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These are a few of my favorite things - 2013 Edition
As 2013 comes to an end, here are a list of my favorite Mac apps that I used over the past year. Now there are a few important things to remember: you'll notice that many of these are not "new" apps because, well, I don't care when the apps were made nearly as much as I care if they're good and I find them useful. Instead, this is a list of the apps that I used or enjoyed the most in 2013, and expect to keep using in the future. All prices listed are in US Dollars, rounded off to the nearest whole dollar (because we all know that 99¢ is just a marketing way of saying $1, right?). If there is no price listed, then the app/utility is free, although most gratefully accept donations. Favorite New App of 2013 Bartender ($15) is the app I never knew I wanted until it existed, and now I never want to use a Mac without it installed. Bartender lets you hide apps on your menu bar, as well as organize the ones you want to remain visible. You can even use it to hide built-in OS X menu bar icons such as Notification Center and Spotlight. I even use Bartender on my Dell UltraSharp 29" Ultrawide monitor which is essentially one monitor as wide as two monitors. Favorite App of 2013 Keyboard Maestro ($36) is my favorite "non-new" app of 2013. Version 6 came out in 2013 and the app is continually improved. The more I learn about Keyboard Maestro, the more I'm impressed with it. I have written about it a lot and posted several macros on Github. I've even done some one-on-one consulting and training. Even after all that, I'm still learning new tricks that it can do. (Peter Lewis, Keyboard Maestro's developer, commented that he's still impressed to see what users come up with to do with his own app!) Keyboard Maestro's cost may seem high in a world where software is often reduced to "fart-app pricing" but it does the work of several apps. It can launch applications, move and click the mouse, execute scripts, insert (static or dynamic/variable) text, manipulate windows, control menus, create/move/copy/rename/delete/trash files, control iTunes, capture images, control iTunes, send notifications, and more. Keyboard Maestro comes with a 30-day trial which is enough time to overcome the initial learning curve and start making it work for you. The developer is very responsive to questions and support requests, and there many others using Keyboard Maestro too, so you're likely to find more tips in the year ahead if you read their sites too. More Automation on the Mac Keyboard Maestro is only the tip of the automation iceberg. TextExpander ($35) and Hazel ($28) both continued to be essential tools in 2013. In case you're not familiar with them: TextExpander inserts text (or images, or runs scripts) on demand when you type a shortcut, and Hazel automatically responds to changes in files and folders. TextExpander is great if you find yourself needing to re-type the same thing over and over. I use it to insert frequently referred-to links, create templates for shell scripts or MultiMarkdown documents, and mail signatures. You can even "nest" snippets within other snippets. A Mac without TextExpander feels broken. Hazel can do so many things I don't know where to start, but here's one set of recipes I use more than any other. All of these are actions taken on files added to my ~/Downloads/ folder: If there is a new archived file (.zip, .tar.gz, etc) then unarchive it and store the original file in ~/Downloads/Archives/ (in case I want to copy it to another Mac). If a new .app file is found, move it to /Applications/ and replace any older version If a new text file is found (.txt, .md, .mmd, etc) is found, move it to ~/Dropbox/txt/ If another kind of document (.pdf, .docx, etc) is found, move it to ~/Dropbox/Documents/ If an image is found, move it to ~/Dropbox/Photos/ (where another Hazel rule then sorts them by date) There are lots of other possibilities, those are just a few to get you started. Hazel is one of those tools that works in the background doing tedious things so you don't have to. It will even keep your Trash from getting taking up space with old files or oversized files. Read more at TUAW All Hazel articles All TextExpander articles Most Taken-For-Granted App I Couldn't Live Without Dropbox. Good lord, I don't even want to think about using a Mac without Dropbox. Unless you have been literally living in a cave, you must have heard about Dropbox by now, right? If so, here's a summary: it's a magic folder which syncs to all of your computers (Mac, Windows, even Linux) which you can access on your iOS devices, and even on their website (unlike iCloud documents). It is supported by tons of iOS devices which use it for document sharing and more. You get 2 GB for free, and up to 500 GB for $500/year. All accounts come with 30 days of versioning so you can go back to previous versions of documents. Other Dropbox articles to check out: Get an extra 1 GB of Dropbox