I downloaded the demo of the 1.0 release and ran it through its paces. The demo lets you have all the functionality of the full version, but you’re limited to running three different services or accounts. Which, honestly, isn’t much of a limitation for many users, myself included.

All Your Services, One Place

Socialite covers all the major bases, including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. That would be enough for me, but it also will log you into Digg and Google Reader, or let you track RSS feeds yourself manually. For many people I know, opening Socialite first thing in the morning would clear their to-do list for the day.

Facebook integration lets you access status updates and photo albums, both yours and those of your friends. You can upload photos and update your status, but inbox access is still not a part of the deal, until Facebook opens that up to the API. Twitter gives you access to your timeline, mentions, and direct messages, and allows you to view your lists and lists you subscribe to. You can’t create new lists or modify them in this version of Socialite. Flickr includes contacts photos, but also Interestingness, which is one of my favorite parts of Flickr, so I’m glad it’s included.

Many Features, One Simple UI

None of these services share the same UI in their native formats. That’s why Socialite’s interface is so impressive. It manages to make the process of working with multiple services in the same shell incredibly intuitive and relatively painless. Well-designed icons, and consistent function placement across the board help make this happen.

Best of all, if you’d rather just deal with things as one big mess, you can work with updates from all your services at once in the macro view “Unread” menu, and all of the appropriate actions for each separate service still appears in the options section for each. And clicking on any update automatically brings up the quick input field related to that service.

Jack of All Trades, Master of None?

Socialite is a great program, and well designed, but it can’t take the place of Tweetie on my Mac. The problem is that since starting to use Twitter, I’ve become less and less dependent on other social networks I belong to. Facebook I can check twice a day really, if I feel like it, and Flickr is something I never really used to begin with. No matter how well Socialite does Twitter, Tweetie still does it better, and with a much smaller memory footprint.

Still, if you like to frequent many social sites, and especially if you’re a Google Reader user, Socialite could be the perfect program to help keep things organized and nicely aggregated in one convenient location.

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• How to Market Your iPhone App: A Developer’s Guide

The seven apps are all new to me, but they seem to have garnered favorable reviews and even some official accolades from Apple itself. They also cover quite a range, meaning that no two really duplicate the functions or features of the others. Here’s a brief rundown of the apps you get in the bundle.

• GraphicConverter – Does what it says. You can open basically any image file, and then save it as another. You can also do some light editing, organize your photos, run a slide show, and automate your image processing to make working with large batches of files easier.
• Picturesque – Provides a lot of easy, 1-click or simplified image enhancement abilities. Great for those who don’t have the patience or time to learn more advanced programs like Photoshop, or who want really quick turnaround times for time sensitive activities like blogging.
• ImageFramer – Add frames to your pictures. A little weird, in my opinion, but if you’re looking for something different for your photos, this could be it.
• Funtastic Photos – Photo correction and enhancement which automatically preserves your original. Also packs a number of sharing features, and a rich print layout system.
• Graphic Designer Toolbox – Combine building blocks to create crazy new graphic effects and images. You use the unique interface to marry various elements together in a non-destructive process that is both deceptively simple and incredibly deep. Weird but cool.
• DrawIt – A vector image editor and drawing app. Tons of shapes are included in the default set, and there’s support for user-created ones, too. A nice little app that will have you creating Mac-friendly icons and more with relative ease.
• HoudahGeo – Add geolocation data to your photos. HoudahGeo lets you specify information like latitude, longitude, altitude and viewing angle in an image file’s EXIF, XMP or IPTC tags.

All of the apps included in MacGraPhoto have apparently been Apple Staff Picks except for Graphic Designer Toolbox, which won a Think Different award for graphic image editors. At the very least, you’ll probably shave a few steps off of your current process for doing light image editing by picking up the bundle. Plus, if you tell three people about the deal and they buy the pack as a result, the price of your purchase is refunded and you get it free. The bundle pricing expires in a little over five days.

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The spiral-bound book is around 8 1/2″ x 11″ so it won’t get lost in the bottom of a laptop bag. There are 100 pages of design templates with lines at the top for jotting the name and other important details of the app. A real-size image of an iPhone is centered on graph-style paper with ample room to make drawings and notes about every aspect of the development process.

I caught up with the sketch book’s creator, Dean Kaplan, and was surprised to discover the impetus behind the book’s creation.

“I happened to be auditing the Stanford iPhone Programming course,” says Kaplan, “and one of the guest speakers discussed how he went about creating his user interface designs. Paper was one option he mentioned. Almost instantly the notebook idea light bulb went off. Other options of various computer programs were mentioned, but it always got back to paper and pencil. Subsequently, I did my own online survey that revealed designers prefer paper 95% of the time.”

