It seems like it was just yesterday that we kicked off our annual Summer of Mac Gems marathon, where we featured a quality, inexpensive Mac app every weekday. We got through a lot of different programs, from tools for managing your Instagram photos to battery saving utilities and everything in between. In case you missed a few, here’s our complete list of products from GemFest 2012.
System Enhancements
Gemini 1.1 combs through your folders and looks for duplicate files, spitting out snarky phrases while you wait.
Speed Download 5.3 combines two functions into one: a simple download manager and a more-complex download and FTP manager.
FileXaminer 2.8 is the Finder’s Get Info command for power users. It adds file management features including Super Delete (which grants admin access for deleting stubborn items) and Force Empty Trash.
Desktop Tidy 1.0 keeps your Mac’s desktop clean and free of clutter by storing all desktop files and folders in a Shadow Desktop that you can access from the menu bar.
Klammer 2.1 lets you open unrecognizable files created in Microsoft Outlook.
A Better Finder Attributes 5.14 can clean up your Mac’s Finder attributes by letting you change creation and modification dates, apply Finder labels to multiple files, and remove invisible files.
SideFolders 1.6 provides a slide-out panel that combines a Finder window’s sidebar with the Apple menu’s Recent Items list. Plus, it lets you create your own lists so you can have any folder/document hierarchy you want in the panel without changing the locations of the actual folders and documents.
LaunchMagic 4 is a hybrid of an app launcher and organizer, rather than a standalone app-launching app, with a visual style unlike others in its class.
DeepSleep 2.1 puts your Mac into Hibernation mode instead of a regular sleep, preventing the computer from using power while maintaining open applications and documents.
CommandQ 1.04 blocks the standard Command-Q (Quit) shortcut, instead displaying a bezel with a progress bar on screen. You have to keep holding the Command and Q keys until the progress bar reaches the end to quit an application. The idea here is to avoid accidental app quits.
TypingStats 1.1.1 is a useful utility that tracks your typing habits and helps you improve your typing skills.
Audio and Video
Readomator 1.0.2 is an Instapaper client that converts your saved Instapaper articles into podcasts that are saved to iTunes.
TrackSift 1.2.1 culls your iTunes library and deletes non-existent files, isolates tracks that lack album art, consolidates genres, and more.
Enqueue 1.0.1 is a full-fledged music playback application, similar in look and feel to iTunes, but it supports audio files that iTunes doesn’t. It can read and play the contents of your iTunes library, as well as FLAC, MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, AIFF, and Musepack audio files.
Streambox 4.2 is a Pandora Radio client that you can control using the media keys (previous track, play/pause, next track) on your keyboard or, if you prefer, custom keyboard shortcuts.
beQuiet 2.4 ensures that your Mac’s external speakers stay muted, which is especially helpful when working in a quiet environment.
Looky 1.0.0 is a menu-bar utility for quickly popping open a live view from your Mac’s built-in camera—perfect for keeping an eye on who might be sneaking up behind you.
Daypart 2.1.1 lets you schedule playback of iTunes playlists. The app works with regular, Smart, and Genius playlists.
Screeny 2.0.1 is a solid tool for basic screen sharing and screencasts, great for demonstrating how to fix a technical problem or showing off a Mac feature.
Productivity
Stock Keeper 1.1.4 uses tags, license, payment, date, notes and other information to help you organize your digital media files.
Dropzone 2.3 lets you quickly perform custom actions on files, such as sending them to custom destinations, that you drag onto either its menu bar icon its pop-out Circles.
FormalAddress 2.3 makes it easy to grab an address from a document or online source and import to your Address Book. You just copy the text to your clipboard, open FormalAddress, and export—the app formats everything for you.
Tagit 1.3.0 lets you add metadata tags to files for easy searching. You can add that metadata using Tagit itself or when using other apps that are compatible with the OpenMeta tagging standard.
Token 1.3.1 makes your life slightly easier if you frequently use Apple’s iBooks Author or iWork apps (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote). It gives you faster access to your documents, templates, and scripts.
