The picture of efficiency Page 2 of 2

Goody bag part 2: Maximize your moves; snap the shutter

In the Know

I just know there’s an Atari 2600 emulator for the Mac, but Google’s results point me in a million different directions. Enter VersionTracker.com. A quick search gets me exactly what I need, with download links and feedback from other happy gamers. The basic search is free, but for a membership fee, VersionTracker Pro can alert you whenever any app, driver, or utility you choose is updated.— Tom Penberthy

Give It a Rest

$25; publicspace.net

Your Mac is central to your work and play. That’s great, but all that time in front of a screen can damage your body. The solution also lies in the Mac: Frank Reiff’s stretching utility MacBreakz. You can customize the program’s settings in many ways; my favorite feature locks the keyboard so you can’t use your Mac.— Terri Stone

Tattoo You

$13; Panic Software

Ever consider your Dock’s potential as a personal secretary? Stattoo gives the Dock that power.

This utility places an adjustable transparent information bar on your screen that offers a variety of useful capsules—for instance, new-mail notifications (complete with subject lines), the next three meetings you have scheduled in iCal, and current iTunes happenings.— Tom Penberthy

Snap the Shutter

From hardware that gets your photos on the big screen to Web-based services for showing off your images to friends and family across the country, Mac users bitten by the photo bug have these three goodies at their disposal.

Cut Out the Middleman

512MB version, $110; 1GB version, $150; SanDisk

When extracting images from digital cameras gives you a headache, SanDisk’s new Ultra II SD Plus card drive may be just what the doctor ordered. You plug it into a camera’s SD slot. When the card is full, remove it and plug it into your Mac’s USB port. Because the device is also a USB 2.0 flash drive, you can throw your card reader away.— Terri Stone

My Friend Flickr

10MB photo upload a month, free; 1GB upload a month and unlimited storage, $60 annually; Flickr

There are scads of ways to share your photos with distant family and friends, but the Flickr Web site makes it easy to share photos with people who may become new friends. The elegant interface emphasizes connection: you can upload photos, post a profile, join groups of Flickr participants, and send messages to participants.— Terri Stone

View Photos on the TV

$50 (see Best Current Price ); SanDisk

If you’ve got JPEG photos on a CompactFlash, Memory Stick (standard or Pro), SmartMedia, xD, SD, or MultiMediaCard card, you can use SanDisk’s Photo Album to view those photos on any TV. The Photo Album also supports MPEG-1 video and MP3 audio, lets you copy files to a CF card or USB flash drive, and provides a handy wireless remote to control slide shows from across a room.— Dan Frakes