Quicksilver – absolutely essential. Once you learn to use Quicksilver to launch your apps and you’ll never dig through the Applications folder in the finder again. And that’s just the beginning.  Find out more about how to use Quicksilver by watching Episode12 or Episode 17 of Macbreak.

Flip4mac – Nobody that owns a Mac really wants anything that has anything to do with Microsoft on their machine.  Thankfully this app isn’t made by the boys in Redmond so it works really well.  This app makes QuickTime work with Windows Media files – a video format which is used by many, many Web sites.

Perian – the Swiss Army Knife for QuickTime – meaning it’ll make QuickTime play files that it normally wouldn’t, like FLV.  What this means is that you can download flash videos from Google Video & YouTube and actually be able to use them almost anywhere you can use QuickTime.

Firefox – Safari is a great, fast browser, but Firefox needs to be on your Mac.  I use it as my everyday browser and with plugins for web development, del.icio.us bookmarks and ad blockers it makes browsing productive.

Cyberduck – I know a lot of Mac users love Panic’s Transmit application for FTP but I’m a big fan of Cyberduck.  It works consistently and plays really nice with many of the other apps I use day-to-day.

Growl – Growl is a system notification app. It alerts you to various events that are happening on your machine.  I use it to alert me to new mail and inform me of ftp upload completion (it plays really nice with Cyberduck, Mail.app, Adium, iPhoto (w/FlickrExport) and NetNewsWire

NetNewsWire – NetNewsWire is an awesome RSS reader. I use it to keep up on the news sites and blogs I read. It uses NewsGator to sync what I have and have not read between the various machines I use.

SuperDuper! – SuperDuper! is a painless backup & recovery software.  During the mess that was the upgrade to OS X 10.5 I used SuperDuper to backup and restore my system more times than I wish to remember.  It creates a disk image that  is bootable from any firewire drive.  It’s basic functions are free but it’s well worth the money for the extended functionality.

Handbrake – A DVD, ahem, backup tool. You know, for all those DVD’s you have that you’d like to have digital copies of so you can, um, watch them on your computer, without actually having to use the discs.  It’s really great if you have an AppleTV, like me.

Adium – Adium is a multi-protocol chat client- meaning it works with AIM, Google Talk & Yahoo! and many more. It can be buggy, but it’s great for having one place to chat with everyone.

Widgets

Technically these aren’t really applications, maybe web apps, but most are just graphics with javascript, HTML and CSS.  I don’t use them a ton but these two have found a special place on my Macs.

• Delivery Status Widget – works with all kinds of shippers and notifies you of updates via Growl
• Jared: The Butcher of Song – every once in a while you need to be serenaded – this is not for those times.

What about you?

Do you have any apps that are must haves on all your Macs? Have a widget you can’t live without? Drop me a comment and let me know.

Come on Josh, it’s been 2008 for over a month-and-a-half – and besides, who are you even talking to anyway?

The people who occasionally stop by to see if I’ve written something…

…and then leave immediately when they see its still the same old crap from months ago?

You know, whenever I have a conversation with you like this you’re never supportive or helpful?

So what?

All I’m saying is that it would be nice if you could help me by being constructive – try and help me with this, you know it’s been a while.

Fine, what do you want me to do?

Ask me some questions, guide the conversation, help me be interesting.

You got it captain.

Don’t call me captain.

No problem, chief. So what’s new?

Thanks for the open ended question – that really helps.

Look, if we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it my way – capiche?

You got it, buddy. Okay, what’s new? Well I finally got the new Mac OS installed…

Software installation, that’s what you’re gonna talk about after months of nothing?

It get’s me back into my groove, I’m sure I’ll have more to say on other non-tech stuff, just roll with it, okay?

Fine, but make it short.

Deal – so 10.5 Leopard – getting it working on my PowerBook G4 was nothing short of a nightmare, 4 calls to AppleCare, 3 shipments from Apple and a trip to the Apple Store in Lyndhurst added up to a little over 45 days of trying to install an operating system. So far I like it – it’s not the most incredible changes I’ve seen – there’s a lot I haven’t had a chance to use (TimeMachine for one) but overall I think it sets the stage for some really great software development in the next few years. I hate that it took so long to get it installed…

Wait a minute – 45+ days to get a piece of software working?

