Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with software and mac

Simple, intuitive map software/service for a business

Clandestine Outlawry — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:39:16 -0800

My (small) company provides services in people's homes. We'd like to use electronic maps to plan technician routes and better understand where our clients are geographically. What (Mac-compatible) software or web service might help with this? My company serves about two thousand homes in the Toronto area, most of which need to be visited daily by a technician. Right now, we have the region divided up into about forty zones for purposes of work assignments, but the zone borders are pretty much traditional neighbourhoods and we don't have a visualization to confirm that they're sensible.

The idea is to make sure that no one technician is given an unreasonably high workload, nor asked to go too far afield.

Our CRM is a pretty rudimentary web app - definitely not capable of this kind of thing. It can't even give us a dump of the current customer data, so we'll be pulling out addresses and the like manually.

What I'm envisioning is something that will let me plot ~2000 homes on a map, by address, and group them into zones (where I can set the borders). Ideally, I'd be able to get a report on how many clients are within each zone. It would also be nice if I could print maps of zones or arbitrarily defined areas.

Four staff would be operating this system, so it should be fairly intuitive. GRASS GIS would be an example of "whoa, too much".

Desktop software or a web service are both okay. We are willing to pay. Mac compatibility is essential.

The best thing I've managed to find so far is ArcGIS Online, but I'm so very unfamiliar with all this, so I imagine there are more appropriate options. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Mac Clipboard Manager with "Paste and Remove from History"

backwards guitar — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:08:36 -0800

I'm looking for a standalone clipboard manager for OSX that has LaunchBar's "Paste and Remove from History" functionality. With LaunchBar, I'm able to copy 3 items, and paste them into a separate page in reverse order (every time I hit CTRL+CMD+OPTION+V the last item I copied is pasted and deleted from history, so the second to last item I copied is now next in line for pasting).

I'd like this functionality in a standalone clipboard manager, as I'm planning on giving Alfred 2 a try as my launcher.

Paid or free is fine.

Invoicing & accounting software / methods for freelance & small biz

sixswitch — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:30:48 -0800

I'm currently looking at adopting Freshbooks or Kashoo, and would be interested in experiences with either, or other recommendations. Context: I'm a few years into freelancing (across a few different industries) and I'm working on improving my accounting, with the goals of easier tax time, smoother day-to-day operations, and better information about cashflow and budgeting. Right now I use Toggl for time tracking, and Mint for expense tracking and budgeting; I like Toggl but I'm not married to it, and Mint is starting to drive me absolutely nuts. I do invoicing and bookkeeping manually. Also welcome would be general tips on bookkeeping and accounting for small businesses / freelancers. I'm on a Mac, in Canada.

Vectoring from Cairo to Kinshasa.

mykescipark — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:12:00 -0800

I'd like to produce an offset-print-quality map, modeled after airline flight path maps, which graphically reproduces hundreds of point-to-point connections: in this specific case, between radio transmitters and reception locations. What software is capable of producing some variation on this, perhaps by putting in GPS coordinates? (OS X please.)

I need to know what I'm doing and when I need to do it.

oceanjesse — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:46:47 -0800

I am looking for a wonderful timer program for Mac (OS X 10.7.4 +). It needs to have a Cocoa GUI (meaning a GUI that isn't ugly, and isn't unnecessarily complicated), the ability to run multiple timers, and the ability to name timers with a decent amount of detail. Sound is an important feature, too. Command line alternatives are also cool, but not ideal. More information inside: I tried the Howler timer just now and found most of what I was looking for, but the fonts aren't beautiful, it has unnecessary features like unit converters, and the upgrade button is always shown unless I shell out some dough ($0.99). The aesthetics and unnecessary features make me unwilling to do that.

I am not opposed to paying for the functionality I want. I haven't looked any further because there are so many options, instead, I am opting to ask the wise MeFi tribe for guidance.

What do you use? What would you recommend?

