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Recommended Mac Apps

About five years ago I made the jump to the Mac world.  It took me about a day to unlearn Windows and get into the flow of the Mac, but now I look back and wonder why I didn't switch sooner.  

I've become the first call Apple support person for numerous friends and collegeaus and regularly help them make "the jump".  One question I always get is "What apps should I get?".  Well here's my list....

Time Machine - included with OS X

This is one of the most overlooked values of the Mac universe.  Connect a $125 external hard drive and you'll never loose a file or a version of a file again.  As an added bonus,it makes migrating to a new machine a breeze.  Connect the external drive to a new Mac, hit restore and all your files, setting and apps are loaded automatically.

Google Chrome - free, www.google.com/chrome

My prefered browser.  I find it faster and more user friendly than Firefox or Safari, which are both good.  

DropBox - free 2GB storage, www.dropbox.com

This is a must have app!  DropBox provides cloud based storage which is great for both disaster recovery and multiple device access to your files.  I have my DropBox synced to my laptop, iMac, iPhone and iPad.  

VLC - free, www.videolan.org/vlc

VLC will play any video file you can find with incredible clarity and performance.  I've replaced Quicktime with VLC and never looked back.

Handbrake - free, www.handbrake.fr

If you need to convert the format of audio or video files, this is the app you're looking for.

App Zapper - $12.95, www.appzapper.com

When you drag an application to the Trash Can to delete it, you're not guaranteed to remove all the hidden files from the app.  AppZapper is a well crafted app that makes everything get cleared away and your hard drive stays clean.

Pixelmator - $29.99, Apple App Store

This is the program that should be scaring the hell out of Adobe.  For $30, Pixelmator does 95% of what a $695 copy of Photoshop does.  Unless you're a graphics professional, Pixelmator will server you well.  They only caveat is that creating a drop shadow with Pixelmator is a multistep, manual process..... there's no one-click option like Photoshop.  It's totally annoying and the only reason I still have Photoshop on my machine.  Hopefully the company reads all the message boards and listens to the masses and adds this feature soon.

Gelatin - free, Apple App Store

Great app for combining multiple pdf files into a single file.  With Gelatin, Preview & OS X's print to PDF functionality, there's no reason to spend $139 or more for an Acrobat product.  Let's just say that I'm not bullish on Adobe's viability based on their current price points.

Growl - $1.99, Apple App Store

Growl is a good app for notifying you of activity from other applications running in the background.  When using my laptop, I'll have only one app visible and get pop-ups from Growl when new emails, twitter entries, skype calls or dropbox files change.  With Apple's launch of OS X Lion, Growl updated the application and let's just say it hasn't been a great experience.  I loved the old version, and am ok with the new version.  Hopefully there's an update on the way soon that makes things better.

PathFinder - $39.95, www.cocoatech.com

If you do a ton of file copying, manipulation or acess, PathFinder is a big improvement over Finder.  Not cheap, but if you spend a lot of time in Finder, you should check out PathFinder.  30 day free trial.

Disk Warrior - $99.95, www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior

Disk Warrior is an expensive utilty but worth every cent.  If you've had your Mac for a while or are having disk problems, you need to run Disk Warrior and let it fix things.  I thought my 2006 iMac was a goner as the system got slower and slower, and started crashing on a daily basis.  One run of Disk Warrior identified a couple of disk errors, patched everything up and now its running like a champ again.  Highly recommended.

Vuze - free, www.vuze.com

If you're looking for a great BitTorrent client, look no further.  Fast search and download of files, plus interfaces with iTunes and TiVo for viewing videos on your TV.

 

Steve Jobs - A life well lived

Our lives are better because of his art and vision. The next step is ours

Taking the first step

In the entrepreneurial world, everybody's got the next billion dollar idea but few ever act on it... not even one step.  The wanna-be's are happy to just talk endlessly about their "idea" and dream of riches without doing the hard work of building a product & a company.  Taking the first step involves risking pain or failure and they can't deal with that.

The first step for a "real" entrepreneur is to develop a "real" business concept.  A good concept should answer four key questions:

1. What problem do you solve?
2. Who has the problem and how big is that group?
3. What's the cost of the problem?
4. What will they pay to solve the problem?
   ( not just use the product but pay for it! )

My word of wisdom here is to take the customer's point of view when vetting your idea and the only way to really do that is to go out and meet with them in person where they live or work.  Until you know the pain they suffer first hand, you're not going to fully understand the motiviations of the target market.  

One more tip when doing market research - don't pitch your product.  Listen to people's words and look around at their environment.  Most people are too polite to tell you your idea sucks.  Family and friends are the worst.  Ask a stranger or the most cold-hearted businesswoman you know and get ready for the truth.  This feedback is worth its weight in gold.  Don't take just one person's opion; keep asking until you start seeing patterns.

Once you've got the four questions answered clearly and have good feedback, now you need to act fast and get a bare-bones prototype out there to test the market.  A fast thumbs up or thumbs down saves you both time and capital.  If its a negative response, congratulations, you know more than you did a couple weeks ago and the education didn't cost you a fortune.  The important thing is you're in game and ready to attack version 2.  If it's a thumbs up; fix the bugs, add new features and tell more people about the product.  Either way, you're now a player in the game!

To echo one of my favorite quotes from Jack Bogle, "Press on regardless!"

Greg Norman - Entrepreneur

Great interview by David Feherty talking with Greg Norman.  Insightful commentary from Greg Norman about building a brand and having a plan for your future.  Well worth the 20 minutes to watch the video.

Feherty Missed Cuts: Greg Norman

 

Entrepreneur's Mantra

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."   - Alan Kay

I came across that line in a book that I read last week and it's really stuck with me.  Don't wait for things to happen; take the lead.  

Take some time off this Labor Day weekend to appreciate those around you, recharge your batteries and get ready to start inventing the future full bore on Tuesday.  

Make a list of 5 things you absolutely need to do ( or have been putting off doing! ) and attack them first thing Tuesday.