Yep, I pre-ordered a 5-license pack from Amazon – it didn’t install, told me it was bad media / disk error. So I called AppleCare, they sent me a OEM disk with Leopard on it – for an iMac. It of course didn’t work since the iMac is an Intel and my PowerBook is a PowerPC processor. So I called them again and they sent me another disc. It was once again, an OEM disk – for an iMac. Finally they sent me a new retail package of Leopard – I went to install again and it failed. A trip the Apple store somehow magically made it install.

What do you mean magically?

I mean that the disc just worked – no “Genius Bar” wizardry, just a simple “Insert disc, restart, begin install, install complete”. It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. The Apple store is magic – that’s the only explanation.

Wierd – hey I noticed that Andy stopped by and left a note wondering where your pre-Macworld Expo predictions were.

Yeah, I usually try to make a few guesses about what I think will happen but I had a dentist appointment that morning and didn’t actually make it to my computer until after the keynote presentation had started.

So what do you think of what did happen?

Look at you, playing right along with the tech questions. The MacBook Air – pretty cool. Do I see myself ever owning one – not in its current specs. It’s a neat little, light machine but the novelty of a lightweight machine – at least at this point – doesn’t justify the expense. Don’t get me wrong – I think its cool, but at this point it doesn’t really appeal to me. The AppleTV on the other hand has found its way into my living room. And I love it.

But don’t you need an HDTV to use those?

Yes, you do and I actually won one at my company Christmas party – it’s really nice. A 32″ Panasonic – the Wii looks great on it, but I don’t have HD cable service and would rather not spend the money every month just so Dirty Jobs looks extra dirty. So an AppleTV seems like just the right thing for getting HD content – especially now with HD rentals.

So that means no Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player in the living room?

Well at least at this point, there’ve been some real big gains on the Blu-Ray side in terms of studios announcing that they’ll be using Blu-Ray. I don’t like the DRM on either side, but of the two I was hoping Blu-Ray would come out on top – mostly because Blu-Ray discs are higher density and hold up to 5o GB on a dual-layer disc.

That was really nerdy sounding.

Yeah, I know! Overall I still think downloading your media is the best way to go – and the AppleTV is a great way to do just that.

Anything else you want to geek out on from Macworld?

Sure, Time Capsule a wireless router with up to 1 Terabyte of storage space that works with Time Machine, OS X 10.5′s automatic backup application. I’ve hesitated to use Time Machine because I don’t want to plug my PowerBook into an external drive every time it needs to backup. This does the backup wirelessly and functions as a file and print server.

So I suppose you want one of those too?

Of course I do, and I actually have one on order – a few weeks ago the trusty Linksys WRT54G suddenly started losing its settings and forgetting that it was supposed to do more than sit on my desk and blink. So I ordered one only to find out that the ship date was set for “February”. So I’m waiting for it.

Ahh, the little ones – how are they?

Great segue…

Well it was until you pointed out the fact that I had just made a segue.

The kids are great – Amelia is doing awesome in kindergarten, Wilbur is a quiet, well behaved pre-schooler and Orville is testing out the Terribles at the end of his Two’s.

Really – that bad huh?

No it’s not bad but little man has figured out how to throw a royal fit. He’ll tell us “no.” – it’s quite amazing how two little letters – when spoken by a belligerent child can immediately affect your attitude.

Don’t you mean effect?

No, I’m pretty sure I don’t. I mean affect. Look it up.

No, I believe you – go on.

Yeah he’s really becoming a little talker. Wilbur on the other hand, I guess only really has a lot to say at home – he’s at that stage where everything is a “why” question and many times his mouth can’t keep up with what his brain is telling him to say. Sometimes its really cute – other times I’m like “take a breath and start over.” And he’s sleeping on a top bunk – he loves it.

