Ask HN: What apps are essential for mac?

I'm recommending only free software here.<p>1. Adium for chat. It is just awesome.<a href="http://www.adiumx.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.adiumx.com/</a><p>2. Quicksilver. if you just want an app launcher spotlight is already good at that. <a href="http://code.google.com/p/blacktree-alchemy/downloads/list" rel="nofollow">http://code.google.com/p/blacktree-alchemy/downloads/list</a> [edit: updated link to point to the recent versions]<p>3. Caffeine is small program which puts an icon on menu bar on which you can click to prevent your Mac from going to sleep,dimming the screen etc. Very useful when watching long flash movies. <a href="http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/" rel="nofollow">http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/</a><p>4. MPlayer This is a video player which plays almost anything you can offer. Also comes with excellent keyboard shortcuts support making it the best video player on any platform. Most people prefer VLC though <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/" rel="nofollow">http://www.mplayerhq.hu/</a><p>5. Flip4Mac For those videos that MPlayer plays poorly, typically WMVs Flip4Mac provides a fee codec which integrates with your quicktime player. <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcompo...</a><p>6. HandBrake For ripping your DVDs to MPEG4, there is no better tool. <a href="http://handbrake.fr/" rel="nofollow">http://handbrake.fr/</a><p>7. Tweetie. if you use twitter, tweetie is the best mac twitter client by far. <a href="http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/" rel="nofollow">http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/</a><p>8. Virtualbox This virtualization product from Sun Microsystems totally eliminates the need for parallels or Vmware if you plan to use the VM sparingly. <a href="http://www.virtualbox.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.virtualbox.org/</a><p>9. Evernote <a href="http://evernote.com/" rel="nofollow">http://evernote.com/</a><p>10. Eigenclock. I find the OS X, menu calendar extremely limted. Eigenclock is a good replacement <a href="http://www.twistedtheorysoftware.com/eigenclock/" rel="nofollow">http://www.twistedtheorysoftware.com/eigenclock/</a><p>11. Onyx for system tweaking <a href="http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html</a><p>12. Transmission - bittorrent client <a href="http://www.transmissionbt.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.transmissionbt.com/</a>

Others mentioned here are great. In addition, check these out:<p><a href="http://perian.org/" rel="nofollow">http://perian.org/</a> - adds native support to QuickTime for many video formats<p><a href="http://www.fluidapp.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.fluidapp.com/</a> - Fluid, SSB (site specific browsers)<p><a href="http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/" rel="nofollow">http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/</a> - LittleSnitch, Monitor and block outgoing internet connections<p><a href="http://www.skitch.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.skitch.com/</a> - Skitch, screen capture and sharing<p><a href="http://derailer.org/paparazzi/" rel="nofollow">http://derailer.org/paparazzi/</a> - Paparazzi, Full screenshots of websites<p><a href="http://www.sequelpro.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.sequelpro.com/</a> - SequelPro, MySQL gui (I like Querious, but that's a paid app)<p><a href="http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html" rel="nofollow">http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html</a> - The Unarchiver, unpacker program handles almost every format<p><a href="http://freeverse.com/apps/app/?id=7013" rel="nofollow">http://freeverse.com/apps/app/?id=7013</a> - Think, helps you focus on a single app<p><a href="http://www.heliumfoot.com/mercurymover/" rel="nofollow">http://www.heliumfoot.com/mercurymover/</a> - MercuryMover, resize, move windows with keystrokes (If you're OCD about window sizes like me)<p>Other honorable mentions: Coda, Transmit, TwoUp, Typinator, UnRarX, CSSEdit

Gitx is a native OS X GUI for git. It comes with a nice command line tool, gitx, that works like gitk. <a href="http://gitx.frim.nl/" rel="nofollow">http://gitx.frim.nl/</a>

Cyberduck (ftp - <a href="http://cyberduck.ch/" rel="nofollow">http://cyberduck.ch/</a>) Adium (IM - <a href="http://adium.im/" rel="nofollow">http://adium.im/</a>)

