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Article 78

10 Mac Apps I Can’t Live Without

By @keirwhitaker

31 March 2010 | Category: Asides

We have all been there. You need to use your colleagues computer for some reason and after a few seconds realise they haven't got "that" app that you always use installed. You sit, shaking your head in disbelief, and wonder how they manage to get through the day without it.

OK maybe that's a bit strong but it made me think that there are a number of Mac apps that I really wouldn't want to be without. Whether it be my simple program launcher, my preferred version of Terminal or my Finder replacement.

These things are personal so I thought I would share my top ten Mac apps I can’t live without. I am not talking the big apps, rather the little apps or utlities that just make my daily work life a little bit easier.

  1. Google Quick Search Bar – I was never a QuickSilver power user but loved the ability to quickly launch apps from a keystroke. Given it’s lack of development (although recent activity looks promising) I moved to the recent offering from Google. This reduces the need to have all my common apps in the dock and also has nice integration with Spotlight search. A similar solution is offered by the recently launched AlfredApp.
  2. Visor – Indispensable for Terminal users. Allows your session window to drop down (just like a visor) with a user specified keystroke. Requires SIMBL.
  3. Dropbox – Admittedly cross platform but a great way of sharing files and doing quick and dirty version control.
  4. Witch – A command-tab replacement. Witch allows you to switch to not just the app but one of it’s potentially many open windows.
  5. PathFinder – Billed as “The Finder reinvented”. Check out the dual pane file browser (hard to live without once you have used it) and the drop stack, two of the many great features.
  6. Caffeine – When activated stops your Mac going to sleep! Great for presentations or watching your “on demand” TV shows.
  7. Adium – Multiple IM accounts in one app. Support for AIM, GTalk, Facebook, Yahoo, Jabber and many more.
  8. iPhoney – Not an iPhone simulator, rather a pixel-accurate web browsing environment—powered by Safari—that you can use when developing web sites for iPhone.
  9. TextMate – My preferred text editor for everyday use. Code, articles, HTML etc. The shipped and downloadable bundles speed things up no end. Worth the time getting to grips with.
  10. Tweetie – My Twitter client of choice for personal use. Really looking forward to see how the development team integrate the innovative Tweetie2 for iPhone features.

Undoubtedly there’s plenty more, what have I missed? What should I be using? What can’t you live without?

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Comments

  • http://spaze.info rado

    Nice list, thanks. I would add Coda at number 1. Regards.

  • http://kgutteridge.co.uk Kieran Gutteridge

    Great list, a few in there I had not heard of
    I would have to add the following

    Cyberduck for ssh/ftp transfers
    AppViz for iTunes connect sales reporting
    Things – Task management
    Versions – SVN made pretty

  • http://www.twitter.com/lammiia lamia ben

    Hello Keir,

    Nice list. I’d probably just add skitch, winebottler and waveboard. These are the ones I use almost everyday, other than some of those you already mentioned.

    Regards,
    Lamia

  • http://omgponi.es peter clark

    TinyGrab is really useful for quickly uploading screenshots to the web [the moment you take a screenshot, its uploaded]

    1Password is the ultimate password manager for Mac/iPhone.

    MailPlane <3 GMail

    plc

  • Andy Mortimer

    Agree with Peter Clark 1Password is awesome couldn’t live without that now

  • http://decode.uk.com Rob Such

    Coda!

    As it quotes on Panic’s site…

    ‘Text editor + file transfer + svn + css + terminal + books + more = whoah.’

    It’s the nuts, couldn’t live without it now.

  • http://decode.uk.com Rob Such

    Oooo also, Sequel Pro. It’s basically MySql Query Browser but so much simpler!

  • http://blog.room34.com room34

    It’s a funny thing how people using the same platform, (probably) working in more-or-less the same field, gravitate to such different tools. I can’t imagine wanting or needing any of the applications in this list, but then again I’m of the general philosophy of relying on built-in OS tools as much as possible. I use almost no third-party utility apps. Twitter? There’s a website for that. Keeping the computer from going to sleep? Hot corners and Energy Saver configuration take care of that nicely. Etc.

