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Post here software that you really enjoy or find indispensable for the Mac.

I'll start with a couple.

1. 
   Quicksilver. At its simplest, it adds a keyboard based app launcher to the already keyboard shortcut heavy Mac OS. Some of that functionality was duplicated in Spotlight as of Tiger, but QS can also put together nice simple work flows, all at the touch of a few keys. Unfortunately, the dev went to work for Google, developing the similar Google Launcher for both Windows and Mac, but I don't think he did as good a job as he did on the prototype. He OSS'd it, though, and the community has polished it up a bit. You'll find people love or hate QS. Most of the haters view it as only a keyboard app launcher, which Spotlight does already. Capable competitors are Launchbar, Dragthing, and Butler.
   
   
   

• 
  Divvy. This window managing software nicely complements the cruddy enigmatic green button on Mac OS X. Hit a keyboard shortcut or the menubar icon, and you get a grid bezel that lets you draw out exactly what part of the screen you want your window to take up. Great for tiling exactly how you want to tile. There are alternatives in Cinch (Windows 7 style) and ShiftIt (free).
  
  
  

I just got Little Snitch set up yesterday and it's awesome. It lets you know what programs are trying to call out and where they are calling out to. I'm honestly kind of shocked at programs that I'm finding going online.
Little Snitch
It costs about 29 bucks.

I use quicksliver religiously as well, I'm really disappointed about them not working on it anymore though...

I downloaded quicksilver but never really figured out how to utilize it in my daily use. It sits dormant on my machine...

It's all I use to launch programs. It makes it so you can just hide your doc and spend 50% less time in your finder. At least, thats how it's worked for me.

Things. Hands down the easiest organizer for my gtd stuff

Airlock is a great way to be lazy.

DaisyDisk is very helpful in seeing how much unnecessary stuff is taking up space on my HDs

Fontcase is a must for any designer who works with lots of fonts, but only needs a few typeface sets at a time.

.Amy. said:

Things. Hands down the easiest organizer for my gtd stuff

Click to expand...

Things has always looked cool but 50 bucks for a gtd organizer? Yikes.

How much is your time worth? Do the math, and figure how much the demo saves you timewise

I can't get into gtd on the screen. It seems made for paper. I have a notebook that I use. I can do my lists there 10x faster than on the screen. Plus it's always with me, and has the sexy of scratching off a to-do when it's done.

---------- Post added at 08:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:10 PM ----------

• iStat Menus is a nice menubar status monitor, calendar, and customizable clock replacement in one. I'll still with v. 2.0, though because they went pay as of 3.0, and 3.0 doesn't seem to add any new features.

.Amy. said:

How much is your time worth? Do the math, and figure how much the demo saves you timewise

Click to expand...

Maybe I will... Everytime I've tried GTD programs I just end up going back to my iPod touch notepad, they generally leave me feeling meh. I'll check it out though, although it would have to be pretty damn time saving to actually get me to cough up 50 bucks for it.

Let's take a quick trip through my apps folders. In no particular order...

Disk Inventory X - I actually prefer it over Daisydisk, both for the price (free!) and the fact that I like treemaps better.
iDefrag and iPartition - Extremely handy for managing partitions, prepping them for imaging.
DiskWarrior - This program will save your ass at least once. No, really. Go buy it.
Find Any File or EasyFind - Remember Sherlock? Here's the OS X equivalents.
Radioshift and Audio Hijack Pro - Does your computer make noise? Record it. On a timer, even.
DOSBox - Yay! DOS on Mac!
Bwana - So much easier to read Man pages this way.
Flip4Mac - Play WMVs and WMAs on OSX (in QT7, not QTX).
Perian and VLC - Play just about everything else.
MAX - Among other things, it offers cdparanoia for Mac.
Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! - If you're not comfortable using Disk Utility to clone your disks, one of these may work better for you.
0xED - Yes, there are times you still need a hex editor.
Pacifist - Install only the parts you want from an installer, or extract just that one file you need.
MainMenu - Sadly no longer freeware (last freeware version was 1.7.4), but still very handy. Alternatives include OnyX & AppleJack & TinkerTool (free), and Cocktail ($15).
Click2Flash - Only load Flash when you want to. Handy for ads.
MacFuse and NTFS-3G - Enable read/write of NTFS volumes.
iStumbler - View nearby wireless networks, their strength, channel, etc.
BetterZip ($20) - Remember how good Stuffit used to be? This comes really close. There are (free) Mac versions of 7-Zip out there, but they aren't terribly easy to use. If you're just looking to unpack an archive, The Unarchiver is free and pretty comprehensive.
JollysFastVNC ($40) - One of the best VNC clients out there, if you're into that sort of thing. There's also the Mac RDC client, if you swing that way.

