Essential OS X Apps

[MacOSXMan]

My Top App Picks:

Yojimbo (Shareware) - Yojimbo empowers Mac users to manage, effortlessly and securely, the onslaught of information encountered every day at work and at home, even across multiple computers. Yojimbo stores different data types: text notes, passwords, web bookmarks, product serial numbers, PDFs, and web archives.

Think (Freeware) - Think ? Look around your screen right now. It's okay, we'll wait.

At this very moment, applications are fighting for your attention. Between chat windows, Finder windows, Web browser windows, and everything else, it's amazing any of us can concentrate at all. As it has become easier to multitask, we've become more likely to have two dozen windows on the screen at any given moment. Innovations like Expose makes finding what you want in the sea of visual stimuli easier, but they've done little to remove those distractions.

Focusing takes concentration, and concentration takes energy. You can only concentrate on so much at a time, and you can't create more energy. What we need to do is change how we work.

Let's limit our attention to one application--any application--at any time. Let's make it easy to change focus when we have to. Let's allow ourselves to bring other apps up quickly if we need them, but put them out of sight again just as quickly.

Think lets you rediscover how to focus, and get back to thinking.

Smultron (Freeware)[/b]b> - Smultron is text editor designed to be easy and intuitive to start off with and to become more and more able as and when the user wants it.b> Some of its features are line numbers, support for syntax colouring for many different languages, functions list, support for text encodings, snippets, a toolbar, a status bar, HTML preview, split window, multi-document find and replace with regular expressions, possibility to show invisible characters, tabs, authenticated open and saves, command-line utility, .Mac synchronisation, full screen editing and running commands from within Smultron

Camino (Freeware)b> - Camino (formerly known as Chimera) is a web browser for Mac OS X that has a Cocoa user interface, and embeds the Gecko layout engine. It is intended to be simple, small and fast browser for Mac OS Xb>.

Considered one of the fastest Web browsers on Mac OS X, Camino also integrates tightly with the platform, adopting the refined style, user-focused interface, and cutting-edge technologies that are hallmarks of the Macintosh experience. The project's development philosophy embraces these ideals, so Camino includes built-in technology to block pop-ups and ads, allowing users to view the Web as it was meant to be seen -- annoyance-free.

Overflow (Shareware)[/b]b> Overflow is an application designed to quickly launch applications, open documents, or access folders while keeping the size of your dock in checkb>. Anything you want can be added to the Overflow interface, making it accessible though a few simple mouse clicks or keystrokes. The interface is resizable, and fully customizable. Create separate categories for your applications, work files, games, or anything else you want to be able to access quickly. After using Overflow, we think you'll find it just as indispensable as we do.Adium X (Freeware)b> - Adium is fast and free instant messaging client which supports AIM, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, Yahoo! Japan, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, QQ, Novell Groupwise, SIP/SIMPLE (Text), and Lotus Sametimeb>. Adium supports beautiful WebKit message display, tabbed messaging, encrypted chat, file transfer, and more. Give it a try; you won't look back.

Adium is a fast and free instant messaging client which supports AIM, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, Yahoo! Japan, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, QQ, Novell Groupwise, SIP/SIMPLE (Text), and Lotus Sametime. Adium supports beautiful WebKit message display, tabbed messaging, encrypted chat, file transfer, and more. Give it a try; you won't look back.

HandBrake (Freeware)[/b]b> - HandBrake is a GPL'd multiplatformmultithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converterb>. HandBrake was originally available on the BeOS, but now has been ported over to MacOS X and to GNU/Linux.

GraphicConverter (Shareware)[/b]b> GraphicConverter is aall-purpose image editing programb> that can import 199 different graphic-based formats, edit the image, and export it out of 80 file available file formats.

