A+ OS X Programs
This page was formerly known as “Paperclip Sculptures” and seeing as I never took pictures of them and haven’t done any for ages, I’ve decided to rededicate this page to something useful and tell the world what cool programs I’ve found and use on my Macbook.
The first 4 programs listed were originally posted here.
Monolingual is an awesome program that srubbs Mac applications for non needed language sets. By doing this you free up tons of disk space. It defaults to removing everything but English (I could be wrong, it might use what is set for your language on the OS). It provides no harm to the system or the application and I’ve been using it for quite a while now with no ill effects.
Link:http://monolingual.sourceforge.net/ (page won’t display in the next interesting find 
)
Shiira is a new web browser from Japan for OS X that is very similar to Safari wth some cool things built in like Expose’ for your tabs and built in page thumbnail support (Safari needs the Safari Stand SIMBL plugin). I’ve been using it for a day and I really like it; fast like Safari and has the Safari feel and well integrated with the OS.
Wallpaper Clocks is a program that places a clock on your desktop and updates every minute. I found it this morning following links from Musings from Mars, but don’t ask me how to recreate the search since I can’t remember. The one thing I haven’t figured out is how to remove my original background, but the background I had goes well with the clock theme I’ve decided to run.
Link:http://www.vladstudio.com/wallpaperclock/
I downloaded Nocturne just before noon on December 03, 2007 and have found that it will probably be the coolest program I use at night while in dimly lit areas. Nocturne comes from the same group that does Quicksilver and Visor (a SIMBL plugin that creates a Quake-like dropping terminal window).
Link:http://blacktree.com/?nocturne
One of the things I missed when I started using OS X was that Amarok (an awesome Linux music player) had an on screen display of what song is playing when it starts, with Growl, any program that uses it’s functionality has the ability to put a notification on your desktop. I was excited when I found this because I’m using VirtueDesktops and shove iTunes to one I’m not working on and can still see what song is next. It works with other programs too: Safari, Shiira, Adium, Monolingual, ShapeShifter, and many more.
Link: http://growl.info/
VitrueDesktops is what brings the Linux feel to my Macbook. It is a virtual desktops manager for OS X and will allow for the creation of multiple desktops to organize your work. Sadly it is no longer being developed because of Spaces in Leopard, but since I haven’t upgraded yet and probably won’t for quite a while, I’m using it. It supports different switching animations/transition and has some pretty cool options that can be set (using the motion sensor to switch desktops…). I think this was one of the first programs I downloaded when I got my Mac and it made me feel at home in the new OS.
Link: http://virtuedesktops.info/
Download Link: http://virtuedesktops.info/index.php/downloads/
Bwanadik is a menubar program that displays IP connectivity information for both LAN and WAN. It gives me quick notice if my internet dies, but my wi-fi card is still connected to an access point.
Link: http://www.jschilling.net/sw_bwanadik.php
From the same author as Bwanadik, Cosmic Debris is a program that displays the probability of seeing the Aurora Borealis depending on your latitude. This will definitely help when I go to northern Minnesota and use the wireless from the in-laws neightbors at the lake. I haven’t seen the Northern Lights and if and when I do, I’ll have a camera ready to put it on my Photography page.
Link: http://www.jschilling.net/sw_cosmicdebris.php
I’ve finally realized the power of Quicksilver. Not only can I control iTunes, I acn search for programs faster than with Spotlight. It also supports sending information to programs like iChat, iCal, Mail, etc. I’m going to have fun getting to know this program.
Link: http://blacktree.com/?quicksilver
iGTD is a task organization program designed to make your life more efficient. Hopefully it will make mine more efficient. With Quicksilver support, you can easily add tasks to your projects and contexts.
Link: http://bargiel.home.pl/iGTD/index.html
Reveal is an EXIF viewer for OS X that has basic editing. I just found this program and will put it to good use inserting EXIF data into my scanned images from the Pentax.
Link: http://albumshaper.sourceforge.net/
Automator is a sweet feature of OS X and with Film Roll, I now have quick image processing with just a right click on the file. These automator scripts will surely be of use to me in the future.
Link: http://cocoaapp.com/products/automator/
DeskLickr is a wallpaper switcher that pulls its images from a custom flickr group or one of 6 other options. I mainly got it because the initial image it pulls is awesome and I was hoping the default group pulled similar images to that. I’m going to have to tweak with the settings to get it to pull landscapes all the time.
Link: http://desklickr.isnot.tv/
I have been looking for a way to organize my dock for a while and Dock Dividers does just that. It’s a bunch of small apps that don’t do anything, but provide a vertical or horizontal bar (depending on download) to split icons into logical (or however you want) groups.
Link: http://brandon-kelly.com/2007/02/dock-dividers.html
