There are many reasons for wanting to rip a DVD onto your hard drive. For example, if you like to watch movies on your laptop while traveling, you can save battery power by watching via a QuickTime file rather than using your DVD drive.
HandBrake does a great job of ripping those DVDs into MPEG-4 format. Instant HandBrake will let you create iPod-compatible MPEG-4 or H.264 files.
Check it out: HandBrake
Ever wanted to fall asleep to your iTunes, but didn’t want your computer to be running all night? You’re in luck. The folks at GuguSoft have created iTunesShut (version 4.4.2) for just this purpose. You can set it to shut your computer down after a given number of songs, or after the finish of a PlayList. Nice idea, good features.
Check it out: iTunesShut
The Finder is perhaps the weakest link in the OS X interface. It seems that it hasn’t evolved much from OS 9. There have been a number of good Finder replacements created over the years, but this one stands out. Path Finder 4.6 combines an intuitive interface with feature-laden file management tools. And it’s fast.
Check it out: Path Finder 4.6
One of the truly great opensource projects around is OpenOffice. This community has set the standard for excellence in opensource applications. Currently, for Mac users, it runs in OS X via X11. But the OpenOffice community has announced an Aqua build, due out in the next few months. For those of you who are not comfortable with X11 on your Mac, keep an eye on this.
Check it here: OpenOffice
As blogging becomes a more common way for small businesses to establish a web presence, the need for easy blogging tools increases. Most folks don’t want to learn PHP or even CSS in order to create a blog for their business. If you are using WordPress (opensource and used by many hosting services) then you’re in luck. Canvas (1.2) makes blogging on WordPress much more accessible to the less geeky population.
Check it out: Canvas 1.2
