Aint that special

A few days ago, I mentioned that I reinstalled all of my favorite mac applications. Here is a list of most of them. I’ve included links to the developer sites, whether the program is a Universal Binary (UB) or Power PC (PPC) and how much it costs as of today. I hope people find it useful.

AppZapper (UB; $12.95)– The best uninstaller for the Mac
Bookit (PPC; $12)– Isn’t it annoying having more than one browser? Bookit will sync all of your bookmarks between your browsers.
Booxter (UB; $19.99)– A great way to inventory all of your books. It has some nice features and is pretty cheap.
Carbon Copy Cloner (PPC only; Free/Donation)– Does one thing really well. It makes copies of hard-drives
ChronoSync (UB; $30)– The easiest way to backup on the Mac. A least until Time Machine comes out.
Coverflow (UB; Free/Donation) — A much more appealing interface than iTunes
Curio (UB; $39-$129)– Cool scrapbook like program. If you have a tablet then it is even better. You can paste a clip anywhere on the page and scribble notes everywhere. It’s a little expensive though.
DEVONagent (UB; $49.95)– A seriously powerful internet search tool
DEVONthink Pro (UB; $79.95)– I live in this program. It’s a notebook. It’s a web browser. It’s a smart database with a great AI. I keep all of my notes, code snippets, PDF’s and web archives in DTP. It’s one of those programs, that the more you use it, the more you can’t work without it. As a side note, you can get both DevonAgent and Devonthink together for a reduced price of $99.95.
DVD Imager (UB; Free)– Converts a ripped VIDEO_TS (see MacTheRipper) folder to a disk image. An excellent way to make your own DVD’s. What’s even cooler is that the author Laine Lee includes the sources code. It looks like it is mostly Applescript driven.
Ecto (UB; $17.95)– Blog editing software. I’m using right now. I’ve only used it for a few days, but I’m liking it. It might even be worth the $17.95 price tag. An easy to use interface with integration with iPhoto, iTunes and Amazon.
Google Earth (UB; Free)– The only way to waste time and not feel too guilty. It’s educational right?
Growl (UB?; Free)– A superb notification system for the Mac. It’s customizable and is supported by many applications.
HandBrake (UB; Free)– A nice app to convert DVD’s to other formats like those used on computers and portable video devices.
iBank (UB; $39.99)– Superb personal finance software. It’s pretty streamlined and easy to use. It’s not as feature packed as
iClip (UB; $19.95)– A nifty little clipboard manager. It has a nice interface and holds visual representations of the various clippings.
kip (UB; Free now by $49 later)– A fantastic way to keep your PDF files. The program stores PDF files and automatically uses the embedded text to create common tags for the documents. I print all of my internet related receipts to PDF files directly to kip (it is now called Yep for legal reasons). While it is free now, the developers warn that it will be $49 starting in September. Kind of a high price point. I’m not sure if I will be moving to the pay version or sticking with the free one.
Knox (UB; $29.95)– I used to store all of my bank statements, receipts, Tax returns and such right in my documents folder on my Powerbook. Then I read a story about a stolen iMac that scared the crap out of me. What if my laptop was stolen? Sure, I could replace the hardware and software, but someone would have ALL of my personal info. Then I found Knox. It creates an encrypted disk image that can grow and shrink as necessary. Just type your password and it opens right up. It also has Spotlight support for searching the disks when not mounted. I feel much better now.
MacTheRipper (PPC; Free)– Rip those DVD’s! Creates VIDEO_TS folders with the appropriate VOB files. It’s not a great substitute for PC applications but it works.
OmniWeb (UB; $29.95)– An alternative browser to Safari. Somehow, the Omni group has managed to make a browser that is faster than Safari, but using the Webkit. It also has visual tabs with thumbnails and some really sweet ad and site filtering
OnyX (UB; Free)– Efficient system maintenance tool. This one does about everything. It cleans the caches and temp files. It does the daily, weekly and monthly maintenance scripts. I especially used this a lot with my Powerbook since. If you’re not aware, your computer must be on 24/7 for the maintenance scripts to be run by the system. Onyx lets you run them when you feel like it.
Path Finder (UB; $34.95)– A finder replacement that has some cool features. You can move files, Zip and un-Zip archives and view PDF and images directly. I bought a copy with Knox and saved some money.
Quicksilver (UB; Free)– This is one of those applications that I can not believe is not part of the OS (the next incarnation of Spotlight will have some of Quicksilver’s launching features). It is far more than a launcher. It has a huge number of plugins that allows it to integrate with services such as Mail, iTunes, De.licio.us, etc. You can also specify your own triggers kind of like quick keys. Not to mention, it has a terrific unobtrusive interface. It really has to be seen to be believed. There are several good resources to get a new user up and running with QS. Andrew’s Mac Tips, and 43 Folders have excellent tutorials.
RadioLover (UB; $15)– A little app for those that listen to internet radio a lot and hate the iTunes interface. Consider it an organizer for internet radio.
Service Scrubber (UB; Free/Donate)– Removes some of the less useful items in the services menu. I found if you trim down the services menu, it actually becomes valuable.
SuperDuper (UB; $27.95)– A nice way to make bootable copies of your hard disk.
Vienna (UB; Free)– The RSS reader I mentioned in a previous post. Straight forward and minimalistic. Also has Growl support to let you know when new articles arrive. Great development cycles for a free application.
VLC (Intel or PPC; Free)– The swiss army knife of video players. Can also play videos from a server.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, OSX, Quicksilver, Security, Software

