New Machine - Utilities

Here is the list of utilities that I have added to the basic Leopard installation so that I can get my work done.

• iClock
  
  This replaces that standard OS X clock so that i can show the day of the month and the time in the menu bar. Simple and compact.
  
  


• iStat
  
  This utility allows you to select various performance counters and add them to your menu bar. The appearance can be altered to make them easy to read and they allow access to the activity monitor for a more detailed look.
  
  
  


• PinPoint
  
  This utility tracks the mouse pointer and adds overlays to make it easier to see. The latest 3.0 beta version supports animated cursors which is really cool. They even have an audio cursor so you can shout at your mouse to make it blink at you. The downside of animated cursors is CPU usage. I was seeing numbers in the 10 range so switched back to the 2.52 version for CPU down at 1%. Even this version has lots of nice features. Full screen cross hairs is nice for image editing and screen capturing.
  
  
  


• Adium
  
  A nice instance messaging app that can be compressed into a very clean looking interface. It supports all the usual services.
  
  
  
  


• QuickSilver
  
  This is the greatest productivity tool out there. With a couple of keystrokes I can find and execute any application on my machine. With a couple more I can select any action to be performed on any item. There is nothing like this for windows but a few clones are getting closer.
  
  
  
  Screen Capture from Black Tree web site since I couldn't screen capture my own. I hope they don't mind.
  



• JumpCut
  
  This is a multi-clipboard utility. When you press the hotkey you get a small window overlay with the last text that was copied. I would like to see the last 10 or so to see if what I want is in the list. It allows me to press the down arrow to sequence through older text but this makes the visual queues harder to spot. Still, a worth while utility to have.
  
  You can, however, if you use the mouse, select the menu bar scissors to select the paste operation from there.
  
  
  
  
  


• Witch
  
  This takes me back to simple Windows style alt-tabbing. Just select the window you want to see and focus on it. None of this command-tab to an application and then click to get focus etc. This is much easier.