Name Mangler 3.1 released

April 8th, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

Yes, it was just six weeks ago that we released Name Mangler 3, but today, Name Mangler 3.1 has hit the streets. Direct purchasers will find the upgrade in the Update section of Name Mangler’s preferences, if they haven’t set the program to automatically check for udpates. App Store users will see an update for Name Mangler within the App Store application.

So why so quickl for a “full dot” upgrade? Here’s why…

With the 3.0 release, we attracted a lot of new customers, and we received a fair bit of feedback about how Name Mangler’s file list area didn’t act like Finder—you couldn’t select more than one file, making it hard to remove a number of files from a renaming list, or to quickly reorder many files. With Name Mangler 3.1, we’ve changed the file list area to behave more like Finder, addressing this feedback. (We also added a new View > Click in List To menu item to control this behavior. If you prefer the original Name Mangler behavior, set this menu option to Cycle Detail.)

In addition, we were asked for a few additional time and date formatting options, so we’ve added those. In the longer term, we’re looking at adding a full date/time formatter to Name Mangler, but these additional formats address all the requests we’ve had since 3.0 came out.)

The other big change is that Name Mangler no longer commandeers the Command key plus arrow keys text navigation shortcuts—if you’re editing a text field, you can use these shortcuts to jump to the start or end of that text field. Previously, these shortcuts were used to cycle history; those keys have been changed to Control-Command plus the arrow keys.

There are a number of other changes, which you can read about on the Name Mangler release notes page.

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Name Mangler 3 is new and noteworthy…

March 8th, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

We, of course, have already proclaimed as much, but Apple has now decided the same, featuring Name Mangler 3 in their current New and Noteworthy category.

We were supposed to move Name Mangler 3 to its normal $19 price yesterday, but in lieu of this news, we’ve decided to leave it at $10 through the weekend. So if you were on the fence, now’s the time to make the move—both the App Store and direct versions are $10 each for three more days.

Before buying, please compare the two versions to make sure you know what you’re getting with each one. Two key differences are OS X version required (10.8 for App Store; 10.6.8+ for direct) and Path Finder support (none in App Store version; present in the direct version).

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How to: Restore Command+Arrow keys in Name Mangler

March 3rd, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

One of the new features in Name Mangler 3 is a comprehensive history of renaming operations. Name Mangler will remember your last 50 (or more, if you change it in prefs) renaming actions. You can access these saved configurations via our history browser:

To make it easier to browse your history, we provide two keyboard shortcuts: Command-Left Arrow (previous configuration) and Command-Right Arrow (next configuration). Experienced keyboard users will instantly recognize that those are the shortcut keys for jumping to the start and end of text strings in an input box, and may wonder how we have the keys serving both roles.

The short answer is “we don’t.” In Name Mangler 3, you can’t use those shortcut keys to navigate input boxes, only to navigate history.

But there is an easy solution, for those who prefer these keys in their text field roles: change the keyboard shortcuts for the history browser. After changing these shortcuts, the Command plus arrow key shortcuts will work as expected in Name Mangler’s text fields.

If you’re experienced with changing OS X keyboard shortcuts, you just need to assign Previous Configuration and Next Configuration to new shortcuts, and you’re done. If you need more specific how-to help, keep reading.

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How not to compete in business

March 1st, 2013 by Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer

Late in the day on March 1st, we received an explanation/apology from Dietmar Kerschner.
As far as we’re concerned, the personal side of this matter is now closed.

Two days ago, we launched Name Mangler 3, our first major upgrade to the program in nearly three years. This update was user-driven, based on feedback we’ve been tracking since Name Mangler 2 came out. We focused on speed, the ability to perform more than one renaming action, and some user interface improvements. We’re incredibly proud of what we built, and have been thrilled with the initial reaction.

Then yesterday, out of the blue, we received an email claiming we’d violated the copyright of another renaming application. We spent the afternoon researching the other app, and eventually sent an email response back to the accuser, clearly demonstrating our innocence through screenshots and app release timelines. (Name Mangler has existed in pretty much its current form since its initial debut as File List, way back in 2005.)

We thought that would be the end of it, because it was obvious there was no infringement. Today, though, we discovered that our accuser has gone public (despite not replying to our email) with these tweets:

Now that we’re being called thieves in a public forum, we feel we must respond in public as well: we cannot let Dietmar Kerschner trash our hard-earned reputation with baseless accusations that can’t withstand even the most basic level of scrutiny.

