Helium Foot Software

MicroISV Marketing for the Masses

Despite the fact that i'm the host, my good friend and co-panelist Kevin Hoctor beat me to the punch in announcing this latest episode. Joined as always by the aforementioned Kevin of No Thirst Software as well as Gus Mueller of Flying Meat and Steve "Scotty" Scott of mamooba and The Mac Developer Network, we discuss how a new or newish (even if you don't look newish) Mac shop might garner some interest from the Mac blogosphere, Mac press-o-sphere and Mac user-o'sphere. Also as usual, the best stuff in this show, definitely comes from the rest of the panel and i'm continually grateful for Gus, Scotty and Kevin's participation.

You can find the m4a of this episode at the Mac Developer Network. If you're not familiar with the Mac Developer Network, it's a really terrific source for some fabulous content: audio, video and text. If you enjoy this type of content, please consider supporting the Mac Developer Network by joining up.

Check back in three months for our farewell episode.

MercuryMover v2.0.2

MercuryMover fixes v2.0.2 fixing a freeze that occurs with some MacBook(Pro) users when they connect to or disconnect from an external display. Get it here.

Currently underway is a fix for an issue that affects PowerMac and iMac G5 users. If you're one of those hang in there, help is coming.

Highbrow v0.4.0

Announcing a new Prerelease of Highbrow: Juggle all of your browsers with ease! Highbrow always knows which one you want to use. If you haven't yet met Highbrow, let me give you a proper introduction now. From our Highbrow page:

Highbrow makes its presence felt in the menubar, always showing you what your default web browser is. Highbrow shows its mettle by changing the system wide browser according to your habits. Highbrow can of course keep a single browser as YOUR browser, but its value is in switching your default to the most recently used or most recently launched browser. Highbrow can even ask you which browser you were looking for.

• Implemented "Ask me which browser to use" feature
• Highbrow now recognize newly installed browsers (assuming that they are in /Applications or ~/Applications)
• Added the cmd-ctrl-h hotkey to show the Highbrow Menu without using the mouse (Helium Foot is all about mouselessness)

• Better automatic updates: nicer interface, more control
• The icon is temporary
• There is no first-run window
• There is no help file

On and Off the Internets

MercuryMover and Helium Foot Software have both been garnering some pretty nice attention recently. In the wake of the recent v2.0 release, MercuryMover has leapt from the pages of the internet to the, er, pages of MacWorld magazine. That's right, MercuryMover made the print edition!

Hot on the heels of our print debut, MercuryMover was featured on the excellent ScreenCastsOnline in an episode about working with large displays. In the run-up to the release of this screencast, i offered Don McAllister, the proprietor of ScreenCastsOnline, a $2 commission on every MercuryMover license sold via ScreenCastsOnline. This would just be a small way to help support his really terrific site. Don turned around and donated all of these commissions to the National Cancer Coalition as part of Helium Foot's philanthropic work. I was (and continue to be) really moved by Don's generous offer and have in turn pledged to spread the word about Don's menschiness.

Next up was a really nice mention by Tonya Engst on the Mac Notables vidcast. Tonya and her husband Adam publish the very successful Take Control series of e-books as well as the long-standing Mac news site, TidBITS. I've always been grateful for the coverage that Tonya and Adam have given to Helium Foot over the past year and after seeing them together on the vidcast, i immediately nominated them for the Cutest Mac Couple contest.

One great mention can definitely lead to another. After watching the Mac Notables cast, i contacted the host and well known Mac-about-town Chuck Joiner and before i knew it, he was interviewing me for his MacVoices show. I'd never done an interview like this and it was a lot of fun! We shot the breeze like old pals for half an hour covering MercuryMover, Highbrow, my podcast, our work with the National Cancer Coalition and even touched on our purported iPhone app. Chuck's a really great guy and if you see him out there in the Mac World, you should definitely introduce yourself.

Exciting things are ahelium at Helium Foot Software. Stay tuned to these same internets and you'll surely hear all about them.