A new Mac owner recently asked me to recommend some Mac apps. so here we go!
VisualHub is the application we use to compress GeekBrief.TV into four of the five versions we release. It’s a lightweight video conversion utility that’s easy to learn and fun to use. The developer writes his sense of humor into error messages and even the price. It costs $23.32. Getting reliable results during video compression usually takes a lot of trial and error. VisualHub makes it simple and fast.
HandBrake is an application that backs up DVDs so they can be played on iPods, PS3s and my favorite, Apple TV. It’s free and really easy to use. It doesn’t work with every DVD, though, and I’m not sure why. My first thought is copy protection, but it seems too random for that to be the issue.
Drive-in from Flip4Mac goes about DVD backups in a completely different way. Instead of ripping a disc and compressing the file, it creates a disk image that includes the DVD menu and special features. It also enforces one of the ethical issues that arises around backing up DVDs. You cannot give a copy away. It’s tied to your Drive-in account. The application is still in public beta and is free until the beta ends.
Coda is a beautifully elegant HTML editor for Macs. I’ve been working with HTML for 14 years and Coda is just another reason why life is better when you work on on Mac. It also has a copy of The Web Programmer’s Desk Reference built right in to the application.
Cyberduck is an open-source, shareware FTP application for Mac. It’s easy to use and reminds me of my old, old favorite, WinFTP.
IShowU is the screen capture application I use to grab flash video from the Web. It can be configured to output at a variety of quality levels and the capture area can be adjusted to any size you need.
Screenflow from Vara Software is one of the best applications I’ve ever used. It’s the best application for producing instructional screencasts. You can attach a camera and a mic and record yourself as you walk a student through the process of doing anything on a Mac. The thing that really sets it apart from other screencasting applications is what you can do in post production. You can blur the backgrounds, dim the backgrounds, highlight actions with sound and visual call-outs and you can pan and zoom.
What Mac apps can you not live without? Leave a comment!
9 Comments
Adium: the best messenger client.
CSSedit: like coda but only for css
Quicksilver: handy do-it-all.
Quinn: the best version of tetris ever…
Transmission: just does it’s job and does it good.
Camouflage: to hide that nasty cluttered desktop
Videobox: handy for downloading flash video.
Hmm… avoiding the mundane “Mail” or apps relating to my work, like “Photoshop,” here’s what I’d list:
SpamSieve
TextExpander
1Password
LaunchBar
Skitch
Twitterific
Transmit
Oh great, just what I need: more reasons why I should get a mac… I’m jealous!
gotta agree with Coda, love it.
I also love:
- Transmission
- Comic Book Lover
- Adium
- Speed Download
etc. etc.
- Firefox 3 RC1: World’s faster than any other Web browser on Mac or Windows and more stable than Safari in Leopard.
- Overflow: A cheap, easy-to-use launcher that looks great, too.
- Delish: Del.icio.us bookmarks app for Mac. A must-have to easily find a bookmark from among the thousands.
- VMware Fusion: I work in a Windows-only enviornment (even our VPN isn’t Mac-compatible), so this app lets me get my work done and still keep my Mac apps running.
- Resize ‘em All: My favorite of the numerous batch resizing and renaming apps. Looks great, and works perfectly. A must-have for loading photos to a blog or Web site.
- Linotype FontExplorer X: A free font manager that is much better than FontBook and even the pay font managers (Suitcase and FontAgent Pro).
- OnyX: Great free cleaner app.
- AppZapper: Cheap and fun application removal tool.
- MacTheRipper: Free DVD ripping tool Also strips copyright protections and compresses. (Only use on your personal DVDs, kids!)
Lots more that I can’t think of right now.
I love lists like this - I now have a whole raft of apps to try out
I probably only have a couple that I use on a day to day basis and they are:
- Netnewswire: the best RSS reader I have come across, especially now that the full featured version is free.
- Textmate: Text editor of choice: great for any programming language, along with a pretty much any mark up language you can think of thanks to it’s bundle architecture.
Good list. I find Flip4Mac is far more powerful than visual hub. Here’s a great blog post that lays it all out about F4M: http://flip4mac.vox.com/library/post/10-reasons-to-use-flip4mac.html
With reference to Drive In, I actually like the idea of working with a DVD copying program that’s on the “up and up”. Sounds great to me.
I second Aaron’s endorsement of VMware Fusion. There are still a few Windows apps I need, and with a nice, clean installation of Win XP, Fusion makes my MacBook Pro the fastest Windows machine I’ve ever used.
Thanks so much for your list and the list of others. I just converted over to a iMac and i probably will look into everything listed, just to see how the Mac Compares to the PC.
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