Applications

Essential background applicaions

By Steven Coburn ⋅ May 19, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

There are several small, simple applications that, by themselves, do very small tasks but serve an important purpose. Things like Growl, probably one of the most popular background applications, is something most people consider ‘essential’.

The first of these applications is a menu bar item called Caffeine. The concept seams simple, click it to prevent your mac from falling asleep, the screen saver from comming on, monitor from dimming etc…, but its one of the best things I’ve come across to date. I find it useful for watching longer videos online, reading RSS feeds, leaving momentarially without being logged out of iChat- the list goes on. There is really no reason to not have this, even if you only use it occasionally.

The second application I want to show to you is Warp. Basically, when you throw your mouse over to the edge of you screen, warp speeds into action, automatically switching to the next Space. At first this can be a bit annoying, but as you get used to it, it becomes essential. No more having to even touch you keyboard to switch spaces, and working on a sometimes under-sized Macbook screen becomes easier with the help of Warp.

My last application, Letter Box, is actually a plug-in for Mail.app. In my opinion, it eliminates any gripes I had about Mail. Basically, among other things, it takes full advantage of your wide screen by moving the email preview to the right of the mailbox instead of below it. You have to check out to see it in action, but if you, like me, and have a dedicated Space for email, having Letter box and Mail.app in full screen is THE way to go.

Tags: Applications, Apps., Background, Caffeine, Letter Box, Letterbox, Mac, mail, Mail.app, small, Warp