PxlDan

It has been forever and a day since I have updated this site so I thought it was time to try and get back in the habit with something easy. I recently wiped my Mac for a fresh start and had the chance to decide which apps would have the honor of being reinstalled. Aside from the major players like the adobe suite and iLife, iWork, there are a handful of independent developer applications that I could not live without. Here are my top five favs.

1. Adium
It's a love/hate thing :) I've been IMing since ICQ and I still think instant messaging is the most annoying form of team communication. Particularly when used to think out loud. But I need to stay in contact with developers, clients and friends. Adium is the most unobtrusive instant messaging client and it supports the protocols I need: AIM/mac.com, google talk, Yahoo and jabber. Plus, thanks to a large community of third-party designers I can customize the look and feel of the interface. [Website]

2. App Zapper
If you have a need to install every application with a pretty icon then you probably have an app folder full of applications you never use. I'm sure I'll have some new apps to install after tonight's MacHeist Bundle Reveal. I have found no better way to clean house then to drag those unloved applications into the AppZapper window -- and having them Zapped into non-existence with a satisfying audio effect. Take that. Pow. [Website]

3. DropBox
Trying to deliver gigantic images to clients and vendors, sharing documents with the team, passing music files to friends and syncing files on my desktop and laptop used to require a frustrating mix of email file size limitations, FedExing CD's, FTPing Zipped files and toting USB keychains. Now I just drop any file into my dropbox where it is whisked away with impressive speed to be securely accessed on any machine (and any OS) by whoever I choose to share it with. [Website]

4. 1Password
Mosaicglobe sites, client stuff, multiple emails, social networks, bank accounts, blah blah blah. It is impossible to remember a unique password for each account and it's too tempting to give every account the same lame password. 1Password integrates into my browsers, offers generated passwords, and then remembers what they are. My 1Password application is a fortress holding over 250 account passwords. It frightens me to think would I do without this app to protect me from myself. [Website]

5. MyNotes
I jot a lot of notes and without a method to organize these notes my desktop would be strewn with random text files and i'd be sending too many emails to myself. I have tried every GTD app on the market (not a fan), and I have installed plenty of feature packed organization/productivity applications. But I keep coming back to one. MyNotes is simplicity. There is plenty it doesn't do but I don't need all that. It just allows me to write down my thoughts and organize them in a place where I can retrieve them later. Plus they're thoughtful enough to put a PSD version of their icon on the website in case you need it for a blog post. [Website]

Runner-Up: Handbrake Because I need to get those DVDs to AppleTV and my iPhone somehow. [Website]

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