storage by syncing it to Mailbox Keep Dropbox.app up-to-date when the magic fails Finding Dropbox 'conflicted copy' files automatically All Dropbox articles on TUAW This Is Getting Really Long, I'm Going to Have to Summarize a Few of These: Sorry for the bulleted list. These are great apps, but they are either better-known or more easily explained (I hope!). This was the year I switched to Alfred ($0 for most features, $28 for "Powerpack" extensions, or a little over $50 for lifetime updates) from LaunchBar ($35). LaunchBar is still a great app, I just wanted to be able to use some of the workflow features in Alfred. Alfred, LaunchBar, and Keyboard Maestro all have clipboard functionality built-in, but if you want an app just for saving multiple clipboards, get Flycut. Even has Dropbox sync. MailMate ($50) definitely deserves its own review, and I suspect I'll be using it even more in 2014, but 2013 saw me start to move away from Gmail, especially Gmail.com which was redesigned but did not get better. If you use email, you owe it to yourself to checkout MailMate. OmniDiskSweeper ($0) remains my go-to app for finding out what is using all of my hard drive space. I'm still using version 1 of Skitch ($0) whenever I need to quickly take a screenshot then annotate and/or share it. Skitch version 2 has gotten better since its initial atrocious release but "saving" a Skitch in version 2 goes to Evernote instead of just staying locally, and I have no desire, need, or interest in saving Skitch to Evernote. Soulver ($12) is the first 'calculator' that I have really enjoyed using. I've never been great at math, I can't do a lot of calculations in my head. Using a regular calculator always left me frustrated, and half the time I wasn't sure that I had done the calculations properly. With Soulver, I understand regular real-life math a lot better than I ever have. That isn't to say that it doesn't have a lot of powerful options which are useful to people who are good at math. It does. But if you've never struggled with math, you can't understand what it means to have something like this. The word "empowering" has been overused to the extreme, but here it fits, at least for me. I bought the separate iPad and iPhone versions without hesitation or complaint, but I am glad to see that Soulver for iOS is now a universal app (currently on sale for $2). Need to turn a bunch of CDs or audio files into an audiobook? Audiobook Builder ($5). It will not only 'chapterize' it for you, it will also let you easily add cover art using any image file. Want to make sure your Mac doesn't turn itself off for a certain amount of time? Try Caffeine. GIF Brewery ($5) easily takes a video clip and turns it into a GIF. Use your Mac's keyboard for any iOS device (or any other Bluetooth capable device, including another Mac) using Type2Phone ($5). Growl ($4) still does a few tricks that OS X's notifications don't. Use PCKeyboardHack and KeyRemap4MacBook to make a hyper key. If you want to edit, create, or learn about launchd, get LaunchControl ($10, free unlimited demo). Hugely useful. Need to cut up an audio file, maybe to make an iPhone ringtone, or maybe just to trim it for some other reason? Fission - Fast & Lossless Audio Editing. I still haven't learned git but thanks to GitHub for Mac I've been able to fake my way along. If you use a calendar, get Fantastical ($10) for quick "natural language" entry menu bar access, and get BusyCal ($50, 30-day trial) for a better Mac calendar. Print from iOS to your Mac with Printopia ($20). You can save the file as a PDFs (or JPG or PNG if that's what the file was originally), or send them to any printer connected to your Mac. Default Folder X ($35, 30-day trial) lets you quickly jump to favorite folders, or assign specific folders as the 'default' for certain apps. This is another one of those tools that: a) feels like it should be built-in to OS X, b) when I use a Mac without this installed, it feels broken. Trying to monitor your Mac's bandwidth usage and prevent apps from covertly connecting to the Internet? Little Snitch ($35) is the tattletale little brother than those apps wish had never been born. SlimBatteryMonitor is a better battery monitor that OS X's own; MagiCal lets you easily create a menu bar clock that shows the time and/or date exactly as you want it; FreeSpace Tab shows available hard drive space in the menu bar; and I've stopped using all three in favor of iStat Menus ($16, 14-day trial) which also knocked OS X's Activity Monitor off my Dock. Of course I use VLC for most of my video-watching, including Blu-Ray discs thanks to MakeMKV ($0 for some features, $50 for Blu-Ray features, although they are free during beta see here for more info which is also what I use for ripping Blu-Ray and DVDs, almost exclusively via Batch Rip Actions for Automator which are capital-A Awesome if you are ripping lots of DVD/Blu-Ray discs. When I'm done I clean everything up using Name Mangler to get the filenames right and then I can watch my