Clocks and calendars:
Databases and spreadsheets:
Finance:
Math and science:
Miscellaneous (very):
Planning and personal information managers:
Automatic Calendar 2.0 (Excel)
Category: Personal Productivity/Clocks & Calendars
Author: Raymond Bolton
If you own Excel 4.0, you know that you own the most powerful
financial program available for the Mac today. (It can also be
argued that you own the only usable Mac application released by
Microsoft in years, but that's another story.) You may not realize,
however, that it can be used for many other purposes: personal
information manager, calendar, and cheese grater. How?
Through macros, my friend, well implemented as they are in Automatic
Calendar by Raymond Bolton. He's put together an Excel-based calendar
program which creates instant calendars for any year from 1904
through 2078. They appear in five formats, all of which can be
saved and printed: two annual, one monthly, and two "appointment
book" layouts.
It all works quite well, and shows the mind of a sophisticated
scripter at work. I have only one complaint, and it's as much
Microsoft's fault as Mr. Bolton's: phantom files proliferate as
you create and discard calendars. Each calendar you make is saved
in the application's home folder, you see, and they often collide
with one another. Trying to create two calendars for 1968 will
cause a conflict, for example, as they both try to save to the
file named "1968 Calendar". Still, it's a clever bit of work,
and it's easy enough to work around this problem. And by the way:
the author takes credit cards! *hint, hint*.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: MICROSOFT EXCEL TEMPLATE CALENDAR SCHEDULE APPOINTMENT TO DO
LIST
Requires: Microsoft Excel 4.0
Price: Shareware $7
Back to top
FireWorx Calendar
Category: Personal Productivity/Clocks & Calendars
Author: Dave Herndon
FireWorx has done it again: created a sleek, user-friendly HyperCard-based
system for managers to handle human resource and scheduling issues.
FireWorx Calendar works in concert with their other two shareware
stacks, "Trade Request Forms" and "Overtime Management System"
to create a total management system -- with some caveats.
This calendar was obviously developed from real use, and there
are strengths and weaknesses from such real-world development:
on the one hand, the program works the way you'd like it to work
in most cases, as he's probably tried many different interfaces
before arriving at the present one. On the other hand, the program
hasn't been completely generalized for public use: buttons and
dialog boxes are sometimes specific to a public firehouse (its
original environment), and the program occasionally tries to get
external files from Mr. Herndon's home drive. (One work-around
is to rename your hard drive to match his; a better solution is
to edit the HyperCard scripts which make up the program, if you
know how.)
FireWorx Calendar works best for a specific audience: either managers
who'd like to keep track of human resources, or hacks with enough
HyperTalk experience to generalize it more. But if you fall into
one of these categories, it's quite well-done, especially when
linked to Mr. Herndon's other shareware HyperCard-based management
programs. NOTE: You may only use this program for 15 minutes at
a time before receiving a shutdown warning: paying the shareware
fee eliminates this limit.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: FIREWORX CALENDAR APPOINTMENT BOOK HYPERCARD DATABASE DATES
ORGANIZATION
Requires: HyperCard 2.0 or later
Price: Shareware $8
Back to top
My Calendar Suite
Category: Personal Productivity/Clocks & Calendars
Author: David A. Bailey
Fans of the recently commercialized PIM "GMS Calendar" will appreciate
the interface to David Bailey's "My Calendar Suite", a pair of
desk accessories which show yearly, monthly and weekly calendars.
The suite is composed of two utilities: a small monthly calendar
(good for keeping on your desktop) and a more versatile yearly
calendar (useful for long-range planning).
In either calendar, notes are stored by clicking on the date.
Here the implementation differs: in the monthly calendar, the
date doesn't become highlighted to show there's a note there,
whereas in the yearly calendar, it does. (The latter system is
best: don't you want to know when you have upcoming obligations?)
The monthly calendar, however, has a feature which makes it an
excellent candidate for placement in your Startup Items folder
under System 7: it will flash today's notes on the screen upon
launching.
Execution is incredibly fast: the monthly My Calendar can crank
out dozens of calendars per second. It's not perfect, but this
suite is a nice little item to keep on your desktop. NOTE: The
default button for entering notes in the monthly view is "Close",
which doesn't save the note. Make sure you hit "Update" to keep
your changes.
Version 2.0 features sizable windows, view notes options on month
view, independent month/year window size and location.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: pim personal information manager dates day week desk accessory
Requires: System 7 or later (for part of the suite); System 6.0.5 otherwise
Price: Shareware $10
Back to top
Time and Date 1.01 (HyperCard)
Category: Personal Productivity/Clocks & Calendars
Author: Greg Dingler
Well, the window on my office phone displays the time, the radio
tells me the temperature.. but what day is it? That calendar I
got from the gas station is hanging in the break room.. ah, here
we are. In the corner of my 19" monitor sits Time and Date, a
HyperCard stack which basically takes the place of a wall calendar.
This utility fills in for some of the functions which used to
be handled by GMS Calendars, sold to Apple in the same month that
it received a Ziff-Davis Interactive Shareware Award. Although
it's missing many of the features which made that program such
a useful PIM (personal information manager), Time and Date is
a decent, straightforward calendar.
NOTE: Not to be confused with the Desk Accesory of the same name
(available in this library).
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: calendar stopwatch hypercard pim day time zone region america
Requires: HyperCard Player or HyperCard 2.x or later
Price: Shareware $7.50
Back to top
Time & Date 3.1
Category: Personal Productivity/Clocks & Calendars
Author: Mark Zedaker
This is a tiny description to go with a tiny program. Try to imagine
it in 6 point type.
Time & Date is an itsy-bitsy utility that displays a clock with
the time and date on it. It quits when you click anywhere else
on the screen.
That's all. Enjoy!
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: clock da display hours minutes chronology small simple
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: eMailWare
Back to top
Book Keeper 2.0
Category: Personal Productivity/Databases & Spreadsheets
Author: HyperDesigns, Inc.
There are many bibliography programs available for the Mac, and
most of them are HyperCard-based. But many of them intimidate
the user by offering too many options: after all, if you just
want to keep a list of books on your shelves, why would you care
about the ISBN number? Then there's Book Keeper, the Bibliography
Program for the Rest Of Us (TM).
Book Keeper is HyperCard-based, but it eschews many of the distractions
that come with traditional HyperCard stacks: with only three menus
-- File, Edit, and Books -- the interface appears unusually streamlined.
(Much of the credit for this simplicity goes to the makers of
WindowScript, a tool used in creating this stack.) You're only
allowed to enter information in five categories -- title, number
of pages, type of book, series name (if it's part of a series),
and whether it's paperback or hardcover. Within these five categories,
however, there's a great deal of flexibility: searches can be
made by author, for example.
Book Keeper comes with quite a few books entered --almost all
science fiction/fantasy -- as a guide to using the program. (Although
this data may well be useful to science fiction fans, as it's
rather complete and well organized.) But its first use is as a
simple library tool, and in this function it quietly excels.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: HYPERCARD LITERARY LIBRARY BIBLIOGRAPHY CATALOG
Requires: HyperCard 2.0 or later
Price: Shareware $5
Back to top
miniCard 0.51
Category: Personal Productivity/Databases & Spreadsheets
Author: Ken Kikuchi
Slim: Ah, for the simple things in life.Stout: And what are those?Slim:
Oh, you know: a loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and a tiny database
program, singing in the wilderness.Stout: A tiny database program?Slim:
Yes. And singing in the wilderness, no less.
Ah, simplicity: in these days of megabyte-plus database programs,
many of us reminisce about such simplicity. And most of us who
keep databases are doing so with memory-hogging, oversized applications
when a simple card file would do--a simple card file like miniCard.
This tiny utility has no bells or whistles: just a small space
in which to put information, a sort utility, and a few colorful
icons. The text-input space accepts about six lines of text, with
a scroll bar for more: just what's needed for an address file.
