MacOS X apps for newbies

[eido_say]

Growl.  Growl is cool. 

http://growl.info/

It tells you what's up.  Little update boxes on the screen.  I'm surprised no one's mentioned it before.

[canon_fodder]

indeed it is.  i use it for most things.

[Shmi]

Is there a plug-in or app of any kind for setting, selecting and enabling translucency/opacity for specific apps?

I'd like to make Safari translucent for the times i need to browse while using VLC. I know VLC enables movie translucency by default, but then I can't use safari without vlc staying on top, and VLC's "always on top" isn't. Also, Windowshade X doesn't work in 10.5 yet.

[zizdodrian]

Someone on this forum (I can't remember who it was) recommended Afloat to me (the original site seems to have bitten the dust.) Honestly, I could never get it to work (but it did look very good.)

[White Tiger]

I don't post very often, but I wanted to offer this.

Caffeine

Great little piece of freeware that allows you to keep your computer from going into sleep or dim-lit mode without needing to constantly go back and forth to your preferences. Basically, with a click of the little coffee cup icon on your browser, you are sleep-free. When finished, can just click it off. 

[Rob]

Was just beginning to get annoyed with having to switch my energy saving sliders back and forth on my iMac instead of being able to just select a different preset like my iBook, cheers very much White Tiger

[Keizuki]

Is there a plug-in or app of any kind for setting, selecting and enabling translucency/opacity for specific apps?

I'd like to make Safari translucent for the times i need to browse while using VLC. I know VLC enables movie translucency by default, but then I can't use safari without vlc staying on top, and VLC's "always on top" isn't. Also, Windowshade X doesn't work in 10.5 yet.

I know in 10.4 if you enabled the dev tools you could make web pages bg's transparent and just have the window frame and content visible. Not quite what your after but may work without installing anything.

edit: new app/plugin.

www.perian.org - plugin for QuickTime that makes it play almost as much as VLC. One file to install - just adds a new pref pane in sys prefs. : ) Quote from their website...

Perian enables QuickTime application support for additional media types:
AVI, FLV, and MKV file formats
MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivx, H.264, FLV/Sorenson Spark, FSV1, VP6, H263i, VP3, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, MPEG1 & MPEG2 Video, Fraps, Windows Media Audio v1 & v2, Flash ADPCM, Xiph Vorbis (in Matroska), and MPEG Layer II Audio
AVI support for: AAC, AC3 Audio, H.264, MPEG4, and VBR MP3
Subtitle support for SSA/ASS and SRT

I can now finally drag and drop mpeg videos into Final Cut Express WITH audio and not have to convert them beforehand to get the audio!

[canon_fodder]

it also lets you play .avi's etc through front row, which is awesome.

[Konflict]

I also have to recommend Perian, since it just makes everything more or less play natively with QuickTime, which is great - since it means that you can export videos from QuickTime into other formats, such as converting them for your iPhone!

[riastradh]

Search isn't turning up any recent information on this app, so maybe you ladies n' gents could help.

Several years back, Noise was used to generate pink (and maybe white?) nosie.  Since then it's been reworked and released for OS X under Noisy.  I have the app, and I can see it running on my iMac, but I get no sound whatsoever.  Currently using OS X 10.5.5 (I believe...I'll have confirm the version this evening when I get home.)

Am I missing a setting somewhere, or does this version not really work?

[canon_fodder]

what version do you have?  and are you sure it was renamed? cause i got an app called Noise that does exactly what you said....though it is PPC.... i should check if there is a more recent update.

[riastradh]

Noisy 1.2
"Noisy is an noise generator for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
It is based on Noise by Blackhole Media (a great application, but one which hasn't been updated in many years). "

I downloaded ( http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/28330/noisy)

[canon_fodder]

ah yes you are correct. i'll check it out on my computer now.

[riastradh]

Ah, I believe I've located the problem.  Either by bug or design, it appears Noisy doesn't work on system speakers, only through headphones, or possibly external speakers.  So no joy in a closed room for me just now.  Thanks for your responses CF.

[canon_fodder]

Ah, I believe I've located the problem.  Either by bug or design, it appears Noisy doesn't work on system speakers, only through headphones, or possibly external speakers.  So no joy in a closed room for me just now.  Thanks for your responses CF.

do you mean as in the speakers in the laptop? cause its working fine for me like that...  I think you got a bug.