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Useful MAC Apps and Hardware [Ongoing Updates]

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  • M Offline
    Mike Lucey
    last edited by Mike Lucey 6 Feb 2023, 19:00 12 Feb 2008, 23:04

    Hi Guys,

    I thought I'd post some information / details on the various MAC Applications and Utilities that I find useful.

    My latest find is XSlimmer http://www.xslimmer.com/FAQ.html. This program takes an application and 'slims' it down quite a bit. It nearly halved Google Earth!

    The shareware version is limited to 50Mb of 'savings' but the full version has no limits, naturally. MOST IMPORTANT ***** There is a option to BACK UP the application before putting it on a diet! This is important if one does not have the original installer or its one of those programs that delivers the KEY via the Net, totally hidden to ones eye!

    All in all I've made quite a bit of extra HD space available. BTW there is a Black List that shows the application that can't be slimmed down.

    Mike


    Picture 4.png

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    • J Offline
      juju
      last edited by 13 Feb 2008, 10:25

      Hmmm, seems like a nifty app. I'm not aware of anything like this on the PC platform.

      Save the Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate.

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      • M Offline
        Mike Lucey
        last edited by 13 Feb 2008, 23:41

        Yes it is indeed Juju, but again there are lots of nifty software under the OSX platform.
        Same for Windows but the new Macs can use those also. OK, I'll shut up before Jackson come after my hide πŸ˜†

        Mike

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        • M Offline
          Mike Lucey
          last edited by 16 Feb 2008, 15:06

          Here are a few more. These I use all the time.

          Sticky Windows (A nice way of slapping windows to one side)
          http://www.donelleschi.com/stickywindows/

          KEEP AFLOAT (very handy for keeping a window floating on screen also allows tran)
          http://millenomi.altervista.org/Afloat/
          NOTE I first used Afloat on Tiger and it worked fine. When I moved to Leopard it did not work. I had to remove the installed SIML file and replace it with an updated version then reload Afloat 3. Worked fine after that. I notice that there is a Beta 4 on the guy's site now!

          Doodim(It dims or turns black all but active program)
          http://www.lachoseinteractive.net/en/products/doodim/

          Viou ( Useful utility for sticking program 'icons' on folders
          http://perso.orange.fr/prime/Pages/Viou/SoftViou1.html


          Stickies 1.png


          Stickies 2.png


          Afloat.png


          Doodim 1.png


          Doodim 2.png


          Viou .png

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          • J Offline
            jeff hammond
            last edited by 16 Feb 2008, 15:21

            sticky windows looks great... that's right up my alley.. the download is crazy slow (75kb/sec) but i'll try it again later..
            thanks.

            dotdotdot

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            • M Offline
              Mike Lucey
              last edited by 16 Feb 2008, 17:28

              Hi Jeff, I would be lost without Sticky Windows. I'm sure you will find it useful.

              Mike

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              • M Offline
                Mike Lucey
                last edited by 16 Feb 2008, 17:38

                This is also quite a useful utility that I use quite a lot now. After taking a Screen Shot the .png is saved to the Desktop with a number. While there is a thumbnail of the image its not easy to figure out what is what on a high res screen. Sharpshooter comes to the rescue as it offers the option to rename the Screen Shot before saving to DT, very handy indeed.

                Sharpshooter http://www.iwankerl.com/Software/Sharpshooter/

                PS: The app is free and won't let the rude site name put you off πŸ˜†


                Sharpshooter.png

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                • S Offline
                  solo
                  last edited by 16 Feb 2008, 17:42

                  LOL@ I wanker
                  🀣

                  http://www.solos-art.com

                  If you see a toilet in your dreams do not use it.

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                  • M Offline
                    Mike Lucey
                    last edited by 16 Feb 2008, 17:47

                    Cunning Fox also from http://www.donelleschi.com is a very quick way of switching off the running apps when you want to get maximum processing power from your Mac. Its also a quick way of killing apps.

                    The icon is tiny and sits on the bottom left corner of the screen, a little yellow box with a 'C'. I having been using this some some time now with no problems.

                    Cunning FOX http://www.donelleschi.com/cunningfox/

                    Mike


                    Cunning Fox.png

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                    • M Offline
                      Mike Lucey
                      last edited by 17 Feb 2008, 02:37

                      @solo said:

                      LOL@ I wanker
                      🀣

                      Just noticed the guy's full name is Isaac Wankerl. I'd imagine the 'l' is very important
                      to this guy. (Also I think the 'W' is pronounced as a'V' as it looks like a German name). As is the 'e' in Lucey to me! I suppose we all have our burdens to carry πŸ˜‰

                      Here is Isaac's pic. He's from Texas .... I wonder it Todd has every bumped into him in his travels down there. The guy should place a PayPal Donate as the utility is VERY useful, I'm using it all the time.


                      Isaac Wankerl.png

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                      • T Offline
                        todd burch
                        last edited by 17 Feb 2008, 04:40

                        Don't know him.

                        In the handy Mac app category, I've purchased SnapzPro. Awesome. It will do a screen capture video, plus all manners of still screen capture, way above and beyond what comes with OS X.
                        http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/

                        I'm also running with a beta version of Skitch. I think it's in public beta right now. It's very handy for marking up / annotating a screen grab in fun, artsy ways. Skitch is from the same folks that produce Comic Life.
                        http://plasq.com/skitch

                        I'm considering springing for Fission and Audio Hijack Pro too from Rogue Amoeba.
                        http://rogueamoeba.com/

                        And, of course, Handbrake for ripping DVDs to my iPod.

