Tag Archive for 'shareware'

Jumpcut: Free OS X Clipboard History Utility

Published
by
George Coghill
on May 24, 2008
in freeware and productivity
. 0 Comments

Jumpcut is a very handy clipboard extender for Mac OS X. What Jumpcut does is remember a user-specified number of text items copied to the clipboard, and allows one to select from them when pasting.

The standard OS X clipboard allows the user to paste only the last-copied item. Jumpcut just keeps track of everything you have copied using the Command (⌘) -C shortcut or the Edit -> Copy menu item.

Continue reading 'Jumpcut: Free OS X Clipboard History Utility'OS X Clipboard History Utility’


by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Mac Vector App Showdown

Published
by
George Coghill
on May 14, 2008
in Adobe Illustrator, OS X, shareware and tools
. 0 Comments

vector pen tool iconA good, informative post over at TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) comparing low-cost vector software applications for Mac OS X by indepedent developers. The review is specifically comparing tools and techniques available in Adobe Illustrator CS3.

The comparison covers four applications: DrawBerry, EazyDraw, Lineform, and VectorDesigner. I have demoed all of these at one point or another, and found each to have their stregths and weaknesses.

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by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Indie Vector Graphics App DrawIt - Free ‘Lite’ Version Now Available

Published
by
George Coghill
on February 18, 2008
in software
. 0 Comments

DrawIt vector software - logoVector graphics software application DrawIt is one of many recent entries into the indie Mac developer vector graphics software field, including LineForm DrawBerry, VectorDesigner, and EazyDraw among others. Not only has the full version been updated to version 3.3.1, but a 1.0 release of the new – and free – lite version of DrawIt is now available as well.

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by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

11+ Excellent Mac OS X applications for a phenomenal price: MacHeist 2

Published
by
George Coghill
on January 15, 2008
in OS X, software and tools
. 0 Comments

Mac Heist 2 logoAs you may have noticed on this blog, I am a bit of a software junkie, particularly shareware/freeware. I love the ingenious functionality some of these independent developers bring to OS X, and also the direct access you have to the creators of the software.

MacHeist 2 is, as the name implies, a followup to an extremely Mac-only discount shareware software bundle promotion that debuted in the winter of 2007. Until January 23, 2008 at midnight, for $49 you can snag $370 worth of quality software. Last year’s apps were decent, this year’s apps are outstanding. My only regret is that I already own most of the apps that I would want out of the bundle!  

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by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

CS3 + G4: Using Adobe Creative Suite CS3 on a PowerMac G4

Published
by
George Coghill
on October 5, 2007
in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Apple, OS X, Opinions, Rants, Reviews, productivity, software and tools
. 0 Comments

Apple Macintosh PowerMac G4 desktop computerIt’s been about a few months since I upgraded to Adobe’s Creative Suite CS3 suite of graphic & design applications, and am running them all on a PowerMac G4 (dual 1.25 processors, 2 Gb RAM). I thought I would share my experiences with anyone out there contemplating upgrading to CS3 with an older Macintosh. I also have one of the original MacBooks, so there’s a decent comparison with CS3 running on an Intel processor Mac.

In short, I would recommend waiting to upgrade your Mac to at least a G5 or an Intel based Mac before going to CS3, but that said it’s still usable.

Continue reading 'CS3 + G4: Using Adobe Creative Suite CS3 on a PowerMac G4'


by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Acorn: The Leatherman Tool of Image Editors

Published
by
George Coghill
on October 2, 2007
in OS X, Reviews, shareware, software and tools
. 0 Comments

Icon for Mac OS X image editor AcornThe more I try out image editors Pixelmator & Acorn, the more Acorn’s simplicity and new perspective on the interface grows on me. Pixelmator is looking to be just about perfect for those people who need a Photoshop Elements style app with low overhead at a sweet price point.

Acorn, on the other hand, seems to be carving out a new niche, and developer Gus Mueller has shown in some of the details that’s he’s not trying to compete with Photoshop (or even Pixelmator), rather he’s attempting to do something new & unique. From the single, unified tools palette to the Option & Control key resizing & crop features (with the live pixel dimension display on the bottom left of the window frame) to the live brush size on the brush slider, Mueller demonstrates that he’s been using graphics software, he’s been frustrated with some things, and he’s thought of a way to make it painless, effortless and intuitive.

Once you’ve worked a bit in Acorn with some of these novel approaches to old habits, you’ll soon wonder why it was never done this way before.

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by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Image editor Pixemator hits 1.0

Published
by
George Coghill
on September 25, 2007
in Adobe Photoshop, shareware, software and tools
. 1 Comment

Pixelmator image editor icon artThe much-buzzed image editor Pixelmator has just been released in all it’s 1.0 glory, which means the rest of us can download the demo and if so inclined pick up a copy ($59).

I have played around a bit with it and it seems pretty darn cool. Once I have a chance to compare it to Acorn I’ll get a review up here.
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by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Acorn: Handy Lightweight Pixel-Based Image Editor

Published
by
George Coghill
on September 17, 2007
in art, cartooning, shareware, sketch, software and tools
. 0 Comments

Screenshot of single palette pixel-based image editor AcornA new image editor snuck in under the radar a few days back: Acorn. It’s a pretty nice lightweight alternative to Photoshop for either users who don’t need all the bells and whistles the Adobe juggernaut has to offer, or would like to have a companion app for those times when you just need to do some quick edits and don’t want to fire up Photoshop just for an annotated screenshot.

If Adobe has Photoshop Elements, you could call Acorn “Photoshop Molecule”.

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by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Default Folder X - Essential Mac Productivity Utility Software

Published
by
George Coghill
on September 9, 2007
in OS X, Reviews, keyboard shortcuts, productivity, shareware, software and tools
. 0 Comments

Default Folder Mac utility software for open & save dialog boxes - screenshotDefault Folder X is one of those shareware utility applications that seem pretty handy while you are demoing, but until you use another Mac without Default Folder installed (or the demo runs out), you don’t realize exactly how perfect the software actually is.

I constantly run across these “714 Absolutely Essential Mac Applications” blog posts that always leave this one out. And I think the only reason is that the author is unaware of it’s existence. There’s no other explanation. Half of the time the apps I see on those lists are so-so anyways.

So what is this so-called “Default Folder” anyways? In short, it’s a way for you to access – from the Open/Save dialog windows – not only commonly used folders, but also recently used folders and open Finder windows, all with (mostly) user-defined keyboard shortcuts.

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by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Genopal Color Scheme Generator Software: Weird Name, Cool Tool

Published
by
George Coghill
on August 24, 2007
in Cool Stuff, OS X, Web Links, art, design, productivity, shareware, software and tools
. 0 Comments

Genopal color scheme generator software: sample color scheme

Genopal is a color scheme generator software application I just stumbled across, and it’s pretty interesting.

Instead of the standard color wheels most color scheme generator/explorer software programs utilize, Genopal doesn’t give you the option of choosing a color model such as Complimentary, Triadic and such. Instead there are two sliders, one for Color Diversity and one for Lightness Diversity. There’s a “Generate” button which them cycles though color schemes as analagous or as wild as you set the sliders.

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by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

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