Teaching my Wife Italian with Rosetta Stone TOTALe (Part 1)
February 10th, 2012
Over the next few months, I will be writing a series of reviews on Rosetta Stone, and my wife’s progress in learning Italian.
Vega – My #1 Web Vulnerability Scanner for Mac OSX and Linux
January 16th, 2012
Vega has quickly become the first tool in my web vulnerability and pen testing arsenal. It’s fast and copiously comes up with more results than any other scanner I’ve come across. It’s also a free (open-source) tool, with a host of great features. It also runs sm on Mac OSX and Linux.
6 Lifestyle Apps for Mac OSX reviewed – Journal, Finance, Recipe, Family Tree, Stocks and a Productivity Timer
November 7th, 2011
An overview of 6 of my favorite, and most used, Mac OSX apps. The apps included in this article are DayOne Journal, Jumsoft Money, YummySoup Recipe Manager, Mac Family Tree Maker, Timing personal time tracker, and Investoscope stock tracker.
Tags: cooking, dropbox, family tree, finance, mac, mutual funds, OSX, productivity, projects, recipe, small business, stocks, sync
Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac – Free Giveaway Contest!
November 1st, 2011
We’ve teamed up with Parallels to give away 4 copies of their new Parallels Desktop 7 product. We will be announcing 1 winner each week. All you have to do to enter is retweet a message. You will be allowed to enter the contest each week with a new retweet for more changes to win!
Parallels 7 destroys VMWare Fusion 4 in Windows and Linux Pen Testing Environments
October 31st, 2011
Parallels 7 vs VMWare Fusion 4 Desktop Virtualization Head to Head for Mac OSX I started using Parallels 7 to run virtual machine labs to practice my security assessment skills. I’ve read a ton of reviews comparing Parallels 7 to VMWare Fusion 4, but I wanted to try testing the two myself. I’ll save you [...]
Growl, the Original Notification System for Mac, gets a Lion Overhaul
October 7th, 2011
Growl has been (and still is) the defacto standard notification system for your mac. This latest update revives the interface and modernizes the app. Growl is one of those rare apps that instantly becomes indispensable, and you just can’t live without.
Navicat Premium – An Exceptional Database Management Powerhouse, available for Mac OSX, Windows and Linux
October 3rd, 2011
Navicat delivers incredible functionality database management functionality, wrapped in a perfectly designed package. while handling support for the major database types including MySQL, SQL Server, SQLite, Oracle and PostgreSQL.
Quickbooks 2012 for Mac – Intuit delivers a business accounting product worthy of OSX
September 26th, 2011
Quickbooks 2012 Business Accounting For those of you that don’t like to read long winded reviews, I’ll get right to the point: As an OSX user, you probably share the distaste left by Intuit over the previous Quickbooks product releases. In fact, at the time that Quickbooks 2012 was announced, I was in the process [...]
Create a Printable Document Index with PDF Index Generator
September 21st, 2011
Since the G2700 ISO 27001 / 27002 certification was an open book exam, I needed a way to quickly find the material I was looking for without having to go through mounds of papers during the exam. Having a printed Index seemed like a logical solution. I tested several applications and was extremely happy with PDF Index Generator.
Tags: 27001, 27002, exam, g2700, giac, indexes, information, information security, interface, iso 27001, practice exams, word index, word list
SpamSieve – The missing spam filter for Mac OSX Mail
September 1st, 2011
The best email spam filter for the Mac, period. Spamsieve provides the missing spam filter for Mac Mail, Thunderbird and Postbox.
Refog: A Powerful KeyLogger for Mac OSX
August 31st, 2011
Refog Key Logger Mac My wife and I needed a way to spy on monitor her teenage daughter. I experimented with a few key logging solutions for the mac, but none were as elegant as Refog. It only took me a few minutes to setup, and once it was up and running, I never had [...]