Looking for a new or different High School math test generator, and Apple programs or apps for use in the classroom

filthy light thief — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 08:48:15 -0800

I'm looking for software for a high school math teacher: first, a better/newer test generator, and second, in-classroom programs, bonus points for apps for an Apple laptop and/or an iPod touch. Details inside. My wife is a high school math teacher, teaching Algebra I, II, Geometry, and assorted higher-level material (it's a small school). She has a Holt-related Worksheet Builder (v2.13f0 01-22-2001) Test Generator, but it doesn't play nicely with Windows 7 and/or Office 2010 suite. I haven't been able to find out where to get a newer version, or even if one is available. Otherwise, she could be interested in other products that assist in building (semi) randomized tests, which also allow the questions themselves to be modified.

Her school is providing her a Mac laptop and an iPod Touch for use in her class, though she also has a Windows desktop computer in the classroom. She has a smartboard, and isn't familiar with Apple in general, let alone what apps she could use in the classroom. I'm not sure if there's any convenient way to display iPod Touch apps on the screen, bit there are jacks to connect computers to the projector around the room.

Before this year, she's taught on chalkboards and whiteboards, so anything she can do with computers would be a bonus. Thanks!

Educational games on Mac for young kids?

michaeldunaway — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 04:45:26 -0800

My pre-k boy LOVES video games and adventure/superhero TV shows. It would be great to harness some of that love for learning purposes. What are your recommendations for software or online games that do that? We're a Mac household. I also have a first grader who is very advanced (reading at almost fourth grade level). Educational software would be cool for her too, but what would be really great for her is something that encourages her to relax and/or open up her creative side.

Thanks MeFi'ers!

Project management / shared to-do list software for families?

Mwongozi — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 12:17:46 -0800

Project management / shared to-do list software for families? I'm looking for to-do list software (or a service) that will allow my family to create and assign tasks to each other. The ability to put tasks in a "project" would also be appreciated.

We all have Macs, but web-based services would also be considered. Bonus points for iPhone apps.

We're willing to spend some money... but not a lot, and most task management services seem designed for businesses.

Suggestions?

Force-hide menus and status bar in a Mac app?

kalapierson — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:01:21 -0800

A Mac app in which I want to force-hide the top menu bars and bottom status bar (not possible natively within the app): what third-party utilities or UI-hacking tools could help? App is Sibelius 7 (a 2D graphic program for music notation); OS is Lion.

Sibelius 7 is based on very different ideas about screen real estate and UI than previous versions. There are three horizontal bars that apparently can't be hidden via the app's preferences:

1) a Microsoft-style Ribbon that takes up a standard menu bar's height even when minimized;
2) the tab row of a tabbed document interface, always present even if there's only one tab; and
3) a non-useful and visually distracting bottom status bar.

The app's "full-screen mode" is almost meaningless, only hiding Apple's own system-level menu bar and still displaying all three of these bars!

Being able to force-hide any or all of the three bars would be exciting. Any tools that can do this?

I know how to fix a Mac, now I need to know how to break one.

joshrholloway — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 11:47:52 -0800

How can I make a Mac app crash reproducibly with the solution being to trash the app's preferences and have them rebuild automatically? I am setting up a technical test for someone, and I want to test their Mac troubleshooting knowledge. One of the most basic Mac troubleshooting steps is that if an app is having issues, delete or isolate the preference file(s) so they get rebuilt with defaults the next time you launch the app.

I'd like to set up a reproducible scenario like this, but the Mac apps I'm trying to break are much more resilient than I had hoped.

Does anyone know a way I can get an app to crash or have trouble repeatably that would be fixed by trashing the preferences?

What video editing/effects software should I get when my hands are tied?

lpsguy — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 09:51:10 -0800

What video editing/effects software should I get when my hands are tied? I work in an in-house creative department and increasingly I'm called on to create quick little videos and even fast commercials using nothing more than my mac and imovie. (Yeah, I know.) Often I use full fledged production companies and do things the right way but there are more and more of these smaller jobs that just don't warrant the expenditure of using pros like that. I've manipulated still photography and photoshop and illustrator and garageband to make imovie as creative as it can be but man, it's tough. (I've written and directed scores of commercials but this is a little bit like Mitch Hebderg's old line "You can cook; then you can farm, right?")

