Disk Inventory X

Ever wonder where all of your disk space has gone? Disk Inventory X will show you. Not only does it give you a list, sorted by size, but it presents you with a graphical representation called a "treemap". Click on one of the larger boxes in the treemap and the file that the box represents is instantly highlighted in the files list on the left. Once you've identified a file or folder you no longer need, you can use the shortcut in the toolbar to move it to the trash. This is the quickest, easiest way to determine just how your disk space is being used. Disk Inventory X is free, but the author does accept Paypal donations.

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Pixelmator - Like Photoshop for the rest of us.

Pixelmator has become what Adobe refuses to do- a well coded, completely Cocoa, low cost image editor for the non-professional. Oh, sure, there's Photoshop Elements, but even that is $99. Pixelmator is $59. I lucked out and got this program in a MacHeist or MacUpdate bundle a year or two ago. Before that I'd never heard of it. Now that I've had a chance to use it, I would gladly pay $59 for it- it is definitely worth it. I also plan on staying on the upgrade treadmill with this one.

Note: For a free alternative, check out Seashore over at my Hidden Mac Gems blog.

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Bento

Bento is a new, consumer oriented database from the makers of the venerable FileMaker Pro. Bento puts a whole new twist on databases. It makes them, dare I claim it, fun? I'm not kidding.

One of the ironies about modern personal computers is that they are very powerful data processing machines and only a minority of users even know what a database is or how to create and use one. This was partly to blame of how arcane precious database applications were. Bento tears down some of the walls and allows you to create, populate and modify databases with an ease that just wasn't possible with earlier database products. It's truly amazing.

In fact, it is almost an advantage to not understand traditional databases before starting to learn Bento. On the Bento discussion forums, there are many questions from people familiar with traditional databases who are having a difficult time unlearning what they had learned to use other databases.

Bento makes using databases as easy as iTunes makes organizing your music/movie collection.

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Handbrake (+ VLC)

I'll bet you own some DVDs. I know I do. Why should we have to purchase these movies again in order to play them on our iPhones, iPads, iPods, iPod Touches, or any other portable device that can play movies? We shouldn't. Handbrake, as long as you have VLC installed can convert your existing DVDs to MP4s that are playable on almost every modern device that plays movies.

Both Handbrake and VLC are open source and distributed free of charge. Just download and install both of them. At it's simplest, using Handbrake is something like this:

• launch Handbrake
• insert your DVD
• click on "Source" in the toolbar
• select the "VIDEO_TS" folder on the DVD
• wait for Handbrake to scan the titles
• pick the title you want to convert
• select the preset for your device (click "Toggle Presets" you don't see the list of presets)
• click "Start"
• go do something else while your video file is converted

Handbrake:

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VLC:

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MoneyDance

Yeah, I know, keeping track of your finances is oh, so 1990's. But, I can't let go of it and I haven't been willing to switch to Mint.com (and now that they're owned by Intuit, I probably never will). Moneydance has turned out to be everything that Quicken once was (back around version 4). It's lean, mean and it gets the job done. My favorite feature of the program these days is the ability to pull new transactions from my financial institution. This saves me all the data entry work that I hated in the past. Additionally, it's home page screen shows you your important account and reminder info in one convenient window. I can't say enough good things about this program. It was worth every penny I spent on it and more. I actually found myself wishing that they'd charge me for the Moneydance 2010 upgrade. Oh, and there's an iPhone/iPad version to complement the desktop version.

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Flip4Mac

Flip4Mac enables QuickTime to play Windows Media files. This is essential to being able to play a lot of videos that you encounter on the web or that people might send you via email. This should be a standard part of any Mac installation. Microsoft used to provide software for this purpose, but then they turned it over to a 3rd party. When you download and install, they will attempt to get you to purchase a premium license. Personally, I've never felt the need, but if you would like to use the QuickTime Player to convert WMV files to something else, then you will need the premium license.

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Evernote

First there was MacJournal, but it got expensive. Then there was DevonThink, got it at a steal in a MacHeist or MacUpdate bundle, but it doesn't sync to the cloud (i.e. no way to store your notes on an internet server).

And then, like manna from heaven, came Evernote. It syncs to the cloud (but, you can control which notes do/don't sync). It has a full desktop client application (which could potentially be used without syncing to the cloud). But, for those items that you do sync to the cloud, you can access them on:

• the Evernote website
• your Mac via the desktop app
• an iPhone
• an iPad
• an iPod Touch

Basically, once you download evernote and sign up for a free account, you can create notes from anywhere and get to them from everywhere. It's really a beautiful thing. It's no wonder that it was reported recently that this company is making $800,000 per month- and that's from the people who sign up for the premium services. I've been living happily off the free services for quite a while now.

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