Apps for your new Mac

New Mac users will find OS X a capable performer by default, but there are a few gaps that are best filled by third-party apps. AppleInsider has rounded up some of the most useful additions to any Mac user's arsenal.

For this roundup, we focused on true utilities: small, often single-purpose apps that plug small holes in the Mac experience. While we usually recommend that new Mac owners work with their computers for a while before diving into the Mac App Store, the apps on this list should find a home on nearly every Mac.

Growl

Notifications

Before Apple introduced Notification Center in OS X Mountain Lion, apps communicated new information to users with Growl. For various reasons, Apple's version has not yet cornered the market — many popular apps like instant messager Adium and streaming music player Spotify still rely on Growl for notifications.

Growl has some advantages over Notification Center for users as well: notifications can be skinned and resized, for instance, and their contents can be synthesized as speech by OS X's built-in voice synthesis engine. For those who want notifications from the apps that still use Growl but prefer to keep things organized, Growl can now act as a proxy, sending updates to Notification Center.

Formerly a free download, Growl is now available in the Mac App Store as a 6.8-megabyte download.

The Unarchiver

Extract compressed files

OS X ships with a built-in compressed file extraction utility aptly named Archive Utility, and while it works well, it has some limitations. Archive Utility's list of supported file formats is slim, and it has been known to suffer performance issues on large zip files or with files created in non-Roman languages.

Enter its equally-aptly-named alternative, The Unarchiver. The Unarchiver is a speedy drop-in replacement for Archive Utility that adds support for nearly 100 older or less popular compressed file formats like 7-Zip and RAR as well as disk image archives like ISO, BIN, and Microsoft's MSI.

The Unarchiver is a free, 5.3-megabyte download from the Mac App Store.

....Read the whole list here.

Check out more tips, tricks, and helpful apps HERE!

Apple - iOS 7

iOS 7 (releasing this fall)

iOS 7 started with a desire to take an experience people love and make it better. To make it even simpler, more useful, and more enjoyable — but still feel instantly familiar. The design of iOS 7 is beautiful because it’s all of those things. And it’s the start of a new chapter for iOS.

Click Here to learn more

Apple - New Updates

Apple has announced it's next lineup of updates for Mac OS, iOS and more! Despite all the negative speculation regarding the tech giant's ability to stay ahead of the pack, Apple appears to still have a bit of "the sweet sauce" that keeps users coming back.

Here is a new ad they created about the mission of Apple.

Click Here to watch the full keynote from Apple CEO, Tim Cook.

Click Here to read about the annoucements on Engadget!

Luminance App

"Have complete control over your images with a multitude of professional enhancement filters."

One of my favorite photo editing apps for the "iDevices" is Luminance. I took these pictures with my iPhone 5 and only touched them up with the Luminance app.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

App available for iPhone and iPad on the iTunes store: here

Useful Apps for the iPad

Well folks, iPad is now available for purchase, starting today! To read all about the new improvements to the iPad Click Here.

I have been compiling a list of useful "work related apps" for the iPad even though I personally don't have an iPad...yet ;) hopefully someday!

 

iMovie - $4.99

"iMovie puts everything you need to tell your story at your fingertips. Browse and play projects in the stunning Marquee view. Make a movie in minutes by adding video, photos, music, and sound effects. Then give it the Hollywood treatment by adding a theme, titles, and transitions. And you can share your movie with the world – right from iMovie." - App Link

Movie★Slate (Clapperboard & Shot Log) - $19.99

"This professional production tool is the easy way to log footage and take notes as you shoot— saving you valuable time later when capturing and editing footage. At a fraction of a bulky digital clapperboard’s cost, you’ll be saving money too." - App Link

doddlePRO - $9.99

"With doddlePRO, resources that touch the production world from Producers, Directors, Photographers, Grips, Gaffers, Sound, Talent, Hotels, Restaurant, Catering and Transportation, etc. will be at your fingertips, using all the greatest communication tools the iPhone can offer." - App Link

ProPrompter - $9.99

"Scrolling is smooth and can be adjusted on-the-fly. An iPhone/iPodTouch that has the ProPrompter app installed, can remotely control the other device's scroll pace via a wireless Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection. Perfect for podcasts, field reporting, corporate videos, commercials, steadicams, jib shots, music videos and speeches." - App Link

Celtx - $9.99

"Celtx Script is the mobile scriptwriting app that syncs directly with Celtx desktop software and Celtx Studios. Now its easy to write or edit your film, AV, theater, comic book and audio play scripts from any place at any time." - App Link

Playhead -$2.99

"Playhead allows you to: play/pause, rewind, fast forward, go directly to the beginning/end of the timeline, navigate frame by frame, set in/out points, create, name, and color-label subclips, switch between the viewer and the timeline, and add markers. - IN ORDER TO USE PLAYHEAD YOU MUST DOWNLOAD THE PLAYHEAD AGENT (COMPATIBLE WITH MAC OS 10.5+) TO RUN ON YOUR MAC, WHICH IS AVAILABLE HERE." - App Link

I found this simple looking app to be rather interesting from what this video had to say about it - Video Link

vWave-Lite - FREE

"Control Apple's Final Cut Studio Color from your iPad. vWave-Lite allows you to control the colour differential and masters in the Primary In, Secondaries and Primary Out rooms of Color. These are controlled from three virtual trackerballs and work just like the real ones on our physical panels." - App Link

MacHeist nanoBundle FREE

"We like to think of our job as helping introduce the great indie software out there to you guys, the Mac users."

Check out these FREE Apps for Mac! Ends Nov. 11th.

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My Favorite iPhone/iTouch Apps

I'm guessing that most of you that have an iPhone or iTouch have already scoured the app store for the best apps. However, I have found that no matter how many times I check the store, there is always an app that I missed.

Thus, here is a list of my most used and favorite Social Networking and Utility apps. (Maybe I'll post some of the games I like sometime) If you have an app that you like and/or use a lot, I'd be more than happy to hear about it!

Analytics - FREE "Check your Google Analytics account"

AppMiner - FREE

BibleScope - $3.99

eBay Mobile - FREE

Facebook - FREE

FastFood - FREE "Search for your favorite food while on the road"

FedEx Mobile - FREE

Flashlight - FREE

Kayak - FREE

Mocha VNC Lite - FREE

Night Stand - $0.99 "Mobile alarm clock"

PayPal - FREE

Remote - FREE

Skype - FREE

Package Tracker Lite - FREE

Units - FREE "Units is a really useful app that lets you easily convert from a variety of units into lots of others."

Weather Bug Elite - $0.99

Wikipanion - FREE