5 Great Mac Apps You Gotta' Try!

With the holidays approaching and money being tight, sometimes it's fun to discover new applications for your computer.  It's a lot like unwrapping a new present without the need to write a thank-you note or smile at a relative while you secretly loathe the fact that they bought you a years membership to the Steak-of-the-Month Club even though you've been a vegetarian for the past 12 years.  These applications are free and open source.  They cost nothing and make you feel good knowing that you are supporting free software.  Let's take a look...

Seashore (a Mac image editor based on GIMP with a simple and useful set of features)


Seashore is an excellent image editor for OS X.  Seashore is based on the popular image manipulation software known as GIMP.  Unlike GIMP, however, Seashore is very simple to use and navigate. There are many times when I've using my Macbook Pro that I've found that I need to edit and image or screenshot.  Seashore makes all of this stuff really easy,  You can save in many formats including the same format that GIMP uses natively.  When you first start the app, it offers you the chance to set defaults for image size, resolution and color. The interface will be familiar to anyone who has used Photoshop, GIMP, or other good editors.  It has a lot more tools than you might expect to find in an open source image editor. Seashore features plugins, gradients, textures and anti-aliasing for both text and brush strokes and supports multiple layers and alpha channel editing. Effects include blur, Gaussian blur, invert, greyscale and posterize options and more.  Seashore has a fantastic comprehensive PDF help manual.  Grab Seashore here!

Electric Sheep (an awesome trippy and dynamic screensaver)

Simply put, I love Electric Sheep.  The "sheep" are absolutely mesmerizing kaleidoscope style movies which dance around your screen when your Mac or PC is idle.  I know this is a Mac OS X article, but Electric Sheep is actually available for Linux and Windows as well!  Here's a great description from the Electric Sheep web site:

Electric Sheep is a free, open source screen saver created by Scott Draves. It's run by thousands of people all over the world, and can be installed on any ordinary PC or Mac. When these computers "sleep", the screen saver comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep". The result is a collective "android dream", an homage to Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

Visit the Electric Sheep web site and learn more!





Adium (instant messaging application)

I admit, I use instant messaging every day to keep in touch with friends, vendors, and colleagues from all over the world.  I get really annoyed when my IM client doesn't have the features I need.  I have not been a big fan of iChat lately since there are some features that other IM clients have that iChat doesn't.  Adium is an instant messaging client for OS X that works with multiple chat protocols such as AIM, Googletalk, Yahoo, MSN, Bonjour, MySpace, and many more!  One chat client to "rule them all"....


Check out Adium here!



Handbrake (an open source DVD ripper and MPEG-4 / H.264 encoder)

Let's get one thing straight, I'm not advocating anyone using Handbrake to rip DVD's they don't own.  Now...here's how I use Handbrake.  I have a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet that I like to take along with me when I travel.  The 800x480 resolution of my little N800 is perfect for viewing movies while flying or riding the train.  I find that watching movies tends to shorten the trip quite a bit...at least for me.  Handbrake is an awesome and easy to use program for ripping my DVD's into just about ANY format.  I've ripped movies for my own computer, my kids iPod Nano, as well as a PSP!  Apple TV support is now also part of Handbrake.  Given the noise on an airplane, I often find it helpful to rip my DVD's with the English subtitles included.  I highly recommend Handbrake for getting your movies on to your portable devices and computers.  Like Electric Sheep, Handbrake is also available for Windows and Linux!


Download Handbrake here!

Burn (Simple CD and DVD Burner for OS X)

Are you sick of using Disk Utility for burning CD's?  Don't have the $$$ for Toast?  No problem!  Check out Burn!  Burn is an awesome, simple, and easy to use CD and DVD burner.  Audio, data, and video...Burn handles them all with ease. 

Check out Burn here!

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Tryptophan and blogging on the Nokia n800

Here I sit after stuffing myself with a ton and a half of turkey, cranberry sauce, and other assorted holiday goodies trying to write a blog post while fighting off the effects of tryptophan.