1.) SteerMouse - tweak the mouse acceleration curve. If you're coming from a PC and you feel like your mouse doesn't move right, this will help.<p>2.) SizeUp - size and and position windows with hotkeys. For example, quickly set two windows to use exactly one-half of the screen each.<p>3.) Expandrive - mount S3 buckets, ftp sites, sftp sites as network drives. (Works great with textmate)<p>4.) Miro - excellent video player and torrent client with rss built in. Sort of like a torrent TIVO.<p>5.) Warp (<a href="http://www.ksuther.com/warp/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ksuther.com/warp/</a>) - adds some new methods for switching spaces. I have mine set to switch if I drag the mouse to a screen border while holding command.<p>6.) Also, if QuickSilver doesn't suit your tastes, give LaunchBar a try. Getting used to using one of those two apps pays huge dividends.

boundlessdreamz covered a lot, here's a few more (mostly commercial but still awesome):<p>1. Things - Awesome task management - <a href="http://www.culturedcode.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.culturedcode.com/</a><p>2. Mailplane - If you use GMail this is a must. - <a href="http://mailplaneapp.com/" rel="nofollow">http://mailplaneapp.com/</a><p>3. AppZapper - Remove everything about an app - <a href="http://www.appzapper.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.appzapper.com/</a><p>4. LittleSnitch - Filters and prompts on outbound ip connections - <a href="http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html</a><p>5. Undercover - Stolen Laptop Recovery app - <a href="http://www.orbicule.com/undercover/" rel="nofollow">http://www.orbicule.com/undercover/</a><p>6. Fugu - SCP/SFTP App - <a href="http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/" rel="nofollow">http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/</a><p>7. On The Job - Time and Expense Tracking - <a href="http://stuntsoftware.com/OnTheJob/" rel="nofollow">http://stuntsoftware.com/OnTheJob/</a><p>8. Versions - Awesome SVN client - <a href="http://versionsapp.com/" rel="nofollow">http://versionsapp.com/</a>

macports (<a href="http://www.macports.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.macports.org</a>) for installing unix utilities that are not already included in OS X.

one of the guys I follow on twitter just recommended this:<p><a href="http://osx.iusethis.com/" rel="nofollow">http://osx.iusethis.com/</a>

Here are some of my favs:<p>1) Quicksilver. (free) <a href="http://blacktree.com/?quicksilver" rel="nofollow">http://blacktree.com/?quicksilver</a><p>2) VLC Media Player. (free) It plays pretty much every type of video file. <a href="http://videolan.org/vlc" rel="nofollow">http://videolan.org/vlc</a><p>3) Skitch. (free) Essential for quick screenshots, and quick annotations of screenshots. <a href="http://plasq.com/skitch" rel="nofollow">http://plasq.com/skitch</a><p>4) Tweetie. (free - ad supported - or $20) The best native Mac app for Twitterring. <a href="http://atebits.com/tweetie-mac" rel="nofollow">http://atebits.com/tweetie-mac</a><p>5) TextMate. (~$54) It's handling of projects, bundles, etc. is excellent. <a href="http://macromates.com" rel="nofollow">http://macromates.com</a><p>6) HTTP Client. (free) <a href="http://ditchnet.org/httpclient/" rel="nofollow">http://ditchnet.org/httpclient/</a><p>7) OmniGraffle. ($100-$200) Excellent for constructing user flow diagrams. <a href="http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/OmniGraffle/" rel="nofollow">http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/OmniGraffle/</a><p>8) The Hit List. ($50) It's one of the best GTD apps for the Mac. <a href="http://www.potionfactory.com/thehitlist/" rel="nofollow">http://www.potionfactory.com/thehitlist/</a><p>9) TinkerTool. (free) For customizing OS X. <a href="http://www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html</a><p>10) Secrets. (free) For easy access to hidden application preferences. <a href="http://secrets.blacktree.com/" rel="nofollow">http://secrets.blacktree.com/</a><p>11) Sequel Pro. (free) For accessing MySQL databases in a nice GUI. <a href="http://www.sequelpro.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.sequelpro.com/</a><p>12) Fluid. (free) If you have a commonly accessed site, Fluid is great to create a SSB (site-specific browser) for it. I have a Fluid SSB created for railsapi.com, which allows me to easily launch it with Quicksilver and start searching the Rails docs right away. <a href="http://fluidapp.com/" rel="nofollow">http://fluidapp.com/</a>

Here's a related thread from last year:<p>- Ask YC: Mac virgin wants to know, what would you install? <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=131241" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=131241</a><p>My earlier list <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=131263" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=131263</a> hasn't really changed but I do find the recently posted Black Tree Visor <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=465334" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=465334</a> to be very useful.

