DISQUS

Loic Le Meur: My Mac OSX essential apps I could not live without

  • Paul Fredrich · 2 months ago
    You 'need' to test / use / add dropbox https://www.getdropbox.com for a) syncing your files across multiple computers and b) backing up. They are fantastic and I would not want to miss them. Installed on all of my machines.

    Thanks, P
  • Mike Bracco · 2 months ago
    Hey Loic - great list. I'm with you on all except delicious, mailplane and spanning sync. For me, I would definitely add PathFinder and TextExpander to that list.

    Here is all the Mac software that I use - http://mikebracco.com/mac-software/ (and sorry for the TweetDeck listing on that page - I'm constantly going back and forth :)
  • Loic Lemeur · 2 months ago
    Mike: what do these do?
  • Mike Bracco · 2 months ago
    PathFinder is a replacement for the Finder - http://cocoatech.com/ - It's an amazing app. It gives you tabbed browsing as well as a ton of other features. I highly recommend it. It's one of those apps that takes you a little while to fully harness it's power.

    TextExpander is a great time saver for setting key combos to auto-populate pre-defined text strings - http://www.smileonmymac.com/TextExpander/ - my favorite use for it is google search syntax as well as email signatures. What's really cool is that it also integrates with Automator for advanced functionality. For example, if I type ",bitly" it creates a bit.ly link using whatever link is on my clipboard (no matter what app I'm in).
  • greggwenger · 2 months ago
    Mike,

    Txs for the PathFinder discovery. I was looking for that for a long time. Features are great !
  • OurielOhayon · 2 months ago
    i have skitch for screencapture, chromium that killed safari, adium for chat, vlc for video

    for my contacts and calendar i just use Google.com/sync that does everything everywhere real time including on the iphone :)
  • Loic Lemeur · 2 months ago
    ah you killed safari? I am waiting to have a more final chrome version
  • OurielOhayon · 2 months ago
    yes, Safari was getting slow for some kind of reason. i have not been using
    it for the past month and a hald and only using chromium. It is SO fast,
    that i don't care about the bells and whistles of other browsers
  • Loic Lemeur · 2 months ago
    good to know. well my entire mac sucked entirely since I moved to snow
    leopard, I am hoping my clean install will fix it. so far so good.
    otherwise it will be windows7 and I will have to read someone's post
    about essential apps there!
  • OurielOhayon · 2 months ago
    that s why i did not move to snow leopard. actually anything related to mac,
    i prefer to wait for version 1.2 because most of the times it is shipped
    with weird bugs like those
  • Loic Lemeur · 2 months ago
    new install seems to work perfect
  • greggwenger · 2 months ago
    Loic, I experienced exaactly the same symptoms as yours. I finally decided for a clean install with only the app I use every day. My Mac "resucited" ;)
  • gabyu · 2 months ago
    Nice list ! I am using almost all (Stopped using spanning sync since my cals are now Apple stored). I am adding :

    Dropbox, for share files with clients,
    PictureSync to sync my photos across all social networks at once,
    Smultron to take notes ....
  • Loic Lemeur · 2 months ago
    thanks friends, I obviously forgot skitch updating now. Btw I am wondering how they make any money since they do not ask/expire or do not do any advertising...
  • Mike Bracco · 2 months ago
    Skitch is technically still in beta so maybe plasq will start charging when it get's out of beta and after we are all addicted to the app and have no choice but to buy it. Just a guess :)
  • Loic Lemeur · 2 months ago
    wow it's been a long beta then I feel like I used it for what, 2 years?
  • Mike Bracco · 2 months ago
    Yeah it has been out for a while...perhaps they are pulling a Google in terms of the perpetual beta. Or perhaps it's just a loss leader to promote plasq's other pay apps. In any event, as long as the apps free I'm not complaining :)
  • Doug Richardson · 2 months ago
    For delicious, you should try DeliciousSafari. That way you also get bookmark access via the Safari menu and search.

    http://delicioussafari.com/
  • Loic Lemeur · 2 months ago
    thanks I just corrected my link that is actually what I am using
  • mariano · 2 months ago
    does maiplane works with Google Apps Mail? It seems quite cool :)
  • Loic Lemeur · 2 months ago
    yes it works perfect with google apps mail
  • avdyk · 2 months ago
    Cool list, I wonder why you don't use Firefox, there are many more plugins, isn't it? I think I've nearly never open Safari... Maybe I have to try it
  • Raym · 2 months ago
    Here is mine http://bit.ly/4FqjpM dear Loic.
    We have some in common...
  • chepiok · 2 months ago
    spanning sync is not more usefull with snow leopard as ical can synchronise google calendar, adress book with gmail...
  • badassdadblog · 2 months ago
    Do you use Google's sync feature for this? I also use Spanning Sync AND MobileMe but would drop SS if there were a simpler way to keep iCal and Contacts sync'd across Google, Macs, and iPhones.
  • chepiok · 2 months ago
    yes I'm using google sync. at least for email and calendard. works fine. I haven't try contacts as itunes properly handle this.
  • Alexandre Hugo · 2 months ago
    Nice list Loic! I also use AppFresh that keeps all applications, widgets, preference panes and application plugins installed on your Mac up to date http://bit.ly/4vNNdC
  • Loic Lemeur · 2 months ago
    Oh that"s a cool idea going to try it! Thanks
  • Rodrigo A. Sepúlveda Schulz · 2 months ago
    here's a list I did a few months ago : http://rodrigo.typepad.com/english/2009/05/mac-...
    indeed, dropbox is great, and I recommend it too.
    for that DVD you're looking for, i found a very easy way :) use disk utility, create an image once and for all for your DVD (all of them ;), and use that in the future to reinstall (so much easier if you have it on a shared drive or on the cloud
  • badassdadblog · 2 months ago
    Loic - How is Quicksilver better than just using Spotlight as an app launcher? I never use the mouse to launch apps - just command-space-(firstcouplelettersoftheapp)-enter.
  • Charly · 2 months ago
    Hey Loic, another question, just curious o know how long it tooks you to wipe your computer and reinstall all that stuff. I'd like to clean mine (XP-professional) but the idea of spending several hours to get this done is just scaring me.
  • Loic Lemeur · 2 months ago
    About 2 hours
  • Charly · 2 months ago
    Well 2 hours, that was very fast. I'm afraid I may need a bunch more. hmmm, thinking about getting myself a Mac for non professional stuff, and this list will be a great starting point.I use some of those in windows (Evernote, Seesmic, Xmarks-addon on firefox, Delicious), excited about the Idea of discovering apple world but can't really afford not running windows professional. Great list, thanks.
  • cisports · 2 months ago
    ctrl-space to open Spotlight = great. I ignored this brilliant shortcut I know use daily. Thanks Badass :)

    I'd add NetNewsWire to Loïc's list since it's synced with Google Reader. It bettered NewsFire by me.

    I use Safari AND Firefox (primary due to a huge amount of add-ons, plug-ins)
  • luca filigheddu · 1 month ago
    QuickSilver is great and you can do much more than just launching apps, but if launching apps is the only purpose, I would recommend Namely. Very (very) light and does its job very well.

    http://amarsagoo.info/namely/
  • luca filigheddu · 1 month ago
    ...and, LittleSnapper looks more PRO than Skitch... I use it regularly to upload screenshots to my blog... it does everything automatically and also gives me the HTML code to embed the image just uploaded.
  • Bas · 1 month ago
    Why is is that the French can't learn to speak English without a horrible accent. Not even after living in the US for a long time. (!)