Tagamac

Apologies to folks for the dead RSS feed that’s been hanging around for the past month; I switched hosts at the beginning of January, and the transition has been more rocky than I expected (thanks to the host not doing some standard things like providing easy emailing via PHP or standard server variables, but not notifying customers adequately). I’ve fixed the problems that were interfering with the Tagamac feed, though, and since things have been slow recently you haven’t missed much.

While I’m on the topic of the site itself, I’d like to let folks know that I’m aware Tagamac is languishing a bit. I’ve got a reimplementation and redesign of the site in the works, but it’s taking a while to get it up and running thanks to external distractions. In the meantime, things are likely to continue to be slow here for a while; I’ll still publish notable software updates and any articles that I’m inspired to write, but I’ll be letting some of the minor updates slip by unmentioned.

Tags 2.0, a major rewrite of the file system tagging solution from Gravity Apps, has been released. This update feels like a completely different application; gone are the stylized custom interface elements of old, replaced by a HUD-style window (for tagging items), a standard 3-pane window for browsing tags, and a Spotlight-like search bar. The underlying tagging system is apparently also changed (while still supporting OpenMeta), although I couldn’t find any details about what specifically has changed. In addition to the cosmetic changes, the program now offers support for many more applications and has apparently been improved in other, less obvious ways (though the developers are pretty scant with the details.

Tags 2.0 requires 10.6 and is a free update for licensed users of Tags 1.0 (although you do have to manually choose to register it, as they have added a one-time activation over the internet). Although I’m unsure if Tags still has a place in my personal workflow, this is definitely an update worthy of attention if you’ve been looking for a tagging solution for your Snow Leopard machine that’s a bit simpler to use than Leap. For slightly more info about the update, see the 2.0 release announcement.

Whilst my attention was distracted by my participation in NaNoWriMo this month, several software updates of note passed me by including Yojimbo 2.1, EagleFiler 1.4.11, Together 2.3, and MarsEdit 2.4. Yojimbo 2.1 has numerous improvements and fixes, particularly for users of 10.6. EagleFiler 1.4.10 and 1.4.11 also includes numerous bug fixes, but no new features. Together 2.3 adds the ability to open items in any application, along with many other fixes and improvements. MarsEdit 2.4 offers improved SquareSpace support, along with several bug fixes and crash prevention measures.

For more information, see the Yojimbo release notes, EagleFiler blog announcement, Together release notes, and MarsEdit blog announcement.

As I discussed in the first part of this series, I often come across information while at work that I want to save or act on later while on my own time (or vice versa). In an attempt to address this need, I set up a personal scratchpad using Together. Sadly, though Together offered some fantastic advantages, its incredibly spotty synchronization with MobileMe eventually convinced me to abandon it in favor of something a bit more involved.

The second solution I turned to, and the one that I have been using and fine-tuning for the last eight months, was VoodooPad. Despite some unique drawbacks of its own, VoodooPad offers near-perfect synchronization, a daily log that far surpasses Together’s in usefulness, and the ability to append text to practically anything. The only downside is that VoodooPad is less flexible about what it can store (and how you can retrieve that info later) because everything is text-based whereas in Together you can toss whatever you want into your scratchpad, be it a PDF, image, bookmark, etc. [read more...]

VoodooPad, that most excellent of desktop wikis, has been updated to version 4.2. This version includes numerous enhancements, one of the best being that the functionality for VoodooPad Pro has been collapsed back into the standard version of VoodooPad. This means that everyone can access event scripts and so forth without needing the more expensive VoodooPad Pro license, while those with simple needs can still use the free lite version.

Other improvements include numerous synching bug fixes, JSTalk support for the programmatic-minded, variables to access clipboard contents for new page templates, and more. For full details, see the release notes. The best part of version 4.2, though, is that thanks to it I can at long last release my custom VoodooPad scratchpad template.

Yojimbo 2.0, the next version of the oh-so-simple file library from Bare Bones Software, was released today. Feature highlights include an improved Quick Input panel, the ability to tag and otherwise categorize PDFs when you “print to Yojimbo”, an improved drop dock with customizable contents and tag collections (that will apply the tags they filter for when you drop an item on them), and scads of improvements to the basic tagging system. Although I knew it was aiming for simplicity, Yojimbo has always felt like it sacrificed too much in an attempt to attain that goal. Tags can now be renamed, combined, and otherwise manipulated through the new tag and label manager. Additionally, instead of creating a collection for every tag Yojimbo now features a “tag explorer” that shows you related tags and allows easy filtering for items across the database.

Yojimbo 2.0 is a $20 upgrade for existing users, and costs $39 for new users. If you purchased Yojimbo on or after January 1, 2009, version 2.0 is a free upgrade. The program now requires OS 10.5.7 or higher (including 10.6). If you’ve been looking for an easy way to store notes, URLs, PDFs, application license information, passwords, and much more without the overhead and complexity of other solutions, Yojimbo has always been a great option, and with version 2.0′s improvements to the tag browsing system, I highly recommend giving Yojimbo’s free 30 day demo a try. For more information about the update, see the release notes.

With the release yesterday of Things 1.2, Cultured Code announced an exciting new addition to their company: Bartek Bargiel, the creator of the venerable program iGTD. Before the Things public beta, I was a user of iGTD, for although I despised its interface I could not resist its sheer power. Sadly, shortly after the release of OmniFocus and Things iGTD faded into abandonware as Bartek evidently lacked the time to bring the fabled iGTD 2 to fruition.

Now Bartek is the newest employee at Cultured Code and we’re already seeing the benefits with Things 1.2. Aside from even better keyboard navigation support, Things 1.2′s greatest improvement is the inclusion of Quick Entry Autofill, previously known in iGTD as the “F-key trick”. By using Quick Entry Autofill instead of the standard autofill shortcut, you can have your task autopopulated with the selected text and—if possible—a link back to the source when you invoke it from just about anywhere on the Mac. Also included are LaunchBar and Quicksilver plugins to allow easy, text-based creation of tasks for those who prefer that method. Things 1.2 also adds Spotlight compatibility, so you can search your tasks from anywhere. Read more about 1.2′s featureset. [read more...]

So many apps have received minor updates to give them full compatibility with Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard that it’s hardly worth posting anything about them. Among the apps that have been updated for Snow Leopard as of this writing are: Tags, EagleFiler, Punakea, Things, OmniFocus, Hazel, Scrivener, and I’m sure others that I’ve overlooked.

Other apps, like Together, have had Snow Leopard compatibility for some time; if a tagging app not listed here is central to your workflow, you should definitely check with its developer to see if it has been tested on Snow Leopard prior to upgrading.

My all-time favorite file library, EagleFiler, was recently updated to version 1.4.7. The big new feature in this version is that EagleFiler will now copy tags into files’ extended attributes for interoperability with OpenMeta applications. EagleFiler will also integrate with OpenMeta’s “recent tags” list, and import tags assigned using OpenMeta. However, note that because EagleFiler still relies primarily on its program-specific database for tags, once a file is in EagleFiler you should edit tags with EagleFiler.

The update includes numerous other minor features, improvements, and bug fixes. See the 1.4.7 blog announcement for details.

In a continued paroxysm of productivity, Fuel Collective has upgraded Snippet to version 1.2. This upgrade includes a completely revamped method for language support; languages are now bundles that you can download and install piecemeal to suit your particular usage. Additionally, several new languages are now supported, including ColdFusion, MSSQL, Flex, and others.

For full details, see the release notes.