New applications a-go-go
For some reason, owning a Mac has made me much more amenable to spending money on little applications; I probably paid for only one or two apps in 8+ years of PC ownership, but in the two or three weeks that I’ve been a Mac user I’ve purchased (or am thinking of purchasing) quite a few useful applications. Maybe it’s the pretty icons that sway me…
App happy
In an effort to get my productivity back on track for the new year, I am currently using evaluation copies of both Midnight Inbox and Billings. I think that Inbox could be great if I just get over the mental hurdle of committing all of my current projects and tasks to it (currently they are scattered across several Basecamp accounts, email, and text files); and Billings is already proving itself useful in a time-tracking capacity—I might leave the free version of Blinksale that I’m currently using for freelance invoicing and use this desktop app instead.
I’ve also downloaded the newly free NetNewsWire—I’ve been a loyal NewsgatorOnline user for a while, but I’m finding that having feeds automatically downloaded to my desktop is a better experience than the occasionally patchy Beta reader. The only slight annoyance with NNW is that I like to click through to articles I want to read later, which now means switching back and forth from Firefox to NNW, but it’s not a big problem.
MacHeist
I’ve just purchased the current MacHeist offer—with the weak dollar, you can’t beat 11 applications for less than 25 quid! I already had the excellent CSSEdit, but MacHeist helpfully allows you to gift licenses you don’t need to someone else. They also donate 25% of your payment to your choice of charity—so, if you’re a Mac user, go buy the MacHeist package! There’s bound to be something you’ll find useful—1Password is great if, like me, you have too many different site accounts; and I can see me using Cha-Ching, AppZapper, and PixelMator regularly too.
And via John comes word of another promising looking app that I think I’ll be evaluating over the weekend: Wii Transfer.
What undiscovered gem have you been finding indispensable recently?
Filed under: Macintosh, Applications.
Technorati tags: mac macheist netnewswire midnight inbox billings cssedit wii transfer
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Comments
- Alec
- 1588 days ago
I keep discovering Wrike [http://www.wrike.com]. It was my tool for collaboration and planning, now I also complement my 7 habits of high effectiveness with it. Really great tool!
- #2
- JonathanW
- 1565 days ago
“The only slight annoyance with NNW is that I like to click through to articles I want to read later, which now means switching back and forth from Firefox to NNW, but it’s not a big problem.”
...unless you open then as tabs in NNW (personally I don’t, but that functionality is there should you want it).
- #3
I’m a fan of TextMate, WriteRoom and AirFoil I have to say. I’m also currently trying Things and Know which both seem pretty nice. Tempted by the MacHeist deal though.
Notes all mac apps have to have names WrittenLikeThis