Mac Software Bundles

If you love a cheap bundle of quality software as much as I do there are three offerings available right now, all priced just under $50. First up is TheMacBundles at $49.95, offering the following:

The bonus programs expire over  the next few days so the bundle goes against previous form by getting smaller as time passes, rather than adding software as sales targets are reached. There are no killer apps in this one and it doesn’t offer the same amount of saving as some of the previous Mac Heist or MacUpdate bundles.

The second bundle is MacBundleBox, offering 12 apps for $49. Standouts for me are Freeway Express, iCash and Stomp. The last is a video convertor that looks like it could fill the shoes of the much missed Visualhub. Several of  the included apps sell for $60+ so there’s some fine savings here.

The final package is TheMacSale, with 10 strong apps for $49.99. Standouts for me are Flux, a WYSIWYG web editor with strong CSS support, Iris for photoshop style image editing, and the personnal version of REALbasic for writing software.

I’ve passed on TheMacBundles and bought TheMacSale package. I’m tempted by MacBundleBox so will probably end up buying that as well. The real benefit of these software packages is that after buying them for the past few years I have an app for most things you could want to do with a Mac.

iPod Touch 1st Gen with V3 software

The new V3 iPhone/iPod software from Apple offers a lot of improvements and additions, unfortunately the amount of these changes decreases the further back the family tree you go. Probably the least blessed by the V3 update is the first generation iPod Touch, the model I use. I’ve been looking through the software I use on my iPod for a couple of days to find what’s new, so here’s a list of the changes you get for your £5.99/$9.99

Search Found to the left of the home screen, this offers similar functionality to the Mac’s Spotlight, searching most of the device’s built in applications. Icons for each application on the left identify where the match is so this is a very fast way of finding what you want. It’s also customisable from Settings>General>Home, as shown below. The home button can be assigned an action, and apps you don’t want to include can be deselected. It’s even possible to drag the apps around to change the order of the search results.

MacUpdate Spring Bundle

The latest MacUpdate software bundle has launched today, offering 11 apps, plus 2 more for the first 15,000 buyers. There’s some high quality software included, and since I was looking at buying upgrades for Parallels 4 and Techtool Pro 5 this is a bargain. Here’s the full list:

• TechTool Pro 5 ($98): Check the health of your RAM and hard drives, repair problems, optimize performance. Boot and fix all but the newest March 2009 Macs
• Parallels 4 ($79.99): Run Windows, Linux, and more alongside your Mac.
• Circus Ponies Notebook 3 ($49.95): Organize your tasks, and collate you ideas, clippings, photos, and more.
• Intego NetBarrier X5 ($49.95): Robust firewall and intrusion detection.D
• DVDRemaster Pro 5 ($44.99): Backup your DVDs and put them on other Apple devices.
• Multiplex ($35): Browse and watch your entire DVD collection from your Mac with a gorgeous interface.
• RipIt ($18.99): Copy DVDs to your hard drive with one-click and create region-free, encryption-free backups.
• MoneyWell ($49.99): Manage your personal finances.
• Paperless ($44.95): Digital document manager.
• Posterino ($24.95): Create attractive posters, stylish postcards, photo frames, greeting cards and more.
• BetterZip ($24.95): Take Mac OS X’s built-in .zip compression tool to the next level. Extract only the files you want, create and encrypt archives, split large files, and more!

Macheist is go

Anyone wanting some puzzles to solve for free software should head over to Macheist.com and sign up for an account. There are three titles on offer for those who solve the puzzles (or read the solutions in the forum), with more puzzles and free software to come. If this plays out like the last Macheist there should be discount vouchers toward the final software bundle.

Mac Giving Tree offers free software

It must be christmas, the MacUpdate bundle just ended with another bonus app, and the Mac Giving Tree at Macheist is open for signups. Get Synergy (iTunes controller) and Enigmo 2 (puzzle game) now, with two more apps unveiled on Christmas day. Sign up two other people and you get two more free apps. No hints to what they are at the moment, but you can’t complain about free Christmas presents. I’ve played Enigmo 2 for a couple of hours this afternoon and got to level 16 with many more to go, so what could be better than free entertainment?

MacUpdate Holiday Bundle released

Software bundle’s have become something of a tradition for Mac users, and the latest from MacUpdate offers some useful and varied apps. The package is priced at the usual price of $49.99, offering a saving of over $470 on the individual price of the software. I’ve already bought it, as it offered some apps I wanted at a big saving even though I already owned three of them. Here’s the full list:

• Drive Genius 2.1 – Diagnose, repair, and optimize your Mac.
• RapidWeaver 4.2.1 – Web site design and construction made easy.
• Default Folder X 4.1 – Enhances Open and Save dialog boxes.
• VirusBarrier X5 10.5.5 – Anti-virus software for Mac.
• MacGourmet Deluxe 1.0.5 – Create, build, and share your recipes.
• Little Snitch 2.0.4 – Alerts you to outgoing network connections.
• iVolume 3.1.4 – Improves iTunes’ Sound Check feature.
• KeyCue 4.3 – Displays all menu commands.
• MacPilot 3.2.1 – Enables over 700 hidden features in Mac OS X.
• WhatSize 4.4.1 – Measure file and folder sizes easily.
• iDive 1.8.8 – the first 5,000 buyers get iDive, the ‘Digital video shoebox’.

