Author Archive

The following applications were features in the Backup and Recovery seminar.

Reviews by Diane Petersen, Kachemacs

SuperDuper!

Product Title: SuperDuper!
Developer: Shirt Pocket Software
URL: http://www.shirt-pocket.com
Price: $27.95

Pros: Free “lite” version, special “Sandbox” feature
Cons: Scheduler a bit unintuitive, a bit unwieldy for a solitary backup method.

Heroic system recovery for mere mortals! I imagine the developer wearing a suit and a cape with a hard drive icon on it (sorry, Dave!)
I covered the difference between different types of backup in the backup seminar. SuperDuper creates a backup by cloning your hard drive. This clone happens to be bootable. The result of this operation is such that you can be 5 minutes before a presentation and your hard drive decides to give up the ghost. Simply restart the computer with the SuperDuper clone attached, and you will boot into the exact system configuration you had on your last backup before the failure. Just go to your Time Machine drive and grab the files that may have changed since the last SuperDuper. In 5 minutes you are ready to go, and your clients are oblivious to the fact something VERY BAD has happened.

You’re saying “Time Machine?” Where did that come from? SuperDuper is great for keeping a complete bootable backup, but it’s a bit retro. If you use it once a week, you lose the last 4 or 5 or 6 days or so. But you finished that presentation last night. If you have Leopard, you can run Time Machine on your home folder or even your whole system and have intermittent dynamic file archival to use alongside SuperDuper. For other cats, there’s always dot Mac’s Backup 3.

If you tinker with your system a lot, Sandbox may be for you. It keeps a buffer copy of your System Folder so if you download that dodgy piece of software that you hate and it digs its tentacles into your system and clogs it up, you can simply roll back to the old configuration.

Remember, you must have a firewire drive for PPC to make it bootable. USB only works on Intel Macs. This is Apple’s fault, not SuperDuper’s
One feature (???) that is just plain weird is the scheduler’s assumption that I want to make a new schedule, when I just want to check the old one. You get a dropdown menu with a new schedule before you get to look at the old one. I think this is on purpose but the reason eludes me.

Ease of use: 5
Stability: 4 – I’ve had it freeze up while repairing permissions, perhaps that’s Apple’s fault.
Support: 5 – This guy stands behind the product.
Documentation: 5 – Excellent
Features: 4 – It doesn’t make my coffee in the morning, but it does finish the backup and put my Mac to bed for me.

I really have to scrounge up flaws with this one, but I have to believe nobody is perfect. Except me. I can give this product a high five for the security it gives me.

MacDrive 7

Product Title: MacDrive 7
Distributor: Mediafour
Distributor URL: http://www.mediafour.com

Pros: Can be run on a Boot Camp that is also a VM image, invisible interface on the PC side.
Cons: A license is needed on EVERY PC used, issues if installed on a VM.

Macs and PCs. Like their users, they can have a problem playing nice with each other. MacDrive may not be able to help their users get along, but it will improve communication between their machines.
Many Mac users have an old PC about the house. If they don’t, they may have one at work or they may have a Boot Camp partition. MacDrive can help these users access their data on any of their machines.

PCs and Macs generally use different formats for their hard disks. A result of this is the inability to use removable drives formatted for one type on both types of machine. Also, users of Boot Camp cannot get to their files on the Mac partition. MacDrive bridges this barrier to make dual boot machines and removable drives simple to use.

MacDrive is PC software, installed on a PC. It allows the PC to read Mac formatted drives. This gives me the ability to boot into Windows and still read my Mac formatted backup drive and internal hard drive. I can also use my portable drive on any PC in the house as well as my Mac. Using my portable drive to transfer large files is a lot faster than transferring over the network for me.

I found another incidental use for MacDrive. I experienced a hard drive failure on my external drive. None of my Mac recovery tools could access the drive. It seemed like I would have to give up on the data on the drive. I tried mounting it on the old PC with MacDrive installed, and I was able to access the data and move the parts I wanted to the PC before the drive completely failed.

One problem I experienced with this software is that the activation sequence wreaks havoc on my virtual machine through Fusion. MacDrive works well on Boot Camp when I am booted into it, but if I use the same image through Fusion, the activation is not recognized and I get a warning screen. There is really no reason to need this software if a virtual machine is running, but things can get a bit tricky to set up. This product behaves better than a competing product for Mac with virtual machines, however.