The program has a few noteworthy shortcomings: in particular,
the interface is extremely confusing, and there's no way of riffling
through the cards, as one might do when contemplating a potential
picnic partner for a summer's day. But where there are weaknesses,
there are also strengths: a "zoom" feature is handy for those
of us with bad eyesight. Altogether, miniCard is a unique application
which will no doubt have its adherents among us.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: DIRECTORY TELEPHONE ADDRESSES DATABASE FREEWARE
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Freeware
Back to top
Movie Almanac 1.0
Category: Personal Productivity/Databases & Spreadsheets
Author: Tony Carr
So out to the video rental place you go to blow a few bucks for
an evening's entertainment. You find one film, but friend A doesn't
know enough about it and doesn't want to risk it. You find another,
but friend B isn't sure if she's seen it before. You find another,
but..
Movie Almanac is a HyperCard stack intended to help you out of
this indecision. It helps you organize your favorite films by
offering a template with space for ratings, reviews, strengths,
weaknesses, and a variety of other decision criteria. Then, when
it's time to pick a film, you could look for a John Candy flick
with some nudity, for example, and come up with Stripes.
100 films are included in the database, and the authors offer
to act as a center for distribution of others' reviews. (Of course,
you can write your own as well.) About the reviews included: the
films chosen are overwhelmingly mainstream action/adventure pics
and the writing's a bit dodgy, but the information given is remarkably
complete, usually with four or more cast members listed. So before
wasting too much time feeling numb and frustrated in the aisles
of your local rental megastore, spend a few minutes with Movie
Almanac.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: HYPERCARD FILM VIDEO RENTAL REVIEWS VCR TAPE HOLLYWOOD VHS
Requires: HyperCard 2.0 or greater
Price: E-mailware
Back to top
NLphoneConvPro 1.0n (FM Pro)
Category: Personal Productivity/Databases & Spreadsheets
Author: J.J. Lodder
Hoi! Als U een Nederlander bent, U hebt deze FileMaker Pro database
nodig. (Translation: if you're Dutch, you need this database!)
If you're not Dutch but regularly make calls to the Netherlands,
you should consider downloading this as well. Otherwise, come
10 October 1995, you may suddenly find yourself confronted with
a most unfriendly-sounding Dutch voice announcing, "Het bij U
gekozen nummer is niet ingebracht. Controleer het nummer en kies
op meer." ("The number you have selected is not working. Check
it and dial again.")
You see, the PTT (Dutch telephone service) is changing many of
the numbers on that fateful day, and you risk being left out in
the cold. Fortunately, Utrecht resident J.J. Lodder has created
three FileMaker Pro databases to convert old numbers.
The interface is.. well, it ain't there. But for something like
this, the conversion function is what's important, not the interface.
The conversion data is contained in a separate file which, unfortunately,
is locked. This protects against accidental change, but it also
keeps you (and me) from checking to make sure that the data is
correct.
Assuming all is in order, NLphoneConvPro will be an important
part of your international calling scheme -- especially during
the confusing next year! NOTE: We are unable to confirm the accuracy
of the conversions. Use at the risk of incorrect numbers.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: dutch netherlands holland nederland ptt phone telephone number
convert conversion
Requires: FileMaker Pro
Price: Shareware $Varies
Back to top
Online Cookbook 1.4a (HyperCard)
Category: Personal Productivity/Databases & Spreadsheets
Author: Edward Takeuchi
[begin *subliminal message.txt*] Mmm.. you're getting hungry..
hungry.. you've been sitting at the computer for too long.. you're
in the mood for.. let's see.. biscuits with crabapple jelly. [end
*subliminal message.txt*] Hmph. That's strange. All of a sudden
I have a craving for biscuits with crabapple jelly. Crabapple
jelly? Where on earth am I going to find a recipe for THAT?
Never fear. Edward Takeuchi's HyperCard stack Online Cookbook
gives you the recipe, along with 19 others. This is a simple Hypertext
solution to an old problem: filing recipes in an orderly fashion.
The stack is similar to the online manual which came with Macs
in the later 80s: a "spiral-bound book" metaphor, with section
dividers for appetizers, breads, salads, poultry, and so forth.
The design is simple, and the recipes diverse. They range from
the sublime (Belgian sugar cookies--with beer!) to the ridiculous
("Crabmeat Cocktail: 1 cup flaked crabmeat, 1/3 to 1/2 cup cocktail
sauce. ..place in cocktail glasses; poor [sic] the sauce over
the flakes.") However, the main purpose of this stack is to offer
a vessel for your recipe, and it fulfills that function well.
A Complete Edition is also available for $20 which provides indexing
and easy one-click access to recipes.
Version 1.4 contains unspecified changes. Version 1.4a contains
instructions on how to order the Complete Edition.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: online cookbook COOKING HYPERCARD STACK HYPERTEXT RECIPE
Requires: HyperCard 2.0 or greater
Price: Shareware $15
Back to top
Accounts Master (HyperCard)
Category: Personal Productivity/Finance
Author: W.C. Blumenstein, Willi-B Text
The shareware world is overrun with programs to figure out loan
amortizations, but few are integrated into a complete bookkeeping
package. Accounts Master ambitiously tries to gather together
various functions into a general bookkeeping program, but due
to faulty programming, it just misses the mark.
All action is controlled through a series Windows-like menus,
which remain open until you select an option. It's a nicely implemented
design, but the system's similar look and dissimilar feel will
confuse Mac users who have never tried Microsoft's version. The
menus allow you to enter dialogs to record transactions, calculate
loan amortizations, and so forth. In general, the system works
well, but having to go through five modal dialogs to enter a simple
transaction got tedious very quickly. Also, options were sometimes
mis-selected: whenever I tried to enter something as a rent expense,
the program recorded it as a loan payment.
So if you'd like an all-around computer-based system on which
to keep your books, you could probably do better than Accounts
Master. However, some of its modules are instructive, and will
give you ideas on how you can better keep your finances in order.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: ACCOUNTS MASTER FINANCES BUSINESS PERSONAL HyperCard MONEY
Requires: HyperCard 2.x
Price: Shareware $20
Back to top
Auto Loan Calculators-SD
Category: Personal Productivity/Finance
Author: Bent Tree Software
Bent Tree Software has come out with another in its series of
financial calculators, this one covering all you need to know
about planning for a car purchase. The main section of the application
is a spreadsheet-like amortization table, which lists principal
paid, interest paid, loan pay-off balance, and other useful information.
Loan terms can be up to 72 months long, and other factors (such
as interest rate and down payment) are unrestricted.
In addition to the main amortization table, additional information
is given to help you make the best plan your finances. Rebates,
low-interest loans, even home equity loans are given due consideration,
with analyses output for the car cost you've indicated. The output
is data-heavy, and perhaps a bit too complex for first-time car
buyers: this program, however, has improved on the design of earlier
Bent Tree financial planners, by placing the most important information
in separate sections for quick reference. Considering the amount
of money involved in buying a car--and the amount you could save
with careful planning--Auto Loan Calculator-SD is certainly worth
the download time and shareware fee.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: LOAN CAR AMORTIZATION FINANCES BANK MONEY
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $20
Back to top
C-N Checkbook 1.00
Category: Personal Productivity/Finance
Author: C-N Software
When personal computers first became popular in the mid-70's,
people often asked of their friend's new toy: "So--what can you
do with it?" And the answer invariably came back: "Well.. you
can, uh, play games on it and, umm, balance your checkbook, I
guess." We've come a long way since then: those clunky computers
are now Power PC's, and those rudimentary checkbook programs have
evolved into.. C-N Checkbook.
Besides offering the usual check-entry, expense categorization
and calculation features, C-N Checkbook features a handy system
of previewable, printable reports. Links abound to connect relevant
pieces of information, and a simple but useful database section
keeps vendors organized. The interface is clean, using a one-window-at-a-time
approach that keeps your view clear. One problem, however: text
in some dialog boxes appears in hard-to-read colors, hindering
the program's usefulness for those of us with bad eyesight. Still,
I can't imagine a check-based transaction that isn't managed excellently
by C-N Checkbook.