Kaplan says once he got the idea to create the book, it only took about nine weeks until it hit the shelves. Depending on its success, he may create similar sketchbooks for the Palm Pre and Android.

The sketchbook is already a hit with some application developers. David J. Hinson, creator of popular iPhone apps like Cheap Gas (iTunes link) and Amigo (iTunes link), says he sees immediate value in a tool like this. “You can keep your notes and preliminary wireframes all in one handy little notebook. I was really intrigued and I think it’s a great concept because I’m constantly writing things on the whiteboard and losing track of my notes. It’s simple in execution, but spot on.”

Interested developers can pick up the iPhone Application Sketch Book for $14.99 at Amazon.

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Apple released the second version of the iPhone 3.0 OS and SDK Beta today, bringing developers a number of feature improvements and stability fixes.

It’s good news for people like me who are using the beta on their primary phones — against their own good judgment and the advice of Apple and everyone else. The official build number is 7a259g, and this release marks only two weeks since the announcement and initial release of the iPhone 3.0 software.

I had a suspicion that this build’s release timing might have something to do with the recent discovery that if you’re using the brand-new Skype app with the 3.0 firmware installed, you can apparently make calls over your 3G connection instead of just on Wi-Fi. But, lo and behold, 3G voice calls still work with Skype using the new beta. In fact, a lot of the buggy issues I complained about earlier seem to have been resolved with the latest update, including the mic failure when used by third-party apps.

So far, most of the changes I’ve noticed have been improvements to overall performance, less freezing, and generally fewer bugs. Spotlight loads up a lot quicker, and returns results faster, too. Battery life seems to be better, or at least it hasn’t drained completely while streaming Internet radio over 3G. Using the first beta, I could literally watch it die none too slowly when doing this. The real test will be seeing how long the phone can go without a power cycle, since gradual OS slowdown and eventual failure was my biggest problem before. There’s also a weird “Store” menu in the iPhone’s Settings whose purpose isn’t yet clear.

If you were hesitant about using a pre-release build on your primary device, 7a259g may be reason enough to take the plunge. I’ll let you know if any major issues crop up with extended use.

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This week, Glu Mobile’s latest game The Dark Knight: Batmobile Game for iPhone went live on the App Store. In the game, players get to direct the Batmobile through a difficult street path filled with twists and turns as well as jump sequences with the goal of getting Batman to Gotham City as quickly as possible. The game uses the iPhone accelerometer to further excite playability as well as 3D graphics for an enhanced visual experience.

The Dark Knight: Batmobile Game

Players experience the power behind the 2.5 ton Batmobile as they drive it through a series of high-powered jump sequences to get Batman through the streets of Gotham City as quickly as possible. Unlike a typical racing game, you don’t actually ‘steer’ the vehicle, but use the iPhone to apply speed boosts, fire the weapon (on a limited basis), and align the Batmobile correctly when performing a jump. This does make it very easy to pick up and play, but after a few plays you may find the gameplay a little limited.

There are some impressive graphics, and the game re-creates the eerie feel of Gotham City well. Likewise, the Batmobile bears an excellent resemblance to the model featured in the film.

Glu Mobile

Jill Braff, Glu’s senior vice president explains that:

The launch of The Dark Knight: Batmobile Game represents the variety of games we’ll be bringing to the iPhone and iPod Touch in the coming year, which will include original titles and licensed games and a range of gameplay depth

I’m looking forward to seeing future releases from Glu, as I feel that they’re just starting to perfect gameplay on the iPhone. A version with greater depth and additional maps would be welcomed, but the Batmobile game is a good sign of things to come. It also marks the beginning of ‘Glu Snax’, a category of games specifically designed for th iPhone that combine addictive gameplay at a low price point. Glu Snax titles deliver iPhone consumers a “quick, engaging and affordable game experience.”

If you’re able to gain a ‘perfect’ score, it opens up a bonus round. As you can see, I still have a little way to go before I unlock the extra level! The Dark Knight: Batmobile Game is a very good example of a game which utilizes the devices’ accelerometer and 3-D graphics well, but you do get what you pay for. It would be too good to be true for the game to have several levels and true player driving control for only 99 cents. The game is now available to iPhone and iPod touch consumers via the App Store.

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This time we’re looking at Free RSS Reader, Menstrual Calendar and three freebies from Japanese game shop Hudson Soft.