The high-end editing tools are perfect for graphic manipulation as well as the ability to use Photoshop-compatible plug-ins. It offers batch-conversion capabilities, a slide show window, and so much more.Corripio Artwork Finder (Freeware)bCorripio is the premier tool for gathering album artworkb>. By searching four sources: the iTunes Music Store, Coveralia, Best Buy, and Walmart, Corripio enables the user to get the best artwork available for their iTunes libraries with the click of a button. The user now has the ability to search for song lyrics. The lyrics will automatically be added to each songs' ID3 tag.

Edited February 8, 2007 by WinMacsta06

[.Neo]

Think looks interesting, going to give it a try. Thanks. (Y)

Edit:

Done trying. I don't find it very practical and it doesn't work properly. For example when clicking an application in the Dock it will open above the layer next to the application that was already there. Same goes for an iChat/Messenger window that pops up. Kinda defeats the purpose of using Think.

Edited February 8, 2007 by .Neo

[Glassed Silver]

you got to list Mercury Messenger (MSN)

its got features like nudges, costum emoticons (support to send and receive em), winks, nudges, webcam (really fast), file transfers, PM, current iTunes song/video, etc...

written in Java.

this thingy actually makes me not missing WLM :)

go to: www.mercury.to

Glassed Silver:mac

[Arpit]

i liked the features of mercury, but i found it really really slow on my powerbook.. could just be me i guess? i went back to adium.

[mattrobs]

Think (Freeware) - Think ? Look around your screen right now. It's okay, we'll wait.

At this very moment, applications are fighting for your attention. Between chat windows, Finder windows, Web browser windows, and everything else, it's amazing any of us can concentrate at all. As it has become easier to multitask, we've become more likely to have two dozen windows on the screen at any given moment. Innovations like Expose makes finding what you want in the sea of visual stimuli easier, but they've done little to remove those distractions.

Focusing takes concentration, and concentration takes energy. You can only concentrate on so much at a time, and you can't create more energy. What we need to do is change how we work.

Let's limit our attention to one application--any application--at any time. Let's make it easy to change focus when we have to. Let's allow ourselves to bring other apps up quickly if we need them, but put them out of sight again just as quickly.

Think lets you rediscover how to focus, and get back to thinking.

Ooh. Just like 10.0 beta's "Single Window Mode".

[Glassed Silver]

i liked the features of mercury, but i found it really really slow on my powerbook.. could just be me i guess? i went back to adium.

runs pretty well on my iMac.

Could be its because of it being written in Java.

Glassed Silver:mac

[.Kompressor]

Found this cool utility for showing the directories on your hard disk that are using up all the space. It helps to locate the files that are taking up all those precious bytes.

Grand Perspective

GrandPerspective is a small utility application for Mac OS X that graphically shows the disk usage within a file system. It can help you to manage your disk, as you can easily spot which files and folders take up the most space. It uses a so called tree map for visualisation. Each file is shown as a rectangle with an area proportional to the file's size. Files in the same folder appear together, but their placement is otherwise arbitrary.

http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

[AlienHrGig]

cheers.

great apps being recomended here,found a lot of essential apps here and on insanely forum.

but there is something i have not found or skipped my atention i am trying to find so i will ask for help if anyone know about this kind of application.

i am looking for an aplication that can do the same as iTunes or iPhoto does, like drag and drop of files, and it stores the files in it's aplication folder and organizes it by date, album etc

i was trying to find an application that can do this to multiple items like downloads, wallpapers and random downloaded images,video clips and other files

is there an application that does this?

yep does this for pdf's, but is there other apps that do the same or do the same with multiple kinds of files?

[.Kompressor]

cheers.

great apps being recomended here,found a lot of essential apps here and on insanely forum.

but there is something i have not found or skipped my atention i am trying to find so i will ask for help if anyone know about this kind of application.

i am looking for an aplication that can do the same as iTunes or iPhoto does, like drag and drop of files, and it stores the files in it's aplication folder and organizes it by date, album etc

i was trying to find an application that can do this to multiple items like downloads, wallpapers and random downloaded images,video clips and other files

is there an application that does this?

yep does this for pdf's, but is there other apps that do the same or do the same with multiple kinds of files?

