[hmurchison]

This thread is for application discovery. I'm going to list my favorite apps that I
feel are my A level and favorite and then I'm going to list apps that look promising that
may make the list for 2010 of A list apps.

In no particular order.

NetNewsWire
http://www.noodlesoft.com/hazel.php
VLC/Perian/F4M
Pixelmator
App Fresh
1Password
iWork-
VectorDesigner
Typinator
MoneyWell

2009 is going to be a big year. There are many apps that I'm looking to start using regularly and here is a list of some of my favorites.

Final Cut Studio - Video Editing
Aperture- Photog workflow
iLife- Digital Lifestyle
Logic Studio -Digital Audio Workstation
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard- Nextgen Apple OS
Scrivener- Writing tool
Tangerine- Color Management Tool (very cool)
CleanApp- App Zapper zapper
Fontcase- Suitcase, FontAgentPro for the rest of us?
Coda- Web IDE goodness
GarageBuy - eBay done EZ
OmniFocus - GTD
A Better Finder Rename- File renamer
MailTags- Makes mail.app not suck so much
Bee Docs Timeline -Premier timeline app for Mac
DEVONthink- Data repository with AI
VMware Fusion - Virtualization
Bento iDatabase
Forklift Slick looking FTP
LittleSnapper- clean websnap and screenshot app
Default Folder X - What open/save dialogs should be.

Plugins that interest me

Aperture

Hydra HDR plug-in
Connected Flow Flckr Exporter
Nik Sofware Compete Collection Aperture - a STEAL

Final Cut Studio

Volumetrix
Wonder Touch- Particle Illusion

MoType-looks promising
SupaSwipe-

Logic Studio

Redmatica Compendium- Keymap is the standout here
Melodyne
Sonalksis Mastering Suite -

iLife

Keyword Manager- NICE


If I've missed any standout apps let me me know what you like about it. I'm always on the lookout for new apps.

[T-Man]

Scrivener's great, even though I don't really use it to its capacity. It has amazing organisational abilities.

Like Typinator, there's also TextExpander (which works as a prefpane, and lets you keep one more thing off a crowded Menu Bar, if Typinator doesn't allow that too).

[Dutch Pear]

Nice list!

Besides Aperture, iWork, Scrivener, and pixelmator some of my everyday-used-app favorites are:

Quicksilver - Use it as a contact searcher, selected file-emailer and quicklauncher (my dock is always hidden). Too bad it is hardly being developed ATM.
Journler - I use it daily as a lab journal
Things - Getting things done in an uncluttered, well-designed interface. Will work even better once I get my 32 GB iPhone :-)
Papers - my personal library of scientific papers
Skitch - superquick annotation of images and screenshots
Adium - fully pimpable & talks to all friends on MSN and Gmailchat
Google reader - WEBapp that does my RSS feeds
Transmission - Gets me TV shows to watch when I choose to do so - with no adds :-)
Skype - free talking to international friends and cheap calling to my wife when abroad.

Apps/developments I'm waiting for/interested in (yes, partly inspired by some disussion over at AI):

Aperture 3.0 - can't wait what kind of goodies are in store
iHomeAutomation - the geeky side of me is hoping big time for an affordable, cool and easy way to install some home automation goodness and control my lights and heating from the iMac and iPhone (once i have my 32 GB one, that is :-) ). I honestly believe there is big market potential here for Apple to provide an easy yet powerfull set of protocols and API's that works across Macs, iPods and iPhones. Develop an extensible master app to control all your appliances, lighting, and security cams/devices, hook it up through Mobileme and voila: Third party home electronics/lighting gear/security equipment companies would definately flock to this and apple would be in the middle of the home automation ecosystem, which has the potential to be way bigger than even the iPod/iPhone-accessories market!

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by T-Man Scrivener's great, even though I don't really use it to its capacity. It has amazing organisational abilities. Like Typinator, there's also TextExpander (which works as a prefpane, and lets you keep one more thing off a crowded Menu Bar, if Typinator doesn't allow that too).

Thankfully Typinator works as a dockless application now as well which is a must. I think TextExpander might have more features overall but Typinator came in a bundle and so i've been using it but I'd switch if TE offered the right amount of unique functionality. I heard Scrivener's moving to a nice 1.5 release that cleans up some UI stuff and more. I'll probably hop on in with that release.

Originally Posted by Dutch Pear Nice list! Besides Aperture, iWork, Scrivener, and pixelmator some of my everyday-used-app favorites are: Journler - I use it daily as a lab journal Papers - my personal library of scientific papers Skitch - superquick annotation of images and screenshots Google reader - WEBapp that does my RSS feeds Transmission - Gets me TV shows to watch when I choose to do so - Apps/developments I'm waiting for/interested in (yes, partly inspired by some disussion over at AI): Aperture 3.0 - can't wait what kind of goodies are in store iHomeAutomation - the geeky side of me is hoping big time for an affordable, cool and easy way to install some home automation goodness and control my lights and heating from the iMac and iPhone (once i have my 32 GB one, that is :-) ). I honestly believe there is big market potential here for Apple to provide an easy yet powerfull set of protocols and API's that works across Macs, iPods and iPhones. Develop an extensible master app to control all your appliances, lighting, and security cams/devices, hook it up through Mobileme and voila: Third party home electronics/lighting gear/security equipment companies would definately flock to this and apple would be in the middle of the home automation ecosystem, which has the potential to be way bigger than even the iPod/iPhone-accessories market!

