List of useful Mac OS X applications

Adium [freeware]
This is a multi-protocol instant messaging client, very well integrated to OSX. Check the website for the supported IM protocols, but most likely it has the ones you need (including AIM, MSN, Jabber/GTalk and Yahoo).

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 [commercial - €90]
Good photo editing software for amateurs and enthusiasts.

Adobe Reader [freeware]
To open PDF files.

aMule [freeware]
emule (edonkey) clone for Mac OS.

Azureus [freeware]
Java-based bittorrent client.

FacebookSync [freeware]
Import Facebook contact details to the Mac OS address book. Alternative download link here.

Filezilla [freeware]
FTP client.

Firefox [freeware]
No need to introduce the leading multi-platform and open-source web browser.

Flickr Uploader [freeware]
Easily upload your pictures to Flickr to share them online.

Flip4Mac WMV plug-in [freeware]
Play Windows Media video files in Quicktime and all Quicktime-based applications (including Frontrow).

Fluid [freeware]
Webkit-based (Safari) site specific browser. It will let you turn web applications (like gmail or gtalk) into a native Mac OS application with it's own icon, window ... and supports scripting to make the application interact with the system (example: display new e-mail notification in growl or in the dock).

Growl

Perrian

Photomatix [commercial - $99]
Generate High Dynamic Range (HDR) pictures from multiple shots with different exposure compensation.

Safari AdBlock [freeware]

Remove ads (pictures, flash0 from webpages in Safari, based on an online URL list.

Spanning Sync [commercial - $25/year]
(enter the coupon code 3TFDVT at registration for a $5 discount)
Synchronize Mac OS' address book and ICal (and by therefore your iPhone) with GMail contacts and Google Calendar.

XiaoCidian [freeware]
This is a Chinese language add-on for the Apple dictionary application. It can be used to display instant translation by typing ctrl+cmd+d from some applications including Safari (first, select a word or put the mouse pointer on it).

Usefull Mac tutorials

• Enable Apache webserver with PHP on Mac OS 10.5 Leopard
• Install Apache FOP on Mac OS
• Get started with LaTeX on a Mac
• Add extra dictionaries to the Mac OS dictionary application
• Quick on-screen dictionary lookup in Safari
• Encode MP3s with LAME encoder from iTunes

IPhone 2.0 synchronization - MDCrashReportTool closed unexpectedly

I was getting the following message when synchronizing my iPhone with firmware 2.0 to iTunes: "MDCrashReportTool closed unexpectedly". This is cause by a bug in Apple's crash reporting tool which make it crash when retrieving bug reports from the iPhone (pretty ironic ;-)). 

To avoid the issue, you can open a Mac OS terminal widow, and type the following command (one line):

sudo chmod a-x /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework/Versions/A/Resources/AppleMobileDeviceHelper.app/Contents/Resources/MDCrashReportTool

This simply prevents the tool from running. Note this is a workaround and not a fix, and it will completely disables the bug reporting functionality (but it was crashing anyway ...).

How to make a non-compatible HP printer work with an Apple Airport Express? (Mac OS X)

I own an HP 3745 printer (same as 3740), which I was able to use remotely with my Airport Express quite easily on my laptop running Windows and Linux (in both cases, create an IP printing port and use the normal driver).

However when I switched to an Apple laptop running Mac OS X it stopped working as the Mac drivers provided by HP don't seem to support network printing too well ... pretty ironic that only the Windows drivers work seamlessly with Apple's Airport Express!

I found a solution with open-source hpijs drivers. Here is how I made it work (follow the different steps in order):

1. Browse http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/MacOSX/hpijs
2. Download and install Ghostscript (find the appropriate version for you OS/system)
3. Download and install Foomatic RIP (find the appropriate version for you OS/system)
4. Download and install HPIJS (find the appropriate version for you OS/system)
5. Go to Print & Fax in the system preferences
6. Add your printer as a Bonjour printer, the computer should automatically select the corresponding Foomatic/HPJIS driver
7. You are done :-)

I assume the same will work with an Airport Extreme or a Time Capsule which are based on the same technology, and it applies to most HP printers (you can find a list of printers supported by the hpijs driver here).

Finally, to date I found only one drawback: the driver lets you select if you want to use the color or the black cartridge, but it is not possible to use both at the same time. This means that if you print color documents the blacks will be printed using a combination of color inks, and therefore they will be more dark grey than black and it will cost you more money.