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Time Sink and Usher tied at 1.1.2!

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Well, it’s not really a race, but minor updates to both Time Sink and Usher today have them both sitting at version 1.1.2.

Time Sink’s update resolves an issue where certain apps with non-standard (internal, not public) naming conventions weren’t picked up by Time Sink (release notes). Usher’s update solves two issues, one with lost Notes fields when working with multiple movies at once, and the other with when changes to the Tags field are saved (release notes).

As usual, you can get updates from the in-app updater, or by downloading new copies of the app from our web site. (App Store customers, these updates have been submitted for approval, but have not yet been approved. We’ll post a message when they’re available.)

Posted in Products, Time Sink, Usher | Comments Off on Time Sink and Usher tied at 1.1.2!

Witch now available in the Mac App Store

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

After waiting and wondering for over two weeks, we were quite happily surprised when the App Store version of Witch was approved this evening and made available for sale at $16.99

If you’re good at math, you’ll quickly realize that’s “over $2 less!” than Witch costs when purchased directly from our site. So why is it cheaper on the Mac App Store than directly from us? One simple reason: the App Store version of Witch lacks the pop-up window previews available in the version for sale on our site. Why not? As of now, we’re not certain that the method we use to show those previews will pass muster with the App Store reviewers, so we chose to leave them out of this initial release.

Everything else, though—including the ability to assign Command-Tab as the Witch trigger—is there. (OK, one other thing you won’t find is in-app updates, as the App Store app itself handles those updates for you.)

None of our other App Store apps are missing a key feature, so this was new ground for us. After talking it over, we decided that the lack of previews was worth a couple dollar reduction in sales price, at least until we know for sure if we can get them in or not.

So that’s why Witch is cheaper on the App Store than here on our site. If you like the image previews, and want them now, then you should buy Witch on our site. If you don’t think you’ll need image previews, you can save yourself a couple bucks by purchasing the App Store version instead.

We’re thrilled to have our fourth app (joining Name Mangler, Time Sink, and Usher on the App Store. And here’s a little secret…we’ve submitted a fifth app, and it’s now in the review queue for approval. Which app? Well, that piece of information will have to remain undisclosed for just a bit longer…stay tuned! (Note to Butler fans: no, it’s not Butler 5, sorry!)

Posted in Company News, Name Mangler, Time Sink, Usher, Witch | 4 Comments »

Another installment of Touch-up Tuesdays

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

After getting through the end-of-year holiday rush, which was combined with the Mac App Store launch (thanks for that timing, Apple!), we’ve finally had a chance to catch up on some minor updates for Name Mangler, Usher, and Witch.

You can get the updates via in-app updating (this can be enabled on the Updates tab of Name Mangler and Usher’s Preferences, and on the About tab in Witch’s System Preferences panel), or by downloading the full versions from our web site.

So what’s new? As always, the release notes page for each app (Name Mangler • Usher • Witch) provide all the details, but here are some highlights:

Name Mangler 2.3.3

  • The help files have been completely rewritten in the new Many Tricks’ style. For you users of Advanced mode, there’s even a handy function reference that lets you navigate directly to each available function.
  • In expired-trial mode (after 25 launches), Name Mangler now limits features (five files renamed at once, no droplet use) instead of presenting annoying dialogs with countdown timers.
  • Name Mangler no longer accepts files dragged and dropped directly from iPhoto or Aperture. Because these programs use an internal database, all renaming should be done either before the photos are added to the programs, or within the programs themselves.

Usher 1.1.1

  • Usher can now manage Elgato TV recordings (playback will be handled by the Elgato EyeTV player).
  • A new Save As contextual menu lets you save a selection of movies, in their native format, to a folder of your choosing. This is basically ‘export without conversion.’
  • Usher should now use less memory usage during some operations.

Witch 3.5.8

  • Using a hidden pref (detailed on the release notes page), windowless apps can be forced to the bottom of the switcher panel when used in application-specific sort modes.
  • Updated help files, and numerous other small fixes and improvements.

Note that both Name Mangler and Witch skipped a minor version number. We did this to keep the version numbers in sync between these releases and those on the Mac App Store (Name Mangler is there already, Witch is still in review).