    Anyway, here’s what I can’t live without on my Mac:

    1. Photoshop (bloated as it is)
    2. Coda
    3. TextWrangler (I code in Coda but TW has some great tools Coda lacks)
    4. Transmit
    5. Terminal
    6. iWork (Pages and Numbers; I’ve only ever fired up Keynote by accident)
    7. Preview (yes, Preview! Better PDF viewer than Acrobat)
    8. Parallels Desktop w/Windows 7 (for testing, but I kind of hate it)
    9. Firefox
    10. Mail (easy to forget but it’s always open!)

    No revelations here. But I think it reinforces the philosophy of relying on what the OS gives you and not bogging down the system with tons of add-ons. It’s slow enough as it is.

  • Keir Whitaker

    TinyGrab sounds cool, I’ll check that out.

    I tried MailPlane once a while ago and couldn’t work out why it was superior to the GMail interface. Happy to be convinced though :)

  • Keir Whitaker

    Sequel Pro looks great. Downloading it now. Here’s the link for anyone interested.

    http://www.sequelpro.com/.

  • http://twitter.com/ianmcnaught ian

    Good list, use about half of them, but some I need to check out. I love how with some of these apps, they become so much part of the OS to you that you find it hard to get by when on a machine without them!

  • Adam

    No bootcamp (lol)? I am a mac user…and we need to get off our high horses about os been ‘better’ some of the apps you listed like caffeine do really simple tasks that should be interrogated into an os already (oh he is watching a video….DONT go to sleep).

  • http://thisux.com Matt Henderson

    Great list, thanks. I wasn’t aware of Witch; looks like it could be a good replacement for LightSwitch from Proteron (which I had to stop using with Snow Leopard, if I recall.)

    Looking at my “open on login” apps, I’d add the following to apps that I can’t live without:

    * BusyCal. Simply amazing replacement for iCal. Syncs with Google Calendar, is compatible with iCal data, etc. Tremendous attention to detail.

    * Yojimbo. Storage of sensitive information (passwords, serial numbers, notes, etc.)

    * 1password. Storage and browser access of site login credentials.

    * TextExpander. Very powerful shortcut replacements app.

    * LaunchBar. Open apps. Find documents. Search Google. Add numbers. Does it all.

    * TaskPaper. Super simple, and elegant, task management. (I use this for high level overviews, and use calendar todos in BusyCal for low-level tasks.)

    * Just Notes. Simple note taking app, syncs with the SimpleNote service and app on the iPhone.

    * Isolator. Menubar utility to dim all but the front window. Great for focusing.

    * Pastebot. Not really a Mac app, per se, but rather the Mac component of the iPhone app. No better way to share clipboards between a Mac and iPhone.

    * Backblaze. For $50 per year, it’s like an in-the-cloud Time Machine. Unlimited data (seriously, I’ve got nearly 500GB there).

  • Keir Whitaker

    Hey Matt,

    Thanks for your comment. There’s a bunch of stuff in there that I haven’t seen and will be checking out. I have heard really good things about Backblaze, have you had any issues?

    Interesting to see that some of your apps are tie ins to the iPhone, I think we will start to see this a lot more.

  • http://imagedistillery.com Jason

    Querious (by Araelium Group) for managing MySQL DBs

    Billings 3 (by Market Circle) for managing project quotes, billable hours, invoicing and accounts receivable

    Tweetie (by Atebits) the best desktop Twitter client around… also looking forward to an upgrade to Tweetie 2 soon

    Skype It’s cross-platform, but I couldn’t operate without it. Get a Skype phone number and the ability to call phones (instead of just other Skype accounts)

    Automator Great for setting up custom automated workflows for tedious, repetitive tasks

  • http://thisux.com Matt Henderson

    Keir, I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with Backblaze. It works transparently in the background, throttling its used bandwidth if you ask it to, and I hardly notice it running. The people behind Backblaze received a huge amount of attention not long ago, when they “open sourced” their hardware design, which allows them to economically offer unlimited storage for $50/year. That gave me a lot of confidence in the organization behind the product. Finally, I’ve had to recover files several times now, and it’s worked perfectly.

  • mattbrawn

    I’m a massive fan of Paparazzi for taking full screenshots of webpages.

    http://derailer.org/paparazzi/

  • http://twitter.com/sstarr Simon Starr

    That’s an interesting list; I think I’m going to have to give Visor a try :)

    A couple of other apps that I can’t live without are AntiRSI and Helipad.

