Filed under: OS, Software, Odds and ends, Freeware, iTunes, Leopard
Five...no, Six useful Mac apps from Thoughtful Tree
TUAW receives a lot of app submissions for review, both for Mac and iPhone. But it's unusual when a developer sends us individual press releases for a relatively large number of apps. Steven Degutis is the brain behind a company called Thoughtful Tree. In his words, "I'm an indie Mac developer who writes apps that make my job easier and smoother, and then if I think they're useful enough, I share them with everyone via my company Thoughtful Tree Software. That's just how I roll."
The first application that caught my attention was one called Docks (US$10), which takes snapshots of what icons are in your Mac OS X Dock, and then lets you swap out Docks depending on what kind of work you're currently doing (see screenshot below). Need a writing Dock? Put Word, Storyist, and WriteRoom in a special Dock. Doing a lot of photo work? Create a Dock with PhotoShop, Aperture, and any other special tools you like to use. The new Docks 2.0 is now integrated with Spaces, so retrieving a specific Space sets up a custom Dock as well.
Degutis has also created a Mac app that is perfect for those of us who need to take screenshots on a regular basis. As you probably know, when you take screenshots using the Command-Shift-4 key combination, Mac OS X throws a nice shadow around the windows to give your screenshot a 3-D look. However, when you're popping those screenshots into a TUAW post, the 3-D shadows are not exactly what you want to see. Fortunately, the free ShadowControl Mac app deletes those pesky shadows for you.
Next on the list of Thoughtful Tree Mac apps is TunesBar (US$5.00). Want to know what's playing in iTunes without having to flip to the application? TunesBar displays the song name and artist in the menu bar (see screenshot below), and a quick click on that information will let you control iTunes playback of your music library.
Next on the list of Thoughtful Tree Mac apps is TunesBar (US$5.00). Want to know what's playing in iTunes without having to flip to the application? TunesBar displays the song name and artist in the menu bar (see screenshot below), and a quick click on that information will let you control iTunes playback of your music library.
Have you ever wanted a bit more control over those Login Items that are listed in System Preferences under Accounts? The next little gem from Thoughtful Tree is LoginControl (US$10.00), which lets you set different Login Items based on location (for example, home or work), or other personal preferences. See the screenshot below for more more details.
Last, but certainly not the least important, is Modena (US$5.00). This application is a simple and effective timer for your Mac. The timer can appear as just a tiny little floating heads-up display, numbers counting down in your menu bar, or take over your Mac screen with large, bold numbers floating on a black background. You can either set the time as relative (count down two hours, for instance) or absolute (count down to 5 PM).
I hope you enjoyed this six-pack of Mac apps. All of the Thoughtful Tree Software applications listed here can be downloaded for a free 30-day trial before you decide whether or not you want to buy.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ars_workerbee said 9:19AM on 8-07-2009
I've got a few of these apps on my Macs, and they're really handy.
DeskLabels is my favorite.
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Bob Tabor said 9:49AM on 8-07-2009
DeskLabels ... buying NOW! Great find, TUAW.
If some feisty independent developer is listening, I would love to see something similar to this ... for folders (why did I put all this stuff in here?) ... for web pages (what special incantation did my web host tell me I need to select from their options to ask for a server reboot?) ... and for emails (did I take care of this yet?)
In short, I would like to be able to attach and position a note / label to anything and everything in my environment.
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Michael Levin said 10:40AM on 8-07-2009
Are there any free add-ons that do the same thing as TunesBar?
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Josh said 10:55AM on 8-07-2009
Just go with Bowtie. It's on your desktop and not the menubar but is so customizable (and free) that you'll never look back.
N I T E said 11:30AM on 8-07-2009
@ Michael Levin
This one's free and pretty good. You can customize it as well.
http://www.yousoftware.com/tunes/
Noah Ramon said 11:36AM on 8-07-2009
Well, there's QuickTunes (http://www.dbachrach.com/opensoft/index.php?page=QuickTunes). It seems to be substantially the same described functionality, and given what I asked of it (JUST PUT TITLE/ARTIST INTO MENU BAR. PERIOD.) it's doing that quite well.
I kept seeing control panels and all this stuff on other iTunes assistant programs, and all I wanted was something that I could read title/artist info from without switching apps or having to otherwise break task workflow. This does that admirably.
ranphi said 9:06PM on 8-07-2009
I use iController to have a scrolling display of the artist/song display in the Menu Bar. Worked really well for me and it's free.
Steven Degutis said 10:53AM on 8-07-2009
@TUAW
Thanks for the awesome reviews! There will be more than six apps, soon, by the way ;)
@Michael
There are some apps that do similar things as TunesBar, but the closest one I've found, BravoTunes, has a scrolling effect which is not removable, and is too distracting for me to work with (the constant scrolling in my peripheral vision just made me dizzy).
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Izzy said 12:43PM on 8-07-2009
Thanks for your software and look forward to seeing what else you come up with.
Poltras said 12:01PM on 8-07-2009
You Control Tunes is showing what tunes is playing, giving you menu buttons too to next/previous/pause. It can show overlays with the album, title, etc etc.
http://www.yousoftware.com/tunes/
This is free and more powerful than the TunesBar. :)
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alansky said 12:41PM on 8-07-2009
Speaking of cluttered desktops, do Mac users know that the more stuff you have on your desktop, the more of your computer's resources are being sucked away by all the clutter?
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Steven Degutis said 12:50PM on 8-07-2009
As a Mac user for many years now, I haven't noticed any kind of performance-decrease specific to this matter, no matter how many icons are on my desktop. (And I've had both full and empty desktops, too. Just sayin'.)
mech said 2:02PM on 8-07-2009
I assume you meant that the more background processes that you have running eats away at CPU and memory, NOT icons. icons are just pictures sitting on the desktop...
anyway, I agree though that the more stuff you start running in the background (and if it has memory leaks), the more your system will suffer over time, needing a reboot.
Not shooting down the use of these apps, but 6 more apps running in the background on my netbook would be quite noticeable, on top of Dropbox and Quicksilver, Teleport and Synergy.
mech
ars_workerbee said 2:55PM on 8-07-2009
@mech "icons are just pictures sitting on the desktop..."
wrong. icons are rendered in much the same way individual windows are. for example, press cmd-shift-4, then tap the spacebar, and go over the icons on the desktop. It'll change to grab only the icon when you're over it, the same as it will a window.
brombl said 11:52PM on 8-07-2009
Exactly. Icons are special little windows. I use my Desktop as a place to put things, and that's pretty much always the reason if my 8 core Mac Pro starts to wig out. I always have way too many windows open, but even more than that I have way too many Desktop icons. The two together essentially means way, way too many windows, and the window server gets all up in my face.
Noah said 5:15PM on 8-07-2009
@ars_workerbee Thanks for the tip! Just removed all the unneeded desktop icons :)
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Dave said 8:25PM on 8-07-2009
Not even joking, having a separate dock per screen in Spaces should have been included by default. Buying Docks right now.
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Timothy R. Butler said 7:16PM on 8-08-2009
I'd recommend the free Tea Timer (http://www.herwig-henseler.de/teatimer) as an alternative option for those needing a basic timer on their desktop. I've been happily using it for years.
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