10 or more tabs are open on demanding sites.....Safari, right now, is using about 6 to 7% with 5 windows open....my experience has been that, on the whole, FF uses way more resources than Safari and therefore in most cases, is slower than Safari.

I really, really like the add-ons and customizability of FF, but until I get a faster machine, it's just too much of a drag on overall performance when I have other resource hogs open too.

In the meantime, I have found that with SafariStand, Saft, Safari Tabs, and Keywurl, I have most of the "can't live without" features I admire on FF, not to mention the ability to use the Services menu, which really unlocks the power of programs like DevonThink Pro, MacJournal, NoteTaker, and Scrivener.  
(Version 3.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Keywurl is awesome!

I use it dozens of times of day with Safari 3.1.2 and OS X 10.5.4. (Couldn't get Sogudi to work well with my set-up.) Btw, my all-time Safari add-on, SafariStand, does keywords too, but I like Keywurl's interface better.)

Setting it up is so simple and easy because of the great interface.

Here are some fave searchess -- you can, of course, give your own keywords. For example, I use wk for Wikipedia searches.

(Where you see "Query" below, is where Keywurl puts in its Query lozenge (it seems to automatically put in the commas where needed before and after the Query lozenge, because when you look at the expansion in Keywurl you don't see commas, but when I copied and pasted here, the commas where correctly inserted.)

Anyway, Keywurl is awesome, and this might help you get started:

All Music

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?P=amg&sql=,Query,&opt1=1

Amazon Search:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Dblended%26field-keywords%3D,Query

Discogs

http://www.discogs.com/search?type=all&q=,Query

Flickr

http://flickr.com/photos/tags/,Query

Google Search:

http://www.google.com/search?q=,Query,&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Google Image Search:

http://images.google.com/images?q=,Query,&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Google Maps

http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=,Query

Internet Movie Database (IMDB)

http://imdb.com/find?s=all&q=,Query

MacUpdate

http://www.macupdate.com/search.php?keywords=,Query,&starget=google

VersionTracker

http://www.versiontracker.com/php/qs.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=,Query,&srchArea=macosx&submit=Go

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=,Query,&go=Go

YouTube

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=,Query

Of course, you can also use Keywurl to just open any website you want with a keyword -- for example, I type gn to open Google News. To add other searches, go the site your interested in, do a search there, and then copy the url into Keywurl, replacing your search keyword with one or more of Keywurl/s Search lozenges,as needed. With a little luck and experimentation, you can set up searchs at almost any web site.

(You can use these Searches in SafariStand too, but there, as I recall, SafariStand uses @key& for its keyword Search field, not a graphic lozenge like Keywurl does.)

Good luck!  
(Version 1.4b2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Wow, this works great! StumbleUpon in Safari, at last! That's one of the Add-ons I miss most when not using Firefox. This version doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Firefox version, like Channels and all of that, but it's got the main show -- Stumbling, rating, and sharing. I'm going to use it and when i get to my 100th stumble, going to buy it. Hard to beat for only $4, especially to get back one of my favorite fun web features. Haven't had a single glitch or problem, and have been able to log into two different StumbleUpon accounts I have with no problem. I'm rating this overall five star, with a 4 star for features, since it doesn't do everything that the Firefox version does.  
(Version 0.92)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Ron, when I ran bookdog to sync files form Safari to FF 3.0, it said that FF 3.0 does not allow duplicate URLs. This was a surprise to me, as I often proliferate the same URLs to various folders for quick access. Anyway, when you try to add a bookmark that's already there you are prompted to edit/remove it. I wonder if your "missing" bookmarks, which are there in 2.0, but not in 3.0, are in fact, dupes being removed? Just a guess. Steve  
(Version 3.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I basically agree with your comments about Opera 9.5. I have an iMac G5, 1.8 Ghz, 2.0 GB ram, and of all the browsers I use, Opera the easiest on resources, and I think it renders pages faster than any of them, though Safari and Firefox may be more accurate.

As for this new FF 3.0, on my machine, I find it uses *less* resources than Safari, on average about 26% to 36%, accoring to my iStats menu, which seems to be similar to your experience. (BTW, I also find this 3.0 version uses much less cpu than FF 2.0)

When I get 10 or more tabs open in Safari, I often find it using 40% to 65% of CPU, and my machine really crawls and works hard. (I really want to get a new Intel iMac!) So, besides all the way cool Add-ons in FF, like Stumble Upon :) and Tab Mix Plus, I actually switched to FF 3.0 *because* of how much Safari slows things down when I have lots of tabs open in it.