.Amy., there's also MasterJuggler, but I don't know how it compares to Fontcase.

Good start?

--Patrick

It's not really Mac-specific, but in my daily life, I can't live without git. I "grew up" in my coding through CVS and later SVN, which were both very nice programs. But the git concept of decentralization and easy-peasy branching is awesome. If you code on SVN, you know what a pain branching is. Not on git. Need to try something new in a sandbox? Branch one off. Screw it up as much as you like, and delete the branch if it's terrible. It's that easy. Works great for text files, too. Which is nice if you write your docs in TeX or LaTeX like I do (screw Word).

Only thing I have of note beyond a few things that have already been mentioned is Undercover. Hopefully, will never need to test it.

PatrThom, what is the advantage to having Discwarrior if I have a solid Time Machine backup?

Diskwarrion tackles more errors and file directory stuff, (pesky file permissions, etc) whereas in my experience, Time Machine is like a giant undo button on deletions

Ah, I thought it was mainly for trying to save a disk that had gone ka-boom! I could see how useful a program like that could be.

It does that too. I see TM as a secretary who does footwork, Disk warrior as a super surgeon

Barring catastrophic disk failure, regular use of DiskWarrior may mean never having to use your TM backup (as more than a super-undo).

--Patrick

Quicksilver and Perian are awesome. Here's a couple that haven't been mentioned yet.

Adium - IM client that blows iChat out of the water. Syncs with Address book to, so you can have screen names associated with contacts. I love that it doesn't matter which protocol my friends logged in on it just shows that my friends are online.

Handbrake - Offensive icon aside Handbrake is the dvd ripping tool. I used it to put all my movie dvds onto a 500GB external hard drive. It's supposedly multi-platform, but the OSX version works the best by far.

Diskwarrior saved my butt once. It's worth the cash. Also, a thousand times yes on Adium. Multiple protocols (which I think we've all collected over the years, now) and aesthetics are enough of a sell, if nothing else.

fade said:

Also, a thousand times yes on Adium. Multiple protocols (which I think we've all collected over the years, now) and aesthetics are enough of a sell, if nothing else.

Click to expand...

I actually found it easiest just to stop using that shit, and call people on the phone instead.

SpecialKO;430704][QUOTE=fade said:

Also, a thousand times yes on Adium. Multiple protocols (which I think we've all collected over the years, now) and aesthetics are enough of a sell, if nothing else.

Click to expand...

I actually found it easiest just to stop using that shit, and call people on the phone instead. [/QUOTE]

fuuuck that. I haaaate small talk. At least with Adium I can tune 90% of it out.

.Amy.;430735][QUOTE=SpecialKO;430704][QUOTE=fade said:

Also, a thousand times yes on Adium. Multiple protocols (which I think we've all collected over the years, now) and aesthetics are enough of a sell, if nothing else.

Click to expand...

I actually found it easiest just to stop using that shit, and call people on the phone instead. [/QUOTE]

fuuuck that. I haaaate small talk. At least with Adium I can tune 90% of it out.[/QUOTE]

That's why I only talk to people who hate small talk. Keeps everything short.

KisMAC - Great free little program that scans for wireless networks and can run in passive mode. However, I had to purchase a usb wifi card to work in passive mode, but a wonderful tool for wireless network security.
CocoaPacketAnalyzer - ethereal (wireshark) sniffer for the Mac. Also free.
PS3 Media Server - Free server software to stream media from the Mac to the PS3.
M$ Office 2008 - Probably catch hell for this but M$'s popular office suite is a product I use daily. Not free, but good to have in the corporate world.
Open Office is a great free alternative and is now available for the Mac.

I have nothing against MS Office (though I don't prefer it for writing). I find the mac version a lot nicer to look at than the Windows version. MS Word has at least one irreplaceable feature: track changes. Nothing comes close in Pages or in Google Docs (the revision history there is just that. It's not the same.) It's invaluable for editing a thesis. I can edit, my changes get marked, and I can leave a track changes note. You can fake it in latex with boxes and font colors, but it's just not the same.

Honestly, I could not get through my day without iWork 09.

Keynote makes Powerpoint look like it rides the short bus, Pages is such a slick little text program and Numbers simplifies my life WAY more than the bloated excel could ever do.
But to each their own.

