HAL0THANE  Lightroom or Aperture: There's really very little difference technically. What it comes down to is your own preferences. Download both trials, give 'em a spin, and see which you prefer. That's the only way to decide which to use. As for me, I'm a Lightroom guy -- but I do wish that I had access to all of Aperture's plugins. :)  
(Version 3.0 Beta)

HAL0THANE  Followup to my original review: I did indeed purchase Aurora for the asking price of $22. The new 4.x was awkward, slow, and didn't want to respond to my choices. At times I had to wait over three minutes (or longer) from the time I hit the 'new alarm' button until I could select the alarm playlist. I contacted the developer for assistance with the issue -- I was using Aurora as my only alarm clock. The developer's official answer was that I had too much music in iTunes, and that Aurora would bog down like that until I removed some music.

A year and a half later, the developer has released only one update since then (for Snow Leopard compatibility), and it still does not address this issue.  
(Version 4.0.11)

HAL0THANE  Everything Arras said earlier (below), I second. The only thing I can add is that I usually scan at 90 percent, and I have yet to see a false positive out of two scans of over 25'000 images each. As far as false negatives, I can't know, of course, but I can only hope those are as rare.

As Arras mentioned, though, it does take time. This is not unique to dupeGuru PE, though, as all duplicate image scanners will be time-bound. (For the mathematically inclined, it's O(n^2) -- each picture you add must be compared against all the others.)  
(Version 1.7.8)

HAL0THANE  Try deleting it from your Applications (or wherever you installed it) and recopy it from the disk image again. I've found this happens sometimes with app bundles on both Leopard and Snow Leopard.   
(Version 0.3.6)

HAL0THANE  I was one of the first paid users of TTC -- still using it, actually -- but I suppose time has come to switch, again...

So, which shall it be... Bowtie (again), Cover Stream, or Ecoute?  
(Version 2.5.8)

HAL0THANE  This is the single most important Mail.app bundle you can install to increase your productivity in the app you spend so much time using. Fast, easy, and unobtrusive, Letterbox is a beauty for keeping your attention where it should be: on the message.

An idea I'd like to see, though, is switching the 2nd and 3rd column so that the middle column (center) is the message -- it's where the focus is visually, and so it should be where you focus on the most important stuff.  
(Version 0.24b5)

HAL0THANE  How can something be both 10.1 or later and Intel only? *scratches head* If it's Intel-only, it's 10.4 or later. If it runs on 10.1, it's not Intel at ALL.  
(Version 1.4.2)

HAL0THANE  I started using USB Overdrive within a week of my first Mac, and I used to swear by it. But I don't swear by it anymore. You may think it is a prefpane, but if you look in Activity Monitor (or 'ps' output from Terminal), you'll see that USB Overdrive also runs an external app -- USBOverdriveHelper.app -- and that the prefpane doesn't do anything except show the helper app. Logitech Control Center and Microsoft Desktop do the same thing.  
(Version 4.0)

HAL0THANE  @SHOCK J: Are you following the forum thread at http://forum.cocoatech.com/showthread.php?p=23417 ? If not, be sure you (and others who are experiencing the "icon corruption problem") add your voice to the thread. Thanks!  
(Version 5.5.1)

HAL0THANE  Had I known exactly what I was missing, I would have purchased three copies of PathFinder at full price the day I booted up my first PowerBook.

Instead, I went through life for three years with a semi-dysfunctional Finder, in a constantly codependent relationship where I kept telling it "Just do what I want this one time, and I won't ask you for anything out of the ordinary ever again..." Until the next time, of course.

Now, I'm (almost) rid of the Finder. Like the cold pizza from 2 a.m., it stays with you... and stays with you. But I've finally got it out of my Dock, and life is so much happier with a Finder-replacement that WORKS! This -- Path Finder -- is what Mac _should_ be. It's what Finder would be, if Apple cared enough to refactor the Finder. The features are meant to cater a bit more to the power user than the casual user -- but then, if you are looking for a Finder replacement, you are already a power user, right?

Path Finder isn't complete. It isn't finished. It has work to be done. There is, *cough*, a path before it. But it is so much more evolved, so much more usable, and makes me so much happier to use my Mac there is no question that it is one of my three essential apps: Path Finder, Namely, Growl.  
(Version 5.5.1)

HAL0THANE  "johnred", the developer, has said in a MacHeist forum that he considers iClip "abandonware" and has no intention to update it in the future, despite its (in my opinion) superiority over other clipboard-management apps.

