Tag: mac software

Evernote – yet another application I can’t live without

A while back I did two posts on my favourite Mac software (one here – http://lesterhein.com/mac-software-i-cant-live-without/ and another here – http://lesterhein.com/mac-software-i-cant-live-without-part-2/) and now I have one more bit of kit to add to the list – Evernote. I’ve been very late to adopt to this piece of software, mostly because when I first tried it a few years back it felt clunky and well, ugly. Since then the Evernote people have sharpened their pencils and straightened their rulers, so all that’s changed…

To be fair, Evernote’s not strictly a Mac application, but rather a cross platform, cross OS, cross device piece of genius. And most importantly – it works brilliantly, most of the time without you noticing a thing.

The concept is simple – Evernote helps you take notes. The difference is that it helps you take notes everywhere – on your phones, on your mac, on your pc – wherever you happen to have an idea. I used to keep a txt file in DropBox and then update this file, which has pretty much the same effect, but Evernote does a MUCH better job of it.

With a brilliant desktop client for each OSX and Windows, it’s easier than ever to make notes. In face, I’m writing this post in Evernote. I’ll probably finish it up at the office if I have a minute and then post it from there. Absolute genius.

 

 

More than just notes

Evernote is more than mere text characters. Right now I’m using the web clipping extensively – this allows me to save a bookmark or clip an entire article, which means that I can read it offline later.

Images, audio clips and many other things are all part of the Evernote ensemble, but I haven’t yet delved too deeply into it. All I’ll say for now, is that I love it :)

Evernote review

Mac software I can’t live without

(Part 1 of 2. Read part 2 here)

In the course of an average day, I use dozens of software applications, both on my Mac and Windows machines. A friend of mine has recently decided to switch to a Mac and asked which applications I use, so I put this list together.

Mailplane – mailplaneapp.com/

Mailplane is a desktop application that helps you manage multiple Gmail accounts on your Mac. If you only have one Gmail account, then I dout you’ll get much use from it. I have about 7 Gmail accounts that I actively use and being able to easily switch between them is a real blessing.

Things – culturedcode.com/things

I have a brain like a drain pipe. Not much stays in at any given time. Things helps me keep things in order and remember which tasks I need to get done. Highly recommended if you need to keep your life in order. I actually have a task listed as ‘Get life in order’. It helps.

Chrome – google.com/chrome

I used to be a hard core FF user, but lately, she’s been a bit of a resource hog. I made the switch to Chrome and have been happy since. Fast and responsive, Chrome helps me get stuff done.

PixelMator – pixelmator.com/

Photoshop is an expensive toy. Great as it is, I can’t afford to play in that pen right now. Enter Pixelmator. Pixelmator is an image editor for Mac that allows you to do most of what Photoshop does, but at a $59 price tag, it’s a lot easier to live with. The down side is that Pixelmator doesn’t do shape editing or things like drop shadows or gradients. Sometimes I miss these things in Photoshop, but mostly I deal with the loss everytime I look at my bank balance.

Tweetdeck – tweetdeck.com/

I dig using Twitter. I use it for my personal account, to monitor the StereoType Records account and also to manage a few client account. Tweetdeck allows me to keep everything in one place. One of my favourite things is the ability to follow people from multiple accounts.

These are just a few of the apps I use and there are many more, but I think this will get my buddy off to a good start.

(Part 1 of 2. Read part 2 here)