dekay.org

At the end of 2006 (doesn’t this sound cheesy? It has been just a few hours…) lifehacker started the discussion about which shareware apps were purchased by their readers in 2006. This question has been spreading thorugh many mac blogs (such as this and that), and since I always wanted to post a list of cool shareware apps I use myself: here it is. Note: also included are some freebies and free software… and some stuff I have bought pre-2006.

1passwd: Finally a password app that is integrated with Safari, DEVONagent and Firefox. Still has some problems with form-filling on german websites, but great, nevertheless. Freebie via MacHeist

AppZapper: Un-Installer on OSX that is fun to use. Via MacZOT as part of some bundle. Who hasn’t at least gotten one license for it?

ArtRage 2: Finally a worthy drawing app for use with my Graphire 2. Something I really missed since the days of OS 9.

Chat Transcript Manager: Not really useful in a day to day setting, but very entertaining and thus nice. I think i got it via a bundle at MacZOT.

Comic Life: Came with my iMac. Very cool and fun app for creating comic strips.

Delicious Library: THE book and CD/DVD-manager on OSX, integrated with an iSight. Fun to use and in its current version finally quick and snappy. (iPhoto <5, anyone?). Via MacHeist.

DEVONagent: My main browser. Very easy to applescript, very useful for web searches and integrates with DEVONthink (see below). Via the Infoworker bundle.

DEVONthink: Have been using the Pro version since it appeared, although I have only really started to appreciate it since I got my iMac with 2GB of RAM, since the old iBook 700 was a bit sluggish. DTP has saved me quite some time while writing my thesis, but also serves as my main storage for data, snippets and more.

DiscLabel: App to easily create CD/DVD disc labels which also has many templates for off-the-shelf gluey papers. Fun to use. Via MacZOT.

Disco: the shiny-smoking disc burning app, which is fun to use and quite useful for quick burning. via MacHeist.

Endo: the little brother of blogging app ecto, which at the moment has gotten some competition on my iMac by NetNewswire Lite.

hawkeye: the DVD grabber, movie converter, etc. via MacZOT

iPulse: performance monitor, useful, flashy shiny. via MacHeist.

KIT: Snippet manager, which I haven’t found a good use for yet — maybe storing web-receipts or such stuff, as DEVONthink really suits all my needs. via MacZOT.

MacBreakZ: Very essential break-enforcing app, keeping RSI-related injuries at a minimum, see also this short review and this hint about “Getting things done” with MacBreakZ.

Media Rage: brother of MP3 Rage, both useful apps for tagging MP3 files from the info stored in their filenames or folder hierarchies, and much more. Been using them since before 2000!

MenuCalendarClock: A nice and useful menubar-replacement for the date/time OSX provides, as it integrates with iCal or Entourage, showing the calendar, to-do-items and appointments. via MacZOT.

OmniGraffle: Still have an old version floating around as I haven’t updated yet. But by far the coolest drawing app. Did all my figures for my thesis with the help OmniGraffle (even if it was just for creating the PDF from it!).

OmniOutliner: Cool outliner, which can even become a GTD-app with Kinkless.

NewsFire: Another RSS-Reader, joining the ranks of Endo and NNWlite. via MacHeist.

PhotoStickies: from the makers of DEVONthink and DEVONagent. Great for pasting pictures of my girlfriend on my desktop!

Pzizz: Deep refreshing sleep and power-naps. Via MyDreamApp, I believe.

Radiolover: Great app for saving streaming radio which also supports splitting into individual tagged MP3-files!

RapidWeaver: Web-site editor. Although atm I am mostly coding by hand with TextMate. via MacHeist.

Sciral Consistency: Awesome fuzzy tracker of to-do items. Very good for tasks that need to be done in a range of days, like watering plants, going to the gym, keeping contact with family etc ;).

Spell Catcher: An extra spelling application for OSX, which also does suggestions and shortcuts, has a thesaurus and looks up online dictionaries. Works with almost every mac app.

Super Duper: for Backups.

TextMate: THE multi-purpose editor on the Mac. Even have three licenses since MacHeist!

Games: Just to round things up, here are some great games:

Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri: Runs on OSX thanks to Brad Oliver who created a Carbonized version ages ago. Brad, you are my hero!

Civilization IV: The latest installment of Civ. Also check out the classic board game!

Enigmo and Enigmo 2: Great puzzle games with awesome graphics!

Diner Dash 2: via MacZOT.

Freeware: Stuff that needs to be mentioned as well:

Adium: The multi-purpose chat client. Freeware.

BibDesk: Freeware bibliography manager, which was essential for my thesis. Have been using this little app since 2002 or so… slowly building my bibtex-file and personal collection of pdfs.

Aurora: iTunes based alarm and snoozing app. Very rapid development cycles.

Carbon Copy Cloner: Backup app, can also create bootable disk images/backups.

Cyberduck: FTP app of choice, integrates with TextMate.

Service Scrubber: Clean up your service menu.

Quicksilver: Application launcher and much more!

Plot: Plotting app with nice features and graphing capabilities.

Services: useful tools and services!