Unlike the Eddies and the App Gems Awards , the “ Mac Gems of the Year , ” if you will , are n’t chosen by commission . Rather , I hand - plunk them from among the over 100 gem we mined at Macworld during 2012 . ( To characterize for Mac Gems , a product must be priced at $ 35 or less and must earn a 3.5 - black eye paygrade or higher . ) The I recognized here are n’t necessarily the Mac Gems that garner the high paygrade from our reviewers . Instead , they ’re the apps that I felt did something innovative ; offer particular value ; improved productivity above and beyond other apps ; or terminate up being used — by me or a fellow Macworld editor — over and over . These cheap diligence and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - ons will help you get the most out of your Mac without botch up your budget .
Eddy-winning Gem
Tweetbot for Mac (; $ 20;website ): As my fellow Lex Friedman put it : “ you may find legion great Twitter apps for the Mac , but Tweetbot earns this Eddy because of its smartly implemented approach to bringing an iOS app to the Mac . The app will experience intimate to anyone who has used its iOS counterparts , but it still embraces the fact that it is run on [ OS cristal ] alternatively . ”
( NetSpot 2 , another Mac Gem , also received an Eddy award this year . However , we reviewed NetSpot in former November 2011 — and whereas the Eddy awarding are based on a November - to - November yr , my skillful - Gems - of - the - year list is based on the calendar twelvemonth , so NetSpot make a place on myFavorite Mac Gems of 2011list . )
The list
Of the 100 + other Gems we refresh this preceding year , these 11 also counted among my 12 favorites .
barkeep (; $ 15;website ): As more and more apps and utilities provide option for , or are approachable only via , systemwide menu - bar icons , the right side of the menu bar has grown ever more push . Bartender comes to the deliverance by giving you a secondary bar — one that appears just below the menu bar and only when you want it to — for host card that you do n’t need to see all the time . ( you could show Bartender ’s stripe by using the pointer or a keyboard cutoff . ) If a special menu displays selective information , you’re able to configure Bartender to show that computer menu shortly each metre it updates , and then hide out it until the next update . barkeeper get you rearrange all of the systemwide menu icons , not just the inventory OS ex ones , and you may hide the Notification Center and Spotlight menu icons without losing accession to those features .
Clarify (; $ 30 ): If you ever take to create how - to documentation or instructions , Clarify make it easy to take a sequence of screenshots and turn them into an annotated document . Clarify is dramatically higher-ranking to Word , Pages , or TextEdit for make like image and documents : It ’s easier , it ’s faster , and it produces better - looking results .
Fission 2 (; $ 32;website ): This cock-a-hoop update to Rogue Amoeba ’s easy - to - use , lossless audio editor makes it simple than ever to crop song , splice track , tweak voice recordings , fade track in or out , and create ringtones without alter the quality of the original file . Compared to version 1 , nuclear fission 2 offer an improved port ; better performance ; support for FLAC ; and conversion to and from AAC , MP3 , AIFF , WAV , FLAC , and Apple Lossless formats . It also lets you open multiple redaction windows simultaneously , it can save heighten ( chapterized ) AAC files for podcasting , and it offer instant uploading to SoundCloud .
FreeSpace (; $ 1 ): An early adaptation of this menu - bar usefulness receive an honest citation in last class ’s inclination of favourite gem ; but thanks to a act of recent updates , it has earned a solid place on my 2012 list . FreeSpace ’s systemwide menu shows all mounted volumes along with the useable free distance on each ; if you want to supervise a particular volume , you could choose to have that loudness ’s free outer space expose right in the menu stripe . FreeSpace also seduce it well-heeled to open or eject any mass — features I use wads of times each day — and the utility can apprise you whenever any loudness ’s costless place drops below a specified threshold .
Hazel 3 (; $ 25;website ): Dan Miller first reexamine Hazel 2 back in 2010 , but Hazel 3 really impressed him . For users still wedded to the filing cabinet - and - pamphlet attack to organizing data , Hazel 3 helps automatise many tedious job associated with put stuff where they in the end desire it to go . The public utility monitors folders on your consequence for case that you ’ve defined — such as the addition or modification of a filing cabinet — and then mechanically perform action mechanism that you ’ve chosen , such as proceed the file to another folder , renaming it , or changing its label . Hazel 3 offers draw close conditions , user interface improvements , new criteria for matching ( including AppleScript and plate - script results , extra data file attributes , and the current time ) , better creature for matching patterns , and a number of new actions .
Lion DiskMaker (; payment requested;website ): I first cover this little AppleScript - based usefulness back in May , before the release of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion . At the time , it proffer a simple way tomake a bootable Lion ( OS X 10.7 ) install drivefrom the original Lion installer . Since then , Lion DiskMaker has received a issue of updates , and it can nowmake a bootable Mountain Lion instal drivefrom the Mountain Lion installer . It ’s also gain a sportsmanlike port , a new advance bar , improved compatibility with various OS X installer packages and disk images , and better support for DVDs ( for those who , against all advice , importune on creating a bootable installer DVD ) . The interface still feels a minute gawky , but for sheer usefulness — the numeral of people who ’ve used our bootable - installer articles is flabbergasting , so clearly there ’s requirement for this type of utility — Lion DiskMaker stands out .
