Nearly everyone uses compression software of some sort on their Mac. At present, Stuffit - the original is the choice for archival compression, with DiskDoubler, the on demand choice and Autodoubler, the background choice.
Now Compress is not just another compression program, but a real attempt to produce a 2nd generation program from the masters of repackaging old ideas, Now Software.
Now Compress offers background, on demand and archival compression. All the modes are selected from a control panel. Self extracting archives can be made from any file or folder and an option can be set to expand files when copying compressed files to another disk. Stuffit, DIsk Doubler and Compact Pro archives can be accessed. Now Software claims smaller files and faster compression that the competition.
This program is a well judged attempt to further develop Mac compression. If you use compression programs all of the time then this may become your program of choice. If it had been priced at $99 it would have established the new standard immediately.
Now Compress....................................$159
Now Fun
Now Fun is another Now Software renovation of some old ideas. This collection of five control panels. Now Software is the best Five control panels renovates the Wallpaper, Soundmaster, After Dark, Click Change and Cursors ideas providing a complete kit of renovation ideas for your Mac.
Fun Screens is compatible with After Dark modules as well as it's own.
Fun Cursors provides a selection of animated cursors and a cursor editor.
Fun Sounds is a Soundmaster compatible manager for system sounds.
Fun Colours provides control over the appearance of windows, menus and dialogs.
A good value Fun package for people who want to decorate their desktop that is only missing an icon editor to makeit the complete package.
Now Fun......................................$95
POEM - 500 w/MacEmbroidery
The POEM-500 often appears in show reviews as an odd but interesting product for the Mac. The POEM is a small sewing machine that can be connected to a Macintosh. The MacEmbroidary software package uses a layered drawing program to produce the patterns for the sewing machine. Different thread colours and stitch patterns can be assigned to each layer.
The software is basic but does what it should. The stitching area is 90mm x 90mm.
