MacHeist, another round of cheap software

MacHeist is back with another bundle of software. In case you're not familiar with MacHeist, it is a really well developed series of games that when you solve gives you free software and at the end of all the "missions" you get a discount on the full bundle. The free apps are an interesting marketing tool. Most of the developers that put their apps in give one version of the software that isn't upgradeable. Most of the software, I had no use for, but a few apps caught my eye, including 1Password which has changed how I browse the web! I wasn't planning on buying the current bundle, but I needed a graphics app and while I think the UI of Pixelmator is awful, and the bundle price was less than a normal license, so I bit. I don't have a whole lot of use for most of the apps, but they donate 25% to charity and I might find some utility to the apps.

I used to have mixed feelings about the deal as it is a great deal for consumers, excellent revenue generator for the people behind it, donates to charity, but the developers only get a small portion of the profits. Last year there was some debate over this. After talking with one developer this past week, he indicated that when they do these types of deals, the sales on their own site doesn't decrease! I've seen similar trends when I've done the MacZOT! promotions. Those people that know about these deals is very small and if the deals spread the word, then how bad can they be?

Kudos to MacHeist for another job well done and for putting together an excellent way for developers to get their software known.

ReceiptWallet UI Overhaul

I've started to do some work on the ReceiptWallet UI based on some ideas I got this week as well as customer feedback. I found that I personally had a number of "recent" smart collections, so I decided to make them a standard part of the interface. Also, I used some features of Leopard to get the "Source List" view (it looks OK on Tiger, but isn't as slick). For some reason, this was harder than it should have been; I had to verify that drag and drop still worked and lots of other things didn't break such as contextual menus, adding/removing collections, etc. However, I think it is all working now.

I am still working on some things, but will be putting out a beta next week.

Don't chop off your finger!

As I mentioned in a previous post, UPEK has their software written in Prague and that sometimes leads to odd wording of dialogs. I installed their latest software today and had to chuckle at this dialog. Better not harm yourself!

Politicians should be examples

As I was driving home from the airport, I was stopped at the light to turn on Pacific Highway when I see a minivan making a right turn. I looked at the license plate and saw that it was K6JVM; license plates like these are the call letters for an amateur radio license. While I know my own call sign, I don't know too many other people's call signs (I know Phil Karn's, KA9Q as I worked with some of his code years ago and he got me interested in Linux), I happen to know that this call sign belongs to the city council member representing our district, Jim Madaffer. He was yapping on his cell phone making the turn with one hand while his other hand was on the phone.

I know that the hands free law doesn't go into effect this summer for cell phones and that it is a state law, not one that he had anything to do with, but I think it would set a good example for our elected politicians to do the safe and responsible thing when it comes to driving while talking...use a handsfree device, if you MUST talk.