Linkinus – Extraordinarily awesome IRC client for Mac
August 9th, 2011
Linkinus IRC Client Conceited Software’s Linkinus is the be-all end-all for Mac IRC clients. I realize that’s a fairly strong statement to make, but it’s well deserved. Linkinus is easy enough for new-IRC users to grasp, and powerful enough for veteran IRC users to maximize. A common trend of the apps I like to review, [...]
The Hit List for Mac and iPhone – An objective review from an Omnifocus power user
August 5th, 2011
The Hit List is very powerfultask list that is dead simple to use; it’s as easy as Wunderlist, and considerably more powerful. While I still continue to use Omnifocus, my wife has made the switch to The Hit List. It’s perfectly suited for her needs without giving her the feeling of being overly complex and [...]
Tags: context, get things done, gtd, interface, iOS, iphone, mac, omnifocus, OSX, OTA, over the air, sync, task list, task manager, tasks
TextExpander: Automate your repetetive email and text based workflows
July 15th, 2011
If you work at your computer, and your work involves typing at all, TextExpander is a must-have utility. TextExpander is a time saving tool; You type in a shortcut key, and it inserts your frequently used text. This is tremendously helpful in saving time when working on repetitive emails and tasks.
Tags: automate, email, mac, OSX, productivity, productivity tool, repetitive, shortcut, snippets, text, time, utility, workflow
How to Enable and Make Scrollbars in OSX Lion Visible
July 15th, 2011
You’ve probably noticed by default that all scroll bars in Lion are now invisible until required. For some this might be confusing. If you want scrollbars turned on by default, all it takes it to change a single setting.
NetShade: Anonymous Proxy software for Mac
July 11th, 2011
Netshade provides a graphical user interface that allows you to anonymously browse the internet by routing your traffic through a proxy server.
Fantastical: Enhance and Improve your OSX Calendar Experience
July 8th, 2011
Hailed as “The calendar you’ll actually enjoy using,” Fantastical does not disappoint. Flexibit’s Fantastical acts as an enhancement to Mac OSX’s existing calendaring system, rather than a full replacement. In short, it’s a really easy to use Calendar add-on, which will allow you to add and view your multi-calendar events from a simple icon in your menu bar.
Tags: busycal, calendar, entourage, fantastical, google calendar, ical, menu bar, menubar, OSX, outlook, replacement
OmniOutliner for iPad – Outline your thoughts and guide your daily workflow
July 3rd, 2011
In no time at all, Omnioutliner integrated itself into my day to day activities. This is another great app by OmniGroup which has become an invaluable tool in my daily workflow.
Tags: diacap, omni, omni outliner, omnifocus, outline, productivity, project planner, projects, workflow
Unlock and Decrypt Password Protected PDF files with PDFKey for Mac OSX
June 26th, 2011
PDFKey will unlock, recover and/or decrypt the password/lock mechanism found in PDF files. With a single click, this PDFKey will remove all document copy protection without needing the password.
3 PDF Tools to completely replace Adobe Acrobat for your Mac and iOS devices
June 25th, 2011
The only three tools you should need to completely replace Adobe’s overly expensive Acrobat Pro. Everything you will need to read, edit, merge, create, and sign PDF documents.
How to create a bootable USB Flash Drive with UNetBootIn and use it to install Mac OSX, Linux, or any other Operating System
June 20th, 2011
I no longer have a CD drive in my macbook pro, so I wanted to create a bootable USB key in case I ever needed to reinstall the operating system. This method also works great if you want to create a bootable USB Drive to load any other operating system. This method will work on Mac, Windows and Linux systems.
5 of the most addictive and mind-bending puzzle strategy games for your iPhone and iPad
June 19th, 2011
I’m a huge fan of puzzle games. I feel that they help keep my mind sharp. Here is a a great collection of 5 puzzle games that no iPad or iPhone should be without. They are all games that I play regularly (when I can find the time). Many of these games are low cost, and high return in terms of the difficultly level required to complete them.
Burn – A Free CD / DVD Burning Utility for Mac OSX
June 17th, 2011
Rather than reviewing some of the newer apps, I wanted to take a few segments and review some of the more essential utilities needed for new Mac users. A feature missing from OSX is the ability to easily and efficiently burn CDs/DVDs. Burn solves that problem.
