4 ms·

A decent starter list, but definitely not complete (for me at least). I'd add the following * TotalFinder (makes the OS X finder not terrible anymore, tabs, et

A decent starter list, but definitely not complete (for me at least). I'd add the following * TotalFinder (makes the OS X finder not terrible anymore, tabs, etc) * HandsOff/LittleSnitch (oh, you're just using the built-in firewall? that's cute.) * Transmit (everything you could ever want in an FTP app) * CommandQ (W and Q are way too close together) * Mou (free alternative to Byword) * Evernote (note-taking that syncs absolutely everywhere) * Alfred (modern day Quicksilver) * Growl (notify me of all the things!) * AppCleaner (good for finding the random left-behind files) * ClipMenu (clipboard history and saved text snippets all in one) * f.lux (less eyestrain for marathon coding sessions) * GasMask (easy hosts file changing) * GrabBox (automatically saves screenshots to my DropBox public folder and copies the URL to my clipboard? YES PLEASE. replaces the need for CloudApp, etc.) * Sublime Text 2 (cross-platform and modern TextMate/BBEdit/Vim all rolled into one amazing editor) * SourceTree (good and free Git/hg front-end) * Witch (finally a better Cmd-Tab) * Moom (window tiling and profiles galore) * Hyperdock (dock previews and drag-to-edge window resizing) * Prey (stolen goods tracking) * Textual (IRC) * Adium (chats) In terms of my actual command-line environment: * iTerm2 * Homebrew * (way too many individual commands to list here) Also Chrome/FF extensions can get you some really great paid native app replacements, like RestConsole (no more need for Http Clients).