NOTE: This archive had been removed from its installer format
before it reached the Software Center. All the files are there:
the only difference is that you should ignore the "install" section
of your online manual, and simply place the C-N Checkbook folder
wherever you'd like it.
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Keywords: BANKING FINANCES FINANCIAL PLANNING DATABASE RECORDS MONEY
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $25
Back to top
Financial Inquiry Tools 1.0
Category: Personal Productivity/Finance
Author: Solid Rock Software
Finally, finally, finally: someone has brought all the financial
calculators you need together into one program! Financial Inquiry
Tools contains far too many handy calculators to mention here,
but a listing of the shortest of the four menus should give you
an idea: Under "Consumer" calculations are the choices: Average
Annual Appreciation Rate, Profit from Rental Property, Comparing
Monthly Cost of Two Cars, Comparing Value of Income for Two Areas,
Comparative Shopping: Cost per Unit, Credit vs. Cash Purchase,
and Purchase vs. Lease. That's a set of seven calculators, and
there are a total of 34 more under the "Loans," Savings" and "Sales"
menus; 41 calculators where most shareware programs give you 6
or fewer.
The addition of two more features would make this a perfect program:
the ability to print and export data. As it is, the program works
best as a stand-alone inquiry system, producing isolated calculations
without an overall plan. Nonetheless, the range of calculations
it can perform more than make up for this small lack. A DA version
is also included for users wishing to use this program as such
under System 6.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: FINANCES LOANS AMORTIZATION PAYMENTS INVESTMENTS
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $20
Back to top
Financial Statement-SD
Category: Personal Productivity/Finance
Author: Bent Tree Software
This is yet another in the series of financial spreadsheets by
Bent Tree Software, this one being a template to figure your net
worth (as may be necessary for legal, tax, or personal reasons).
You enter information on a number of holdings, including bank
accounts, real estate, personal property, income, and life insurance
policies. Also taken into account are various liabilities: taxes
owed and so forth. Figures are updated automatically as data is
entered, so you can see what your worth is at any given time,
with various assets included and omitted.
As with other spreadsheets by Bent Tree, this one is obviously
well thought-out, but suffers from poor presentation: it's not
the most attractive design, and entering data can sometimes be
confusing. This one is especially difficult, as there are so many
places for data to be entered, and no distinction is made between
cells in which data is to be entered and those in which it's automatically
calculated. Still, it's obvious that these folks know finances
inside and out, and you can trust that Financial Statement will
give a thorough calculation of net worth.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: FINANCES BANK REAL ESTATE SECURITIES
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $20
Back to top
Growing Money-SD 1.1
Category: Personal Productivity/Finance
Author: Bent Tree Software
Growing Money-SD is a basic program which creates compound interest
tables for three situations: when a monthly payment is made, when
a yearly payment is made, and when a single lump sum is entered.
Amounts are calculated for commonly referenced amounts ($100-$1500/month,
$1000-$15000/year, and $1000-$100000 lump sum), or you can enter
any amount you like. Any percentage can be entered, including
extremely large and negative (depreciating) figures, although
calculations will not be made once depreciation hits $0 and the
highest number any cell can hold is $999,999.
A quirky and poorly designed interface makes this program harder
to utilize than it should be, and saving tables may cause the
application to quit after the information is written. Still, for
forecasting growth and comparing returns, Growing Money is worth
exploring.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: MONEY FINANCE AMORTIZATION INTEREST PERCENTAGE SPREADSHEET CALCULATION
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $20
Back to top
Loan (Feng) 1.0
Category: Personal Productivity/Finance
Author: L. Feng
Loan is a clean and sturdy program which (as you might guess from
the title), makes your Mac spit money out of your floppy drive.
No, wait! Just kidding. Actually, it's one of about a billion
shareware programs to do something well met by computers: calculate
mortgage tables. Loan has one difference which makes it valuable
to some prospective home buyers, however: it's set up to compare
financing done through conventional loan terms with that done
through an ARM, or Adjustable Rate Mortgage.
The interface is direct: a fairly standard File and Edit menu,
a Loan menu (with just two choices: Conventional loan and ARM
loan), and an enigmatic three-choice "Options" menu. (Read the
accompanying documentation for clarification.) It's in the program's
output that Loan shines, however, computing not only your costs,
but also your investment (when appreciation and inflation are
taken into account), tax benefit, and total cost, giving you a
better picture of your potential investment than many financiers
could. So if you want a general amortization program, this one
works just fine; but if you want one that will give you an overall
comparative investment picture, try Loan. NOTE: Be sure to orient
the page to print in landscape mode before outputting tables.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: LOAN HOUSE home AMORTIZATION FINANCES BANK MONEY PAYMENT INTEREST
RATE ARM
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $15
Back to top
MacAmortize 1.2
Category: Personal Productivity/Finance
Author: Charlie Moylan
MacAmortize is an interest calculation program which can create
monthly and yearly payment schedules according to data you enter.
It calculates a payment schedule, given three of the following
four values: number of payments, payment amount, loan amount and
Interest rate. The results of this calculation are output to a
window which can, in turn, be exported to a text file. This window
can hold the results of multiple calculations, allowing you to
compare one "deal" to another. (Note that the window can only
hold 32K, and will forget old calculations: for this reason, it's
a good idea to run a word processor in the background, and copy
and paste needed information before it disappears.)
This is a good overall financial planning tool, which includes
spaces for two factors lacking in most other amortization programs:
taxes and inflation. If inflation is considered, all figures will
reflect value in today's dollars; if taxes are considered, the
tax-deductible nature of interest payments decreases your apparent
payments accordingly. For its clarity of output and thoughtful
handling of interest and payment issues, MacAmortize is well worth
having.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: AMORTIZATION INTEREST FINANCIAL PLANNING GROWTH MONEY
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $15
Back to top
Mortgage Maker 1.0.1
Category: Personal Productivity/Finance
Author: Nick Parlante
The problem with many financial-planning programs is that they
either don't explain terms well for their primary users--first-time
home buyers, for example--or their program design is inelegant;
experienced financiers aren't left with much time to learn the
finer points of programming or interface. Mortgage Maker is different:
a clearly explained stand-alone spreadsheet template which not
only figures out how to finance (or refinance) your home, but
also suggests strategies for approaching loan officers. For those
people who don't need these tips, there's also an abbreviated
version of the documentation, accessible under the Apple Menu.
The fact that the program makes assumptions about "real world"
finances is ultimately helpful for users, but also limits the
program in a few ways. For one, it allows payments to be made
on only two loans, so especially creative financiers may have
to look elsewhere. Note also that the default assumptions made
in this program concerning interest rates and loan terms reflect
the conditions around its creation date, and will become less
accurate as conditions change. Nonetheless, it's very simple to
adjust these defaults, so Mortgage Maker should be useful for
a long time to come.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: FINANCES MONEY HOUSE APARTMENT LOAN INVESTMENT freeware
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Freeware
Back to top
$tock$tack 2.1h
Category: Personal Productivity/Finance
Author: Patrick M. Sullivan
This HyperCard stack is useful to anyone who (like me) uses their
computer to get financial quotes from commercial online services.
$tock$tack takes the data collected from your daily visit to the
service and allows you to perform dozens of operations on it.
You can make comparative graphs on the value of a stock, in a
variety of formats; echo your "buy" and "sell" decisions to keep
a portfolio; and investigate the effects of different investment
options without risking your money. The documentation, contained
on a separate stack, guides you through the many features of the
program.