    AntiRSI is great for reminding me to take a break from the computer to stretch or walk around once in a while. Helipad is like a notebook that you can access from anywwhere – there’s a web interface and an iPhone client as well – and it’s ideal for storing everything from shopping lists to handy snippets of code

  • http://twitter.com/mapstr MAPstr

    Skype – Much better fidelity than iChat.

    Thunderbird – NNTP client.

    1Password – logins, passwords, secure notes.

    LastPass – similar to 1Password, but a cross platform browser plugin. Works with Safari, Chromium, Firefox, and IE.

    RightZoom – Maximize your windows

  • http://41six.com Adam

    Definitely 1Password and Coda too. I’ve never heard of Witch or PathFinder so I’m going to have a look at those.

    Great list though.

  • http://robwilkerson.org Rob Wilkerson

    You hit on the best of the best (QSB, Dropbox, Visor, Adium, Tweetie), but here are a few others that are (or are becoming) part of my “starter kit”:

    * AppTrap: background process that helps clean up the detritus after uninstalling an app. I try lots of software. I keep less.
    * Better Touch Tool: It’s not particularly attractive (I hope they’re working on that), but I love being able to customize a few gestures (like Firefox’s 3 finger up/down swipe for home/end) for other apps. It recently added an Aerosnap-like feature that’s really useful.
    * Growl: Not sure how this didn’t make the list, but there it is. Perhaps you didn’t consider it an app, but Visor isn’t either–technically speaking.
    * iStatMenus: If for no other reason than the replacement date/time menubar bits that include a dropdown calendar.
    * SizzlingKeys: Having moved from Quicksilver to QSB, I missed using hotkeys to control iTunes without iTunes having the window focus.
    * Porticus: Sometimes it’s just nice to be able to visualize my MacPorts packages.
    * DiskInventoryX: Where did my disk space go?

  • http://platypusman.com silentmouth

    Default Folder, hands down.

  • Keir Whitaker

    Hey Rob,

    Some great additions. Yes Growl for sure, I kind of forget that it’s an app most of the time as it is used by so many applications, feels more like part of the OS.

    istatmenus looks great, installing now. Thanks for the hat tip on that one.

    I am thinking a more definitive list is in order after all these good comments.

  • http://inspirationoverload.org/ Conor O’Driscoll

    + Notational Velocity is a brilliant, open-source note-taking app that I use almost all the time (http://notational.net/)

    I agree with you on Tweetie. I switched from the browser to Tweetie a few months back, and never thought of turning back.

  • http://rodrigomunoz.com Rodrigo Munoz

    Thanks for recommending Witch. I have been looking for app like this for a long time. Please continue adding posts like these. I love finding new applications that make my life easier.

  • http://hellogio.com Giovanni Atalmi

    I can’t believe no one mentioned LittleSnapper. As an art director I love to keep track of inspirational stuff I find and this is the best tool for doing just that.
    Works great with your favourite browser, thanks to the bookmarklet integration, but you can also save areas, windows, all screen. And the tag the images, categorize them and upload them to emberapp.com for online sharing and web access.

    Good list!

  • http://jspr.tndy.me Jasper

    1Password – I will never switch to another OS because of this app.
    Adium
    Firefox
    Things
    Transmit
    git
    MacVim
    TotalFinder
    Hyperspaces
    Aperture

    I tried using Visor and found it too flaky when using Spaces as well, so I don’t bother any more. When I used PathFinder, it required you to have Finder running as well, and it just wasn’t /that/ much better, imho.

  • http://darwinweb.net/ Gabe da Silveira

    Not sure what else Witch does, but given your description, I wonder if you are aware of ⌘-`

  • http://www.lucidideas.gr George Terezakis

    Querious (suggested by Jason above) is a much stronger alternative to Sequel Pro, but it’s not free ($29). It doesn’t choke as fast on big data chunks. Interface is better laid out and is quite faster and more enjoyable to use. Sequel Pro doesn’t offer users & privileges management.

    Thanks for the suggestions Keir, as well as everyone else!

  • spython

    Notify 2 – http://vibealicious.com/apps/notify/
    I have a couple of e-mail accounts, and notify pro lets me preview, mark as read or delete incoming messages. Or even reply. Without using a big application with a huge window.