A Brief History of Name Mangler presents our side of the story. There you’ll find details on the development of Name Mangler, and that of Renamer(4Mac), the program whose designer has accused us of copyright infringement. Even a quick glance at the page will show that we’ve copied nothing from Renamer—if anything, we could claim that their latest release copied our design.

The purpose of this blog post, though, isn’t to go through a comparison of the two apps. Instead, we’d like to focus on the impact baseless copyright violation accusations have on both developers and (potentially) end users.

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The nitty-gritty on buying Name Mangler 3

February 27th, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

Have you heard the one about the customer who walks into this confusing mess of prices and stores, and says “Look, just tell me how to buy the new version of Name Mangler?”

OK, so it’s not really that bad, but the fact that there are two versions Name Mangler 3 for sale in two distinct channels does make for some potential confusion for those looking to buy. Hopefully this post will clear up any such confusion.

As background, this is the pricing for Name Mangler 3, in both the direct and App Store sales channels:

  • Normal price is $19 ($18.99 in the App Store).
  • Sale price is $10 ($9.99 in the App Store) through March 5th 2013.
  • Direct purchasers of version 2.x can upgrade for $9 through our web site for the next 30 days. Beyond that, the upgrade price will be $14. The upgrade will, as always, get you

This knowledge base article describes the differences between the App Store and direct versions of the program. There aren’t many, but for certain users, there may be some show stoppers for the App Store version. Please check that document before you buy.

The first topic to address is recent buyers, particularly recent App Store buyers. The good news is that if you purchased Name Mangler within the last two weeks (on or after Feburary 13th, 2013), you’re entitled to a free upgrade to Name Mangler 3.

How do you get that upgrade? That depends on where you bought your copy.

  • For direct buyers, we will be sending you a license file, with no action required on your part. (If you already purchased an upgrade license, we’ll be sending you a refund, too.)
  • For App Store buyers, you face a decision. If you want the App Store version, you’ll have to buy it directly from the App Store—we do not have any way to provide free App Store copies to recent purchasers.

    However, you can get a free license to the direct version, if that’s acceptable to you. To get your free license, email me (rob at our domain, or click here) your iTunes receipt, clearly showing your full name, date of purchase, and Name Mangler as the purchased app. I will then verify the receipt and send you a license file.

Read on for some answers to questions that may come up as you’re looking to buy Name Mangler 3…

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Hello, I’m Name Mangler 3, nice to meet you!

February 27th, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

After a long and intense development period, Name Mangler 3 is now available, either directly from our site or from the App Store (yes, it’s sandboxed). This release is loaded with tons of new features, an updated user interface, and some incredible increases in renaming speed.

Name Mangler 3

The regular price for Name Mangler 3 is $19, but it’s on sale for an astonishing $10 for the next seven days as an introductory special. (Name Mangler 2 users who purchased directly from us can upgrade for $9 for the next 30 days, after which the upgrade price will become $14.)

For a video overview of Name Mangler 3, check out the overview video (also available in ogv and webm formats).

While designing Name Mangler 3, we had four objectives in mind: Safe, Fast, Complete, and Easy. After many months of effort, and lots of great feedback from our beta test team, Name Mangler 3 delivers on all four of these objectives. Keep reading to see just how we’ve added features, improved performance, and revised the user interface to achieve our objectives for Name Mangler 3.

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A brief follow-up on Donation Day activities

December 22nd, 2012 by Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer

On December 20th, we ran a promotion wherein you could get any of our apps for $1 apiece, with the understanding that you’d donate the cost savings to a charity of your choice. Obviously, we have no idea how many people actually donated, versus those who just saw a chance to buy our apps on the cheap—hopefully a fair percentage of people at least gave something to a charity of their choice.

From the responses we did receive, the distribution of charities was quite wide. Browsing the emails and tweets, here’s every charity we can identify that received some money from our customers on Donation Day (in no particular order):

Salvation Army • Oxfam Japan • Partners in Health • 10 Days of Giving Food Shelf • Gruft – Caritas Vienna • World Wildlife Fund • Bible for Today • Charity:Water • Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation • Celiac Disease Center • Mind, the Mental Health Charity • Santé-Sud • Action Contre La Faim • Electronic Frontier Foundation • Brady Campaign to Stop Gun Violence • National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation • Oakton Community College Educational Foundation • Hurricane Sandy Appeal – British Red Cross • Wikimedia Foundation • Coalition to Stop Gun Violence • Jehova’s Witnesses • Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger • Warren Public Library • Mateno • Motor Neurone Disease Association • Local food drive • Local church parish • Nyx – Free public internet • American Red Cross • Local children’s charity • Housing Works • WaterAid • WCNY Public TV • Warren General Hospital

That’s quite a list, and we obviously hope that there are many other charities that benefited from our Donation Day; we heard from only a sampling of our customers.