Vega – My #1 Web Vulnerability Scanner for Mac OSX and Linux
January 16th, 2012
Vega has quickly become the first tool in my web vulnerability and pen testing arsenal. It’s fast and copiously comes up with more results than any other scanner I’ve come across. It’s also a free (open-source) tool, with a host of great features. It also runs sm on Mac OSX and Linux.
6 Lifestyle Apps for Mac OSX reviewed – Journal, Finance, Recipe, Family Tree, Stocks and a Productivity Timer
November 7th, 2011
An overview of 6 of my favorite, and most used, Mac OSX apps. The apps included in this article are DayOne Journal, Jumsoft Money, YummySoup Recipe Manager, Mac Family Tree Maker, Timing personal time tracker, and Investoscope stock tracker.
Tags: cooking, dropbox, family tree, finance, mac, mutual funds, OSX, productivity, projects, recipe, small business, stocks, sync
Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac – Free Giveaway Contest!
November 1st, 2011
We’ve teamed up with Parallels to give away 4 copies of their new Parallels Desktop 7 product. We will be announcing 1 winner each week. All you have to do to enter is retweet a message. You will be allowed to enter the contest each week with a new retweet for more changes to win!
Parallels 7 destroys VMWare Fusion 4 in Windows and Linux Pen Testing Environments
October 31st, 2011
Parallels 7 vs VMWare Fusion 4 Desktop Virtualization Head to Head for Mac OSX I started using Parallels 7 to run virtual machine labs to practice my security assessment skills. I’ve read a ton of reviews comparing Parallels 7 to VMWare Fusion 4, but I wanted to try testing the two myself. I’ll save you [...]
Growl, the Original Notification System for Mac, gets a Lion Overhaul
October 7th, 2011
Growl has been (and still is) the defacto standard notification system for your mac. This latest update revives the interface and modernizes the app. Growl is one of those rare apps that instantly becomes indispensable, and you just can’t live without.
Navicat Premium – An Exceptional Database Management Powerhouse, available for Mac OSX, Windows and Linux
October 3rd, 2011
Navicat delivers incredible functionality database management functionality, wrapped in a perfectly designed package. while handling support for the major database types including MySQL, SQL Server, SQLite, Oracle and PostgreSQL.
Quickbooks 2012 for Mac – Intuit delivers a business accounting product worthy of OSX
September 26th, 2011
Quickbooks 2012 Business Accounting For those of you that don’t like to read long winded reviews, I’ll get right to the point: As an OSX user, you probably share the distaste left by Intuit over the previous Quickbooks product releases. In fact, at the time that Quickbooks 2012 was announced, I was in the process [...]
Create a Printable Document Index with PDF Index Generator
September 21st, 2011
Since the G2700 ISO 27001 / 27002 certification was an open book exam, I needed a way to quickly find the material I was looking for without having to go through mounds of papers during the exam. Having a printed Index seemed like a logical solution. I tested several applications and was extremely happy with PDF Index Generator.
Tags: 27001, 27002, exam, g2700, giac, indexes, information, information security, interface, iso 27001, practice exams, word index, word list
SpamSieve – The missing spam filter for Mac OSX Mail
September 1st, 2011
The best email spam filter for the Mac, period. Spamsieve provides the missing spam filter for Mac Mail, Thunderbird and Postbox.
Refog: A Powerful KeyLogger for Mac OSX
August 31st, 2011
Refog Key Logger Mac My wife and I needed a way to spy on monitor her teenage daughter. I experimented with a few key logging solutions for the mac, but none were as elegant as Refog. It only took me a few minutes to setup, and once it was up and running, I never had [...]
Linkinus – Extraordinarily awesome IRC client for Mac
August 9th, 2011
Linkinus IRC Client Conceited Software’s Linkinus is the be-all end-all for Mac IRC clients. I realize that’s a fairly strong statement to make, but it’s well deserved. Linkinus is easy enough for new-IRC users to grasp, and powerful enough for veteran IRC users to maximize. A common trend of the apps I like to review, [...]