Hudson Soft have been making fantastic games for quite some time now. From Bomberman, back on the NES in the 80′s, to the super-successful Mario Party series and now, owned by gaming giants Konami, creating titles for the iPhone.  Over in Japan this week, it’s the annual Tokyo Game Show and to celebrate the event, the lovely folks at Hudson Soft have released three games on the App Store for free (until October 12, so grab ‘em now!).

Another App Store Roundup next week, in the meantime check those apps out for yourself and let us know what new apps you’d recommend.

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There are generally 3 types of eBay users. Those who list and buy everything they can get their hands on who constantly have atleast a dozen auctions going, those who have never used eBay, and those who go in spurts of being the first type.

I generally tend to be the latter. I’ll go 6 months or a year and never touch eBay and then my wife and I will get an itch to clean out the closet and sell practically everything we can touch. Yes, listing things on eBay can be a bit of an addiction.

While certain business niches seem to be moving to web-based applications, it would seem a lot people prefer to move away from eBay. The interface can be extremely overcrowded, clunky, and many times slow. So having a GUI to manage everything can be a pretty nice thing.

Below are a few applications (some free, some not), that I’ve found that might help feed your eBay addiction a bit whether you’re a seller or a buyer.

GarageSale

For the past few years GarageSale has been my eBay application of choice.

It’s been around for a few years but over the past year and half or so they’ve really stepped things up and set the bar high for similar applications.

If you’re looking to sell anything on eBay, you really should be using GarageSale. For power sellers, GarageSale will save you huge amounts of time as well as money by letting you use the GarageSale servers for image storage and for doing certain tasks like scheduled publishing that would otherwise cost you extra fees if you went through the eBay site.

GarageSale is an extremely affordable $30 and is available here.

GarageBuy

GarageSale is for sellers. GarageBuy, on the other hand, is for people looking for killer deals!

Basically GarageBuy takes the content available on eBay and wraps it up in a different package. I actually find the interface to be a bit crowded, but it does do a good job of weeding out a lot of the information “fluff” on the eBay site that a lot of times isn’t necessary. I just think they went a bit overboard on the Big ‘N Chunky™ gradients and rounded corners.

Where GarageSale might lack on the interface side, it makes up for in features. With features like Growl support for notifications and keyword/search saving, it really can be a great tool when you’re looking for a lot of items.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s free?

iSale

The main competitor to GarageSale is definitely Equinux’s iSale.

When iSale originally came out I wasn’t all that impressed with it. It’s interface left a lot to be desired and its feature set wasn’t anything to get excited about.

In the past couple of years, though, Equinux really stepped up its game. In 2005 and 2006 iSale was a winner of the Apple Design Award at WWDC.

iSale’s feature set if quite similar to GarageSale so really a lot comes down to your interface preference. iSale is a tad more expensive than GarageSale, clocking in at around $40 in the Equinux store.

Auction Hunter

Auction Hunter is a straightforward application for watching an “sniping” bids on eBay.

Sniping is where you bid a (hopefully) winning bid at the last section. Auction Hunter will let you set your “snipe” bid and then will make that bid at the last second for you.

Auction Hunter is shareware that costs $30 if you’d like to have it nag-free and featured-loaded.

eBayAddict

Here’s another widget to add to your Dashboard.

eBayAddict lets you track auctions so you can keep up to date on the price/status of as many auctions as you’d like.

eBay Watcher

Another Dashboard widget, eBay Watcher is fairly full-featured widget. It can track specific auction, search eBay, give audio feedback, Growl notification, and more.

For you iPhone users, eBay Watcher can even be installed for use right on your phone.

eBay Watcher is an affordable $10 which includes licenses for 2 computers.

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So to help with that I’ve compiled a list of some applications I’ve used over the years including the ones I think are the best. There are certainly more applications out there that aren’t listed here so if you’ve used something that has worked well, definitely let me know about it.

Time Tracking & Invoicing

On The Job – If simple time tracking an invoicing is all you need, On The Job is the app for you. It purposefully has less features than some of the competition and that is something it definitely has going for it. It’s my app of choice for time tracking.

Studiometry – Full-featured time tracking, invoice, and client management. This is really one of the most solid applications for any client-based business. The $190 price tag is seriously worth it if you need all of the features it has.

Billings – Billings is a newer player in the full-featured time tracking and invoicing market but they’ve made a solid splash. Billings doesn’t have quite as many features as Studiometry but the features it does have are the core ones you’d be using regularly anyways. It’s $59 price tag also makes it significantly more affordable than Studiometry.

QuickBooks – While QuickBooks does not have any real time tracking abilities, it does have a fairly stout invoicing system that can be very convenient if you use QuickBooks to manage your business finances.

