| Version | 2.0 |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Nulana |
| Release date | Nov 23, 2013 |
| Date added | Nov 23, 2013 |
| Os requirements | Macintosh, Mac OS X 10.9, Mac OS X 10.6, Mac OS X 10.8, Mac OS X 10.7 |
| Requirements | None |
| Total downloads | 995 |
| Price | Free |
Description
Launcher will help you to simplify most common everyday actions like Mute, Play/Pause, Restart, Shutdown and others. There are several ways to launch applications. You can simply start typing the application name in the search string and you'll immediately get the list of apps displayed in alphabetical order. You can use abbreviations, for example, "qtp" for QuickTime Player, "ab" for the Address Book, "rml" for Remind Me Later. Finally you can manually assign a handy command to specific app to launch it. You can send queries to search engines right from the Launcher. All you need is to choose your favourite among the dozens of search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, eBay, Youtube, and Wikipedia and assign them to short or even one-letter commands, for example, "g" - for Google, "e" - for eBay, "w" - for Wikipedia. Next time you need information enter the command and the search query with a space and Launcher will open your default browser with search results. For example, "e apples" will lead you to an eBay page with the results for "apples".
Review
Launcher offers many of the same basic functions as the built-in search tools in OS X, but with additional options such as quick search, Wiki-lookup, and more that allow you to move around your computer at rapid speed. The added actions are all very intuitive and work seamlessly in the interface provided by the app; and while there were some performance issues in our tests, Launcher generally worked very smoothly in the background between searches.
After installation, you can open Launcher and be greeted by a short list of options and a walkthrough of what the app can do. There is a shortcut list showing you how to search in Google or Bing, open Wikipedia, look on YouTube, or open deeper functions in the computer. There are also more advanced short commands for things like calculations, which will allow you to perform basic quick math without opening your calculator, or you can use the standard search functions to open an app or find a document in your computer's database. The interface here is very fast and almost always runs smoothly. We did experience two hangups during our tests that occurred when searching for apps that had multiple results. Both times required a force quit, but this happened less often with short commands and apps that didn't have multiple search results and Launcher always restarted quickly.
If you are looking for a more advanced search tool for your Mac that will provide a number of powerful, additional tools that go above and beyond what you can do with the OS X search capabilities, consider Launcher. The app is completely free and it is a solid upgrade over what your computer already has, even with the minor issues.
