[a] paper tiger / Top Ten (Free) Mac Apps and Add-Ons

Top Ten (Free) Mac Apps and Add-Ons

1.    Desktoptopia
Where to get:  Desktoptopia
Why it rocks:  Have your background continually change…but with high resolution pictures that are mind blowing. Once installed, it lives in the right-upper hand menu bar. Make sure to select Start at login and Show Desktoptopia in menu bar in the preferences. Once enabled you can rate or forever reject backgrounds from your computer. The best part? It randomly selects images, and the more you rate or reject a certain style…the more the program learns and caters to your taste.
2.   Last.fm Scrobbler
Where to get:  Last.fm
Why it rocks:  Pops up with wiki style info for artist currently playing in iTunes. Also allows you to export data in a variety of ways (Wigdet, Yahoo! Pipes, etc.) to virtually any type of site (blog, MySpace, Facebook). Nifty way of sharing and discovering what others are listening to.
3.     iPhoto2Gmail
Where to get:  iPhoto2Gmail
Why it rocks:  Instantly resize and email photos right from iPhoto using your Gmail account. Makes it a breeze to batch send photos on the fly.
4.    Alarm Clock 2
Where to get:  RobbieHanson.com
Why it rocks:  It turns your Mac into an alarm clock. Easily installs in upper-right menu bar, control from there. Wake up with iTunes tracks, specify snooze time, etc. Also adds time and stopwatch capabilities. My favorite feature: snooze the alarm clock with the Apple remote…yeah!
5.     MoodBlast
Where to get:  CircleSix Design
Why it rocks:  Moodblast allows a user to update all their social networking status (Facebook, Twitter, iChat, etc) right from the desktop. It installs in the upper-right task bar within OS X. Special Tip: Easily blast out iTunes track info by prepending status update with: !itunes. Download and check out other cool features.
6.     jDarkRoom
Where to get:  jDarkRoom Website
Why it rocks:  If you’re anything like me, the computer/internet can bring out the adult ADD really quick. This customizable and simple word processor blacks out the screen so you are not so distracted when trying to type out that important document. jDarkRoom allows the user to change the background and text color.
7.     iConcertCal
Where to get: iConcertCal Website
Why it rocks:  Hate trolling the internet and pouring over street papers for shows? Make your iTunes work for your concert needs. iConcertCal pulls shows based on zip code and artists within your iTunes. There is also a feature to send show date and info to iCal. Really slick. Once installed:
1. Select View -> Visualizer -> iConcertCal
2. Select View -> Turn On Visualizer to see your personalized calendar
3. ⌘T can be used to switch between iTunes and the calendar
8.   Tooble
Where to get: Tooble Website
Why it rocks:  Ever see a video in YouTube that you want to put on your iPod? Sync or send video to your iPod or AppleTV easily and instantly. This app not only grabs the video, but it also re-encodes it for iTunes. From there automatically placing it into your iTunes movies section.
9. iChax
Where to get: Chax Website
Why it rocks:  Adds useful features to iChat. One of my favs is “Always On Top,” install, and look for it under Window in iChat. Another helpful feature is that it adds a band-aid within iChat’s drop down menu, next to the features that are iChax specific…helping highlight what’s available.
10.   More Photobooth Plug-ins.
Where to get: Apple Downloads
Why it rocks: Adds more fun effects to Photobooth and iChat. Take more candid and crazy photos with even more of a muse.
permalink iChat iCal iPhoto Alarm Clock 2 Tooble Desktoptopia freeware Moodblast iPhoto2Gmail Last.fm jDarkRoom iConcertCal iTunes YouTube AppleTV iPod iChat iChax Photobooth