What Mr. Sullivan has managed to make HyperCard do is truly astounding:
complex graphing, more commonly reserved for more specialized
platforms, appears on the same program that gave you a picture
of a man blowing bubbles from a pipe. My main complaint about
$tock$tack is that it's s-l-o-w.. set it to creating graphs for
more than one stock, and you'll quickly discover why people usually
to program this sort of thing in C++ language. Furthermore, it's
difficult (or impossible) to get out of processes once they've
started: pressing command-period halts the process, but fails
to return you to a tool you can use. Still, you'll be sincerely
amazed (as I was) at the scope and depth of this program, which
provides graphing, database, and record-keeping functions in the
service of helping you track your investments.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: STOCK STACK BONDS FUNDS CURRENCIES INTEREST INSTRUMENTS AVERAGE
FINANCIAL MONEY INVESTING ONLINE
Requires: HyperCard 2.1 or later, 4MB RAM or more
Price: Shareware $40
Back to top
Tradex 1.0.8
Category: Personal Productivity/Finance
Author: Paul Rodman
If you're a stock market trader, you'll appreciate Tradex, a portfolio
management and investment tracking program which incorporates
dozens of functions, yet is honest about its limitations. While
it won't tell you what to buy, or how, or when, its feast of indicators
can guide you to make your best decisions.
Data is entered in a spreadsheet, and displayed from there in
a variety of charts including the usual line, bar, and hybrid
forms. I won't pretend to understand all of the indicators available,
so I'll let the author wax poetic in an example: "you can take
a 12-period moving average, a 7-period moving average of that
12-period moving average, the momentum of the 7-period moving
average, etc." Sounds good to me!
The author is modest in his documentation and says, essentially,
that if you want something better, go ahead and buy a commercial
package. But I'm not sure there are commercial packages available
on the consumer market which are as flexible and detailed as Tradex,
and *certainly* not for even ten times the its shareware price.
Yes, it has problems (such as some annoying display errors): still,
Tradex is an astonishing tool for the serious stock investor.
N.B. Whatever you do, be sure to read the "Read Me First" document
for a fascinating story of how this application came to be (on
a Lisa in 1984!)
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: STOCK stocks MARKET TECHNICAL ANALYSIS AVERAGE INVESTMENT
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $50
Back to top
Convertor 1.2 (HyperCard)
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: Mike Cowley
Convertor is a HyperCard stack which will take you from kilograms
to pounds, from joules to thermies and from nips to tots to wine
glasses to balthazars -- all without sending you to confusing
reference tables. Through pop-up menus, you have a choice of dozens
of different types of conversions -- including energy, flow and
solid and liquid matter manipulations -- delivering the result
you need in less than a second.
Should you need a printout of common conversions -- out in the
field, for instance, where you have no access to the Mac -- Convertor
can do that, too. Simply set the type of conversion, the numerical
range to be converted, and how large the steps should be, and
voila! A text file appears.
One annoyance: the author insists on doing a slow cross-fade before
showing you the answer. This is a frustrating and unnecessary
impediment to those who would most likely use this tool: serious
scholars and engineers who want difficult answers, quickly. In
addition, I'm not too sure about his spelling: but then again,
with hundreds of words like "nebuchadnezzar" and "Jeroboam" to
contend with in the jargon of measurement, I'll forgive him an
occasional "liquer". For its completeness, inter-application friendliness
and elegance, I recommend Convertor heartily.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: converter convert unit units engineering engineer liquid solid
mass volume energy surface
Requires: HyperCard 2.0 or later
Price: Freeware
Back to top
Design Center 5.1
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: MicroSim Corporation
Now THIS is what computers are for! Design Center is a suite of
four programs for electrical engineers -- PSpice, Probe, Stimulus
Editor, and Parts -- which test electronic circuits and output
the results. The main program is PSpice, which runs a set of tests
which includes DC and AC sweeps, transient analyses, and voltage
analyses. The output is extremely esoteric, and virtually impassible
by anyone with less than a Master's degree in Electronics: this
is no dilettante's program. The other programs in the suite allow
you to describe your own parts, build your own circuits, and plot
the results in a variety of ways. (As this is a demo version,
you can only build a single sort of diode and test the evaluation
circuit included.)
There are a few moments of poor design in these programs. The
most outstanding one is in their near-total lack of a Mac interface:
ugly text-based windows, Geoworks-like inputs and a disregard
for Mac conventions (such as moving a window about the screen
by dragging the title bar) make this one a real Porthole. Nonetheless,
for its extensive and detailed reporting features, Design Center
is an essential part of any Electrical Engineer's worktable.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING TESTING PLOTTING CIRCUITS COMPONENTS
simulation
Requires: FPU (math co-processor), 1MB of free RAM
Price: Demoware
Back to top
EG-02 Scientific Calculator 1.0
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: Eric Gustafson
Sometimes, having too many choices makes for no choice at all,
and programmable calculators are good examples of this phenomenon.
But not EG-02: one step down from sophisticated tools like PCalc
(also available on ZiffNet) but several steps up from Apple's
old Calculator DA, this scientific calculator gives you just as
many functions as you need without confusing the issue with a
raft of extra buttons.
But there's one feature EG-02 has that most Mac calculators lack:
full text-based programmability. You can enter formulae of any
complexity while your keystrokes are recorded, shorthand, in a
window below. These formulae can then be tried out with different
variables, or sections can be isolated for calculation. Six memory
storage registers offer flexibility, especially when combined
with the programming feature. A 12" monitor or larger is suggested.
The same author has also created an advanced, commercial version,
the EG-03 calculator, which includes financial, statistical, and
conversion functions, and can be procured from him directly.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: MATH TRIGONOMETRY MEMORY PROGRAMMABLE EXPONENTIAL LOGARITHMIC
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $5
Back to top
HPxx 1.1
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: William Didier
For years, engineers and mathematicians have relied on their Hewlett-Packard
calculators: their wide-varying functions place in one's hand
the ability to do split-second calculations that would take a
thousandfold as long with a paper and pen. The Macintosh, although
a much more complex beast, lacks many of the innate abilities
of these palm-sized wonders, and it's hard to find a program which
does many of the things the HP calculators do. So what to do?
Simulate an HP calculator on the desktop!
And that's what the author of HPxx has done. All of the common
functions are there, from the trigonometric to the scientific
to the logarithmic, and in the same position as is found on most
older HP calculators. The feel is very similar, too: note that
HPxx uses a sort of input ordering known as Reverse Polish Notation,
which requires that the operator (+ or -, for instance) be places
after the numbers to be manipulated. For those of you who have
never used this form of calculation (also known as Postfix Notation),
expect a bit of a learning curve. Fortunately, Monsieur Didier
has provided us with a step-by-step set of instructions (in Microsoft
Word) on how RPN works. The documentation is excellent, incidentally,
despite the author's tenuous grasp of English.
So for those of you who are already familiar with RPN, or those
of you who don't mind learning it (and if you're serious about
mathematics, you should have done so already), HPxx is an indispensable
calculation tool. NOTE: documentation is in MS Word format.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: CALCULATOR MATHEMATICS SCIENTIFIC POSTFIX RPN TRIGONOMETRY ENGINEERING
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $10
Back to top
IntCalc 1.2
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: James Preston
Programming galore! IntCalc is the calculator every math-based
programmer needs: not only is it internally programmable and has
all of the usual higher-math functions, but its calculations can
be converted into decimal, hexadecimal, binary (to 32 bits) or
even ASCII. A separate programming window includes support for
subroutines, and its standards will make you feel right at home:
many of them were taken directly from the C language.
It has a sort of Balloon Help which works under System 6 as well
as System 7: simply hold down the "command" key while clicking
on a button and you'll get a description of its function. Superb
and witty documentation beats anything packaged with those pocket-calculator
things.