The only thing that comes to mind at the moment is iView Media:

http://www.iview-multimedia.com/mediapro/

[AlienHrGig]

The only thing that comes to mind at the moment is iView Media:

http://www.iview-multimedia.com/mediapro/

thanks mate, going to test it and see how it works ;)

[.Kompressor]

RosettaTest is a program to indicate whether an application in Mac OS X is running natively on a Mac powered by processors from Intel or is dynamically translated by Rosetta.

If the program is translated, a small red indicator labelled 'R' is shown inside the application's icon.

http://www.lonsing.com/RosettaTest/

[.Kompressor]

Wi-Fi Access Point finders

MacStumbler

http://www.macstumbler.com/

Kismac

http://kismac.de/download.php

This is a cool Wi-Fi access point Finder for the Dashboard (Very COOL) :D

JiWire

http://www.jiwire.com/osx-tiger-dashboard-widget.htm

[SnowRanger13]

Man this topic is amazing! Looks like I'm going to be busy for a while checking out a bunch of these.

[.Kompressor]

More WiFi access point finders that reveal alot of info about the AP's

Coconut WiFi

Imaging the following: You're on a trip with your iBook, PowerBook or MacBook Pro and you want to check E-Mails or do something in the internet.

So you're searching for a wireless access point. To do this the "normal" way you have to check the Apple airport-menu continuously to see if a network is in your range.

This normal way is very bad because of two facts:

1. You will miss many networks, because you don't want to open and close the airport-menu all the time

2. In the airport-menu you don't see if the network is encrypted or open - you have to try to connect to verify this

What does it do?

coconutWiFi displays you a small aqua-bubble at the top of your screen which indicates whether you're in range of a wireless network or not.

The app also tells you if the wireless networks in your range are encrypted or open, so you won't miss the next open wireless network any more.

http://coconut-flavour.com/coconutwifi/

iStumbler

iStumbler is the leading wireless discovery tool for Mac OS X, providing plugins for finding AirPort networks, Bluetooth devices and Bonjour services with your Mac.

Release 98 includes a re-written AirPort plugin which now correctly reports signal for all current AirPort chip-sets, and provides more information about all networks. The info window is now resizable and the AirPort Inspector shows dBm values when available.

http://istumbler.net/index.html

[Momma]

Here is a list of some free software

http://web.mac.com/simon_elliott/iWeb/simo...m/Software.html

btw does nobody use pathfinder? If you have a lot of files to move around and use finder irritating, this is for you, not great to look at but helps me do my job

http://www.cocoatech.com/

[saxondale.]

So is QuickSilver. I've set the hotkey to F1 which makes the window pop-up. After that you type in a few letters like "acr" for Adobe Acrobat Professional 8, or "xt" for Xtorrent and them simply hit [Enter] to execute.

Can you have quicksilver running in the background? So when i boot up, i can press my hotkey and it will open, without actually needing it in my dock? so like spotlight, so its not a noticable running application?

[esbi]

Can you have quicksilver running in the background? So when i boot up, i can press my hotkey and it will open, without actually needing it in my dock? so like spotlight, so its not a noticable running application?

Yes, you can.

[saxondale.]

Much appreciated.

[vf-]

Can you have quicksilver running in the background? So when i boot up, i can press my hotkey and it will open, without actually needing it in my dock? so like spotlight, so its not a noticable running application?

You should get the Cube UI. If you haven't already :)

[Quillz]

You should get the Cube UI. If you haven't already :)

Mind uploading that awesome Activity Monitor icon?

[vf-]

Mind uploading that awesome Activity Monitor icon?

Activity Monitor Replacement

[Kudos Veteran]

LightMe 2.0

Allows you to switch off the display using a keyboard shortcut. Insanely handy if you have an iMac that you leave running at night.

[giga Veteran]

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=571489

closed