Nov 15, 2009 | Announcements, Cashculator
Today we released Cashculator version 1.0.1. This version adds the following:
- Now accepts entering numbers based on locale (decimal separator, thousands grouping separator)
- Position and size of main window is now remembered between restarts
- Small updates to introductory tutorial
We hear your other suggestions. Keep them coming. Good place to discuess these is in the Cashculator forums.
Nov 3, 2009 | article, Business, Programming
Do you use DMG to distribute your software for download?
Do you create it using a script, by creating a template DMG and then replacing its content upon release?
If you do, which I fully endorse, and you’ve created your template in Finder on Snow Leopard, read below.
In the last couple of days before the ininitial release of Cashculator to the public I’ve been struggling with the DMG creating process. I thought I’d already mastered it. After all, I’ve been already doing it with ImageFramer. So I prepared my template, copied the .DS_Store file from it (I used this process with ImageFramer) and script handled it all fine for me. I look at the final opened DMG and I see the following image (which is what I indended it to be):
Cashculator DMG background
I send it to the server and let my partner Kosta check it on his machine. He’s using Leopard and not the Snowy kind. He send me back the following image, which is far from what I thought it to be:
Cashculator DMG on Leopard
Not good. So I tried this way and that way. I even moved to another system, where I first create the DMG and use the DMG itself as the template, without exracting .DS_Store first. Nothing helped on Leopard.
So we met and he brought the Leopard machine with him. I open the DMG, press Cmd-J and see that Finder thinks there’s no backgrond image and icon sizes are different.
After some research I came to the conclusion that DMGs created on Snow Leopard don’t show the same at all on Leopard. Frightened, I also tested my ImageFramer releases, which also sport a new background since the release of Snow Leopard. To my shock, it was also totally wrong on Leopard. That’s not how I wanted to convey the first impression of ImageFramer to potential customers.
The solution, of course, was to create the DMG on Leopard and use it as template instead. I ran the new template through my scripts and reopened the final DMG on Leopard to check. It was fine. Finally.
Today I did the same with ImageFramer‘s DMG. For some reason, the one from Leopard showed without background on my Snow Leopard machine. I only added the background again and saved the DMG. It worked fine on Leopard too.
That’s it. So, if you use a similar technique for creating DMG, check them on Leopard and on Snow Leopard before shipping to avoid later embarrassment.
Nov 3, 2009 | Announcements, Cashculator
Apparent Software today is proud to announce Cashculator 1.0, a new kind of personal finance application for Mac OS X. Cashculator is a different kind of personal finance application – instead of focusing on the past and logging previous transactions, it focuses on future by forecasting your financial situation.It allows making better decisions regarding your personal finance or small business. Version 1.0 is first release of the application.
Cashculator is different from most other personal finance applications, which are usually complex, costly and focus on past performance by logging and tracking transactions that occurred on user accounts. Unlike them, Cashculator is very easy to use: No need to define your accounts and configure the application, no complex dialog boxes, no credits, debits or portfolio management. Just simple numbers: income and expenses.
Cashculator is the simplest way to manage your finances. Like a spreadsheet, Cashculator is very visual and straightforward. Built specifically for personal finance, Cashculator improves upon a spreadsheet by supporting budgeting, easy “what-if” scenarios comparisons and more.
Cashculator Benefits:
- It allows you to live in the future, not the past, by forecasting your future financial situation
- It allows you to make better decisions regarding your personal finance or your small business
- It allows you to manage your finance using a clear, simple and intuitive interface, following Mac tradition
Main Features:
- Have a high-level overview of your historic spending and income
- Cash flow prediction: do you have a surplus cashflow or are you accumulating debt?
- What-if analysis to compare alternatives: check if you can afford to purchase that gadget in several payments or you should push it until you get that salary raise
- View income, expenses and balance with easy-to-use and intuitive graphs
Language Support:
* English and French
Minimum Requirements:
* Mac OS X Version 10.5 or later
* Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel
* 7.8 MB Hard Drive space
Pricing and Availability:
Cashculator 1.0 costs $29.95 (family license) but can be purchased for $19.95 (USD) for a limited time using a coupon available on the site. A full-featured, trial version can be downloaded.