Category Archives: off-free-iphone

Right Click Booster – The hardest App Store approval I ever had!

My new app ‘Right Click Booster‘ is now available on the Mac App Store.

Like many of my favourite apps – this one springs out of an annoyance that I wanted to fix.

If you have used windows, then you may well have used one of the many right click commands in the finder. Some of these are built in, and some are added by third party apps.

Two that I particularly miss are

  • ‘Make untitled.txt here’
  • and ‘Open this directory in the terminal’

Mac OS has had the ability to use custom scripts as services – but they’re too far from the right click to be useful (right click, scroll down hover over services, skip right, find the command you need).

Finally – with the advent of Yosemite and finder extensions, Mac OS has an approved way for me to fix this.Right Click Booster actions.

Enter the Sandbox…

The app sandbox is designed to make sure that apps you download from the App Store can only interact with a limited selection of files (mostly within your own app sandbox).

The app I wanted to build lets you add, open or update files anywhere in the system.

If you want your app to be in the App Store – then it has to use the sandbox!

There is a (clunky) solution

Right click booster is a developer tool, and I wanted developers to be able to integrate their own scripts.

There is actually a way that Apple lets you do this.

Scripts can be run from the User Script Directory (every app has it’s own user script directory).

This seems like a great solution, but the app isn’t allowed to put scripts in that directory.

In my first submission, the app asks the user to open the directory – thus giving permission to the app to read and write files there. Apple didn’t like that.

In my next submission, I included the scripts in a .dmg file. My app can include the .dmg, open it and let the user drag scripts to the symbolic link to the user scripts file. Apple didn’t like that either.

In my final submission – the app takes you to my website where you can download the default scripts (as a dmg). Open that dmg, and install the scripts yourself.

There were many other issues along the way – but finally, Apple have allowed this solution.

Now you can run scripts with a right click

I use my app all the time!

The ones I use the most are Pod Update, and Update version (this runs ‘avgtool next-version -all’ which bumps the version number for all my targets in an xcode project)

My other favourites are the two I built the app for. ‘Open this directory in the terminal’ and ‘Create untitled.txt’ here.

Of course, other users will have other scripts and other ideas.

If they’re generally applicable, then I’ll add them to the default script list – so please do share them at the forum!

You can get Right Click Booster (currently free!) at the Appstore.

 

 

Beta testers wanted!

Apple’s new Beta Testing service is now live.

If you have an iOS8 device, then I can now add you to my list of beta testers and get your input on new features (and possible new bugs!)

If you’re interested in getting involved in testing and developing VLC Streamer, VLC Remote and Off Remote, then I’d love to have you in the group.

To sign up – please just apply to join this google group.

Or go to http://HobbyistSoftware.com/beta on your desktop.

Make sure to sign up with the email address you use for your apple id.

I’ll add you to the group and look forward to your input!

Thank you!

Do you want to be a beta tester on iOS8?

iOS8 promises a new way for people to beta test apps where you can easily test beta versions of apps.

The TestFlight app which enables this is already available in the US Appstore.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/testflight/id899247664?mt=8

We have been working hard on new versions for iOS8 and plan to release these as betas as soon as Apple allows it.

If you’d like to take part in testing, then please join our new beta-testing google group.

http://hobbyistsoftware.com/beta

We’ll pull your email address from the group and add you to the testing list.

thank you!

Update: iOS8 is live, but Apple hasn’t started the public beta testing system yet. They are labelling it as ‘coming soon’. Please sign up using the link above and we’ll let you know when it goes live.

 

 

Multiple Monitors on Mac…

If you have multiple monitors connected to a mac, then this might interest you.

I just launched my first app in the Mac Appstore. It’s called Multi Monitor Wallpaper.
It lets you take one large image and apply it across your monitors.

You can move and scale the image, and even tweak the exact layout of your monitors.

My app cuts up the image and applies it across your screens.

Let me know what you think!

You can get it at the Mac Appstore

Open links in the background – iBrowse

I just released an update for iBrowse which does two things.

  1. Brings it up to date with iOS5
  2. Brings the feature I have wanted for ages – you can now open links in a background tab

I use this when I’m browsing a news site. I go to news.bbc.co.uk, and I can now click and hold on a link, then select ‘open in background tab’. That story starts loading, and I pick a few other stories to load in the background.

Now I switch to coverflow view and swipe to one of the stories (which has probably already loaded by now).

It’s only $1, and there is a free version to try!

iBrowse is available as ever at the App Store.
 

Off Remote – Now with messages…

When I released Off Remote, I thought people would use it to turn off their media centre computers, and their home-office computer without having to get out of bed or leaving the sofa.

I’m sure it is used for that – but I found from my emails that people also use it to switch off their kids’ computers.

The new release makes Off Remote even better for this. You can now send a short message to the computer before you shut it down

‘It’s past your bedtime – save your work before I turn off your computer!’

You can also disable the ‘countdown’ message that used to appear as the computer was about to shut down. This gives you the upper hand if your kids were used to just clicking the ‘cancel’ button.

Of course – with great power comes great responsibility! Use with care…

Off Remote is available as ever at the App Store.

If you’d like to give Off Remote a try, you can get it right here:

 

 

New App : Monitor your kid’s computer use

My new app Watchover just went live.

Watchover lets you monitor what your kids are doing on their computers. It takes a screenshot every minute which you can browse from your iPhone iPad or iTouch.

You can also see what applications have been open, and when the computer has been running.

Just like watching your kids in the park, Watchover lets you keep an eye on them from a distance. So while the children are in their bedrooms, you can connect from your iPhone, iPod or iPad and view what they’ve been doing for the last few days – or see what is on their screens right now.

Watchover is available now in the appstore, and I’d love to hear your feedback.

VLC Streamer updated

Hi Folks,

Apple just approved a fairly major update to VLC Streamer.

Key improvements are:

* You can now copy converted movies to your device easily (so you can watch them on the plane or when you are away from your computer)
* Improved code for keeping the streaming connection (should reduce buffering)
* Supports playing movies in the background over airplay

Get the update, or give it a try at the Appstore…

Buy Now

Major Update…

Hi Folks,

I just released version 3.0 in the App Store.

It’s a major update that adds significant new functionality including Timed Commands (paid version only) and direct https connections.

-And there is more!

The new version will require that you upgrade your helper. Just click on the ‘Check for updates’ button to do that, or download the new helper from http://HobbyistSoftware.com/off

Enjoy!