So I've convinced the powers that be to take it up a step and load me up with either Final Cut or After Effects. And frankly, I'm excited about brushing up my skills on either or both. But now the weirdness begins.

Because of the way our macs are integrated into a server system that is itself aging, our Systems folks say I can't upgrade my Mac OS from where it is now. Where is it now? Oh, 10.5.8.

Okay, so do I buy an old box copy of After Effects CS4 or an old Final Cut if I can even find one?

Does anybody have any creative ideas on this? Or should I just say, "This is madness" and it can't be done?

Thanks.

Music tempo adjustment software for Mac?

obliquicity — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 20:41:05 -0800

Can you recommend free/very cheap software for a Mac that allows me to slow down recorded music (mp3s) on the fly? I teach folk dance to recorded music, and often the tracks are too fast for our dancers to keep up with. When I can anticipate this, I use Audacity to slow down the tempo without altering pitch, and save the file as a new track -- but I don't always anticipate correctly, and even when I do, I'm not always right about how slow to make it. One of my fellow teachers, who is on a PC, has software that can slow any track down -- she puts her playlist for the evening into this application, and it has a slider to adjust tempo. I'm looking for something similar, $10 or less, for Macs (this is a volunteer gig that I already spend too much money on!).

I'm not a professional at this and apparently suck at Googling without the right vocabulary, so I apologize for the lack of appropriate vocabulary and if I missed an obvious solution.

Can you help me find this blog post?

Egg Shen — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 11:43:25 -0800

Some tech blogger - probably one with a Mac focus - wrote a post about leaving TextMate for a different text editor, in the style of someone addressing a person with whom they were ending a romantic relationship. Can you help me find it?

Real-time captioning software for webinars?

theatro — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 09:57:43 -0800

Asking on behalf of a friend: she runs a weekly GoToMeeting webinar that now needs to be captioned in real time. Is there a good software solution? Details: My friend T runs a weekly webinar for clients of a particular software she supports. Since that software is intended for use by Centers for Independent Living, and since Federal law requires that CILs be staffed by at least 50% people with disabilities, a number of the people using the software are Deaf.

T needs to find a way for the weekly webinars to be captioned in real-time. She's pretty sure her boss wants a software solution, rather than hiring a company to do the captioning for them. Some quick web searching turned up a couple of possibilities, but they are PC-only, and she is a Mac user.

The webinar software they use is GoToMeeting. She's a Mac user, currently using Snow Leopard (10.6.8), but planning to go to Mountain Lion (10.8) whenever it comes out. She doesn't have Parallels installed, though she tells me that seems to be one potential solution (that or something like VirtualBox or Boot Camp) that would let her run Windows on her Mac.

Does anyone out there have experience with software for live-captioning GoToMeeting webinars? What do you suggest?

iMac Mac OS and Windows 7

matthelm — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 19:21:02 -0800

I just bought a new iMac for home. I use one at work(Boot camp Windows 7) with programs like Maya, After Effects, Premiere etc and love it. Now with one at home I would actually like to use both Mac and Windows OS but have a hard time deciding what software to put where... Can someone help me figure this out? So...I want to stay with Windows for Maya, After Effects, and Premiere, but maybe use mac for all things music, movies, and maybe pictures? Please help me with ideas as to what the mac os is best for....what programs utilize the mac os? Any and all answers are highly appreciated... I know this question is a bit vague and leans towards personal preferences, but I would really like to know what people love using the mac for....

Having trouble restoring Mac OS X system software

Dr. Wu — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:37:20 -0800

Please help me restore Mac OS on my wife's MacBook! I am pulling my hair out. I've seen this question, which addresses a similar but not identical issue. The problems with this MacBook are a little more ... persnickety.

OK, so.
The hard drive on my wife's 5-ish-year-old MacBook crashed. We bought a new one, installed it, and the computer seems to recognize it. So far, so good.

I dug out the old "Mac OS X Install" discs that came with her computer - they are for 10.4.10. Old, but that's fine: I can update it later.