MacDrive was not designed for emulating Macintosh. It will not launch Mac programs on a PC, nor will it install MacOS on a PC. It will not necessarily allow reading of documents saved with a Mac based word processor. Its specific design allows access to universal file types saved on a Mac formatted disk. With this purpose clear, I make the following points:

Utility: 5 (essential for anyone running both PC and Mac)
Stability: 3 (very strange problems with activation if using a VM)
UI: 5 (absolutely simple. Mac drives look just like PC drives except for the little apple on them.)
Documentation: 4 (not much is needed for this simple utility)
Support: 5 (very quick responses from both tech support and sales.)
Value: 3 (seems high, but each additional license is reduced price)

I’m giving this utility a 4 overall. It is a good solid utility within its limitations. The price tag is a bit high compared with utilities that function similarly, but for me it’s well worth it for the convenience.

One copy each of iBank 3 and iBiz 3 have been offered to the Kachemacs for review. These apps look great for small businesses. When I asked why one would switch from Cha-Ching, which I highlighted in May, to iBank, I got this reply:

Good question about switching to iBank. Cha-Ching and some of the other finance apps out there are great choices for users whose needs are more basic. We find that a lot of our users are coming from mainstream apps like Quicken (which a lot of Mac customers dislike), or moving up to iBank for its robust features.

iBank 3 was written specifically for Leopard, and supports direct downloads from most banks; iPhone sync; investment portfolios; tax support; and a whole lot more (see this page for a better overview). People with more complex financial situations or even small businesses use iBank.

There’s a review we saw yesterday (here) that explains this all in a way – the writer preferred simpler apps that were more suited to his own needs, but recommends iBank to anyone who has more demanding requirements from their finance app. (One of the comments from an iBank user echoed this.)

All of our apps are available as free trial versions, so give it a spin and let me know what you think!

~Scott Marc Becker
Marketing Director
www.iggsoftware.com

Thanks to all who attended the June meeting of the Kachemacs! I hope everyone has instituted a backup procedure for their Macs. The foremost point I wanted to make is that hard drives DO fail an one time or another, and to be ready for it saves a lot of aggravation.
We have decided to adjourn until September, which will be the day after Labor Day. Macs are great, but I hope the Kachemacs have other interests outdoors during the summer.
If you missed the meeting, you can find the Keynote residing on the /Public folder on the Kachemacs dot Mac account. If you get a login prompt, just cancel it out. You will then be able to download archives of Meeting Companion Guides by clicking on the little arrow on the right. Unpack the archives using StuffIt Expander (free download.)
See you in September!

Alternative Backup Options to Time Machine

by Claire J Rottenberg
CJRTOOLS ebooks

If you use Leopard, you may be leaving all your backup tasks to Time Machine. With Time Machine, backing up can be mindless, but Time Machine has its limitations and it’s not necessarily the best backup option for all Leopard users or for all backup tasks. Some of the shortcomings of Time Machine include the need for a significantly large extra external hard drive, use of the Leopard Install disk to restore a complete system and backups that only occur automatically once an hour, although you can back up manually at any time. And, of course, to use Time Machine, you must be using Mac OS X 10.5. In this article, I’ll describe alternative backup options that can be used with Leopard as well as with older versions of Mac OS X.

Cloning a Boot Drive

Probably the most important type of backup is a complete backup or clone of your boot drive, usually to an external hard drive. The easiest way to create a clone is to download the demo version of SuperDuper! This application makes cloning a no-brainer – just select your source and destination drives, enter your user password and SuperDuper! does the rest. If you purchase the full program for $27.95, SuperDuper! can be scheduled to do automatic incremental backups so you’ll have peace of mind that you always have a perfect bootable backup of your drive.

If you don’t want to use SuperDuper!, you can clone your drive using Disk Utility’s Restore feature. However, I recommend SuperDuper! because Disk Utility’s Restore feature may result in a clone with permission errors. SuperDuper!, on the other hand, has consistently produced perfect clones for me.

Backing Up Specific Files and Folders

In addition to cloning your drive on a regular basis, you might want an easy way to back up specific files and folders, especially if you don’t store valuable data files on your boot drive. Many applications, such as word processors, spreadsheets and databases, include a special option for automatically creating a backup of your work every time you save it. If you use this feature, select a backup location on a second drive so your most important data will always be saved on two separate drives.

