Time Sink 1.2 slides into existence

March 23rd, 2011 by Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer

Today’s update to Time Sink adds a feature to give you more control over Time Sink’s CPU usage: a slider that controls Time Sink’s update interval. At its default setting, Time Sink checks for changes in window status roughly twice a second. If you’ve got a lot of windows open, and a lot of collected history, Time Sink can take a fair bit of CPU power to update all this info at that interval.

Using the new slider (in the General tab of Time Sink’s Preferences), you can lower Time Sink’s CPU usage by reducing how often it checks for changes in windows. The default setting is “Often,” while the other extreme is “Seldom,” which is about once every five seconds. You can find a value along the slider that works for your needs; just keep an eye on Activity Monitor to find a CPU usage level you’re comfortable with.

Of course, there’s an accuracy tradeoff involved—the less often Time Sink checks for window changes, the more likely it is to miss some of your activities. For instance, if you’ve got the slider all the way over at “Seldom,” you’ll miss that quick trip to Mail to check for new messages, or that glance at Twitter for recent tweets. But such tradeoffs are now in your control with Time Sink 1.2. (You can read the release notes page to see the other changes in this release.)

Direct purchasers can get the new version via in-app updating, or by downloading a fresh copy from the Time Sink page. App Store purchasers should see the update available shortly in the App Store application—we’ve released the update, but it will take a bit of time to reach all of the various global App Stores.

Posted in Products, Time Sink | 2 Comments »

Name Mangler 2.4.2 offers expanded views

March 22nd, 2011 by Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer

It’s only fitting that, on today’s one-year anniversary of the company’s relaunch, Name Mangler receives an update: Name Mangler was the first product updated on our relaunched site back in March of 2010. One year later, version 2.4.2 adds one very useful feature, and one bug fix.

The very useful feature is that Name Mangler’s text fields will now auto-expand to show text that overflows the available display space. So if you’ve got a long text entry in a field, you won’t have to use the cursor keys to scroll through its contents (or, even worse, miss the fact that there’s more text there at all). Instead, the field will simply expand to show all the text:

The single line Prefix is what you see in older versions of Name Mangler; the bottom Prefix is what you’ll see in Name Mangler 2.4.2. (If you don’t need the space, the text box will still take up only one line, as it does in older versions; it only grows when necessary.) Read the release notes for details on the bug fix, if you’re interested in the gory details.

Direct purchasers of Name Mangler can update via the in-app updating (or by downloading a new copy from our server); App Store customers should see the update available in the App Store any time now. (The update has been approved and released, but it may take a bit of time to propagate to the various countries’ App Stores.)

Posted in Name Mangler, Products | Comments Off on Name Mangler 2.4.2 offers expanded views

A short year, indeed

March 22nd, 2011 by Peter Maurer

On this day in history, one short year ago, Many Tricks re-opened for business with Rob firmly in control of public relations and the business side of things. Rob already looked back at his first year as an indie software guy recently, and since he usually does things very thoroughly, there’s not a lot I can add to that. That’s a good thing, too, since I’ve been having slight difficulties with typing recently. So I have two excuses to keep this short, but I still want to make a couple of remarks.

Work has never been more fun, and it’s never been more economically sound than during this past year. Although Rob’s and my discussions about both important decisions as well as negligible matters of taste can be exhausting, there hasn’t been a single instance when I wasn’t convinced that the energy spent there would ultimately yield a better result. It’s downright comical how different we are in almost every aspect of daily computer usage, but this helps us keep an open mind and come up with solutions that work not just for us, but for lots of users as well.

Speaking of users, what more could we hope for than customers who consider our support life-affirming? If anyone benefits more from Rob’s work than I do, it’s you, the customers. And you seem to be very aware of it, judging from the amount of positive feedback I see in the occasional support ticket I read.

So in case any fellow indie developers read this, here’s my advice: If you haven’t done so already, find yourself a Rob. (No, you can’t have mine.) Even though you won’t be able to act quite as spontaneously as you did before, you’ll find that you’ll actually feel more independent. Your customers will be happier. You’ll be able to move faster when confronted with somewhat unexpected events like this year’s pre-Lion Mac App Store opening. You’ll be more efficient, because you can concentrate on things you’re good at. And just in case you like money, you’ll make more of that, too.

