New Year's Resolutions

I'm back! And I'm here on a mission: I'm going to review 12 freeware and possibly open-source software products for Mac OS X to replace that overly expensive set of tools you got last year. Isn't that your resolution this year — to actually save money this time?

Every month, I'll have a new product reviewed. There will be a download link, screenshots, and an in-depth look at the features. As for February, I'll have a free product on the 29th. I was busy getting some stuff ready for this review last month that I ran out of time for January. So this is for January, not February. Understand? Good. Then let's go. READ MORE »

Namely is a powerful, free application launcher for Mac OS X, just like Quicksilver. Unlike Quicksilver, Namely is very simple, easy to use, and fast. Namely is freeware, not a resource hog, and comes in a variety of colors.

How it works:

It works like this: you type in a keyboard shortcut (The default shortcut is Option+Escape), the Namely window comes up on the top of the screen, under the menubar. You begin typing the name of the program you want to run. READ MORE »

One of the biggest time consumers I have found with the Finder is navigating the folder structure to save and open files. I have always liked to organize my files in a logical way. Downloads from Safari, go in the 'download - Safari' folder, receipts in the 'receipts' folder, and so on. Occasionally, I will even get more granular than that, taking the folders into several levels deep. For example, with my Verizon bill, I have two folders - DSL & Phone Bill, and I save files in them accordingly.

As you can tell, this entails lots of clicking or keyboard shortcuts. At least it did, until I was introduced to Default Folder X. I had heard about the program before, but never given it a try. Long time Mac users know about it, since it was a staple on OS 9, and luckily has made the conversion to OS X. READ MORE »