Great Utilities for Mac OS X
Here’s my list of applications I can’t live without on my Mac. It’s the first thing I install when setting up a new machine. Maybe you’ll find one you like?
Jacken's Computer and Electronics Blog
Here’s my list of applications I can’t live without on my Mac. It’s the first thing I install when setting up a new machine. Maybe you’ll find one you like?
I’ve been dabbling around with different blog editors for Mac now for a while, trying to find one that suits my needs. I usually try to do most of my blogging on my iPad, but when writing on my Mac I’ve used Byword in combination with Marked2 to do the initial texts written in Markdown.
A new version of Airmail has been released in conjunction with the new version of Mac OS X called Yosemite. It’s been redesigned to match Apples new look of the operating system and I love it. I’ve written before on my switch from Apples Mail to Airmail and what I like about it, and now there’s more to love. Here’s a list of some of the new features in version 2.0:
I have a couple of applications that I always install on a new Mac. Little Snitch 3 is one of them. They are the essential software I need to have installed to be productive and secure. Little Snitch by Objective Development is one of them. I’ve been using it for more than ten years now, and I wouldn’t dream of running a Mac without it installed. What Little Snitch 3 essentially does is monitor all outgoing traffic from your open applications and processes and gives you the ability to allow or deny that traffic. It is an excellent way of seeing what kind of information is sent from applications without your knowledge or consent. And it’s a great way of stopping traffic that “Phones home” without your explicit permission. When an application tries to send out something over the network, it gets intercepted by Little Snitch, and you can then allow or deny the connection, either temporary or permanently via the dialog box that appears. So Little Snitch is always there, protecting your privacy.
What if you could reduce the size of all the jpeg pictures on your hard disk? Do you have problems sending full resolution jpeg images via email because of size restraints? Is your iPhoto library too large? Let’s face it; pictures is one of the things that sucks up space on your drives. It’s even more annoying if you are using a newer Mac with an SSD disk where cost is premium. Upload speed when sending emails or uploading images to the web can be slow and annoying. An application called JPEGMini claims to help you with reducing your pictures with up to five times while retaining all the quality. I got a bit curious if the team at JPEGMini and their patented image compressor really could reduce large JPEG photos without losing quality. I’ve tried the application before when I wrote my article about comparing the best jpeg compressor applications for web use. But even though JPEGMini is geared more towards large megapixel pictures, not small images usually used on web pages, my test shows that it stacks up well against the competition even on more modest photographs. Many web pages now use pictures optimized for high-resolution images like for Retina display and high-resolution mobile devices, so the use of an image compressor is getting even more useful for web use.
But how well does JPEGMini retain quality on megapixel images in JPEG format? How much do you lose in quality by using compressing?