    Forklift http://www.binarynights.com/forklift
    a very powerful file manager with support for FTP, SFTP, Amazon S3, WebDAV and so on..

    Delibar for nice delicious integration
    and StickyWindows until Snow leopard came out and StickyWindows stopped working.

  • Michael

    I used TextMate (I still do as a default text editor). But Coda came out of no where and improved my life in so many ways.

    Coda > TextMate

  • http://enrique-ramirez.com Enrique Ramírez

    Awesome list! Couple missing for me:

    * Things – Task management. Seriously, I’d be lost everyday without it.
    * FileShuttle – If you have an FTP server and need to share your stuff fast and easy, this is the app for you. Take a screenshot, it gets uploaded automatically and pastes the url to your clipboard. Want to zip files? no worries, drag/drop the folder to the icon and it’ll do everything for you. It lacks some features, but man, it’s awesome, simple and fast.
    * Versions App – I must admit, I HATE svn. No real reason, I just hate it. But this little app makes life so much easier! Clean, simple interface with fast action!
    * VMWare – As a FED, I really appreciate having a quick virtual machine that can run multiple software without slowing down. VMWare is the best when it comes down to it.

  • http://twitter.com/jamesshannon James Shannon

    Skitch – http://www.skitch.com – Screenshot software (Free)

    QuikSilver – http://www.blaktree.com – App Launcher Extraordinaire (same guys as Visor) (Free)

    Caffeine – Already mentioned by someone above (Free)

    Tweetie – Mentioned above (Paid)

    Hazel – http://www.noodlesoft.com – Cleans folders with rules you set/moves files I recently bought this and it is very handy as i’m lazy and dump everything in the one folder (Paid)

    Dropbox – Mentioned above

    Grand Perspective – http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net – Shows you how your Hard Disk space is being used by the use of different Coloured/Sized blocks [screenshot – http://bit.ly/dmuYPn (Free)

    I used to hate Macs, now I absolutely love ‘em (got 3 at home, 1 at work)

  • http://twitter.com/javizf nkm

    Great compilation of apps.

    Here are my essentials:
    - SizeUp + Cinch
    - TextMate
    - Quicksilver
    - iStat menus
    - TextExpander
    - The Unarchiver
    - Growl
    - Perian
    - Movist

    Also, for webdevs:
    - WebKit nightly
    - ImageOptim
    - Colors.app
    - Transmit
    - xScope
    - CSSEdit
    - Sequel Pro
    - Changes.app
    - Reggy
    - GitX

  • http://www.joshuatessier.com/ Joshua Tessier

    Cinch, without a doubt. It takes the Windows-7 feature of auto-expanding windows that you’ve brought to the edge. Great for comparing files and maximizing.

  • http://www.joehowarddesign.com Joe Howard

    I just had to add that 1password is required software for me now. I don’t know what I would do without it. I love quicksilver under normal use, but most important for me is launching applescripts for tasks. I’m going to check out alfred app though.

  • http://lenatailor.designerteam.info Lena Tailor

    Nice list, lots here I never new about. I can’t wait to try it.

  • http://www.descend.org Neil

    Ecoute – http://ecouteapp.com/

    Let’s me take iTunes out of the dock and put it next to the clock. I keep a minimal dock so this is crucial for me. Great interface and it has the option for a desktop widget with the album cover/song info.

    I wish Tweetie had the option to hide the dock icon, too. Here’s hoping for version 2.

  • Keir Whitaker

    No problem. I’ll try and think up some more :)

  • Keir Whitaker

    Hey Giovanni,

    Great point. I know a lot of people love it Little Snapper. It tried it but for some reason couldn’t get into it. My colleague Mike uses ImgSpark for a similar purpose.

  • Seth Wilson

    Instead of Visor try Dterm http://www.decimus.net/dterm.php

    Same idea without install Simbl

  • Keir Whitaker

    Hey Jasper,

    Interesting point about spaces and Visor. I don’t use spaces much so haven’t encountered that issue. Likewise noticed that it’s hard to not have the Finder running with PathFinder but I am OK with that :)

    What’s HyperSpaces?

  • Keir Whitaker

    Forgive me, I can’t work out the keystroke! Witch is essentially cmd-tab on acid. Probably easier if you check it out but do let me know what you are referring to. Thanks for commenting.