I can boot from the first of the two Install discs and run, seemingly successfully, the first stages of the system restore. But then, after the computer is done with the process on Disc One, it DOES NOT ask me to insert Disc Two, but, rather, restarts and reboots in COMMAND LINE MODE. I do not know why.

I have not entered any sort of computer code since I took a class in LOGO in fourth grade, so I am baffled. I did find the instructions for "use fsck," which I followed to the letter, but this did not help in any way. So I am stuck with a MacBook with a partially (?) installed, old system, that is running only in command-line mode.

OK, so, in the AskMe thread I linked above, the MeFi user kirilli suggests getting a-hold (ahem) of a more recent version of the system software. I have done this on my own computer, on which I now have a DMG file of that software.

The thing is that I can't install the newer system on my wife's computer FROM my computer, and here's why:

I read the instructions on how to install the new OS using DVD SHARING. But part of the instructions on how to do this is:

On the computer where you're installing Mac OS X, select the Remote Disc under Devices in a Finder window sidebar.

The trouble is that I cannot get my wife's computer into conventional GUI mode, so I cannot access the Finder, or any sidebars in any of its windows! In fact, the only way to start up her MacBook in anything other than command-line mode is to boot up from that 10.4.10 System Install disc, from which point my only option is to run the Installer ... which does not work.

Is there SOME way to get a Mac OS X (old or new) on this MacBook?
Why does it keep booting up in command line mode?
Can I set up her MacBook to "receive" DVD sharing?

Oh I am so confused.

Thank you for any advice.

Quick and easy task management software.

2or3whiskeysodas — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:14:25 -0800

Task management: help me find just the right iPhone/web app, please. To get you started, I love Taskpaper, but... ...am running an older version of Mac OSX at home, so I don't think I can use the latest software. Have you read Zen to Done, which is something of a reworking/spinoff of the Getting Things Done system? That's loosely the model I'm working from. So I need a task management system that:

- is streamlined. No bells or whistles needed.
- will allow me to shift between "project" and "context" views fluidly (which is to say, when I'm running @errands, I'd like to be able to see all the @errands I need to run for my various projects)
- will somehow allow me to prioritize my most important projects for the week and most important tasks of the day.
- I can access from my iPhone running IOS 4.3, my Mac running OSX 5 or something, and/or online. A dedicated iPhone app would be lovely, of course.

I'm happy to pay for something that rocks my world.

I need to be reminded that my current apartment situation is finite.

invisible ink — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:59:45 -0800

Renter's Remorse Filter. I moved into a new place and I cannot stand it (upstairs neighbor sounds like an elephant, asinine condo regulations, horrible parking, etc.) Is there a countdown timer utility (Mac OS 10.6) or email service that I can use to count down the weeks I have left to live here? Ideally, I would like to receive an email at the end of every week, saying I have X number of weeks left.

Computer! Make me a better person!

ignignokt — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:28:05 -0800

What apps do you use to help you stay focused on work? I'm looking for Mac and web apps. I don't have clinically diagnosable ADHD, but I'm curious about what's out there and can certainly use the help sometimes.

Can I uninstall iTunes and Safari

VoteBrian — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:53:10 -0800

How can I uninstall iTunes and Safari, and would doing so break anything else? I'd like to completely uninstall iTunes and Safari. I tried dragging the app to the trash, but OS X says they can't be modified because they're required by the OS (Lion, btw).

So I guess the first thing I'm wondering is whether or not the OS actually needs these two programs for anything. I'm worried that maybe something like Steam uses Safari (I suspect this because Steam won't play Flash video and when I click their link to install it, Safari opens).

Assuming there's no real reason for me to keep these (and other included programs), how would I go about deleting them?

If you're wondering why I want to uninstall them, I a) never use them, b) can't seem to get them to stop requesting I update, c) don't like having useless programs clutter my Applications list, and d) sometimes hit the play/pause/ff/rew buttons by accident and iTunes opens.