An intelligent Cut and Paste system allows you to transfer data
between modes (such as converting from hexadecimal to ASCII),
and 16 storage registers, along with continuous memory, keep your
calculator from getting amnesia. A DA version is also included
(yay! System 6.x support!) which works slightly differently, but
the differences are covered in the documentation. Note that IntCalc
uses Reverse Polish Notation, also known as "Postfix" notation:
if you're unfamiliar with it, make sure to read the section on
the subject in the text file that accompanies it or you'll spend
your first 15 minutes looking for the "=" button.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: MATH TRIGONOMETRY MEMORY calculator EXPONENTIAL LOGARITHMIC
RPN POSTFIX
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $10
Back to top
MacEuclid 1.1b19
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: Bernard Bernstein
Euclid is a program which tracks reasoned arguments through the
use linked statements, and allows flowchart-like graphics which
represent those arguments to be generated. Its ideal application
may be for a group which has to make decisions on the basis of
arguments coming from different sources, such as students, researchers,
political strategists, and investment bankers. Changes to the
argument can be made by different people, and Euclid will track
the changes: a multi-user entry system, with passwords, guarantees
security. It's worth noting, however, that this is not an entry-level
program: some understanding of symbolic logic is needed to make
sense of (and have use for) the argument flow, and the documentation
is not as complete as it might be.
Argument reasoning is an intense left-brain activity: for a little
right-brain relief, here's an ode of praise: Euclid can clear
cluttered minds Of arguments obscure, and finds When reason has
been couched in fallacy, Lying, cheating, or just malice-y; Reveals
in full the logic hid: I love my strife but oh, Euclid!
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: MACEUCLID EUCLID HYPERTEXT DEBATE FREEWARE EDUCATION
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Freeware
Back to top
MathPad 2.2.7
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: Mark Widholm
The problem with most math programs is that.. well, they perform
calculations, but they don't solve problems. And those math programs
which do solve problems (such as the excellent suite for the moneyed
set, Financial Inquiry Tools) tend to be limited in scope, and
in such a closed architecture that you can't toy with the formulas.
MathPad, however, is different: a general purpose scientific calculator
that uses text input rather than the more common graphic simulation
of a hand-held calculator.
At first, the prospect of entering text-based calculations may
seem daunting: after all, how many of us can remember the order
of operations from our high school days? But MathPad makes it
easy, with pull-down menus showing available functions (such as
abs, sqr, and a variety of trigonometric functions) and a helpful
status line to suggest where you might have gone wrong. The intelligence
of this calculator's interpreter is amazing: multiple variables
can be defined, for example, and complex formulas can be derived
from these variables. (Note however that MathPad will not do simultaneous
equations.) Tables and plots are possible, with dialog boxes to
guide you through them, and recursive functions are supported.
All in all, this is one smart program.
The author is continually updating MathPad: recent changes (for
version 2.2.7) include resolving several bugs and creator conflicts,
as well as adding options to various functions; see the extensive
documentation for details.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: CALCULATOR FUNCTIONS TABLES MATH TRIGONOMETRY TEXT FREEWARE
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Freeware
Back to top
McHurricane 2.1.1SW
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: William Chenault
Have you ever admired the computer simulations used by television
weather reports? With their multi-colored, animated graphics,
you can be comforted by knowing in advance that an oncoming hurricane
is going to level your Florida timeshare. With McHurricane, enough
data and an basic knowledge of meteorology, you can track weather
patterns on your own desktop.
When you first open the program, you are presented with a map
of a selected area of the U.S. You may choose to open the data
to one of the three included hurricanes (Elena '85, Gilbert '88
and Hugo '89), or enter data for a new one. The data are then
plotted on the map. Up to four hurricanes of 75 plots (time-points)
can be displayed, with each storm shown in a different color.
While McHurricane doesn't have functions for predicting a storm's
next move--or if your timeshare is safe--there is no better shareware
tool for getting a feel for how weather is tracked.
Version 2.0.5f seemed to correct problems which had caused our
test Mac IIci to crash: this version is quite stable. Version
2.1.1SW adds new maps (which include the Western Africa coast
and Hawaiian Islands) and black? support removed.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: STORM TRACKING COASTAL USA SIMULATION CLIMATOLOGY METEOROLOGY
weather hurricane science florida
Requires: 256 colors/grays
Price: Shareware $25
Back to top
Moon in the Mac 0.22d
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: Angus McIntyre
Thinking of having a moonlit evening party next September 21st?
Then you need Moon in the Mac, a tiny utility which shows you
what phase the moon will be in on any given Common Era date. A
small, attractive window allows you to change the date (either
with arrows or through direct entry) and displays the name of
the phase on that date along with a picture of the moon in that
phase. (Note that dates are in international form: day/month/year.)
When first launched, it appears bearing today's date (and, of
course, today's moon phase); for this reason, I think it would
go nicely in your "Startup Items" folder under System 7, just
to keep you in touch with the lunatic Goddess every time you boot
up.
So who needs a program like this one? Well, in the words of its
author: "..Practically no one, aside from exceptionally cautious
burglars, absent-minded astronomers and werewolves with a busy
social calendar.." Discovering other uses I leave to you: but
I now know that there was a full moon when I was born, and a waning
crescent to greet my father. So there, Dad!
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: moon PHASES ASTRONOMY date freeware
Requires: 68020 or greater
Price: Freeware
Back to top
MPj Astro 1.3
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: Microprojects
MPj Astro is undoubtedly the hippest companion guide for a trip
through the stars that I've ever seen. There are too many features
to mention here: you can view the heavens at various angle widths
(simulating magnifications); see the sights from a list of dozens
of cities throughout the world; view a huge variety of cosmic
objects, including stars, planets, and constellations, all identified;
bring up a calendar of visible objects du jour; and on, and on,
and on.
Want to find Zubeneschamali? It's there, under the Edit menu.
Want to see the sights from the South Pole? No need to pack your
longjohns: it's there under the Setup menu. And, should you want
to have an idea of what these views are like in the real world
(such as through a camera), there's a menu selection which lets
you simulate the a 35mm camera's viewfinder at 50mm through 1,000mm.
A thorough instruction manual is supplied as a HyperCard stack
and a WordPerfect document. A disk of 32 JPEG astronomy photographs
is sent upon payment of the registration fee.
Version 1.3 takes care of some minor bugs, and has 21 new features,
including a new text-only version of the manual, and an Easter
egg. That's right, an Easter egg. Happy Hunting!
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Keywords: astronomy sky view stars planets universe galaxy
Requires: HyperCard 2.x or later (for manual)
Price: Shareware $25
Back to top
Nth Root Finder 1.0
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: Samuel Davidoff
Nth Root Finder admirably fills in for a function left off of
Apple's "Calculator" desk accessory: it finds the the Nth root
of numbers, where N is 2 (the square root), 3 (the cube root),
or any other positive integer. Its interface follows along the
same lines as Mr. Davidoff's earlier "SquareRootFinder" (also
available in this library: one number in, another out, no frills,
no bells, no whistles.
The author points out one of the benefits of his earlier program,
and in doing so indicates a minor weakness in this one. He writes:
"If you are only interested in Square Roots I would advise you
to find that program as it is easier to use and has more features
like negative numbers." Indeed, not only are negative numbers
incalculable with Nth Root Finder, but 0th roots are incorrectly
indicated. However, the program is pretty fault-tolerant, in that
it prevents you from entering impossible numbers (such as the
1.75th root of X).
While there are other non-Apple calculator DAs which do this,
this program goes one step further in returning not only the decimal
approximation (i.e. 9.949874 for the square root of 15), but also
the radical reduction (3sqr11).
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: math computation square cube roots irrational perfect
Requires: System 7 or later
Price: Freeware
Back to top
PCalc 1.0.2
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: James Thomson
Looking for a desktop calculator? Look no further -- this is the
best there is. There are so many wonderful things about this accessory
that an in-depth description would go on for paragraphs. So just
to list some of the highlights: PCalc has the ability to perform
complex functions in decimal, hexadecimal, and binary, a "minimization"
feature (similar to Windows), extensive online and Balloon help,
a place to store constants (which can then be accessed with a
command-key), hierarchical pop-up menus, "hooks" to Apple events,
instructions for programming your own functions and -- last but
not least -- a gorgeous interface.