That’s neat. Anything new in the world of pre-school aged girls?

That’s a really creepy way to ask that question – what if you just ask how Amelia is doing?

Fine – how is she doing?

Well she just went to a Hannah Montana birthday.

Isn’t that a bit mature for a 6 year-old?

That’s what I thought too – what kind of parent lets their six year-old watch some hormone-fueled, eye-shadow & lipstick wearing pre-teen drama?

Yeah?! That kind of show has way too many hyphenated adjectives for a 6 year-old.

Exactly. Wow, we’re actually agreeing on something!

You’re actually making sense and not talking about computer nerdery.

You’re right and it feels, um, normal.

Normal? You might be pushing it…

You’re probably right. I’m gonna quit while I’m ahead.

The reviews are coming in from all over – some people have received their retail upgrade versions already. I’m heading up to the Apple Store @ Legacy Village tonight – It’ll be me, my three kids and Ben & Ashley. As I mentioned in earlier posts I pre-ordered from Amazon.com and so my copy of Leopard is en route so I won’t be making any purchases tonight but maybe we’ll get lucky and win something nice – last time Ben won a PowerBook – yeah, a whole freakin’ computer.  At a bare minimum they’ll probably at least be giving away some free iTunes credits. I fly my geek flag high so going to an operating system release party is something that my kids will just have to get used to, perhaps someday they’ll join me in my geekery.

So am I looking forward to tonights events, sure.  But Leopard in general? Not so much.

I know with 300 New Features! I ought to be excited about something, right?  Sure some of the features seem like they’ll be useful and by the time 10.6 rolls around I’m sure I’ll have found things that I wouldn’t want to give up, but right now I’m pretty happy with Tiger.  It’ll be interesting to see what I think of Leopard in the next few months.  Many of the podcasts & blogs that I read have said something to the effect that 10.5 is a release that’ll make developers happy – some of the core architecture of the OS will make the next generation of applications much more robust, combine that with the eye candy that stuff like  Core Graphics & Core Animation will provide and we’ll see some awesome applications.  But that’s in the future.

Sure, the Finder stuff will be a big improvement, Cover Flow looks neat and quick look seems like it’ll be convenient.  I’m sure I could go on but… I don’t really want to.

I give you all a full review after I’ve had some time to see Leopard first hand – and if I’m lucky maybe I’ll come home with some free schwag.

Next weekend the new version of Mac OS X 10.5 – Leopard – hits store shelves. The question that I find myself getting asked is – “Should I wait until new Mac’s are shipping with Leopard pre-installed to buy?”

My answer – No. Don’t wait to buy because…

• … you want to save yourself $129 bucks.
  If you buy a mac between now and when Apple starts to ship units with 10.5 pre-installed you’ll only have to pay $9.99 + Shipping. Apple has its Up-to-Date program which allows you to buy the newest version of the OS after its ship date has been announced and it still isn’t available on models already in stock at your local Apple reseller.
• … you get all squirmy at thinking about having to run an installation on a machine that you’ve already been using.
  OS X has a brilliant installer that keeps all your files safe from being overwritten by just replacing the OS files – that is unless you tell it to wipe out everything and reinstall.
• … you don’t want to get used to one version of the OS only to have to learn new stuff a few weeks later.
  Sure there are some differences in 10.5 compared to 10.4 but from my point of view there’s nothing significantly different enough for you to lose any sleep over.
• … OS 10.4 is an awesome, stable & secure operating system.
  My biggest reason for saying, buy now while you get OS 10.4 is because you’ll have OS 10.4 when something goes goofy with the new, and as-yet, unproven 10.5. You never know when an application will not work right because it wasn’t built for the newest operating system. 10.4 has served us very, very well for the last 2.5 years and it will serve you just as well during the early days of 10.5, while developers are getting their applications revised and updated to use all of the latest and greatest features in Leopard.

So if you’ve waited to get a new Mac, stop waiting and go get it.  If you already have a Mac, treat yourself and pre-order Leopard or if you’ve got a few Apple’s in your household get yourself a Family 5-Pack, like I did.