collection in the Plex Media Server. Last but not least I use Mountain ($2) to mount and unmount drives from the menu bar, Flashmount (see previous coverage) to quickly mount DMGs. and DiskWarrior ($100) to check and repair my disks. (By the way, DiskWarrior might be the most expensive piece of software on this list, but it's worth every penny. Get it to help fix little problems before they become big problems.) Looking Ahead Wow. That's a lot of great software. Here are a few apps that I'm keeping an eye on because I suspect they will be on next year's list: Shortcat (currently $16 during beta, planned $24 after): "Keep your hands on the keyboard and boost your productivity! Shortcat is a keyboard tool for Mac OS X that lets you "click" buttons and control your apps with a few keystrokes. Think of it as Spotlight for the user interface." let.ter ($4): "The tiny Markdown powered app just for writing emails." I've been using a send-only email app for 2.5 years now, but I like what I see so far in Letter. Recently released and still lacking some essential features such as multiple account support (which is planned for the nearish future), but I bet this eventually replaces what I've been using. Vellum is the new app that I'm most excited about. Anyone who has tried to make ebooks knows that it's a pain because each device has its own... "quirks." Serenity Caldwell likens making ebooks today to making websites in the late '90s when web standards didn't really exist or weren't implemented by the companies that made web browsers. Vellum bills itself as the tool to help you overcome the madness by letting you import a .docx file and export properly formatted books for iBooks, Kindle, and Nook. This is the next app on my "to test" list and I can't wait.
Best Mac apps of 2013: Talkcast recap
On this Sunday's TUAW Talkcast, several Mac pundits picked out their favorite Mac apps of 2013. Our own Michael Rose convened the panel, including GeekBeat TV host Benjamin Roethig; TUAW TV Live host Shawn "Doc Rock" Boyd (who hates snow); longtime TUAW contributor, app developer and podcaster Brett Terpstra; and the managing editor of The Mac Observer, Jeff Gamet. The show will be available on iTunes momentarily (and streamable from Talkshoe), but in case you want to speed up your app sampling, we've recapped the app list here. To best highlight these apps, I will list them alphabetically with links and relevant quips contributed by the host and guests. All of these apps are compatible with OS X 10.8 and 10.9, and reasonably priced. Some of them work with older systems, also. Also, be sure to read Brett's own list of his favorite apps of 2013, over at brettterpstra.com. Best Mac Apps of 2013 1Password 4 from AgileBits Inc. (On numerous people's lists.) Jeff called it "magically awesome." Brett notes that it stores your passwords and personal information (including credit card numbers, software license keys and more) and "makes storing and generating [the items] just simple." The popup that used to only work in browsers now works anywhere on your Mac; that way, you don't have to open the main 1Password app nearly as often as before. AirServer 5 from App Dynamic. An AirPlay receiver for Mac and PC. Can mirror your display from iOS devices. "Great for demoing iOS apps, and a more professional feature set than Reflector" -- Mike Rose. Alfred v2 from Running With Crayons. A free, hotkey-based launch controller that also can initiate a quick web search and offers a number of other capabilities (offered by Doc Rock; he referred to it as one of his household servants). This one received a TUAW Best of 2011 for Mac Utility apps. Adobe Edge Code and Edge Inspect Combo. Doc Rock uses these programs with his Creative Cloud subscription. Edge Code is a HTML and CSS editing tool. Edge Inspect is an inline editor of code, which while working on a line, the meta key will open up accompanying files in a modal box, so they can be adjusted without leaving your main HTML file. "It's amazing," according to Doc. Bartender from Surtees Studios Ltd. (Offered up by Brett Terpstra and Jeff Gamet.) "Bartender is a lifesaver." It lets you control which menu items show up on your menu bar, and lets you rearrange them at will. Bartender was also written up on TUAW as a Friday Favorite while it was still in beta. BeamApp from BeamApp UG. Brett noted this Mac and iOS tool for quickly sending phone numbers, songs, maps and more between your devices and your Mac. Mike pointed out DeskConnect, which has some of the same functionality but also allows you to send files (PDFs, presentations, Word docs) between the Mac and your iOS device in a jiffy. BetterTouchTool by Andreas Hegenberg. A free utility for OS X 10.7 and above that lets you configure gestures for your mouse and trackpad. Brett says he uses two Magic Trackpads and can set them up to do just what he wants. CheatSheet from Media Atleier. This free utility uses the command key to show you all available shortcuts for an app. Not available in