Chris has covered technology and media since the latter days of the Reagan Administration. In addition to his journalistic endeavors, he's a professional musician in the San Francisco Bay Area. More by Christopher Breen
Editor’s note: The following review is part of Macworld’s GemFest 2013. Every day (except Sunday) from mid-July until late September, the Macworld staff will use the Mac Gems blog to briefly cover a standout free or low-cost program. Learn more about GemFest in this Macworld podcast. You can view a list of this year’s apps, updated daily, on our handy GemFest page, and you can visit the Mac Gems homepage for past Mac Gems reviews.
The challenge: You have audio playing on your Mac that you’d like to capture. There are ways to do it for free (though they can be complicated) and others that are easier but require you shelling out money for a utility.
Ray Aguilera is a writer and editor who has been working on Apple computers since Apple was doomed. When he's not slaving over a hot laptop, he can be found hunting vinyl records, or hanging out with a really rad dog. More by Ray Aguilera
Editor’s note: The following review is part of Macworld’s GemFest 2013. Every day (except Sunday) from mid-July until late September, the Macworld staff will use the Mac Gems blog to briefly cover a standout free or low-cost program. Learn more about GemFest in this Macworld podcast. You can view a list of this year’s apps, updated daily, on our handy GemFest page, and you can visit the Mac Gems homepage for past Mac Gems reviews.
The Internet is full of great stuff to read, but keeping track of it all is a chore. Luckily, read-it-later Web services like Pocket, Readability and Instapaper have sprung up to help you collect articles. Words App 2.2.1 (Mac App Store link) brings those services to the desktop, giving you quick access to your links across services, as well as cool tricks like supporting cross-platform tags and folders, search, and offline reading.
James is the director of Macworld Lab. More by James Galbraith
Editor’s note: The following review is part of Macworld’s GemFest 2013. Every day (except Sunday) from mid-July until late September, the Macworld staff will use the Mac Gems blog to briefly cover a standout free or low-cost program. Learn more about GemFest in this Macworld podcast. You can view a list of this year’s apps, updated daily, on our handy GemFest page, and you can visit the Mac Gems homepage for past Mac Gems reviews.
Chris is a former Macworld editor who has turned to a life of crime. More by Chris Holt
Editor’s note: The following review is part of Macworld’s GemFest 2013. Every day (except Sunday) from mid-July until late September, the Macworld staff will use the Mac Gems blog to briefly cover a standout free or low-cost program. Learn more about GemFest in this Macworld podcast. You can view a list of this year’s apps, updated daily, on our handy GemFest page, and you can visit the Mac Gems homepage for past Mac Gems reviews.
Compared to OS X’s Reminders, Taskdesk 1.0.4 (Mac App Store link) is an upgrade, allowing you to prioritize, attach images, create deadlines, and manage multiple lists.
Lex uses a MacBook Pro, an iPhone 5, an iPad mini, a Kindle 3, a TiVo HD, and a treadmill desk, and loves them all. His latest book, a children's book parody for adults, is called "The Kid in the Crib." Lex lives in New Jersey with his wife and three young kids. More by Lex Friedman
Editor’s note: The following review is part of Macworld’s GemFest 2013. Every day (except Sunday) from mid-July until late September, the Macworld staff will use the Mac Gems blog to briefly cover a standout free or low-cost program. Learn more about GemFest in this Macworld podcast. You can view a list of this year’s apps, updated daily, on our handy GemFest page, and you can visit the Mac Gems homepage for past Mac Gems reviews.
Most Mac users cut, copy, and paste all the time. And most Mac users rely solely on OS X’s built-in clipboard—despite its obvious limitations. Collective 1.2 (Mac App Store link) aims to make the clipboard far more useful, and mostly succeeds. But it’s hampered somewhat by the Mac App Store’s sandboxing restrictions.
Dan is Macworld's Executive Editor and, thus, the senior Dan on staff. More by Dan Miller
Editor’s note: The following review is part of Macworld’s GemFest 2013. Every day (except Sunday) from mid-July until late September, the Macworld staff will use the Mac Gems blog to briefly cover a standout free or low-cost program. Learn more about GemFest in this Macworld podcast. You can view a list of this year’s apps, updated daily, on our handy GemFest page, and you can visit the Mac Gems homepage for past Mac Gems reviews.
There are roughly a jillion text editors available for OS X; it takes a special one to stand out from the crowd. Simply put, nvALT is special.
Dan writes about OS X, iOS, troubleshooting, utilities, and cool apps, and he covers hardware, mobile and AV gear, input devices, and accessories. He's been writing about tech since 1994, and he's also published software, worked in IT, and been a policy analyst. More by Dan Frakes
Editor’s note: The following review is part of Macworld’s GemFest 2013. Every day (except Sunday) from mid-July until late September, the Macworld staff will use the Mac Gems blog to briefly cover a standout free or low-cost program. Learn more about GemFest in this Macworld podcast. You can view a list of this year’s apps, updated daily, on our handy GemFest page, and you can visit the Mac Gems homepage for past Mac Gems reviews.
Many of the cloud-syncing services out there, such as Dropbox, sync across all your computers and devices any data you place in a specific, special folder on your Mac’s drive. This approach makes these services dead-simple to use.
