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Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?

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Re: Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?

#91

Post by out-of-ideas »

al_borland wrote: post #45

First, I'll say that you should take the time to get to know the features of the OS, before running out and getting a bunch of 3rd party utilities. In terms of built in stuff you may or may not already know about if coming from another platform... - Spotlight: (⌘space) launch apps, universal search, basic calculator, etc - QuickLook: (space when a file is selected in Finder, space again to close it) Preview a wide va…

i disabled spotlight after it stopped searching the system preferences and also they reordered some items where apps which used to be at the top of the list (after entering a few chars in search) became 3rd place by default-apps that are part of the read-only system that macos provides...

took me only a day to forget i ever used apple+space for apps (though for non cli apps i still open finder to app-window to find some obscure thing in Applications ive forgotten names of)

Re: Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?

#93

Post by danpalmer »

TheRealWatson wrote: post #49
afloatboat wrote: post #22

Raycast - Replaces Spotlight for opening applications - Replaces Magnet for window management, same features but don’t have to run a separate app now. - keeps a clipboard history - allows me to convert colours and units - integrates with my calendar to show me upcoming meetings, shows them in my menu bar and lets me join them with one click - allows me to prevent my Mac from sleeping (for certain durations) with caff…

I wish the Pro version wasn't subscription based. I'd pay a one time cost even if they dropped the stuff that needs server support (AI, Sync, whatever).

I wish the Pro separated AI and everything else. I can’t use the AI stuff at work for contractual reasons, but it’s also clear that most of the cost goes into that. I’m not paying $10/m for longer clipboard history, but I’d probably pay $50 one off for all the local-only bits.

Problem is that they’re VC backed and you don’t get SaaS valuations on selling a ton of single-purchase software.

Re: Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?

#94

Post by themadturk »

T3OU-736 wrote: post #86
themadturk wrote: post #83

- iStat Menus, because I like monitoring my system in realtime - Alfred, for better Spotlight (though Spotlight is actually OK) and clipboard management. - Bartender, to control the menu bar - Path Finder, for a decent orthodox file manager - Sublime Text - NetNewsWire, an excellent Mac-only RSS reader. - 1Blocker has served me well for ad blocking in Safari - Amphetamine to keep the system awake for long operations…

(No horse in this race) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40584606 seems to strongly suggest that Bartender's no longer trustworthy.

I saw that as well, but haven't had time to think much about it or explore alternatives. Thanks for reminding me.

Re: Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?

#95

Post by danpalmer »

afloatboat wrote: post #22

Raycast - Replaces Spotlight for opening applications - Replaces Magnet for window management, same features but don’t have to run a separate app now. - keeps a clipboard history - allows me to convert colours and units - integrates with my calendar to show me upcoming meetings, shows them in my menu bar and lets me join them with one click - allows me to prevent my Mac from sleeping (for certain durations) with caff…

I was a big Quicksilver user. I was a big Alfred user (from literal day 1). I’m now a big Raycast user. In fact Raycast is the only one where I’ve developed my own extensions (beyond basic toy scripts), the extension model is very good (even if distribution is iffy).

Re: Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?

#96

Post by ziml77 »

Justsignedup wrote: post #37

Can't use Mac without rectangle. You don't need magnet. Owly is my fav for anti sleeping at certain times. Though critical to disable the ads via startup features. I haven't found abetter one. Though it has quirks. Also some commands in the cli for like key repeat. Like wtf why can't I turn off accent hold when I want to repeat letters.

I like Amphetamine for keeping the system awake. I use the option to quickly set a time to stay awake until a lot. I like that I can choose whether it allows sleep or not when the laptop lid is closed. I know it also lets you create schedules and some other basic triggers for automatically starting sessions.

Re: Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?

#97

Post by magnio »

Microsoft Edge as the browser.

The split tab view is surprisingly handy for me, which is a group of two tabs you can drag around. It sounds like an inferior windows manager, but I use laptop with no monitor, so splitting into more than 2 windows doesn't make sense anyway.

Re: Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?

#98

Post by ziml77 »

muzani wrote: post #63

Shottr - someone on HN recommended it, and I use it several times a day at work (FE here). It screenshots to clipboard quickly, and you can paste these right into Slack or Facebook or ChatGPT etc. It also does text & QR recognition, so you can copy text from images and such. BetterSnapTool - lets me move windows into other screens easily, the main feature that I miss from windows. BetterTouchTool - mostly just mappin…

BetterSnapTool isn't needed anymore since the functionality is built into BetterTouchTool. The dev of those programs recommends only using BTT to avoid conflicts between the two.

Re: Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?

#99

Post by hi-v-rocknroll »

rcdemski wrote: post #90
T3OU-736 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(No horse in this race) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40584606 seems to strongly suggest that Bartender's no longer trustworthy.

The former owner chimed in to discuss the ownership change and how it was handled: https://surteesstudios.com/a-new-chapter/ I can’t say the software is untrustworthy anymore but the whole ownership change was poorly handled and I can’t blame anyone wanting to jump ship after that.

Did we really know the previous owners then any more? But somehow trust was extended to them. Maybe the incentives to keep the gold goose brand alive selling the same products and upgrades outweighs the temporary potential value of a security researcher finding your Mac utility was actually trojaned to be a clandestine intelligence gathering app or a boiler-room ransomware vector. Not everyone is a malicious FOSS contributor and paranoia shouldn't be the first instinct.

Re: Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?

#100

Post by m463 »

yen223 wrote: post #80

I highly recommend reading this list of built-in macOS terminal commands: https://ss64.com/mac/ Some commands I use often: - `pbcopy` and `pbpaste` to copy and paste data via the clipboard - `date -u` to give the date in UTC - `networkQuality` is speedtest but built-in to macOS - `caffeinate` prevents your computer from going to sleep (it's the same as the old Caffeinate program, but built-in now) - `open ...` to ope…

on most systems (macos + linux)

  TZ=UTC date
thank you for "security" (lots to read now)
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