free application

Bodega: The Mac Apps Store for the rest of us

featured 318x122 Bodega: The Mac Apps Store for the rest of us

If you were watching the “Back to the Mac” presentation by Steve Jobs1last week, you heard about the upcoming Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and the announcement of a Mac Apps Store. Jobs suggested that people like the iPhone Apps Store and how it’s so easy to find new software and buy it all from one place. And he’s right.

But what people don’t like is Apple restricting their access to the applications with the functions they want and refusing developers who don’t create applications that are in keeping with what Apple wants for its hardware.

People might want an application store for Macs, but they may not like Apple being the go-between in their search.

The funny thing is, we’ve had an Macintosh applications store available to us for some time. It’s called Bodega and it has been brought to you by Fresh Code. Bodega offers a great selection of applications and, when you choose to make your purchase, you’re directed right back to the developer who created it. All of your application (all of them, not just the ones purchased through Bodega) are listed in the Applications section of Bodega from which you can see if you have any updates to apply—you can even revisit your receipts and serial numbers there.

This free application serves to fill the need for a Mac Apps Store and it’s available for free right now for Snow Leopard.

 Bodega: The Mac Apps Store for the rest of us
No Flash? No problem—click here!»

  1. if you missed it, here is it really fast []

Firefox must-have Extensions and More

November 9th, Firefox turned 1 (1.0 to be exact). To celebrate, I’m featuring some essential extensions including some you won’t find on Mozilla’s site. Of course, to enjoy these you’ll need to get Firefox 1.0

  • Spellbound – Spell check for text boxes
  • ForecastFox – Get weather icons in your status bar
  • Calendar – An iCal based calendar application
  • fireFTP – Transfer files via FTP from inside Firefox
  • FoxyTunes – Control iTunes from your status bar

*All of these extensions are 1.0/Mac compatible

For those of you not browsing with Firefox, here are a couple other nice free applications based on Mozilla’s Gecko engine.

Celtx

This free application is a robust planning/scripting tool for film and video projects. An online feature allows you to maintain these projects online through celtx.com. This tool is as feature rich as many commercial suites.

NVU

This spawn of Mozilla is a WYSIWYG HTML editor that supports CSS. The suite includes an FTP site manager and more.

Thanks for stopping by. Have fun with this week’s gang, and meet me back here next week for more.

Brian

More Christmas Freeware

‘Tis the season, and once again I have a collection of Christmas-themed freeware.

We’re getting closer to my annual freeware picks, so continue to send in suggestions to brian AT macmerc DOT com.

mu More Christmas FreewareX-MasTree

Add some seasonal fun to your desktop with a floating Christmas tree. It comes in three sizes, with lights of course.

mu More Christmas FreewareSnowman

Tree not your style? How about a snowman? This free application is for you.

mu More Christmas FreewareChristmas Tree Creator ’04

Not happy with others’ Christmas trees? Make you own. This free application lets you decorate, light and share your tree to email, a greeting card or an animated screen saver.

mu More Christmas FreewareGiftory

Track your gifts, incoming and outgoing, with this simple program. Useful in avoiding duplicates and noting who was responsible for that argyle sweater.

mu More Christmas FreewareAmazonShopper

Still have some shopping to do? Waste no time with this quick application. It interfaces directly with Amazon’s web services to give you a clutter-free interface for searching Earth’s biggest selection.

Have a merry one. I’ll be out next week, but back in two for the 2004 wrap-up.

Brian

mu More Christmas FreewareDownloads provided by MacUpdate