Also, iClip 4 appears to be completely unusable on *FRESH* installs of Snow Leopard. If you have have done an upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard, iClip will appear to be usable (according to reports) except that it will be impossible to set preferences. Those who are very familiar with and comfortable with the Property List Editor could, conceivably, change preferences in such a way and hack a working copy of iClip.

Lastly, for the hackers: Remember that recent rulings affect the enforcement of the DMCA over abandoned copyrighted works, and the reverse engineering of said works could be completely legal -- or illegal -- depending on the day of the week and whether the people making the rules are wearing boxers, briefs, or lacy panties. (But if you get it working, be sure to drop me a message!)  
(Version 4.0)

HAL0THANE  I was one of the users who reported the bug listed as fixed in version 0.95b. I reported it on 0.93b, and within hours it was fixed. I've found, in general, independent Mac developers to be much more responsive and engaged in the care of their products than any other type of developer I've interacted with (and I used to be a full-time programmer), few have been as quick to provide new builds to tackle major problems as Mike Solomon.

Who would have even _considered_ changing SIMBL from an Input Manager to a Scripting Addition in order to keep it working under 10.6? Yet that's what he did, and within no more than a handful of days. And he has added 64-bit support just as quickly.

I've been using SIMBL for almost as long as I've been using Mac. I imagine a silent majority (or sizable minority) of SIMBL users do not even know they are: I've installed apps more than once without realizing they depended on SIMBL. Like the apps and add-ons that get all the glory -- Quicksilver, Growl, MacFUSE, and the others -- SIMBL is completely indispensable.  
(Version 0.9.5b)

HAL0THANE  Unfortunately, there are a few things MatrixGL still did better than 3D Matrix Code -- although I don't personally miss support for side-scrolling on network activity, that's something others might have used. MatrixGL also allowed embedding live iSight input in the stream -- not something I used, but was wicked cool.

One thing that I personally find lacking though is the support for embedding images in the output. MatrixGL did a simply smashing job of displaying any image you throw at it in a way that it's completely visible when set to the narrowest glyphs and the densest lines. 3D Matrix Code, unfortunately, only hints at the image. MatrixGL allowed for monochrome image rendering, and, so far as I can tell, 3D Matrix Code doesn't. One thing it does have going for it, though, is that it incorporates a "Ken Burns" effect for moving an image through the code, something really awesome to behold.

But I still miss MatrixGL.  
(Version 2.2 Beta 3)

HAL0THANE  Don't bother.

Seriously, don't bother. Even if you like the results that AstoundStereo Expander will provide, you'll find yourself sorely out of luck when you try to purchase the damned thing. After attempting to purchase the software THREE TIMES, and each time being unable to do so, I've decided instead to just tell other would-be customers to save their time and money as well.

The first two times I attempted to purchase, I got these messages from the online store the developer uses -- RegNow -- saying they couldn't verify the address of my credit card. A nice generic response meaning "Hey, we messed up, but we're just going to blame it on your bank." (The first time, I paid with PayPal! The second, with a Chase card!)

So I wrote directly to GenAudio to tell them they had missed a sale to an otherwise satisfied customer because their fulfillment company was manned by idiots who couldn't sell lemonade in the desert. I got an almost immediate response from GenAudio and they were even going to arrange for me to place a very unusual purchase directly from them ... BUT THEN I DIDN'T HEAR FROM THEM AGAIN.

So, as I said at the beginning... Save your money, save your time. Forget about this product.  
(Version 2.1)

HAL0THANE  I agree. I'm adjusting to one or two small quirks of THL's UI, but overall, it's beautiful, it's fully-functional (and then some), and it's MOSTLY intuitive. Still, those who haven't used it can't see that from the spartan screen shot above. A screenie from, say, a busy super-mom or a middle manager might got much farther in selling this app.

And, yes, there are some very good solutions out there are that much cheaper. Some are even free. I've tried most of them, and I've eventually stopped using them because they didn't fit my workflow. THL, well, it's going to come closer than anything else. The beauty of a free market is that competition drives innovation. Just as the previous poster said, if you think THL is too expensive, don't buy it. But if, like me, you find it to be the best in class, you'll happily fork over $39 for the MacHeist Bundle. ;)  
(Version 0.9.3.4b)

HAL0THANE  This is such a fabulous app. It's beautiful, sleek, elegant, and sexy. It's a great way to manage your bookmarks (favorites) offline. What it is NOT is an application that interfaces with any of the popular social bookmarking sites, such as Delicious, StumbleUpon, and so forth. For someone who has been storing bookmarks in Delicious for 3+ years, this is essential functionality to any application I regularly use. Having said that, though, Webbla also makes a great backup repository for me. And for those who don't use social bookmarking, Webbla imitates the same functionality (most notably, tagging) for a single user. Webbla does, in fact, import one's Delicious tags and notes when importing from Delicious--making the process that much easier.  
(Version 1.3.1)

HAL0THANE  Thanks for finally making this a free tool!  
(Version 2.1)

HAL0THANE  Thanks for the updated version! (I had run into the double-click crash issue, so I'm eager to use the new version for some quick touch-ups I need.)

