A set of applications for a comfortable life on MacBook Pro. The seven most useful utilities for the Mac OS X menu bar
Here in Auckland I moved from PC to Mac about a year and a half ago and am very pleased with the result. I recently came across a website with a collection of interviews with various kinds of specialists (IT and not so), in which they briefly talk about how their computer workplace- usesthis.com. It would take a long time to write in English, I’ll quickly sketch out here what I use myself, because over the time I’ve been using Mac OS X I’ve accumulated a fair amount of all sorts of software.
On Mac, and this was one of the reasons for moving, I try to adhere to the Zen ideology of “less is more” as much as possible. However, despite the craving for minimalism, small utilities are jam-packed to capacity. I'll try to sort out what happened.
Browser
The main browser was and remains Google Chrome. Safari, of course, consumes less battery, but overall it feels like it is a step or two behind in development.
Media
Cross-platform and free VLC player solves absolutely all problems related to playing audio or video.
If I want to listen to music, I play on YouTube.com or connect to the station in Radium.
Chatiki
The standard Messages app covers iMessages and Google Talk(Jabber), Skype for calls, HipChat for chatting within the company. The latter has not yet fully taken root, but so far the results are good - the chat allows you to chat.
Screenhero, like Skype, allows you to broadcast a video stream of what appears on the screen, but - and this is a mind-blowing feature - it gives you the ability to control remote computer. A second mouse cursor literally appears on the screen, which can drag something, click, and enter text. It’s convenient to discuss designs, prototypes, etc. at conferences. It seems that the application is not worth anything yet, it is still a beta version.
Organizer
Until mid-2015, I paid for an account on Evernote, which, in combination with Skitch, closes the issue of screenshots with comments. Tried it different solutions for the latter (Dropplr, Dropbox, Screencast, etc.), but Skitch, which saves pictures to Evernote, wins so far.
Mindix is the simplest mind mapping application. Helps in solving creative and practical problems.
Files, clouds and backups
Once upon a time, when Google Drive I was small and helpless, I bought InSync, and since then two accounts with a total of 50 (I think) gigabytes have been managed by this application. But then for personal needs and documents. Work stuff is all in Dropbox, where I collected in every possible way 31 gigabytes free space. Super happy with the service, I will most likely upgrade to a paid plan this year.
Backups are made to an external network drive and are simultaneously uploaded to the cloud using CrashPlan (link to some special offer from them). There are no restrictions more than a terabyte my data, including the photo archive, is now available for emergency download.
File managers
ForkLift and TotalFinder. After PC and many years use Norton Commander, Dos Navigator, Midnight Commander, Far, Total Commander(Super software!) the Mac had crashes. There was a catastrophic lack of a two-panel concept in the work. Unfortunately, I have to admit that there is nothing as powerful as Far or Total Commander on a Mac. Of course, ForkLift partially solves the problem, and TotalFinder relatively conveniently overrides the standard file manager, but everything is not the same, everything is not so. The search for the ideal performer for one of the leading roles continues.
Utilities
The most interesting thing, actually.
Alfred 2 is one of the most useful applications, speeding up work significantly. The input field called up from the keyboard allows you not only to launch programs, but also to search the Internet, calculate in a calculator, and much more. Fans buy paid version and set up all sorts of macros there. I haven’t reached that level yet, but I don’t exclude the possibility that someday I will support the manufacturers.
Bartender hides unnecessary icons in the status bar. The easiest way to explain this is with a picture.
CleanMyMac 2 – manages garbage cleaning. One of the most beautiful applications that I met. Works great.
CloudClip convenient application to be copied to iPhone by text could be used on a Mac, and vice versa. Synchronizes the clipboard.
PopClip is for lazy moments when you are too lazy to reach for the keyboard and want to complete several tasks in one motion: copy, paste, open search. Convenient and customizable little thing. Once you get used to it, it's hard to give up.
Reflector I haven’t found anything better for broadcasting the screen of mobile devices onto a computer monitor and, most importantly, recording everything that happens on them. In addition to Reflector, the xScope toolkit does an excellent job of sending designs between platforms - it’s a professional tool, it can do a lot and it’s not cheap.
Used to upload photos, videos, and other media junk to services like Flickr and Facebook. Clear, convenient.
Fantastical is a calendar that understands human language. I don't like to take my hands off the keyboard, so I'm quite happy to be able to type "Meeting with Thom next Monday at 10am at 396 queen st with" and get a calendar entry ( Google Calendar, iCloud, not the point), they say, “Meeting with Thom” is scheduled for 10 am next Monday at such and such an address with the participation of , who will automatically receive an invitation on this occasion. You get used to it pretty quickly.
Flux changes the color (temperature) of the screen depending on the time of day. In the evening, when you sit in the dark with the lights on, your eyes are less strained when the colors are warmer. The application is cross-platform, as far as I remember. Not for everyone.