The Hit List for Mac and iPhone – An objective review from an Omnifocus power user
August 5th, 2011
The Hit List is very powerfultask list that is dead simple to use; it’s as easy as Wunderlist, and considerably more powerful. While I still continue to use Omnifocus, my wife has made the switch to The Hit List. It’s perfectly suited for her needs without giving her the feeling of being overly complex and [...]
Tags: context, get things done, gtd, interface, iOS, iphone, mac, omnifocus, OSX, OTA, over the air, sync, task list, task manager, tasks
TextExpander: Automate your repetetive email and text based workflows
July 15th, 2011
If you work at your computer, and your work involves typing at all, TextExpander is a must-have utility. TextExpander is a time saving tool; You type in a shortcut key, and it inserts your frequently used text. This is tremendously helpful in saving time when working on repetitive emails and tasks.
Tags: automate, email, mac, OSX, productivity, productivity tool, repetitive, shortcut, snippets, text, time, utility, workflow
How to Enable and Make Scrollbars in OSX Lion Visible
July 15th, 2011
You’ve probably noticed by default that all scroll bars in Lion are now invisible until required. For some this might be confusing. If you want scrollbars turned on by default, all it takes it to change a single setting.
NetShade: Anonymous Proxy software for Mac
July 11th, 2011
Netshade provides a graphical user interface that allows you to anonymously browse the internet by routing your traffic through a proxy server.
Fantastical: Enhance and Improve your OSX Calendar Experience
July 8th, 2011
Hailed as “The calendar you’ll actually enjoy using,” Fantastical does not disappoint. Flexibit’s Fantastical acts as an enhancement to Mac OSX’s existing calendaring system, rather than a full replacement. In short, it’s a really easy to use Calendar add-on, which will allow you to add and view your multi-calendar events from a simple icon in your menu bar.
Tags: busycal, calendar, entourage, fantastical, google calendar, ical, menu bar, menubar, OSX, outlook, replacement
OmniOutliner for iPad – Outline your thoughts and guide your daily workflow
July 3rd, 2011
In no time at all, Omnioutliner integrated itself into my day to day activities. This is another great app by OmniGroup which has become an invaluable tool in my daily workflow.
Tags: diacap, omni, omni outliner, omnifocus, outline, productivity, project planner, projects, workflow
Unlock and Decrypt Password Protected PDF files with PDFKey for Mac OSX
June 26th, 2011
PDFKey will unlock, recover and/or decrypt the password/lock mechanism found in PDF files. With a single click, this PDFKey will remove all document copy protection without needing the password.
3 PDF Tools to completely replace Adobe Acrobat for your Mac and iOS devices
June 25th, 2011
The only three tools you should need to completely replace Adobe’s overly expensive Acrobat Pro. Everything you will need to read, edit, merge, create, and sign PDF documents.
How to create a bootable USB Flash Drive with UNetBootIn and use it to install Mac OSX, Linux, or any other Operating System
June 20th, 2011
I no longer have a CD drive in my macbook pro, so I wanted to create a bootable USB key in case I ever needed to reinstall the operating system. This method also works great if you want to create a bootable USB Drive to load any other operating system. This method will work on Mac, Windows and Linux systems.
5 of the most addictive and mind-bending puzzle strategy games for your iPhone and iPad
June 19th, 2011
I’m a huge fan of puzzle games. I feel that they help keep my mind sharp. Here is a a great collection of 5 puzzle games that no iPad or iPhone should be without. They are all games that I play regularly (when I can find the time). Many of these games are low cost, and high return in terms of the difficultly level required to complete them.
Burn – A Free CD / DVD Burning Utility for Mac OSX
June 17th, 2011
Rather than reviewing some of the newer apps, I wanted to take a few segments and review some of the more essential utilities needed for new Mac users. A feature missing from OSX is the ability to easily and efficiently burn CDs/DVDs. Burn solves that problem.