Ukelele has been fantastic for helping me to be more productive with my Mac! I decided some time ago that I would start using the Caps Lock state to support an "alternate typing context" -- when my Caps Lock is engaged, it means I am in "Typography Mode" and thus I use only curved quotation marks, em and en dash, etc. Ukelele made it VERY easy (relatively speaking, of course) for me to accomplish this.

If you're interested in my key layout, the rationale, and more about how I use my keyboard layout, this blog post has all the information.

Thanks again!  
(Version 1.8)

HAL0THANE  You should download the 1.0rc2 version, which says:

"This is the official release of MPlayer for Mac OS X. Version numbering will reflect the current version of mplayer. The UI is a fork of the MPlayer OSX 2.0 source code and is now part of the mplayer project."

In other words, the 2.0b8r5 version (on this page) has been folded into the 1.0rc2 version, which is released by the MPlayer developers themselves.  
(Version 2.0b8r5)

HAL0THANE  The "hidden" .Trash folder actually is the trash, if you were to look at it from the Terminal. When you empty the trash, you'll find that anything that was showing up in .Trash will be gone -- unless you got a message it it couldn't delete it because it was in use for whatever reason.

On an external drive or a DMG it's a little different, but that' probably not relevant here.  
(Version 1.0.6.20080726)

HAL0THANE  Alex -- Very well worded. I'm sorry for any misunderstanding or hard feelings that this may have caused. Please accept my apology; when I learned that the software causes a lockout when newer versions are released, I merely had my old "system administrator panic" left over from when I used to take care of the systems for an auto manufacturing plant.

brentb: I was in the process of replying to you when I saw Alex's message come through, but essentially, I agree with what you had said and I realize that I had misunderstood your first message.  
(Version 2.6)

HAL0THANE  If we were talking about, say, an iTunes visualizer or an alarm clock, I'd completely agree with you (the thread OP). I'm a photographer, so I know my fair share about making money from your efforts. Having said that, though...

iVPN is not an iTunes visualizer or an alarm clock. It's security software. When most security-savvy computer users including myself realize that so-called security software (or any software) has a phone-home feature that allows for deactivation when a new version is released, we immediately doubt its trustworthiness. It has nothing to do with the age of the developer, or that he wants to make some money from his efforts, or that he didn't know a better way of doing it.

If you look around, essentially any product that's been shown to have call-home features has met a swift demise. Most recently, one game was delisted from the iPhone app store entirely because it uploaded users' address book to its servers -- even though they were upfront about it.

To quote that linked article, which I think also is the bottomline here: "Good intentions by slightly amateur programmers. It's alright. No malice intended."  
(Version 2.6)

HAL0THANE  @MU Frequenter: only if it is released under a GNU-compatible license. iVPN, according to the SourceForge website, was governed by the original BSD license, which does not require source code to be made available indefinitely.  
(Version 2.6)

HAL0THANE  I had previously installed 2.4, but now that I know the developer had put into place backdoors allowing him to turn off software already installed on my computer, I cannot trust ANYTHING about this piece of software which purports to be for security purposes. I'm zapping it as quickly as I can!  
(Version 2.6)

HAL0THANE  Wow, talk about "Ask and you shall receive!" On 1 May, I mentioned that I'd like to see more cover art included, and it's already done now with version 2.2.3, along with a slew of other enhancements. I'm very happy to pay my $8 for what TotalTunes Control offers. As a long-time user, I couldn't be happier with its development progress and timely updates, the functionality it provides, and the overall invested in it long before it went shareware. It's an essential tool on my Mac.  
(Version 2.2.3)

HAL0THANE  Thank you. :) TTC is truly an awesome app -- well-coded and very beautiful. When I saw it, the choice to switch from SizzingKeys4iTunes was a 'no brainer'. The ability to set my own keystrokes is what sold me; I've set mine to the same as I grew accustomed to using with SizzlingKeys, so I get more functionality without having to learn new keystrokes.   
(Version 2.2)

HAL0THANE  I think that $8 USD is a reasonable price to ask for what TTC accomplishes. Obviously its users like it or they (we) wouldn't use it, right? Allowing the developer to profit from his work should not be seen as such a heinous thing but as a way to satisfy both users and the developer, provided the price is reasonable and development doesn't dry up.

