Which OS X Applications do you find indispensable?

Question

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There are many applications already listed. In all likelihood, this includes the one you are thinking of. Please check the existing answers to avoid duplicates, and the resulting cleanup it necessitates.

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inquestion:this Evernote

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Rules

1. Limit to one application per answer.

2. Add a short description of the application.

3. Add a link to the website in the name of the application if possible (no direct downloads).

4. Use ## [appName](link) for citing the application name.

5. Only Mac OS X (not iOS, OS 9, compatible, etc) applications. All versions of OS X are accepted, but if the application requires a specific version please note.

Answer 1

Monocle

A great utility to make a web search (Google, Wikipedia, any other search engine) just a keystroke away regardless of what application I'm in.

Answer 2

News Anchor

One of the few RSS readers that doesn't try to imitate an e-mail application, News Anchor converts inanimate text in news feeds into lively television-like news broadcasts. With News Anchor you can now "read" news feeds while eating or doing other things.

Answer 3

Spark

Spark is a powerful, and easy Shortcuts manager. With Spark you can create Hot Keys to launch applications and documents, execute AppleScript, control iTunes, and more... You can also export and import your Hot Keys library, or save it in HTML format to print it. Spark is free, so use it without moderation!

I use this all the time and love it!

Answer 4

App bar

App Bar displays a quick list of all your applications. This is the quickest way possible to find and open any application launched from your Status Bar or Dock. All apps are listed alphabetical and the scroll list is well laid out and always just a click away.

Answer 5

Livetype

Livetype is an awesome title generator that came with FCE. It does have a rather steep learning curve if you aren't used to keyframing, but it generates professional-looking titles at a great price.

Answer 6

JiTouch

JiTouch is similar to BetterTouchTool, but with many, many more options. The one thing it doesn't have is Windows 7 snapping, so keep BetterTouchTool around for that. I would highly recommend this application, though it's a paid application.

Answer 7

Shimo - VPN management for the Mac

Receive notifications via Growl. Assign network locations and wireless networks to profiles.

• CiscoVPN Support
• OpenVPN Support
• IPSec Support
• PPTP/L2TP Support
• Hamachi Support
• SSH Support
• Use Keychain for Passwords
• Certificate Management
• Advanced Notifications
• Automatic (Re-)Connection
• Syncing Profiles with MobileMe
• Scriptable with AppleScript
• Global Keyboard Shortcuts

Answer 8

Scrawl

Scrawl is nifty little note taking app for the Mac that I made with iCloud support.

Answer 9

iProcrastinate

iProcrastinate is the ideal task manager for anyone who doesn't want their todo list to get in the way of actually getting things done! Great for anyone who is looking for a mobile, easy-to-use task manager. (Not just for students!) Add birthdays, soccer practice and conference calls, all without missing a beat.

Uses iCloud to sync between Mac and iOS. Couldn't do my homework without it.

Answer 10

AppCode

From JetBrains, the makers of IntelliJ. Has a lot more refactoring support than XCode and a more powerful editor. Especially useful to anyone coming to iOS development from the Java world.

Answer 11

teleport

Okay, did a search of all eight pages posted to date, and didn't see "teleport" listed.

This little free System Preference gets installed on two computers, and then you can move your cursor off the screen of one, onto the screen of the other.

I run a dedicated Mac Mini server, but my main computer is a Mac Pro. I have the server screen above the pro screen, and I can simply move my cursor up to the server, like you'd do with multiple monitors on the same computer. BRILLIANT!

This is so much simpler and easier than using Screen Sharing or other such tools.

It also copies the clipboard of one computer to the other. This can cause a significant delay if you have something huge on the clipboard.

Answer 12

Emacs 24

Best text editor ever...Supports VIM bindings plus has org-mode and can run a shell, edit directories, view images, etc. Make sure to use the built-in package manager to load add-ons. Solarized-dark is an excellent color scheme.

Download here: http://emacsformacosx.com/builds

Answer 13

Herald

Allow notification plugin for Mail.app. In ML you have notification center, but with Herald you also get the full message body which I really like.

Answer 14

Hub List

Very promising successor of The Hit List.

Description:

A HTML5 compliant productivity application

From the author:

Hub List tries to strike a balance between simplicity and customization. If you’ve every managed a software project then you’ve probably spent more time then you care to admit inside an ugly bug tracking application that a bunch of developers convinced you would make them more productive. You probably use another app to manage your business projects and then something else to help you remember all those pesky personal todos like getting your mom a card for mother’s day. Rather than try to replace all those tools Hub List strives to provide real-time two-way integration with all of them so you can be more productive using the tools you already have.

Website:

hublistapp.com

Answer 15

SafeWallet

SafeWallet is a very useful and complete password manager, which allows you to safely keep you passwords, credit card pins, notes, and many more stored on your Mac.

It also provides functionality for sharing your wallet with the iOS App (SafeWallet for iPhone). In this way your wallet is always with you and always synced.

Answer 16

SparkleShare

SparkleShare allows you to create your own DropBox. In this way you don't have to pay for more space, if you have your own server, and you don't have to share data with no one else (service provided) except the people you decide.

How does it work?

SparkleShare creates a special folder on your computer in which projects are kept. All projects are automatically synced to their respective hosts (you can have multiple projects connected to different hosts) and to your team's SparkleShare folders when someone adds, removes or edits a file.

Why SparkleShare?

The idea of SparkleShare sprouted at the GNOME Usability Hackfest in London, where a couple of designers came to the conclusion that they didn't have a good (Open Source) collaboration tool to share their work (for more background, read “The one where the designers ask for a pony”). They didn't like how the good collaboration tools were proprietary, and that using them meant having to give up privacy, control and other rights. What they needed was something that they could run and control themselves, without having to depend on other companies.

Answer 17

WebStorm & Co.

These are the best IDEs for Web development I found so far. The features go way beyond what simple editors offer. Intellisense, refactorings, debugging, source control integration are my favorite.

Answer 18

ControlPlane (free/open-source)

This application can trigger a wide range on actions based on different events, its mainly use being to start/stop application based on your context.

For example when you bring your laptop to work it can start Outlook. You can detect that you are at work based on the network IP, presence of a wireless network, or many other options.

Answer 19

Debookee

Debookee is a network traffic analyzer that allows you to see your traffic by protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, DHCP, DNS, SIP etc ...

It can also scan all the devices present on your network, and intercept the traffic of any of them, perfect to see what your iPhone or tablet is sending over the network.

Answer 20

XtraFinder

XtraFinder add Tabs and features to Mac Finder.

• Tabs.

• Dual Panel & Dual Window.

• Cut & Paste.

• Colorful icons in Sidebar.

Answer 21

PogoPlug

There's a software version as well as the hardware box that creates a cloud server. The software version allows me to set a folder or drive on my Mac and link to it so I can let others access. I know there are other ways to do this, but for me the $20 ($30 now, I think) was well spent as the software is simple and no glitches.

If you have a good friend and you both agree to leave your computers running, you can use the other's extra drive to store your backup with no monthly fee, just install a decent size drive at the friend's house.

Answer 22

StockMeter

Answer 23

Fuzzyclock

"Often you don't need the exact time in hours, minutes and seconds. A more human readable style like "five past ten" makes more sense. For that, you can now use FuzzyClock. FuzzyClock is a menubar clock which displays the current time in a "fuzzy" style." I use the handwriting font. (Alfred, Cloudapp and Growl have been said).