Posted in Name Mangler, Products, Usher, Witch | Comments Off on Another installment of Touch-up Tuesdays

How-to: Set playback start/stop points in Usher

Monday, January 10th, 2011

A few users have asked how to set the start and stop points for playing back a particular video—for instance, to skip a portion at the start or end of a video clip that you’d rather not see. (This is the equivalent to setting a Start Time and Stop Time on the Options tab of iTunes’ Get Info window.)

While it’s not quite that simple to mark a video’s start and stop points in Usher, it’s really not much harder. Read on for the quick how-to, in both text and video forms.

(more…)

Posted in How To, Products, Usher | Comments Off on How-to: Set playback start/stop points in Usher

Many Tricks enters the Mac App Store

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

Unless you’ve been vacationing in Bora Bora for the last three months, you were probably aware that Apple’s new Mac App Store launched today. We were thrilled to have three of our products front and center on launch day: Name Mangler, Time Sink, and Usher were all available when the store opened this morning. (We actually have one more in process right now; a special non-preference-pane version of Witch has been sitting in the review queue for two weeks now.)

So far, it’s been an interesting day, just watching the sales charts trying to figure out what they mean (we don’t get real-time data, so we don’t really know what’s happening with total sales). We did a fair bit of of work to get our apps ready for the store, though, so it’s very gratifying to finally see them there on launch day.

For those who prefer “traditional” software distribution, don’t worry—we’re not going away from that, just taking advantage of a new sales channel. We have apps (Butler and Leech, at least) that can’t be sold on the app store, and we have others (Witch) that have slightly different functionality. So our direct sales model isn’t going away because of the Mac App Store.

Also, we’ll always keep our apps “in sync” to the extent that the App Store rules allow us to do so. That is, if we update Time Sink on our web site, the App Store version will get that same update, and vice-versa1. Due to Apple’s review process, it may occasionally take a bit more time for the changes to reach the App Store, but rest assured, they’ll get there (assuming Apple’s approval, of course).

Our objective with both our App Store apps and our “traditional” apps is simple: to deliver compelling Mac programs that are a delight to use, and to do what it takes to keep our customers satisfied. So whether you want to purchase through the Mac App Store, or via the web, or via our in-app purchasing module, we’ll be there for you.

(1) The two sales channels are distinct, and require different builds of our software. So you can’t update your Mac App Store version of Name Mangler with a download from our site, and vice-versa. If you purchase from our web site, your app has a built-in updater that reminds you when it needs an update. If you purchase from the Mac App Store, the Mac App Store itself will tell you when there are updates to install, and you’ll do the updating via the Mac App Store app.

Posted in Company News, Name Mangler, Products, Time Sink, Usher | 12 Comments »

Usher in the new year with Usher 1.1

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

Today we released a new version of Usher, with a number of bug fixes, performance improvements, and one very nice new feature.

The big news in Usher 1.1 is the new Notes field. Many users had been creating a Notes Property, but there were problems with this: it was only one line, and you couldn’t use a comma, as Usher would then split your text into separate values. In Usher 1.1, Notes is now our third information type, to go with Tags and Properties. To better reflect all three of these information types, we’ve changed Tags and Properties to Metadata throughout the program.

Notes are written in an auto-expanding free-form text field on the Metadata panel. (If you had previously created a Notes property, its text will show in the new Notes field.) As you enter text, the field will resize as necessary, and eventually, scroll bars will appear. So for all of you who felt trapped by the limitations of your one-line Notes Property, free your fingers to go crazy with the Note field’s new capabilities.

What’s really nice is that Notes is still technically a Property field, which means that text is searchable, and the expanded Notes field is usable in Smart Playlists—we’re not sure why you might want to do this (as opposed to putting such values in Tags or Properties), but you can if you want to.

The other changes in Usher 1.1 (including reduced memory usage during movie ‘crawling’) can be read about on the Usher release notes page. As always, you can download the full version from Usher’s product page, or (much easier) use the in-app update, which you can enable in Usher’s preferences.

