Am I the only person who thinks that this news story belongs on a side bar with the other advertisements?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MacHeist Retail Bundle: 12 Mac Apps, $49
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
some of these apps seem pretty cool, but i just don't have the money now. i'll probably buy something like this when i'm out of college and have a real job
They're vague because different people have different requirements. If I keep text snippets in the finder they're not as easily navigatable, or as rapidly and easily searched. If I select an area of a webpage (or whatever) and right click I cant instantly save it to an a pre-defined folder (without applescripts anyway). It speeds /me/ up and makes me feel more efficient, but wouldn't necessarily speed anyone else up.
There is no best way.. Something valuable to one person, and suiting how their mind works will be totally unusable to someone else. I have all sorts of weird little things like scans, receipts, passport stuff, photos, university documents, code snippets and things which are better organised in one place/app. They'd get lost in a "miscellanious" folder in the finder and there isn't enough of each to make it worth making subfolders for each type. I don't think they're important enough to live in my Documents folder, which I leave things i more commonly need in.. So I guess I use devonthink like a filing cabinet.. Hmm. Keeps my Mac tidier. I know some people prefer annexing things into folders and subtrees, I'd rather separate them by App too to keep them out of the way.
I upgraded to the pro version so I can easily sync the database with my other macs.. I dont think Devonthink (or similar) are for everyone, but it does it's job well I think.
full screen text editor for free
try bean it works well and the developer seems to be on top of things. Plus it's free!
Well I see your point, but it is news right? And it is something a lot of Mac people talk about. Using the same logic we could say that an article announcing an new Mac, iPod Touch, iPhone is also an advertisement. Which it kind of is. If you don't like it you don't have to read it.
try bean it works well and the developer seems to be on top of things. Plus it's free!
Well I see your point, but it is news right? And it is something a lot of Mac people talk about. Using the same logic we could say that an article announcing an new Mac, iPod Touch, iPhone is also an advertisement. Which it kind of is. If you don't like it you don't have to read it.
I'm a DEVONthink Pro user, and I'll give you a very specific and personal description of how I use it. Note: I've never used DT Personal, so some things I say will not apply.
I'm a novelist, working on a series of books. There's a lot of research (generally printed to PDF), maps (JPG/PNG), the notes I take (RTF), and the drafts I write (RTF). Finder would store these formats, but DT will display the file whenever I click on it and save it whenever I navigate away from the file, which makes changing tasks very quick. It will open files under the same application -- which is nice, I think, because it makes it easier to have a PDF and a RTF or a PNG or whatever side-by-side at any given time. I think that the Finder (even the Leopard Finder) sucks when it comes to navigating folder hierarchies, but DTP makes navigating a large hierarchy (my *tiny* [one million word] database has 311 folders in it) as easy as it is with Windows Explorer.
There are complex interconnections -- characters in multiple chapters, characters' relationships, that sort of thing -- that are best done through things like Wiki-esque links (which DTP, like VoodooPad and others, will do automatically). DTP has a full-screen editing mode -- not as polished as the one in Scrivener or WriteRoom, but passable.
What I've found most useful (and why I went with DT Pro instead of DT personal) is the fantastic AppleScript support. Essentially, it allows you to take the very fast and very stable DTP application and shape it precisely to create the functionality you need. In my situation, I'm very meticulous about the order and location of documents within the file hierarchy, so I have article names like "I.B.3.c::0007. [[Introduction]] Some Concept" which indicates that within the third folder of the third folder of the second folder of the first root-level folder, the seventh document is an introduction to a given concept. If I need to insert a document before the above-listed file, I could just tell DTP to arrange the files according to how I specify (sorta like dragging songs around in a "dumb" playlist in iTunes) -- but I don't like that. So I wrote scripts to increment the "0007" part of the document name, or decrement it, or increase or decrease it by a given number, to check the folder hierarchy portion of the name and update it if it is incorrect, and so forth. Quick, easy, and accessible from the DTP script menu. I have another script that sets the "aliases" of the document to the title for WikiLinks -- for instance, if I typed "Some Concept" in one of my other documents, it would link to the above-referenced document. I could do this with Finder, but a poorly-written script could b0rk the hard drive, and even with Time Machine a backup of the hard drive is a bit of an irritation. With DTP it just means restoring the latest backup, a two-second process.