Little Snitch 3 (; $ 35;website ): Another update to aprevious Gem , Snitch 3 offers enough significant improvements to merit inclusion body on my list . Like its herald , Snitch 3 alarm you to forthcoming web connectedness ( noting the app or process that is requesting electronic web access , and the server and port wine that the app is attempting to adjoin ) , so you may approve or deny each one on a one - clip , metre - constrained , or perpetual basis . This feature is useful for detecting malware , as well as for seeing which apps are accessing the internet for more than their stated determination . Version 3 add together an improved internet monitor and , most importantly , the ability to monitor inward internet requests , making it a full - fledged firewall with an interface that does n’t require certification in firewall administration .
MailTags 3 (; $ 30;website ): If you apply Mail a lot , MailTags can dramatically ameliorate your email productivity . This Mail add - on Lashkar-e-Taiba you assign shred ( keywords ) to single messages ; you may use those tags in searches and with rules to find register mail and to process incoming messages more easily . MailTags also lets you assign project names , colors , priorities , and reminder to any electronic mail content , and you could even sequester notes to content . Most significantly , MailTags integrates elegantly with Mail — once it ’s set up , you block that its feature are n’t just a normal part of Mail .
tick off (; $ 4;website ): Marked is designed for people who do a lot of write inMarkdownor HTML / XML formats . Open a document in Marked while you ’re frame your code in your best-loved editor program , and Marked will show an hypertext markup language - rendered preview of the written document that gets updated every time you save — you never have to wonder how your document will look when published . Marked can even take advantage of atomic number 55 template , so your preview looks much as it will on the objective website . Marked also allow for useful written document statistics and readability metric function , along with a nifty optic - highlight feature film that helps you head off word repetition . When you ’re done writing , you may quickly simulate the document ’s generated HTML code or rendered fat text for pasting elsewhere . I loved Marked when I brush up it early in 2012 , and asubsequent major updatehas added a bunch of utile new lineament , include automatic scroll to the most - late edit point , hypertext mark-up language - rootage vista with syntax highlighting , and heighten Scrivener support . Marked is a recess app , but it ’s my niche : These days , I have a hard time writing without a Marked prevue capable .
Mashduo (; free;website ): Some Gems you ’ll likely apply only once — but that one time , you ’ll thank the hotshot that it exist . Mashduo is just such an app : It quick equate two iTunes libraries and shows you which tracks are unique to each library . Mashduo permit you scan young music that a friend or kinsperson fellow member has acquired for items that you might want to try yourself ( you’re able to jump directly to a runway ’s ledger entry on the iTunes Store ) ; and it ’s also slap-up for accommodate differences between iTunes libraries on your own computers , and for recovering tracks from a failed data migration from , say , a Windows microcomputer to a Mac . ( older writer Lex Friedman claim Mashduo economise his marriage ceremony in just such a circumstance . )
Pacifist ( ): A Mac Gem way back in 2004 , Pacifist got a big update this twelvemonth . The revised public utility lets you view the contents of OS X installer packages ( .pkg and .mpkg files ) , and it get you verify installations and even extract or set up any file from within a bundle . novel in interlingual rendition 3.1 are accompaniment for disk images and single file archives , the ability to wreak with remotely stored package , installer - reception creative activity and searching , centre - telephone extension reports , and a Quick Look chew - in . pacificist can be serious if you do n’t utilize it cautiously , but it can also be incredibly utile , especially for troubleshooting . There ’s nothing else like it .
Honorable mentions
A few other Gems did n’t quite make the “ favorite ” cut but are still worth yell out . Various Macworld editor program employ these apps every twenty-four hour period .
Display Menu (; free;Mac App Store link ): Designed for non - Retina Macs , this mere utility get back the systemwide display - resolution bill of fare that OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion eliminated . Admittedly , it would n’t have earned even an honorable mention here if Apple had n’t remove a useful feature article from OS X , but if the telephone number of lector who call for a replacement for that feature is any meter reading , this was one of the most popular Gems of the year .
Due (; $ 10;website ): Phocus’sDue for iOSis a neat timekeeper / reminder app , and the companionship successfully brought the app to the Mac in 2012 . Due for Mac retains the simplicity of the original app while in effect transition to the Mac ’s head - and - click environment .
PopClip (; $ 5;website ): This utility fetch iOS ’s textbook - processing popover to OS X : Select some text , and you get options for working with that text . Depending on the app and context , options may include searching the Web for or defining the pick out word or schoolbook ; copying or pasting ; checking spelling ; ( in the case of email address ) sending an email message ; or ( for Web URLs ) open your internet browser . Since my original recap , PopClip has added keep forextensionsthat allow you perform many more — and more - complex — activity on select text edition .
QuickRes (; free;website ): Like Display Menu , QuickRes feed you a systemwide menu for change your display resolution . But QuickRes is optimized for Retina - display Macs , as it let you choose any resolution that your Retina display supports — even the super - high - res aboriginal settlement that the Displays loony toons of System Preferences does n’t offer as options . you’re able to also assign your favorite resolutions and then cycle through them with a keyboard shortcut or computer mouse click .
Looking for more of the good affordable Mac software ? Check out thebest Gems of 2011and the skilful Gems of 2010 . you’re able to also browse some of our older Gems lists : 2010’s10 must - instal Gems , the 2009 inclination of all - time faves , the 2009 list of Gems I ’m grateful for and the 2010 follow - up list of more gem I ’m grateful for . you may alsofollow Mac Gems on Twitter .