Posted in Products, Usher | 2 Comments »

Name Mangler video overview posted

Friday, December 17th, 2010

I just finished the second video overview of one of our products (Usher was first). This time out, it’s Name Mangler.

This 15-minute video walks through the Name Mangler interface, demonstrates each of the renaming functions, shows you how to create and use droplets, and explains the program’s preferences. See the ‘Video Introduction’ section of the Name Mangler web page for viewing options—you can choose between a smaller-but-usable 512×384 version, or the supersized 1024×768 original, which is over 80MB in size.

On to the next one now…

Posted in Name Mangler, Products, Usher | Comments Off on Name Mangler video overview posted

Another set of Tuesday Touch-ups

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

While many companies may save fixes and new functionality in their apps for weeks or months at a time, that’s not how we roll here at Many Tricks. Instead, we’d rather get new and/or improved stuff out to you as quickly as possible, but still on a regularly-scheduled basis. It used to be Minor Update Mondays, but because Mondays are seemingly always awful, we’ve lately migrated to Touch-up Tuesdays (subject to change, of course!). This being a Tuesday, we have a few such updates for all of you today…

  • Name Mangler 2.3: We’ve added support for user input in Advanced mode; this allows some user interaction with droplets, for example. To accept user input, use the new [prompt "Text user will see"] action. You can read more about this in Name Mangler’s in-app help. [Release notes]
  • Time Sink 1.0.1: Fixed a problem where certain dialogs would appear behind other windows when Time Sink was used in menu bar mode, thereby blocking Time Sink from capturing data. [Release notes]
  • Usher 1.0.4: A few bug fixes, including one that would cause Usher’s movie processor to stop while the Info window was onscreen. [Release notes]

As usual, you can download the full apps from each program’s page, or just check for updates using the built-in updaters within each program.

Posted in Name Mangler, Products, Time Sink, Usher | Comments Off on Another set of Tuesday Touch-ups

Time for another Touch-up Tuesday

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

That’s right, another Touch-up Tuesday, featuring some minor updates to a few of the apps on our menu. This week’s updated delicacies include the following entrees…

  • Leech 2.0.7: We’ve updated the version of SIMBL we bundle, so setting up browser integration works again on Mac OS X 10.5.x machines. There was one other small fix (a localization issue). [Release notes]
  • Name Mangler 2.2.4: After investigating a couple reports of Name Mangler not working, we figured out that users were unchecking all filters. This would essentially disable Name Mangler. So as of 2.2.4, you can’t do that any more. Also fixed a bug that caused the Change Case mode to fail when renaming files containing accented or any other decomposable characters. [Release notes]
  • Usher 1.0.3: Usher received the most attention this week; make sure you check out the release notes page for the full scoop. The highlights include a new Add to Library menu item (to make it simpler to add things to your library), the addition of Date Created to List view mode, and a new entry in the contextual menu that lets you quickly mark a movie—or group of movies—as watched (or unwatched) without having to first open them.

As always, updates are available via in-app updating, or you can download the full programs from their respective web pages.

If you think these minor changes are exciting, make sure you come back Thursday, when we’ll be adding a brand new item to the Many Tricks’ menu! We’ve been sampling it ourselves for a few months now, and we think it’s a delicious addition to our existing menu…er…product line—we can’t wait to see what you all think of it, too!

Posted in Company News, Leech, Name Mangler, Products, Usher | Comments Off on Time for another Touch-up Tuesday

Usher 1.0.2 adds Aperture support

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

This update to Usher includes one major new feature, and a number of improvements and bug fixes. The major new feature is basic Aperture support—Usher will now find and show videos in Aperture, as it does for iPhoto and iTunes. The only limitation is that we’re unable to bring across the video keywords, as we can do with iPhoto videos.

We’ve also added New Folder buttons to dialogs (where it makes sense, as when selecting library folders), and expanded the in-app help file to cover Supplementary Folders, which are a very cool Usher feature.

There are some other minor bug fixes and improvements, too—read the release notes for the full scoop.

As always, the update is available via in-app updating, or by downloading the full program from Usher’s web page.

Posted in Products, Usher | Comments Off on Usher 1.0.2 adds Aperture support

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