Mac Apps

Review: freeing up your Mac’s storage with Gemini 2, a smart duplicate file finder

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 10, 2016

Ukrainian developer MacPaw, the makers of the versatile and powerful CleanMyMac and CleanMyDrive apps, today pushed a major new update for Gemini as a brand new app. For those unfamiliar with it, Gemini is an intelligent duplicate file finder that can help recover tons of storage space on your Mac wasted to duplicate files.

Aside from identifying identical duplicates, Gemini 2 uses a proprietary algorithm to spot similar files that are not 100 percent identical, but can be considered redundant due to little difference between them.

It scans your iTunes and Photos libraries in search of retakes of the same picture or different formats of the same song, and becomes smarter and more precise in automatic selection of duplicates the more you use it.

Twitter finally brings Moments, Polls, and integrated GIF search to Mac app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2018

Twitter introduced both polls in tweets and a Moments feature for discovering trending stories back in October 2015. Additionally, Twitter for iOS has had the GIF search feature since February 2016.

Even though Moments, Polls, and integrated GIF search have been available on the web at twitter.com and via Twitter's mobile application for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, it wasn't until today that these features finally rolled out to Twitter's Mac app.

Deal: get 93% off the new MacPhun photo creativity bundle

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 3, 2016

After delighting iPhone photography fans with free high-quality filters for Photos for Mac, California-based developer MacPhun is back with a very tempting offer in the form of a photo creativity bundle “unlike any other”. They're calling it the Creative Kit XXL and let me tell you something—“XXL” is used there for a very good reason.

Not only do you get six premium photo-editing applications for your Mac in this bundle, but a ton of other goodies.

Some of the bonus content ad benefits you get with Creative Kit XXL: 40+ guides from leading photographers, 1200+ creative presets, six additional Mac apps for watermarking and resizing images and deep partner discounts.

And all of these perks can be yours in exchange for just $129, a cool 93 percent discount over the combined $2,000+ price for the included apps, tools and materials. Yup, that's a massive savings of $1,871.

Apple updates iMovie for Mac with various visual and speed improvements

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple on Thursday pushed out a solid update for iMovie for Mac, bringing the popular video-editing software to version 10.1.2. The release brings about several improvements, including faster project creation, easier clip selection and more.

The focus of the update seems to be visual cues and speed. Apple added a New Project button in the Projects Browser and Larger project thumbnails on the visual side, and the ability to begin editing a project with a single click on the speed side.

Add artistic flair to your photos with Filters, a free Mac app with 30 effects

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 6, 2016

Like the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, the Mac supports third-party extensions inside Apple's stock Photos app.

This potentially powerful capability makes it simple for Mac owners to touch up their photographs using compatible third-party filters without leaving Photos.

Filters, a new app from California-based MacPhun, boosts your photography with as many as thirty artistic and creative filters.

You can use Filters either as a Photos extension or run the software standalone in case you prefer to edit your images outside of Photos.

Put Product Hunt right in your Mac’s menu bar

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 21, 2016

Product Hunt, the popular Y Combinator-backed service that lets users share and discover new products, earlier this month unveiled a thoroughly revamped iPhone and iPad application that puts fun back into product discovery.

It's a gorgeously done app that I use every day and it's made me want that experience on my Mac. Lo and behold, Product Hunt for Mac. A tiny, official client for OS X, this app puts Product Hunt's familiar round “P” icon right into your Mac's menu bar, where it sits and dutifully awaits a click of the mouse to present you with the latest popular products, games, books and podcasts on Product Hunt.

Review: Leaf, a minimalist RSS reader for the Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 11, 2016

Leaf for Mac by Rocky Sand Studio is one of the most elegant and easy to use RSS readers available in the Mac App Store. Selected by Apple as one of its Best New Apps of 2015, this powerful app has gone free for the firs time since its inception, but for the next 24 hours only.

Leaf offers a carefully crafted set of essential features regularly used by average users, but don't let that fool you—this is a very capable app.

Leaf offers light/dark theme, supports popular syncing and sharing services, has a clutter-free mode, customizable keyboard shortcuts, supports trackpad gestures and notifications and much more.

If I were you, I'd grab Leaf right now before the price goes back up.

New console firmware with support for playing PlayStation games on Mac is due tomorrow

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 21, 2016

As promised, Sony will release tomorrow a firmware update for its PlayStation 4 console which includes Remote Play functionality for playing PlayStation 4 games on a Mac or Windows PC, the company announced in a blog post this morning.

“With this update, we’re expanding PS4’s Remote Play capabilities to work with Windows PC and Mac,” said Sony. The Remote Play app, which launches tomorrow and will be available for download through the Sony website, lets you connect a DualShock 4 to your Mac via a USB cable as the controller for Remote Play.

1Password for Mac gains new import options, automatic login naming and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Developer AgileBits today pushed a brand new 'Tricks Edition' update for 1Password for OS X, its popular password-management that's available across iOS, OS X, Android and Windows platforms.

Available in the Mac App Store at no charge for existing users, this particular update sports some interesting new options for 1Password's data importer and includes a much improved browser extension that can now automatically name the login it creates, among other enhancements.

1Password is $64.99 in the Mac App Store.

Fantastical for Mac gains native Exchange support, printing, iCloud shared calendar alerts & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 30, 2016

After shipping Fantastical 2 for Mac a year ago with tons of new features and a revamped user interface for OS X Yosemite and later, developer Flexibits today pushed version 2.2 of its calendar, reminder and to-do productivity app on the Mac App Store.

Fantastical 2.2 for Mac brings powerful new features to the experience, starting with full support for Microsoft Exchange accounts with native account syncing, invitation responses, availability lookup, categories and people lookup.

Other enhancements include availability information in calendars, support for printing with multiple layouts and a host of other under-the-hood refinements.

Readdle updates PDF Expert with Handoff support and other enhancements

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2016

Readdle, the Ukrainian developer of fine productivity software, has refreshed its PDF management and annotation app, PDF Expert for OS X and PDF Expert for iOS, with support for Apple's Handoff technology.

With Handoff, PDF Expert users can start editing a PDF document on their iPhone or iPad and then continue right where they left off on their Mac, and vice versa.

In addition, today's update includes half a dozen enhancements like the ability to select part of a document and crop or copy it.

Sony confirms remote play feature for PlayStation 4 games coming to the Mac soon

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 1, 2016

Sony today confirmed in a blog post that it's working on a Mac and Windows app with remote play functionality for PlayStation 4 games.

“We’re bringing PS4 Remote Play to Windows PC and Mac,” said the Japanese gaming giant. “This feature won’t be available to test in the beta, but you can look forward to it soon.”

Remote play via Mac and Windows will require the forthcoming PlayStation system software update version 3.50, codenamed “Musashi,” which is now available to those who have signed up for the beta and were selected.