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Five Great Apps for Your Mac - February 2018

Some of my favorites.

Brave - Web Browser
Vienna - RSS Reader
TextMate - Development
KODI - HTPC App
BeerSmith - Home brewing
Porting Kit - Play old apps or pc apps
Ableton Live - Music Production

Plus lots of command line tools like hombrew etc.

Now if someone could recommend a good alternative to iTunes, I'd appreciate it.
 
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jclo said:
Just for the record, these Mac apps were all independently picked and used by us.

We don't accept suggestions for these lists from app developers or companies, and our lists are in no way paid advertisements. If you don't like these suggestions, definitely point us in the direction of some good Mac apps -- we're doing these lists because it's not always easy to find useful Mac apps. Would love to hear from you guys.
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The CheatSheet is asking for a lot of permission.
Is it really necessary to grant them? Given that is not distributed through the AppStore, I am little hesitant about that.
 
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pjny said:
Alfred, SOULVER, Textexpander 5, Chronosync, Carbon Copy Cloner, and Cardhop are amazing and the big reason I love using Mac for work.
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Great list. Just curious: What do you use Chronosync for that you can't do with Carbon Copy Cloner? I own CCC, but wondering if I'm missing out on something.
 
Went ahead and picked up Boxy. It doesn't offer much more over just having Inbox open in a Pinned Tab... but it's nice to support OSX developers and it's it a bit smoother :)
 
displayblock said:
From their website: "But if someone tries to tell you EtreCheck is harmful or a "junk app" - watch out! You are being scammed! This happens even on Apple Support Communities."

Sounds fishy.
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Nothing fishy about the app. It is safe and it does a good job for what it does. It is well known on here amongst the tech heads.
 
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I am not interested in apps that are "a little bit unique". I'm only interested in those that are "very unique".
 
stevejobsson said:
I am very disheartened by the negative comments. Is this a sign of our times? Fer heavens sakes these suggestions are offered with the intent to broaden our knowledge of what's available to, maybe, help some Mac Users. Sure, many apps might only appeal to a small subset of readers. If you don't need the app, don't use it. I am delighted with "Cheat" and hope this negativism won't discourage future postings of nifty apps. The comments above remind me of the story of an old man on the beach with his grandson. A large wave comes in a washes the child out to sea. At this point the old man looks skyward as exclaims: God, please I implore you, return my Grandson to me! There's a sudden clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning and another large wave rolls in, carrying his Grandson safely to the beach. The old man hugs his Grandson with joy, looks skyward and exclaims: But, he was wearing a hat!
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I think the negative comments were due more because of the title used - these are not “essential “ apps.
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jclo said:
Great list, thank you. We'll certainly check these out.
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If you check out MalwareBytes - be sure you pay attention to all the processes it spawns that remain running in the background and hog resources. The original version was much better than the current one.
 
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stevejobsson said:
I am very disheartened by the negative comments. Is this a sign of our times? Fer heavens sakes these suggestions are offered with the intent to broaden our knowledge of what's available to, maybe, help some Mac Users. Sure, many apps might only appeal to a small subset of readers. If you don't need the app, don't use it. I am delighted with "Cheat" and hope this negativism won't discourage future postings of nifty apps. The comments above remind me of the story of an old man on the beach with his grandson. A large wave comes in a washes the child out to sea. At this point the old man looks skyward as exclaims: God, please I implore you, return my Grandson to me! There's a sudden clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning and another large wave rolls in, carrying his Grandson safely to the beach. The old man hugs his Grandson with joy, looks skyward and exclaims: But, he was wearing a hat!
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I’m sorry, what?
 
Agenda does not have an annual fee. You pay once for the premium features, if you want them, and then get them for life along with any other such features added within a year of purchase.

From their site:
If you decide to purchase the upgrade, you permanently unlock all current premium featuresacross all of your Macs. Each of them is described in detail below.

Additionally, any new premium features we add in the 12 months following your purchase are also permanently unlocked.
 
masteroflondon said:
Agenda does not have an annual fee. You pay once for the premium features, if you want them, and then get them for life along with any other such features added within a year of purchase.

From their site:
If you decide to purchase the upgrade, you permanently unlock all current premium featuresacross all of your Macs. Each of them is described in detail below.

Additionally, any new premium features we add in the 12 months following your purchase are also permanently unlocked.
Click to expand...
[Edit: this is also at the bottom of their app description in the App Store. They definitely need to find a clearer way of labeling their IAP, because as it's phrased now it definitely sounds like a subscription. Thanks for pointing this out!]

If true, this totally changes my opinion of the app... I've been eyeing it as something that might be useful to me, but I have a pretty strict "policy" against paying for anything with a subscription. If it's not a subscription, but it's a one time purchase then I may give it a shot. I don't mind having to pay again a year later to "upgrade" to additional features, as long as it's optional and those features don't go away in a year.

I have a rational understanding of the value of an app-- I don't mind paying real money for a useful app. I just refuse to get on a treadmill under the threat of losing what I've already paid for.
 
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jclo said:
Just for the record, these Mac apps were all independently picked and used by us.

