5 FREE OS X Apps every Blogger should have


I’m sure a large number of you have blogs. Even if you don’t, you’ll find these applications helpful. Regular readers of the site will recognize some of these applications as I have written about them before, but all 5 of them are extremely useful apps that any blogger will find helpful in increasing productivity and just generally saving time.

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iGTD – If you’re running multiple blogs, or just have a hard time focusing on what to do next (or first), then you need iGTD. iGTD is a “Getting Things Done” application that can quickly help you organize your life into a stress-free, easily manageable workflow. If you’re not familiar with the concept of Getting Things Done, Google it. You’ll quickly find a large community of people that swear by it as an organizational tool. iGTD is one of the best applications around that utilizes the GTD system, and you can’t beat the price: FREE.

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Cyberduck – Everyone needs an FTP program, and Cyberduck is still my favorite. It’s simple, easy to use, and free.

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SnapNDrag – Yes, OS X can take screenshots with a few keystrokes, but those screenshots always end up on the desktop. I hate that. So I use SnapNDrag instead. SnapNDrag lets you take screen shots with a variety of options, including Window, Screen, Section, and Timed, and will then hold it for you in a preview window. You can drag that image where ever you like, rename it, or take another screenshot, and that temporary file will go away. It’s a great way to quickly grab what you need and drag it to any other application you want.

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Seashore – Advanced Image editing on the Mac is actually pretty easy thanks to all the great software out there. My favorite is still Picturesque, but if you’re looking for a free alternative to something like Photoshop, Seashore has my highest recommendation. It features many of the advanced editing features of Photoshop and GIMP, but beats both when it comes to price (compared to Photoshop) and usability (when compared to GIMP).

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Cashbox – So, you’ve got a blog. You’re trying to make money from it right? Of course you are. Well, you need a way to manage your finances, and Cashbox is a great freeware solution. Sure, once you’re raking in the mega millions you’ll probably want to use a bloated app like Quickbooks so all your cigar smoking, well mustached friends think you’re on the up and up…but until you get to that point, how about using a far simpler (and in my opinion superior in most respects) program that also happens to be free?


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

11 Comments

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  1. Err, while I have nothing against the software profiled here, do you really think they are what OS X using bloggers should focus on? I’d go with Adium before a somewhat memory hogging snapshot software anyday for instance.

    Still, nice list.

  2. Excellent post michael. I am downloading three apps you mentioned here and i already have the other 2. Please do make more posts like this one, i mean more mac focused. Thanks a lot. By the way i am using google Reader on my K800i to read your blogs among others and i am using it to write this comment right now and i love it. Also Gmail works flawlessly on it too. I thought you wanna know. The sony ericsson K800i has a powerful cybershot camera and a perfect Rss and email capabilities.

  3. @TDH

    I’m not really sure how Adium would help you blog. IMing is one of the biggest distractions of my day.

    🙂

  4. nice list.

    one of my fav’s is a Firefox ext. is from ScribeFire (ex Performancing)

    I’m able to stay within the browser, cut and paste what i need, add technorati tags etc, link my categories and even upload images to my server + add to the article content.

    https://www.scribefire.com/

    MarsEdit and Ecto are nice but the extra app is a little inefficient for me.

  5. @Geekboy the problem I had with Seashore is that it wouldn’t automatically keep an image’s aspect ratio when i tried to resize it.

    I’ve been annoyed for ages that whenever I want to resize an image for a blog post I have to open up memory-hogging photoshop. Just seems like overkill to me. I was hoping I could use seashore for that, but unless it does the aspect ratio for me it’s not worth it.

    Still looks like a good app though, for free.

  6. Well, the reference was added and I must specify that the author made his own tests with those applications. So, not such a big deal to bother with.

  7. dude – you have ‘stree-free’ written up there instead of ‘stress-free’, obviously you should be looking for a killer OS-X spell-check too.