Comments on: Recommended Macintosh applications

By: Terry Elliott

Terry Elliott — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:04:43 +0000

I would like to be a me-tooer here as well and recommend VisualHub. It converts almost any format into any other one. It stays up to date–they just added support for iPhone. Extremely useful for vodcasters in education.

By: Sandy Wagner

Sandy Wagner — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:34:30 +0000

For new Macs… iRedLite allows you to use the remote for your mac with more programs, including using it as a remote mouse and powerpoint controller.

By: Wesley Fryer

Wesley Fryer — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:34:24 +0000

These are great suggestions, thanks for adding them! Anyone have any additional suggestions?

By: Scott Elias

Scott Elias — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 14:48:19 +0000

Wes -

I can’t help but notice the conspicuous absence of Quicksliver!!

Also worth a mention:

* AppTrap - Preference pane that helps uninstall apps
* Chicken of the VNC - VNC client
* Picturesque - VERY cool tool to do some simple photo enhancements
* SuperDuper! - Excellent backup tool
* Transmit - Super simple FTP
* Xtorrent - Very polished torrent client

Links to all are available on my Mac software page here:
http://selias.pbwiki.com/Macbook

By: Miguel Guhlin

Miguel Guhlin — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:06:25 +0000

Wes, howdy! My favorite virtualization tool–in lieu of Parallels–is VMWare Fusion. Although still in beta, it outperformed Parallels on my Intel Macbook with 2 gigs of RAM, allowed me to run PuppyLinux and/or UbuntuLinux…in other words, it ran what I wanted. VMWare Fusion is available for advance purchase at approx less than $40. In August, the price jumps to $79.99, which is what you pay for Parallels.

One of the things that disappointed me about Parallels–and I hope won’t be true for VMWare FUsion–is that when you buy your serial number, you don’t get “free upgrades.” Instead, you are stuck at the version you bought it…so although work bought 7 copies of Parallels, we aren’t using the latest build out on the site but rather what we bought at the time. Upgrades cost $40 for Parallels…so I’ve decided to switch my team to VMWare Fusion.

You can find my Mac software recommendations in two new Download a la Mode articles I wrote recently. Here are the articles’ URLs in TinyURL format:

Download a la Mode 8: Best of Both Worlds
http://tinyurl.com/yooajc
This installment of Download a la Mode focuses on experiencing the best of both worlds, and recommends Macintosh specific software for first-time users. With one $15 exception, all of it is free, open source or freeware you can use. In addition to programs listed in response to the questions below, I have also added a bonus list of must-have applications for Mac users in the sidebar, Must-Have Mac Apps.

Download a la Mode 9: Mac Apps Worth Stealing
http://tinyurl.com/ysad7v
This article explores some Mac software worth purchasing. And, as promised in the previous issue, it includes a list of great Mozilla Firefox add-ons to extend the functionality of your browser, as well as how to easily get videos off the Web.

I mention VMWare Fusion and Parallels in both articles.

Hoping this is helpful to SpeedofCreativity readers,

Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner-MGuhlin.net
http://mguhlin.net

By: Dean Mattson

Dean Mattson — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:49:47 +0000

Good list! Here’s three other Mac applications that not a lot of people have heard about and I think are worth a look:

PulpMotion - This mainly creates slideshows with very fancy animations that are nice, if that’s what you like. But hidden in there is an ability to make very impressive looking news segments.

Jumpcut - This is a free application which allows you to keep track of the last 20 items of text you copied. Perfect when you’re making a blog post with a lot of links!

ScreenSteps - Provides you with an easy way to make directions about how to do something on the computer.