Another way to back up critical data is to use a program like Apple’s Backup, available for free for .Mac users. You can schedule Backup to automatically save data files to your iDisk so you’ll know that you always have an offline backup of the data. The full version of SuperDuper! also lets you save selected files and folders to an external drive on a scheduled basis.

Another easy option is to purchase a USB flash drive and manually transfer critical data files to it as necessary.

Backing Up to CDs and DVDs

Some applications, like iTunes and iPhoto, have built-in features that let you back up your valuable data to CDs or DVDs. This is the perfect solution for data files that are very large, such as a photo or music collection.

Large folders of data can also be easily backed up to CDs or DVDs using the Mac OS X 10.5 Finder Burn feature. Simply insert a blank CD or DVD into your computer’s optical drive, move files and folders onto it and click the Burn button on the Finder window Toolbar to create a permanent copy of your data. You can also use free applications, such as Burn or LiquidCD, to create backup CDs and DVDs of your data.

With so many easy-to-use options for cloning your system and backing up your valuable data, there’s no excuse for any Mac user to lose data and precious time trying to recreate or restore original files. And, if you use Leopard, you have the additional advantage of Time Machine.

Resources

SuperDuper!

Shirt Pocket
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper

Burn
Kiwi Fruitware
http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/

LiquidCD
Maconnection
http://www.maconnect.ch

Claire J Rottenberg is the author of Easy Guides to Mac OS X software (Safari, Mail, System Preferences, TextEdit) and Course Books on iPhoto ’08, iTunes and Mac OS X 10.4. She is currently completing three new Course Books on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). More information on her books is available on the CJRTOOLS ebooks website (http://homepage.mac.com/cjrtools/ebooks).

Next week the June Kachemacs meeting will feature a seminar on backups. We will be at the Homer library on Tuesday, June 3rd. Please bring an external hard drive (firewire preferred, and necessary for a PowerPC) with a capacity of at least twice your Mac’s hard drive if you would like assistance from the Kachemacs in setting up a backup program for your home. If you don’t have a laptop or a hard drive, there will still be plenty of information available in creating a backup strategy for your desktop.

I have a box of books I got for the Kachemacs to review! Titles include:

Mac OS X Leopard for Dummies
Mac OS X Leopard for Dummies Just the Steps
Mac OS X Leopard All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies
Mac OS X Tiger for Dummies
Mac OS X Tiger Book
Mac OS X Tiger All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies
MacBook for Dummies
iPhone Fully Loaded

Thanks, Wiley & Sons! All Dummies step forward for these key reference volumes! Remember, test drive these manuals for 30 days, write a book report for our website, and the book is yours to keep and use forever! It helps you, and your feedback helps the author and publisher. Please let me know if any of these interest you and I’ll get it to you.

The Omni Group has given me licenses for their software for the Kachemacs to review. Let me know if you are interested in any of the following:
OmniDazzle
OmniFocus
OmniGraffle Pro 5
OmniWeb

The Omni Group has been around for a fair while, and is known for quality Mac exclusive software. Check out their website for more information.

The following applications were reviewed in May’s Kachemacs seminar, Paperless Home Office.
Reviews by Diane Petersen, Kachemacs.

NoteBook 2 by Circus Ponies

Product Title: NoteBook 2
Price: $49.95
Distributor: Circus Ponies
Distributor Phone #: (800) 817-1471
Website: http://www.circusponies.com

Pros: Visually exciting interface, organizational structure is unique and dynamic.
Cons: No sketching or handwriting option (yet), limited portability.