Oh yeah, like I said in the LaTeX thread, the hardest-core Windows fanbois/Mac haters I know drool over Keynote in spite of themselves. I use Keynote for all my class lectures (that I don't do off the board). Pages, on the other hand is pretty far behind Word in functionality. And it doesn't have track changes.

I still use iWork '08. I don't know if it's fixed in '09, but the one thing I dislike about Keynote is the enormous size of the presentation file. If you lecture twice a day, and teach maybe 6-7 classes total, the size adds up, even on modern HDDs. I also don't like how the presentation files are actually folders, because it makes syncing a desktop and laptop via rsync or unison a pain. They take forever dipping into each folder.

---------- Post added at 02:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:00 PM ----------

Which brings up Unison.

It may be a moot point with rumors that MobileMe is going free this fall, but syncing a laptop and a desktop is critical for me. I could buy something like MobileMe or Chronosync, but I can also do the same thing for free with Unison. It's not mac specific. In fact it will sync a mac and windows computer. Or mac and unix. Or three computers at once. There are catches, of course. It's command line based for the most part, though you can use the rudimentary GUI, too. There is a learning curve involved, but the trade-off is power, like many Unix apps.

MacVim. I'm a huge vi/vim fan. It's tough to learn, tough to perfect. But when you do, you can edit a text file like a frikkin' genie. Vim is already installed on your mac, and you can use it from any terminal. Macvim puts it in a mac terminal that honors all mac keyboard shortcuts, and frankly, looks pretty.

fade said:

It may be a moot point with rumors that MobileMe is going free this fall

Click to expand...

Wait, really?

Thats the rumor. Nothing set in stone though.

The theory is that it's going tiered. The whole theory is based on the appearance of a new "Subscription Type: Paid" field in the MobileMe prefpane (might not be the exact words). Who knows if it will, or if it does go free, what functionality will be in the free tier.

TNM said:

PS3 Media Server - Free server software to stream media from the Mac to the PS3.

Click to expand...

Missed this... it is GREAT! I've been using for a year or so and it's fantastic.

Some utility/productivity apps, but mostly art/modeling/developer stuff.

Moneywell: If you’re currently trapped in the Hell that is Quicken, go get yourself Moneywell! It’s quite a bit different than Quicken, and it took me a while to make the move, but I’m so glad I did! (Also, the new Quicken for Mac has apparently been stripped down to a Quicken Lite, wtf?) I use it with my online bank (it provides syncing) and it works wonderfully.

mSecure: Keeps all your passwords, bank account info, etc. in one place and syncs to mSecure on the iPhone/iTouch, so you can carry them everywhere with you. And you only have to remember one password!

AppZapper: I got this one through MacHeist (which is a great way to get indie Mac software, btw). Basically an “uninstaller”. It’s one of those apps that you didn’t realize you needed until you had it. If you’re tired of suffering through a Preferences folder full of garbage left over from apps you trash, you’ll want this app.

BBEdit: It’s a little expensive, but it’s awesome! I can’t imagine working on web pages without BBEdit anymore. Supports SVN and CVS!

MAMP: if you need a local server for web stuff, MAMP is super easy to use. It includes phpMyAdmin for managing your MySQL databases. The documentation isn’t all that great and I ran into problems trying to get PEAR to work with it, but since I’ve become a jQuery fan, that’s no longer an issue.

Scrivener: writing software (fiction and non-fiction). Helps you organize your writing. The developer is very responsive to the community, but has made the very wise decision to only add features he would use, to avoid bloat.

StoryMill: writing software that is more scene-based.

GraphicConvertor: I used this a lot in my early Mac days. It’s a nice little photo editor and can convert pretty much any graphic format that ever existed. I don’t use it much anymore, but it’s still one I recommend to people looking for a basic cheap photo editor.

Pixelmator: This would be a step up from GraphicConvertor and seems to be aiming at Photoshop Elements users. I’m trying to wean myself away from an abusive relationship with Adobe, and Pixelmator is helping as it continues to grow. :lol:

ArtRage: A very nice “natural media” painting program. Not quite as advanced as Corel Painter, but for the price it offers a lot of neat features. I’ve seen some gorgeous artwork created with ArtRage.

Art Director’s Toolkit: If you do a lot of work with web site colors, this has some handy features.

DigitalColor Meter: You have this in your Mac’s Utilities folder, but may not realize it’s there. Use it to grab RGB values from graphics.