                        Todd

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                        • M Offline
                          Mike Lucey
                          last edited by 17 Feb 2008, 13:26

                          Thanks for adding to the list Todd, much appreciated. Must check those apps out πŸ˜‰

                          I'm wondering if we should make this a 'Sticky' as I'm sure it would be of interest to many Mac users.

                          Also, It probably would not be a bad idea if a similar thread was started by one of the Win guys that is interested in checking out new Win programs. Any takers ?

                          Mike

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                          • M Offline
                            Mike Lucey
                            last edited by 21 Feb 2008, 18:39

                            Bean is a simple to use free word processor that I use ALL the time
                            as it meeting my needs and requirements.

                            Link Preview Image
                            Bean: a macOS word processor

                            Bean: a macOS word processor

                            favicon

                            (www.bean-osx.com)

                            Mike


                            Bean.png

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                            • T Offline
                              tim
                              last edited by 28 Feb 2008, 19:05

                              Looking in my applications folder I see
                              Image Tricks (http://www.belightsoft.com) - filters and transforms on images
                              ImageWell (http://xtralean.com) - image edit, crop, resize, annotate, web previewy stuff
                              Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org) - drawing etc. Uses X11 and looks horribly like a windows app but is pretty good otherwise
                              LineForm ( http://freeverse.com/lineform/) - I paid actual money for this. Can even read pdfs and 'parse them' into graphic entities so you can edit them.
                              Picturesque (http://www.acqualia.com/picturesque/) - does pretty things to images

                              Aside from LineForm they're all no-cost.

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                              • G Offline
                                Glenn at home
                                last edited by 29 Feb 2008, 01:43

                                Thanks for the list all, as a new comer to OSX is there a freeware theme changer? Something like ShapeShifter?
                                TIA

                                SketchUp Pro 2024/2025 Dell XPS 8950 i9-12900K 64GB Ram RTX 3080

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                                • M Offline
                                  Mike Lucey
                                  last edited by 2 Mar 2008, 13:10

                                  @unknownuser said:

                                  Thanks for the list all, as a new comer to OSX is there a freeware theme changer? Something like ShapeShifter?
                                  TIA

                                  Here is one, Cricket1
                                  http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/Cricket1.shtml

                                  Also you might check out this list,
                                  http://www.softlookup.com/category.asp?ID=513

                                  Mike

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                                  • G Offline
                                    Glenn at home
                                    last edited by 3 Mar 2008, 15:03

                                    Thanks Mike, I'll check into those.

                                    SketchUp Pro 2024/2025 Dell XPS 8950 i9-12900K 64GB Ram RTX 3080

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                                    • M Offline
                                      Mike Lucey
                                      last edited by 4 Mar 2008, 00:19

                                      Hi Guys,

                                      I've had Corel Painter Essential 2 for a while. It came as a freebie with something that I bought, can't remember what πŸ˜’ BTW I did not like the GUI.

                                      I've just learned that Corel has now launched Painter Essentials 4 for both Win and Mac. I've downloaded the demo (60 days!) and had a very quick look araound and liked what I saw.
                                      It is a major improvement over pervious versions. Its the 'lazy man's' ideal tool for trouble free quick painterly effects. Just upload the photo / picture and try the various options.

                                      I think with a bit of time it might be possible to achieve the 'Dennis Effect'! πŸ˜„

                                      The demo can be had here, http://www.corel.com They require an account setup but I think its worth the effort. Or try here http://www.download.com/3001-2187_4-10747944.html

                                      Here is a little YouTube presentation, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UeI07Y6FdA
                                      Corel Painter Essentials 4

                                      My efforts attached.

                                      Mike


                                      View 1.jpg


                                      Corel 4 Essentials Output.png

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                                      • EdsonE Offline
                                        Edson
                                        last edited by 4 Mar 2008, 10:23

                                        let me add my 2$.

                                        Jing (http://www.jingproject.com/😞 very nice and useful free screen capture/annotation app. it allows you to record videos too.

                                        Rita (http://www.frykholm.se/rita.html😞 "Rita is a paint program for MacOS X that attempts to be limitless, flexible and easy to use. Unlike traditional paint programs Rita does not restrict you to a particular image size or resolution. Instead, it uses an infinite canvas. You can make the image as big as you like and zoom in as much as you want without ever encountering any big blocky pixels."

                                        Shindler (http://www.1802.it/shindler.php😞 drag any folder on this app and it will produce a text list all its contents.

                                        Justlooking (http://chipmunkninja.com/article/justlooking2😞 no-frills image viewer

                                        VLC (http://www.videolan.org/😞 media player that supports a large number of formats. whenever quicktime refuses to go vlc does the trick.

                                        edson mahfuz, architect| porto alegre β€’ brasil
                                        http://www.mahfuz.arq.br

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                                        • M Offline
                                          Mike Lucey
                                          last edited by 4 Mar 2008, 12:44

                                          Hi Edson,

                                          That JingProject is a useful tool to have in the arsenal. I have downloaded but was disappointed to see that the ScreenCast site is currently down. However I did sign up for a Flikr account. I'm looking forward to trying it out.

                                          Mike

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