*Zzzzzzz...oh...umm...what did you say?

WAKE UP! I'm writing here! Ok...as I was saying, I'm just finishing up with my family Thanksgiving meal. I've decided that I owe you all at least a few words. These past few days I've been blogging about Thanksgiving and how you can make your life easier while you travel especially when it comes to technology. Well, right now I'm at my sister-in-laws house way out in the "willy-wacks" where there is no wireless internet and barely any cell phone service. So, what am I using? I'm using a Nokia n800 with a bluetooth keyboard and internet via my bluetooth phone for posting this article. I'm sitting here at the dining room table listening to my wife and her sisters share gossip, memories, and gripes. Im pretending not to listen while recording all the things they're saying about other family members. *Tee hee hee* OK...just kidding. The Nokia n800 Internet tablet is a great way to be able to get online from wherever you may be. Unlike a SmartPhone, the n800/810 is NOT a phone it is an internet device designed for getting online, browsing the internet and using several Web 2.0 technologies. Right now Im listening to "100 Years" by Five for Fighting using the incredible program, Canola (which is remarkably similar to Front Row on Mac OS X) while using XJournal to type this post. Once I finish I will connect to the Internet via my cell phone (bluetooth) and post this article. While connected I'll take a moment and check my email and reply to anything that might be important.

Wait a minute! What about those cool netbooks?

The new netbooks, from companies like ASUS, MSI, HP, Dell and others, are fantastic portable computers, however, they are still at least 10 inches wide or basically the size of a large paperback book. An Internet tablet is the size of a large PDA and easily packed in a purse or jacket pocket. In the picture you'll see a folding bluetooth keyboard, but bear in mind that I have an n800. The n810 has a slide out keyboard similar to many newer cell phones designed for texting. Once I get an n810 (c'mon Santa....hint...hint) I may be able to forgo the keyboard. There is a very good onscreen keyboard, but it's a little slow for banging out a blog post while under the influence of tryptophan.

Ok, what else can they do? Can they give me directions?

Actually yes! The n810 comes with GPS capability! I often use my n800 when flying. The screen is quite large for a device this size and is perfect for viewing movies while flying around the country. The battery life is excellent (I can get at least 2 good length movies out of one charge), however the battery is a standard Nokia cellphone battery. I bought a spare for about $35 and keep it charged to use as a backup.

Movies! Did you say movies?

Yep...I did. Since the n800/810 will accept an SD or mini-SD card (n810) you can easily take along several movies and/or tunes for staying occupied on long trips or while working. I use the open source program, Handbrake, to rip my own DVD's to my computer and then transfer them to my SD card for use in my n800. Handbrake is free and very easy to use. There are many programs available for the n800/810 for playing music and video. I tend to rip my movies in mp4 format, so I use Canola or MediaPlayer to view the movies. My music is usually in MP3 format and I normally use Canola for playback. The n800/810 will recognize many formats (even OGG). Ive had my Internet Tablet for a couple of years now and have learned a lot through experimentation.

Wait! Isnt this a Linux device? Do I have to be a geek?

No...the n800/810 is "point and click" simple. Adding programs is as simple as downloading and installing them with a click or two....OR simply going to the Add/Remove programs dialog and choosing what you want. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of programs available. What sets the n800/810 apart from SmartPhones or other PDA's is the fact that it serves up the regular internet, not the stripped down mobile version. Flash based apps work great! Youtube works fine and is integrated in Canola.

Ok...so why would I want this thing? Oh yeah...movies...

Yes, the movies are nice, but more importantly the n800/810 is truly the "Internet in the palm of your hand". Netbooks are wonderful, but they are still laptops. The Nokia devices are not laptops. I love my n800 and covet the n810. It has saved my life many times. Check them out at your favorite electronics retailer or online at...Amazon...TigerDirect...NewEgg...Nokia

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