Lots of excellent pointers from others...I'll add a few I haven't seen posted:<p>- InstantShot: nice little screenshot utility (I use it daily)<p>- VueScan: swiss-army knife of mac scanning apps if you need to hook up a scanner. Costs a little, but you get lifetime upgrades. Well worth it.<p>- LittleSnitch: network monitor. tracks what kind of network activity your apps are up to. Costs a little, but also worth it if you value your privacy.<p>- JollysFastVNC: fast and free VNC client (I've been using it over Chicken of the VNC).<p>- OmniDiskSweeper: Disk utility shows you which files are hogging up the most hard disk space. Free. I also recommend many of Omni's other products. Omnigraffle (not free) is also excellent for diagramming.<p>Also, not mac specific, but the sqlite manager plugin for Firefox is also very helpful.<p>I don't know where others go to find different Mac apps, I usually hit macupdate.com (and sometimes versiontracker) these days, mostly out of habit, but would love to hear other recs for this.

MacFUSE w/ sshfs, and MacVIM.

textmate

Some of the things I use:<p>- DragThing; you will never miss Apple's Dock, this is an absolutely essential desktop enhancement, e.g. to create multiple tabbed docks anywhere you want, with themes.<p>- OmniWeb (now free); I've tried many web browsers, and I like this best. Safari engine.<p>- MacTelnet (tabbed terminal). It now works for local programs and not just servers, so I use it instead of Terminal.<p>- SnapzPro X (or alternatives), useful for doing more intelligent screenshots or video captures.<p>- DesktopCalendar (by Takashi Hamada), a really nice use of space and very configurable. Also has a menu option.<p>- Growl, for pretty and unobtrusive notification windows. This is actually really well supported by 3rd party applications.<p>- SCPlugin, if you're a Subversion user; nice Finder integration.

1password. A must that makes your life much easier.

If your file system ever gets corrupted, DiskWarrior.<p>DiskWarrior will reliably maintain and rebuild your FS. It will work when fsck fails and is better than the other paid alternatives. It looks like (and is) a Mac OS 9 port, but it's the same filesystem so no worries.<p>If your filesystem is ever, ever fucked, DW will save it if anything can.<p>It costs $100, so don't buy until when you end up needing it. But at that moment, buy it (unless your data is worth less than $100, I guess).

Some stuff I use that I didn't see mentioned:<p>MenuMeters: <a href="http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/</a><p>Hyperspaces: <a href="http://hyperspacesapp.com/" rel="nofollow">http://hyperspacesapp.com/</a><p>Yojimbo: <a href="http://barebones.com/products/yojimbo/" rel="nofollow">http://barebones.com/products/yojimbo/</a><p>Leap: <a href="http://www.ironicsoftware.com/leap/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ironicsoftware.com/leap/</a>

I've got my Macbook pro 6 months ago. The best thing I ever buy. I'm programming and I use to use a Windows and a FreeBSD box before. Here, some free and commercial softwares I use everyday:<p>1. Terminal: Visor - Quake-style terminal <a href="http://visor.binaryage.com" rel="nofollow">http://visor.binaryage.com</a><p>2. Uninstaller: AppTrap <a href="http://konstochvanligasaker.se/apptrap/" rel="nofollow">http://konstochvanligasaker.se/apptrap/</a><p>3. SFTP: <a href="http://www.expandrive.com/mac" rel="nofollow">http://www.expandrive.com/mac</a><p>4. Quick remote filesharing: <a href="http://www.getdropbox.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.getdropbox.com</a><p>5. IDEA: NetBeans or ZendStudio<p>6. Virtual machine: Parallels - <a href="http://www.parallels.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.parallels.com</a><p>7. Text editor: TextEdit or TextWrangler - <a href="http://www.barebones.com/products/TextWrangler/" rel="nofollow">http://www.barebones.com/products/TextWrangler/</a><p>8. VPN: The native OSX thing does the job<p>9. Mobile sync/Addressbook: iSync does the job (Use <a href="http://www.feisar.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.feisar.com/</a> to find your mobile plugin if iSync doesn't have it natively)<p>10. SIP softphone: Telephone (works with Googlevoice+Gizmo5 and my local UK SIP provider) - <a href="http://code.google.com/p/telephone/" rel="nofollow">http://code.google.com/p/telephone/</a><p>11. Notifier: Growl - <a href="http://growl.info/" rel="nofollow">http://growl.info/</a><p>12. Movie player: VLC or Quicktime+Perian codecs - <a href="http://perian.org/" rel="nofollow">http://perian.org/</a><p>13. Chat: Adium<p>14: Desktop display: GeekTool - <a href="http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/geektool/" rel="nofollow">http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/geektool/</a>