  • Keir Whitaker

    Thanks for the info. Glad you found some of the list useful.

  • Keir Whitaker

    Notify 2 is actually really good, I recently spent the few $’s to unlock it myself. Super useful as I actually have 3 different work emails.

  • http://carlnunes.com carlnunes

    I am surprised no one has listed Clyppan – http://www.omh.cc/clyppan/; clipboard history app for Mac.

    I maintain several E-Commerce CMS sites that require filling in a lot of text fields; when adding products. Pasting the same chunk of text over and over. It keeps a history that remains after reboot and has a nice search function. Clyppan(clip-pan) has really made a difference in speeding up my work flow.

    I’ll just add this one extension; Firebug.

  • Keir Whitaker

    Skitch I use, just not that regularly which is why I omitted it from the list but it’s a great app.

    Intrigued by Hazel, what kind of stuff do you use it for?

  • Keir Whitaker

    Cinch looks great, thanks for sharing that one. So many apps here I haver never heard of!

  • Keir Whitaker

    Hey Neil,

    Another one I hadn’t come across. Thanks for sharing. I hear you on Tweetie, there is the option to have it in the menu at the top for quick access but you can’t (I think) take it out of the dock.

  • Keir Whitaker

    I can see that one coming in useful. My colleague Greg recently got a clipboard manager that was pretty impressive but I can’t remember the name. I’ll check and add it later.

  • Keir Whitaker

    Thanks, I’ll check it out.

  • Keir Whitaker

    You make a really good point. There are absolutely built in tools for pretty much everything I mentioned in my list. I guess I just like trying things out. I totally agree on Preview. I use it all the time, especially for quick and dirty image resizing as it keeps the aspect ratio. Thanks for commenting.

  • http://www.kyleis.com Kyle Turman

    I love Cyberduck for SFTP+FTP usage. It’s really powerful and simple.

    Also, does anyone have a good alternative to Mail? I’m getting kind of tired of it.

  • Keir Whitaker

    Hey Lamia,

    If only I understood Wave :)

  • http://lysstudio.com Jeremy

    Caffeine is indispensable if you stream video, agreed!
    I’ve also really enjoy CapSee for on-screen Caps Lock notification: http://www.threemagination.com/capsee/

  • Stacy

    Evernote (Mac & iPhone) – I use this every day, terrific virtual bucket that’s always with me.

    Also love:

    1Password
    Aperture
    Final Cut Express
    Transmit
    SuperDuper
    DiskWarrior
    DropBox

  • Stacy

    Evernote (Mac & iPhone) – I use this every day, terrific virtual bucket that’s always with me.

    Also love:

    1Password
    Aperture
    Final Cut Express
    Transmit
    SuperDuper
    DiskWarrior
    DropBox

  • DG

    Anyone know a good app for recording desktop videos (screen casts for making tutorials, software and web site demos, etc)?

    I use a many of the apps list, but downloaded a handful to try out. Thanks!

    My items, minimizing overlap:

    Aquamacs Emacs
    Transmission
    LittleSnitch
    VLC
    Grab – native and fast with shortkeys
    Chrome – full screen just added. all it’s missing is bookmark tags like ff. otherwise, it’s blazingly fast. Extensions:
    + amazon universal wishlist; finally an agnostic wishlist that grabs h1 and title tags
    + g todo and g cal
    + pixel ruler
    + one-click email this page
    when i have to do serious development, i retreat to firefox. but for everything else, chrome it is

    I’ll check back for more. Keep ‘em coming!

  • http://twitter.com/jamesshannon James Shannon

    Well the default rules are for the downloads folder, it moves Images to your Pictures Folder, Movies to your Movies Folder, and Music to your…. Music Folder.

    So as soon as I drop an image onto my Desktop it whisks it into my Pics Folder.

    You can setup your own rules and apparently link it up with Automator Workflows too if need be.

    There is a 14 day trial, I tried it for 30 mins and then bought it (I will get round to setting up new non-default rules to look after other file types, PSD, .dmg etc.)

  • http://blog.room34.com room34

    I probably should have mentioned some of the web-based tools I use too, as they’re every bit as essential!

