02/11/08 14:03

Mac OS My top 10 plus one Mac Apps

by Josep M. Ganyet

Posted in Mac OS | 10 Comments » Tweet This Post

A while ago, in some get-rich-with-your-blog post, I read about how popular top 10 lists were and how they boost traffic in your blog. Well, it has taken me a while but it’s time to make big euros with mine by posting my top 10 fave apps for the Mac. Another reason would be that I promised too long ago my dear colleague Stellios , new to the Mac world, I would do it.

Out of the many apps I chose those that will help you with your productivity and won’t cost you a fortune. In my case I use all these on a daily basis.

1. Quicksilver: act without doing
A free application launcher that gets better the more you use it. Use it to launch applications, find contacts in your address book, compose emails, control iTunes or access websites by typing in the URL. Launch anything from anywhere. First app you need to install. It integrates so beatifully wity your Mac OS that you’ll even forget about your dock.
Cost: free
Here’s a nice Quicksilver tutorial on YouTube
Download QuickSilver

2. Things: task management on the Mac
With a simple approach to task and list management, Things offers the perfect interface with a small footprint and seamless integration with the Mac OS. You can keep it simple and add tasks that you tick once completed, or you can tag them, assign a due date and put them into projects and areas of interest. You choose.

After having tried some GTD methods and apps I’ve settled with Things which I keep using after a few months! It’s still in beta and therefore it’s free. Expect to pay US$39 (beta tester price, so register as one) in January when the Things 1.0 is released. Get it and buy it when it comes out. It’s worth every cent. As a bonus (mega-bonus) you can also get Things for your iPhone which synchs the tasks you enter while on the go. Great value for money and clearly the best GTD (Get Things Done) app.
Cost: free beta
Download Things beta

3. Soho Notes: collect everything in one place and simplify your life
Great app for clipping stuff into a database for later reviewing of referencing. I find myself using it a lot to prepare my weekly radio column on internet on the Catalan radio RAC1. Whenever I see something it could be interesting for the column, be an email, website or post i select it and with a keyboard combination I post it to the “Next items” folder for the show. After that I open the clipped notes and start writing the script in the same app. Export it and post it to the radio’s blog. It can really help you streamlining your processes. Works like a charm.
Cost: US$39,99
Download Soho Notes free trial

4. One Password: password manager and automatic form filler
1Password takes care of all your online passwords so you can use strong and unique passwords for every site and never forget any of them. It’s cross browser so the passwords and form information you use in one are available on the others. You can even have different personalities in case you want to use your real data or junk information when filling forms. It also syncs nicely with your iPhone so you don’t have to type passwords when logging into your accounts on the iPhone’s Safari. Great for those online services I rarely use where I forgot my password (and sometimes even username). Another must.
Cost: US$39,95
Download 1Password free trial

5. Default FolderX: open and save dialogs to the next level
Another application that makes you wonder why it’s not a core feature on OSX. Access your most used, recenly used or user defined folders from any open/save dialog box or from anywhere in the Mac. Either via icon on the menubar or keyboard combination. You won’t notice it’s there and how much you use it until you log onto a mac that doesn’t have it. Really a must although a bit pricey at US$34.
Cost: US$34
Download Defalult Folder X free trial

6. Transmission: fast, easy and clean Bittorrent client
Transmission doesn’t need any further presentation: fast, clean, easy, cross-platform Bittorrent, and free! And does downloading right as you’ll never be banned from any torrent tracker site with Transmission. Probably the best Bittorrent client for the Mac.
Cost: free
Download Transmission

7. Jumpcut: make your clipboard dance
The perfect infinite clipboard. A small app that sits in your menubar and stores as many entries to the clipboard you want. It provides quick, natural, intuitive access to your clipboard’s history via click on the menu icon or keyboard combination. As a bonus you get cut&paste free of formatting and clipboard save after power down.
Cost: free
Download Jumpcut

8. TextExpander: abbreviations for your frequently used texts and images
Another nifty app that sits on your menubar and waits for you to type in the right character combination to expand it into a full text or text with images. Very useful for signatures, standard greetings or filling forms. You name it. Just select a text, click on “Create snippet from selection…” give it a character combination and you’re good to go. Next time you type the combination it will expand automagically.
Cost: US$29,95
Download TextExpander free trial

9. Mars Edit: powerful desktop blogging
I’m writing this post on Mars Edit a full featured blogging app for Mac OS that allows me to blog offline, to add pictures and attached files via drag & drop and at the same time keeps a copy of my whole posts database locally. It’s really the best of the two, on and offline, worlds in one app. If you’re serious about blogging (which is more than I can say from myself) consider buying it. I tried some other approaches to offline blogging before but I finally settled for Mars Edit.
Cost: US$29,95
Download Mars Edit free trial

10. MediaLink: Playstation 3 and Mac integration made easy
If you download contents from the internet such as HD movies, videocasts, conferences from TED talks or lessons form iTunes U, you’ll want to see them in your HD ready plasma screen in your living room. There are many solutions to stream contents from your media server (a MacBook Pro in my case) to your living room via Apple TV, PS3 or an old laptop hooked to your TV. For all of them you’ll need a small program called media server which is what MediaLink is. It not only serves audiovisual contents over WiFi to my PS3 but it allows me to access also my iTunes and my iPhoto libraries in full gorgeous HD.
Cost: US$20
Download MediaLink free trial

11. KeyCue: find, remember and learn menu shortcuts

Good to see the keyboard shortcuts you can use at a given moment. Press the Cmd key for a few seconds and you’ll get a HUD (heads up display) with all the shortcuts available. This may seem redundant, as all of them are available in the menus, but the fact that you have them all visible in one spot gives you the chance to learn them faster. And this is the strong point about KeyCue: once learnt you’ll use the mouse less and thus you’ll do things faster. Did you know that you can send the website you’re browsing to a friend with 2 keystrokes?
Cost: 19,99 €
Download KeyCue free trial

If you have other apps that are in your top ten or think should be here laeave your comments.

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