QuickSilver: <a href="http://quicksilver.en.softonic.com/mac" rel="nofollow">http://quicksilver.en.softonic.com/mac</a> - app launcher. Essential to a smooth OS X experience.<p>Adium: <a href="http://adium.im/" rel="nofollow">http://adium.im/</a> - general-purpose chat client<p>Cog: <a href="http://cogx.org/" rel="nofollow">http://cogx.org/</a> - For those of us who don't like iTunes, or want to play FLACs.<p>WriteRoom or Scrivener: <a href="http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom" rel="nofollow">http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom</a> | <a href="http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html</a> - if you like to write (those are not for code)<p>Textmate: <a href="http://macromates.com/" rel="nofollow">http://macromates.com/</a> - if you're a coder.<p>Transmission: <a href="http://www.transmissionbt.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.transmissionbt.com/</a> - for your torrenting needs.

Editors: MacVim, Emacs.app (build from source `./configure --with-ns` -- f Aquamacs and last resort TextMate<p>Torrent: uTorrent<p>RSS: NetNewsWire<p>PDF, Document Reader: Skim

Everyone is linking to Quicksilver. I am a former Quicksilver user, but I find it unbearably slow and bloated. Instead, I use Google Quick Search box, which does most of what Quicksilver does with much less bloat.<p><a href="http://code.google.com/p/qsb-mac/" rel="nofollow">http://code.google.com/p/qsb-mac/</a>

Controllermate (<a href="http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/" rel="nofollow">http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/</a>) - This is an outstanding program that allows you to customize almost any USB keyboard / mouse / controller / joystick to do exactly what you want, with a very clever and powerful graphical scripting environment. I have a Logitech Dual Action (with NO Logitech drivers instaled) wired up to switch spaces on the D-pad, volume on one joystick, screen brightness on the other. One button plays and pauses iTunes. I use it to add volume buttons to my Das Keyboard. No more crappy HID drivers. You can also create custom acceleration curves for mice.

This post might be useful:<p><a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/110065/must-have-tools-for-an-os-x-switcher/110178#110178" rel="nofollow">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/110065/must-have-tools-fo...</a><p>It listed all the userful tools that would be relevant to a programmer.

(not free, but cheap)<p>taskpaper <a href="http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper" rel="nofollow">http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper</a><p>scrivener <a href="http://www.literatureandlatte.com/trial.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.literatureandlatte.com/trial.html</a><p>curio + small pen tablet <a href="http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/" rel="nofollow">http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/</a>, <a href="http://www.wacom.com/bambootablet/bamboofun.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.wacom.com/bambootablet/bamboofun.php</a>

TextWrangler (free text editor), Gimp and Inkscape (free graphics) or Photoshop Elements ($90), OpenOffice (free) or iWork (office like from Apple $90), or MS Office ($150) depending on what you know and who you communicate with, Firefox browser (free), Xcode for Mac or iPhone development (free), Skype (free), Tweetie, no virus scanner needed for now, and an external hard Disk so you can use TimeMachine for backups are what I have added in the first 2 months with my first intel mac.

There are lots of great suggestions here, one I haven't seen yet is Spirited Away. (<a href="http://drikin.com/spiritedaway/" rel="nofollow">http://drikin.com/spiritedaway/</a>)<p>This app hides app you haven't used for a little while so the app you are using currently is the most prominent thing on the screen. I find it really helpful to declutter my screen in a non-invasive way.<p>You can also exclude things like video players and the like from being hidden.

