free apps

Apr 27 2009

Save Gas and Work from Home, Part 2 the Mac Shop

In Part 1 we downloaded a suite of free apps to plug in remotely to a Microsoft run environment. Now that we’ve moved to the all-Mac workplace I think you’ll find the Mac has a lot of remote already there. OS X is a server at heart, and remote access is where its roots are.

Connect

Corporate networks span the globe thanks to proprietary VPN’s. However, the Open Source folks are never far behind. The OpenVPN protocol bridges networks securely. To set one up on a Mac, you’ll want to grab Viscosity (Leopard) or TunnelBlick (Tiger). These two client/server applications (and some elbow grease) will connect your home network with your work network, allowing services like file and printer sharing and Bonjour to connect Macs.

tunnelblick Save Gas and Work from Home, Part 2 the Mac Shop

If a few ports is all you need to connect, check out SSH. Free config tools like iSSH and Secure Shell Helper to ease the setup.

Seeing is Believing

coccinella Save Gas and Work from Home, Part 2 the Mac Shop

Coccinella is a free, Jabber-based IM solution that includes a shared whiteboard. Its cross-platform, so you can even share visuals with Windows losers, er, clients.

jollyfastvnc Save Gas and Work from Home, Part 2 the Mac Shop

VNC is a tried-and-true remote desktop solution. OS X uses VNC for Back-to-my-Mac and you’ll find a VNC server already installed with OS X. JollyFastVNC is a fast, Bonjour-aware, configurable VNC client that connects you quickly with a remote Mac. Use it together with one of the VPN or SSH solutions above for secure remote access to your Mac desktop and applications.

It didn’t take a gas crunch to get your Mac ready for remote access. Check out this week’s picks and leverage the power of your Mac – remotely.

Brian

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Apr 27 2009

Freeloader on Safari

Don the pith helmets, it’s time to take Jaguar on Safari. Steve may have taken the crowd at MacWorld by surprise, but we’ve had some time to tinker with Apple’s answer to Internet Explorer.

safari Freeloader on Safari

On my 867 Quicksilver, Safari made game of Internet Explorer and even caught Chimera. Launch time and load time are faster than anything on my system.

Safari has quite a few features on IE, one of which is support for Favicons (those nifty icons that show up in the address bar). Also included is text spell checking, something only found in OnmiWeb. Add on pop-up blocking, SnapBack and Google built-in and you have quite the browsing experience.

Chimera Navigator, my pick for 2002′s best browser, still has a few advantages like tabbed browsing and Keychain support, but Safari is still in beta. A handy “bug” button lets you submit bugs, but don’t forget to submit those feature requests.

Here are a few tips for those of you joining the Safari:

  • Don’t forget to turn on pop-up blocking. Safari can dodge unwanted pop-ups, but only if you activate it on the Safari menu (or by pressing Command-K).
  • Command-click opens a link in a new window, option-click to download a link’s source. [NOTE: This feature has been reported to case data loss.]
  • Option-shift-A opens the “Activity Window” that lists current process.
  • While Safari only supports importing IE bookmarks, bookmarks from some other browsers can be dragged into the bookmark window. [UPDATE: Chimera users: check out this utility for migrating Chimera bookmarks to Safari!]

Script Editor 2.0

In an update that went pretty much unnoticed, Apple released a beta of its new AppleScript editor. Now OS X native, it also sports a new interface, find and replace and support for plug-ins.

X11 support

Apple also released X11 for OS X (public beta). This is full, side-by-side support for running X Windows applications, enabling you to install a slew of free apps without a nasty installation process.

Well, thatís our look at Safari and friends. Enjoy your browsing and please, donít feed the animals.

Until next week,

Brian

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Apr 27 2009

Out of this World

I’ll say it up front: there’s nothing practical about this week’s picks, but they are fun. All of this weekís picks are designed to help you find your place in the world and put your head in the stars.

mu Out of this WorldGlobalTraceRoute

Another win for my New Zealanders at SubRosaSoft. This little app that graphically displays the route your packets are taking around the earth. It even includes real-time sunlight and cloud mapping.

mu Out of this WorldAion

Named after the Phoenician god of time (oh, yeah, him), this little menu extra shows time in different time zones. Handy if you are always wondering what time it is in (insert exotic location). The author is very responsive to input, too.

mu Out of this WorldAPOD Grabber

Plug in to the cosmos with this utility from RAILhead that downloads the Astronomy Picture of the Day. With this app you can browse APOD archives and easily apply an image as your desktop.

mu Out of this WorldTriVectus Planets

This is a screensaver that animates your sleeping Mac with orbiting planets, peppered with an occasional exploding planet or nuclear war.

mu Out of this WorldanAtlas

This atlas utility, available for OS X and 9, lets you search for and locate places on earth. By choosing a hub, you can calculate circle plots and ranges. For the rest of us, you can use it to find Paradise California.

Take a break this week, and have some fun with one of these odd little free apps, and come back for more next week!

Brian

mu Out of this WorldDownloads provided by MacUpdate

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