Frank DeLoupe allows you not only to poke anywhere on the screen to know its color, but also automatically joins Adobe Photoshop using the Remote protocol, and puts the color in the palette. Simple, cool and convenient.
Growl alternative system notifications. In my opinion, a relic of the past that I really want to delete forever and use standard means operating system. However, so far it’s both bad and so-so.
HDRTist Pro and Intensify Pro are small but powerful graphics programs help in image processing. The first one is a little outdated, the second one is nowhere near fresher. Intensify might be useful for someone who doesn't want to learn Photoshop, but would like to figure out how to take cooler photos. Good software overall.
Caffeine does what its name promises - it prevents your computer from falling asleep. Useful for presentations and when downloading backups at night.
ImageAlpha + ImageOptim and JPEGMini optimize images. The best tools I know in terms of convenience and speed. PDF Squeezer is a thing from the same opera. Nobody likes twenty megabyte presentations.
RescueTime is an old, trusted comrade. The application sits in background and monitors my actions. The ranking of occupation types is mostly automatic and partly manual. For example, writing this post is +2, very productive. But reading reddit.com or lj.ru is absolute garbage –2, very unproductive. I try to chat on Skype exclusively for business purposes, but it doesn’t always work out, which is why Skype +1 is so-so useful activity. And so on - each site, each program has its own ±1, ±2. At the end of the week you can look at the statistics. Usually, if more than 65% of the total hours in front of the computer screen were spent on something useful, the week was a success. Otherwise, there is another reason to reproach yourself for being careless.
The Archive Browser looks into the archives. This is another one weak point Mac OS X - there are no normal tools for working with archives. I remember Total Commander with nostalgic sadness, where such problems did not exist and could not exist.
The tiny Unclutter utility calls up the task buffer, a simple notepad, and allows you to temporarily dump files somewhere. You quickly get used to it, just like PopClip.
Games
Faster Than Light for some reason is a terribly addictive (for me) old school game, somewhat reminiscent of Elite. It has a very good Sci-fi spirit: stylish, atmospheric.
When the mood is low, I fire up Papers Please and take on the character of an immigration officer in a fictional totalitarian country. Cancel! Reject! Don't let me in! X-ray! Where is your certificate?! The terrible world of a pathetic bureaucrat from the inside. Unusual to say the least.
Company Apple always strives to deliver with its operating systems only the most necessary, in demand and useful programs and utilities that can compete paid analogues from third party developers. If the folder is still unknown to you Utilities(Other) from OS X, then it's time to know that it has at least 10 very useful instances.
System Monitoring (Activity Monitor)
A very useful and informative utility that allows you to monitor processor load, memory usage, energy consumption, amount of occupied disk space, as well as data transfer between processes and the network.
The range of use of the application is huge: from search to monitoring of particularly power-hungry applications, when necessary maximum time battery life systems in the field.
A nice feature is that you can monitor the system load (CPU load and history, network load and disk activity) online using an interactive icon in the dock. Just click right click mouse over the application icon, and going through the item “ Dock icon» enable parameter « Show CPU history».
Console
At first glance, it is quite a complex program that allows you to track the actions of the user and applications. By installing any programs and then removing them, they may remain on the system. background processes famously using system resources Mac. To prevent this from happening, you need to monitor such actions through the console.
Having opened it, all messages recorded by the system will be displayed, so to speak, the history of all movements of the programs. Using the console, you can see errors, the meanings of which can be easily found in Internet search engines. You will find solutions there. Use filters and search to spend less time.
Digital Color Meter
Simple but very important application for those who are in one way or another connected with graphics packages, design or web development. To determine the exact color on the display you do not need to download third party programs, but just start the colorimeter. The application also has color display settings under specific programs, for example for software package Adobe. To quickly copy a palette color, just press the keyboard shortcut ⇧Shift+ ⌘Command+ C.
Disk Utility
The OS X operating system itself tries to control and promptly remove all garbage from the system, but still preventive measures she needs. Launching Disk Utility
once a month (and no more is needed), you can easily check and correct the disk and access rights.
Screenshot (Grab)
The most best utility to take screenshots from the screen. The program has the broadest opportunities, which only paid specialized applications reach.
In order to use this tool comfortably, it is enough to remember a few useful combinations keys:
⇧Shift + ⌘Command + 3: The entire desktop screen is saved to a file;
⇧Shift + ⌘Command + 4: selected screen area to file;
⇧Shift + ⌘Command + 4 + space: program window to a file with a mask and shadow from the application.
Don't forget to use a timer for those cases when taking a screenshot is not so easy.