ReFind 1.1 is useful for anyone—developers, designers, audio pros, you name it—who uses a large number of frequent folders. It provides the capability to jump directly to a frequently used folder or file from within any application—without searching or clicking through stacks of open Finder windows.
ChronoSlider 2.0.3: lets you set alarms and reminders by simply sliding your cursor across your Mac’s screen. This method allows for lightning fast input and less of an interruption to your workflow.
Typist 2.2 teaches the basics of touch-typing through a series of lessons. It also includes speed drills and two courses that teach alternative keyboards, including the Dvorak Keyboard and 10-key number pad.
VisualDiffer 1.4.1 lets you spot the differences between two files: source code, HTML code, text, or other data.
Utilities
Battery Status 1 .2 offers a systemwide menu that displays the battery level of your Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse, Wireless Keyboard, and, on a laptop, internal battery.
Clusters 1.5.6 is a file-compression app that works silently in the background. You won’t even notice it’s doing its thing—except that the amount of free space on your Mac’s drive has magically increased.
Timer Pro for Mac 7.0 lets you set stopwatch, countdown, and alarm-clock alarms, as well as export alarms to your calendar or other apps to stay organized.
CleanMyMac 1.10.6 scans your caches, logs, language files, universal binaries, system junk, and other files to get rid of unnecessary cruft and free up space on your Mac.
Log Leech 1.5.2 makes it easier to comb through system log files. For example, it can group log entries by application or process.
Sleep Monitor 3.0.1 offers a unique visual graph of your battery usage we haven’t seen in other battery-tracking apps in the Mac App Store.
Low Battery Saver 1.0.1 warns you when your battery’s estimated time remaining hits a a point you define.
Internet and Web
Favs 1.1.1 stores your Facebook likes, Twitter favorites, and other marked posts from your various social networks in one comprehensive package.
Caffeinated 1.2.2 is a full-featured RSS client that pairs with Google Reader. It integrates with several third-party services including Twitter and Facebook, as well as “read later” services such as Instapaper.
Cookie Stumbler 1.5 finds browser cookies, including advertising and tracking ones, and gives you the option to delete them all or inspect and banish them individually.
NetUse Traffic Monitor 1.2.6 keeps an eye on your Internet activity, displays it on a graph, and provides alerts to keep you out of the bandwidth poorhouse.
SocialFolders lets you link your social accounts with the SocialFolders website; you can then download the SocialFolders Mac app and syncs all of your media to a set of folders on your Mac.
Radio Silence 1.0.3 is a firewall-like tool that can stop your Mac apps from automatically accessing the Internet.
Privacy Scan 1.1 offers a one-stop way to mitigate common privacy concerns by identifying and destroying files that are used to track your Internet usage and reveal your online activities to others.
MailTags 3.0.2 adds tagging functionality to Apple’s Mail app. You can create and assign project names, colors, priorities, and even lengthy notes to any piece of email.
Downloads 1.1 keeps all of your downloaded items neat and organized. When you launch Downloads, you’ll see all the items in your Mac’s Downloads folder, whether they’re at the top level or buried deep inside folders.
Creativity
Shapes 2.6 lets you draw organizational and flow charts with a variety of shapes, lines, and arrows. It has a beautiful interface and a multi-faceted Inspector that lets you tweak line widths and styles, line and fill colors, text, and even fill a shape with an image.
JPEGmini 1.3 can batch-reduce the file size of saved photos without changing resolution.
ImageOptim 1.4, like JPEGmini, takes your PNG, JPEG, and GIF files (including GIF animations) and shrinks their sizes, often considerably, without affecting image quality.
Comic Life 2.2.1 turns your photos into comic book-style layouts, perfectly balancing ease of use with a sense of fun.
Bronson Watermarker 1.5.1 fills a small—but vital—niche for those who need to create watermarked PDFs and images. You can export your files as a single image to make sure that someone can’t strip the watermark from your PDF.
InstaBackup 1.1 is a handy utility for Instagram power users who want to back up their favorite lo-fi photos, or even for those who simply want a quick and pain-free way to transfer their Instagram photos to their Mac.