Here’s a collection of applications, many of which are not common knowledge, that I regularly find useful. They’ll be listed most recently added first.
O/S Agnostic
Chandler
Chandler, in its own words is “A notebook you can organize, back up and share!”. I personally use it to keep tabs on current and
future tasks, primarily because it supports every OS I use frequently, has a web interface, and synchronize between them all.
FreeMind
Java based mind mapping application. I’ve taken to using it to create mind maps lately to help myself think through problems of all sizes. Mind mapping really helps to visualize ones thought processes. Good stuff…
PhotoRec
Free flash disk (SD/CF/etc…) file recovery app, available for all the major platforms.
If you’ve ever accidentally ‘deleted’ or otherwise lost image files, this is a great free app
to help you restore them.
Stellarium
Beautiful astronomy application. Great for teaching young and old alike about the heavens above, or just for fun.
Google Earth
Very, very slick earth browsing application
Inkscape
Free, Open-Source vector graphics editor. Similar to Illustrator, Freehand etc…
JBidWatcher
An ebay auction monitoring application. Tons of features, such as auction sniping come in handy.
Gimp
The GNU Image Manipulation Program. Photoshop-like image program. It does some things better, some things worse, but is very useful and free.
Audacity
By far one of the most useful tools in audio file creation/editing around, and it’s free. Better than most expensive pay-ware to boot.
TrueCrypt
They say it best themselves. “Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Encryption”
Windows
Console
Similar to Visor (for OS X), and Tilda for *NIX, this app provides a drop down console, which can be triggered by any hotkey you wish, for Windows.
Linux
Tilda
Similar to Visor (for OS X) this app provides a drop down console, which I’ve found really handy.
OS X
Visor
Via SIMBL, and the OS X bundled terminal, this app adds a drop down style console. Very cool, I dig it.
Flip4Mac Drive-In
The coolest movie watching utility I’ve come across in a long time. It’s great for taking movies on a laptop, as well as for providing a media-less movie
archive. I use it for both. We have a file server running linux with a md software raid5 that’s large enough to hold our entire collection. This combined
with a mac-mini jacked into our TV makes for a sweet and very easy to access media library. I just need to take some time and try and tie
drive-in into front row better somehow. macosxhints.com has some options, but they’re still not ideal for incorporating the disk images.
Still, it’s just as easy to wade through a folder since the icons are the DVD case image.
Tomato Torrent
My bit torrent client of choice. Minimal, but has all the important options.
AntiRSI
Do you have wrist pain associated with typing, possibly as a result of RSI ?
Check this gem out for some added comfort to your typing day.
When I actually listen to it, it helps considerably.
Tunnelblick
GUI for OpenVPN on OS X
Namely
I can’t stand the Spotlight feature of OS X. It slows things down, and combines too many features in my opinion. Namely is a minimal application that allows you to quickly launch apps by typing their whole name (or portions thereof). It’s very fast.
SizzlingKeys
Useful hotkey program that allows you to specify keys for controlling itunes. It has some extras that are pretty useful as well, such as user switch, sleep etc…
Synergy
A great piece of client/server software that handles the K&M of KVM.Terribly handy, particularly for linking a workstation and laptop via one keyboard and mouse.
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xorcyst.com — xorcise your daemons - ramblings on software development, and other assorted bits. » Visor (OS X) and Tilda (Linux)08-03-07