The package includes two read-me files, two "extensions," and
the application itself. Note that the "PCalc Colour Extension"
and the "PCalc Help Extension" won't automatically jump to your
"Extensions" folder when you drop in in your System 7 System Folder:
to be operational, you must either place them in there manually,
or leave them in the folder which holds the PCalc application.
Putting it simply: PCalc is one of the best pieces of freeware
to come out in 1993. If you have any use for a calculator beyond
the one that Apple provides, download it now.
System 7 preferred.
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Keywords: CALCULATOR NUMBERS MATHEMATICS HEXADECIMAL BINARY DECIMAL CONSTANTS
FREEWARE
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Freeware
Back to top
SquareRoot Finder 1.0
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: Samuel Davidoff
SquareRootFinder performs that function left off of Apple's "Calculator"
desk accessory: finds the square root of numbers. While there
are quite a few non-Apple calculator DAs which do this, this program
goes one step further in returning not only the decimal approximation
(i.e. 9.949874 for the square root of 15), but also the radical
reduction (3sqr11). It has a simple interface: one number in,
another out. It could be improved by allowing the output to be
copied and pasted into other applications but all in all, this
is a good tool for an important task.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: MATH CALCULATION RADICAL FREEWARE
Requires: System 7 or greater
Price: Freeware
Back to top
xLogicCircuits 1.01
Category: Personal Productivity/Math & Science
Author: David Eck
This utility, by the author of the excellent math plotting program
"xFunctions," is a simple virtual circuit board on which you can
build and test logic circuits using five tools: AND, OR and NOT
gates, a power source (which is continually on) and a variable
delay switch. In addition, externally created circuits can be
included as subcircuits, allowing much more complex formations
than would normally fit on the "board." Electrical flow is shown
with solid lines, while "dead" wires are displayed as dotted lines.
Eight input and eight output leads indicate whether the result
of the power flow is on or off.
There are some notable drawbacks, the most significant being that
once elements are placed on the board, they can not be removed
(unless you press "Undo" immediately after it's placed). This
makes xLogicCircuits unsuitable for tinkering: however, such a
lack makes it perfect for testing electronics and logic students
on already-acquired knowledge. And being forced to get it right
the first time instills discipline in the logic world, a field
which is becoming ever more complex as the computer field does.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING COMPUTERS AND OR NOT DELAY COUNTER freeware
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Freeware
Back to top
800-SAY-WHAT 1.1
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Maui Software
Have you ever wanted to know the digital versions of telephone
numbers like 1-800-HAVE-FUN? This utility puts that information
at your fingertips: enter the alphanumeric in one window, and
below it appears the number that would result from dialing those
characters on a telephone. You can also build a separate text
file of frequently requested alphanumerics, which can be translated
with a simple double-click.
Unfortunately, the function of translating numbers to alphabetic
equivalents is not included: such a function (especially if tied
into a dictionary) would be helpful to those wishing to convert
their mundane phone numbers into something more memorable, like
1-800-EAT-FISH.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: 800-SAY-WHAT 800 DECODE TELEPHONE PHONE DIAL DIRECTORY ALPHABET
NUMBERS KEYPAD
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $5
Back to top
AutoAddress 3.2S
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Joe Serdakowski
Many shareware contact-management programs on the Mac are built
on a HyperCard base, and are limited by that program's functionality.
As a result, they're too simple for serious business use. That's
not the case with AutoAddress: built on a FoxBASE Plus engine,
it carries with it the features of this flexible relational database
program; the result is a networkable database which is powerful
enough for business uses, yet with an elegant interface.
The forms included are extensive, offering you a variety of ways
to present your output. In keeping with FoxBASE standards, AutoAddress
allows you to create and store your own form letters in a database,
which can then be linked and merged with specified addresses (or
the entire address database). The only problem with this package
is its age: this version of FoxBASE is pretty old, and works best
with System 6.x.
WARNING: Your machine may crash when you send a document out to
print. Save often.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: AUTOADDRESS CONTACT MANAGEMENT NETWORKABLE FIELDS RECORDS DATA
ENVELOPES MAIL MERGE REPORTS
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $19.95
Back to top
E-Card Anniversary
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Charles Marlowe
Want to wish a Mac-owning friend/parent/lover a happy anniversary?
In just minutes, you can give them personalized computer greetings
with this electronic card (E-Card). Launching this E-Card will
send a "Happy Anniversary" greeting to the person by name and
display your own personal greeting. (It does this with some very
weird sound effects: they're supposed to be kisses, but sound
more like someone retching. Oh well..) You could send this to
them -- or even better, clandestinely put it in their "Startup
Items" folder under System 7! At boot up their Mac will present
them with a unique display.
This is a color application, that flips through several windows
with fun graphics, sounds and texts. Clicking on each window will
close the present one and open the next. When the application
is first launched a colorful animation appears, delivering your
message. Additional screens dress up the message.
The ability to record a personal greeting that will play at the
end of the second panel is a cool feature of this application.
If your Mac has a microphone, you can use the record greeting
option in the Settings dialog. Unfortunately, the author has disabled
the "save" feature until you pay the shareware fee -- so do it!
The author of this application provides a whole line of E-Cards
including ones for birthdays, Father's Day, and other special
occasions.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: greeting color sound card beeps parents mom dad mother father
lover spouse spice
Requires: System 7 or later
Price: Shareware $10
Back to top
E-Card Great Day
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Charles Marlowe
Want to light up the faces of your pious friends with Macs? In
just minutes you can give them personalized computer greetings
with this electronic card (E-Card). Launching this E-Card will
send a Christian-toned "happy day" greeting to the person by name
and display your own personal greeting. You could send this to
them -- or even better, clandestinely put it in their "Startup
Items" folder under System 7! At boot up their Mac will present
them with a unique display.
This is a color application, that flips through several windows
with fun graphics, sounds and texts. Clicking on each window will
close the present one and open the next. When the application
is first launched a colorful animation appears, delivering your
message. Additional screens dress up the message.
The ability to record a personal greeting that will play at the
end of the second panel is a cool feature of this application.
If your Mac has a microphone, you can use the record greeting
option in the Settings dialog. Unfortunately, the author has disabled
the "save" feature until you pay the shareware fee -- so do it!
The author of this application provides a whole line of E-Cards
including ones for birthdays, Father's Day, and other special
occasions.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: greeting color sound card beeps friend welcome happy
Requires: System 7 or later
Price: Shareware $10
Back to top
E-Card Invitation 1.0.6
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Charles Marlowe
Want to send out unique invitations to your friends with Macs?
In just minutes you can give them personalized computer greetings
with this electronic card (E-Card). Launching the E-Card will
send an invitation to the person by name and display your own
personal greeting. You could send this to them -- or even better,
clandestinely put it in their "Startup Items" folder under System
7! At boot up their Mac will present them with a unique display.
This is a color application, that flips through several windows
with fun graphics, sounds and texts. Clicking on each window will
close the present one and open the next. When the application
is first launched a colorful animation appears, delivering your
message. Additional screens dress up the message.
The ability to record a personal greeting that will play at the
end of the second panel is a cool feature of this application.
If your Mac has a microphone, you can use the record greeting
option in the Settings dialog. Unfortunately, the author has disabled
the "save" feature until you pay the shareware fee -- so do it!
The author of this application provides a whole line of E-Cards
including ones for birthdays, Father's Day, and other special
occasions.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: greeting color sound card beeps party invite friends
Requires: System 7 or later
Price: Shareware $10
Back to top
Emerson
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Richard Wanderman
"To the dull mind nature is leaden. To the illuminated mind the
whole world sparkles and burns with light." Hmm. That's just one
of the many sayings you'll get from the smiling mouth of Emerson
in the amusing HyperCard stack, "Emerson".