    WordPress
    phpMyAdmin
    Google Reader (mostly on the iPhone though)
    Gmail (but I usually check it in Mail)

    And of course the online docs for PHP, CakePHP and jQuery!

  • http://www.demogeek.com DemoGeek

    Skitch is a no-brainer for taking nice screenshots, a blogger’s must and it’s free.

  • http://www.effectgames.com/ Joseph Huckaby

    He is referring to Command-Tilde, which cycles through open windows in the front-most app. However, Witch does it better IMHO.

  • http://workgoodfast.com Shayne Sweeney

    I HIGHLY recommend Droplr over TinyGrab. Not only can you quickly grab a screenshot to a short URL, but you can drag nearly anything into the menubar icon and have a short URL copied to your clipboard for easy sharing.

  • http://www.effectgames.com/ Joseph Huckaby

    While QuickTime X can theoretically do this now, I personally use ScreenFlow for screencasts: http://www.telestream.net/screen-flow/overview.htm

    It records each window as its own video stream, and allows you to manipulate them independently in post production, like adding callouts, zoom, etc. Just amazing stuff.

  • http://jspr.tndy.me Jasper

    Path Finder was a point of preference thing for me – it constantly bugged me that I had 2 things doing the same thing open, so it had to go. The only thing I used it for was tabs anyway, and I can get that with TotalFinder now.

    HyperSpaces is further customisation for Spaces. Coming from a Linux-ish background, I really got used to multiple desktops and my workflow reflects that. HyperSpaces lets you customise each space and gives some nifty customisable hotkeys to navigate them. I seem to have a bug at the moment, where navigating between spaces natively just crashes all the time, but HyperSpaces works fine, so that’s another reason I use it.

  • http://jspr.tndy.me Jasper

    I can’t believe I didn’t mention Launchbar. I guess it’s so integrated now that I don’t even notice it! That has a built-in clipboard manager, which is minimal and powerful.

    There’s a clipboard manager everyone went crazy for a while back called Clips, but I didn’t really like it as it was slow and I needed immediate.

  • http://www.ipadrepairs.org.uk Martin

    I’ve only been using a mac for a few weeks- One thing I couldn’t get my head around was the ‘maximize’ button in finder, didn’t really maximize in the literal sense of the word

    Anyway, I found Cinch (http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/cinch/) which is essentially Windows 7 Aero snap feature, drag the window to the left and it snaps to the left hands side and fills that portion of the screen, drag to the top and you get a true full screen- really made the transition easier for me. And at $7 really is a bargain

    Other than that Things (http://culturedcode.com/things/) for sorting my lists out, Growl (http://growl.info/) for some nice translucent pop up boxes that tell you useful stuff

    Coda + Dreamweaver / Photoshop + Transmit, for getting websites sparkly and online

    Kismac-NG and iodine / WEP cracking/ DNS tunneling..if your stuck at hotel and need emergency WiFi

    also XBMC (www.xbmc.org) incredible media center alternative to Front row… plays just about anything you throw at it and looks stunning , like Boxxee without the social elements (not mac specific but hey)

  • digitala

    Not a single mention of VirtualBox?! I find it indispensable – only on the Mac can I develop & test in almost every OS & browser. Right now I’m running an instance of Windows 7, about to try and install IE9 so I can test a web app on another VM I’m running – an instance of a Linux server. It also lets me play with many smaller, obscure OSs such as Oberon. Grab it at virtualbox.org

    Another essential for me is shades (charcoaldesign.co.uk/shades). I find my iMac’s screen is too bright when working in the evenings. Shades helps dim the screen to a more acceptable level.

    I also find RipIt (thelittleappfactory.com/ripit) + HandBrake (handbrake.fr) + FrontRow handy to reduce clutter from my life. Buy a box-set, rip it, transcode it, drop the files onto an external Firewire drive, and store the box-set away in the attic.

  • digitala

    Not a single mention of VirtualBox?! I find it indispensable – only on the Mac can I develop & test in almost every OS & browser. Right now I’m running an instance of Windows 7, about to try and install IE9 so I can test a web app on another VM I’m running – an instance of a Linux server. It also lets me play with many smaller, obscure OSs such as Oberon. Grab it at virtualbox.org

    Another essential for me is shades (charcoaldesign.co.uk/shades). I find my iMac’s screen is too bright when working in the evenings. Shades helps dim the screen to a more acceptable level.

