TIMSTRINGER  Just wondering how Clean Text compares to TextSoap?

Does anyone have any feedback to contribute based on experience with both applications?  
(Version 5.0)

TIMSTRINGER  I've been using Vienna to manage about 50 RSS feeds. I'm very impressed with the application, though I was finding that it was getting slower and slower to the point where it was almost unusable (e.g. it would sometimes take about 10 seconds for a news item to show up on my MacBook Pro).

The solution: I simply empied the Trash by selecting "Empty Trash" from the Vienna menu. From what I've read, this causes some sort of a compaction of the database to be performed which can dramatically improve performance.

Anyway, it worked like a charm. Vienna is now dramatically faster and my search for a replacement is over. I hope others find this tip useful!  
(Version 2.1.1.2109)

TIMSTRINGER  In my experience, Path Finder is actually very quick. I'd recommend contacting their Technical Support to see what might be causing the slow-down.  
(Version 4.6.1)

TIMSTRINGER  I put Path Finder trough its paces after watching a video review on Mac Break (http://www.twit.tv/MB). And I'm glad I did - this is a superb piece of software that has greatly enhanced my workflow.

Path Finder's interface is very well though-out and suprisingly elegant considering the breadth of features it supports. Some of my favourite features include:

Tabs - The window clutter of the Finder is a thing of the past.

Drop Stack - This is a very innovate feature which makes it easy to move or copy files between folders and volumes.

Info & Preview - I have the bottom portion of Path Finder configured to display file/folder information and a Preview. I find it very convenient having this information readily available.

Processes - A list of processes can be displayed within the Path Finder window. I find this very handy and it avoids those long drags to the Dock which can get to be, well, a 'drag' after a while.

Path Navigator - Displays the full path of the current folder using an innovative interface. Makes it easy to step back levels without having to use the Columns view.

I could go on. Suffice it to say this is a gem of an application. I'm now a registered user and it has a permanent home on my Mac.  
(Version 4.6.1)

TIMSTRINGER  Comparing Contribute to iWeb and RapidWeaver doesn't make any sense as they serve different purposes.

Contribute is designed to allow novice users to make routine changes and updates to websites (including existing ones). It's esssentially a scaled-down version of Dreamweaver that isolates less technical users from the complexities of HTML source, CSS, etc...

iWeb and RapidWeaver, however, are tools which allow websies to created from the ground up using supplied templates. Contribute does include some basic templates which can be used to create a website from scratch, but this is not the main selling feature of the application.

I hope this helps to clarify any confusion.  
(Version 4.0)

TIMSTRINGER  I've been an avid user of Basecamp for over a year now and it's literally transformed my work environment.

The Telescope Basecamp Widget adds an added level of efficiency to my workflow. It provides a very quick and convenient way to view up-to-date project activity without having to log-in to the Basecamp web interface.

I've had some corespondence with the developer, Mike and my experience has been very positive - he's very responsive and open to suggestions.

If you're a Basecamp user check this out - it's highly recommended!  
(Version 1.0.3)

TIMSTRINGER  I've been using Studiometry since version 1. It's proved to be a capable solution and I've posted several positive reviews of the product.

However, I'm withdrawing my recommendation of this product as, from my perspective, Oranged.net's customer and technical support is virtually non-existent. I have opened a few ticket over the past six months and none of these issues have been resolved.

I'm not comfortable using an unsupported product for such a critical aspect of my company's operation and am curently seeking out alternatives. Until Oranged.net shows a greater commitment to their customers I recommend against using their products.  
(Version 3.2.3)

TIMSTRINGER  I agree with your comments. Why not just send a message to Southwest directly?  
(Version 1.04)

TIMSTRINGER  Why not just send a note to the developer directly?  
(Version 2.1)

TIM STRINGER  I've been using Dejal Simon 2 for over a month to track client sites that I host under a reseller service and was so impressed with this solution that I recently purchased a corporate-level license. I've found it to be an invaluable tool that includes a wide feature set and an innovative interface. I've communicated with the developer, David, on several occassions and was very impressed with the level of support he provides and his openness to user feedback. Highly recommended!  
(Version 2.0)

TIM STRINGER  Just to share another (fortunately more positve) experience - I purchased some credits earlier today using my PayPal account. My Skype account was credited literally within a minute.

I'm based in Vancouver, Canada and don't currently have home phone service because of the Telus strike - so I'm thankful to have this alternative (as a bonus I just discovered that my Bluetooth Headset works well with Skype).  
(Version 1.0.0.49)

TIM STRINGER  FYI - a Tiger-compatible version of is now available at www.bronsonbeta.com. I've only just started using it, so unfortunately I can't provide any feedback on its reliability. But, it looks like a solid and well though-out release with some welcome new features (there's even support for Intel Macs!).