Keychain Access
It is a real password manager right in the OS X system. Of course, the functionality of such a solution is somewhat worse than that of the same for Mac, but the most main function- storing passwords, the program does it, and for many this is quite enough.
You can easily view all resource names, logins and passwords from accounts. Of course, access to the password is provided after entering the OS X user password.
To get quick access To Keychain, you need to check the box next to the item “ Show keychain status in menu bar».
VoiceOver Utility
In this program you can teach your Mac to talk exactly the way the user wants. Huge number settings are attached.
System Information
A utility that allows you to find out almost everything about the Mac: hardware and software specifications, serial numbers, system characteristics and much more.
By pressing the key combination in the program itself ⌘Command+ S, a detailed report about the system will be saved in XML format right on your desktop. It would be a good idea to save it somewhere in cloud storage or on a flash drive.
Thanks to the utility " System information"You can find out a fairly important indicator for owners - the number of laptop charging cycles. To do this, open the program - tab “ Hardware" - chapter " Power supply" - column " Information about the degree of serviceability" Paragraph " Number of recharge cycles» will provide the information of interest.
This important indicator is a must-see when purchasing a used laptop. Knowing the number of recharge cycles, you can find out the degree of battery wear. And replacing batteries in MacBook process not cheap.
Grapher
A standard program for plotting equations with a visual display of the results. Of course, “Grapher” will not replace an expert like Matlab, but you can build a considerable number of two- and 3D graphs maybe, and absolutely free.
File sharing via Bluetooth
A simple utility for receiving/transmitting data via Bluetooth channel. You can choose a folder to save received files, or allow other devices to view your entire Mac or specific folders.
All the programs described above can be found by going to Programs -> Utilities(or Others in OS X Yosemite).
After moving from Windows to Mac OS, I discovered how different the design is native applications these systems. The interface of many OS X programs - iTunes, Mail, iPhoto - is not only very convenient, but also inspires you to work with your computer. However third party developers offer no less functional and beautiful solutions. I bring to your attention an assortment of 13 most worthy applications for Mac, combining great design and wide functionality.
Notational Velocity is a minimalist notebook with convenient keyboard navigation. One of the most interesting interface elements is search string, which, in addition to its main function, serves as a tool for creating notes. (Just enter a title and press enter). The notes you create can be synced with SimpleNote for iPhone and iPad.
Usually, Windows users trying to copy Mac features OS X and even . This time it's the other way around - Cinch brings the Snap feature from Windows 7 to OS X. The program is located in the menu bar and allows you to resize the window by dragging it to the edges of the screen. The utility is very useful and is located in our.
F.lux does simple thing: It changes the display temperature according to the time of day (from warm at night to normal during the day). Please indicate your location (with using Google) and the application will automatically configure color temperature for your region. The utility has taken pride of place on our list.
BetterTouchTool extends the functionality of the trackpad and Magic Mouse on Mac and allows you to add new gestures, such as five-finger swipe or pinch and zoom for Magic Mouse. Compared to other programs on our list, Bettertouchtool does not have the most user-friendly interface and requires some skill. However, the program has rich functionality and allows you to assign a full range of actions for all types of swipes and clicks for the Magic Mouse and touchpad.
If you have ever accidentally pressed Caps Lock, then Threemagination's CapSee is for you. The only thing this little utility does is signal when Caps Lock is pressed. The program is free and will be useful for anyone who needs such a reminder.
Overflow is an extremely effective utility for launching applications, opening documents, and quickly accessing folders from the top. The program allows you to significantly reduce the number of applications in the Dock. You can add any Mac OS X object to the Overflow window, and the utility interface is called by a keyboard shortcut or a mouse click.
A small application for automatic file organization. The utility regularly checks unparsed files and puts them into folders according to specified rules. Installation and File setting Actions - the simplest and quick way maintaining order on your Mac. See the top 30 utilities for pumping up your Mac.
Dropbox is your own personal hard drive on the Internet from . When you drag files into a Dropbox folder on your computer, they are automatically synced with the folder on the server. If you need access to these files, you simply open any browser, iPhone, iPad or computer (Mac or Windows) with installed by the client. The service provides 2GB of storage for free, but for little money you can increase the amount of available space to 50 gigabytes or more. We looked at the secrets of Dropbox in a special section (and part).
The name of the utility consists of two words: Geek and Tool – geek tool. However, the program is quite accessible for ordinary users. GeekTool is an amazing settings panel that has limitless possibilities on customizing your desktop on Mac.
If your whole Friday evening is spent at the turntables with a microphone in your hands, then... One of the DJ programs in this article is called Traktor Pro. Traktor Pro is a powerful, reliable and creative standard in DJing. The result of ten years of development, Traktor Pro is ideal for any DJ needs. Traktor Pro offers four decks, an automatic beat grid, tempo adjustment, mixer, cover manager, and Maschine integration.