Anyway, it’s been a great year. Rob already said so in the anniversary blog post I linked to above, but it bears repeating: Thank you everyone! And thank you Rob, for making a career choice that must have seemed incredibly risky to a family man. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve never felt better about being an indie developer than I do these days, and I can’t wait to see where we go from here.

Posted in Behind the Scenes, Company News, Developer | 1 Comment »

Witch and Key Codes updated

March 3rd, 2011 by Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer

Today we released updates to Witch (version 3.6.2) and Key Codes (version 1.1). Both of these are minor updates, and here’s what was changed:

  • Witch now properly treats the backtick/tilde key on US keyboards as a ‘cycle backwards’ shortcut (just like Mac OS X does with the Command-Tab switcher). We also fixed a problem that was causing double entries to appear for certain programs, most notably Path Finder.
  • Key Codes now lets you ‘unfloat’ its window (via the Window menu), and contains (for the App Store version) our In App news module, to provide updates to users of the App Store version of the program.

Witch users can update via the App Store or in-app updating (depending on which version you use); Key Codes doesn’t support in-app updating, so you’ll need to download the new version if you got it from our web site. (The App Store version will, of course, update via the App Store program.)

Posted in Key Codes, Products, Witch | 2 Comments »

Simplify move-and-zoom with Moom

March 2nd, 2011 by Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer

So what could possibly be more exciting than the iPad 2 launch today? How about being informed that your brand-new application has been approved for sale in the App Store, during the actual iPad 2 launch? Yes, that’s exactly what happened to us today with our newest app.

So with apologies for stealing the limelight from iPad2 (right…), we’re thrilled to introduce Moom, Many Tricks’ newest tool to improve your productivity.

Moom simplifies a task that most of us do many times a day: moving and sizing windows. Whether it’s wanting a full-screen view while working on a project, or wanting to arrange a couple windows with each taking up half your screen, Moom makes those tasks as simple as a mouse click or keyboard shortcut.

In mouse mode, Moom’s interface appears when your mouse enters a window’s green zoom button; click the desired window size/position, and the window moves there. Change your mind? Hover over the green button again, and click the arrow to return the window to its original size and location. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

For even more power, though, try Moom in keyboard mode. You assign a global hot key, and which actions you’d like for various combinations of the arrow keys and modifier keys. Press the hot key, and the overlay image at right appears; you can then use the keys you’ve set up to move your windows around.

Using the keyboard, Moom also gains the ability to center a window; something you can’t do using Moom in mouse mode.

Moom is available directly on our site for $5, or via the App Store for $4.99. If you’d like to try Moom before buying, download the free demo from out site—you can “Moom” 100 windows before the trial expires, so that’ll give you a good sense for how it works.

If you have any questions about Moom, please post them here, or contact me directly; I’ll do my best to answer them.

Posted in Moom, Products | 3 Comments »

Happy Anniversary to me!

March 1st, 2011 by Rob Griffiths

One year ago today, I started working at Many Tricks. It’s astounding to think a year’s gone by already, as it seems like it was just a few weeks ago that Peter and I were working on getting the web and support sites up and running. But the reality is quite different, and time has been flying due to everything we’ve done in the last year:

  • Relaunched the main site.
  • Added a new support site.
  • Released one entirely new product (Time Sink).
  • Released major updates to four products (Desktop Curtain, Leech, Usher, Witch).
  • Released 47 minor updates across all our apps.
  • Rewrote help in all apps (except Butler, which will happen with Butler 5).
  • Created video walkthroughs for many of our apps, with more in the works.
  • Posted 70 items to our blog.
  • Managed to get six programs in the Mac App Store, with a seventh (a totally new app) pending.
  • Sent 5,057 emails

So much for the numbers…what this post is really about is what the last year has been like for me, personally.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Behind the Scenes, Company News | 9 Comments »

