Which OS X Applications do you find indispensable?

Question

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inquestion:this Evernote

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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

switchDiskSizeBase

In Mac OS 10.6 disk and file sizes are measured in base 10 (one kilobyte is defined as 1000 bytes, one megabyte is defined as 1000 kilobytes, etc.) in Finder and Disk Utility. Unfortunately this has created a lot of inconsistency even when working with Apple’s own programs since most of them still define file sizes in binary units (one kilobyte is defined as 1024 bytes, one megabyte is defined as 1024 kilobytes, etc.). This utility will switch the measurement of disk and file sizes in both Finder and Disk Utility back to binary units (or if the measurement has already been switched to binary units it will restore the system back to using base 10 units).

After the switch in Snow Leopard I never could get used to read file sizes in Finder with base-10. This application patches the Foundation framework in order to get back base-2 units. I can now again compare disk space and file sizes with other operating systems or output from shell tools.

Answer 2

Podworks

I recently referred to the app in this thread. If you own both a Mac and an iPhone or iPod, this application is a must-have.

Podworks works around iTunes to allow transfer of media to/from Mac and iOS devices.

Answer 3

iMote

I use it mostly to rate songs and get Growl to display the currently playing song. From the website:

iMote is a simple, elegant, and lightweight program for controlling iTunes from just about any application. Play/pause, change tracks, select playlists, adjust volume, rate tracks, and more using fully customizable hot-keys or a universal menu bar item. iMote includes a beautiful iPod-esque floating window, indicating current track information, and Growl support if you want an even more streamlined experience with your other Growl-enabled applications. Written using Cocoa, iMote is lean and mean, consuming minimal system memory and CPU time. iMote is the original iTunes controller.

Answer 4

Vuze

Vuze, the most powerful bittorrent app on earth

Answer 5

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 6

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 7

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 8

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 9

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 10

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 11

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 12

Sophos Anti-Virus Mac Home Edition

Free commercial AV software.

• Fast signature updates
• Low cpu usage
• Live scan
• Define custom scan scopes
• Define action upon treat alert (log only, cleanup, move threat, delete threat)

Answer 13

Scrawl

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

Answer 14

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 15

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 16

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 17

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 18

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 19

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 20

CCleaner

One of best cleaning utility.

CCleaner is the no. 1 cleaning utility for Windows PC. In Mac it does the same function, cleaning temp files, cookies, cache etc. for making more space available. The tools section provides utilities to uninstall an application, change startup option, erase free space and manage permissions.

Answer 21

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 22

Airmail

After last year Sparrow acquisition from Google and development freeze, Airmail is new, actively developed mail client. It does not hide it's Sparrow roots, but exceeds it and new features are constantly added.

Answer 23

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.

Answer 24

Unclutter

Main features:

• Instant, configurable access even in full screen mode
• File Storage, to keep your Desktop clean from temporary files
• Notes, your digital notepad
• Clipboard preview, so you always know what you're about to share
• Draggable cards that can stick on top of other windows
• Retina display support

Answer 25

Entropy

dEntropy Logo http://bit.ly/16BItjE

I use it as my daily productivity booster since it moves all files I haven't touched within the last week from my Desktop into my archive. It has many more features you may find interesting. Here is a trailer.

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Disclaimer: I'm the creator. Ask me anything. ;)

Answer 26

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 27

Gimp

Very powerful and free and open source image editor, inspired by PhotoShop. Has layers, RGB and indexed modes, and more tools and filters than you can shake a stick at.

Since version 2.8 Gimp is OS X native.

Screenshots - Features

Answer 28

StockMeter

Answer 29

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).