Software Recommendations

These are some of my personal "must-have" software recommendations. Keep in mind that these are the programs I use and like; you may disagree or have other favorites.

| Mac OS X | Android | Palm OS |

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Mac OS X

Find Mac OS X apps at Version Tracker. Track your favorites at Iusethis.com.

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Productivity Applications

I run these all day, every day.

• Adium (adiumx.com) *
  The best chat / IM client. Handles AIM, Yahoo! IM, Jabber, MSN, and much more. Also skinable. If you use IM, get Adium. As of 1.4, Adium does Twitter!

• BBEdit (barebones.com/products/bbedit.html)
  In my opinion, BBEdit is the best Mac OS text editor (with excellent tech support too. :-) I ese BBEdit for writing/editing code, especially Perl or HTML.
  Alternatively, consider TextMate (described below).

• DragThing (www.dragthing.com/) *
  We use DragThing as a launcher for our regularly used apps and folders. I've turned off the Finder Desktop and, instead , use DragThing to present only those folders I Want to see.

• Eudora (www.eudora.com/)
  One of the best email programs around (imo).

  Eudora is no longer supported by QualComm but is being rewritten to use the Mozilla Engine.

• NoteBook (www.circusponies.com) *
  Circus Ponies NoteBook is a data manager with the look and feel of a 23rd century notepad. Looks like paper but it's reconfigurable. I love it. Responsive developer and excellent support. Download the demo. Read my review.

• PathFinder (www.cocoatech.com) *
  A Finder replacement must-have-app. Download it. Run it.

• Yahoo! Widget Engine (widgets.yahoo.com/) This used to be called Konfabulator and I wish they had kept the name. Widgets put tiny applications on your desktop. I run Weather, clocks, stiickies, this month's calendar, a list of today's meetings, and a simple alarm engine, and a changing picture frame. There are zillions of widgets to choose from.

  ("Wait. You mean you're running Mac OS X and you don't use Dashboard?"
  Exactly. I don't like Dashboard. Feel free to send me email and I'll tell you why not.)

Useful Applications

If you have the specific need these meet, they are invaluable.

• Colloquy (ohttp://colloquy.info/)
  If you use IRC on a Mac, you should use Colloquy. Clean, easy to use, skinnable. As one of the testimonials on the site proclaims, "the best IRC client for OS X."

• ecto (illuminex/)
  If you keep a weblog, use this as your offline editor. It's the best.
  Now also available for Windoze. There's a nice review (not by me) here.

  Note: ecto was sold to Illumniex. As much as I loved (and still use) ecto v. 2, I do not like ecto 3 from Illuminex. Your mileage may vary.

• Graphic Convertor (www.graphic-converter.net//)
  This is the only app most people will need for image modification: Trim, convert, scale, change resolution, export, edit, even search and replace on individual colors. It's not PhotoShop (but it's also cheaper and has a much easier learrning curve!)

• TextMate (macromates.com/)
  Rich uses TextMate as his editor of choice. If you're working with Ruby code, anything that uses a lot of files in multiple directories, or just have different "taste", you may prefer TextMate.

Enhancements / Extensions

• DefaultFolderX (www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/release.htm)
  If the Mac OS X Open and Save dialogs annoy and confuse you, this System Preference is one you will treasure. Just for example, DefaultFolderX actually lists the currently open Finder windows... and gives you easy access to them. What a concept :-)
  (Pricey... but for those who _really_ want this, it's well worth it, and very cleanly done. I wouldn't be without it.).

• iClock (www.scriptsoftware.com/iclock/iclockmac.php
  Improve your menu bar clock. Set the font, color. Show the date and time simultaneously. Includes a nice calendar, a small to-do list, alarms, world calendars... Try it!.

• TinkerTool (www.bresink.de/osx/)
  Set arrows at both ends of the scroll bar (up & down at both ends); reset the dock to start at the left margin instead of centered, set default screenshot format (I prefer jpeg), ... more.

• WindowshadeX (www.unsanity.com/haxies/)
  Listen up, Apple, I liked windowshade. This System Preference panel provides a choice of windowshading, send to dock, hide, or make transparent. Give some of their other software a try too...