I'm wondering if my different experience might be due to the fact that I have both lots of add-ons for Safari installed: Safari Stand, Saft, Acid Search, Keywurl, and Safari Tabs. I do know that my cpu usage is less in Safari when I have Saft uninstalled, for example.

Anyway, I too am really impressed with Opera 9.5...it's got tons of features and great speed and you can cutomize the hell out of it.....but the add-ons and low-resource use of FF 3.0 (compared to Safari on my machine) have converted me to FF 3.0 for the time being...the great thing is, if I want to switch between any of these great browsers, with Bookdog, it's a snap to move my bookmarks around, replace, merge, whatever I want, and I don't have to worry about being stuck in one browser.

For now, I'm loving the cool new features of FF 3.0, and especially all the cool add-ons for Delicious, and Digg, as well as great add-ons like InterClue, Adblock Plus, BlueOrganizer, Colorful Tabs, Firefox Showcase, FlashGot, Session Manager, Surf Canyon, and of course, Stumble Upon. The only thing I *really* miss is the ability to use Mac OS Services with FF. In Safari, via the Service menu, I have much more horsepower to interact with OmniFocus, DevonThink Pro, and MacJournal, and of course, this is something that will never be "fixed" with FF.  
(Version 3.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  If you can't live without the incredibly useful Tab Mix Plus Add-on, you can get the most recent developer's build for Firefox 3.0 here:

http://tmp.garyr.net/tab_mix_plus-dev-build.xpi

I've been using it for a week with the Firefox Final Release candidates and haven't had a single problem.

Enjoy!

Steve  
(Version 3.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  The final version seems to be available now...just downloaded it and checked the version: You can get the final release version of Firefox 3.0 Mac or PC here:

ftp://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/3.0/

Good luck!

Steve  
(Version 3.0)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Speed Download has been a favorite utility for years now, and it keeps getting better and better, with more speed, and features with each iteration.

With version 5.0.3, I really, really love the new YouTube contextual menu. Now, downloading a video from YouTube is just a control click away, all with the extra speed and convenience of the great SD interface. Very, very cool!

Speed Download is one of my "must have" utilities, and is especially fantastic for downloading all the images or MP3s or whatever from a web page or link. Being able to queue up dozens of downloads and then "forgetting" about it while SD does its stuff is so handy, that once you try it, you'll never want to be limited to what a mere browser can do. Try it, you'll love it. (No relationship to the company; just a long-time very satisfied customer.)  
(Version 5.0.3)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Carrie Martha: I am a registered user of Scrivener, which I absolutely love, but I'm taking a look at StoryMill, too. I understand that there's quite an active forum at Mariner and a pretty good sized user base (including original Avenir users). Anyway, check out:

http://www.marinersoftware.com/forum/index.php?board=57.0

I bet you, or I, can find help there.

Good luck!

Steve  
(Version 3.0.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Alright! The 1.3.3 update makes Keywurl compatible with the new Safari 3.1 update! Next day fix -- not too shabby (not as fast as SafariStand or Saft updates, which came out the same day as the new Safari, but not bad!) Glad to have this great little add-on back.  
(Version 1.3.3)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This developer rocks! Incredibly quick update for a plug-in I that makes Safari so much more usable. Kudos!  
(Version 3.1L160)

STEVEN GOODHEART  What a great little widget! Works great on my G5 iMac, and the developer's site promises constellation outlines and planets as future updates.

Had problems trying to get this via MacUpdate, so I went to the developer's site. If you have this problem, try this url:

http://web.mac.com/john_kenn/ByDesign/PocketUniverse_files/PocketUniverse502.wdgt.zip

Great widget for astronomy or nature lovers.  
(Version 0.5.2)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Same thing here with my G5 iMac. Got my notice from MacUpdate, then ran the MS AutoUpdater, and it indicated no update was needed. Guess I'll have to download the update, as you did.  
(Version 11.4.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  If you want the Services menu in a pop-up, you might want to take a look at OpenMenu X. You can add Services, and the program is highly customizable, and I've been very happy with it.  
(Version 2.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  I've seen a few complaints, here and over at VersionTracker, about Saft, and I wanted put a good word in on Saft's behalf as a very happy user.

First, this update for the new version of Safari came out one day after the 10.5.2 update -- not too shabby, and I will admit, much better than some of the older versions.

