Mac ReviewCast

http://www.macreviewcast.com and http://www.surfbits.com Copyright © 2006 Tim Verpoorten

The MacReviewCast's Top Ten Freeware Apps From September

By Tim Verpoorten

September passed by faster then any month I can remember. It brought me personal highs and lows, but the one thing it brought us all was some great freeware apps. Let's look at ten of my favorite freeware programs from September;

1. VODcaster: http://www.twocanoes.com/vodcaster

VODcaster is an app that lets you easily and quickly create audio and video podcasts, and keep track of multiple channels and podcasts. You control when a channel or podcast gets published, you can easily take podcasts online or offline, and whether you want to put your Podcasts on your own webserver, add them to the iTunes Music Store Podcast Directory, or some other service, VODcaster allows you to enter in all the important information without having to know XML. It also contains all the RSS 2.0 tags for advanced users. It gives you simple Podcast and VODcast publishing. Here are a few of the features;

• Clean and uncluttered interface
• Drag and Drop Support
• ToolTips to explain where all the information is going to be published
• "Launch in iTunes" option after publishing to check podcast
• Easily add information to publish in iTunes Podcast Directory

You can now record videos directly into VODcaster! It will automatically encode them in iPod format (320x240) using h.264 and AAC. You can still quickly drag-and-drop audio and video files, and create podcasts and vodcasts to share.

This is a great tool for anyone looking to try podcasting or vodcasting for the first time, or if you're looking for a new, faster method of publishing your podcast. Very slick app that you need to check out.

2. Xcast: http://getxcast.com

Xcast is a free, simple, yet powerful Podcast client with unique features like full integration with the iTunes Podcasts section, smart relocalization of downloaded enclosures, iTunes Podcasts cleaner, Rss reader with ability to open your browser to read a feed, and more. Xcast specializes in handling enclosures. It recognizes them all and can open the enclosure in any app you want it to open in.

Your feeds can be grouped and separated in many different and functional methods. It let's you make that decision. You can import your feeds from iTunes, and while keeping them in iTunes, manage them. You can also use Xcast to download and manage your podcasts and play them in iTunes. You can also easily delete podcasts that you've listened to and create rules to automatically delete the podcasts so your iTunes library stays neat clean. There's a wonderful screencast available at the website that shows off the features of Xcast, and Xcast is in early beta so the author Zeno from Switzerland would love the feedback and ideas you want to share with him.

3. Super Ghost: http://customsolutionsofmaryland.50megs.com/superghost.htm

Super GHOST is a computer (solitaire) version of the age-old game in which you try to add a letter to the beginning or the ending of existing letters without making a word; one and two letter words do not count. If you make a word, you get a letter (the first letter is "G"). When you have all five letters ("GHOST"), you lose. Just like shooting buckets and playing HORSE.

You play against the computer. You'll see two small boxes on the computer side and two more small boxes on your side. The left box is where you click to enter a letter to be played before the existing letters. The right box is where you click to enter a letter to be played after the existing letters. If the computer cannot add a letter without making a word, it takes a letter immediately. You can "challenge" the computer by clicking on the "I Challenge" button. The computer's word will be displayed and you will take a letter. If you catch the computer bluffing, the computer will take a point. The built-in GHOST word set includes over American English 80,000 words. It's a lot of fun and addictive.

4. SeaMonkey: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey

This is a community project from the Mozilla group that was formally known as the Mozilla Application Suite. Where the main focus of the Mozilla Foundation is on Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird, the Seamonkey group of dedicated volunteers works to ensure that you can have "everything but the kitchen sink" — and have it stable enough for corporate use. Web-browser, advanced e-mail and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editing made simple -- all your Internet needs in one application. We all know that Firefox is a great alternative to Safari, and this application suite has that same quality built into everything you need in one place.

5. Mac Libre: http://www.maclibre.com

Imagine this scenario. You've been listening to the MacReviewCast for a long time and your Mac is full of the perfect set of freeware applications that allow you to do just about anything with your Mac and do it for free., Then you find yourself in a bad situation where your hard drive goes south or you get a new system and you end up needing to install all these applications again. It could take days just to find and download them and then reinstall them. That's where MacLibre comes in. MacLibre is an Open Source Software Distribution for Mac OS X. It is a simple, intuitive with applications you need. It brings a new way of software installation to your Mac. The idea is to install MacLibre and have it install all your other freeware. As they say on those Red Bull commercials, Brilliant!

