The Best 5 Bucks You'll Ever Spend for Mac Software

I spend as much time using iOS as OS X these days. I write most of these posts on my iPad and my iPhone is almost like an appendage. That's a testament to iOS's increasing functionality (and my near obsession with Apple toys). Actually, I've been completely spoiled by the ability to do 90% of my work from almost anywhere.

But, enough about me.

In 2009, Apple released iOS 3. With it, we got the much anticipated "Cut, Copy & Paste" capability which many believed was long overdue. After all, Blackberry and Android had it, so many people thought Apple was being wontedly stubborn by omitting it originally. Of course, Apple claimed it was because they were waiting until they could get the functions done properly. No matter the truth of the matter, Apple did do it properly. iOS's implementation of C,C & P includes a rather elegant method for selecting text and other objects. One that is tailored for touch. What is even more impressive is the pop-up menu that appears once you've made a selection. It intelligently lists a set of actions (like cut, copy, etc.) based on the type of data you select and what app you're using when you do it. Like most things Apple does, it is very intuitive and works flawlessly. If you spend much time in iOS, using these functions quickly becomes second nature.

So much so that going back to OS X can leave one wanting. I mean, <CMD + C>, <CMD + V>? Puhleeeease!

Not any more. Now there's PopClip (Now on sale for $2.99 in the Mac App Store). It provides a global method of providing pop-up lists of actions for things you select and it looks strikingly similar to the ones in iOS.  And because it runs in OS X, the developers were free to add a huge list of add-in functions that Apple would never allow on one of their iOS devices. More on that in a moment.

PopClip installs easily and when running, adds its icon to your menu bar (Yes, I know, another one. See Bartender) that gives you quick access to its user preferences and a button to quit the app. There is also a link for downloading add-ins. (Just one more moment.)

When you select text (or other things) in almost any app, PopClip intelligently pops up a list of actions you can choose to perform on that selection. Like the C,C & P functions in iOS, PopClip comes with the standard cut and copy buttons, but the real value in this app is found in the extensive list of free extensions (65 of them as of this writing) available on Pilotmoon's web site. You can transform text, replace text with the clipboard contents, clip to Evernote, Tweet the selected text, dial a selected number in Skype, create an email with your selection, look up selected text in the dictionary and...Well, the list goes on and on and it's growing rapidly. When I first began using PopClip a month or so ago the list of available extensions was only half what it is today.

PopClip is so convenient, I now find going back to iOS makes me wish I had some of PopClip's extensions there. I use the Evernote, Tweetbot and Wikipedia add-ins like crazy when I'm on one of my Macs.  It's a shame Apple will probably never allow that type of system-wide functionality from a third party iOS developer. Too bad. 

I'm Not Addicted, Just Dependent

Internet dependent, that is.  Yes, I do exhibit some symptoms of addiction, but I must admit to enjoying a few days of being completely unplugged.  I doubt that would be the case were I truly addicted.  It happens whenever I come to my lake house.  Here, we have no Internet connection, not even a phone line for dial-up service.  I have to set my iPhone in one particular windowsill to maybe get two bars of EDGE service. We get our TV via satellite, and we've considered doing the same for broadband, but just can't justify the cost for a house we only visit for a weekend every six or eight weeks.  My dad used to say we were so far back in the woods we got our sunshine by mail-order.

For someone who makes a living on-line, I have to say I enjoy an occasional 48 - 72 hour respite. It gives me time to do something I rarely get to do, think.  Not the problem solving, concentration kind of thinking I have to do almost every day, but the random daydreaming type of thinking you only get to do when there are no distractions.  It does a body good to occasionally revert to a simpler time where email and text message alerts don't sound every few minutes and the iPhone only gets sporadic reception. My 14 year-old daughter doesn't see the value in this.  Being disconnected from her on-line community of gaming and FaceTime friends puts her in a most disagreeable mood. It's really fortunate she can still send and receive text messages (although spottily) or we'd never get her to come up here with us.

While serene, this is no panacea.  On those none too infrequent occasions when you need a plumber, electrician or someone else to help with the inevitable breakdowns, absence of some sort of Internet connection reminds me of how much I've come to rely on Google and the on-line Yellow Pages.  It's hard to imagine how out of date a three-year-old phone book can be.  Since disconnecting the hard line phone a couple of years ago, we haven't gotten a new phone book in the mail. It amazes me how many small businesses no longer exist after 36 months!  It's really frustrating to struggle to get a cell signal only to waste it on a recording,"The number you've reached is no longer...".

One thing I am grateful for is my Navigon app.  All it needs to function is a GPS signal.  I made the decision to buy it a couple of years ago and I've been very glad I did on more than a few occasions.  My initial decision was based on the original iPhone's lack of turn-by-turn directions. Navigon is a full-featured GPS navigation app that works on both my iPhone and iPad.  The original version I purchased forced you to purchase the entire continental US & Canada for $79 or Europe for $89.  Today it is a much better value at $29 and you have the option to only download the states you want.  The point is, traveling requires a good stock of off-line maps.  Cell signals are not as ubiquitous as the wireless carriers would have you believe and there's nothing worse than being lost and staring at an empty grid pattern in Google Maps.  Navigon is fully functional anywhere, provided you have a map for the area you're in.  Fortunately for me, that includes the vicinity of our lake house.  We've owned the property for 35 years, but I can still manage to get turned around in the woods.

It's also amazing how many hardware vendors assume availability of an always-on Internet connection.  Over the holidays, my daughter got a Seagate GoFlex Home external hard drive to backup her Mac. The app on the setup CD completely surrenders on step 1 if the Seagate web site can't be reached.  So, I thought I'd just set the drive up manually using Safari to connect to it's on-board web server.  No luck.  It seems the same setup program is hard coded into the device with no way to circumvent it short of completely wiping the drive with Disk Utility.  I wouldn't be afraid to do that for a drive of my own, but the built-in utilities on the device are probably the only way a non-techie like my daughter can manage the rig.  Punt.

Thank goodness I have lots of other fun things to do up here.  There's hiking, fishing, cruising the woods on the four-wheeler and oh yes, writing this on my non-connected laptop.  I'll upload it when I get back home.