Many thanks Stefan!  
(Version 1.1b1)

TIM STRINGER  Thanks for the tip!

Growl is a really cool piece of software, and I appreciate it's value beyond just providing notificaiton of new e-mail deliveries. Though, I do look forward to the Tiger version of Mail.appetizer. I appreciate the level of customization that it provides.  
(Version 1.1b1)

TIM STRINGER  I agree that the price is a little bit on the high side - but it's a bit naive to say that there's no need for this utility now that Tiger is here. I've explored this new OS pretty thoroughly over the past few days and haven't seen any evidence of the functionality that MenuCalendarClock (there's a calendar Widget, but it doesn't appear to have any links to iCal).   
(Version 2.0.3)

TIM STRINGER  According to Stefan's website Mail.appetizer is NOT compatible with Tiger. The good news is a new version of this wonderful software is forthcoming.

More information is available at:

http://www.bronsonbeta.com/mailappetizer/beta/  
(Version 1.1b1)

TIM STRINGER  I was very happy to stumble across Mail Act-On! I'm always sorting incoming mail into folders (e.g. Respond-Personal, Respond-Work) and was looking for a more efficient and less error-prone alternative to drag-and-drop.

The shortcuts are created through Mail's "Rule" interface. Which is clever, but might be a bit confusing at first for more novice users. Though, perhaps this is a non-issue as I think this product is more likely to attract more seasoned Mac enthusiasts.

A configuration panel with a few options might be a nice addition in a future version. For example, it would be nice to have a way to customize the hotkey used to activate the shortcut list. It would also be helpful to be able to control how long this list is displayed (currently it's five seconds) and to specify whether or not notifications are displayed each time a rule is executed.  
(Version 1.0.1)

TIMSTRINGER  On your recommendation I decided to put Butler through its paces before going ahead with the iAddressX registration. Although it looks like a great package overall, I found that searching and browsing using the Address Book component was unacceptably slow. iAddressX, by comparison, was able to search through my 1000+ contacts in the blink of an eye.

Also, unless I missed something, iAddressX provides much more customization than is available under Bulter.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but from my perspective iAddressX is far from useless (even if you are already using Butler) and well worth the $8 registration fee.  
(Version 3.3)

TIMSTRINGER  What's your point?  
(Version 2.1.4)

TIMSTRINGER  Just to clarify - while iCal has the ability to publish calendars over the Internet the default behaviour is to keep the information local.  
(Version 3.1.3)

TIMSTRINGER  Thanks for the tip. I'm very impressed with WeatherDock so far - I especially like the flexibility of being able to display more than just the temperature on the menu bar (in my case the display also includes windspeed and relative humidity).

Though, I do prefer Meteorologist in some ways. I especially like being able to click on the menu item and see the temperature in different cities (I just moved from Ottawa to Vancouver and being able to readily monitor the chilly temperatures back East helps to cure any feelings of homesickness ;).  
(Version 1.4.2)

TIMSTRINGER  I've tried Prism Zoom with a number of images (some high-quality, reasonable resolution) and still find that the quality is very poor regardless of the Bright/Sharp setting. It would be good if there were a way to turn this feature off completely and just view the image in its native format.  
(Version 2.0.1)

TIMSTRINGER  I just had the same problem. I did a Finder search on "Meteo" and deleted all of the files that I could find. As expected Meteorologist prompted me to reload the weather icons. But, when even after this process was complete I still had the same issue of question marks showing up in place of the icons. Version 1.4.2 has been working fine up until today.  
(Version 1.4.2)

TIMSTRINGER  The developer made it very clear that he would be charging for the product once it reached a mature state.

Personally I think that $20 is a little on the pricey side for a mass market product such as this. If it were $10 I wouldn't hesitate to fork over the 'greens backs'. Twice that amount is cause for pause.  
(Version 0.9)

TIMSTRINGER  I have been using DomainTracker 2.0 for several months and it has become an indespensible tool for keeping track of my customer's domain names. The application is very clean and well thought-out and is a text-book example of a Macintosh application both in terms of form and function.

I just spent some time putting DomainTracker 2.1 through its paces and am happy to report that the best is now even better. This new version offers password protection for the domain database, the ability to automatically refresh domain information from the WhoIs database and extra fields for storing FTP account names and passwords.  
(Version 2.1)

TIMSTRINGER  Just to clarify, pressing F11 does not translate to the same behaviour. This facility reveals the Desktop by hiding all application windows, including any Finder windows that happen to be open.  
(Version 2.0)

TIMSTRINGER  I was very happy to discover RPN Calculator. It offers a very generous amount of functionality in a straight-forward package.

