i love macheist.com.
Not just because they do really good bundles but they understand the economics of this new worldwide, viral "get the message out there" and "stack it high, sell it cheap" method of software delivery with the addition of the companies involved getting a stack of new users looking at their products. Sure the companies take a major dip in revenue but they still get a healthy chunk of cash/customers injected - a really smart model that should be used more.
but this time, macheist have really put together a great bundle - for me, the timing of the bundle of boinxtv could not have come at a better time. You see boinxtv is a piece of mac software that i am very keen on using for the relaunch of the gravity and was my one stumbling block from getting restarted, even at $199 it is an investment with the current currency exchange rate. Now, with this bundle i can get a stack of applications that i have never used or would have looked at for $39 (£26 roughly)
Of course, boinxtv for $199 (sponsored edition) is not given away that freely - macheist want to raise $400k (yes, $400.000) for charity before they unlock it, a very clever move and the reason for this post today - looking at the total now it is barely $500 away from completing that and i could not be more happy for the charities in question and for myself for getting amazing karma back in helping out to raise that total and in the process receiving a piece of software i really wanted for my video projects in the bargain!
the software in the bundle
isale 5 website
i have been using isale since version4 and in the latest v5 version they keep on fine tuning the ebay experience. i have not been using it lately because i doubt many people are spending as much on ebay as before in the middle of this credit crunch and recession - a good solid application thou and one that you would manage to lull people over to the mac with as a similar application like this for the pc does not exist. power seller - you need a mac just for this application, it is blinding! :)
picturesque website
an application not on my radar at all was this one from acqualia - i have yet to use it but from first impressions it looks like a very useful tool for bloggers and people that need to add effects to images (or batches of) very quickly. it won an apple design award in 2007, so it either has a really well thought out ui or 2007 was a slow year for outside development of independent third party apps. sorry, it is sunday after all - dry humour to go with the dry and delightful bright spring/summer uk sun!
SousChef website
i really like this application because they have really thought about the enviroment that a user will use it in and it seems to serve the purpose really well. if i was in a cooking mood i would have tested this out today. a bit of software to play with in the future.
World of Goo website
while i do have concerns about the title and kids searching for it, world of goo looks like a really interesting game with the mind of a coder going into overdrive on what could be possible in a game. i'm not in gaming mood but i'll get back to you on this one.
phoneview website
i'm sure lots of very organized people who like to keep a backup of every little minute detail from their new iphone will love this application which allows you to access various parts of your iphone. i have a feeling i will never use it. a bit of a dud for me in this bundle but you find that in bundle stuff. ;) - no disrespect to ecamm, they have some great products that i am REALLY interested. more on those soon! :)
littlesnapper website
first impressions are that it is a similar product to skitch a product i use daily and more than does what i require of a capturing application. would the new whiz bang features in littlesnapper make me want to change? - probably not but that is not a really not to try it if you have just gotten a mac. i guess like most things with mac tools and online websites it depends on your entry point to a piece of software that caters for your need - you tend to stick with the first one unless something CRUCIAL to the way you use it is lacking from it. that said, realmacsoftware is a uk company based in brighton which have a very good track record at building really friendly ui software. Check out their rapidweaver product if you want to get a website built very quickly with minimum fuss.
acorn website
for a start any app that is written by a company called flyingmeat automatically gets a bonus point for making me think about the idea of meat flying. after that i start to think if the world needs another graphics editor, then i started to look at the screenshots and thought it was some kind of osx version of thegimp (which btw you can get for free) - i'm sure someone, somewhere wants this kind of application. i have the kit to run photoshop and i have no requirement for cheesy effects. sorry. i'm sure it has more than that to offer but i think they should do video screencasts of the more powerful features instead of focusing on how cool it is that it uses the graphics card to do the effects. to a geek that is cool (and lets be honest, defacto now) but to the average person they want to know what it will enable them to achieve. so show them.
kinemac website
on the flipside this application really did not sell itself to me on the name but i was pleased to see videos on the website of what was possible with the application - i always panic when i see free 3d effects editor. call it gut instinct. saying that, i think with a bit of time you could create something for a podcast/videcast pretty quickly! :)
wiretap studio website
a great application if you do not already have an application like audio hijack, does exactly as you would expect it. i'm more pushed towards using something like ubercaster however for recording skype conversations now.
BONUS APPS
Cro-Mag Rally website
i was not expecting much when the intro page came up but the actual game is pretty good, i would probably play two play mode with someone on the big screen so you both have a fairly sized viewing area - the controls are mega sensitive. it's "ok"
times website
the page suggests states that "Times is a unique and innovative newsreader" hmm, i think it will take me a bit of time playing with it to see if that is true but i do like the fact that lots of small mac apps in a minimal web 2.0 style are popping up here and their around the web. i think this app and the company acrylicapps has real potential to do well in the future and i like their very minimal approach to a solution.
Oh, i should mention that the idea of supercharging your bundle by using it to drive twitter search engine results and make them trend is once again, a very clever marketing thing to do. very well done macheist on an excellent put together campaign, bundle and website. looking forward to future offers! :)
