Things to download onto a new Mac

[DCDave]

Suggestions? I just got my new work computer in the mail and it is boner-city (13" Mac Air with all upgrades)

[FreddyKnuckles]

My GF is getting one of these from the gov't (wtf)? so I'll be watching this thread as well. 

[Greg Nog]

I really like DropBox with Notational Velocity, for taking little notes on my home computer that I can check on my work computer.  Today, I will be using it for Thanksgiving-related ingredients to pick up on the way home from work.

[mountmccabe]

Greg, do you access Dropbox with your phone, too? I could never quite get it to do anything useful.

[Greg Nog]

I have not tried!  Does it work with Android?

[coldforge]

Applications I use on OS X:

Chrome
Eaglefiler (PIM/store and structure notes for research and the like)
Soulver (Calculator)
Adium (IM)
NetNewswire (RSS)
Scrivener (Writing tool)
Ulysses (Also Writing Tool -- plaintext)
Launchbar (launching applications, files, etc)
MacVim (text editor0
Forklift (dual pane file manager)
The Unarchiver (superior archive tool)
Glimmer Blocker (ad blocking web proxy)

[mountmccabe]

I have not tried!  Does it work with Android?

There is an official Dropbox app for Android. Maybe I am missing the point but I haven't gotten it to do anything I want it to do. I have not used it between computers, though, just my phone and my computer.

[Bernard]

Little Snitch, so your mac asks you for permission before it gives web access to any software.

[elpollodiablo]

Might as well grab Onyx now, which will manage yer maintenance scripts. Tweetie's nice if you're looking for a Twitter client. VLC, of course, with all the codecs. Transmission.

[RoyBiggins]

Little Snitch, so your mac asks you for permission before it gives web access to any software.

Is it too much to hope there's a premium version called Golden Snitch?

[Bernard]

If only!

[coldforge]

Dropbox has a referral link—mine is http://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTU0MjMyOQ?src=global and if you sign up using it we both get some free extra storage—but I'd rep for it even if I didn't get anything. It works SO fucking well, and it almost instantly become an integral part of my computing life. You just install it on the computers and phones that you want, and from then on you expect that any file that falls within the magic circle will be the same wherever you work on it. Its just-works factor is huge, especially in light of the hard-problem factor there.

I can't speak for the Windows experience, but on the Mac, you just get a magic folder that lives in your home directory, and anything that you put in that folder—or symlink to it—becomes global. Indespensible. And you get 2GB, for free, in perpetuum, though the sheer awesomeness of it makes me want to pay for more.

[Antero]

Little Snitch, so your mac asks you for permission before it gives web access to any software.

Is it too much to hope there's a premium version called Golden Snitch?

[DCDave]

Dropbox has a referral link—mine is http://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTU0MjMyOQ?src=global and if you sign up using it we both get some free extra storage—but I'd rep for it even if I didn't get anything. It works SO fucking well, and it almost instantly become an integral part of my computing life. You just install it on the computers and phones that you want, and from then on you expect that any file that falls within the magic circle will be the same wherever you work on it. Its just-works factor is huge, especially in light of the hard-problem factor there.

I can't speak for the Windows experience, but on the Mac, you just get a magic folder that lives in your home directory, and anything that you put in that folder—or symlink to it—becomes global. Indespensible. And you get 2GB, for free, in perpetuum, though the sheer awesomeness of it makes me want to pay for more.

Hope you enjoy the extra 250.

[alex]

Dropbox is pretty awesome, alright. After switching over to the new ICT system at work (where we are no longer trusted with admin rights for our computers) I recently had to go without it for about a week before I was able to install it on my work computer again, and that was a hard week.

I use it to sync between a Mac (home) and a Windows computer (work), and even with that set-up, the performance is solid. Only thing you have to take care of is not to turn off the computer before it's done snycing (which seems to take a little longer on the Windows computer) - I have had a couple of situations in the past where the file hadn't updated properly, but I think all of them were due to me being too hasty to shut everything down. Then there were a couple of times that files written on the Mac wouldn't open on the Windows computer, but I seriously doubt that had anything to do with Dropbox as such - it's a problem I encountered at least as much back when I regularly e-mailed myself stuff.

[elpollodiablo]

Dropbox has a referral link—mine is http://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTU0MjMyOQ?src=global and if you sign up using it we both get some free extra storage—but I'd rep for it even if I didn't get anything. It works SO fucking well, and it almost instantly become an integral part of my computing life. You just install it on the computers and phones that you want, and from then on you expect that any file that falls within the magic circle will be the same wherever you work on it. Its just-works factor is huge, especially in light of the hard-problem factor there.

I can't speak for the Windows experience, but on the Mac, you just get a magic folder that lives in your home directory, and anything that you put in that folder—or symlink to it—becomes global. Indespensible. And you get 2GB, for free, in perpetuum, though the sheer awesomeness of it makes me want to pay for more.

Hope you enjoy the extra 250.

What cf said. All of my notes, research and papers live in my Dropbox, and I'm never without what I need in order to work. Plus I've got access on my phone if I ever need it.
As far as paying for it, I don't think I'll ever use more than a few hundred megs of storage, because I only use it for text.

[jm]

The only thing I don't like about it is that any "drops" you get invited to count toward your own quota.