That's how I use DTP, and I'm definitely in the distinct minority. Most people throw massive amounts of data at it -- 40 million words or more (I think some people have had upwards of a billion words in theirs, though performance obviously suffers), in scholarly articles and such -- and then mostly rely on the "AI" to help them out. Although I haven't played with Spotlight in Leopard much, I believe it lacks a few features that the DEVONthink "AI" has -- namely, to find a file that has a strong connection to the one you are currently viewing, or to group similar files together automatically, and so forth. Spotlight's also slower, and DTP's smart folders use AppleScript, which allows a practically infinite level of control over folder contents. I don't really rely on the "AI" facet of DT -- every once in a while I will notice some interesting connections between apparently unrelated source information, but in general I rely on my mind to draw parallels between disparate ideas. That's what being a writer is all about, and I don't like relying on a program to do my creative work for me.
The biggest advantage of DEVONthink Pro, for me at least, is just the self-contained aspect of it, the "sandbox" quality. I switch computers a lot and I like keeping all of my work-related files together. I like just having to zip a bundle and move it to another computer, then reinstalling OS X on the old one and selling it. Makes the switches a lot easier. All of my work (from researching on the internet to printing a webpage to a PDF to summarizing that PDF to deciding how to implement those ideas to writing the first, second, third... and final drafts, managing submissions and agent relations, managing publication, and so forth) is all done in DEVONthink. So when I switch to DTP, I know I'm working. And if I feel like f**king around, I can switch out of the app.
You can look at DEVONthink Pro much the same way you might look at Parallels or VMWare Fusion. It's basically a simple operating system with a passable text editor, PDF/image/video/sound viewer, file manager, backup system, and good scripting support. You might see as little use in having DTP as you would in having a Parallels virtual machine running another copy of OS X, and it's sort of difficult to justify in the same way because so much of the functionality is already in the Finder. The virtue, as with Quicksilver, is largely in how it improves a power user's productivity.
(Also, it's important to note DEVONthink's age -- it came around before Spotlight, before smart folders, before Quicklook, before Automator, and before several other improvements to the Finder and OS X in general. I think it's over five years old at this point, although I might be wrong. In a way, OS X has evolved in the wake of DTP, not vice versa)
So I hope that helps. I'm not a stockholder or anything, and I have definite beefs with DTP (its lack of "real" smart folders, its refusal to allow renaming of "replicants," etc), but it's a hell of an app and it's really made my ideas possible to achieve. If you do a lot of research or information management, I think it's the king.
Thank you, that was very informative, I think I get a big part of what it's about now. I ready your whole description and from what I gathered, DEVONthink doesn't really have any features uniquely different from the Finder, but the implementation of it's features are more refined towards being an organizational file browser designed to aid the ease of connecting separate files into a whole cohesive unit.
I can see how that could be very helpful to some people who do certain complex tasks that require deep levels of file interconnection and portability.
If I misunderstood anything, please correct me.
The big flaws in your logic:
macrumors.com doesn't get money for advertising a new Mac, etc., as "News", like they do for this blatant ad.
A bundle price on a bunch of software almost no one uses or cares about is not news. Only a total fanboi would even try to make that stretch.
And by virtue of it being the top "news" story on the page, yeah, we do have to read it. And judging by the 400 negative votes against 64 positive, apparently a vast majority of readers of this site are similarly disgusted by an ad masquerading as a "news" story or rumor. It's kind of gross. It's not even like it's the first time. Enough already. Put every ad with the rest of the ads. End of story.
To be honest I think this is one of the great things about MacRumors, that they report deals like this one. (So what if they profit by it, good for them, this is a great site and a great service for everything Mac). Maybe this bundle is of use to some MacRumors readers. If so then they should be given the chance to see that it is available. For the price this bundle is VERY cheap. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything or even read the article or this thread.