I'll probably make the transition over to transmission. I've been using Azure but I don't like the processor hit (it's Java right?) when I run it.

I really should have Handbrake on that list as well. Next year I'm getting an Apple TV and I'll be rolling my own content and more.

Sigh ..Google Reader is soooo much faster than Newsgator.com. I'm about to switch on over myself.

If you like Things DP...be sure to check out The Hit List from my links. I've read both Things and Omnifocus users talking about bailing for this app. I haven't taken the plunge so I'll probably demo it when it's out of beta.

Speaking a bit on home automation/Going Green have you seen the Belkin Conserve power strips? They have RF remote on/off switches and comes with a nifty wall mount button. I'm thinking about buying 3-4 of these and connecting them to all computer and stereo stuff so that I can kill the vampire power suckage everyday with the flip of a switch. I'm thinking that it might be easy to have a universal remote that does RF assume these duties as well in the future as I get more home automationey. I agree at the very least Apple can shut up the usual suspects hounding them over their Green initiatives.

[Moogs]

Since Apple is obviously abandoning trade shows given their behavior over the last year+ it will be interesting to see when we see new versions of Final Cut Studio, Aperture, et al. Everyone get your 2009 "Special Event" calendars ready. Heh...

As for the apps you mentioned murch, I've been using OmniFocus for a few months now to help me stay organized on big projects. It's been pretty useful except I have to say it's still a little quirky the way things are tagged, viewed and "retired". In some respects it's not very intuitive though the UI is very elegant as all Omni apps are. I'm still learning it but as a "jump in and go" type app it can definitely help one stay on top of things. Would like to see some strong tie-ins to Office 2008 but I doubt we will.

Coda I like too and use as my primary web app although it too could be better. It needs least a few drag-a-drop elements to help build your pages with (CSS menu systems, and basic things like mail links, img objects, etc). It doesn't need to be DW but it could have a few more visual bits to its workflow. Slippery slope I realize.

Fusion has been rock-solid for me so far. Really like it.

Tangerine I've not heard of but will check it out.

My most looked-forward-to apps: would be Final Cut Studio 3. Hoping they've upped the game in Motion with some Shake / AE-like technology, and hoping DVDSP gets a real overhaul... and for once a single UI metaphor for all of them would be nice.

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by Moogs As for the apps you mentioned murch, I've been using OmniFocus for a few months now to help me stay organized on big projects. It's been pretty useful except I have to say it's still a little quirky the way things are tagged, viewed and "retired". In some respects it's not very intuitive though the UI is very elegant as all Omni apps are. I'm still learning it but as a "jump in and go" type app it can definitely help one stay on top of things. Would like to see some strong tie-ins to Office 2008 but I doubt we will.

Yeah I've heard about some of the "quirks" of OmniFocus which is why I'll probably wait until they hit 2.0 and then see where we are with Things, OF and The Hit List. The best will win.

Originally Posted by Moogs Coda I like too and use as my primary web app although it too could be better. It needs least a few drag-a-drop elements to help build your pages with (CSS menu systems, and basic things like mail links, img objects, etc). It doesn't need to be DW but it could have a few more visual bits to its workflow. Slippery slope I realize.

Coda is intriguing to me because I just want to begin to dabble on my own sites. I've heard it's CSS support is a bit weak but workable. I think they'll have a nice update for Coda 2.0 and by then Expresso from MacRabbit will be out as well.

Originally Posted by Moogs Tangerine I've not heard of but will check it out. My most looked-forward-to apps: would be Final Cut Studio 3. Hoping they've upped the game in Motion with some Shake / AE-like technology, and hoping DVDSP gets a real overhaul... and for once a single UI metaphor for all of them would be nice.

Definitely check out Tangerine. I was expecting it to put Color Picker on steroids but how it handles web development and using colors is fantastic. The videos are well done and this product certainly looks like a labor of love for the developer.

Final Cut Studio 3 will certainly be the perfect time for a unified and modern look. Final Cut Pro is looking a bit haggered in it's old age and it needs a new spiffy coat of paint and bionic bones. If the mythical Shake replacement Phenomenon ever sees the light of day I'm guessing that it'll just consume Motion and become the equivalent of Motion Pro Extreme.

Hey Dutch Pear! What would you like to see in Aperture 3.0 ??

[Dutch Pear]

Originally Posted by hmurchison Hey Dutch Pear! What would you like to see in Aperture 3.0 ??

Been mulling over an answer to that one, but apple just helped me! Allthough I never regretted choosing aperture over iPhoto because of the pro-aspects of it, I'm still just an amateur photographer that happens to shoot in RAW with a decent SLR camera. This new iPhoto-update really made my hopes go up that aperture 3 will be released ASAP!

Apart from major speed gains (snowleopards' grandcentral/opencl FTW) and editing capabilities I crave for integration all the new iPhoto goodies!

* Places - A major part of my library is vacation and weekend trip pics, so I'd love the fun and ease of the geotagging goodness. I Poked around with some Aperture geotagging plugins but those we're nowhere near the amount of fun and polish of the iPhoto places features! When aperture 3 is released with all the places goodness, I will be very tempted to switch from my Canon rebel to a GPS-enabled camera body!

* Faces - Same there - When I take pics, I tend to make LOTS of them, and while I'd really like to tag them all with names and such, I just can't find the time or energy. Faces would semi-automatically and very easy add the most important tags of all (to me) - names!

One last development I'm expecting is basic support for latest-generation-SLR-generated HD movie content - organize, (geo-) tag and and view in aperture -> edit in iMovie/Final cut.