Affordable, multi-currency small business/accounting software for dummies?

wingless_angel — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:27:03 -0800

Affordable, multi-currency small business/accounting software for dummies? I am looking for accounting/book keeping software to manage my accounts. I am self-employed, and live in the UK. However, I need multi-currency friendly software as I bill and receive income in different currencies. I prepare my invoices separately because of client requirements, but invoice generation and tracking might be a nice to have. I use a Mac, but I do have a copy of Windows 7 if a Windows solution is best. I can export OFX files from bank.

I have never been very good at book keeping, and currently do everything manually tracking income and expenses for taxes on an excel chart. I would say that looking after finances is one of my weaker points, so I don't want a really complicated system. I have previously tried out iBank, Moneydance, FreshBooks and stopped using them for various reasons but would be willing to try again if they fit requirements. Prefer desktop based, not cloud or monthly fees.

Any suggestions appreciated. Budget: Up to 200 GBP?

How can I see on my main monitor what is being displayed on my secondary monitor?

orlandop — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:25:12 -0800

I have a secondary monitor on my iMac that is installed in a room 50 feet away from my main monitor. I need a way to see on my main screen, whatever is displayed on the secondary monitor. Using Mac OS X 10.7. Any ideas? I display some windows on the secondary monitor (imagine something like Address Book contacts), and I constantly move windows from my main monitor, to the secondary monitor, because the people in the other room need it to do their jobs. The problem is that to be able to move the windows back from the secondary monitor to the main monitor, I need a way to see where my mouse is in the secondary monitor.

Is there any software able to do this? I'm looking for something like the Picture-In-Picture in TV's, but my Google-Fu is failing me. Thanks!

How does my computer work?

Homo economicus — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:40:50 -0800

I'm a proficient mac user, but I think I'd like to know more about how my machine works. Where do I go to learn more? I've grown up with computers and while I can use them and do some troubleshooting, I think I'd like to know more about how they actually work. I have a basic idea of what the hardware components are, but operating systems are a bit of a mystery to me. I'd like to learn something about computers that won't be obsolete in a few years. I also don't want to follow blogs for the newest and tiniest changes in hardware/software. Is information about computer science what I'm looking for? Which books and/or websites should I check out?

Unlocked Iphone and Mac Software?

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:16:15 -0800

Will updating my Mac software (from Leopard to Snow Leopard) re-lock my iphone? Hi. I have an old iphone I love that is unlocked. I also have an oldish Mac running on Leopard, and I'd really like to update to Snow Leopard, and then maybe Lion. If I do this, will I relock my iphone after I sync it to my computer? I was warned that updating Itunes could unlock it, so I'm a bit nervous about it. Anonymous because I know I'm probably not supposed to have an unlocked phone. Thanks!

What do I need to create dance-rock on a Mac/iPad in 2011?

buckaroo_benzai — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:45:07 -0800

Bring me up to date on modern music creation on a Mac and/or iPad? I haven't used music software on a Mac in over a decade (Mac OS 9!).

Right now I have a MacBook Pro (2010), an iPad 2, an iPhone 4S, and an M-Audio Keystation 61es (with the iPad USB adapter on order). Some stuff I already bought for the iPad is Korg's iMS-20 and iElectribe apps. My roommate whom I will be collaborating with has a few guitars and mics.

Mostly I want to create dance-rock type music (think influences from Cut Copy, The xX, Miike Snow, CSS, The Knife, LCD Soundsystem).

At the moment I am really interested in finding a good MIDI control surface (plenty of knobs, sliders, buttons) to interface with my Mac and iPad, plus some good software synths and samplers. Is there any software that is on par with the amazing sounds you can get from a Nord Stage/Electro/Lead?

The key is that I want stuff that is SIMPLE. Think, at most, not much more complex than a Jupiter 8. If there are too many options, knobs, menu trees, etc I'll get overwhelmed and won't use it.

Also, is Logic 9 overkill for a simple home studio? Other options?

What should I get? What websites cover this stuff? Are there any good tutorials out there? Most of what I have found seems very outdated and links to software that was last updated a few years ago.

Thanks!