When I was a kid, every fall I got a list of classroom materials to buy for school. Every year I found I had to buy several spiral notebooks for class. Little did I know that those spiral notebooks would be following me into adulthood, albeit digitally in the form of NoteBook 2, by Circus Ponies.
NoteBook is a digital version of that notebook I’ve always kept my deepest darkest secrets in. On screen, it takes the appearance of that spiral notebook, complete with the wire spine. What it doesn’t contain is all the haphazard clippings that stick out in all directions and the bent corners from exceeding its physical boundaries. Even the most disorganized person can keep this notebook in order and within a tiny package.
NoteBook has become the central hub of my GTD (getting things done) life. Combined with my MacBook Pro notebook, I have a resource to help me remember just what I was going to do any given day. The format caters to the right brained user. Anything of interest can be dragged into the easy to use format and cataloged into ways only I can understand.
Every notebook file has an contents page. Clicking on the contents links or the tabs on the side of the notebook leads to pages within the notebook. Also in every notebook is an index which lists keywords within the notebook. Information can be stored in the form of web links, photos, files on the computer, or even voice annotations. I particularly like To Do lists, which have the capability of being checked off to my satisfaction. It’s a great feeling to check off tasks completed!
The magic of NoteBook lies within the Services menu of the Mac. I like to think of NoteBook as a tool to navigate this little used feature of OS X. In most applications, the Services menu can be invoked and NoteBook is there to do one’s bidding. Want to create an action on an e-mail? Pull up Services within Mail and clip the relevant data. Working on a project in Pages? Use the Services menu to clip it to NoteBook.

NoteBook can be used best as a project manager. I am a busy facilitator for a Macintosh Users Group. My educational seminars are planned in NoteBook. All my thoughts and references are pinned to pages in my virtual notebook. I have another notebook to run my household tasks. Shopping, home improvement, errand running, and appointments are all clipped into my notebook. With seamless integration with Mac bundled applications like Mail, Safari, iCal and Address Book, my tasks are organized efficiently and effortlessly.
My life is not often spent in front of my Mac. Portability options are important to me. My notebook can be exported to HTML which can be stored on any other computer or my iDisk. I can see what i need to accomplish away from my Mac. What I would really love to see in future builds is even more portability to mobile devices. If I could have NoteBook on an iPhone, I would be running out to get one in a heartbeat. I am hoping this capability is foremost in the developer’s priorities as applications become available on the iPhone and other devices.
NoteBook version 2 is on the cusp of releasing version 3. I am informed that version 3 will incorporate sketching and handwriting recognition. Also included will be diagramming and flow chart tools. I anxiously await these enhancements.

Utility: 5 (everyone needs a GTD solution)
Stability: 5 (hasn’t crashed yet)
Documentation: 5 (tutorials are excellent)
Portability: 3 (HTML versions can’t be edited. No real web based version or mobile distribution)
Support: 4 (Developer is involved with end users)
UI: 5 (It’s even got a cute spiral on the spine!)
Potential: 4 (I can’t wait for the version 3 enhancements)

How incredibly satisfying! The best feature is that you can’t drop it and scatter all the pages on the floor. It allows for the right brained organization that many Mac users utilize. I score this at a high 4, but I’ll give it a 5 for overall effort!

Yep!

Product Title: Yep!
Price: $34.00
Distributor: Ironic Software, Inc.
Website: http://www.yepthat.com

Pros: Tag-based organization, cool interface with built-in magnifier.
Cons: Stability depends on tight Spotlight maintenance, auto-tagging still needs work.

I started keeping a digital filecabinet in about 2002. I was blazing the way in digital archives in the home office at the time. I was using an old HP fax/copier and an old Windows machine with clunky software. When iPhoto came out, I created a library just for my paperwork. Then I gave up and kept folders everywhere and sporadically burned stuff to backup.
Then I found Yep!, henceforth spelled without the bang. Yep is a PDF manager with an interface resembling iPhoto yet capable of so much more. Now it’s almost fun to organize, and mind you I am not an accountant.
Running Yep is simple. Through seamless integration with my scanner (special support is available for my Fujitsu ScanSnap) or pretty much any scanner, the print just lifts off the paper and into Yep, while I gleefully shred all the flotsam on my desk.
Once the information is lifted, I simply use the Yep tagging system to create search keywords so I can find the document when I need it. Yep takes advantage of the capability of the PDF format to attach metadata to the file. In simple terms, it’s like having one of those machines that prints on the tape that you peel off and stick to your stuff. And Yep does it as simple as that. Scan, and a couple clicks and I have a document in its own virtual file folder. It’s virtual because Yep doesn’t move stuff around or change it like an annoying virtual assistant, it just indexes it.
PDF files don’t just come from a scanner. They can be downloaded, or exported from your Mail. You can also use YepShot, which creates a PDF from a web browser window and puts it in Yep. This is great when I want to capture a confirmation number when online shopping. For some reason, I can’t YepShot secure sites like my online bank, but that’s probably the bank’s security settings.
Other fun features include the Loupe, or magnifying glass for those of us old people who have trouble with the fine print. It’s like QuickLook for Yep! The bottom margin of the screen has most of the same buttons as iPhoto, print, e-mail, rotate, edit, etc.

