Tag: Software

Even by Apple's standards, Archive Utility is a simplistic tool. It can only extract the contents of a few common archive formats and compress files into ZIP archives, with absolutely no other features or customization. The good news is that we have an amazing third-party alternative—Keka. It’s everything Archive Utility should have been. It integrates seamlessly into the OS and offers a ton of additional features, extended format support, customization, and more, while being just as easy to use as the built-in utility, and free to boot. It can work just like Archive Utility, when you need it to The problem with many third-party apps is that they’re just not as seamless as the built-in archiver. You have to launch them, drop files in a window, maybe even specify where the output should be saved, etc. A lot of work just for extracting or creating an archive. Keka, on the other hand, can be configured to emulate the standard macOS workflow. You ope...

If there's one thing I missed when switching over from Windows, it was the simplicity and convenience of Notepad. TextEdit just tries to do too much for my taste, and macOS doesn't really have a good option for quick notes without complications. Plain Text Editor is exactly what I always wanted TextEdit to be. Plain text, no formatting, a bare-bones UI, and just a few quality-of-life features that help with your writing without becoming distractions themselves. Elegant user interface At first glance, there’s not much there. A basic window, title bar, word and character count, plus a bank page for writing. The title bar and statistics can even be disabled, leaving only a massive void for you to fill in. If you’re not a fan of the translucent background, you can make it opaque, which is my preference as well. This setting, along with almost everything else, is handled either from the app’s preferences or app menu, leaving the editor itself free of ...

It’s surprisingly difficult to get your hands on a macOS installer, especially if you need a specific format, or even worse, want to configure an older Mac. Firmware files are easier to get, but it’s still a bit of a hassle. Mist has become a valuable tool in the arsenal of IT departments, administrators, or even just regular users who need to install older macOS versions, create bootable USBs, set up virtual machines, or restore an Apple Silicon Mac. It’s an open-source app that provides direct download links to IPSW firmware files and can create installers for macOS editions going all the way back to Lion. It can also help you set up bootable USB installers, though some limitations apply if you’re running it on an Apple Silicon Mac. Get macOS installers in multiple formats Most people will get the app for its ability to build installers. It can generate a regular app bundle, .dmg disk image, .iso file, and .pkg installer. Various use cases bene...

Sometimes, nuclear bombs cannot solve a strategic problem. Strategic bombers have been dropping nukes on Soviet divisions for a while, but they have enough industry to keep pumping replacements out. Dropping more nuclear bombs on their cities helps, but to actually destroy the U.S.S.R., some conventional armor thrusts are needed. That means that I need to first ensure air superiority, so I need more bases and fighters, while backing my armor with anti-air assets. All this stuff is competing in the industry queue with the nukes I need to make sure a Soviet counterattack is contained. Thankfully, the Russian far east has limited defenses, allowing for a second front that should make it easier to push into Eastern Europe. ICBM: Escalation - United States of Annihilation is developed by SoftWarWare and published by Slitherine Ltd. This is the second major downloadable content pack for the strategy game, which delivers an alternate history campaign focused on the United...

Over the past few years, we’ve seen quite a resurgence of SpongeBob SquarePants games. We’ve had the Patrick Star game, The Cosmic Shake and also Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated. Now with SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide, we have the epitome of that 3D platforming goodness, with a very engaging story and some of the best platforming I’ve seen in quite some time. The premise of SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide is pretty simple: you have the Flying Dutchman and King Neptune unleashing ghosts all over Bikini Bottom, and you need to do everything you can to stop them. The addition of ghosts adds a unique system here, because you can easily switch between Patrick and SpongeBob. Once you switch, the previous character you were using is near you, in the form of a ghost. It adds to the gameplay, while also making sense lore-wise. Titans of the Tide keeps a very similar layout of Bikini Bottom and the same cartoony visual style, making it a rather fa...

When I first tried Pearcleaner a couple of years ago, it was a basic and somewhat flawed app uninstaller. Since then, it has evolved into such a powerful and versatile maintenance application that it makes you wonder how it’s still available for free. With every release, more and more features are added, to the point where you can’t even call it an uninstaller anymore, or even just an all-purpose cleanup tool. It integrates the complete functionality of many free and paid apps, and it’s quickly becoming indispensable. Remove apps and leftover files Naturally, this is still the app’s bread and butter. It helps you get rid of all the files normally left behind when simply dragging an app to the Trash. The algorithm has improved, and I ran into no cases of it flagging unrelated files when using the Strict setting. When switching to Deep or even Enhanced search sensitivity, things get quite dangerous, as the app routinely includes files unrelated to ...

Enter a brimming fantasy world where your focus is to try and create an amazing team, while also battling enemies that come right in front of you. That’s what Whimsical Heroes does, it offers you the opportunity to create a party of pretty unexpected heroes, and then you battle a plethora of silly, quirky creatures. Just to put things into perspective, you have heroes like a cat, an onion and a radish battling bees, cucumbers and so on. It’s that kind of game, but it also has a heart, and it’s designed from the ground up to be quite involving and engaging as well, which is always nice. From the beginning, the game itself has a nice presentation. Don’t expect AAA visuals or anything, but the game world itself is quite colorful, and it has a nice look to it. Yes, it seems more like a cartoony world where these whimsical creatures are coming to life, and it truly is something creative and enjoyable. Not only that, but the world as a whole feels like something you want...

RENNSPORT is a new addition to the world of simulation racing, and the interesting thing about it is that you can play it free of charge. That being said, the free version is more of a demo, because you have a single track and car that you can use. Still, it gives you an idea of what RENNSPORT delivers, and that’s some pretty good, albeit punishing simulation racing. What I like about RENNSPORT is the fact that the game is focused on pure simulation only, although you can tweak the settings to make it a bit more forgiving. In fact, for casual players, I recommend you add all the assists and go for the easiest difficulty. That will help improve the experience, but you can also go full hardcore simulation where every tiny mistake might cost you the entire race. If you buy the standard edition of the game, you will enjoy using 16 cars from different categories, but also 13 different racetracks. It’s not as much content as some of us would expect, however it gives you ...

I needed to gain access to the Seraphim a little faster. Maybe I should have made sure my two cities put out more research, even if that meant putting a smaller number of Battle Sisters in the field. The flamethrower-wielding jet-powered squads are the best way to deal with incoming Orks and Necrons, especially when backed up by two capable heroes. My delays mean I only have two on the field, close to Celestine herself, while other units are recuperating in the backline. I plan to pull back from the Necron stronghold a little to avoid significant losses. In the meantime, my cities will produce more units, and I will rearrange the battleline to have more options when the revenant machines push forward. Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Rampage Pack is developed by Proxy Studios and published by Slitherine Ltd. This is a downloadable content pack that’s only designed to drop in more units for players to use as they seek to destroy their adversaries. There’s no narrative e...

It’s always hard to know exactly when to let go. This applies to many life moments, but, more importantly, to the core ideas of the rhythm genre. And I keep missing the cue to release the key, which is affecting my ability to get a high score. And I’m playing a song I know pretty well on an intermediate difficulty setting. I’m afraid to try a tougher challenge until I fully master the art of pressing the right key at the exact time to get a “Perfect” evaluation. To avoid any frustration, I return to story mode. A prison conversation about missing breakfast is enough to get me right back into the groove. Main character Beat and her friends are looking to escape. But until they can do that, I need to do some quality assurance, play baseball, and a little pool, and talk to my bandmates to make a plan. The escape involves Beat skating, tracking the song’s rhythm to jump and switch rails at the right time. Then the entire band joins in some musical combat while on a tra...