Mac Peeps...

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

I was going to ask in the other Mac user thread, but I thought it might be nicer to make a new thread for something different.

So, what are some good applications (free or otherwise, but I prefer free) that you use regularly that are great for keeping organized, productivity, system enhancing, having fun, doing things, and other stuff. I have a good few already, but I want to know what other are using! I'd also like to see what the staples are.

[mcts]

if you have firefox, there are some awesome extensions that you can use. Of course, you can use firefox and extensions for PC, too, but mac is better

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

[quote name='mcts' post='1796693' date='Mar 3 2009, 06:22 PM']but mac is better [/quote]
of course!

And yeah, I use firefox along with extensions. I'd just like to find some interesting and new applications.

[rkwright]

Well...

My favorite widget is Radar in Motion

I have VLC media player for all those other file types that quick time misses

I have firefox, but honestly I like Safari, I'm using the new Beta and like it

I have a program called connect360 which connects my xbox 360 to my mac. I use this to watch videos from my computer on my TV.

I think thats about it?

I mostly use the computer for email, internet, and school (MS Word)

Edit: I also have an Airport Extreme Base Station router (I think this is the name? I can't get it straight...) I love it! I love the n speed of the router, the reliability (I had a linksys that was always causing problems) and I really like having the printer or HDD plugged into the router and being able to print from any PC or Mac connected.

Edited March 4, 2009 by rkwright

[Theologian in Training]

My vote is for VLC [url="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/"]http://www.videolan.org/vlc/[/url]

This is always good
[url="http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/top-downloads"]http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/top-downloads[/url]

If you like staying up to date with the news with RSS [url="http://snackr.net/"]http://snackr.net/[/url]

Makes some interesting wallpapers [url="http://www.vladstudio.com/wallpaperclock/"]http://www.vladstudio.com/wallpaperclock/[/url]

I have others, but those are the best

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

I have Volumizer that mounts the hard drive or any other drive/cd/ipod to the dock (so it can be removed from the desktop). I like that. I also have SpaceSuit which lets you assign different wallpapers to your different spaces. You can also name them, but it really isn't necessary or particularly useful. I also have TunesBar to tell me what song I am listening to in the menu bar. I Love Stars is nice for rating iTunes songs from the menu bar as well. I like that when I am listening to something, I can quickly rate it from the menu bar without having to switch back to iTunes. iDupe helps to delete duplicate songs in your iTunes library. Hmmm... what else do I have? I installed Books at one point to catalogue books, but I haven't used it and instead I bought Bookpedia because it allows you to use your iSight camera to scan barcodes for easier entries. So far everything except Bookpedia has been freeware. Also for facebook intigration, I use EventSync to sync facebook events with iCal and AddressBookSync to sync info from facebook (mostly pictures, bithdays, and location) to Address Book. I also have an application to upload iPhoto pictures to facebook (which iPhoto 09 integrated into the software) which is the only way that I have been able to upload pictures these days.

As for widgets, I have several. I've got iStatPro running, a Rosary thing, a San Damiano Crucifix hanging out, a chameleon, I Can Haz Cheezburger giving a daily LOLcat dose, PolarClock telling me the time in WAY cool fashion, some to-do thing, TV Forecast, a free SMS thing, The daylight globe tracker thingy, a battery charge indicator that looks like a battery, a few Gmail notifiers for my different accounts, and a few of the standard defaults that came with the Mac.

[philothea]

[url="http://www.openoffice.org/"]Open Office[/url]
[url="http://literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html"]Scrivener[/url] - novel writing software. I've convinced numerous friends to switch to Mac for Scrivener alone.
[url="http://www.adiumx.com/"]Adium[/url] multi-system IM client
Gimp - graphics and photo editing (no link -- too many versions)
[url="http://tuppis.com/smultron"]Smultron[/url] - text/HTML editor
[url="http://www.twhirl.org/"]twhirl[/url] - lightweight Twitter client
[url="http://www.redkitsune.org/"]Kanji Go[/url] - Japanese vocabulary study tool

All free except Scrivener. (Which is pretty cheap.)

[Theologian in Training]

The best thing about having Mac though is iWork. I am getting used to Pages (since I still cannot get MS Word to successfully install and Pages saves as .doc) but I absolutely LOVE Keynote, 100X better than Power Point and so much more in terms of flexibility and options. I will forever have a Mac so long as they keep making this excellent program!