I have had some issues with stability, where Yep just says Nope! and crashes. An important caveat to be noted is that Yep relies on Spotlight for its superpowers. That is, Yep’s indexes are only as good as your Spotlight indexes, and neglected Spotlight maintenance is Kryptonite to Yep. With an inquiry to the developers and a most speedy reply, I was advised to rebuild my Spotlight indexes and have had rock solid stability and blazingly fast launches of the application since. To nitpick a cosmetic issue, in the auto-complete of the tags case isn’t preserved. It isn’t pretty when my tags say AcS or CEll Phone. They still sort properly, but it makes my tags look like d00d sp33k. The problem is fixed if I go in and rename the tag. Also, auto-tagging is not working right, but I don’t think I’d use the feature anyway, the control freak I am. I’d love to see a special backup feature built into Yep in future releases, where the PDFs, collections, and metadata would be archived on a schedule so one would never have to worry about losing a valuable file cabinet.
As the program stands with the features available, Yep is a very powerful tool for the home office. I could see it being indispensable in academia as well, where one can be drowned in dissertations. Yep is an integral part of my paperless home office, and the $34 is well worth it. As for the problems, the developers have been most responsive to their customers.

Utility: 5 (everyone needs Yep!)
Documentation: 4 (manual is great, but where are the release notes?)
Stability: 4 (as long as Spotlight maintenance is kept up)
Value: 4 (price is steep for shareware, but buy it with Leap for a deal)
User interface: 5 (that Loupe is sweet!)

Overall, I say yep to Yep! Overall, this application scores a 4, and that’s a keeper.

PageSender

Product Title: PageSender
Price: $39.95
Distributor: SmileOnMyMac
Website: http://www.smileonmymac.com

Pros: Allows for group and broadcast faxes, integrates well with Address Book.
Cons: Takes time to set up, limited utility over Mac OS built-in faxing.

There comes a time when one must say goodbye to old friends and move on. I took a sad look at my old 8 year old HP all-in-one that was demoted to a fax machine 4 years ago. It ran out of ink and I was loathe to invest in a new cartridge. This is when PageSender came to the rescue. Out with the old, in with the new…
PageSender is not anything like the old fax machine with its vertical streaks and the paper jams. PageSender allows for total digital control over faxed documents without the use of paper. The old fashioned POTS (“plain old telephone service”) standard is used with PageSender; a phone line and a fax modem are still needed. It goes without saying that fax technology involves a signal from one machine to another over a phone line. PageSender takes the technology of OS X faxing and carries it several steps further with elegance.
PageSender is more of a correspondence management system for the Mac. It has seamless integration with Mac bundled applications, notably Mail and Address Book. All it takes is a document, either scanned from paper or one living digitally on the hard drive of a Mac. PageSender uses live lookup for destinations, just start typing. Select a recipient or group of recipients (PageSender supports broadcast faxing) and send. Receiving a fax? Just set up PageSender to auto or manually answer and the document appears as a PDF for screening and printing (or deletion).
PageSender essentially gets set up as just another printer on the Mac. Anything can be printed and sent to the PageSender printer as a fax. The document can then be sent via fax number over the phone line or via e-mail to the recipient. IP faxing services (like MaxEmail) can even be used with PageSender. It’s simple, and it works.
PageSender is primarily intuitive, but some knowledge of how faxing technology works is required in order to set it up. Once the settings are configured properly, PageSender just works. And without the streaks my old HP used to print all the time.

Utility: 3 (the common user probably can get by with OS X fax)
Stability: 5 (hasn’t crashed yet)
Documentation: 4 (thorough, but a bit vague at times)
Support: 5 (smileonmymac has great customer service)
UI: 4 (boring interface, but functional)
Functionality: 4 (took me a few tries to get it right)

This application gets a 4 for its effort. For the home business user that needs to have ability to script and broadcast fax, it is indispensable. For the occasional home user who needs to fax once a month, OS X has a perfectly capable interface.

