MacHeist 3 Tips - Help for MacHeist Newbies!

The MacHeist 3 Bundle software and pricing has been revealed. The price for the bundle is only $39 and you get hundreds of dollars of software. It's even less if you participated in the MacHeists and got some $2 discounts stacked up--I paid $31. They are donating 25% of that price to charity.They say it's over $900 worth of software if all of the bundle apps are unlocked.

There is also a new Tweetblast to get Delicious Library and Multiwinia for free.

This is the software you get (some have to be unlocked first by reaching targets of money raised for charity):

• Cro-Mag Rally - added to bundle 3/31. It's a racing game that reminds me of Mario Kart. I only tried it once and it seems pretty hard.


• iSale - software to create eBay auctions using templates and embedding videos


• Picturesque - cool simple photo editor to make effects like rounded edges easily


• SousChef - recipe manager


• World of Goo - bizarre but fun puzzle game


• PhoneView - view files from your iPhone or iPod Touch on your Mac.


• LittleSnapper - take and organize screenshots


• Acorn - Photo editor with a simple interface


• Kinemac - $299 3D Animation software


• WireTap Studio - (UNLOCKED!) sound recording utility


• Boinx TV (UNLOCKED!) YET - video production

MEGA UNLOCKS - will be unlocked when $500,000 is raised for charity. Less than $100,000 to go!

• The Hit List (NOT UNLOCKED YET) - Task manager, GTD style


• Espresso - (NOT UNLOCKED YET) Powerful web editor

I love MacHeist loot!
My favorite part about the MacHeist is the free software you get for participating in and solving the heists. At the beginning of each mission, you get some loot for participating, and at the end of the mission you get loot for solving the mission. All in all, you get a lot of free Mac software!

Software received for free from MacHeist 3:

Mainframe: MacDust, Pandora's Pests (game), Process
Nano Mission 1: KavaTunes, Love & Romance Stationery Pack, Shovebox
Agent Aptitude Test: Webbla
Mission 1: AllSecure, 3D Hearts Deluxe, Sticky Notes
NanoMission 2: Fresh, Blitz
Mission 2: Agent Craig, Hyperspaces, Timepost, Overflow
Tweetblast: Devonthink
nanoMission 3: babelBloX (game), Typinator
Mission 3: Scribbles, MiniOne Racing (game), iStock

Mac Heists are broken up into missions. Usually you get some free software at the beginning of the mission, and more at the end when you have solved the mission. Sometimes you get a bundle discount. Some missions are "nanoMissions" where you still get more free software.

Signing Up
Sign up for MacHeist at macheist.com. Once you sign up, when you go to the MacHeist website you will see links for Briefings, Loot, and forums at the top.

Briefings
The Briefings are where you get briefed on the MacHeist missions (as well as debriefed at the end.) There are videos and clues that are really confusing (at least for me) and you have to put it all together to solve.

When do MacHeists start?
MacHeists seem to start around the beginning of the year, and don't last forever. If you signed up, you should get an e-mail when a new MacHeist begins so you don't miss it.

Each MacHeist Mission has some hard puzzles to solve! These puzzles can be a number of different things, and they often require visiting other websites to solve puzzles and get more clues. You usually have to figure out which website to visit from the clues and then there will be something you have to figure out on that website that leads you to go somewhere else or do something.

Getting help in the MacHeist Forums
The MacHeist Forums are where you can go to get help from others. In "The Backroom" you can usually find spoilers, sometimes you will find walkthroughs for the entire MacHeist.

Where to get help for MacHeist 3
When you start participating in MacHeist 3, you are asked to take an aptitude test which will put you in a group, I'm guessing the group you are put into is based on how you answer the test questions. Once you have been put into a group you will see a new forum called HQ with a colored dot next to it. The colored dot represents what team you are in (as the teams are all named after colors.) This is the best place to get help for MacHeist 3 if you are stuck because your team will want you to solve the Heists!

You also get points in MacHeist 3 and there is a lot of speculation on what the points are for and how you get the points. I don't know, I am just going to wait and see.

I am not affiliated with MacHeist.com, just someone who loves getting free Mac software!
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