Developer: Coda, Cornerstone, TextWrangler or BBEdit, iTerm, ForkLift, Querious, Changes, iChm<p>Web Designer: CSSEdit, Flux, Dreamweaver, xScope, Xyle Scope, Picturesque<p>Researcher: Evernote, DevonThink Pro, ConceptDraw MindMap<p>User: LaunchBar, Overflow, Little Snitch, Super Duper<p>Web Junkie: 1password, Firefox, Tweetie, NetNewsWire, ClamXav, DoorStop Firewall, Net Monitor<p>Freelancer: TimeLog &#38; GrandCentral<p>Photographer: Photoshop CSx, Portrait Professional, Aperture 2, GraphicConverter, PhotoReview

I actively use firefox (and camino + safari to have multiple sessions for the same site), iWork, tweetdeck, birdshot, itunes, last.fm, VLC, uTorrent, Quicktime pro, snaps x pro, skype, textmate, parallels (though switching to VMware), RescueTime, DropBox, and QuickBooks.<p>About 40% are paid apps.

I see a lot of people recommending virtual pc but does anyone have anything to say about vm fusion? A buddy of mine was going to hook me up with a copy. I've used virtual PC on linux quite a bit but I was always frustrated with the lack of ability to bridge the networking.

Home and End Key Fixer. I found my machine to be nearly unusable without it.<p>Quicksilver, to avoid the terrible GUI as much as humanly possible.<p>(I have my MacBook because it is the only non-Windows notebook with fully working suspend mode and peripherals. Why did you buy yours?)

Terminal.app + Visor is a great combination for me since I use the command line so much.

carbon emacs

Quicksilver.

Nambu Twitter client. I like it much more than Tweetdeck.

There is a good list of free (as in beer) Mac apps at <a href="http://www.freeapps.co.uk/mac" rel="nofollow">http://www.freeapps.co.uk/mac</a>

Just adding in LittleSnapper for keeping screenshots of sites / designs I like and also Wallet for keeping track of my passwords.

I just reinstalled my mac today. Here is what i installed so far :<p>1-quicksilver<p>2-iTerm (terminal. with tabs)<p>3-Photoshop CS3 (cs4 is slow on my macbook)<p>4-Transmit<p>5-DropBox client<p>6-Textmate<p>7-Git<p>8-The Hit List (best osx app for lists)<p>9-LimeChat (irc client)

Quicksilver (App launcher)<p>Onyx (Maintenance scripts)<p>Apple Developer Tools (Terminal/GCC/XCode)<p>SubEthaEdit (Collaborative Editing)<p>Textmate (Defacto standard editor)<p>Cyberduck (SFTP Client)<p>Perian (Codecs)

I'm going to be a fuddy-duddy and say: most of these apps are <i>not</i> essential for the Mac. Lots of them are nice, but you can skip them entirely when you're just getting started.<p>Here are the ones I consider absolute essentials for my daily work:<p>MegaZoomer - <a href="http://ianhenderson.org/megazoomer.html" rel="nofollow">http://ianhenderson.org/megazoomer.html</a> - lets you full-screen zoom any application. That mixed with TextEdit gives you the best word processor you'll ever need.<p>Quicksiler - linked all over - this will fill in every hole you have in your computer usage. I use it to fix a lot of shortcomings in iTunes, for instance, and while I don't use it as insanely as some people do, even light usage makes your life a lot easier. It's also a full-featured file browser, which is excellent.<p>Perian - <a href="http://perian.org/" rel="nofollow">http://perian.org/</a> - makes your life a lot easier when you're watching videos or listening to music, without forcing a reliance on the ugly VLC.<p>GlimmerBlocker - <a href="http://glimmerblocker.org/" rel="nofollow">http://glimmerblocker.org/</a> - Unless you use Firefox, this adds every feature you'll need to every browser you've got. (Firefox is an <i>awful</i> browser that rebuilds a lot of Mac features from the ground up, and so it isn't affected by this.) It blocks ads (selectively, so you can allow the ads you don't mind), blocks entire sites, and adds retroactive functionality to sites. The big one for me is the Youtube downloader.<p>Growl - <a href="http://growl.info/" rel="nofollow">http://growl.info/</a> - This one's really easy to abuse, but if you set it to notify you of all the really important things - FTP file uploads and long processes and so on - then you get a very nice way of keeping yourself informed of all your computer's goings-on.<p>Those are the ones that I absolutely need for my Mac. Here are the ones that are obscure-ish and rarely recommended and yet are terrific:<p>Max - <a href="http://sbooth.org/Max/" rel="nofollow">http://sbooth.org/Max/</a> - converts every format but wma, so your library stays neat and organized without any complaints about iTunes.<p>Freedom - <a href="http://macfreedom.com/" rel="nofollow">http://macfreedom.com/</a> - disables the Internet, so you can't procrastinate at all.<p>FuzzyClock - <a href="http://www.objectpark.org/FuzzyClock.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.objectpark.org/FuzzyClock.html</a> - makes your clock much more humane.<p>Chax - <a href="http://ksuther.com/chax/" rel="nofollow">http://ksuther.com/chax/</a> - Fixes a few things in iChat to make it an acceptable chat system (I really dislike Adium for a number of reasons).