smspence 15y ago
I love TotalFinder, and also can't live without flux. I don't really understand the excitement over Alfred/Quicksilver though... what does it do that spotlight can't? Just activate spotlight by pressing Command+Space, and type in whatever you want to do (you can launch a program, do a calculation, look up a word, whatever).
- Pewpewarrows 15y ago
  It's really just Spotlight on crack. Once you've done your initial search and the file/app/whatever is highlighted, you can then proceed to instantly perform actions or scripts on it. It's basically just a really nice macro feature baked into Spotlight with a new UI.
  - JackWebbHeller 15y ago
    Alfred goes a step further with a built-in keyboard-based file browser, web/custom/fallback searches, email, iTunes, clipboard, Terminal, and System integration, and best of all extensions. I can't imagine using OS X without it.
- Groxx 15y ago
  For myself: With Alfred and a well-tuned Quicksilver, I can: * hotkey it open * punch in the minimum to identify the application I want (usually 1 or 2 keys, 3 for rarely-used ones) * hit enter and be done with it in well below 1/2 of a second. With Spotlight, I can: * hotkey it open * punch in the minimum to identify the application (over 2x more, almost all the time) * wait for it to update * it shows the wrong application / the last movie I played and finally displays the 3rd+ letters I typed * wait for it to update again * double-checking that it's the right application (it frequently isn't) * hit enter * hope it doesn't update *again*, causing me to launch the wrong application the whole process typically taking >2 seconds nearly all the time, sometimes 5+ if it's a less-used application. Quicksilver in particular has a nice 'open with...' method which gives you a couple keystrokes to pick the file, 'ow<tab>' to open with, and a couple keystrokes to open it in the application of choice, all generally in less than a second. Alfred might have something similar in the PowerPack (paid), but I haven't purchased it.
  - Derbasti 15y ago
    Unless of course you have an SSD. With an SSD, Spotlight is easily fast enough to work well. To start XCode, I hit CMD-space, xc, enter, with a split-second pause before the enter. That is enough for Spotlight to catch up to my typing and I am about as fast as Alfred or Quicksilver for opening apps.
  - notJim 15y ago
    Strange, I've never found Spotlight to be that slow or frustrating. I just tried it again to be sure I wasn't kidding myself, and find that I type about 3 keys, and then there's the app I want by the time I'm finished pressing the 3rd key.
    - Groxx 15y ago
      It's speedy for the first few months, but once I build up a few dozen gigabytes of documents it starts to slow to an absolute crawl. Useful when searching for documents, absolutely, and faster than alternatives. But worthless for applications, which I open far more often than the average document (from a launcher, that is). But that might be because my .Spotlight folder is > 1 gigabyte. And that's smaller than it has been in the past - my previous hard drive had it larger than 2 gb if I remember correctly, because I had tweaked it to index my source code. On my wife's computer it's only about 400 meg, and it finds applications in about a second (still much slower than Alfred or Quicksilver).
- Timothee 15y ago
  To add to Pewpewarrows' comment, I'll give you a couple of examples of things I do with QuickSilver. I can never remember the IP address of my work's VPN, so I created a text file on my desktop with the IP as its name. Whenever I need it, I do: Ctrl+Space, ~/Desktop/[IP] to select the file, '.' to treat the filename as text, tab to go to the action part of QuickSilver, start typing "clipboard" and when "Copy to clipboard" shows up, I press enter. It can sound like a lot of steps but it gives me the IP address in my clipboard without reaching for the mouse, without having to open a file or an app. I also use it for the integration with the address book. I type the name of the contact, select a phone number, tab to the action part and type "skype" to start calling with Skype. Or I would copy it to the clipboard to put in Google Maps… If you've never used QuickSilver, that might sound too complicated for not much benefits, but it's something you learn over time. And it's not perfect either: I often time use Spotlight as well. (mostly for dictionary and calculator, though I'm sure QuickSilver can do it too :))
  - r00fus 15y ago
    > I can never remember the IP address of my work's VPN, so I created a text file on my desktop with the IP as its name. Whenever I need it, I do: Ctrl+Space, ~/Desktop/[IP] to select the file, '.' to treat the filename as text, tab to go to the action part of QuickSilver, start typing "clipboard" and when "Copy to clipboard" shows up, I press enter. It can sound like a lot of steps but it gives me the IP address in my clipboard without reaching for the mouse, without having to open a file or an app. If you don't mind a bit of drag and drop, a text clipping [1] may be even faster... simply drag the IP address text to the desktop, then drag it back when you want to pull it back in... text clippings make your desktop into a super-clipboard (only downside is the resulting files don't sync over dropbox) Though I'm mostly-keyboard, I use the mouse where it makes sense, and OSX's drag and drop is a huge time-saver. [1] http://macstarter.com/2011/01/21/text-clipping/ http://macstarter.com/2011/01/21/text-clipping/
    - pyre 15y ago
      Quicksilver is one of those things like learning Vim or Emacs (though less complex), where the not-so-gentle learning curve gives way to a ton of functionality at your fingertips.
- camlinke 15y ago
  I love being able to assign hot keys to apps in Alfred. I have 4-5 apps that I use 99% of the time and now I have hot keys to easily bring them up and jump between them.
quinndupont 15y ago
I used to use many of these, but I found some of the demons/replacements problematic for resource consumption (Total Finder died so many times...)
ludwigvan 15y ago
Is there a downside to using the default firewall, if I don't want to do things like bandwidth-capping apps?
- ldar15 15y ago
  I sat at one BarCamp next to a security consultant and watched all the wireshark traffic between my Mac and everyone else. Firewall was on and locked down. My Mac responded (i.e. received, processed, replied) to SMB queries for example. Its a joke. Now I use ipfw directly and my Mac is a black hole.
- pyre 15y ago
  I'm thinking that by 'built-in firewall' he/she means the built-in firewall GUI interface. I'd be interested to know what LittleSnitch is doing if it isn't hooking into ipfw.
  - stock_toaster 15y ago
    Maybe I am remembering incorrectly, but I thought Apple switched to PF in Lion.
namidark 15y ago
You forgot to add referral links to the itunes store in all these! -.-
mgutz 15y ago
* VirtualBox or VMware

smspence 15y ago

I love TotalFinder, and also can't live without flux. I don't really understand the excitement over Alfred/Quicksilver though... what does it do that spotlight can't? Just activate spotlight by pressing Command+Space, and type in whatever you want to do (you can launch a program, do a calculation, look up a word, whatever).