    I also find RipIt (thelittleappfactory.com/ripit) + HandBrake (handbrake.fr) + FrontRow handy to reduce clutter from my life. Buy a box-set, rip it, transcode it, drop the files onto an external Firewire drive, and store the box-set away in the attic.

  • http://www.tintedpixel.com tintedPixel

    A few of my favs;

    iStat
    Skitch
    Text Wrangler
    Fugu
    Adium
    paralells
    Netbeans
    transmission
    MAMP

    Love this sort of post – its nice to see what tools others are enjoying.

  • http://www.coletivonegobom.com caio prea

    for Twitter > Echofon
    i have tested the Tweetie and i prefer Echofon.
    echofon blinks and show the number of unread messages;
    you can click on usernames and it opens a new tab beside the main one, with a lot of options (unfollow, block, etc).
    the layout of Tweetie is much pleasant, but Echofon works better.

  • http://lapsusapp.co.uk John Gallagher

    Thanks for an awesome post, Keir. A few of my can’t live withouts.

    SizeUp from Irradiated Software.

    Windows management on the Mac has always *really* annoyed me. SizeUp allows me to set any window to a preset size on a single keypress. I couldn’t live without it.

    The Hit List from The Potion Factory

    Things is way too simple, Omnifocus is too complex. The Hit List is just right. A gorgeous interface that just fades into the background and lets you concentrate on what you’ve got to do. You can control everything from the keyboard. Heaven.

    Concentrate from Rocket/RoobaSoft

    When I get distracted as a freelancer, Concentrate helps me to get focus back. I can set it to block distractions for 40 minutes whilst I concentrate on work. Mail and Twitter begone!

    Vitamin E from Public Space

    Just started using this one, but it’s looking very promising. I have lots of days where I can’t get going with work. Vitamin E helps me to get started. You tell it the next microtask you want to achieve in the next 10-20 minutes, and it sets a timer going. It’s great for focussing on small chunks of what might be an overwhelming task.

    DropBox

    Sure it’s been mentioned many times, but DropBox is just a part of my filing system now. Can’t imagine life without it.

  • http://twitter.com/ooredroxoo Rafael Nascimento Sampaio

    I like more MySQL Query Brownser, but I miss the CMD+Z feature.

  • http://twitter.com/ooredroxoo Rafael Nascimento Sampaio

    There is a option to ur mac don’t sleep, but when u wanna do it in a not regular basis, like make one night huge upload ou download, and ur mac normaly sleep u don’t have to change this to change again after, just use caffeine.

    And about the video, there are config to it to, look and u’ll find.

  • g

    * I’m surprised no one has FULLY DESCRIBED Textexpander, “Save yourself time and effort by typing short abbreviations for frequently-used text and images.”

    Very very good app, you can even pre-format stuff on your clipboard with it, example:
    Copy an image URL, then JUST TYPE a shortcut “iimg” for example and Textexpander will put tags around the URL, then move the text pointer to the far right so you can continue working and don’t distract yourself.
    Hope I explained myself.

    Also can have some shortcuts that will only work on apps that you define, frequently used text (name and address for example).

    * Also I’d recommend a clipboard manager: Jumpcut, open source (:

  • Roger Poole

    No BBedit??? No one using BBedit. I’m stunned.

    BBedit, Transmit and Sequel Pro. And you’re set.

    Yeah, and for the art parts, the entire photoshop monster.

  • http://www.mrdocrock.com Doc

    Aloha Keir,

    I have to agree with Matt on the Simple Note and BusyCal additions because they make my information seamless on my MBP, MP, Mini, iP3g and iPad. They all match painlessly.

    To round out the tools set I’ve added TextExpander (and touch versions) and Notation Velocity.

    I too enjoy TextMate but have not totally jumped in the Markdown bundles as I would like too. do you guys know of any good markdown tuts?

    #Aloha

  • Dimofamo

    Firefox + noscript + adBlock + web developer
    Coda
    VLC
    Phoneview
    Pixelmator (stunning Photoshop alternative for his price)
    xScope
    Skype (2.8!) the new one sucks
    Perian
    Bowtie
    Miro video converter

    Are my first installs

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