There are no categories, and they are listed in no particular order. Without further ado, below you’ll find the recipients of the The Mac Observer’s Editors’ Choice Awards for 2010.
Office2 from Byte Squared – iPhone Office application. Office2 allows you to view, create and edit MSWord .doc and Excel .xls documents right on the iPhone. It integrates with iDisk and Google Docs, allowing you to instantly access your edits from you Mac. The integration is smooth, the editing functions behave just like you would expect, and the feature list includes all of the most commonly-used functions and formatting tools used. Office2 is available at Apple’s App Store.
CarMD – Let’s face it, we’re all geeks. And most of us are geeks that drive cars… cars that have a computer jack in them! This has always left us wondering: how do we know what our cars so desperately want to tell us? What does this nebulous “Check Engine” light really mean? CarMD provides those answers. Now with software support for the Mac, you plug the CarMD adapter into your car, let it download the data, then plug it into your Mac and enjoy knowing exactly the status of most electrical and computer components and sensors in your car. If there’s a problem, CarMD’s software will even guide you through possible solutions to the issue, many times offering real-life fixes compiled from car gurus all over the country.
HyperMac External Battery from Sanho – Since the introduction of the MagSafe power adapter, the Mac market has been without any simple solution for an external battery. And since the introduction of Mac laptops with permanent, non-removable batteries, we’ve desperately needed one. HyperMac answers this call with their HyperMac External Battery. Available in sizes that will allow even a 17-inch MacBook Pro to operate for more than 25 hours (their numbers), The HyperMac External Battery will also — and simultaneously — charge (or power) and iPhone, iPod, or other USB device.
BusyCal from BusyMac – Announced at last Macworld Expo, this product didn’t ship until later in the year and wasn’t eligible for an award until now, and we’re happy to give it to them. BusyMac Software describes BusyCal as “iCal Pro” and we couldn’t agree more. From members of the original Now Up-To-Date team, BusyCal brings all that functionality back to a Mac calendar, including Recuring ToDos, True Multi-User Calendars, full Bonjour, Google, and iPhone syncing, Live Weather, Event Graphics and more.
TuneBug Vibe from Silicon Valley Global LLC – We like to think of TuneBug Vibe as a speaker-less speaker – SVG calls it an “ultra portable sound generator.” You can plug your iPod, iPhone, MacBook, or any digital media device with a 1/8-inch sound output, into this device, and whatever surface it rests on becomes, essentially, a flat panel speaker. That allows you to play your music out loud for you or other people to hear without you having to carry a full speaker solution with you. It’s the first product of its kind that we’ve seen, and a very innovative way to approach the market for portable iPod speakers. There’s a Bluetooth version called TuneBug Shake coming, too, with a mounting solution that would allow cyclists, for instance, to turn their helmet into a speaker.
Eye-Fi Pro X2 – Eye-Fi continues to raise the bar with their Eye-Fi series of wireless photo and movie upload cards, and the Eye-Fi X2 Pro is no different. The first card in teh X2 series sports many improvements, such as 8GB of faster Class 6 SDHC memory, faster 802.11n wireless technology, greater range, RAW support, as well as ad-hoc networking, and an endless memory features that purges older items so you never run out of space.
NuPower Charge & Sync+ – When on the move, many resort to individual solutions when it comes to charging your devices, syncing your devices, and having portable power in case you’re not near an outlet. The Charge & Sync+ provides a single solution for all of these needs. It can charge your devices, act as a portable battery when you’re not near an outlet, allows you to sync your devices, and has adapters for the Apple Dock Connector, mini-USB and micro-USB connectors. All of this is in a nice portable package.
Powerybase Bills – Everyone hates bills, having to remember to pay them even more. Bills provides a visually pleasing, clean interface and wealth of features that makes this task as painless as possible. You can enter one-time and recurring bills, which are stored in the app, and are also accessible via web browser. Push notifications let you know when items are due, and a payment log shows past transactions. A calendar view give you the big picture, and a category view shows where your money is going. Who knows, you may end up enjoying paying your bills using Bills!