In December I bought the MacUpdate Promo bundle and I'm very pleased that I did. I don't use all the software, but I do use some. I only purchased it because I found it on the main page of this site. Thank you MacRumors for that, I appreciate you making me aware of the offer.
I bet if there were some really cool apps at a short term bargain price and MacRumors didn't report it, so that many MacRumors readers didn't find out about it until it was too late and missed out, there would be a massive thread of people complaining asking why.
This news story is certainly useful to me because it has made me aware of the forthcoming MacUpdate Promo bundle. This current offer is of no use to me personally so I won't be buying it, but I'm certainly happy I have seen it.
The one thing that really annoys me about some of these bundle offers, is when they give a FALSE full retail price if all the different software were purchased seperately, maybe MacRumors could be a little more informative on that one.
In December I bought the MacUpdate Promo bundle and I'm very pleased that I did. I don't use all the software, but I do use some. I only purchased it because I found it on the main page of this site. Thank you MacRumors for that, I appreciate you making me aware of the offer.
I bet if there were some really cool apps at a short term bargain price and MacRumors didn't report it, so that many MacRumors readers didn't find out about it until it was too late and missed out, there would be a massive thread of people complaining asking why.
This news story is certainly useful to me because it has made me aware of the forthcoming MacUpdate Promo bundle. This current offer is of no use to me personally so I won't be buying it, but I'm certainly happy I have seen it.
The one thing that really annoys me about some of these bundle offers, is when they give a FALSE full retail price if all the different software were purchased seperately, maybe MacRumors could be a little more informative on that one.
Whining Central
Man, I have hardly seen so much pissing and whining about something. If you don't like it, don't buy it! Pretty plain and simple.
As far as everyone bitching about WriteRoom: here's the thing. The creator tried to make a robust writing program that SHUTS OUT THE DISTRACTIONS FROM THE REST OF YOUR COMPUTER. It's not about being a "gee whiz whistles and bells!" application, but about simply letting you focus on writing. I write for a living, and I love this program. The ability to not even see a menu bar up top makes it easier to not think about the time, and to just zone out in a sea of words. Then if you really need to, you can open up your doc in Word or any other program and do whatever you want to it. For my money, WriteRoom is the best app in this pack. Do a Google search for WriteRoom coupon and you can get it at a discount (I think I paid $18 for mine). Great program.
Man, I have hardly seen so much pissing and whining about something. If you don't like it, don't buy it! Pretty plain and simple.
As far as everyone bitching about WriteRoom: here's the thing. The creator tried to make a robust writing program that SHUTS OUT THE DISTRACTIONS FROM THE REST OF YOUR COMPUTER. It's not about being a "gee whiz whistles and bells!" application, but about simply letting you focus on writing. I write for a living, and I love this program. The ability to not even see a menu bar up top makes it easier to not think about the time, and to just zone out in a sea of words. Then if you really need to, you can open up your doc in Word or any other program and do whatever you want to it. For my money, WriteRoom is the best app in this pack. Do a Google search for WriteRoom coupon and you can get it at a discount (I think I paid $18 for mine). Great program.
Doesn't mean you can't complain and whine about it
Anyway, there seems to be a lot more criticism and cynicism than whining.
There is and always will be about everything, it's human nature.Doesn't mean you can't complain and whine about it
Anyway, there seems to be a lot more criticism and cynicism than whining.
I used Overflow in Tiger to solve the problem of application launching, so I probably didn't take advantage of any of its potentially many additional features, but stacks has totally konfabulated it.
Too may duplicates from the previous offering. I thought the next bundle was going to be all Mac Games? I was hoping for Enigmo 2.
FYI: MR gets cash from MacHeist to peddle their bundles.
FYI: MR gets cash from MacHeist to peddle their bundles.
I tried a demo of it last year, and the full screen, non cluttered interface was very good for actually letting you think and just write. I think it would be great with a LCD in portrait mode.
However, it is a simple concept, and $25 on its own was always a bit much. I'm hoping that some other text editors get similar full screen capability.