One feature that would be welcome for a future version is the ability to set the precision. For example, two decimal points for financial calculations. Speaking of financial calculations, it would be nice to have a Palette with this functionality.

I would pass these suggestions on to the author directly, but I haven't been able to find an e-mail address anywhere on his website or in the documentation. Does anyone know how to get in touch with him?  
(Version 1.9.6)

TIMSTRINGER  I don't think this applications is targeted at "serious news junkies". It does provide all the functionality that most people need in a very polished and Mac-friendly interface that is akin to Apple's iApps (you wouldn't diss iMovie for not having the flexibility of Final Cut Pro, would you?).  
(Version 0.4)

TIMSTRINGER  The software is free while it's in the beta stage - though, the author has plans to charge a registration fee once there's a final release. Even though it's classified as beta I still find that the current incarnation is very stable.  
(Version 0.3)

TIM STRINGER  From Dave's website:

"NewsFire is currently in a free beta release, but will ultimately be released as shareware. Bear in mind that features and design are very much in flux. In particular, future support for features such as groups and smart feeds was promised even before the first release. That said, the application is very stable and totally usable. Please, give it a try. If you like it, please tell your friends!"

I think he's being very upfront about his plans for NewsFire. I'm happy to participate in the "beta" cycle and find it to be a genuinely useful tool in its current form. Once it's stamped a "release" I'll seriously consider registering. I can appreciate the amount of effort that he's put into this offering and would like to support NewsFire's continued development.  
(Version 0.3)

TIM STRINGER  I've been a big fan of NewsFire for several months now - it has a clean and polished interface with a well though-out user interface and feature set. With version 0.3 this application takes a significant step forward.

The Smart Groups feature is a particularly useful invotation. As the name implies it allows you to create a dynamically-generated list of news items based on a range of criteria. For example, you can create a Smart Group called "Hot News" that contains a list of all news from all sources that is less than two hours old. I have also created a Smart Group called "Canadian News" that lists all news items that have either "Canada" or "Canadian" in the subject or description.

Version 0.3 also brings the ability to flag news items - which is very useful if you're browsing through lists, but don't have access to Internet connection. Creating a Smart Group that lists all flagged items is a convenient way to review the items once an Internet connection is available.

Thanks for a wonderful application and keep up the good work!  
(Version 0.3)

TIM STRINGER  I've been using DomainTracker for some time now, and was curious to see how Master of my Domain stacks up.

Overall DomainTracker, although more expensive, still wins my vote. I like being able to sort according to registrar and date and find that its iTune-like Smart Groups feature is very useful. DomainTracker is also integrated with the Mac OS X Address Book and conveniently allows contacts to be associated with domains. I also appreciate the Domain Research tool that simplifies the process of finding an available domain name.

Master of my Domain does, however, show promise. I like its ability to keep track of e-mail addresses associated with a domain (though, curiously, there doesn't appear to be any way to actually send an e-mail from the application). It's also handy to have a place to keep track of FTP information.

On the downside, I find that the user interface could use some polish and the program doesn't appear to recognize Canadian (.ca) domain names when populating the Domain Information fields.

I'd recommend giving both tools a look. For those who manage a large number of domains and prefer a more feature-rich, polished and mature tool I would go with DomainTracker. If you're on a tighter budget or like the idea of having FTP and e-mail information up-front I'd say that Master of my Domain is worth a look.  
(Version 1.0)

TIMSTRINGER  I was just in touch with Hao and all registered users should have received an e-mail containing and upgrade link. I hadn't received the message, but he was quick to provide me with the proper link.  
(Version 7.2.1)

TIMSTRINGER  Is there no way to upgrade an existing installation using the downloaded provided on the Saft website? I'm guess that there isn't as the only two options available are "Purchase" and "Demo".  
(Version 7.2.1)

TIMSTRINGER  Just to clarify, QuickTime Pro doesn't give you any extra functionality as far as saving movies from websites goes.  
(Version 2.0)

TIM STRINGER  I have been using Studiometry for about eight months to help manage my computer consulting business. I found Version 1 to be a very useful tool, despite several limitations and quirks.

I'm happy to say that Version 2 is a significant step forward and that Studiometry has matured into a powerful tool. Key improvements include improved integration with Address Book and iCal, a system-wide Menu Bar menu, workgroup features and the ability to associate multiple contacts with a "Client". There are also numerous improvements to the user interface resulting in a professional and polished product.

I have exchanged several e-mails with Tom, Studiometry's developer, and have always found him very responsive to fixing bugs and implementing customer suggestions.

The software isn't perfect. For example, creating custom invoice templates relies on a knowledge of HTML, which could limit some users. But, dispite any minor drawbacks or limitations I consider Studiometry to be the best tool in its category for the Macintosh.  
(Version 2.0.3)