Quick Tag, a tagging utility for iTunes, has been updated to version .6. While still beta, this update adds Leopard compatibility, a new icon, improved tagging speed and performance, a new tag cloud window, advanced control over tag delimiters, and a number of bug fixes.
For details about the .6 release, visit the blog announcement. To download, visit the Quick Tag page. For help with using Quick Tag, see the Quick Tag quick help.
Public preview invitations for the alpha version of Things, the tag-based GTD app from Cultured Code, have begun to be distributed. If you’re already on the preview list you should already have received your invite or be receiving it soon-ish (I’m not sure whether invitations are being sent out in bulk or in waves).
Things is still not feature-complete, but particularly since the last alpha version (which you can see in my Things screencast) making Things my primary task manager has been a no-brainer thanks to the inclusion of a bug-free Quick Entry window and the ability to link to just about anything in the file system in the notes area of a task. Synching is still MIA and the team features aren’t fully implemented, but if you’re on the preview list, you’re in for a treat (although for many people, it will probably need to mature before you can use it full time).
Photonator, a photo manager with tagging capabilities, has been updated to 0.95. This update advances the expiration date (as Photonator is currently pre-release expiring software), and brings cropping/straightening, image enhancement controls, and bug-fixes with code optimizations. Although personally I find the interface to be too much of a hindrance to using Photonator, it may appeal to people who are looking for an alternative to iPhoto. This is one of the pieces of tagging software that I’m tracking because it features tagging, but that I don’t really recommend. Hopefully by release the interface will receive a little more love. (That said, I haven’t really used it much, so it’s quite possible there’s a lot of power underneath its unappealing facade.)
For details about the .95 release, see Photonator’s release notes.
Bookdog, a bookmarks manager for Mac, has been updated to version 5, an update that includes not only a simplified interface but also del.icio.us support and support for tags. The software has been released as beta software due to the extensive changes that have gone into it, but because it fixes several Leopard problems and is just generally more powerful, Sheep Systems recommends that all users upgrade. For more information, see the Bookdog release notes.
Bookdog is probably the most feature-rich bookmarks manager available, but its interface (while simplified and definitely better than version 4) is still very complex and not at all visually appealing. You have to make an effort to learn to use Bookdog, although you will be rewarded by being able to sync a lot more information across your browsers than other solutions provide. It’s pretty unfortunate, but despite its power Bookdog still feels somewhat like an OS 9 application.
This actually has nothing to do with tagging, but since people who like tags and people who like task management often tend to congregate these days, I figured I’d post it. Omni has released a public beta for OmniFocus and is offering it for half the eventual sale price through their online store as a special pre-release sale (introductory price $39.95, regular price will be $79.95; OmniOutliner Pro owners get an additional 25% off).
I can only imagine the conversation at Omni: “Damn it, this project has been sapping our resources with no return for far too long.” “Hey, how about a Christmas bonus? I wanna buy a pony.” “Oh fine, we’ll sell a promise for less than the real thing and you can have your freaking pony.” In any case, while I’m currently hoping that Things will provide my GTD fix, OmniFocus is clearly going to be a standard-setting GTD application and is well worth checking out.
MailTags, that paragon of Mail.app tagging, has been updated to the second public beta for Leopard. Although to-dos and iCal integration are still inactive, this version brings much more stable tagging to Mail.app 3.0 than the first public beta, and is definitely a good one to download if you’re a MailTags lover like myself.
For more information about the beta, see the MailTags 2.2 beta page.
Although not strictly tagging software, Quicksilver, one of the two best application launchers and all-around Mac enhancements (the other being LaunchBar), has been released as open sourced software to the general community. Although the developer has been promising this for quite some time, that it’s actually been accomplished is quite exciting; hopefully some talented programmer with lots of time on their hands will pick up the project and provide a much-need bug fix and overall revamp. Quicksilver is a beautiful piece of software, and one of the staples in many peoples’ do-it-yourself file system tagging systems.
If you yourself are interested in taking a peek at the source code, it is freely available from the BlackTree Google Code site. The current BlackTree release of Quicksilver remains a beta, although it has been updated for 10.5.
At last I can feel comfortable about upgrading to Mac OS 10.5 Leopard: MailTags has a public beta for Mail.app 3.0. While the beta appears to be stable (hence its being made public), you should keep backups of your mailboxes. To-do and event capabilities have also been temporarily removed, as iCal interoperability has changed dramatically.
For a full description of what’s working and what’s not, see the 2.2b5 forum announcement.
The developers of the tag-based PDF file library Yep have just released a public beta of an exciting piece of new file system tagging software called Leap. Leap bills itself as a tag-based Finder replacement, and features an interface that is strongly reminiscent of Yep, but also uses a kind of bastardized child of Spotlight and the Leopard Source list. In a way Leap is a specialized front-end to Spotlight combined with the tag-based file library features of Yep. It also includes some very cool previewing features (the loupe in particular is a nice touch). I’ll be writing a more in-depth look at Leap in the near future, but why wait? Go download it for yourself and see what it’s all about.
Although final pricing has not yet been announced, the developers are offering a free copy of Leap (when released) to anyone who purchases a Yep license during the public beta. I’m pretty jazzed to try Leap, since it’s about time a decent file system tagging system hit the market. Whether Leap can truly replace the Finder, of course, remains to be seen, but hopefully Leap will at the very least encourage other developers to try a few new things when it comes to file system tagging.
InfiniteNIL, the developer of PackRat, is looking for beta testers. The PackRat beta has been updated to interface with the latest Backpack changes, and will now present your items in the same order as on Backpack. Additionally, the developer is offering free licenses to beta testers who “prove useful”. Although you probably won’t be able to get a free license by signing up and submitting a single bug, if you like Backpack and are good at beta testing it may be worth your while.
You can read more about the beta test on infiniteNIL’s blog, or shoot an email to rod@infinitenil.com to request a spot in the beta test.