So I’ve been working on this little application that fixes an annoying problem in OS X.

You may have noticed that the remaining battery life on your MacBook Pro (or whatever laptop you have) often plummets if you leave Safari displaying an ad in the background. That’s because most web browsers, as well as a number of other apps, continue running tasks or animations even when they’re sitting idle in the background. This can be pretty frustrating if you’re actually trying to conserve battery or use that CPU power for something useful.

I wrote App Tamer to fix this.  It pauses apps in the background to prevent them from chewing up CPU time (and battery life). I know, I know – you’ve probably seen some utilities that do this already. BUT – here’s the cool part – App Tamer stops and starts applications automatically. You don’t have to distract yourself by manually stopping and starting applications – it just magically works.

Have a look at the App Tamer page for details.  It’s in the final stages of beta testing, and you’re welcome to download a copy of the latest beta and try it for yourself. Let us know what you think at AppTamer@stclairsoft.com.

Version 4.3.10 of Default Folder X 4.3.10 is now ready for download.

It fixes a few problems in the setting of Finder labels that could be very annoying:  In some configurations, the Finder label on newly saved files would default to Yellow.  This version also gives you a couple of new AppleScript verbs, AddFavoriteFolder and RemoveFavoriteFolder.  If you use AppleScript to manage your workflow by creating or renaming folders, this allows you automate your Default Folder X favorites to keep in step.  A few other bugs have been squashed and features added – check the Release Page for details.

Version 4.3.8 of Default Folder is available now.

It adds an often-requested feature: It shows you the dimensions (in pixels) of images in its preview and info panes.  It’s also got an important fix if you’ve got a shiny new MacBook Pro: The automatic GPU switching would think that Default Folder X needed the high-powered NVIDIA graphics card, resulting in poor battery life (yeah, I thought that too – what the heck?)  This release corrects that.

It’s also got a fix for the “Make save dialogs automatically default to the current document’s folder”  feature not working correctly, new capabilities for users of AppleScript and Path Finder, expanded hotkey support, and a bunch of other goodies.

MacUpdate is featuring Default Folder X for their MacUpdate Promo of the day.  For 24 hours, you can get Default Folder X for only $19.95 – that’s 43% off the regular price.

If you don’t already own a copy, take advantage of this great deal.  If you already know how great Default Folder X is, tell your friends while they can get it for nearly 1/2 off – they’ll be forever indebted to you, not only for introducing them to DFX but also for saving them money!

Go to http://www.mupromo.com/ to buy your copy now!