Photoshop is undoubtedly the most well-known image editor for both PC and Mac, yet it is often too large, expensive, and complex for the average user’s day-to-day tasks. One of the simpler and cheaper applications for the mac is Acorn from Flying Meat Software.

Acorn’s interface is composed of an editing canvas and tools box. The editing canvas will be a familiar sight to anyone who uses Photoshop, for it holds the same purpose of holding the document you’re working on. The tools box allows you to choose such functions as move, select, draw, erase, flood fill, gradient, text, shape, and choose foreground/background colors. You will also find the layers section in the tools box.

Along with the basic capabilities provided in the tools box, Acorn also allows for applying filters, colors & level adjustments, a screenshot assistant, brush designer, and many web export options. You can even build on Acorn by developing plugins using the Python and Objective-C scripting languages.

Compared to Photoshop CS4, Acorn holds its own very well. It loads faster, is quick to learn, and helps you accomplish tasks quicker. Sure, there are many functions that Acorn lacks from Photoshop or any of the other high-end editors, but in my day to day tasks, Acorn takes care of about 95% of my needs. Plus, at $50, the price can’t be beat.

If you’re considering taking the plunge to purchase Photoshop because you want to get into image editing, I’d encourage you to try out Acorn first. It’s a lot less frustrating and complicated to pick up, and it comes with a free trial. Find out more by visiting the Flying Meat website.

The Mac is no stranger to education, and one of the best study applications available is Genius, a virtual flash card program. By utilizing repetition patterns, Genius aims to help in memorizing miscellaneous items.

Genius works by allowing for entering a series of questions and answers. Each of these questions can be assigned to categories with individual keywords. Then, it can be used to either learn terms or review them. It will darken the screen and ask the entered questions in a pattern that will help you remember them.

It determines the order of questions based on which answers you get correct and which are incorrect. The questions that you answer wrong will appear more often then those that you answered correctly. Once the quizzing process is over, the main Genius window displays the score for each question, and the overall percentage of understanding for the set of questions.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to easily take Genius on the go. There is no iPhone application available, and printing off flash cards is not easy. In fact, Genius has been rarely updated in the past few years and could become nonexistent in the near future.

As of now, however, Genius is a fantastic desktop application that is completely free and works tremendously well. You can see more information on their website, and download it from macupdate.

You won’t find me playing iPhone games all the time, but there’s one game that I find myself constantly playing. That game is Pocket God, in which users “play God” by controlling a group of natives on a small island.

With a maximum of 6 islanders, you can make them do various tasks, or do a multitude of things to them. For instance, tapping on the screen will make them dance, or you could toss them into a volcano to spark an eruption. There’s also a storm cloud that allows you to strike a native with lightning, or spur on a hurricane. The water isn’t safe though, for there’s a shark swimming and the islanders will drown instantly.

Of course, you’re responsible for feeding them and ensuring a good night’s rest. By dragging the sun, or moon, you’re able to change the time of day. To feed the islanders, you can either break open some coconuts or have them go fishing. Of course, you can’t just drop a coconut from the tree, you have to break them by dropping them upon a native’s head.

What’s really cool about Pocket God are the constant updates that are released. Recent updates have brought bats, fire ants, and fishing rods. Updates are available at miscellaneous times, but so far there have been eleven releases.

There are many other features available, and all sorts of others planned. At ninety-nine cents, Pocket God will bring you hours and hours of amusement that are well worth the price.

You can find Pocket God for sale in the app store, or visit the active community and blog for Bolt Creative and Pocket God.

Many Mac users will find a use for at least one of the applications offered in the Mac Heist bundle, because they have a little bit of everything for a great price. $39.00 US. This is a very small price to pay for $600.00 + dollars worth of applications.

One of the great examples is Picturesque. Picturesque is a great application that does simple editing of pictures, without any advanced knowledge, such as that required to run Photoshop, while still enhancing your photographs at a near professional level.

Another offering is Wiretap Studio. WireTap Studio is a fantastic application if you would like to create a podcast. With wiretap it is possible to capture a skype call in order to do interviews without needing a massive setup. I could go on and on about all of the apps offered, but I think you need to see them for yourself. Simply go to and check out all the applications you get for $39.00. Just remember that there is a time limit, as of this writing there are only 12 days left, as an additional incentive, 25% of the price goes to charity. Now you can’t beat that, you get some great software at a great price, while contributing to charity.

Did I mention that all the applications are FULL versions, not trial or shareware. I can’t stress what a good deal this is, so hurry over to macheist.com and get yours, but remember only 12 days left.

1Password is a tool that I personally couldn’t live without. It helps you to remember, store, and generate secure passwords – so that you never have to bother with creating or remembering passwords! If you’re like me, you were, or still are, using the same password for everything. It’s incredibly insecure, yet there seems to be no way to remember secure passwords. 1Password helps solve this problem.

The main feature of 1Password is the ability to store passwords. Yet, the cool part is how 1Password integrates with your web browser. It integrates smoothly into most web browsers, so that you never have to enter a username or password. By simply pressing a keyboard shortcut, 1Password will automatically fill in and submit your username and password – so that you don’t have to deal with the hassle of remembering and typing a password out.

Sure, remembering passwords is great, but remembering secure passwords is even better. 1Password includes a secure password generator to assist you in creating the most secure password possible. It’s extremely quick and simple. You can set how many characters long you want your password, and if you want to include numbers, letters, characters, or a combination. Then, you simply hit a generate button and a password will be created. You can then copy the password or have 1Password insert it into the webpage for you.

Another strength of 1Password is its ability to remember things other than passwords, such as credit cards, identities, and secure notes. Now, instead of entering your credit card or bank information every time you want to purchase something online, you can simply have 1Password fill in the information for you. The same concept applies to profiles, where you can have 1Password instantly fill out the information on a web form. 1Password will also securely store information for you in a note. This is great for keeping track of important information that you don’t want to leave unsecure.

Now, when you’re entrusting almost all of your personal information in a single application, you want to be sure that it’s safe and secure. With 1Password, you don’t have to worry. All of your information is password protected and stored inside of Mac OS X’s default keychain (unless you opt-in to use the Agile Keychain). In order to access any information, or have 1Password auto-fill anything, you must know a master password. You can have 1Password ask you for the master password everytime you autofill, or open up the application, or you can have it simply remember the master password. There is also security in knowing that 1Password helps protect you from phishing scams, as well as keyloggers. You see, the app matches up passwords to webpages based on URL’s. If a phishing scam is in action, an incorrect URL will be used. So, 1Password won’t auto-fill the form for you and you’ll know that something is wrong.  Also, since the keyboard is not being used to enter secure information, keyloggers aren’t able to track your passwords.

There is also an iPhone version of 1Password – for taking your passwords and data with you. While you can’t autofill passwords in the native Mobile Safari browser, you can have 1Password go to the site and auto-fill within the app. It syncs with the desktop client through the Wi-Fi network. It’s nifty and a nice way to take your data with you. Also, 1Password can sync using MobileMe if you have multiple macs.

You can find 1Password from Agile web solutions at a price of $39.95 for a single user, $69.95 for a family pack, as well as a free demo, and education pricing. Go ahead and give 1Password a try – you won’t regret it!