Mac Software

Automating repetitive Firefox tasks is one way to save your fingers from undue stress, and iMacros for Firefox is a great way to do it. From a sidebar you can toggle on and off, and you can run, record, and edit macros. Recording is as simple as pressing a button before starting and clicking another to stop. For more advanced tasks you can turn to a set of demos, but the Web site wiki and step-by-step tutorials were easy enough to follow.

While iMacros can theoretically be used to input passwords, best security practices dictate that you shouldn't. Being … Read more

For some people, Web searches are second nature. They're comfortable jumping from a basic text search to using Boolean terminology to navigating a minefield of open-ended results. It's hard not to appreciates the depth of material available on the Internet, but parsing 75,000 results can be daunting to even seasoned searchers.

ChunkIt for Firefox and Internet Explorer aims to streamline your query results into a manageable list by surfacing the relevant blocks of content directly below the appropriate link. This may sound like CoolPreviews, which opens a mini-window to preview a link before you click on it, … Read more

Some of the tweaks that arrived with the launch of Gmail Labs are fairly silly (Mail Goggles and Old Snakey spring to mind), but a new option that arrived Thursday makes it increasingly apparent that Google is doing something right with the e-mail service.

The company launched Advanced IMAP Controls in Gmail Labs, a feature that lets users fine-tune the behavior of the IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) technology that outside e-mail services or software can use to access Gmail accounts.

For example, you can limit which of your mail labels are exposed as folders to outside e-mail clients to … Read more

Last.fm is a top-notch music player plug-in for music discovery, sharing, and tracking. Compatible with iTunes, MediaMonkey, Winamp, and many other players, and available for Windows, Mac, and the iPhone, it "scrobbles" your music when you play it, keeping track of what you're listening to. Once you've created an account, you can set your musical likes, favorite bands, and tag tracks as it plays them back to you. The tagging option is customizable, so you can create your own tags on the fly or use the same ones that other users have chosen. When you … Read more

UPDATED: Corrected Opera's country of origin.

E-mail and RSS feed improvements top the list of changes for Opera 9.60, moved out of beta today for Windows and Mac. As noted when the 9.60 beta came out last month, this version of the free browser offers up a multifaceted ''low-bandwidth mode'' for Opera Mail and tweaks to the RSS reader.

The feed preview rolls into Opera's RSS management a standalone RSS app feature so that users can preview feeds before subscribing to them. The low bandwidth option for Opera Mail, also called M2, does different things for … Read more

Google has long been one of the most useful tools on the Net, but frequent search engine users may find that they can make it even more efficient. CustomizeGoogle is a Firefox extension that adds options to an ordinary Google search, providing additional links to sources such as Yahoo, Wikipedia, or MSN. Depending on the specifics of the search, results might also include links to movie, music, or book search engines.

It's hard not to like the link to the Wayback Machine, which enables users to see pages that have vanished from the Net. The software filters out advertisements, … Read more

Open-source freeware alternative to Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org, has released the third release candidate of its next major-point upgrade for Windows and Mac. The full version of OpenOffice.org 3 is due next week, so it's extremely doubtful there will be any major changes from this point on.

While Sun Microsystems is making sure that all its T's are crossed and I's are dotted, OpenOffice 3 Release Candidate 3 offers quite a few new features, including much-needed support for Office 2007 file types, Microsoft Access database support, a multipage view in MS Word-analog Writer, nearly unlimited character … Read more

Adobe Systems has begun shipping its enthusiast-oriented Photoshop Elements 7 image-editing software and Premiere Elements 7 video-editing software--and is offering a promotion to try to lure users to its online Photoshop.com site as well.

The Elements software costs $99.99 each or $149.99 as a bundle. New with this version, Adobe also is offering a $179.99 price that includes a one-year Photoshop.com Plus membership. Ordinarily, a Photoshop.com Plus subscription costs $49.99 a year, so you're basically getting a $20 price break, at least until the time comes to renew for another year.

Photoshop.com offers tutorials, online albums for backing up and sharing your shots, and access to the Photoshop Express online editing tool. The free basic version comes with 2GB of storage, and the Plus level comes with 20GB of storage.

Pricing isn't the only promotion. CNET reviewer Lori Grunin found it annoying how prominently Elements touts the online option in the software itself. … Read more

It appears that sometimes wishes really do come true. Last week I talked about iGolf, hoping that Version 2.0 would include some sort of course to play through. Apparently this was already in the works. With Version 2.0 you can now play through three holes in addition to hitting for distance at the driving range. It still needs some work (putting requires you to perform a full swing making it less-than-ideal), but adding the three playable holes is a nice touch. I should point out that if you don't have a good grip while playing you may … Read more