Whitney just got a new MacBook Pro and is wondering what cool stuff I recommend. Being an avid Mac user, I offer the following list. Items marked with a ($) are not free.

  • AdiumX – nice multi-protocol chat (update: with iChat’s support for Jabber, I use iChat now)
  • Audacity – great editor for audio when you’re not using Garageband
  • Audio Hijack Pro ($) – record Skype calls and any system audio
  • BBEdit ($) – best damn text editor there is
  • Camino – a better browser than Safari
  • Chax – iChat extender
  • Conversation – decent IRC client if you use IRC
  • CoRD – open source remote desktop client if you use MS Terminal Services
  • Cyberduck – great FTP/SFTP client
  • Disk Inventory X – find out where your free disk space went
  • ecto ($) – do a lot of blogging on lots of blogs? Ecto is a great client.
  • Firefox and Flock – for testing and extensions
  • gDisk – turn your GMail account into a disk
  • Gizmo Project – competitor to Skype
  • Gleam – free Flickr uploader for photos
  • Google Earth – the world
  • Google Notifier – menubar GMail and GCal notifications
  • Google Sketchup – 3D software if you like that kind of thing
  • Growl – system-wide notifications
  • Handbrake – DVD ripper par excellence
  • iClip ($) – multi-clipboard tool
  • iStumbler – find WiFi access points on the go
  • Levelator – for leveled audio
  • mAC3Dec – rip any media file with audio into AIFF for use in Garageband
  • MacGPG – encryption
  • NeoOffice – OpenOffice port
  • QuickSpace X – fast MySpace links to common profile tools
  • Second Life – for the world that isn’t your world
  • Senuti – pull stuff off your iPod
  • Skitch – fast, easy to use screenshot maker
  • Skype – VoIP client
  • Snapz Pro X ($) – screen grabber that can also make screencasts
  • Spanning Sync – sync your Google Calendar to iCal and back
  • SpyderX – MySpace friend manager
  • Stuffit Expander – slices, dices, julienne fries, and decompresses
  • Tea Timer – desktop countdown clock
  • Transmission – Lean and mean BitTorrent client – can download Rocketboom HD in seconds
  • TweetDeck – for Twitter power use
  • VisualHub ($) – convert just about anything to anything in video
  • VLC – best video player ever
  • XCast – kind of neat podcast manager
  • XCode – the 900 lb. gorilla of development tools

What tools on the Mac do you use every day that you can’t live with? Post them here!

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