TOKYO (MacHouse) – A few days ago, we mentioned in an article that we intended to upgrade an existing Mac software title available at Mac App Store. It’s Movie2Shot that we are talking about. We had some reservation about working on the second major release (Version 2) because we thought the Mac App Store guidelines could kill the point of using Movie2Shot. But maybe not… Using security-scoped bookmarks, Movie2Shot can still be compatible with Mac App Store, at the same time not making the application prompt the user to select a folder every time they click on the take-screenshot button, we think. So we made a lot of adjustments and submitted an upgrade of Movie2Shot, Movie2Shot2, to Mac App Store some 8 hours ago.

We also considered giving existing users of Movie2Shot a low upgrade fee like $4.95, which also was a good reason for not sending the application to Mac App Store. In fact, Mac App Store makes it impossible for us to just charge a lower fee to a group of users. That’s a major obstacle in distributing software outside of Mac App Store. No. 1, it would be very difficult for us to verify license ownership. We don’t know who has purchased a license for Movie2Shot. Only Apple, Inc. knows. No. 2, how to distribute software outside of Mac App Store is one question, and there’s another question in delivering software updates to users. So we’ve inevitably decided to submit this software title to Mac App Store.

Movie2Shot2 is an upgrade from Version 1 that has been developed from a scratch, written in Objective-C. It offers Mac users four different ways of taking movie screenshots easily and effectively. It allows the user to take individual movie screenshots at given frames with just a click on a button. Users can also let Movie2Shot2 take multiple movie screenshots every X seconds at a time and take X number of random screenshots at a time. A new feature that is only available with this upgrade allows the user to export every movie frame as an image.   Continue reading →

TOKYO (MacHouse) – Movie2Shot allows the user to take a movie screenshot with just a click on a button. It’s one of those applications we use every few days, if not daily. We intend to upgrade it to Version 2. In fact, all major combat operations are complete. And we just need to add some small features, bug-proofing it. This version has been developed from a scratch with Objective-C. And it’s quite stable. There are a couple of screenshots below in addition to a desktop video available at the end of this article. Seeing them, you will know that the older version is unrecognizable. Movie2Shot lets you import multiple video clips at a time. And it lets you watermark movie screenshots with just a click on a button.

A majority of Movie2Shot users must have purchased this application through Mac App Store. If you are one of them, please note that this upgrade will not be available at Mac App Store. That’s because this version would never be approved. It’s just that simple. That’s why we went through a long period of deciding whether or not we should spend our valuable time upgrading this application. The beauty of Mac App Store is that we don’t have to exchange commercial transaction with customers, just concentrating on developing new applications, updating existing ones. Meanwhile, this application is designed such that, again, the user can just click on a button to take a movie screenshot. But Mac App Store requires that the user be prompted to select a folder where to save a file, which would kill the reason for using Movie2Shot. So we have to hammer out an alternative way of distributing this upgrade. For now, we are thinking about charging just US$4.95 for an upgrade fee for Version 1.X licensees, if not 10 bucks.   Continue reading →

TOKYO (MacHouse) – There is no question that a lot of Mac users find Mac App Store useful in finding applications they need. Before Apple, Inc. opened Mac App Store, Mac users have to go to software developer’s web site to purchase an application, possibly using their PayPal account. Now, they can buy an application with just a click on a button. One problem they complain, though, is that Apple prohibits software developers from mentioning in the application description that there is a trial version available. These days, some software developers deliberately choose not to offer a trial version. Well, we do! And we use timeOver to convert a fully-functional application into a trial version. timeOver is a new software release that we submitted to Mac App Store about an hour ago.

timeOver is a simple application that helps software developers convert their fully-functional Objective-C applications into trial versions. It’s used to convert an expiration date & time of their selection into the number of total seconds so that they can programmatically handle dates more effectively. The beauty of timeOver is that it lets the user create a text file showing when a trial version expires.   Continue reading →

TOKYO (MacHouse) – You never know when you get a new software development idea. When I was developing WorldTimez, the last Mac software release, I had to insert a bunch of city names into the same line of code. And I said to myself “Is there a simpler way of doing it?” Well, I wish I had had ListUps three or four days. YEAH! Anyway, that’s our new software release. ListUps is a new Mac software title we submitted to Mac App Store a few hour ago.

ListUps is a simple desktop application that lets you create a line-by-line list from text files or folders. If the source is a text file, ListUps creates a list by reading each line as a name. You can also create a list by selecting a folder. In this case, ListUps extracts file names (with or without file extensions) from the selected folder. ListUps won’t let you stop there. It comes with a feature by which you specify an expression like a line of programming code and ListUps will encapusulate each name with it. So what are you going to do with this name list? You can save it as a text file.   Continue reading →

TOKYO (MacHouse) – Pretty much exactly one month ago from now, we started to develop Mac desktop applications again. That’s mostly because we ran out of ideas for iPad applications to develop. Bad news is that we’ve already run out of ideas for Mac applications as well. Well, that’s when we go over a list of applications we’ve developed for a different platform and see if we can port one to the current development platform. And that’s how we’ve ended up with a new software release, which we submitted to Mac App Store about an hour ago.

As the name suggests, WorldTimez Desktop is a desktop version of WorldTimez, which we have for iPad users. WorldTimez Desktop allows the user to keep track of the time around grobe, covering 22 major cities. The list of the cities includes Tokyo (Japan), Beijing (China), Mumbai (India), Jakarta (Indonesia), Sydney (Australia), Perth (Australia), Wellington (New Zealand), Dubai (U.A.E.), Jerusalem (Israel), Nairobi (Kenya), Lagos (Nigeria), Cape Town (South Africa), London (U.K.), Praque (Czech Republic), Moscow (Russia), New York (U.S.), Chicago (U.S.), San Francisco (U.S.), Mexico City (Mexico), Caracas (Venezuela), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Santiago (Chille). Extending a feature of WorldTimez, WorldTimez Desktop users can choose one of eight languages, as opposed to six for the iPad version, for location names.   Continue reading →