And where's (Ralph) Waldo? Right here on your desktop, waiting
patiently to dispense pearls of wisdom. Click anywhere on his
face: his eyebrows go up and down, a bell goes off, and he smiles
as enlightenment arrives. Click on his nose, and get author information.
Option-click, and you can add your own quotations to the stack.
("Hey, wait a minute.. Emerson never said "Eat my shorts, man!")
Lots of fun. NOTE: If you like this stack, check out Mark Twain
(also in this library). It's along the same lines, only featuring
the earthy humor of the American writer.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: EMERSON HyperCard QUOTATIONS portrait face sound animation
Requires: HyperCard (or HyperCard Player) 2.0 or later
Price: Shareware $5
Back to top
Flea Circus
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Paul B. Jones
Who said vaudeville was dead? With the virtual-reality slapstick
of Flea Circus, you can experience the humor of microscopic beasts
tortured for our amusement--from your own geekly chateau!
But they suffer for a good cause: these one-off sight gags are
really funny. The gestures Paul Jones gives his pixel-size protagonists
are surprisingly expressive: at first naively eager to perform,
then full of dexterity, and then.. well, you'll have to download
it yourself to see. Four "acts" range from the ridiculous to the
ridiculous. The show-you-something-really-neat quotient is high.
Warning: May cause gastrointestinal distress, warts, and a profound
questioning of why you blew two grand on a computer. Black and
white.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: FUNNY AMUSING ANIMATION JOKE
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $30
Back to top
Form It! 1.65
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: John V. Holder
Have you ever noticed that tools designed for one purpose work
equally well for another? That's the case with Form It!, designed
to produce and print one-page forms but just as expert as a simple
database program. Many of the tools of popular databases are there:
screen layout, a variety of field formats (including calculation
fields), a system of records with a manner of searching, selecting,
and navigating through them, and the ability to import PICT graphics.
The one thing it lacks when compared to other database programs
is a set of draw commands -- but these are lacking in many commercial
equivalents as well.
But its primary use is for form generation: the author suggests
that one create the graphic part of the form in a layout program
(such as PageMaker), and then manage the data-entry options in
Form It! This works well, as is demonstrated by the several ready-made
documents included in the package (a certificate, two invoices,
and the program's registration form). But I'd recommend Form It!
as a database program on its own merits: despite the high shareware
fee, it's a good economical alternative to commercial databases.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: CERTIFICATE INVOICE DOCUMENT DATABASE FIELD RECORD PICT
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $50
Back to top
Fortune Teller Parody 1.0
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Jim Byer
Here in Software Central, we have programs to optimize your hard
drive, calculate the amortization rates on your mortgage, and
turn your desktop into a screaming mess of custom icons. But,
you ask, can you tell the future! Indeed we can: with not one,
not two, but *three* files! (Two "Magic Eight Ball"-type fortune
tellers are also available in this library: search for "eight"
or "ball".) Of these, Fortune Teller is the most complex, engaging..
and weird.
Fortune Teller Parody goes much further than either of these two,
with sound, gorgeous color, extensive monologues from the fortune
teller, and a much larger stock of responses. The authors state
that there are over 20,000 (that's twenty thousand, folks) possible
outcomes: with such a bounty, why would you need to add your own?
But add you can, using the instructions included (and a resource
editor such as ResEdit).
A tip: be sure to poke the fortune teller (who looks a *lot* like
Einstein without the hair) in the eye. It can be a bit slow and
non-interactive, but all in all it's very witty, and well worth
the download. But I can foresee that you've decided that already..
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: Halloween humor destiny future fun joke prognosticate wizard
genie gypsy gypsy
Requires: 16-color monitor, ResEdit or similar to change fortunes
Price: Shareware $5
Back to top
HyperWorks 3.0
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: David and Daniel Mueller
One of the founding principals of the Macintosh was that of "Works"
programs: suites of applications which would give the user the
software power to write, paint, draw, communicate, and calculate,
all from within the same package. First there was Apple Works,
and then the suite for the ill-fated Lisa, and then MacWorks,
Microsoft Works, and ClarisWorks.. and now the HyperCard shareware
version, HyperWorks.
The main interface is actually just a controlling stack which
accesses five other stacks, whose names define their intended
functions well: HyperWrite, HyperPaint, HyperFinance, HyperBase,
and HyperGraph. These modules are mostly just formatted cards
for functions already in HyperCard: there's very little real scripting
involved. Certainly it's no real competitor for the commercial
products, building as it does on the strengths -- and glaring
weaknesses -- of HyperCard. Still, it functions acceptably as
a basic text processor, its fixed database serves its purpose,
and the other modules work with varying degrees of success.
Rating: 2 (out of 5)
Keywords: hypercard works suite paint draw write text graphics spreadsheet
Requires: HyperCard 2.1 or later
Price: Shareware $25
Back to top
Inspirograph 1.0
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Singularity Software
A recent executive fad involves "morphological analysis" -- a
fancy way of saying Let's Get Real Silly With Ideas. Inspirograph
is a tool which helps you do just that. You create a list of words
or phrases ("strings") associated with an category (John Travolta,
Barry Manilow, and Wayne Newton might go under "hip celebrities,"
for example), decide which categories are relevant to the task
at hand, and let it fly. Inspirograph creates a random concatenation
of words from the selected categories for you to ponder.
Inspirograph is not alone in the morphological sea: similar programs
like the commercial application IdeaFisher are commonly used by
ad agencies to come up with new slogans, product names, and strategies.
One feature which differentiates these programs is the database
of included categories: in this regard, Inspirograph is decidedly
silly. "dogcall$" returns such output as "Get outta that garbage,
Fido!", for example, and there's a slew of categories to generate
aphorisms similar to those on the labels of Dr. Bronner's soap.
The interface could be a little more user-friendly: one improvement
would be a button palette to remind users of available categories
like newenglandtown$. But then again, I'm from Cape Saugatannawoonnoddy,
Land of Enchantment, so what do I know?
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: INSPIRATION IDEAS PHRASES HYPERCARD morphological analysis FREEWARE
Requires: HyperCard 2.0 or greater
Price: Freeware
Back to top
MacPredictions 1.0
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Neil Schulman
Remember the Magic 8 Ball you had as a kid? They was all the rage
a few years back, as people of all ages across the country put
their faith in the divinations of this fortune-telling toy. Now
you can gain guidance without leaving your computer, through the
magic of MacPredictions. Simply ask a question of your computer
(if you don't feel too silly talking to your computer -- if you're
using an AV Mac, you might want to make sure Speech Manager is
turned off!), click on the program's one prominent button (labeled
"Vision"), and you'll receive a response like "Sounds good to
me!" or "Don't count on it."
Since this is essentially a text file connected to an amusing
interface, the author would have done well to have had his texts
proofread: misspellings stick out like a sore thumb. But this
is a minor point, and the majority of the program's many responses
are witty and interesting. Besides, Mr. Schulman has included
a utility to allow you to edit the responses, allowing you to
change the tone, positive/negative answer ratio, language (!),
or what-have-you.
Update changes the name from Magic Clear Ball. This is its second
nome change: previous to this, it was known as Crystal Ball to
avoid confusion with a commercial product. Version 1.0 of MacPredictions
also changes the interface and adds several features, including
a Lotto number picker.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: CRYSTAL BALL MAGIC EIGHT 8 FORTUNE FUTURE DECISION ADVICE YES
NO CLEAR
Requires: System 7 or later
Price: Freeware
Back to top
Mark Twain
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Richard Wanderman
"I have seen slower people than I am -- and more deliberate..
and even quieter, and more listless, and lazier people than I
am. But they were dead." If that whets your appetite for more
gems of ironic wit, download Mark Twain, a HyperCard stack which
puts the American master on your desktop, waiting to dispense
pearls of wisdom.
