Sun - November 2, 2003

LaunchBar. Waiting for Panther's Finder to locate a file is only slightly more interesting than watching seeds grow—and about as lengthy a process. Enter LaunchBar, a versatile search utility by Objective Development that not only finds files as fast as you can type a few letters but also launches applications, addresses emails, and opens folders, web pages, and System Preference panes just as quickly. Hit Command-Space to bring LaunchBar's input window to the front, enter an arbitrary abbreviation such as "MW" for Microsoft Word, and as soon as you start typing LaunchBar will display the best matching choices, ready to be opened immediately.

LaunchBar realizes its power by combining a database of files, bookmarks, and Apple AddressBook entries—updated each time you restart—with a fast, adaptive search algorithm. Typing a few letters, as in my previous example, retrieves a list of search results. If you want to use "MW" to open Mango World but LaunchBar suggests Microsoft Word instead, just select your preferred choice from the search result. LaunchBar learns your preference, and the next time you enter "MW" it defaults to Mango World. Very handy.

Besides being a great search utility, LaunchBar also doubles as a file system browser and as a convenient way to switch between running applications. You can browse your hard disk and any attached drives using the Arrow Left/Right keys. Press the right arrow to show the contents of a selected folder, use the left arrow to show the contents of the parent folder. Or press and hold the Command key and hit the spacebar twice to display a list of all running applications. As Steve Jobs would say, "It's simple."

LaunchBar costs $39 per seat for business users and $19.95 per seat for home users.

FruitMenu. One of the features I missed most when I switched from Mac OS 8 to OS X was the convenience of browsing my Mac's entire file system from the Apple Menu by adding an alias of my hard disk to the Apple Menu Items folder. Sure, I could replicate this functionality under OS X by dragging the hard disk or a folder alias into the Dock, then clicking and holding on its icon to produce a list of nested folders and applications—but it wasn't the same. File lists opened more slowly than they had under OS 8 and the aliases consumed valuable Dock space.

Apparently, enough people shared my frustration to prompt one developer to create a solution. Unsanity's FruitMenu lets you browse your hard disk, launch applications and shell scripts, and even preview graphics right from the Apple Menu and contextual menus. You can assign hotkeys to the menu items too.

The price? Equally satisfying. Just $10.

MacReporter. MacReporter is a tiny RSS browser for the OS X Dock that automatically fetches the latest headlines from your favorite websites on a schedule that you set. If an article interests you, just click on it and your browser opens to the story. An icon in the Dock let's you know when new stories await.

MacReporter features a plug-in system that allows you to add new sites at any time, and the developer, Inferiis, already makes 256 plug-ins available. But if they aren't enough for you, a free utility called MacReporter Forge will let you create new ones.

MacReporter, which costs $15, was written before the release of NetNewsWire, which offers many more features. But if you're looking for a small, easy to use tool to fetch the latest news headlines throughout the day, MacReporter may still be just what you need.