Kiwi is an unusual Twitter client for Mac. Supports HTML and CSS themes and comes with nine default examples. Several more cute themes are available on the developer's website. Kiwi allows you to filter messages, tag and highlight the content or tweet you want. The client supports image sending, URL shortening, and keyboard shortcuts. We looked at alternative Twitter clients for Mac.
iClipboard is a serious clipboard manager from the top. The program is installed as a settings panel, and the utility window with a HUD interface floats along the screen. The presentation of clips in iClipboard is clearer than that of ClipMenu. Text and pictures are displayed as previews, and when hovered over they open in full size. If you want to add text or objects from the Finder, simply drag them onto the iClipboard window.
Pixelmator is essentially a mini-Photoshop. All menus and control panels are exactly the same, with one exception - there are much fewer tools (all the standard ones are present, designed for highlighting, retouching, working with fonts and drawing, filling, etc.). Pixelmator also supports Photoshop layers in PSD files. In addition, the utility boasts advanced tools for color correction (about 15) and fifty filters for applying various graphic effects to an image. See other beautiful and useful programs for Mac.
We'd like to talk about something that every Mac owner sees almost all the time. This menubar, a conceptual analogue of the Windows system tray and a home for many informative icons and menus, both built into the system and added third party applications. Which useful utilities for the Mac OS X menubar We would advise all our readers - you will find out from today's digest.
You can find out everything you can know about the condition and well-being of your Mac using iStat menus. This is a whole collection of icons and menus for the OS X menubar, demonstrating:
- CPU and memory load
- hard drive activity
- intensity of data exchange over the network
- temperatures of the processor, disks, memory, motherboard etc.
- processor and controller voltages
- fan rotation speed
- charge and status of the battery or UPS
Add to this visual charts, fully customizable interface, additional menu widgets for the calendar and clock - and you will understand why iStat menus was the first program that came to mind for the author of this digest.
There is only one minus - iStat menus costs money, $16. But this useful utility perfectly justifies its price.
The iStat menus mentioned above can show you the time in different cities of the world, but cannot display the weather. For those who do not have an outdoor thermometer or are too lazy to go look at its readings, the Degrees utility is intended. Don't expect anything special from it, it can only do one thing: show you the current temperature and the corresponding weather icon in the menu bar. There are not enough forecasts for the coming days, but what to take from free utility? If you absolutely need a forecast, pay attention to paid applications type Temps.
Another program should have been in this place - Caffeine, but then we decided to replace it with a newer and cooler opponent. Wimoweh is a utility that manages your Mac's sleep patterns. With its help, you can not only prevent your computer from falling asleep, but also:
- choose which programs your Mac shouldn't sleep while running
- temporarily disable display sleep
- block sleep for a certain period of time
I'm glad that Wimoweh is also distributed free of charge. We recommend you try it.
Radium is an excellent radio client that works well without its own interface. Searching for and managing radio stations is carried out through a pop-up window, and the program displays information about the currently playing track directly in the menu bar. True, if this idea looks appropriate on an iMac, on MacBook Air Because of this, there may not be enough space in the menu bar :) Among other advantages, we note the built-in equalizer, customizable hotkeys and support for Last.fm scrobbling. The pleasure is not free, Radium costs $9.99 or 329 rubles.
The name of this application is very ambitious - in reality there is nothing fantastic here. On the contrary, everything is extremely pragmatic. This is the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of iCal, Outlook and Entourage in the menubar. With Fantastical you can see all upcoming events and reminders, as well as quickly create new ones. The application is truly ergonomic - the creators have thought through every detail in order to make managing your plans as efficient as possible. But whether it’s worth the $20 is up to everyone to decide for themselves, fortunately there is a free trial.
DesktopUtility provides quick access to several system settings, which are sometimes greatly lacking while actively working with a Mac - the ability to quickly enable/disable display hidden files in Finder, show the Libraries folder inside your User Folder, show or hide items on the desktop, and force the Trash to be emptied. You can assign a keyboard shortcut for each operation. Taking money for the above features would be blasphemy, so the utility is free.
It’s not for nothing that this utility closes our digest. Bartender will be useful for those who already have too much in their menu bar useful utilities, which you don’t want to say goodbye to, but which take up more than half the screen. Unlike Windows, where the contents of the system tray can be hidden, OS X still does not provide such an option. We don’t know whether it will appear, but while it is not there, Bartender developers will continue to receive revenue. In our opinion, $15 for software that does not add information to the menu bar, but hides it, is a bit much. But you have the opportunity to make sure whether you need Bartender during the trial month. .
We named those programs that we consider useful, and it is likely that our choice did not coincide with your preferences. Who lives in your menu bar? What menu bar apps would you recommend to all our readers? We are waiting for your opinions.