gcc (not installed by default)

I just went through the same thing.<p>Follow me on twitter as I explore the world of OSX and my adventures with all things "Hackintosh": @cericsmith<p>Here's my list:<p>1Password -- Perhaps the greatest piece of Mac OSX software. You must try to believe it. Password storage/sync/creation/ID management at its finest.<p><a href="http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password" rel="nofollow">http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password</a><p>Unison -- If Windows newsreaders hadn't stopped evolving around 1998, they might have come up with something like Unison in... 2150.<p><a href="http://www.panic.com/unison/" rel="nofollow">http://www.panic.com/unison/</a><p>MusicBrainz Picard -- For fixing the "Unknown Artist/Album" issues.<p><a href="http://musicbrainz.org/doc/PicardDownload" rel="nofollow">http://musicbrainz.org/doc/PicardDownload</a><p>BluePhone Elite -- Neat Smartphone/iPhone tricks with Bluetooth. Ever wanted to have your machine wake up or sleep when you were just out of range? This is an app for you.<p><a href="http://mirasoftware.com/BPE2/" rel="nofollow">http://mirasoftware.com/BPE2/</a><p>Toast Titanium 10 -- Sure, Leopard can burn discs... but Toast is much more than that, and it's elegance exceeds anything on Windows.<p><a href="http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/toast/titanium/overview.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/toast/titanium/overview.ht...</a><p>iLife 09 -- iPhoto's face rec. is just cool, and iMovie beats the snot out of Movie Maker.<p><a href="http://www.apple.com/ilife/" rel="nofollow">http://www.apple.com/ilife/</a><p>Stuffit Deluxe 2009 -- Not as necessary as it used to be, but still nice to have available.<p><a href="http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffit.html" rel="nofollow">http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffit.html</a><p>Parallels 4 -- Many people like VMWare Fusion, but Parallels 4 has support for a lot more configuration of the VM -- support for up to 8 processors, the ability to have VM's start off of CD and/or Disk Image/ISO, is killer.<p><a href="http://www.parallels.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.parallels.com/</a><p>Little Snitch -- knowing when your applications are "phoning home" is important.<p><a href="http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html</a><p>DiskWarrior -- HFS+ disk maintanance package and more. Fix disk errors...<p><a href="http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html</a><p>AppZapper -- Yes, theoretically uninstalling apps on the Mac is straight forward, but AppZaper gets all the flotsom and jetsom that would otherwise be left behind. Great for nuking preference files, etc.<p><a href="http://www.appzapper.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.appzapper.com/</a><p>ClamXav -- Ok, we know that Mac's don't get virii, per se... but this cross-platform, donation-ware AV tool gives peace of mind when running random software you download from the Net.<p><a href="http://www.clamxav.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.clamxav.com/</a><p>FileSpot -- Spotlight is nice, but FileSpot takes it to another level.<p><a href="http://mac.synthesisstudios.com/mac/filespot/about" rel="nofollow">http://mac.synthesisstudios.com/mac/filespot/about</a><p>GimmeSomeTune -- integrates with iTunes and pulls/updates album art and lyrics, and works with Growl. Updates iChat status and images based on what you're listening to. Sweet.<p><a href="http://www.eternalstorms.at/gimmesometune/" rel="nofollow">http://www.eternalstorms.at/gimmesometune/</a><p>HighLight -- Instantly add file(s) or folders to your Spotlight search index.<p><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/superpixel/highlight/" rel="nofollow">http://homepage.mac.com/superpixel/highlight/</a><p>SimpleComic -- a great comic PDF viewer.<p><a href="http://dancingtortoise.com/simplecomic/" rel="nofollow">http://dancingtortoise.com/simplecomic/</a><p>TED -- This program scours the usual suspects for new TV episodes and integrates with your favorite Torrent program to automatically download them!<p><a href="http://www.ted.nu/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ted.nu/</a><p>DropBox -- 2GB of free, sync'ed cloud storage for your Mac (or PC/Linux box). Incredible in conjunction with 1Password.<p><a href="http://www.getdropbox.com/install?os=lnx" rel="nofollow">http://www.getdropbox.com/install?os=lnx</a><p>The Unarchiver -- Ok, so you don't like Stuffit? This will pull apart almost anything.<p><a href="http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html" rel="nofollow">http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html</a><p>Movist -- A media player based on ffmpeg/VNC that has a more polished UI than VNC.<p><a href="http://code.google.com/p/movist/" rel="nofollow">http://code.google.com/p/movist/</a> VNC -- open and play anything.<p>Perian -- Add the ability to open and play most media formats that ffmpeg can handle inside of QuickTime.<p><a href="http://perian.org/" rel="nofollow">http://perian.org/</a><p>Pixelmator -- who needs Photoshop? This $50 application is the bees knees. Cool UI, great features.<p><a href="http://www.pixelmator.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.pixelmator.com/</a><p>doubleTwist -- Part media manager, part file conversion utility. If you need those TV shows on your PSP, this can handle it. Notably, doesn't support iPhone (yet).<p><a href="http://www.doubletwist.com/dt/Home/Index.dt" rel="nofollow">http://www.doubletwist.com/dt/Home/Index.dt</a><p>MPlayer OSX Extended -- the benefits of Mplayer on OSX. More polished than VNC, more stable (at this point) than Movist.<p><a href="http://mplayerosx.sttz.ch/" rel="nofollow">http://mplayerosx.sttz.ch/</a><p>FreeDMG -- The ability to create Disk Images/.dmg files.<p><a href="http://www.kelleycomputing.net/freedmg/" rel="nofollow">http://www.kelleycomputing.net/freedmg/</a><p>Tweetie -- The newest and most controversial OSX Twitter program.<p><a href="http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/" rel="nofollow">http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/</a><p>Boxee -- a "10 foot interface" for managing your media and Internet content sources such as Hulu.<p><a href="http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/" rel="nofollow">http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/</a><p>SuperDuper -- quickly and easily clone your HFS drives.<p><a href="http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription...</a><p>iWork 09 -- Pages is what Powerpoint will never be -- Fun.<p><a href="http://www.apple.com/iwork/" rel="nofollow">http://www.apple.com/iwork/</a>

