Tagamac

Keyword Manager, a standby for iPhoto-related tagging, is on sale today, May 5, 2008 only for 50% off over at MacZot.

Definitely a good deal if you’re interested in an easier way to tag your photos than iPhoto’s built-in keywords functionality. Keyword Manager provides an attractive HUD interface, hierarchical keywords, and more.

Shoebox, an iPhoto competitor that features tag-based organization and browsing through tag recipes, has been updated to 1.7.1. Although there are no release notes, MacUpdate notes that it has improved compatibility with Leopard along with an importer for iMatch and stability enhancements.

Shoebox is definitely an interesting app if you’re looking for something a little more tag-centric than iPhoto, and is available in “Express” and “Pro” flavors at $30 and $80 respectively. If I did much photo management, Shoebox is probably what I’d use (although the pricing scheme is extremely cheap; the only difference is that Express has a limits the number of catalogs and photos you can add, which means you’re paying Kavasoft an extra $50 to essentially toggle off a variable that’s artificially limiting the program).

Photonator, a photo manager with tagging capabilities, has been updated to 0.95. This update advances the expiration date (as Photonator is currently pre-release expiring software), and brings cropping/straightening, image enhancement controls, and bug-fixes with code optimizations. Although personally I find the interface to be too much of a hindrance to using Photonator, it may appeal to people who are looking for an alternative to iPhoto. This is one of the pieces of tagging software that I’m tracking because it features tagging, but that I don’t really recommend. Hopefully by release the interface will receive a little more love. (That said, I haven’t really used it much, so it’s quite possible there’s a lot of power underneath its unappealing facade.)

For details about the .95 release, see Photonator’s release notes.

Keyword Manager, one of the quintessential pieces of tagging software for iPhoto users, has been updated to version 1.4. This version brings Leopard compatibility and two crash fixes.

For more information, see the Keyword Manager release notes over at its website (you have to click the “Release Notes” link; no direct link available).

Keyword Manager, the iPhoto tagging plugin, has been updated to 1.3.2. The only change to the software is that it now works with iPhoto 7.1.

Head over to the Bullstorm website to download the most recent version.

Keyword Manager, the sleek iPhoto tagging plugin from Bullstorm Software, has been updated to 1.3.1. This minor update fixes an iPhoto crash that occurred when plugging in a camera and has been tested for compatibility with iPhoto 7.0.2.

For more details or to download, please visit the Keyword manager website.

Picture Box, a simple tags-only photo organizer meant to complement software like iPhoto, has been updated to 1.2.5. This minor update adds drag and drop between Picture Box documents so that you can easily transfer photos with their tags with a flick of the mouse.

For more details (hint: there aren’t any), see the 1.2.5 release notes.

Several apps received minor updates while I was away from the internet. Yep was bumped to 1.6.5 (including several bug fixes and performance tweaks), iGTD jumped to 1.4.5.6 (several minor bug fixes), Keyword Manager received a larger update to 1.3 which brings compatibility with iPhoto ‘08, Pukka version 1.6.1 added support for the free RSS feeder Vienna, and PackRat is now at version 1.3.2 (fixing a crash that some people were seeing).

For more details about the updates, or to download them, please use the links above (all except Yep have blogs or release notes).

Whoa, I am slow on the draw! It took the good people over at the Unofficial Apple Weblog to point out that iPhoto ‘08 now has tagging (iPhoto calls it keywords).

Although I have yet to play around with it (I’m not a very avid iPhoto or Garageband user, so I didn’t run out to buy iLife ‘08 as soon as it hit the shelves), the TUAW screenshots definitely look intriguing. It’s very gratifying that Apple has implemented basic tagging beyond their very basic keywords implementation of versions past, since this will allow users who aren’t comfortable with advanced tagging to still gain its benefits while others who need something a little more powerful will continue to use plugins like Keyword Manager or programs like Shoebox. If only there were a free trial or an upgrade path; I unfortunately do not have $80 lying around for software that I rarely use anyway.