To all of you who bought and then contributed to a charity on Donation Day, we thank you for following through on something that was based on nothing more than trusting people to do the right thing—both of us felt really good about what was going on as we read the tweets and emails. And for those of you who bought the apps cheaply but haven’t donated, please do so. This wasn’t a giveaway on our part, it was an idea to raise money for charity. So please, contribute your savings and help make a difference.

In closing, and to bring Donation Day full circle, we’ve also made a charitable contribution of our own: Many Tricks has donated $2,000 to Newtown Youth and Family Services, to help everyone there recover (as best as may be possible) from the horrible tragedy they’ve lived through.

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday—Peter and Rob.

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Donation Day has come to a close

December 21st, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

If you’re coming here via a link about our Donation Day promotion, it has come to an end. We’ll have an update on how it went somewhat later today. Thanks to everyone who did the right thing by donating their savings to a charity of their choice!

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Some ideas for your Donation Day savings

December 20th, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

Update: It seems Apple has ended our App Store pricing somewhat early; all App Store prices are back to their normal levels. (This probably happened in preparation for the shutdown that begins at midnight tonight, Pacific time).

Our own store’s schedule remains unchanged, however: you can buy for $1 through tomorrow morning.

Now that Donation Day is live in most of the world, we thought we’d make the task of donating easier by providing some links to various charities (a few people have asked us for such). Note that the intent of Donation Day is for everyone to donate to a charity of their choosing, thereby perhaps getting some money to charities that don’t usually get much visibility. However, we realize that some people may prefer a bit of guidance on the subject.

So with that said, here are some links to help start your charitable giving campaign…

Hopefully this list gives you a nice start at finding a home for all that cash you saved on your Many Tricks’ purchases today!

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Announcing Many Tricks’ Donation Day

December 19th, 2012 by Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer

In the past, we’ve donated proceeds from our software sales to worthy causes, such as the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation and Charity:Water. This year, we thought we’d try something different…

On Thursday, December 20*, all of our apps
will be priced at $1 ($0.99 on the App Store).

The catch: We want you to donate the money you saved
(compared to list prices) to the charity of your choice.

For example, if you want to own Moom ($10) and Time Sink ($5), we’ll expect you to donate $13 to your favorite charity. Usher ($35) and Desktop Curtain ($5) would mean a $38 donation. Buy everything in our portfolio for $9, and donate $109 to charity. It’s pretty simple math, regardless of which apps you’re interested in buying. (These donations should be tax deductible, too, but please don’t take our word for that!)

You may wonder how we’re enforcing this donation requirement. The short answer is we’re not. We both firmly believe in the goodness of people, and we’re confident that those who purchase on Thursday will do the right thing. Will everyone? Absolutely not. But we believe that many will, which will hopefully lead to some nice contributions to a wide range of charities.

Sure, we could have kept prices at their normal level, and donated proceeds to a charity or two of our choosing. But we feel strongly that you should be able to pick your own charity, and we hope that by dropping the apps’ prices to $1 for the day, we’ll get more participation than we would by simply donating our proceeds.

So if you’ve been waiting for a good excuse to purchase one or more of our apps, Thursday’s the day. You get the apps you want at an amazing price, you get to choose who gets the money you saved on our apps, and you get to feel good about supporting a charity.

All we ask (ask, not require) is that you let us what you did with the savings. You can either send us an email with the details, or just tweet about it, and copy @manytricks on your tweet. We’d love to know how much money was donated, and to which charities, if you feel like sharing that information.

Happy Holidays!—Peter and Rob.

*

Because the world insists on having multiple timezones, our Donation Day pricing will roll out differently for the App Store and for our web site. App Store buyers will see Donation Day pricing starting at 12:01am on December 20th in their local timezones, and it will end 24 hours later.

On our web site, Donation Day pricing will begin at 7am Pacific USA time on December 20th, and end at 7am Pacific USA time on December 21st. This will give buyers, regardless of their local timezone, 24 hours to purchase directly from us, if that’s their preference.

Posted in Butler, Company News, Desktop Curtain, Donation Day, Keymo, Leech, Moom, Name Mangler, Products, Time Sink, Usher, Witch | Comments Off on Announcing Many Tricks’ Donation Day

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