Tagamac

This is completely off-topic, but I like a good read even more than I like a well-implemented file library (I know, it’s pretty crazy). Bill Cameron, a fellow Avenir user, is giving away five copies of his suspense novel, Lost Dog, in the Give a Dog a Home sweepstakes. Lost Dog is a great read; I’m not a big fan of suspense thrillers or crime/mystery novels (I picked it up because I knew Bill from the Avenir forums), but it was a single-sitting read for me and kept me up way past when I should have gone to bed. Definitely a worthwhile way to spend an evening. Or two, if you’re less obsessed than I.

So take a break from tagging those pesky files, head over to Bill’s website, suggest a name for his lost dog, and win yourself a great novel. Or lose and buy it anyway. Whatever works for you. And with that minor endorsement out of the way, I’ll see if I can’t write something pithy about tagging next.

Many Tricks has released yFlicks 3.0, a movie manager that helps you collect, manage, and watch anything from movies around your Mac to movies off YouTube. yFlicks 2 was alright, but 3 adds “tagging” (which is actually just standard key-value metadata, so it’s not actually tagging), smart groups, automatic metadata assignment via Amazon for full-length movies (including downloading cover images), batch renaming, and many other performance improvements a neat little features. Although the tagging is not what I’d hoped, this is still definitely a worthy piece of software to look into if you would like to enjoy YouTube videos and so forth later without having to engage in fruitless YouTube searches.

Additionally, yFlicks 3 is available today, November 20th, 2007 only for 40% off ($14.95) from MacUpdate Promo. I highly recommend giving yFlicks a spin and considering getting it at the sale price; I’ve enjoyed yFlicks 2, and expect yFlicks 3 to be even more useful. yFlicks 3 is a free upgrade for previously registered users.

This actually has nothing to do with tagging, but since people who like tags and people who like task management often tend to congregate these days, I figured I’d post it. Omni has released a public beta for OmniFocus and is offering it for half the eventual sale price through their online store as a special pre-release sale (introductory price $39.95, regular price will be $79.95; OmniOutliner Pro owners get an additional 25% off).

I can only imagine the conversation at Omni: “Damn it, this project has been sapping our resources with no return for far too long.” “Hey, how about a Christmas bonus? I wanna buy a pony.” “Oh fine, we’ll sell a promise for less than the real thing and you can have your freaking pony.” In any case, while I’m currently hoping that Things will provide my GTD fix, OmniFocus is clearly going to be a standard-setting GTD application and is well worth checking out.

Although this has nothing to do with tagging, Hawk Wings, a blog dedicated to Mail.app and all things email, has returned after a long absence with a steady stream of articles and links to handy Leopard-friendly Mail.app plugins. I strongly recommend Hawk Wings; it’s a great resource if you use email a lot (particularly if you’re into Apple’s Mail.app), and besides that it was a big inspiration behind my creation of Tagamac.

Although Hawk Wings is usually focused on Mail.app, it also often provides information about productivity software more generally, so even if you’re not a Mail.app fan, check it out!

If it wasn’t enough that it’s currently released at an intro price, TaskPaper is on sale November 1, 2007 only at the MacUpdate Promo. If you enjoy managing your to-dos without all the cruft that shows up in so many GTD-based software, TaskPaper may well be the perfect solution for you. I’ve been using it while I waited for iGTD to get updated, and I’m not sure if I’ll go back. TaskPaper is that cool.

For more information, and to download the demo, head over to the MacUpdate Promo page.

Due to technical difficulties with their web server, Big Robot Software (makers of TagBot) has been unavailable for several days. If you’ve had trouble reaching the Big Robot by email or the web, you should now be able to access their website. If you’ve had any trouble with licensing or otherwise reaching them, you should now be able to get help via their support email: support_bot obfuscate@bigrobotsoftware.com.

If it is still October 18, 2007 and you don’t already own MailTags, then quit reading this stupid blog post and go buy MailTags for 33% off at MacZot now. MailTags is one of the very few pieces of Mac software, tagging or otherwise, that I recommend without reservations to everyone. If you use Mail.app and want to lead anything like a productive life, then you need MailTags.

Purchasing it now not only gives you access to what I’ve called the One True Tagging Tool on the Mac, but also a free upgrade to the Leopard-ready version when it’s released. Don’t miss this one.

Although you are probably already aware, OS X 10.5 Leopard has gone on sale for preorder, and will be arriving Oct. 26th, as the countdown on Apple’s homepage makes abundantly clear.

I haven’t heard word yet what the changes to the metadata are like (the big question: will tagging system files be easier?), but hopefully the metadata will be more tag-friendly and we can get away from the ever-so-imperfect Spotlight comment. I will of course be posting more information as it comes available, and once my copy arrives I’ll try to suss out the metadata changes (if any) as soon as I can.

A little while ago, Freelance Switch posted a list of 35 essential Mac apps. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the list. Aside from its complete lack of any meaningful organization (except its implied ranking from “most essential” to “less essential”), it included software that hasn’t been released yet while excluding a lot of really great software that’s been out for a while. Sure, Things looks pretty cool, but since no one can use it, how can it be “essential”?

I’ve finally finished writing up my own list of 35 essential Mac apps, posted over on Beckism.com. There’s some overlap with Freelance Switch, and some of the really good stuff from Freelance Switch didn’t make it on because I personally don’t find it particularly essential, so you’ll probably want to check out both lists. Of course, it doesn’t have much to do with tagging (I haven’t needed tagging software for my freelance work, so there isn’t much tagging software on the list), but I figured you’d be interested nonetheless. Enjoy!

I know that it’s Totally Lame that I haven’t written a significant article in a long while for Tagamac and now I’m giving you an off-topic, but work has been heinous and updates to tagging software slow. ‘Nuff said; on to the news: 1Passwd, an amazingly useful program that keeps track of your passwords for you, is on sale today, October 11th, 2007 for 33% off over at the MacUpdate Promo.

Although it has absolutely nothing to do with tagging, I strongly recommend 1Passwd for anyone who uses the internet with a Mac. The developers are working on some pretty awesome stuff for the upcoming updates, too, so now would be a great time to buy it on the cheap.