How-to: Five tips for using Witch (video)

February 17th, 2011 by Rob Griffiths

In conjunction with the Witch 3.6.1 release today, we’ve created a video that discusses five things you can do with Witch:

  • Basic window switching (really basic!)
  • Creating global hot keys for certain window-related actions
  • Fast toggling between windows without seeing the Witch panel
  • Using shortcuts to see window info, switch to windows, and perform actions on windows
  • Setting up Witch for use with a mouse or trackpad

The video runs just under 10 minutes in length, and is available in two sizes: 640×480 [31MB] or 1024×768 [73MB]. (Both versions are also available in the sidebar on the Witch page.)

Posted in How To, Products, Witch | 1 Comment »

Witch 3.6.1 slides onto the scene

February 17th, 2011 by Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer

This latest Witch update—for both the Mac App Store and web site versions of Witch—includes two requested features and a number of minor bug fixes. (Note for App Store users: it may be anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple of hours until you see the update in the App Store.) The two new features are:

  • Witch can now “see” many more windows without titles than it previously could. In particular, if you save Mail drafts without Subject lines, Witch should now show those as (Untitled) windows.

    Of course, because they have no title, you’ll want to use the pop-up preview feature to see what’s actually in those untitled windows. Witch should also display untitled windows in Elgato’s applications, and Sparrow, the minimalist Gmail client.

  • There’s a new slider in the Behavior tab of Witch’s settings that controls how long Witch will wait to hear from an application before giving up on it.

    Witch works by polling all applications, asking for information about their windows. If an application is slow to respond, we’re forced to make a choice: wait to display the switcher panel, or display the switcher panel in a reasonable amount of time, but leave out the slow-responding application (because we can’t determine its window states).

    Witch is set to wait 0.2 seconds, which is typically more than enough time. Certain troublesome apps, though, may work better with a longer timeout. You can use this new slider—which will let you set a timeout of up to two seconds—to find a balancing point that you’re happy with. Note: Unless you’re having trouble with missing windows, we suggest leaving this slider where it is.

  • If you use Matrox products to use extra displays on your laptop Mac, Witch now has some hidden settings that greatly improve the appearance of the switcher panel on those machines. If you’re one of those users, write to me and I’ll provide the usage instructions.

Mac App Store users can update via the App Store application; users of the web site version of Witch should be notified of the available update. (Check the Update tab in settings to make sure you’re set up for automatic notification of new updates.)

Posted in Mac App Store, Products, Witch | 2 Comments »

How-to: Launch and hide Desktop Curtain at login

February 7th, 2011 by Rob Griffiths
Over the weekend, I was asked why Desktop Curtain can’t be launched and hidden at login—when set to run at login, Desktop Curtain appears (as would any other app set to run at login). While you can’t set this preference within Desktop Curtain, it’s relatively easy to do with some help from Mac OS X.

First, make sure the ‘Launch automatically at login’ box is checked on the Advanced tab of Desktop Curtain’s settings window.

Second, go to the Accounts System Preferences panel, select your account in the left-hand column, and then click the Login Items tab on the right. Find Desktop Curtain in the list, and check the leftmost box, in the Hide column:

That’s it—Desktop Curtain will now launch at login, and hide. To get the most out of this tip, you should also set a global hot key (on the Advanced tab of Desktop Curtain’s settings window), so you can then make Desktop Curtain visible whenever you need to hide your clutter.

Posted in Desktop Curtain, How To, Products | Comments Off on How-to: Launch and hide Desktop Curtain at login

Rethinking Time Sink

January 31st, 2011 by Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer

What follows is a bit of backstory on Time Sink, our utility that tracks how you spend your time using your Mac. If you’d rather skip the backstory, here’s the executive summary version: effective immediately, we’re cutting the price of Time Sink to just $5 ($4.99 on the App Store).

Why are we doing this? In short, because we think Time Sink is a very cool little utility, and we’d love to see more people using it. For the longer version, read the details that follow.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Mac App Store, Products, Time Sink | 20 Comments »

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