If you're looking for the best of the best, check out the highest rated products on MacLife.com for the month August.

 

Scosche FlipSync

 

Apple charges $19 for a basic cable, which is highway robbery. Scosche’s version isn’t cheaper, but its utility and convenience give you plenty of bang for your buck.

 

   Read the full review.

 

 

 

Stairways Software Keyboard Maestro

 

Minor missing features aside, Keyboard Maestro is a productivity-boosting toolkit worth a serious look. It may not get you out of the office any earlier, but its flexibility and features will juice your productivity.

 

 

   Read the full review.

 

 

Blue Microphones Yeti

 

If you need to capture quality live recordings on your Mac, the Yeti will definitely deliver--and you get to look like an old-timey newscaster.

 

 

   Read the full review.

 

 

Half-Life 2

 

A few hiccups aside, this remains one of the finest first-person shooters for any platform--ever. The story and visuals are spectacular, and the inventive gameplay keeps you coming back. For $9.99, it’s hard to go wrong, even though the multiplayer mode is in a separate $4.99 game called Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, which wasn’t available for the Mac at press time.

 

 

   Read the full review.

 

 

Parrot AR.Drone

 

The Drone is about the size of a large pizza and weighs less than a pound. But its tech is fierce: two cameras, a three-axis accelerometer, two gryometers, an ultrasound sensor, a tiny computer system with an ARM9 processor and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and four rotors spinning at 35,000 rpm. All this rad is piloted using the AR.FreeFlight application on your iOS device.

 

 

   Read the full review.

 

 

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

 

It’s a no-brainer for Lightroom 2 users thinking of upgrading, but Lightroom 3 versus Aperture 3 is another story. If cataloguing is more important, then Aperture is the way to go, but Lightroom’s beefier editing tools offer more flexibility for pro photographers and advanced hobbyists.

 

 

   Read the full review.

 

 

Matias Tactile Pro 3

 

Its sweet feel--and sound--make the Tactile Pro 3 one of our favorite keyboards ever.

 

 

   Read the full review.

 

 

Western Digital WD TV Live Plus

 

We would’ve liked to have seen full Netflix search capabilities, but the Live Plus’s streaming works great, and its support for DVD navigation makes it feasible to set one up as the hub of your digital film library.

 

 

   Read the full review.

 

 

Virtual TimeClock '10 Pro Edition

 

Virtual TimeClock ’10 Pro Edition contains everything a small- to mid-sized company needs to track workers and time-dependent benefits. A lack of visuals in the documentation is made tolerable by a clean and well-thought-out interface. Reporting features can’t eliminate rote administrative tasks entirely, but it can make some of them a lot less onerous.

 

 

   Read the full review.

 

 

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

 

In spite of a few kinks, Wings of Liberty is an incredible start to the StarCraft II saga. The story draws you in, expands on the game’s universe, and leaves you wanting to see how it ends via the upcoming expansion packs. Which hopefully will be out before that 12-year-old kid learns how to drive. StarCraft is back.

 

 

   Read the full review.

 

 

Eternal Storms Flickery

 

Flickery is faster, cleaner, and arguably an all-around better experience than Flickr. Frequent users shouldn’t hesitate to drop $18 on this impressive software.

 

 

   Read the full review.

 

 

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

 

This game will thrill die-hard fans of the series, but it’s also newcomer-friendly, and as funny and satisfying as any puzzle game on the market.

 

 

   Read the full review.