Simply Click anywhere on his face: his eyebrows go up and down,
he wiggles his moustache and clears his throat before letting
you know How The World Works. Click on his nose, and get author
information. Option-click, and you can add your own quotations
to the stack. ("Hey, wait a minute.. Mark Twain never said "Stop
clicking on my face!") Lots of fun. NOTE: If you like this stack,
check out Emerson (also in this library). It's along the same
lines, only with slightly more high-falutin' quotes from Ralph
Waldo Emerson.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: Mark Twain HyperCard QUOTATIONS portrait face sound animation
Requires: HyperCard (or HyperCard Player) 2.0 or later
Price: Shareware $5
Back to top
Trade Request Forms
Category: Personal Productivity/Misc Productivity
Author: Dave Herndon
Anyone who has ever worked on a regular schedule has had to ask
to have a shift off now and again. And anyone who has tried to
manage people who want to miss their shifts knows what a headache
it can be. To help circumvent conflicts arising from scheduling
misunderstandings ("He said he'd trade shifts with me!" "No I
didn't!"), there's Trade Request Forms.
This program's main function is to produce a record of workers'
agreed-to shift trades. The administrator enters the names of
the people involved (through convenient pull-down menus), the
details of the trade, and they "sign" the document using passwords.
It's obvious that Trade Request Forms was developed out of experience:
the design is naive, but highly functional and to-the-point. The
documentation, however, is almost non-existent, except for offering
tips on how to make the "password" function work and entreating
users to pay the shareware fee. (In the words of the author: "My
baby Krista needs a new pair of shoes.") Needs FireWorx Calendar
(from the same author) to fully utilize all of the scheduling
features.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: TRADE REQUEST FORMS FINANCIAL HYPERCARD TIME WORK CALENDAR SHIFT
POLICE FIREFIGHTERS
Requires: HyperCard 2.0 or later
Price: Shareware $5
Back to top
Address 1000 1.1
Category: Personal Productivity/Planning & Personal Info
Author: Cortex Software
Just like calculation machines of the 1940s seemed built to figure
bomb trajectories, early personal computers seemed built to balance
checkbooks, and color computers seemed built to play games, HyperCard
is perfect for address books. Address 1000 is such a stack, taking
advantage of HyperCard's database structure to set up a personal
contact system that's simple, complete, and easy to use.
There are spaces for the basic information most people find useful:
name, business and home address, business and home phone (and
fax) numbers, and birth date. In addition, each record has a space
for notes, and a "find" function to make sorting easy. Although
the programming is basically good, and the appearance of the stack
is better than most, it does suffer from some small, but annoying,
flaws. The first has to do with tabs. By now, most people have
learned the computer convention of moving from field to field
in a database using the tab key. Well, you can do that in Address
1000, too; the only problem is figuring out where the next stroke
will take you as the cursor flies about the screen.
But Address 1000 is indeed competently done -- obviously the result
of real use, not just conjecture. So if you'd like a good, simple
database for organizing your contacts, give Address 1000 a whirl.
Hey -- at 8K, it could have been downloaded a few times in the
time it took you to read this description.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: ADDRESS 1000 names birth dates phone fax HYPERCARD DATABASE
RECORDS
Requires: HyperCard 2.0 or later
Price: Shareware $10
Back to top
Address Notebook
Category: Personal Productivity/Planning & Personal Info
Author: Marcio Teixeira
Address Notebook is a HyperCard stack, like Address 1000 and hundreds
of other such stacks, which takes advantage of HyperCard's database
structure to set up a personal contact system that's simple and
easy to use. But Address Notebook has a couple of tiny features
which are surprisingly useful. One is the ability to copy information
with ease: click on any field, and the information therein is
automatically copied to the clipboard, ready to be pasted into
any text program. The second is a button which automatically dial
the number in the "phone" field. (Actually, this second feature
is fairly common in HyperCard programming, but it's well-placed
here.)
There are spaces for the usual information found on such stacks:
name; voice, fax and data phone numbers; an e-mail address. In
addition, each record has a space for notes. All in all, Address
Notebook is a nice, serviceable record keeper that's attractive
and ready-to-use.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: ADDRESS NOTEBOOK names birth dates phone fax HYPERCARD DATABASE
RECORDS
Requires: HyperCard 2.0 or later
Price: Shareware $10
Back to top
Contacts (JG) 1.7.1 (FM Pro)
Category: Personal Productivity/Planning & Personal Info
Author: Jeff Gagne
Claris' FileMaker Pro comes with a series of templates for organizing
business contacts, following leads and keeping track of inventory.
But what if you want something a little more complex? For those
of you who love all-in-one, button-press functionality, Contacts
by Jeff Gagne is for you.
Buttons, buttons, buttons. Boy, does this database have buttons,
all leading to scripts ranging from the banal (create a new record)
to the complex (organize a mail merge). The program's flexibility
is evinced in the variety of print formats, which includes Rolodex-brand
cards, file tabs and name tags. And if you're looking for a daily
planner, Contacts includes limited calendar functionality as well.
While this database is highly functional without the password,
it's clear that some features have been left locked until you
send Mr. Gagne the shareware fee. It's a reasonable amount --
and if you're a busy people-person, you're sure to save $25 worth
of time within a few weeks. So what're you waiting for?
NOTE: If you don't have FileMaker Pro, download the file "Contacts
Runtime" in this library. Also note that this is not the same
file as "Contacts" by Andrew Lee, also in this library.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: contacts pim database contact phone address name personal information
manager
Requires: FileMaker Pro 2.x
Price: Shareware $25
Back to top
Contacts Runtime (JG) 1.7.1
Category: Personal Productivity/Planning & Personal Info
Author: Jeff Gagne
Claris' FileMaker Pro comes with a series of templates for organizing
business contacts, following leads and keeping track of inventory.
But what if you want something a little more complex? For those
of you who love all-in-one, button-press functionality, Contacts
by Jeff Gagne is for you.
Buttons, buttons, buttons. Boy, does this database have buttons,
all leading to scripts ranging from the banal (create a new record)
to the complex (organize a mail merge). The program's flexibility
is evinced in the variety of print formats, which includes Rolodex-brand
cards, file tabs and name tags. And if you're looking for a daily
planner, Contacts includes limited calendar functionality as well.
While this database is highly functional without the password,
it's clear that some features have been left locked until you
send Mr. Gagne the shareware fee. It's a reasonable amount --
and if you're a busy people-person, you're sure to save $25 worth
of time within a few weeks. So what're you waiting for?
NOTE: If you have FileMaker Pro, download the file "Contacts"
in this library instead, as it takes about half the time. Also
note that this is not the same file as "Contacts" by Andrew Lee,
also in this library.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Keywords: contacts runtime pim database contact phone address name standalone
personal information manager
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $25
Back to top
DFDEditor 1.2
Category: Personal Productivity/Planning & Personal Info
Author: Richard Friend
The DFD of the name stands for Data Flow Diagram, and it's a tremendous
help for programmers trying to keep track of complex data processes.
The tools are simple: one box to show internal processes, one
for externals, a symbol for storage locations, and an intelligent
flow tool. Each of these tools, however, has options connected
with them which make this application much more complex. Up to
three keywords can be assigned to each process, for example, and
a report can be generated which shows where each of those keywords
occurs. (Note that this report, a text file, can be opened with
TeachText, but may be invisible to your word processor.)
DFDEditor also allows you to include subprocesses in each process
-- subprocesses which will be cataloged in the appropriate way
when a report is run out. Flowcharts can be printed, saved, or
exported by following the detailed instructions in the lengthy
user's guide, included. These features make DFDEditor a good stand-alone
flowcharting tool.
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Keywords: DATA FLOW DIAGRAM FLOWCHART PROGRAMMING COMPUTERS
Requires: Mac Plus or better
Price: Shareware $10
Back to top
This page was last updated on Monday, February 09, 2004 at 3:06pm CST.
All contents copyright 2005 by Tom Geller.
Writings by 