Textmate - Best text editor hands down. Cyberduck - FTP client.

What about... games? :P

iTerm <a href="http://iterm.sourceforge.net/" rel="nofollow">http://iterm.sourceforge.net/</a><p>VLC Player <a href="http://www.videolan.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.videolan.org/</a>

Carbon Emacs

* OmniFocus * CSSEdit

Stuffit Expander.

1. Quicksilver - There are already explanations on this and I don't like Spotlight that much.<p>2. MacPorts - If you are a developer or you're just an open-source lover, this is a must have app for you. It has 5811 open-source programs ready to install, easy and... open-source! ( which is good... )<p>3. TexMate - My every day editor, I don't use another one besides this one.<p>4. Adium - For chatting.<p>5. pgAdmin - For PostgreSQL administration. I don't use MySQL that much.<p>6. Growl - Another must have for system notifications, I don't realy know why Apple hasn't put one in OS X yet.<p>7. OmniGraffle - For Visio projects and such.<p>8. Things - For task managing.<p>9. Tweetie - The best Twitter client I've ever found.<p>10. Transmission - For P2P file transfers. I don't like uTorrent very much.<p>11. AppZapper - To uninstall programs. When you delete an app some configuration files are left behind, with this program all the files related are also deleted.<p>12. Evernote - Well... to take notes! Even better if you have an iPhone.<p>13. VMWare Fusion - For virtualization<p>14. Scribbles - For those moments when you get inspired and just want to make some draws :)<p>15. Adobe - Photoshop and Dreamweaver between others are a must.<p>16. Teeworlds - Best game ever and... Open-Source!!!!<p>17. Toast Titanium - For recording CD's and DVD's.<p>18. ScreenFlow - To record your screen and make nice video editing<p>These are not by "like" order, they're by the order I remembered them. I wouldn't recomend installing iTerm because Terminal.app does the job nicely and it has tabs as well. I'll had more if I remember some.

Cyberduck for FTP. Colloquy for IRC. VLC for video. Growl for notifications.