Web alternatives:
Blinksale – I use this for all my invoicing needs. Straightforward invoicing at its best. Prices starting from $12/month (not including the limited free plan).

Harvest – Solid time tracking (OS X Widget included). Prices starting from $9/month (not including the limited free plan).

Money Managment

QuickBooks – The industry standard for business finance management. The Mac version of QuicKBooks is frequently chastised for its clunky interface compared to its Windows counterpart but in all honesty I’ve yet to have any real gripes. This app is a core part of running my business. Pricing for this is $200.

Cha-Ching – Arguably one of the best looking applications on the Mac, Cha-Ching has somehow managed to make a boring financial application hip and fun. Class OS X features like smart folders and iSight integration make this a fairly easy application to learn and use. This one will cost you $40.

iFinance – Fairly simple interface. At $15 it’s one of the cheapest solutions available.

iBank – Pretty full-featured with things like report and chart creation and budget tracking. It’s $50 for one license with a 30-day money back guarantee.

Money 2 – Jumsoft’s Money has recently seen a major upgrade to Money 2. The new feature set in Money 2 really is extremely solid though some may find the extra features as a little overkill (ie. a built in web browser). For the number of features it offers, the $40 price tag is steal.

Web alternatives:
DimeWise – Super cheap ($5 a month).

Wesabe – Includes a helpful community for tips and suggestions.

Communication

Skype – Despite the recent outage, Skype is still one of my favorite tools for phone communication. With bookoodles of add-ons from personal phone numbers to voicemail and more, Skype has raised the bar and become a viable solution for many small business owners.

Adium – Whether you think chatting is productive or not, it’s great for hitting up co-workers or clients for quick questions. This one is free in every way possible.

Web alternatives:
Mailroom – Mailroom is a fairly niche mail application in that it’s mainly built for customer support teams. Pricing starts at $9 (not counting the limited free plan).

Campfire – Perfect for group chats with co-workers and clients with features such as file attachments and chat logging. Pricing starts at $12/month. There is a free plan that would work fine for smaller groups.

Project Management

Daylite Productivity Suite – An incredibly full-featured project management application, Daylite is one of the most useful applications on the Mac today. The full suite includes some killer features such a Mail integration, shared calendars, contact management, and more. A 1-user license costs $189.

OmniPlan – One of the newer Omni Group applications, OmniPlan makes heavy use of Gantt charts to help schedule out any project you have. The full version costs $150.

Web alternatives:
Basecamp – 37signals’ flagship product, Basecamp has become the standard for project management in many offices (especially small/home businesses). I keep Basecamp open almost the entire day to help manage things. Pricing starts at $12/month.

Contact Management

Address Book – Some people prefer simplicity (myself included). I prefer Address Book to keep up with all my contacts and it has served me great over the years. It is included for free with OS X.

Daylite – In addition to being a great project management app (as mentioned above), Daylite also does a killer job of managing contacts. I’ve used it to manage everything from new client leads to team members on a project. A 1-user license costs $189.

SOHO Organizer – SOHO Organizer is a bit less business focused than Daylite. In addition to helping you organize contacts, it also helps lets you attach everything under the sun to those contacts as well as group them together however you wish. This one will cost you $100.

Redlien Account Executive – Redlien is almost exclusively for people who are in sales. With features such as email logging and opportunity management, I can’t imagine this not helping you increase your sales to other people. Cost is $130 for a new license or $90 to upgrade from a competing applications (such as Daylite).

Web alternatives:
Highrise – The newest application from the 37signals crew, Highrise is contact management in the usual 37signals style. Simple, straightforward, no feature-bloat. It has just the tools you need to customize it to your workflow. Prices start at $12/month. There is a limited free version as well.

Miscellaneous Tools

Yep – Yep (formally known as Kip, and covered here) is an application for organizing your documents. I use it religiously to digitize and organize paper receipts and other documents so I can keep a paper-free work environment as much as possible. The $34 price tag is well worth it.

VMware Fusion – Prior to VMware Fusion’s release, I was Parallels guy. But since Fusion came out I’ve exclusively moved to it. Doing so much frontend development, I keep it open almost all day to do browser testing on Windows browsers. Right now you can get it for $60 (after a $20 mail-in rebate).

OmniGraffle – Whether you need to build a simple wireframe for a new web project or create a flow chart for any type of information, OmniGraffle is really the best option for you on your Mac. Pricing starts at $80 for the standard version.

MailTemplate – If you have a lot of email that frequently requires the same response (such as customer service emails), I highly suggest you check out MailTemplate. You create custom mail templates for either new mail or replies that will ultimately save you tons of time on responding to certain types of email. MailTemplate costs around $15.

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