We don't accept suggestions for these lists from app developers or companies, and our lists are in no way paid advertisements. If you don't like these suggestions, definitely point us in the direction of some good Mac apps -- we're doing these lists because it's not always easy to find useful Mac apps. Would love to hear from you guys.
Click to expand...

It *is* really hard to find Mac apps. I used to use appshopper.com but the site is now a broken mess. So, this article would make for a really good weekly or monthly feature. I wouldn't even have an issue with you making money off referrals if a healthy discount could be arranged, if the writer was given privileged status to say what they want, AND it was clearly indicated how you were compensated.

Get gimmicky. Whatever. Call the series "My Other Half" or something silly. An unbiased review from MacRumors, a discount code for 50% off the app good for one week, and an opportunity for the MacRumors community to provide additional feedback to those who missed the deal or for the developer. You could:
1. open up a forum such that people who purchased the app can leave their review.
2. open an email address that users can email their review to you (require the subject be the Xth word under "about app name") and then clearly add them to the end of the MacRumors review.
3. assign badges to user accounts so users know who owns the software and who doesn't for future troubleshooting or other questions.

But I really like this content, and I am in full support of flushing out what can be done. I think others do/would like it as well.

Heck, I like the idea of it enough that I'd do some of the work myself just to get the series off the ground. You know, as long as you have an editor skilled enough to fix my heavy fingers.
 
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B4U said:
The CheatSheet is asking for a lot of permission.
Is it really necessary to grant them? Given that is not distributed through the AppStore, I am little hesitant about that.
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I have the same concerns. I was excited about this one, but stopped short of giving permission. I think it needs access to the accessibility functions to read the key mappings. I just wish they'd scrub it through the App Store.
 
jclo said:
... we're doing these lists because it's not always easy to find useful Mac apps.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't have nearly as negative a reaction to this list if it were presented as "5 Useful Mac Apps" instead of "5 Essential Mac Apps". Those are two very different lists with very different expectations.
 
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Thanks for posting the list of apps. As a user new to the MAC world, cheatsheet really attracted my attention. But one of the reasons I left 30+ yrs of PC's behind was to insulate myself from potential problems by using a product by a vendor that vets the apps that are available. I am trying to keep my apps isolated to Apple App Store only. Unfortunately, as already mentioned by B4U and someone else, cheatsheet doesn't meet that criteria.
 
BetterSnapTool is the essential app for me on Mac... can't believe it isn't built-in like every other OS.

The rest is specific to using certain services.
 
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MacRumors said:


- Agenda (Free) - ... Agenda is a free download, but it will cost $24.99 per year to unlock premium features like creating calendar events, saving searches, and exporting in Markdown or HTML.
Click to expand...

Agenda currently uses a magazine-based subscription. You keep what you pay for even after you've stopped paying.

So if I buy their IAP, I will unlock all of the premium features and any other premium features introduced within the next 12 months. If I do not buy from them again, I still keep whatever I have and receive free maintenance and support updates from them via the App Store, etc.

If I were to make a purchase 3 years from now, I would get everything since Agenda's inception, including everything that is introduced 12 months from then. This way I can support Agenda as soon as they have a premium feature that I actually want and potentially enjoy the other less-wanted features.

https://medium.com/@drewmccormack/a-cash-cow-is-on-the-agenda-138a11995595
 
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I have to say I agree that the terms "essential" and "must-have" are terribly misused in this listicle, but I do appreciate the clarification from jclo that these are not sponsored/that you're not compensated in any way. I always enjoy looking at apps others wish to draw attention to, but not a single one of these are "essential" or "must have," so maybe drop those terms and instead call the next edition "App Spotlight" or "Staff App Discoveries" or something like that. The ones you have put in previously have several entries worth checking out, as does this one. And in response to your call for some interesting, worthwhile apps for you to feature, here's five Mac apps I really enjoy:

1. SimpleNote -- does what it says on the tin. Now with optional Markdown, but it's a plain-text basic word processor/note creation tool that syncs with iCloud. Is it better than Apple's own Notes? Nope! But it has a dark mode, and de-styles text you paste in, so I kinda love it.

2. Fission -- you've captured some audio, and you'd just like to make a quick basic edit or fade-in/out type stuff to it without having to convert to lossless, make the edit, then save a new lossy version. Fission is the answer: it edits audio (nothing too fancy, but) and saves the file back in its original format without re-converting. Lossless editing of compressed audio! All of Rogue Amoeba's stuff is great.

3. ReadKit -- still my favourite RSS newsfeed reader, though Leaf is also pretty great. For iOS, I haven't found anything better than Feedly's app.

4. MediaHuman Audio Converter -- finally something to replace the late, lamented AudialHub. Converts almost any format of sound into almost any other format of sound.

5. PlutoTV -- once I finally figured out how to "edit" the channels to just the ones I wanted, I find I really enjoy this free, ad-supported app (for both Mac and iOS). Get your MST3K/Rifftrax fix on, or watch trains glide through Norway, or geeky tech/talk shows, or sportsball recaps, or whatever floats your boat. Be aware that they do carry one Russian propaganda channel (RTAmerica), but of course you can edit that out.
 
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