Tag Archive for: apps

Dropzone 3

dropzoneOne of my favorite Mac apps over the years has been Dropzone. It’s a simple app that sits in your menu bar and allows you to perform a variety of actions with ease. It was recently updated to version 3 which brought a lot of new features.

Some of the coolest new features include more actions, the organize your actions how you see fit, and Drop Bar. Drop Bar allows you to drop files to the Drop Bar and then drag them to use in other apps/folders. It is a great way to move files around the Finder without having multiple Finder windows or tabs open, something that comes in very handy if you’re using a Mac with little screen real estate.

I was sold right away on the new version of the app. That being said, I was a bit disappointed when I installed it and saw my most commonly used actions, Install App, was no longer available. What Install App did was allow you to drag a zip or DMG file to Dropzone and it would install mount the DMG, move the app to Applications, unmount the DMG and delete the zip or DMG file. It tools a multi step process and shrunk it down to one step. So, why was this action missing? Sandboxing. Apple’s sandboxing will not allow you to run scripts like the Install App, for security reasons.

This is where Aptonic, the makers of Dropzone, really come through. They realize that these other scripts are huge parts of a user’s workflow and have allowed you to download the non-sanboxed version (meaning, a non App Store version of the app) and install these scripts. All you need to do is purchase the App Store version (or simply buy the version from their store) and run it once. You can then open the non-sanboxed version and it automatically imports your settings from the App Store version and recognizes that you have purchased the app. It was a seamless transition away from the App Store version and now I have my Install App action back.

I can’t recommend this app highly enough. If you’re looking for an app that will make your life easier, I strongly suggest you try it out.

Set a Sleep Timer for Pandora on Your iPhone or iPod Touch

One of the things I’ve often wanted in some of my music apps is the ability to put them to sleep using the built in sleep timer. I’ve been waiting for Apple to release a public API to harness the timer in the Clock app. It appears they have, just not many developers know about it or use it. One of the best music apps, Pandora, does. From their FAQ:

How do I put Pandora to sleep after a certain interval of time?

To do this, exit Pandora and enter the native iPhone “Clock” app. Touch the “Timer” option in the lower left corner. Set the amount of time you want Pandora to play, then set the “When Timer Ends” option to “Sleep iPod” and touch the green “Start” button. Choose the desired Pandora station and leave it playing. Pandora will shut off when the specified interval is up.

I tested some other apps to see if they harnessed this API as well and it appears they don’t. Last.fm will shut off when the timer is done but then it will start right back up. Same thing with the Sirius XM app. The AOL Radio app hasn’t been updated in forever so I didn’t even try that one (which is a shame, it is a good app). I’m not sure why more developers aren’t using this. Do they even know about it? It should be noted that I tried searching for the API in the docs and could not find it but this was the first time I’ve ever even looked at the docs so I wasn’t sure what I was looking for.