LittleBITS: Experimenting with AppBITS
Putting together this week’s issue of TidBITS was a bit of a bummer since I had to write about AnandTech shutting down (see “AnandTech Ceases Publication, Maintains Archives and Forums,” 31 August 2024) and MakeMusic stopping development on Finale (see “Finale’s Finale,” 31 August 2024), both after decades of being fixtures in their respective niches. Simultaneously, with Agen Schmitz on vacation for a few weeks, I’ve been trawling MacUpdate for updates to the apps we track in the Watchlist, and I was intrigued by a few of the other apps I saw. Not because I personally had any use for them but because I thought, “Well, that’s a neat idea!”
Therefore, as an antidote to the negative news that feels necessary to cover, I’ve decided to start writing capsule descriptions of Mac and iOS apps that catch my fancy. These won’t be apps I can recommend from extensive personal experience—such apps would merit more in-depth coverage—but might interest you. I also remember liking the sidebar collections of apps that would often appear in the Mac magazines of yesteryear, partly because the short blurbs left me wanting to learn more in ways that a full-fledged review wouldn’t.
Speaking of the Watchlist, we probably won’t continue to track updates to most of these apps unless they work their way into our everyday use or otherwise turn out to be important aspects of the Mac experience.
So take a look at “AppBITS: Stapler Opens Multiple Apps, Documents, and Folders” (2 September 2024), and let me know what you think of the idea in the comments here.
Seems like a GREAT idea, Adam! We all have our little collection of apps that help us get the job done, but our facility with them is the very thing that keeps us a little less-than-open to the possibilities that may be out there. Thanks for keeping your eyes peeled on our behalf!
AppBits reminds me a little of MacWorld’s Mac Gems.
I think it’s a wonderful idea. I find content like this really useful.
yes to both suggestions
I also think this is great. I love hearing about useful little apps that I might not know about. Speaking of which, can I recommend FileUtils for a future AppBITS post? I started using it a few weeks ago and it’s hugely improved the Finder for me. The developer is also very responsive.
I think this is great; I find myself looking at what is in setapp at times to see whats new that I dont use… This will widen our horizon.
Looks fascinating! I’ll check it out for a future one.
FWIW, here are the little apps I use that might be of interest for a review:
Turnover. For tapping beats-per-minute and applying the result to the currently-playng track in Music. Also works as an iTunes/Music controller and lets you edit a few related metadata fields (genre, stars, etc.)
One interesting feature is to identify tracks whose BPM is within a configurable range. The author uses this to pick tracks that come close to his preferred running cadence. (@ace might find this feature of particular interest)
Shareware pricing: Free to install and use. You’re on your honor to pay an $8 in-app-purchase if you decide you want to keep it.
Disk Inventory X. I’ve mentioned this before. It’s a Mac port of kDirStat for Linux and WinDirStar for Windows. A really useful way to visualize a device’s storage.
PrefsEditor. A convenient way to edit application defaults with a GUI interface (vs the command-line
defaultscommand).ClipboardViewer. A really useful tool that shows whatever is on your clipbaord, in its various formats. From Apple as a part of the Xcode Additional Tools bundle.
ResForge an open source app that works very similar to Apple’s old ResEdit, for editing resource forks. Not as robust as the original, but still really useful if you need to access data (e.g. fonts and sounds) stored in resource forks.
Yes please. I wouldn’t mind if if you did two weekly: One Mac and one iOS. In fact I would very much prefer that. There are so many good apps out there, but no good discovery mechanism.
Another note: on LittleBITS: Experimenting with AppBITS - TidBITS, I hit “Close and accept” on the cookie notification multiple times, but it kept reappearing.
iPadOS 17.6.1, Safari
AppBITS is a smashing idea. And I never appreciated app update tracking. So good call on both counts Adam.
Best
Kevan
The App Store could be that, but instead Apple is stuck somewhere between neglect and abusing it for ad revenue.
I look forward to getting pointed to an interesting app through this.
I don’t remember a lot of LittleBits headlines, because if I had I would have suggested that they be renamed ItsyBits. Any way ItsyBits will always be joyful - maybe more joyful than AppBits.
GREAT idea. thank youl
I use lots of appBITS, so I think this is a great idea. My quiver wouldn’t be complete without DwellClick (no longer supported, but free on the PilotMoon site), Bartender and PopClick. I’d also be lost without Alfred and Moom.