[mcts]

I like microsoft office for word. It's not a WHOLE lot like it's PC counterpart, but it's enough like it that i don't have to get completely used to something different.

[rkwright]

I think its funny that of everything on the mac, the only program I have had any trouble with has been MS word. Of course problems were common place on my PC - but I have gotten so used to everything working the 1st time on my Mac, it annoys me when some MS product hangs up.

I don't have the new iWork either

FutureNun: You have a TON! wow!

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='philothea' post='1797114' date='Mar 4 2009, 02:18 AM'][url="http://www.openoffice.org/"]Open Office[/url]
[url="http://literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html"]Scrivener[/url] - novel writing software. I've convinced numerous friends to switch to Mac for Scrivener alone.
[url="http://www.adiumx.com/"]Adium[/url] multi-system IM client
Gimp - graphics and photo editing (no link -- too many versions)
[url="http://tuppis.com/smultron"]Smultron[/url] - text/HTML editor
[url="http://www.twhirl.org/"]twhirl[/url] - lightweight Twitter client
[url="http://www.redkitsune.org/"]Kanji Go[/url] - Japanese vocabulary study tool

All free except Scrivener. (Which is pretty cheap.)[/quote]

Scrivener looks pretty sweet... I might write a book just to have an excuse to use it Might be a good tool for writing homilies, just for keeping disparate thoughts organized and connecting themes across several weeks' of Scripture passages.

I like Adium a lot... a much better way to chat with your facebook friends instead of the built-in messenger.

Now, the thing about Gimp is that you need to install that X11 compatibility software because that isn't a version of Gimp made for OS X. The one time I tried installing X11 (I think it was for OpenOffice before they had an OS X version), it didn't fly too well. An alternative is installing [url="http://www.virtualbox.org/"]VirtualBox[/url] with [url="http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download"]Ubuntu Linux[/url], which will come with Gimp installed.

There's also [url="http://www.pixelmator.com/"]Pixelmator[/url]. It's an image editing software on par with Photoshop Elements, minus $30 for the full version.

[quote name='Theologian in Training' post='1797158' date='Mar 4 2009, 09:40 AM']The best thing about having Mac though is iWork.[/quote]

I've wondered if iWork is worth the money... I don't use office applications very much, but OpenOffice still doesn't impress me all that much, especially when I try opening native Office files. It just doesn't work that well, which is no surprise.

[Theologian in Training]

[quote name='rkwright' post='1797171' date='Mar 4 2009, 10:27 AM']I think its funny that of everything on the mac, the only program I have had any trouble with has been MS word. Of course problems were common place on my PC - but I have gotten so used to everything working the 1st time on my Mac, it annoys me when some MS product hangs up.

I don't have the new iWork either

FutureNun: You have a TON! wow![/quote]

In Windows defense (and, I don't do that often) the new 7 seems a lot better than most other OS'es they have. I am beta testing it on another computer and so when I need to be in an Windows environment, I boot into 7, leaving Vista there waiting for me to pick it from the OS options.

[Theologian in Training]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1797174' date='Mar 4 2009, 10:31 AM']I've wondered if iWork is worth the money... I don't use office applications very much, but OpenOffice still doesn't impress me all that much, especially when I try opening native Office files. It just doesn't work that well, which is no surprise.[/quote]

Well, I used to use it primarily for Keynote. I find kids and even adults pay more attention to you when you have a full media experience going on (with keynote you can seamlessly integrate music and movies from iTunes). Also, I love the transitions and the slides, they are much more "elegant" and and more suited for presentation than PP, in my opinion. That, coupled with how easy it is to learn and use, makes it worth the money to me.

Like I said, I just started using Pages, so I will have to let you know how that works out, if it even works out. I refuse to buy Office again, just because it will not install on my new Mac.

[RemnantRules]

I've slowly been withdrawing myself from Microsoft works off of my Mac and started using iWork 09 completely. I truly feel there are no boundaries when setting up reports and presentations with iWork which is the biggest seller to me. Plus I purchased the application for my iPhone to use as a remote when using Keynote which is amazing when giving presentations at retreats or rallies.

[Jaime]

philothea is dead on about Scrivener (waves at philothea) Its an awesome writing program and its Mac only

But for organization, I gotta say I'm reaaaaaaally getting into Google applications. Googlecalendar, googlecontacts and googledocuments have been really awesome. I switched over when I got a google phone and I wasn't sure what I was going to think about being so google dependent but its simplified so much and I love the crossover between the calendar and the contacts.