Thanks to a friend who is far more enthusiastic than me, I've had the pleasure of following MacHeist this year. It's a two stage event to promote the indepedent software development scene on the Mac.

I haven't previously bothered with it because it conflicts with my Free software ideals. However, I'm a filthy hypocrite and I have been known to pay for the odd bit of software in the past.

The first bit of MacHeist is a sort of game. You do 'missions' and get rewarded with free licenses to Mac shareware apps. Cool. There's some good stuff available, too. WireTap Pro, for a start. Very good app, and even better for nothing!

The second bit is a sort of 'charity bake sale'. There are 11 apps available in a bundle for $49.99, or $39.99 for register MacHeist members (hooray!). So that's £20 for 11 pieces of software. Not all useful, I'll admit, but enough good to offset the not-so-great.

Unfortunately only the first eight items are available at the start of the sale. These were, in no particular order:

• 1password - Web browser keychain manager
• CoverSutra - iTunes remote control with sexy graphics
• Cha-Ching - basic finance management for the everyman
• iStopMotions - stop motion animation program for use with iSight
• Awaken - an alarm clock. Not much good for us portable owners
• SpeedDownload - an all-in-one upload/download/connection manager thingy
• AppZapper - essentially a clever uninstaller
• TaskPaper - a todo list / outline management tool

An interesting mix. 1password, Cha-Ching, Speed Download and AppZapper made the £20 outlay worth it for me. The others are just gravy. However, there are more! As different targets are reached (e.g. a certain number of sales made, a certain charity donation amount reached) more apps are unlocked that are then made available to everybody who buys the bundle.

There are three targets that need to be reached. I'm not entirely sure what they are, but two of them have been reached already. The apps that are made available are:

1. CSSEdit - a CSS editor with the unique feature of a real time preview
2. Snapz Pro X - a screenshot and screencast maker that is quick enough to even capture composited animations
3. Pixelmator - a graphics manipulation program along the lines of Photoshop Elements

At last count we were almost all the way to getting Pixelmator thrown in. That'll be a nice addition to my not-very-expensive bundle. If you want a piece of action, click this link here. Why? Oh no reason ... well, except I get freebies for referring people!