I just called the Northshore Apple store here in MA. I asked if they carried any of the new ram for the Mac Pro. I was disappointed and excited by the response. I was told not to expect any of the extra bling to be available in-store for another month. However, they will be carrying all Mac Pro peripherals as well. We’re talking video cards, Superdrives, SATA internal disks and RAM. They will offer any configuration on-site or you can purchase al-carte. This might all be B.S., but the guy seemed pretty confident about it. I did not get the impression that he was just guessing. This is really going to hurt my bank account.

As I have previously mentioned, the Mac Pro is up and running. You can’t hear it, but trust me it’s there. About 2 years ago, I built a gaming rig that I decked out with AMD, Nvidia and Raptor drives. It was top o’ the line when I was done. It’s still pretty speedy. But check out the photo of the machine. Can you tell I really would have rather had a Mac gaming machine?

The case is from Lian-Li (by the way, check out this desk. Do you need a Faraday cage around that thing?) and boy did they just rip off the apple design. Keep in mind, those two ugly black squares in the middle of mine are hot-swappable SATA drives I installed for backing up. Before that, they were smooth flush aluminum panels. It was a beautiful enclosure with tons of space. However, beauty is only skin deep. As you can see, the apple design team really worked overtime on the inside of the Mac Pro. Granted, I’m not the best with cable management (as you can tell by the underside of the desk), but that’s not much of an issue with the Mac. No cables as far as I can tell. That’s probably the key to the efficient cooling. My Windows machine sounds like it is cooled by a bank of hair dryers. Now if only I could find a satisfactory Mac based Media center for the living room. I could replace the Windows MCE machine with a nice Mac Mini.

Technorati Tags: Hardware, Mac, Windows

Awhile back, I just stopped using RSS feeds and started just visiting the web sites one by one to see what was new. It was actually a better experience. You get to see some comments, checkout new layout changes, and generally just appreciate some of the details. So with the new installs, I have revisited Vienna for reading RSS feeds. After a few days, it struck me that I may actually be too lazy to browse the web now. That’s seriously lazy.

Technorati Tags: Mac, Software

When I setup the Mac Pro, I decided to go with a complete reinstall of my operating system and consequantly all of my applications. I tried the Migration assistant first (it was ridiculously easy and worked perfectly), but decided later that I wanted to stick to mostly Universal apps. The reinstall process really forces you to settle three things.

1. Do I really need programs like “Coverflow” and “Radiolover”
2. How many login items are too many
3. Where the hell did I put all my serial numbers

Answers: Yes, 6, and everywhere.
1) It is precisely those little apps that make me love my Mac so much more than my Windows machine. They are just COOL. So I dutifully downloaded all of the newest installers (trying to stick with Universal Binaries). Given the ease of most installations on the mac, it really took no time at all. My one major complaint about OS X is that all of the applications end up in one single fold. Come on Steve, what kind of elegant user experience is that?
2) My startup items include: Growl (it really great user notification system), iTunes helper, Quicksilver (I can not function without QS), Chronosync Backgrounder (I backup every night at 3am) and iCal alarms. Microsoft tried to install their updater for office, but I gave it the boot. I figure anything else, I can do manually.
3) This is where my organization methods get a little sloppy. Luckily most of my serial numbers were sent by email so it was pretty easy to do a quick search to find most of them. The others were spread between Devonthink Pro and Kip (now Yep). I’ll talk about these apps more later. After some digging and one email request for an old registration code I’m up and running.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, OSX, Software