In this week’s roundup of significant Mac app updates and releases, we’ve got solutions for managing money and files, browsing the Web, geocoding your photos, and even printing (yes, printing). And a standout iOS app makes its way to the Mac.
LittleFin’s $14 Chronicle 5.1 ( Mac App Store link) adds a number of new features to the company’s popular personal-finance app, including password protection, a new menu-only mode, and more options for customizing graphs.
(We reviewed Chronicle 4.1.2 last year.)
We reviewed Hazel 3.0 last year, calling it a standout file organizer. Version 3.1 of this utility for automating file management can now upload to FTP, SFTP, and WebDAV servers. Other new features include the capability to use patterns for matching files and extracting file contents; custom date tokens; rule notes and descriptions; and the option to maintain a file’s folder structure (path) when copying the file to another location.
Houdah Software’s $29 HoudahGeo 3 lets you quickly and easily geocode your photos for either archival purposes or for posting those images to social-media or geo-focused services. Version 3.5 adds support for Adobe Lightroom to the app’s existing support for iPhoto and Aperture Places.
Maxthon’s free Maxthon for Mac is Yet Another Web Browser, but it may be worth a look. It couples modern, fast webpage rendering with a slew of trackpad gestures for speedier, finger-driven navigation: A two-finger circle gesture triggers a refresh; other gestures let you close and reopen tabs or flip between them.
If you’re looking for a way to make cards, labels, letterhead, and the like, the $50 PrintLife promises to make the process fast and easy. The company says it steers clear of “cheesy clipart graphics and corny templates” in favor of “beautiful included artwork and templates.”
The app includes nearly 8GB of artwork from iScrapbook.com—a total of over 5100 high-res graphics—along with more than 280 project templates, more than 125 business-card templates, and more than 300 label templates. The app supports all major card stock, paper, and envelope sizes.
Micromat’s venerable Techtool Pro system utility ($100) recently received a major update. Version 7 is fully 64-bit compatible and includes a new memory test that the company says is “one of the most advanced in the industry” and took two years to develop. It’s even compatible with the current developer preview of OS X 10.9 Mavericks.
When it debuted for the iPad, Touch Press’s The Elements was one of the first apps to show what was really possible with Apple’s tablet. A couple years later, Touch Press has brought its flagship app to the Mac.
The Elements for OS X ( Mac App Store link; $29) includes the same features and information as the iOS version, but it adds live video demonstrations and experiments.