Here are some of the applications already supported by MacLibre, Audacity, blender, gimp and inkscape for creation apps. Adium, colloguy, Cyberduck FTP, Fire, multi-client chat, Firefox browser, Thunderbird email and Vienna RSS reader as your Internet suite, Handbrake and Mplayer and VLC to take care of your Multimedia needs, AbiWord and the great Mac Freeware app, NeoOffice for all your business needs. Finally ClamXAV antivirus, desktop manager, iTerm, Virtuedesktop and X11 for utilities that will come in handy. MacLibre allows you to choose the packages you want to install and then goes online and finds the latest versions and downloads them and installs them to your Mac. Brilliant! Seriously, if you're a freeware addict like myself, or you have a new Mac or an old Mac that needs to have some third party apps installed, download MacLibre and give it a try. I think you'll love it.

6. OSXPlanet: http://gabrielotte.com/osxplanet/main.html

OSXplanet is a cocoa program that is based on the popular program, xplanet (by Hari Nair). It is able to generate live images of the earth as well as other planets in the solar system with additional informations such as the current clouds, storms, satellites, volcanos, earthquakes and times and locations of cities. This app has a great Mac interface and can display details that you can't even imagine. Again, I suggest you head over to the website and look at a few of the screenshots and read about the options for yourself.

7. Trailrunner: http://www.trailrunnerx.com/english.html

TrailRunner is a route planning software for all kinds of long distance sports like running, biking, hiking, inline-skating, skiing and more. If you ever asked yourself how long your workout routes are and what route you should choose for this evening — then TrailRunner should be your training-partner. TrailRunner can calculate a route for your desired distance and export directions onto your iPod, giving you a detailed map while your in route. You can import from GPX Tracklists, and GPS devices to create PDF files or geographic displays that are beautiful on the later model colored iPods. This app is slick to say the least. Even if you don't do long distance training any more, this freeware program can be used as a trip planner for you iPod.

8. NeoOffice: http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/index.php

This is an open source, fully-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and drawing programs) for Mac OS X. Based on the OpenOffice.org office suite, NeoOffice has integrated dozens of native Mac features and can import, edit, and exchange files with other popular office programs such as Microsoft Office.

Released as free, open-source software under the GNU General Public License (GPL), NeoOffice is fully functional and stable enough for everyday use. The software is actively developed, so improvements and small updates are made available on a regular basis.

NeoOffice 2.0 Aqua Beta 3 has been released and it comes with a beautiful Aqua interface. NeoOffice uses the Java technology that is built into Mac OS X. By using Java, there is no need to download and install the X11 software that OpenOffice.org requires. Unlike OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice has native Aqua menus. The Mac OS X Finder will automatically launch NeoOffice and open OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office documents that you double-click on. Also the Mac OS X Mail application will open OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office attachments in NeoOffice. Also, Unlike OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice uses the same fonts that all of your other Mac OS X applications use.

There are still a few bugs that are being worked out, but all in all, NeoOffice is a great free alternative to MS Office on your Mac.

9. Quinn: http://www.simonhaertel.de

Now that we've handled your Office application needs, let's just have a little fun with our Macs. Quinn is an implementation of a popular falling-blocks game, which, according to the Tetris Company, we must not mention the name in association with Quinn. Written specifically for Mac OS X, it features a beautiful user interface, perfectly integrated with Aqua, and a smooth look and feel like every Mac user expects from their software. The goal was not to reinvent falling-blocks games with yet another modification of the rules, but to preserve the simplicity of the original unmentioned game. Still there's everything you might expect in a modern update including a two-player mode, network play with Bonjour support, an online server list, and five different multiplayer rules. I wasted hours of my life playing that other game, I can see myself doing the same thing with Quinn.

10. RSS Owl: http://www.rssowl.org

Another type of newsreader is this one, RSS Owl. It collects data from RSS-compliant sites and are called RSS newsreaders or "aggregators." RSSOwl is such an application. RSSOwl lets you gather, organize, update, and store information from any compliant source in a convenient, easy to use interface, save selected information in various formats for offline viewing and sharing, and much more. It's easy to configure, available in many many languages and the best of all: It's platform-independent. If you read favorite blogs, or websites everyday, then try a newsreader like RSS Owl to bring all the information from all the different websites into one simple application.

Let's hope October brings us more great freeware and more podcasts from all of us at the MacReviewCast.