Popfile - freeware spam protection

Popfile is a freeware app that gives you very accurate spam protection (like those paid apps), useful f you have those yezrs-old email accounts that get so much spam that Apple Mails's filter is not very useful.

Well, since it's a Perl app, it's a bit complicated to install.

So:
- How to install Popfile in Mac OS X
- User-friendly instructions

Namely - app keyboard launcher

Namely is a very small (200k) app that works in a very simple manner: you set up a hotkey (in my case, option+space) and its window appears. You type the first letters of any app and it shows a list of results, besides learning your habits, i.e, if you type 'fi' and Firefox appears down the list, just select it and the next time you type it, Firefox will be the first on the list, so you just have to type 'fi' and then Enter.

For app-launching purposes only, it's much faster than the powerhouse app Quicksilver, which still deserves a VERY long post since you can do almost anything imaginable with it.

PDF Viewer and PDF Browser plugin

PDF Viewer (440k) hasn't been updated since 2003, but it's still my favourite PDF viewing application. Much faster than that crappy Preview thingie or the Adobe Reader bloatware, and it loads large PDF documents into memory, so just open that mammoth pdf you have, wait a little bit and then it's smooth navigation ;)

Another great way to view PDF files (from inside your browser) is by using the PDF Browser plugin, which is free for personal use.

Also worth downloading is the same developer's Word Browser plugin.

PTHPasteboard

I have been bouncing back and forth among pasteboard apps, but I never found one so easy to use (and small too) as PTHPasteboard. And it's FINALLY been updated for Tiger. It records your last 20 (changeable in prefs) items that you copied to your pasteboard, and to paste any item, you just have to go to the menubar window and click on whatever you wanna paste.

It also has an option of saving your pasteboard clippings so they won't be lost if you restart your Mac or if it crashes.

As always, click on the image to see it bigger (don't worry, you can change the ugly colours I have set up on mine).

Writely - web-based word processor

Writely is not a Mac app, but it is so innovative I had to post about it. It's a web-based word processor you use from your browser. You can create a document there or upload one - HTML files and plain text (.txt), Microsoft Word (.doc), Rich Text (.rtf) and OpenOffice (.odt, .sxw) files smaller than 500K, or Image (.gif, .png, .jpg and .bmp) files smaller than 2Mb. It also exports your docs as PDF.

One of the best features of Writely is that you can send an email invite to someone so that he or she can have access to the documents of your choice and you can both edit it.

PS: Site still does not work in Safari, so use Firefox instead and allow pop ups from the site so it works properly.

Click on the image to see Writely in all its glory:

Textpander - Typing Aid Utility

Textpander is a real timesaver for those who do a lot of repetitive typing, like me. for example, everytime I post a link, I just type !!li and it turns into <a href="" target=_blank></a> - and with the cursor in the middle of the tags! Or, if I type ddate (one of the shortcuts that comes default with the software) I get Monday; December 19, 2005.

It is very useful and can be used for complicated and simple tasks. Since I am tired of typing my email in sites for registration, etc, I created a shortcut named !!@ and everytime I type it, my mail appears. Just be sure to read the documentation to get a hold of the variables you can use like the one I use to put my cursor between the html tags and stuff.

Since the main website for the programs has been coming up and down lately, here is another link to download it in some weird language site ;)

Teleport

A reader suggested this seemingly amazing utility. Teleport allows you to use the same mouse (and even transfer pasteboard contents) to another Mac. Just drag your mouse cursor to the edge of the screen and you will be on you other Mac (or Macs) screen.

I coud not test it because I have only one Mac, but donations are accepted ;)

(click on image to see bigger)

Movie Time

Movie Time is a small (600k) movie player with subtitle support. It uses the Quicktime engine, so do not expect it to play all your Divx files like these two.

The annoyance is that you have to know the keyboard shortcuts, but for a start, just remember the key 'C' (controls) and 'Apple+,' (preferences) and you will be ok.

I still prefer NicePlayer for QT movies, though.

Osirix: freeware for doctors

Osirix is a free medical image viewer (DICOM images), besides being able to view JPGs, TIFFs, PDFs, etc.
It's one of these programs that would cost over a thousand bucks if it was commercial.
Anyway, you'd better have at least a G4 Mac with 1GB of RAM to use this baby. Check out the plugins section too.

Click on the image to see bigger:

VLC Media Player and MPlayer OS X

VideoLAN is a video player that, according to people, play everything you want (it's a bit slow on my Mac so I use MPlayer OS X instead). Both feature grat support for Divx and subtitles, well, I use Mplayer to play any video that doesn't work in any other player, I have a much better experience with it than with VLC.

I haven't tested this, but according to this article in macosxhints, VLC even ignores DVD regions so you can play any DVD on your Mac without the hardware limit of region-changing.

I'll put a post on useful utilities for extracting, removing regions and compressing DVDs soon.

Planeshift - free MMORPG

For a free game, Planeshift seems to have great visuals (nothing comparable to World of Warcraft, of course) - but if the gameplay is as addicting as most Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, it may be the cheapest way to throw your life away for some weeks, months or years ;)

Click on the thumbnail to see a screenshot:

FFView - Quick Image viewing

Any Windows user (or ex-Windows users like me) misses an image viewer as simple and as fast as the old versions of ACDSee (then it became a bloated package, and the Mac version sucks big time). Enter FFView, a great utility for quick and dirty image viewing via thumbnails, lists, etc. They even say thety were inspired by ACDSee 2.x. FFView also reads CBR and CBZ comic book files, but IMHO, Jomic (see previous post) does that better.

Jomic - for comic book fans

Jomic is a great Java (Java = CPU hog) Open Source program that allows you to read those .CBR and .CBZ comic book files. It's very well done and works smoothly, albeit a bit slow (Java, again) - but overall it's a good app.

The only feature I miss is having a 'hand' option to drag the comic (like in PDF readers) - my Microsoft Mouse scrolls vertically and horizontally, so it's no biggie for me, but I hope they implement it. If you are a comic book lover, it's a must get.

Bittorrent Clients

PS: If you do not know what Bittorrent is, go here.

There are lots of Macintosh Bittorrent Clients, and I've tested them all. Here is my lowdown - all are free, of course ;)

Azureus - Simply the best. A CPU hog (it is in Java), but it gets all the torrents the other clients can't. Seems to be the best for speed too, IMO. Highy configurable and a pleasure to use for power users.

Bits on Wheels - This one would be my best overall choice. Very low CPU usage, great user interface, good customization, interesting '3d view' of peers and seeders, and efficient most of the time, except for those torrents that only Azureus manages to start downloading somehow.

Transmission - Some people swear by this program because it is small and simple, but I find the CPU usage of it growing steadily, even more than Azureus when I am downloading 3 or more files, and the speed is inconsistent. Very few options, I don't really like it but lots of people do. Usually gets the job done anyway.

Bittorrent - The official client. Not bad CPU usage, not very good speeds, a so-so client. Not worth getting, if you hate Azureus, get Bits os Wheels instead, though maybe this is the most stable client of all them - not a big issue since we Mac users don't have to go resetting our computers all the time ;)

Tomato Torrent - Seems to have problems with a lot of torrents that should work, so I didn't test this one very much.

Bitpump - Small program, just released, shows big potential (from what I've seem from the Windows version screens, the Mac one is still kinda rough) but now it is still too bugged.

Please warn me if I forgot any client and happy downloading ;)