Not a week goes by that developers don't release great software for your Mac. It's one of the many reasons why people go with Macs in the first place. Comparing the amount of programs available for Windows with those available for Macs, we're in a bit of a disadvantage, yes. Comparing the quality of the apps however, I'd say the Mac is a tad bit above. So, let's take a look at three apps that have caught our eye this week.

The Graveyard

The Graveyard is clearly not for everyone. I doubt many will even understand its purpose (I doubt I even got the idea myself). Not wanting to get all profound and stuff about a small app, I'm just going to lay down the facts:

Tale of Tales has recently made available a very simple, yet captivating video game for the Mac called "The Graveyard." A demo version of this unique experimental game was also made available, which is why I'm sharing it with you. The full version costs a mere $5.

The black and white setting does its bit in keeping the atmosphere pretty sad (after all, everyone will have read the description before picking up on the game, so we can't call this a spoiler). Still, The Graveyard is quite alive: birds are singing, dogs are barking, the wind blows, leaves are falling off trees, and you can actually hear sirens (the police, or an ambulance) at one point, revealing that everything is happening in the present.

Players have to walk the old lady to the bench near the chapel. As she sits down, a song begins to play. The message is simple: one's journey through life, which, of course, includes death.

To exit the demo, players have to walk outside of the cemetery with the old lady. For the 5 bucks Mac users need to pay to play the full version of the game, just one extra feature is added - the possibility of death (the old lady may die). I reckon it's worth the buy, given that looking death in the eye is the whole point of The Graveyard.

Take the old lady for a walk. Maybe today is the day...

Fred

Fred is a free and open source platform independent time tracking tool that can help Mac users file, record and view efforts, while easily structuring them into tasks and projects and send them (in multi-user projects) to a project leader. Just so we clear one aspect so we can move along, Fred is no Apple Keynote. It does, however, help one keep tasks and projects organized.

Create a work file
Work files are used to store the efforts you'll create later when you're working with Fred. As noted above, these are organized in tasks and projects. Each work file can contain any number of projects. As such, it is preferable to work with only one work file.

In order to start working with Fred you also need at least one project with at least one task.

Create a Project
The only necessary information you need to input is the project name. All other fields are optional, but it is recommended that you add a small description for the new project.

Create a package
This is necessary due to the fact that every effort you file with fred needs to be assigned to a task and to a project, implicitly. You can even regard tasks as the "big packages" of a project.

Create task
Again, the only necessary information you need to enter is the task's name. A description can also be entered. Efforts that are filed in the same task don't necessarily need to belong to the same category.

Filing Efforts
Fred's main job is filing efforts, therefore this step is crucial and defines all the elements of a task. It even sports this nifty built-in calendar. The second effort you'll file will be done with help of the Quickbar. Just move the mouse cursor to the top of the screen and the Quickbar will appear. You can assign it a different location if you wish. Just click on the Quickbar's corrugated left margin, hold the mouse button down, and then drag the Quickbar to the side of your screen you want. If you're near enough to the side of your screen, the Quickbar will dock like a magnet to that side. You can achieve the same results using the View menu.

By clicking on the "Play" button, the Quickbar starts recording an effort. Here, give Fred a go. It's free!



Papaya

Another useful app we came across this week is Lighthead Software's Papaya. Using this web server dedicated to sharing your files with others is as easy as dragging files to Papaya's dock icon, or the library list. The web address for downloading the file is then copied automatically. From there on you're ready to paste your content into an e-mail or instant message.

What makes Papaya even more attractive is that the person receiving your shared files doesn't need any special software to make the download. Papaya acts as a web server, sharing files through the HTTP protocol. Have a look at the images to the left (click to enlarge). The UI is very clean, exactly what a simplified web server should sport.

But there's more to Papaya than just dragging and dropping files into a window. You can arrange a library of shared files in groups too. Needless to say, there's no need to place files in certain folders since files added to your library are served from wherever they're located on your computer, which further eliminates the fuss of having to upload your files to a "middle" server. Shared files are available for download the instant you've dropped them into Papaya.

Added folders are automatically converted into archives (Zip or TAR) when they're downloaded, so you don't need to archive a folder yourself. Also, stuff like images and movies will appear as thumbnails, since Papaya also supports QuickLook.

However, you might not always want someone having access to everything you've shared. As such, any shared items can be disabled and you can also turn off listing for groups to conceal their contents. Additionally, you can set passwords for files and groups.

If, say you have too many windows open on your desktop, dragging and dropping might not always be the most comfortable way to add files. That's why Lighthead Software has included a paste feature for text and images to be directly created into Papaya. You can even share the current playing song in iTunes, or a picture you've just taken with your iSight.

Go ahead, give this one a go too. Soon enough you'll be asking "is there anything Papaya can't do?"

Should next week bring up note-worthy programs for your Mac, be sure to check back in to see what else you can use to extend your Mac OS X experience.