MindNode Touch

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I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but somewhere in the unwritten book of software pricing it is decreed that developers can charge hundreds of dollars for mind map applications. I’m not exactly sure why. Perhaps it is all of those features I never use or maybe it is just because “mind map” just sounds sexy. Either way, it usually is a pretty expensive investment. The exception is MindNode which comes in two flavors, a free version and a Pro version that costs all of $15. I started using MindNode about a year ago and really like it. I don’t develop complex mind maps. I use them to tame the seemingly random firing synapses. For this, MindNode Pro is perfect.
The good news is that now I can carry it in my pocket. I’ve been using the MindNode touch app on my iPhone for the last several days and am really pleased. Creation and editing of nodes is intuitive and easy. The canvas grows to match your mind map. Best of all, it imports and exports to the desktop application. If you are already a MindNode user, this one is a no-brainer. If not, now is the time to take a look.

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Screencast 17 – Magic Install Disk

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During Mac Power Users episode 6, I talked about my Magic install disk. I’ve had lots of inquiries about exactly how I did it so here it is. This episode demonstrates how to create an external drive with all of your application installations using the built in OS X Disk Utility application and Noodlesoft.com’s Hazel. Enjoy.
By the way, an amazing thing is happening over on iTunes. I’m starting to get comments and ratings. Thanks everyone for taking the time. If you haven’t yet, please do so. These screencasts are quite a bit of work and I’d like to see them get a bit wider distribution. Ratings and comments help that. Thanks.

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iPhone Gem – Arcade Hockey

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While I stink at most arcade games, if I get anywhere near an air hockey table, look out! I monopolize the table, show no mercy to my opponents, and pucks are likely to fly just about anywhere. Nobody is safe within 20 feet of that table. That is why I’m pleased to announce BrainJuice, (the same guys that make the popular Mac blogging application, Blogo) have released their own iPhone air-hockey game, Arcade Hockey, and it is a blast. Playing iPhone air hockey certainly is a good way to spend Labor Day.

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In Defense of Snow Leopard

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The internets are abuzz with a small uprising against Snow Leopard. Some pundits even argue it is simply a service pack. I disagree.
The most frequently cited evidence by critics is the lack of significant changes to the user interface. They aregue that because Snow Leopard doesn’t look much different from Leopard, it is somehow lacking. I think this position misses the point. Apple never intended to make Snow Leopard look significantly different from Leopard. Indeed, Apple posted a slide at WWDC that Snow Leopard had “0 New Features”, which was received with applause by the audience.

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Of course there are a lot of new features in Snow Leopard, but this sentiment is understandable. How many times have you received an operating system or application upgrade and said to yourself, “Gee, rather than adding three new broken features, I wish they had made the old version work better, faster, and smaller.” The thing is, Apple called our bluff. They did it.
It is like bringing your car to the shop where the mechanic upgrades your engine, drops in a new transmission and replaces the windshield wipers. You then pick up your car and say, “Hey, you just replaced the wipers. What good are you?”
Putting aside the fact Snow Leopard does so much work under the hood, it also adds quite a few significant interface improvements to Leopard. There is a lot more here than new wiper blades. The new services menu is much more useful to me than anything Leopard brought to the table. The dock Expose’ changes are also welcome. Indeed, I like all of the user interface changes. Some of my favorites are the little ones like easy linking in e-mail (command K), the speedy Finder, a sensible naming protocol for screenshots, and easy sound source control (option click the menubar sound icon). I’m sure I’ll discover more in the coming weeks.
While prior cats may have given us a new paint job or leather seats, Snow Leopard is all about horsepower. In many ways, it may be the most important OS X upgrade yet as it enables the Mac to seamlessly transition to the hyper-speed world of 64 bits and multi-core processors. To top it off, using the family pack licensing, I was able to upgrade every Mac in my house for $10 a machine. In short, I’m a fan of Snow Leopard.

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Chronosync Review

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Over the past few years I’ve podcasted quite a bit about one of my favorite Mac utilities, Chronosync, but never given it a feature review. It is time. Chronosync handles synching and backups from your Mac with style.
For instance, using Chronosync I have one script that looks at the contents of some of my most important document folders and copies them to a backup folder on my iDisk every week. This way my key documents get offsite backup. The best part is Chronosync does this on a schedule and it requires no user involvement.

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Selecting files for synchronization for backup requires selection of the volume and applicable directory and selecting, or unselecting, individual components for Chronosync’s attention. It is not entirely intuitive but makes sense once you understand it.
Once selected you cansynchronize or backup with just about any device. It will work with local or attached storage or even other computers. The developer’s separate application, ChronoAgent makes this particularly easy with other Macs and an excellent solution for synching between desktop and laptop machines.

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The interface makes it easy to choose between unidirectional and bi-directional syncing. So whether you are looking to simply create an archive or sync multiple changes between two working machines, Chronosync can handle it. The application can even sync non system files with a Windows PC. It analyzes your data and allows for trial synchronizations. Additionally, Chronosync can create version archives on your backup to allow you to fetch prior versions of files.
In performing this bit of magic, ChronoSync uses “Relative State Monitoring” that allows it to detect deleted, moved, or renamed files and folders, and resolve conflicts. ChronoSync protects data integrity by verifying data, ensuring proper copies are made before replacing data, and providing detailed logs. Because it only copies changed files, the process is remarkably fast.
The scheduling tool allows you to set repeating and single run backups with the precision of a Swiss watch. It even emails you when backups complete or, more importantly, fail.
Because each synchronization or backup process is its own file, you can save as many templates as you require. I’ve been using ChronoSync for several years and never had any problems with it.
A license will cost $40. Interestingly, that is it. There will never be an upgrade fee, ever. When the software recently updated to version 4.0, I got it for free. You can check it out at econtechnologies.com.
You can listen to this review on the Mac ReviewCast, episode 223.

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