Having said that, I've been neglectful myself in donating to the developer of TTC (which I think is an outstanding app); the choice to move to a shareware model, however, has reminded me that I actually should have paid for using this software long ago, so pay for it I will. My only hopes are that we see more cover styles and new features as a result of the move to shareware, not fewer and less frequent releases.  
(Version 2.2)

HAL0THANE  I would be very happy to see this plugin if I hadn't got so used to using TextMate's own keyboard shortcuts and commands. Without detracting from ViMate (I haven't tried it), had it been available when I started using TextMate, I would have loved it but now I'm much less tempted to even give it a go.  
(Version 1.4)

HAL0THANE  I used SizzlingKeys4iTunes for the longest time. When TotalTunes Control became available, I thought it was "just another iTunes controller" like all the others, but eventually something about it -- the look of the control window -- made me realize, "Hey, I actually _can_ accomplish everything from here and still have it run transparently in the background."

So I installed TotalTunes Control, set the trigger keys to be the same that I had gotten accustomed to with SizzlingKeys (keys that I had customized, incidentally -- both apps allow the user to choose the trigger keys) and haven't looked back. Now I don't have to go into System Preferences to change the settings like I did with SizzlingKeys (which was a Prefpane), and I even get Last.fm support for free -- bye bye, iScrobbler.

I couldn't ask for a better iTunes controller than TTC. The developer seems to be very active in updating the app with new features and bug fixes, as well as listening to user feedback. That goes a long way toward loyalty -- and even if it's a free app, loyalty still means something.  
(Version 2.0.2)

HAL0THANE  I have been a very frequent user of File List for several months but two things always bugged me about it: First, it was PPC only; and second, the window was not selectable with Command-Tab. Both have been addressed with the new Name Mangler 2.0.

Name Manger 2.0 retains all the power of File List -- including the Advanced renaming syntax which I use very frequently -- and only expands on it. The droplet feature is fantastic for quickly renaming files that have the same pattern without having to reenter the pattern each time: simply save the droplet onto the Desktop or even into the Finder window and then drop the files onto it. They're renamed transparently.

This little utility is one of those that makes me HAPPY to donate to its future development even when I'm not constantly nagged into doing so. If all software were written like Name Mangler 2.0, I'd have very empty pockets indeed!  
(Version 2.0)

HAL0THANE  There's always Picard, the next-gen tagger. iEatBrainz still uses the classic tagger engine.  
(Version 1.08)

HAL0THANE  I've been using Aurora for quite some time as my one and only alarm clock. It functions perfectly and I've been completely satisfied with it. When the new version (4.0) came out a few days ago, I didn't even notice that it had changed from freeware to shareware/demo. (It certainly wasn't listed in the "What's New" section!) As I said, I think Aurora is a great app, and it's worth paying for. The snooze feature and multiple alarms to perform essentially any task I wish through scripting is fantastic.

But in the whole time I've been using it, I've never "shopped around" for a better one. Now that it's $22.00, well, I'm going to have to reevaluate my options before I decide to buy. The price tag just may have lost a potentially very happy customer for Aurora -- not that I mind paying for it, but that I think $15 or less would be a more appropriate price -- especially considering its long history as freeware.  
(Version 4.0)

HAL0THANE  I've been using Namely for a year and a half. For me, the lightweight functionality of Namely works better than the Swiss army knife-like features of Quicksilver.

The new version for Leopard fixes the issues I had experienced with Namely. I still consider Namely a cornerstone of my Mac experience, replacing Spotlight almost entirely.  
(Version 2.5)

HAL0THANE  I love Breakaway. For the price (i.e., free), it doesn't matter to me whether it pauses VLC or MPlayer. The developer would likely welcome help in coding these, as well, just guessing, even though the source code isn't available at the Breakaway web site.  
(Version 1.0)

HAL0THANE  I've had some stability issues and 1.1.3 keeps telling me to upgrade -- to 1.1.3. Er?

Additionally, I've been nothing but happy with Knox (Knox4Mac), and they don't have the 10Gb issue that Exces does.

Yes, what others are writing is correct: It's nothing more than a front-end to hdiutil, but remember that many Mac users are Terminal-shy. I wouldn't use Exces if it hadn't been bundled with the the, erm, Bundle.

Knox still gets my vote for ease, convenience, and whole-disk encryption on top of that.  
(Version 1.1.3)