Tagged: Mac & OS X

30% discount on Airy 2.0 upgrade

Airy 2

I’ve written about Airy in the past. Eltima Software has upgraded their awesome little YouTube video downloader to 2.0, and brought with it a few handy features.

Airy 2.0 continues to make downloading YouTube videos even easier by adding the ability to download an entire YouTube playlist with a single click. I was able to download several playlists of music videos numbering from 15 to 40 videos with no problem at all. Downloading is the same as previous versions: you paste a YouTube video address into the Airy app URL bar, or use the included browser bookmarklet (my preferred method).

Airy 2 Playlist

The update also adds the ability to pause downloads, so the next time you open Airy, the downloads resume automatically. Given that Airy downloads videos so quickly, this may seem unnecessary, but when you consider downloading a playlist with dozens upon dozens of videos, it can come in handy.

Airy hasn’t added any new formats that I can see. But you can already save videos as MP4, FLV and 3GP formats, as well as save only the audio as an MP3, so I see little room for improvement here anyway.

Airy 2.0 is a little faster, and a little more stable—though I never had problems with the older version to begin with. This is one of those little gems that I’m glad I have around. For years there have been plenty of YouTube video downloaders that were a pain to use, and usually stopped working after a few months. Airy has been around for a while, is not free, and is provided by a stable developer. That means it’s likely to be supported for the foreseeable future.

The latest upgrade runs on Mac OS X 10.7 and later. Previous Airy users can upgrade to the new version for 50% off, and new users can use the coupon code THGM-DSC at checkout time to receive 30% off the regular $19.95 price.

Welcome Apple World Today

Welcome Apple World Today

Apple World Today

It didn’t take long for some TUAW alumni to start a new site after AOL shut down the long-running Mac-related news site. TUAW was one of those sites I had a love-hate relationship with as far as content, but I always respected the writers and their work.

Apple World Today has launched, with Steve Sande, Dave Caolo, and Kelly Hodgkins at the helm. I’m looking forward to seeing what these guys come up with on a daily basis; as I’ve grown tired of the sensationalistic headlines (and quite craptacular articles) found at some of the other Mac sites out there.

I also recently added SixColors (by Jason Snell, former editor at Macworld) and MacSparky to my “check regularly” bookmark folder in Safari.

How to Flush DNS Cache in OS X Yosemite

TerminalSome Mac users may encounter situations where they need to flush DNS cache in OS X for a name server to resolve properly, or for some DNS address change to become noticed by their individual computer. Longtime Mac users will know that resetting DNS cache has changed in nearly every version of Mac OS X, and OS X Yosemite is no different. Thankfully, Paul over at OSXDaily has a great write-up on how to flush all your DNS Cache.

To flush and reset all DNS caches in Yosemite, launch Terminal app and type the following command:
sudo discoveryutil mdnsflushcache;sudo discoveryutil udnsflushcaches;say flushed

Be sure to check out the article linked above for more Terminal commands regarding DNS Cache.

141 free “Google Material Design” wallpapers that don’t suck

Material Design wallpapers

Google recently announced their next Android operating system, 5.0 Lollipop. The most visual change is the interface, which they refer to as Material Design. While I can’t think of anything good to say about the OS, I can say that these Material Design wallpapers shared by Brian Parkerson on Google+ are gorgeous. All will look great on an iPhone, and many look pretty damn good on my 15″ Retina MacBook Pro

If you like what you see but don’t want to be bothered to download them individually, you can grab all of them in a single 60+MB ZIP file from here.

Free and easy audio control for your Mac with AudioMate

AudioMate

Control all your audio input and output devices from the status bar, receive system notifications when relevant events happen on your audio devices, change the master output volume, sample rate, clock source, system default input and output and more!

AudioMate has gone open source, and is now free. Requires OS X 10.7 or later and a 64-bit Mac.

Mail Pilot public preview available

Mail Pilot for Mac public preview early sign-ups are now live. On Thursday, December 5, the first batch of public previews will go out. Sign up now to be one of the first to get Mail Pilot for Mac.

Mail Pilot users can quickly manage and productively organize their inboxes with a simple, task-oriented approach, tailored for the desktop. Mail Pilot for iPhone is already available, and quite popular.

Pasting text completely unformatted in OS X

Paste without formatting

It happens a lot in the design business. You’re taking copy from one document and using it in another. The problem is that when you copy your text and paste it in your new document, the formatting comes with it. All the fonts, all the colors, all the special text treatments. You’re stuck “un-formatting” only to have to reformat it in the new style. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Mac OS X offers a simple way to paste text from any document into another document completely unformatted. Simply copy the original formatted text as you normally would using Command + C. Then, instead of pasting the text normally, paste it using Command + Shift + V.

Vecte: OS X application switcher replacement

Vecte

Vecte replaces Mac OS X’s built-in application switcher

Vecte is a simple Mac OS X application switcher replacement. All the standard keyboard shortcuts still work, the only difference is how it looks and feels. Vecte moves the application switcher overlay you get by hitting Command + Tab from the center of the screen to the top left corner of the screen. Vecte also switches apps instantly rather than waiting around until you let go of the command key. Finally, Vecte does not re-order the apps every time you switch to a new app. If you missed the app you were aiming for, it’s still in the same spot.

I used Vecte for a few weeks and found it to work quite well. And it’s a great way to customize OS X to your liking. Ultimately though, I prefer the built-in switcher. Given that Vecte is free, you have nothing to lose by checking it out. You can download Vecte here.

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