Pewpewarrows 15y ago
It's really just Spotlight on crack. Once you've done your initial search and the file/app/whatever is highlighted, you can then proceed to instantly perform actions or scripts on it. It's basically just a really nice macro feature baked into Spotlight with a new UI.
- JackWebbHeller 15y ago
  Alfred goes a step further with a built-in keyboard-based file browser, web/custom/fallback searches, email, iTunes, clipboard, Terminal, and System integration, and best of all extensions. I can't imagine using OS X without it.
Groxx 15y ago
For myself: With Alfred and a well-tuned Quicksilver, I can: * hotkey it open * punch in the minimum to identify the application I want (usually 1 or 2 keys, 3 for rarely-used ones) * hit enter and be done with it in well below 1/2 of a second. With Spotlight, I can: * hotkey it open * punch in the minimum to identify the application (over 2x more, almost all the time) * wait for it to update * it shows the wrong application / the last movie I played and finally displays the 3rd+ letters I typed * wait for it to update again * double-checking that it's the right application (it frequently isn't) * hit enter * hope it doesn't update *again*, causing me to launch the wrong application the whole process typically taking >2 seconds nearly all the time, sometimes 5+ if it's a less-used application. Quicksilver in particular has a nice 'open with...' method which gives you a couple keystrokes to pick the file, 'ow<tab>' to open with, and a couple keystrokes to open it in the application of choice, all generally in less than a second. Alfred might have something similar in the PowerPack (paid), but I haven't purchased it.
- Derbasti 15y ago
  Unless of course you have an SSD. With an SSD, Spotlight is easily fast enough to work well. To start XCode, I hit CMD-space, xc, enter, with a split-second pause before the enter. That is enough for Spotlight to catch up to my typing and I am about as fast as Alfred or Quicksilver for opening apps.
- notJim 15y ago
  Strange, I've never found Spotlight to be that slow or frustrating. I just tried it again to be sure I wasn't kidding myself, and find that I type about 3 keys, and then there's the app I want by the time I'm finished pressing the 3rd key.
  - Groxx 15y ago
    It's speedy for the first few months, but once I build up a few dozen gigabytes of documents it starts to slow to an absolute crawl. Useful when searching for documents, absolutely, and faster than alternatives. But worthless for applications, which I open far more often than the average document (from a launcher, that is). But that might be because my .Spotlight folder is > 1 gigabyte. And that's smaller than it has been in the past - my previous hard drive had it larger than 2 gb if I remember correctly, because I had tweaked it to index my source code. On my wife's computer it's only about 400 meg, and it finds applications in about a second (still much slower than Alfred or Quicksilver).
Timothee 15y ago
To add to Pewpewarrows' comment, I'll give you a couple of examples of things I do with QuickSilver. I can never remember the IP address of my work's VPN, so I created a text file on my desktop with the IP as its name. Whenever I need it, I do: Ctrl+Space, ~/Desktop/[IP] to select the file, '.' to treat the filename as text, tab to go to the action part of QuickSilver, start typing "clipboard" and when "Copy to clipboard" shows up, I press enter. It can sound like a lot of steps but it gives me the IP address in my clipboard without reaching for the mouse, without having to open a file or an app. I also use it for the integration with the address book. I type the name of the contact, select a phone number, tab to the action part and type "skype" to start calling with Skype. Or I would copy it to the clipboard to put in Google Maps… If you've never used QuickSilver, that might sound too complicated for not much benefits, but it's something you learn over time. And it's not perfect either: I often time use Spotlight as well. (mostly for dictionary and calculator, though I'm sure QuickSilver can do it too :))
- r00fus 15y ago
  > I can never remember the IP address of my work's VPN, so I created a text file on my desktop with the IP as its name. Whenever I need it, I do: Ctrl+Space, ~/Desktop/[IP] to select the file, '.' to treat the filename as text, tab to go to the action part of QuickSilver, start typing "clipboard" and when "Copy to clipboard" shows up, I press enter. It can sound like a lot of steps but it gives me the IP address in my clipboard without reaching for the mouse, without having to open a file or an app. If you don't mind a bit of drag and drop, a text clipping [1] may be even faster... simply drag the IP address text to the desktop, then drag it back when you want to pull it back in... text clippings make your desktop into a super-clipboard (only downside is the resulting files don't sync over dropbox) Though I'm mostly-keyboard, I use the mouse where it makes sense, and OSX's drag and drop is a huge time-saver. [1] http://macstarter.com/2011/01/21/text-clipping/ http://macstarter.com/2011/01/21/text-clipping/
  - pyre 15y ago
    Quicksilver is one of those things like learning Vim or Emacs (though less complex), where the not-so-gentle learning curve gives way to a ton of functionality at your fingertips.
camlinke 15y ago
I love being able to assign hot keys to apps in Alfred. I have 4-5 apps that I use 99% of the time and now I have hot keys to easily bring them up and jump between them.

quinndupont 15y ago

I used to use many of these, but I found some of the demons/replacements problematic for resource consumption (Total Finder died so many times...)

ludwigvan 15y ago

Is there a downside to using the default firewall, if I don't want to do things like bandwidth-capping apps?

ldar15 15y ago
I sat at one BarCamp next to a security consultant and watched all the wireshark traffic between my Mac and everyone else. Firewall was on and locked down. My Mac responded (i.e. received, processed, replied) to SMB queries for example. Its a joke. Now I use ipfw directly and my Mac is a black hole.
pyre 15y ago
I'm thinking that by 'built-in firewall' he/she means the built-in firewall GUI interface. I'd be interested to know what LittleSnitch is doing if it isn't hooking into ipfw.
- stock_toaster 15y ago
  Maybe I am remembering incorrectly, but I thought Apple switched to PF in Lion.

namidark 15y ago

You forgot to add referral links to the itunes store in all these! -.-

mgutz 15y ago

* VirtualBox or VMware