Cha-Ching

Product Title: Cha-Ching
Price: $40
Distributor: Midnight Apps
Website: http://www.midnightapps.com

Pros: Simply beautiful, iSight and reference file path integration.
Cons: Limited support for complex portfolios, little documentation, steep price tag for functionality.
I like to know where all my money is going, but I don’t want to deal with the tedium of financial software. Learning any of the popular packages can take as much effort as a full semester honors level college class. The ones that are actually available for Mac have that nice gray Windows look.
Bring on Cha-Ching! It’s simple to run and doesn’t take too much effort to get started. What it doesn’t offer in specialized features is totally made up in the snazzy user interface.
As an individual home user, I don’t have a lot of specialized needs. I simply want to find out why I never have as much money as I think I should have. My bank offers interface with the leading financial software, but they charge a monthly fee that I can’t justify paying. I simply want to keep track of expenditures by category and know how much I can spend each month.
Cha-Ching does have a number of features that appeal to the home user. After spending just a few minutes entering my accounts, Cha-Ching is ready for me to start entering transactions. Cha-Ching’s unique animated interface guides me through my transactions. The magic of Cha-Ching lies in its tag based spending and budgeting. This allows for any transaction or budget item to be tagged for specific categories.
Useful features with a definitely Mac feel include an “online” option where a browser window to financial institutions can be opened up to check on balances. With each transaction the opportunity is provided for a picture and a file path to be linked to the transaction entry. The picture can be from the Mac or snapped from the iSight. I can buy a really awesome item (like a new Mac!) and then take a picture of it with my iSight for Cha-Ching, then link the whole thing to a PDF residing on my computer with the invoice. This opens up great integration possibilities with PDF management software like Yep!, which is also tag based. Also, those pictures are great for home inventory purposes.

Cha-Ching may be great eye candy and intuitive, but some of us still need a little guidance. I found the documentation a bit lacking. The developers did mention that they are working on a guide for users of Cha-Ching. that would have helped me a lot when setting up the program. I also noticed Cha-Ching seems to be a bit like a roach motel for finances. Data can be checked in using QIF or OFX format (Quicken, Money, or bank) files. however, if Cha-Ching isn’t the brilliant software one has hoped for and export to something else is desired, it’s only CSV export into a spreadsheet. I’m thinking this could get messy.

UI: 5, actually 5+. This is what the Mac is all about.
Utility: 3. A lot more features could be added to compete with the big players.
Documentation: 2. Let’s get that manual rolling.
Stability: 4. Has hung a couple of times for several seconds, but never crashed.
Overall: 4.

If a home user is looking for something simple to use to track some household trends, Cha-Ching is a great option that is pleasing to the eye. For a small business owner or a home user with a lot of complicated investment accounts, software capable of tracking more types of accounts and bank or tax interface would be more desirable. However, don’t expect the beauty and simplicity of Cha-Ching.

I know this is kind of late notice, but VMWare is running a “switch to Fusion” contest. So, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity for me to figure out how to make a video in iMovie. Besides, the grand prize is a MacBook Air! I grabbed my friend Dax who heads up the Comedy Weakly group I participate in. We set up a makeshift stage in my living room, shot some footage, edited in iMovie, and posted on YouTube. I never did anything like that before, and I’m by no means a videotographer now but it was great to try something new.

So check it out and vote! Maybe even post one of your own.

Thanks to all who attended the May Kachemacs meeting.
In business, we discussed taking July off. This sounds reasonable to me. If the Kachemacs want, we can just have fun and have a barbeque for those who are not busy working. June event will be backups.
We also have a bit of money. It is sitting on a PayPal account which is accepting donations. Due to the library contract I sign to get the room, we can’t charge in the meeting so if you want to donate use the PayPal.
If we become an official non-profit, we can get a break on bank fees for our account. Ginger has offered to help with the process. The first thing we need to do is have officers. We will be holding elections in June, so anyone who would like to lend a hand get your name in there. We need a president, treasurer, and secretary (webmaster) at least.
We learned all about managing a home office with shareware Mac applications. The green aspect of eliminating paper in the home office coincided nicely with Homer’s push toward recycling and Earth Day recently. After the seminar, there were a number of prizes of the software I highlighted. Winners were:

Ron Hess: Yep!
Auberon Harrison: Circus Ponies Notebook
Cheryl Riley: PDFpen
Marilyn Hess: MaxEmail 1 year / $25 in services account
Sara Jackinsky: Cha-Ching

Thanks to all who came and see you next month!