Must Have Mac Software

[Jaboney]

I just came across this program: 1001: a desktop flickr client. Have tried it once. I'm already pretty damn sure it's going on my must have list. Wow. Fast, smooth, easy to use. And notification of others' uploads. Very cool. Far better than the flickr uploader.

[amos]

I made a Forumosa widget for myself. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but version 1 never really is. Check it out, any comments will be great. if someone wants to hack it and make it prettier or improve it, please do so and repost it here.
I'll see if I can improve it any if I have time.

Forumosa Widget

Well done, Frost. That's a beauty. An absolute must have. Not only does it give you the last post, but it gives the last, what, 70 odd. Too many to count. I love it and it's one of only 6 Widgets given the pleasure of gracing my powerbook's screen. Out of interest, they are :
1) Calculator
2) Macwireless
3) Cricket score updater
4) World clock (Melbourne)
5) Taipei weather 6 day outlook
6) Forumosa Widget

As for my must haves. I'm trying out iview now, looks to be a bit better alternative for iphoto. Toast 7, no need for popcorn it seems, now. Burns everything with ease. Must be the most necessary mac software there is. CD spin doctor for making audio cds, plays etc. iBatt for watching my battery's life, while capacity meter is the same. Mac Janitor and cocktail for weekly and monthly maintenance, another must. I love iwork, awesome apps there, particularly pages. Damn awesome.

Here's Frost's widget in the centre.

[Limey]

Hi Amos,

Hao jiu bu jian. Can you tell us more about the Mac janitor? As you know I've only just got into computing and Macs, what's the deal?

L. ( I still owe you a pint )

[amos]

Hi Limey, okay mate about macjanitor. You probably already know that macs automatically run system maintenance tasks between 3 am and 5 am every morning, well that is providing your mac is turned on. However, most laptop users turn their ibooks/powerbooks off at night, or put them to sleep anyway, that means that your maintenance scripts don't run. MacJanitor will run these scripts. A must for notebook owners who put their babies to sleep at 11pm. Now, if these scripts don't run, and to quote, "Then many log files and your system database will grow extremely large or fail to get backed up". Anyway, a must, mate. Cheers.

More info ......

MacJanitor provides a way to run these system tasks at the click of a button. Laptop users could click the 'daily' button every morning (or every few days), or office workers could click the 'weekly' button on Mondays.

If you've been leaving your machine off at night without allowing the maintenance tasks to run for several weeks or more, the first time you run them using MacJanitor may take several minutes. Also, if your log files have grown extremely large and you are low on disk space, the tasks may have problems moving the files around and compressing them. After that, it typically takes less than a minute for each task.

The output of the task is displayed in the scrolling view in the bottom part of the window. If for some reason you feel the need, you may print the output of the system maintenance tasks (but why?...).

You can't really hurt anything by running the tasks more frequently than is intended, and they don't need to be run on a strict schedule. Just run them periodically when you get a free minute every few days or weeks.

Hopefully, this will be addressed in a future update of Mac OS X.

[Limey]

Thanks amos. I had no idea about that. It's still churning away now.

You learn something new everyday!

L.

[Jaboney]

While at I'm working with one of my favorites, Delicious Library, to import all of the books on the shelves here at home, getting about a shelf or two done each day, because DL's not working with my Logitect webcam. Has anyone had success with a non-firewire device and DL? It simply crashes on me.

[EddieG]

I use a lot of the programs mentioned here. One that hasn't been mentioned is JView. Helluva lot better than the built in Preview.

[gary]

MacJanitor provides a way to run these system tasks at the click of a button. Laptop users could click the 'daily' button every morning (or every few days), or office workers could click the 'weekly' button on Mondays.

I guess no one's tried Macaroni? It MacJanitor and more, automated. It's a preferencepane that schedules maintenance and other tasks. It also can remove other languages from your computer and clean up at least several hundred megs of space.

I'm retrying some oldie but goodies: WindowShade X and Sticky Windows.
Witch is interesting too. They all help with window management, something that still has a lot of work to go. Expos

[gary]

I'm trying out Yojimbo from Bare Bones. For a long time, I've been trying out different software for keeping notes, articles, or clippings: StickyBrain, MacJournal (great for a journal), DevonThink. Yojimbo is a great Kurosawa movie; it's now great software.

Though all of them still leave me wanting. After a minute of use, I can see Yojimbo has enough features to be a keeper.

My number 1 must have piece of software is still LaunchBar.

[kelake]

I've been trying Yojimbo as well. It's working well for me.