The other bundle looks great - whilst I have not yet got an Intel Mac, it is on my list for later this year and thus Parallels would be nice. May make use of the good exchange rate and get all the apps ready for then.
I tried WriteRoom but it seemed buggy on my macbook. Eventually I uninstalled it.
I've been using MacJournal for several years as a simple notebook/notepad app, and discovered that it has the same full-screen mode option. I want to echo what others have said: the black screen/green- or orange-text layout reduces distractions if you are just trying to get some writing done.
A bonus if you're old(-ish) like me: the orange text on black offers up memories of very late nights hammering stuff out in Wordperfect on a PS/2.
Worst..... rationalization..... ever.
The whole point is there's a clear difference between reporting news/rumors and advertising products, or there's supposed to be. Once you start blurring that line (for a few extra $$$, no less) you lose credibility. The readers (smart ones, anyway) start looking at "news" items and wondering, hmmm, they weren't very open about their profit off that bundled software thing - how do I know they weren't paid to put this item on the front page?
In fact, how do we know that's not happening already here?
It's disgusting.
Everyone has to make money. I get that. The point that at least most of you understand is this. Thousands of titles are released every year for Mac and I'd say a large chunk of them are more popular than this bundle. Its clear that MR is selective about what they put in the news column.
Frankly, if they have to put that disclaimer in the story body they should rethink where they place their content.
Frankly, if they have to put that disclaimer in the story body they should rethink where they place their content.
Well we're all entitled to our opinions. Personally I think any good deal being offered to Apple users is worth reporting. Considering the service MR offers anyone interested in anything Mac on all levels I'm not going to complain. If they make a few bucks out of it then I think it's only going to strengthen this site. Now if they were being paid by the companies to write things which weren't true to get people to buy their products and placing it in the news then that would be something else.
Anyway the news is like reading any online Newspaper, you don't have to read every story.
Speaking for myself I always log into the front page to see what's happening and then check out the forums I'm interested in. If the bundle I purchased in December had not been mentioned on the main news page I would probably have missed it, and I'm really happy I didn't miss it.
So like I say we're all different and can think what we please and I'm sure it's no skin off MacRumors' nose.
I bit during the last Heist, but not this time. Too many of these apps were included in the previous Heist, so it's not a god deal for recent participants like myself.
XSlimmer, CoverSutra, Cha-ching and Awaken were all there. The rest of these don't look too compelling. Now, if they start adding in extra apps when they hit sales milestones like last time, I may consider it, depending on what it is. SnapzPro X got added during the last Heist, which made it a very nice bundle indeed. By itself, that app sells for $69, so $50 for it and the rest of the bundle was a incredible steal.
XSlimmer, CoverSutra, Cha-ching and Awaken were all there. The rest of these don't look too compelling. Now, if they start adding in extra apps when they hit sales milestones like last time, I may consider it, depending on what it is. SnapzPro X got added during the last Heist, which made it a very nice bundle indeed. By itself, that app sells for $69, so $50 for it and the rest of the bundle was a incredible steal.
So what you're saying is, as long as you personally get something positive out of it, it's okay for a site to take advantage of their pageviews and readers by inserting advertising that's deceptively labeled as news.
Nice.
All I can say is, as a relatively new Mac owner, and relatively new person to this website, I had never heard of or seen any of these applications/programs before. Some of them look like they could be extremely useful, others not so much. Either way, that they are now available online in a fairly low cost bundle may not be "news" to everyone, but it was certainly nice for me to find out about their existence. As an ad or placed elsewhere, I'd never have seen/noticed it. So for those jaded folk out there, don't forget there are always new people coming here who are not as knowledgable about these things.
That the people running this site might benefit from me buying the package using the link doesn't bother me in the least. I'm not paying a cent to come here and read the news and participate in the forums, so who does it hurt if the people maintaining the site and/or paying for the servers get a few extra bucks?
That the people running this site might benefit from me buying the package using the link doesn't bother me in the least. I'm not paying a cent to come here and read the news and participate in the forums, so who does it hurt if the people maintaining the site and/or paying for the servers get a few extra bucks?