From time to time, I run across some truly useful Macintosh utilities and applications that help me in my workflow. I’d like to share my latest discovery:

Hyperspaces

Spaces, Apple’s virtual desktop environment, isn’t complete without this $13 shareware application. Currently in Public Preview, Tony Arnold’s application allows you to customize each Space the way you want – via desktop pictures, colors, text labels, and even the name of each Space.

For instance, you can assign a separate desktop background for each space. You can also assign individual text labels, via custom fonts and colors. You can even adjust the position of the text label for each desktop. I prefer to have my text labels for each desktop on the upper left side.

When you switch between Spaces, the transition between each desktop is smooth. The unregistered version allows you to customize 2 Spaces – perfect for test driving this program. The registered version allows you to customize additional Spaces. After installing and using this app for two days, I registered my copy to support the developer’s efforts.

I evaluated my copy on a Macbook Pro and MacPro.

There are some niggles with this application, but given that it hasn’t officially hit 1.0, but the developer has been good about keeping users posted with updates.

In my usage of the app, I discovered that HyperSpaces doesn’t work with CocoaTech’s newest version of Path Finder. That’s because Path Finder draws its own Desktop on the screen. The workaround I’ve found is to uncheck “Hide Finder’s Desktop” within the Path Finder preferences.

Through SpaceSwitcher, an option within HyperSpaces, you can see a custom view of all your desktops by holding Option-` (backwards tick). See screenshot below:

As far as my wish list, here’s what I’d like to see in future versions:

1) multiple monitor support
2) pure Path Finder integration
3) application / window views within each SpaceSwitcher window, similar to the way virtual desktop apps of yore (CodeTek’s Virtual Desktop, etc.)

HyperSpaces has behaved well on my system. No crashes or slow-downs were caused by this application. I have confidence in the future of this app, as it was developed by the author of the late, lamented VirtueDesktops – one of the best virtual desktop apps on the market before Apple introduced Spaces.

I really found this application to be useful. I have separate Spaces assigned to Photoshop, Painter, Netnewswire and Web/Mail. I can now easily tell which desktop I’m on, and that makes me more productive. This is something I wish Apple had implemented from the get-go.

In short, if you’re looking for a better way to organize and manage your Spaces, check out HyperSpaces. HyperSpaces requires 10.5.4 and works on Intel and PPC Macs.

-Krishna

Call me a process junkie. Call me a geek.

Why? Because I like to have access to nerdy stats about my computers. What sort of stats, you say? Stuff like CPU utilization, free hard drive space, processor temperatures, fan speed, network activity and the like. And iStat 3.0, from Bjango, does exactly that stuff (and more) for users running Macs.

I’ve been running some flavor of iStat on my computers for at least a few years now. It has always delivered on what it promised – easy access to nerdy stats presented in an attractive set of dropdown menubar items.

With versions 2 and prior, the program installed itself as a PrefPane, where individual stat preferences could be toggled on or off and customized. Prior versions of iStat were also donationware. (I recall tossing in a few bucks to the cause a few years back.)

With iStat 3, there are two significant changes worth noting:

1. the program is now a stand-alone application, living in the Applications folder
2. the program costs $10 for a limited time, after which it will run $15.

The ultimate question Mac users may have is: Is it worth the money?

Let’s take a look at a few of iStat 3′s features. As I mentioned earlier, iStat 3 is now an application.

From the main application, you can toggle the menus you want to monitor. You can also toggle the color of the skin: Aqua (gray) or Blaqua (black) as well as the color of the graphs (shown below).

The iStat menulets on the menubar provide at-a-glance information for each paramter. Clicking on an iStat menulet item will give detailed information pertaining to selected menulet. Below are a few screenshots.

Bandwidth and network monitoring:

Memory Usage:

overall CPU utilization, uptime, and processes:

Hard drive usage for all attached drives, with instant access to Apple’s Disk Utility:

A built-in calendar, date and time as well as a custom list of international time zones:

Temperature sensor readings and fan speed:

Battery usage:

In my usage, iStat 3 is pretty slick.

I’ve read online about users griping about the price. Given the amount of time the developers at Bjango put into producing such a polished piece of software, I found the introductory $10 price to be acceptable. The regular price of $15, however, seems to be a little steep.

The best purchase value for iStat 3.0, in my opinion, is for users of multiple Macs. For $18, you can run iStat on up to 5 machines, bringing the unit cost per license down to $3.60. I chose this option for the 4 Macs we have at home.

The program works well, and I haven’t experienced any problems. As for value, that’s entirely up to whether you need such monitoring.

You could always go with the open source GeekTool, which offers similar functionality (albeit on the desktop, not via the menubar). The downside to GeekTool is that it’s not as pretty, and more importantly, your stats can be buried by windows and applications during normal usage.

You have 15 days to try out iStat 3.0 to see if it’s right for you. Minimum requirements are 10.5, and it works great on 10.6. The units I tested on were a Macbook Pro (2008), Mac Pro (2008) and a G5 Dual 2GHz (2003). Give iStat 3 a whirl, if you enjoy monitoring such nerdy things, like I do.

Happy geeking!

-Krishna