Wings3D: A very simple free Open Source 3D editor. It has a learning curve, but is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

Bryce: I have to recommend this one, since I’ve been a Bryce user since Bryce was Mac-only. Bryce creates 3D environments. The interface is quirky, but it’s a lot of fun once you get used to it. It had a price drop since DAZ rescued it from the bowels of Corel, so I would recommend it as cheap software for kids who want to play around with 3D art. I think the interface would be very intuitive for them. But even though it’s “kid friendly”, you can do some nice, professional looking work in it, too.

Vue: Another environment modeler. I moved over to Vue when it looked like Corel was going to succeed in killing Bryce. Very, very nice software: the pro version is used in a lot of movies. There’s a level for everyone, even a free version to get a feel for 3D.

Unity3D: I’ve become a total Unity fangirl! It’s a GUI game engine that is incredibly easy to use. I’m still in the very early learning stages, but it’s been very fun running through the tutorials. Has a built-in terrain editor, which saves a lot of time and effort. It uses Javascript or Mono, so the programming language is easy to pick up (if you don’t already know it). Their basic version is now free. It’s a very Mac-friendly development environment, as it started out Mac only!

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Espy;432887][QUOTE=TNM said:

PS3 Media Server - Free server software to stream media from the Mac to the PS3.

Click to expand...

Missed this... it is GREAT! I've been using for a year or so and it's fantastic.[/QUOTE]

Does anyone know if you can get media from the PS3 to the Mac? So I could get the Flower soundtrack from the PS Store and put it on the Mac or iPod?

Don't think so, I think it's only one way communication (at least from what I can figure out...). Sorry. Also, I haven't used Unity in about 2 years, but even then it was a great program! Glad it's still trucking along! I like what I have seen of Pixelmator but... CS4 is just so solid right now (won't mess with 5 for a bit) that I can't imagine using much else right now.

I'm teetering on the edge of getting CS5.

Has anyone tried blender.org - Get Blender I'm looking into it.

I'm gonna wait. I haven't even bothered to look into CS5 right now, and since I'm only doing freelance stuff I'll give them time to wow me and and get the bugs worked out.

PCT said:

Has anyone tried blender.org - Get Blender I'm looking into it.

Click to expand...

Toyed with it many years ago for about a week or so, abandoned it and got wrapped up in other projects, never restarted. It was my first introduction to Python. By reptuation, it's no Maya, but it's plenty capable if you're willing to learn its idiosyncrasies. Plus the price is right.

--Patrick

Espy said:

Don't think so, I think it's only one way communication (at least from what I can figure out...). Sorry. Also, I haven't used Unity in about 2 years, but even then it was a great program! Glad it's still trucking along! I like what I have seen of Pixelmator but... CS4 is just so solid right now (won't mess with 5 for a bit) that I can't imagine using much else right now.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I figured the PS3 thing was a bust. Google searches had come up empty, too. Oh well.

I certainly wouldn't turn down Photoshop, I just can't justify the cost right now (once I get past the "tutorial" stage of Unity and start working on real projects, then I can justify getting Photoshop). But since Adobe treats Photoshop Elements for Mac as a second-class citizen and let it lag behind the Windows version, I'm starting to use Pixelmator more and more. I don't see it as a Photoshop replacement, but it definitely replaces Elements. Maybe in a couple years it will challenge Photoshop's domination.

---------- Post added at 08:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:39 AM ----------

PCT said:

Has anyone tried blender.org - Get Blender I'm looking into it.

Click to expand...

I have it, but haven't played with it much. It's got a learning cliff that I just haven't had time to climb.

There's also Cheetah3D. It's not free, but it's relatively cheap as far as 3D modelers go.

I'm still using CS3. I haven't had a really compelling reason to upgrade, since it works fine for me.

Sara_2814: I know somewhere someone has pointed you to Gimp, which is GNU's answer to Photoshop. It's actually pretty good, and well-featured.

You know what I do miss from time to time? Jasc's Paint Shop Pro. Back in the day, I thought it was far superior to Photoshop (at least for the kind of things I like to do). I know that Corel still releases it, but I have no idea how it compares these days.

I've tried Gimp, but I can't get past the interface. Once there's a native Mac version (not X11), I'll give it a try again.

Miro - Great free video player, has some fluff but I can't remember not being able to play a video file with this program.
Teamviewer - great free tool when you need to support someone's computer remotely. If they can access teamviewer.com and download the small client you can connect to their machine and troubleshoot the issue. Not Mac dependent, and fairly easy to walk someone through installing the small client remotely.