Free Software

You get what you pay for - although not always!
Here’s a list of some of the Free Software that we found and that in most cases beats out non-free software for just being best in the field.

WhatSize

The first application we are going to touch upon is called “WhatSize”. WhatSize is an application designed to one thing and it does it flawlessly. From the developer’s own description: WhatSize is a simple tool that allows the user to quickly measure the size in bytes of a given folder and all subfolders and files within it. You would be surprised at how many useless files might be laying around on your hard disks. The files and folders are automatically sorted by size, with the biggest sizes first.

This application is nearly identical to the non-free software called Omni DiskSweeper except that the price is much better; Free! It is helpful to find hidden files on your system that are needlessly taking up valuable space. This application just works!!

RSS Menu

This is one that can be used on a daily basis and you’ll love it for it’s simplicity as well. There are a lot of RSS feed reader programs available today and while some of them are wonderfully overstuffed with features and whiz-bangs, they lack one thing: a simple, menubar based RSS reader. RSS menu delivers just that. It has everything you’ll need, all in one small compact menubar item or menuling. The developer seems to keep it very updated and the program is super lightweight and takes up very little resources. It’s also running all the time, so you don’t have to worry about checking for news, it will just get it for you.

Serverskine

This is a newer application but one that you’ll quickly finding hard to live without. It is developed by a fellow web development team and is designed for web developers who need to keep track of lots of information regarding servers, customer login information, and other daily details that can often overwhelm. There are tons of PIM programs out there, but very few that are as well-done and thought out from a web developers point-of-view.

Gawker

Gawker is one of those applications that bears out of necessity but then shines showing that software doesn’t have to cost a lot in order for it to be valuable.
Gawker also offers something that is absolutely vital to what is needed, which is time elapsed videography. Who wants to sit and scan through hours of video watching to see what does something do and when. Gawker lets you record every 5, 10, 30 seconds or any time value you wish. It also displays a timeclock onscreen which really helps a lot. Overall, Gawker is almost so good, that it really should be distributed with cameras.
There you have it, four applications that are free, yet immensly valuable. Hope you enjoy them and if you do, reward the developer by sending them a free beer or by donating to them through Paypal.

2MC

2MC is a different kind of app launcher than most, utilizing mouse gestures that you define to open specified applications or files. Draw the desired path for the mouse, then link it to an app or file. You can also change the tolerance settings, requiring greater or lesser accuracy in your mouse gestures for the file to open.

rooSwitch Lite
Take a glance at rooSwitch Lite, the newly available freeware version.
The goal of rooSwitch Lite is “to make it easy for you to create different profiles for each of the applications allowed in the Lite version. You then switch amongst the profiles to activate the data you wish to use. It’s like a multi-user environment for just one application.”
Beautiful is the word for these apps, in both look and feel. If you value productivity, give rooSwitch Lite a try. You may just find yourself falling in love.

AguaT

That is the icon for AguaT.
With the new version if iTunes 7, there were a few changes in the look of iTunes. Some people didn’t really like thos changes, so out comes “AguaT, the comprehensive Aqua solution for iTunes 7. Because change for change’s sake isn’t necessarily a good thing.”
“One of the first things one notices about the new iTunes 7 interface is the newly styled play buttons, and after that, the new, darker source menu highlight. AguaT restores both of these elements to there original aqua state.”

There’s more to it. Basically, you’ll have all the new features of iTunes 7, but you’ll be returned to the look of iTunes 6. But be warned, these changes are permanent to iTunes. If you think you’ll want to revert, be sure to keep a copy of iTunes.app before you change it.

Airport Radar

Airport Radar is a really useful widget that will help you find available wireless networks. It’s created by the people at MacWireless.com. It’s almost like they are saying, “We’re so sure our products will increase your network strength that we’re giving you a tool to test it.”

This widget has replaced both MacStumbler & KisMAC. I’ll tell you why:

1. When you’re on vacation (or just cruising your neighbourhood) the widget is really fast to pull up and is always running.
2. It gives you all the info you need. Network name, channel, open or not, signal strength.
3. And my favourite feature is the ability to join a wireless network by just clicking on the name in the widget. That is really quick and quite nice.