the Mac App Store because it cannot be sandboxed. See Media Atelier's blog for the explanation. Clarify 1.1.3 from Blue Mango Learning Systems. A great tool for quick and easy documentation. You can capture an image, edit it and add text, all on one place. You can read about Clarify's first iteration in TUAW's Daily Mac App feature from 2011. Clef and Waltz. Mike Rose pointed out this new take on password and authentication management; just point your iPhone at an animated barcode patch and it lets you into the target site, removing your need to remember passwords. Although relatively few sites work with Clef, the new, independently developed Chrome plugin Waltz expands it to work with Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox and more. Clyppan by Ole Morten Halvorsen. It stores all your clipboard clippings, letting you recall them with a quick keystroke. Not new, but very useful. Coffitivity from coffitivity.com. Both Jeff and Mike called out this menubar tool. A certain amount of ambient noise can help stimulate creativity, so folks who work in silence may benefit from running Coffitivity, which adds background and ambient noise from a coffee shop. Downie by Charlie Monroe. Web video and YouTube downloader "that actually works." Downie actually suports 120 different sites, and Mike noted that it's replaced older tools like Grappler and EVOM for him. Everpix. This made the list despite the photo storage service closing shop earlier this year. "It was a fantastic app while it lasted." You can read the story of Everpix's closure from Megan Lavey-Heaton on TUAW. Evernote from Evernote Corporation. It's a note taking app that can do many things and Michael notes that it "keeps getting more useful." Jeff Gamet also notes that the Jot Script Evernote Edition (US $75) is more like writing with a real pen as opposed to a stylus. It's got a hard tip and clicks on the iPad, which is his only complaint. Fantastical 2 from Flexibits Inc. This is billed as "calendars and reminders done right." Jeff notes that additional plain text entry options, multi time zone and dictation support have been added. You can read TUAW's review from Victor Agreda to learn more. Final Cut Pro X from Apple. Listener John Brown suggested Apple's flagship 64-bit video editing application. John noted they've made it quite simple for most people to use and refers to it as "remarkable." Doc Rock also notes that it is "a major step forward" and "a great application." This week's 10.1 update added optimizations for Apple's new Mac Pro desktop. Hazel from Noodlesoft. Doc says this pairs up with Alfred as his "domestic help" and notes that "it does a really good job of keeping icons on desktop organized," plus it can move files around based on a variety of file attributes that you set. MailMate from Feron. An IMAP email client with an impressive array of features. "It does everything I need it to," says Brett, who describes it as "the TextMate of email." Marked 2.2 from Brett Terpstra. We couldn't let the show go by without a hat tip to Brett's own Markdown preview tool, very much improved in the 2.x version. MindNode Pro from Ideas On Canvas Ltd. Both Mike and Brett called out this Mac and iOS mindmapping tool for its speed, easy interface and good-looking output. Mouseposé 3.2.4 from Boinx Software Ltd. Updated in December, it's a useful mouse pointer highlighting tool for demos and presentations. "A lot of my colleagues use tools like OmniDazzle or Zoomit for remote presentations," says Mike, "and whenever I pull out Mouseposé everyone on the call goes 'oooh, ahhh.'" OmniPresence from The Omni Group. For users of OmniGroup's apps. It's a free service and menu bar item that offers file syncing between devices. "It makes all of the changes between your files appear everywhere," says Jeff, but without the limitations and aggravations of iCloud. PollEv Presenter app from Poll Everywhere. SMS-based polling service that works with PowerPoint or Keynote to show live polls in real time. Mike calls it one of his go-to tools. Popclip from Pilotmoon Software. (Offered by Doc Rock and Brett Terpstra.) A $2 app that shows up when you select text with your mouse or trackpad -- simulating the iOS text selection experience.. ReadKit from Webin. RSS reader; Brett says it's "simplistic and powerful, and it supports every RSS system you can think of, and makes my life easy." RocketDocs. This single-session browser tool is specific to the Google Drive/Google Apps productivity tools. Mike says it's often easier than setting up Chrome for Docs use, and keeps your editing sessions away from general browsing. Shush from Mizage. A cough button for your Mac, so that you can mute yucky noises when recording audio. Works in FaceTime, iChat, Skype, Podcast Capture and more. Both Mike and Brett enthusiastically recommend it -- Mike even used it during the show, and blocked every snuffle and cough! We welcome your suggestions for the best Mac apps of 2013 -- let us know in the comments or on Facebook.
