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The best Mac applications I used in 2010
As the end of 2010 approaches, I started looking back over the Mac applications that I used this year to see which ones stood out. They weren't necessarily released this year (although many were), but they were apps that helped me get stuff done in 2010. I didn't try to come up with some specific number or any other predefined criteria, I just took a good hard look at my Applications folder, menu bar and System Preferences. They are presented in no particular order. Dropbox reached 1.0 in 2010, and the milestone release included some significant Mac-specific features such as Extended Attribute Sync. This was also the first year that I exceeded the free space Dropbox provides, and paid for a 50 GB account. Thanks to the referral program, educational user referral bonus, and extra free space programs that Dropbox offers, I have 83.4 GB of space in my "50 GB" account. TUAW folks have written extensively about our love of Dropbox, but if you've somehow missed it: Dropbox is a folder on your computer which syncs (and therefore is "backed up" and version-managed) online, and which you can then sync to all of your other Mac, Windows, or Linux computers. (Want to know more? Check out the official Dropbox tour.) Thanks to the API which the company announced back in May, many iOS developers have added Dropbox syncing as well, making 2010 a pretty significant year for Dropbox and its users. (Cost: 2 GB/free; $9.99/month or $99.00/year for 50 GB; or $19.99/month or $199.00/year for 100 GB.) Read on for the rest of 2010's best Mac apps...
Drag and drop your windows into tidiness with Cinch
I'd never heard of Cinch, just mentioned over at Cult of Mac, but it's such a great idea I thought I'd check into it. Basically, Cinch does what all great Mac software does: it works in the background and lets you do what you want to do, skipping completely all the usual nonsense you usually have to do in between. Basically, it's a window helper -- all you have to do is drag any window on your desktop to a side of the screen, and it'll put the window maximized in that space. Drag it to the top, and it'll maximize it across the screen. When you're done, drag the window away, and it returns to its original size. There's a great screencast on the Irradiated Software website that shows some of the possibilities. One idea that really appeals to me is dragging two Finder windows quickly to either side of the screen to both browse two folders at the same time, and then pass files back and forth between them. Cinch reminds me of this old chat by Quicksilver creator Nicholas Jitkoff, where he talked about software that didn't worry about what you wanted to do and just let you do. Cinch serves its purpose in that same way. It's available over on the website for US$7.
"Cinch" your desktop windows into place
Cinch is a new Mac utility from Irradiated Software. It helps keep your desktop windows organized by snapping them into predefined sizes and locations when you hold them near an edge of your screen. While its toolset is limited in comparison to its big sister, the keyboard-based SizeUp (which we covered a while back), Cinch is designed as a quick-and-easy window organization tool for users who prefer to stick with their mouse for such things. When you run Cinch, it shows up in your menubar. When you drag any window to a top, left or right edge of the screen, it "snaps" (or cinches) to take up the full width or height of the screen: top half stretched horizontally if dragged to the top, and a vertical half for left or right. It's handy, and it's easy to get so used to it that you forget it isn't built into the operating system. Cinch works with multi-monitor setups, and there's no configuration necessary. Just run it and start dragging windows where you need them. Cinch is available for download as a free trial, and a license can be had for $7US.