Second, the developer does have an "interesting" way to do updates, but for me, it's worked like a charm. I go to:

http://haoli.dnsalias.com/ld/d.php?saft_leopard

and Safari autofills the email and the order number that I got when I bought Saft. (Before I click download, I disable SpeedDownload in the Safari Integration preference tab, so that Safari downloads the file. The download page at haoli tells how to do this.)

After the download, I put the application in my application folder, double-click, and Saft does it's Input Manager thing, and I'm done. Couldn't be easier.

Third, I have never found it hard to contact the developer and get a timely response.

Fourth, the features, people, the features! Saft plains rocks. I have become totally reliant upon it's auto-tab save, crash protection, and especially its ability to save and name browser windows with any name you want, and then open these saved windows and tabs later (very similar to OmiWeb's Workspaces.) And there are literally dozen's of other cool and very useful features.

If you run Saft, with SafariStand (some feature redundancies here) and Concierge, you have incredible ease of use and power at your finger tips. No wonder sites like Pimp My Safari have raved about Saft.

Finally, I have no relationship to this developer, but simply want to say that I find Saft indispensable, and the fact that there's an upgrade out the very next day after the 10.5.2 Leopard update speaks very well about this developer. My 2 bits.  
(Version 10.0.5)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Bummer...I've been using the Inspector dozens of times the past week, with no problem, nor a single crash.... and have the latest update.....I'm sure Dan would love to hear the details...  
(Version 5.0.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  WOW! WOW! WOW!

What a terrific update this new 5.0 version is! The all-new interface and new, powerful features are simply a joy to use! The best journal/blog program on any platform just took a giant leap forward.

I can't get over how damn good this update is. I love being able to add any kind of content -- PDFs, images, whatever -- into the sidebar to create entries, I love having multiple MJ databases open at one time, I can't believe how useful and indispensable the new Smart Journals have become to me, and the ability to create aliases to entries in multiple journals gives me huge flexibility in terms of creating relationships between ideas and data I've saved. And all these great new features are *in addition* to the already rich, powerful feature set of the previous version!

If you've tried MJ in the past, and haven't taken the plunge, you've got to try this new version. I think you'll find it's the best money you'll spend on software in 2008. (And no, I have no relationship to this software or company except as a very happy end user.)  
(Version 5.0.1b1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  This latest version of Grammarian Pro has been rock-solid for me (Leopard and my G5 iMac), as was the version before this. Although I did not have some of the stability problems some reviewers in 2007 had with earlier versions, I agree that the program was in need of some bug fixes and updates, and the advent of Leopard seems to have spurred some much needed development and improvements.

As a professional writer and editor, I really love this program and highly recommend it. I've used it for years now and consider it part of my professional "toolbox." It's easy to use and easy to set up, and I especially like how much I can customize Grammarian. You can customize system-wide or program specific hot keys for virtually every function and you can customize the level and type of the grammar and spelling checking (Academic, business, casual, grade level, etc.) to an amazing degree.

The grammar checker, spell checker, thesaurus and dictionary are *far* superior to those in MS Word. Best of all, Grammarian Pro is available system-wide, and the level and kind of grammar checking and spell checking can be customized for each program you use, if you want to -- one kind of checking in MS Word or Scrivener, for example, and another when using a text editor to write code or HTML and another when using it in a web browser, or PIM, or spreadsheet. The level, kind, and amount of checking are up to you.

Of course, there's no substitute for the writer knowing and learning the basic rules of grammar, and getting an "ear" for what good writing sounds like. And GP doesn't catch every mistake, and sometimes it flags non-problems or even makes dubious grammar suggestions. But on the whole I find I'm far less likely to make bonehead grammar mistakes (not to mention spelling errors) when GP has my back, so to speak. GP can be a good learning tool, too. For example, if you're prone to using too much passive voice in your writing, you can set up GP to have it nag you every time it comes across it, and this can be a great way to improve one's writing.

I hope this doesn't sound like an advertisement. I have no relationship with this software or company other than as an end-user. But I do speak as someone who has used this program for years. Grammarian Pro can be a great help to anyone who writes. Version 1.8.1 is a solid update, and I'm happy to give it a 5-star rating based on my daily use of the program.  
(Version 1.8.1)

STEVEN GOODHEART  If you set your Preferences to do so, AOL will log in automatically and even start up the last station you were playing...all checkboxes in the Preferences. (I own and use AudioHiJack Pro too...ain't it great? It's allowed me to record so much great streaming music.) Good luck. I hope I haven't said the obvious, you have some other problem.)  
(Version 1.2)