The inclusion of VirusBarrier X5 is ironic with the amount of fuss about Apple’s take on Mac anti-virus products.

SimplyBurns for simple burning

Things have not been going well in the disc burning dungeon at Basshead towers. The big name disc burning/video editing/everything but the kitchen sink software that I have used for a couple of years was struggling with dual layer discs. I tried everything I could think of. Firmware update for the Pioneer 215 drive? Already on the newest one. Burn at 4x or 2x instead of 8x? Didn’t make a difference, discs still either failed during burning or could not be verified. Change disc brand/dye type? No change, still burning coasters. Reboot and close all other apps/startup items before burning? Still no good.

The only thing I hadn’t tried at this point was some different software, and there’s quiet a bit of it available. The first one I tried is SimplyBurns, an oss/gnu disc burning package. It’s not flashy but offers a lot of funtionality. And the best part is that it flies through burning and verifying dual layer discs. These are from the same spindle that previously failed, burned at 8x with not a single coaster yet. Donations to the project are accepted, so give it a try and do the right thing if you find it useful.

uTorrent now in Mac beta

Before completing my switch to the Mac platform my favourite bittorrent client on Windows was uTorrent. It combined a good feature set with good performance and tiny system resource requirements. It was unavailable for Mac OS until recently when some alpha versions with limited functionality appeared. That’s now changed with the release of a Mac beta available from mac.utorrent.com. The site makes it clear that this is beta software so may contain serious bugs, but anyone looking for a lightweight bittorrent client should give this great piece of free software a try.

Huge software savings with Koingo and MacUpdate

Here’s a bargain for anyone who has bought, or is considering buying, the current MacUpdate bunde. Koingo software, makers of the included Alarm Clock Pro software, are offering their entire collection of apps (the utility package) for $19.99 instead of the usual $79.99. You need to have bought the MacUpdate bundle to qualify, but this is a huge saving over the usual price and a massive saving on the individual cost. Here’s the breakdown.

MacUpdate Bundle

• HookUp $20.00
• Alarm Clock Pro $19.95
• Periscope $39.95
• DEVONagent $9.95
• Mellel $49.00
• Norrkross Movie $59.00
• Bookends $99.00
• MacJournal $34.95
• Contactizer Pro $119.90

Total $491.70, you pay $49.99. Lightzone will be added if sales reach 7,000 bundles, making a total of $621.65 for $49.99.

Koingo Utility Package

• AirRadar free
• Alarm Clock Pro included in MacUpdate bundle
• Data Guardian $19.95
• E-Mail Commander $29.95
• File Sheriff $9.95
• Font Pilot $15.95
• Gallery Designer $19.95
• Librarian Pro $29.95
• MacCleanse $19.95
• MacPilot $19.95
• Slideshow Magic $19.95
• Swift Share $19.95

That adds up to an additional $205.50 of software for $19.95, bringing the total to $827.15 of software for $69.94, a saving of over 90%. The Koingo offer ends 30th September, and can be bought here.

UPDATE Lightzone has now been unlocked, so the MacUpdate bundle is now for the full $621.65 value of software. I haven’t received a Lightzone serial number yet so it’s a good job the Lightzone trial lasts for 30 days.

UPDATE The Lightzone serial arrived a day later, so I now have all the bundle apps.

New MacUpdate promo bundle

The latest bundle deal from MacUpdate has just gone live (111 sales as I type) offering the usual deal of 10 apps for $49.99 with three locked until sales targets are reached. The first target is 1,000 sales so it shouldn’t be too hard to see all the apps being made available. I’ve bought the last two of these deals and everything was unlocked so I expect the same will happen this time. The apps on offer are:

• HookUp An iTunes and iPhoto companion which allows you to access, stream and download media from shared libraries in a remote network
• Alarm Clock Pro manages alarms and a variety of notification methods
• Periscope is a webcam recording app
• DEVONagent powerful internet search app
• Mellel word processor with several advanced features
• Norrkross Movie video editor offering features beyone iMovie
• Bookends bibliography/reference and information management system
• MacJournal personal journaling software (locked until 1,000 sales)
• Contactizer Pro manage, share, organise personal and business information (locked)
• LightZone powerful desktop photo-editing (locked)

I’m guessing this bundle is aimed at students off to college or university, with the exception of the last app LightZone. This sells as either a basic version for £75 or a full version for £115. The MacUpdate bundle doesn’t say it’s the basic version included, so it looks like a £115 app plus nine other apps for under £30. Now that’s a bargain, especially since I have been looking at buying LightZone for a while.

UPDATE Lightzone has now changed to Lightzone Basic on the description page. Looks like that was just too good a deal to be true.