Tagamac

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.

FileSpot, the Spotlight searching utility that is the updated version of MoRU, has officially come out of beta today. FileSpot allows users to do far more complex Spotlight searches than is possible with the default OS interface, and features a number of improvements over MoRU including TagBot compatible tagging and tag searches, deeply nested search logic (allowing you to create very specific searches very easily), a tabbed interface, and the ability to export searches as Finder Smart Folders. As of the third beta, FileSpot spots a new metallic icon as well. (Honestly, I liked the old one better; this one’s a bit chunky.)

If you do much of anything that involves Spotlight, you owe it to yourself to at least try FileSpot. It is a very advanced search utility, and may be a key ingredient in any file system tagging you do. Additionally, there are some cool new features planned for upcoming versions that are definitely worth getting excited about. FileSpot is $20 shareware with a 30 day trial period and a 50% discount for owners of MoRU.

The first beta of FileSpot 2.0, a Spotlight enhancer, was released today. Frankly, I’m a little curious about version 1.0; I’ve never heard of FileSpot before, although it looks like a nice and slick Spotlight replacement.

FileSpot has built-in support for tagging via Spotlight comments, which is nice to see. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like you can customize the tagging format, but this is still a program well worth checking out if you want something an interface a little more robust than Spotlight’s. It automatically gave me an “Open in Path Finder” contextual menu option instead of the standard Finder, too. Bonus points to Synthesis Studios for that.

iGTD, the free tagging-friendly “getting things done” program, now has a Dashboard widget for those times when you need to just toss something into your to do list and don’t have Quicksilver handy (although who would get caught without Quicksilver handy?). You can find the widget via the iGTD downloads page.

The developer promises more widgets in the future, as well. Should be interesting to see how iGTD gets expanded into the Dashboard.