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What cool little OS X apps do you use?

E

evilpenguin21

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 16, 2002
31
0
I was just curious what little applications people are using to mac OS X that much cooler. Here's what i'm using...



I use Menu Meter. It puts a little upload/download meter in the menu bar so I can see what's going on with my network. It also has the ability to display cpu and ram usage, but I don't use those.

It's also use Delocalizer it goes through ever application and removes all of the foreign language documentation associated with them. Unless you are incredibly interested in learning how to use iTunes in Mandarin Chinese, I promise that there is about 200+ mb of space you can free up. (Ignore the website's warning, i've used it on 10.3 and it worked fine)

Finally I use Synergy for it's iTunes capabilities.
 
I have nothing to add, but I'm curious to see the responses. I'm a newly 'reverted to Mac' guy and I'm just getting refamiliarized with everything. it's great to be back! :)
 
These threads seem to pop up very frequently, but the good ones are worth repeating:

Desktop Manager - Virtual desktops for those on a budget; unlike the (also great, and more powerful) CodeTek program, free!

Cocoa Gestures - Gestures are so useful, it's scary. Available in both very capable free and even more powerful paid versions.
 
Mozilla Thunder Bird - Home Newsgroup Access
Mozilla - Work Mail Access
VLC - Best Video Client for OSX

I'd just like to find a program to make my 10.3 dock clear, like I had in 10.2.

TEG
 
Synergy (http://synergy.wincent.org) goes without saying--best single addition to the iTunes experience possible.

I'd also add:

- Another Launcher -- (www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12170) a combination launcher, system monitor, multi-engine search tool, and much, much, more

- iChatStatus -- cool little dohickey that shows your currently playing song in your iChat status message (http://www.ittpoi.com/stem.php?product=com.ittpoi.ichatstatus&type=frameset)

- CocoaGestures, as someone already pointed out. :)
 
I'm sure this question has already been posted dozens of times. Maybe its time to throw all this into a FAQ. Anyone?

I can't effectively use OS X without Launchbar, an application launcher, and Sidetrack, a must-have for power/ibook users.

I'm finding Temperatur Monitor (in the menu bar) to be very very useful, to see how hot the cpu is running during burning/encoding/general browsing, an itunes plugin called TEchRTA displays 31band eq during songs, so i can see whats going on (i'm a sound tech, some people might find it boring).

Finally, for the pure wank factor, Clicker for my t68i and general bluetooth interfacing, as well as XBack to show off to both windows and mac users alike.

Any power users with x11 installed should definitely check out psDoom for OSX - you can run around and kill your open processes in a doom map! Again, great to show off, especially to sys admins!!

Alan!
 
I'm trying to follow the "install as little software as possible to avoid screwing up the computer" philosophy...which I guess is a little bit like an ex-Windows user's equivalent of elderly people from the Depression era hiding money under their mattresses, but....

I do like:

VETA Universal / Romeo - to use my Nokia 3650 as a bluetooth remote

RAW / MusicSafari - to record radio shows from NPR

I tried some software to help make contextual clicking easier with one mouse button, but it didn't seem to work consistently. Also, I need to find and try out that software that lets you use the side of the trackpad as a scroll bar, like on some win laptops....

Other than that, a plug for <R>, which is an open-source statistics package, which, aside from being well-ported to Aqua, has nothing particularly mac-centric about it. :rolleyes:

BTW, what is sidetrack?
 
I have a few that I use regularly.

Watson - one of the most useful apps out there.

iSleep - puts my computer to sleep at night and wakes it up, works with itunes.

Macjanitor - forces the OSX utility to run that usually runs only in the middle of the night (I sleep my tibook at night)

DVDbackup - Allows me to copy DVDs to my hard drive to watch later. (this is legal as long as I dont copy the movie into another format) I use it to watch movies I have rented on trips.

EyeTV - Record TV on my Mac.

RegionX - I use this to make my DVD drive switch regions so I can watch the discs I have bought around the world. (this only works because I updated the firmware on my drive to give me unlimited region switches.)
 
Engagebot, does sidetrack work well? I downloaded it the other day but didn't install it. I was worried that it would mess things up.
 
A Better Finder series

"A Better Finder Rename" is the best $20 a Mac digital photographer could EVER spend. (For $35 you get the forever upgrade as well). I created my own Apple script in OS 9 to rename images, but this runs circles aorund my old script. The rest of the kit comes in handy at times, but the ability to rename one's photos in a systematic way is a killer photo app!

http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderRename/index.html

Edit- as a further note, I once uncovered a bug and an updated version was posted within a few hours!
 
Originally posted by parrothead
Engagebot, does sidetrack work well? I downloaded it the other day but didn't install it. I was worried that it would mess things up.
Click to expand...

it does work pretty well, but the scrollwheel edge of the trackpad is pretty narrow. I guess you dont want it taking up too much area of you're trackpad, but you have to be right up against the edge for it to work. It has an uninstaller tool if you decide you dont want it. i'm on panther and it worked just fine.
 
Originally posted by Engagebot
sidetrack makes the side of your laptop trackpad into a 'scroll wheel'. move your finder up and down the very edge, and it'll scroll the window
Click to expand...

Ironic...this is exactly what I was looking for. Will have to run out and download it. :D

I know some people don't like it, but I really like Sherlock. It's really not bad at finding movie trailers and times/locations...
 
Originally posted by TEG


I'd just like to find a program to make my 10.3 dock clear, like I had in 10.2.

TEG
Click to expand...

Try "Transparant Dock". I'm using 2.2 and it works on Panther. My dock is clear and has a magenta border. Also the arrows indicating programs that are open I've changed to red. Works with Panther. There might even be a later version have to check. Cheers
 
VoodooPad and xPad

I'd like to throw in my 2 cents for both of these programs. Both are great for organizing data, and though they are similar, I've found different functions for each.

VoodooPad (I use the free Lite version, which works great, although you do get some good features for rather inexpensive full version) uses a Wiki style linking system that let's you use words to link between "pages" in a VoodooPad document, and to everything you can think of outside of it: URL's, folders, other docs, images, whatever.

xPad doesn't use Wiki links, but has a free form drawer that let's you simply create notes and categorize them. VoodooPad is more fun, but can be a little too much work on the front end for really quick note making that doesn't need a whole lot of organization.

I am new to both, but currently I am using VoodooPad to organize information around topics in each of my university courses. I am working towards using less and less paper each day, although I'm worried about the strain on my eyes from staring at my screen and even though I'm at a private university, it's small and I feel pretentious whipping out my 12"PB for class notes (given that I'm among the small minority in the school that is entirely dependent on financial aid).

I've used xPad to create my homework list, to do list, things I need/want, phone numbers, etc.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I also discovered a program called DEVONthink, that is possibly a unified solution to both these other programs, but a little more expensive unfortunately. Any users of DEVONthink?

Anyone of these though is invaluable, and fun to use.

sps
 
I'm curious about using that software for notes...sounds like a good idea, although I never really find the time to re-write my course notes. :D

What do your notes look like when they're done? Any chance you can post a screenshot?

I wish MS Word had its find text feature implemented like Preview does...would probably accomplish a lot of what you're talking about without having to put in links. At first, I found the RHS drawer irritating, but the way it shows you all the occurences of text at a glance is mucho handy.

On another topic, is there any relatively cheap/free and easy to use software that lets you do minor tweaking to AAC files? What I have in mind is: joining/splitting, cut/copy/paste, and fade-in/out. Something that's a little more powerful than the start/stop time options in iTunes....
 
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