Fluid
Fluid lets you turn your favourite web apps (and websites) into desktop apps. With fluid you can:
- Launch the web app straight from the dock.
- Hide it and unhide it just like an app. No more looking for that obscure tab.
- Web apps can be a bit heavy and slow down your browser, now web app has it’s own instance so it wont effect your regular browsing.
- If the app crashes then the app crashes! It wont take your whole browser with it.
Fluid is based on web-kit so it’s super-fast. However, if you prefer mozilla’s rendering engine then check out Prism.
Firefox 3 Beta
The new Firefox UI looks positively scrumptious.
Yeah, everybody knows about Firefox. But, not all mac users are using Firefox 3 beta and they should be. Let me tell you why:
- Firefox now actually feels like it belongs on mac, it even has a new default theme specially designed for OS X.
- It doesn’t crash, Firefox 2 used to constantly crashed (for me anyway). I have been using FF3 beta as my primary web browser for two months now and it hasn’t crashed once.
- It’s fast, much faster than Firefox 2.
Since this is a beta version you should probably create a separate firefox profile for Firefox 3 beta.
iBackup 2008
iBackup is an app that lets you automatically back up your files to a local folder or even a webdav folder (look under ‘View -> Profile Settings’). I’ve had experience with data loss before, it definitely happens. The interface is a bit messy but it does the job, combine it with a free 1GB box.net and you’ve just sorted yourself out with some free off-site backup!
If you’re like me then you use time machine already, so you may wonder why there is a need for off-site storage? I usually carry my macbook and my external hard drive around with me in a bag, what happens if that bag gets stolen? I use iBackup for about 300MB of files that I absolutely can not lose. I Leave it running overnight every couple of weeks.
Name Mangler
Name Mangler is a wonderful batch file renaming utility. It somehow manages to combine complex features into an amazingly easy to use interface (something which is frustratingly rare with free apps). Some features…
- Droplets — Allows you to simply drop files onto an icon which does all the magic.
- Conditional statements & nested counters — Gives you the ability to undertake complicated tasks.
- Regular expressions — For those who want even more power.
- Beautiful interface.
Minuteur
Minuteur is a cute little app that does a very simple job but does it very well, it’s a countdown timer and stopwatch with a lovely interface. I use it for:
- Keeping track of how much time is left until that pizza is done.
- Staying Productive — I like to give myself goals like ‘get this done in 2 hours’. The remaining time bar helps you keep on schedule, it will even talk to you if you like… ’15 minutes remaining’.
- Billing clients — You can tell Minuteur your hourly rate and it will tell you how much you’re earning.
That’s it
That’s it, five free and useful applications! Feel free to suggest your own in the comments.
