Federico Viticci

906 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
@viticci@macstories.net
@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

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AwesomeNote 2.5 Released: Here Comes the Best Notes & To-Do App for iPhone

Paul Westerberg, lead singer of The Replacements, used to sing “And everybody wants to be special here..They call your name out loud and clear.Here comes a regular, am I the only one here today?” in that mid-80s song, Here Comes a Regular. I believe this song pretty much describes the situation of to-do and notes taking applications available in the App Store: everybody wants to be special, yet a very few developers clearly admit that they have just “regular” apps. I mean, there are kinda 2000 notes / todo apps out there, and everybody says their app is the “most complete manager whatever bla bla bla”.

Sure.

But this is a different story. I had to write this review many months ago, but for one reason or another I never found the time to sit down and write it. I’m talking about AwesomeNote, of the most popular productivity apps of the App Store, which has been updated to 2.5 version,update that truly makes it the best GTD and note taking application ever made for the iPhone.

Find out why.

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Safari Retains Speed Crown Over Newcomer Chrome in OS X

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“In benchmark tests run by Computerworld, Apple’s Safari browser claimed the top spot over Firefox, Opera, and Chrome. Google released a beta build of Chrome to the public on Tuesday.

The results showed that Safari slightly edged out Chrome, was nearly twice as fast as Firefox, and over ten times faster than Opera.

Computerworld’s method of testing used the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark suite. The test was run three times for each browser in OS X 10.6 and the numbers were averaged.

According to November numbers by Net Applications, Internet Explorer commands 63.62 percent of the total browser market, followed by Firefox with 24.72, Safari with 4.36 percent, 3.93 percent for Chrome, and 2.31 percent for Opera.”

Ok, you’re fast Safari. But will you ever stop beachballing every 10 minutes or so?

HootSuite Comes to the iPhone. The Ultimate App for Pro Users?

HootSuite has just announced the release of HootSuite for iPhone, which should be available tomorrow in the AppStore. They also posted a video of HootSuite mobile in action and, truth be told, I’m really impressed so far. They included most everything the web service has, like statistics and Twitter lists. But there’s so much more inside this application, watch the video below.

Now, I think HootSuite could become the perfect companion to Tweetie 2 on my iPhone. If you have a blog, or you manage your brand, be sure to check out this HootSuite thing.

Expect a detailed review as soon as it’s available.

Why Apple Succeeds, And Always Will

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A long an interesting read from Betanews. Here’s an excerpt:

“Apple is David to Microsoft Goliath – and other ones, too. Goliath plays by one set of rules. David choses to change the rules, which favor his strengths rather than those of Goliath.

David Thinking is most provocative and surprising when Goliath acts like David. After all, David sometimes becomes Goliath; Apple is a giant in music with iPod and iTunes Music Store. But David turned Goliath also risks making mistakes that would allow another upstart advantage. Today, Apple is both David and Goliath, depending on market.”

AirLock, An Awesome Security Tool for Mac

It doesn’t happen everyday to review original and creative applications like AirLock. Moreover, it’s very unusual to find an application that installs itself as a preference pane but works together with your iPhone though it doesn’t exactly require an additional iPhone app.

What am I talking about? It’s called AirLock, and I think you’re gonna love this.

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MoneyBook: Manage Your Finances with Elegance

If you’re a freelancer, it’s very likely that you need to keep track of your finances. You have to track expenses, choose a budget every month, check where does your income come from or where and how you spend more money.

Today I’d like to talk about MoneyBook, an iPhone application by NoIdentity which does all of this with a stunning user interface.

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Backup Your Mail Library with MaBuRe

Here’s a great utility for all you Mac users out there who use Mail.app or Mozilla Thunderbird. MaBuRe (ok, let’s not talk about the name..or the icon) is a lightweight, free app for Mac which can backup and restore your mails in a single click.

The main (and only) window is a HUD panel which lets you backup and restore your Mail / Thunderbird database. The messages will be archived in a .zip file in your desktop.

The developer said on MacThemes forum it will soon implement the possibility to schedule backups for the next release.

Nice app!

The Ultimate Introduction to Applescript: Part 1

Applescript, that amazing resource many Mac users ignore because they think it’s too complex. Guys, Applescript is an amazing tool to get things done automatically, though I recognize many of you just don’t want to get started because you don’t have the right motivation, or you just don’t know enough about it. I wrote a post which collected the best examples of Applescript but still, there wasn’t a real introduction.

That’s why I asked my friend Jesse from iScript Netcast to get started on a posts series about Applescript. There will be 3 parts, where Jesse will outline the pros and cons of Applescript, together with some sample scripts and tips for beginners.You can also get in touch with iScript Netcast on Twitter here.

Enjoy!

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