My Mac Software List

I haven’t made one of these in awhile, probably because I’ve converted everyone I know to Mac, and so I thought I would update my list. So here it is:

Browsing: Safari 4 with webkit debugging enabled. It is the fastest browser I’ve used and I love the smooth scrolling.

Twitter: Tweetie. Best interface, free and has a lot of advanced features. I use it on my iPhone as well.

Google Chat + AIM: Adium. I prefer the logging and multiple network support over iChat.

Launcher: Google Quick Search Box. I hate the name but I love its simplicity. I used to use LaunchBar 5 but I didn’t need all of those features. This integrates super tight with Google search but it doesn’t have clipboard history like LaunchBar.

Clipboard History: JumpCut. To make up for the deficiency of Google QSB, this app is light and does the job well.

Coding: Textmate. I use this for my website design and development. It’s the single most important app on the Mac for me.

SFTP+FTP: Transmit. There are free alternatives but this app kicks their butts. I love the remote editing mode too.

CD Burning: Disco. I use iTunes to make music CDs, but I use Disco for every other kind of burning.

Time Tracking: Billings 3. This apps gives you nice controls on your menu bar for starting and pausing project timers. It also has built-in invoicing support.

High-end Math: Mathematica. There is really no other competitor really. It’s great for testing your algorithms.

Bit torrent: Transmission. Great open-source app with a gem of an interface.

Screen capture: Screenflow. Very expensive but astounding. It uses technology in Leopard to avoid having to encode videos while you’re capturing thus not lagging your system during demos.

Screenshot Sharing: LittleSnapper. This app lets you take the traditional full+partial screenshots, but it will also take a screenshot of your entire browser window no matter how large it is. Better yet, not only does the interface rock, they let you upload your screenshots onto their servers for free or to your own servers right from the app.

MySQL Management: Sequel Pro. Finally an update to CocoaMySQL! This universal binary is excellent, a giant leap forward over CocoaMySQL.

Xvid+Divx: Perian. I prefer to use Quicktime so I just extend it with codecs. If you don’t like Quicktime though, check out VLC.

WMV: Flip4Mac. Again, I prefer to extend Quicktime. This one is brought to you free by Microsoft.

Notifications: Growl. Tons of apps have Growl support and it’s open source. So this one is really recommended.

Software Cleanup: AppZapper. Dragging apps to the trash leaves behind preference files and caches lying around your system. Instead, I just drag my apps onto AppZapper and I’m rewarded with a nice zap sound every time.

Virtualization: VMware Fusion. I’ve always been a fan of VMware products and Fusion is no exception. They arrived late into the Mac virtualization market, but it was worth the wait.

Terminal Enhancement: Visor. Quake-style visor for Mac’s terminal app.

That’s about it. I use other things like Mail, iCal, Photoshop, iLife, iWork and Office but I’ve left those out. They are already so common and most already ship with Macs.

Let me know what you use.