  Not yet available for Leopard :-(

For Fun

• Eyeballs (www.sticksoftware.com)
  I've had eyeballs in my menu bar since Mac OS 7, I think. This version allows many weird customizations.

• Desktop images (www.blueskyheart.com)
  My all-time favorites. I love Layne's work. Free samples and relatively inexpensive sets.

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Android OS

Find Android apps at AndroLib.com. (Download from the Android Market).

Sync Manager

• Missing Sync for Android (from Mark/Space)
  This is a must-have for use on a Mac; it lets me sync my Address book as well as photos, random folders, videos, ...
  (Missing Sync for Android OS 2.0 is currently in Beta but I’ve seen no problems so far.)

Communication

• Twidroid Pro
  Twitter client

• Meebo IM
  for Yahoo! IM and AIM; a GoogleTalk app is included with the Android software.

Notes & Documents

• AK Notepad
  nice notepad. I tried several and settled on this one.

• Mobisle Notes
  does checklists; has a cute UI

• ColorNotes
  stickies for the “desktop”

• Text Edit
  text file editor/reader

• Documents to Go
  read Word, Excel, and PDF documents

Games

• Mahjongg Solitaire Pro
  one of the games I sometimes play

• Bejeweled
  the other game I sometimes play

Techie Tools

• Better Terminal Emulator Pro
  for us *nix command-line types

• ConnectBOT
  ssh utility. Supposedly there is an ssh util for BTEP but I don’’t have it yet.

• Astro
  File manager

Handy Utilities

• The Weather Channel
  forecast and info with current temp in task bar

• SimpleWeather
  forecast

• BatteryTime
  battery % and statistics

• Contact Owner
  puts my name and contact info on the lock screen

Settings

• Locale
  configurable settings profiles

• Toggle Screen Timeout
  to sleep or not to sleep

• Toggle Settings
  includes a task killer

Palm OS

Note: As of Dec. 2009, I no longer use Palm OS. But these are the apps I used:

You can find Palm apps at Palm Gear.

• Jot (aka Graffiti 2)
  Jot is a handwriting recognizer; I purchased Jot concurrent with my Palm III in 1998. In Palm OS 4 and 5, the basics of Jot can be found in what Palm calls "Graffiti 2".

• Commander (www.palmation.com)
  There are three versions of this app; I use Commander Lite. Mostly I use it to ensure that my name and contact information are prominently displayed when my PDA is started after 10 minutes of inactivity. (Why something like this isn't in the base OS I can't imagine).

• Slap (www.handshigh.com)
  Slap is incredibly convenient. Jot a few words or sentences in one place, then send them to the ToDo list, memo pad, date book... I mostly use this as an always-available mini notepad.

• Silver Screen (www.pocketsensei.com)
  This is my current favorite Launcher. It's cool. For me, it's even better paired with the "OS X Mania" theme :-)

• List Pro (www.iliumsoft.com)
  I'm constantly looking for the best list manager. I think I've finally found it in ListPro.

• Pocket Library (www.causticmango.com)
  This is a simple (and free) solution for keeping track of books (and videos, CDs, what-have-you).

• TipMe
  A tip calculator with enough features to be more useful than a pen and paper ;-)

• CanDo
  A front-end to the built-in ToDo list database - I like this because I can hide the Priorities.

• DayNotez (www.natara.com)
  A date-based journal application with multiple views.

• Event Tracker
  When did you last pick up the mail from your Post Office box? When did you last call your mother? Track these occasional events in Event Tracker.

• Splash Shopper (www.splashdata.com)
  This is one of many choices of "shopping list applications, with a saved "All" data base. The reason I prefer Splash Shopper is because it's backed by a Mac OS X desktop application as well!

  I also recommend Splash ID and Splash Photo, for similar reasons.

• TealPhone (www.tealpoint.com)
  This is an alternative interface to the built-in address book database.

  While you're at Teal Point's web site, take a look at some of their other offerings. I especially like Teal Launch, an extension that allows me more choice in remapping the hard and soft buttons on my PDA.

• NeoCal (http://www.hudren.com)
  An alternative calculator with many options. Actually, this is several calculators in one application: Scientific, Programmer's, Finacial, Statistics... and a customizable "User's" version where you can control some of the buttons. Very nice indeed.