I'm a Mac | Internet Bookmarks and Favorites
I'm a Mac and I Think Different because Apple Rocks. Gerald Davenport shares his favorite Apple/Mac items
I am a Mac user and proud of it!
The popularity of the Mac, or I should say Apple products, since 2004, has increased due to the iPod craze, Mac OS X, and the Intel chip kept it going; the iPhone, and the iPad — There are ten times as many people using Apple products than there was since 2004. This is a good and bad thing.
The GOOD thing is that there is no shortage, nor will there be for sometime, of products for the Mac. Scanners, Printers, Backpacks, Hard Drives, Accessories, Software, Games, and so forth.
The BAD thing is that there is no shortage, nor will there be for sometime, of products for the Mac. OH THE IRONY!
Yes, now us Mac Users have to tread through the list of thousands upon thousands of items, and find what we think is the best one for us just like windows users have had to do for many years before. Downloading, installing, trying it out, deleting it — this task is much easier on a Mac, I know I run both — We now have the over indulgence of software to choose from, and finding the tight, clean, and very stable version of a particular genre is a more time consuming and daunting a task, especially for those that have no idea what they really need.
My biggest peeve is that there are too many renditions of a particular task, such as system maintenance that helps the common user to use unix commands. How many do we really need that do the same thing? Some are free and others you pay. They just look different.
Speaking about looks. There are so many programmers now, both young and old, that have come from the unix and windows world that they have no idea how to make a Mac looking application. Their apps are probably really good, but I will not use them if they are blocky and square looking.
The following, not exhaustive list, is of NOTEWORTHY websites, products, and applications that we use on our Macs.
News & Information
Apple History
May 7, 2005
Mac Daily News
January 17, 2009
Macworld
March 7, 2008
OSXDaily
OSXDaily chronicles important Apple news, helpful information, worthwhile software, tips, tricks, reviews, and whatever else may be useful to Apple users.
January 15, 2019
Updates
Desktop Pictures · Icons · Fonts · Customizing
Download Fonts
February 27, 2006
Mac Font Vault
February 27, 2006
WallpapersCraft Desktop wallpapers, hd backgrounds
March 28, 2020
Programming
Software
A list of Out of date software we used to use.
April 15, 2020
Image Editors
Still and Moving Picture Editing Applications.
Adobe Creative Suite
I use Adobe apps often. They work and do what I want them to do — most of the time. What bothers me about the Adobe line of products is, each app is designed and maintained by a different department and those departments do not talk to each other to make the user interface or commands the same.
For instance: When making items larger and you want to keep the ratio in Photoshop, you just drag the item at any of the corners. In Illustrator you have to hold the shift-key down. And in InDesign, well, good luck remembering its combination just to get the container and the object to size at the same time.
I understand each app was developed before it was an Adobe app, or it was developed before the user interface guidlines were standardized, but come on. After 10 years one would think there would be a better uniformity.
What do, or can, you do about it? I like the fact that each app works well with its sibling's files. And no other app does that seamlessly. But I am still looking.
I do use Gimp and Graphic Converter for imaging now and them. Avid and DaVinci Resolve for editing. But I have not found a replacement for Illustrator, and my favorite Adobe app I cannot live without, Bridge!
June 2011
Avid Media Composer
Trained extensively at Video Symphony from 2004 - 2005, a now defunct media training school in Burbank California, on the Avid system. At the time was the most popular, or most used, editing tool for the film industry.
Avid is also the provider for ProTools Music Software and Sibellus Music Notation Software.
March 22, 2020
DaVinci Resolve by Black Magic Design
A truly simple and VERY powerful editing software, and 90% of it is FREE to use. it is a little different with the way they handle media, projects, and archiving, but. the features are incredible.
March 22, 2020
Gimp - GNU Image Manipulation Program
Free for tasks as photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring. Line Photoshop, but Free.
2.10 - July 31, 2013
HandBrake
HandBrake is a tool for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs.
1.2.0 - September 5, 2016
ImageOptim
ImageOptim makes images load faster Removes bloated metadata. Saves disk space & bandwidth by compressing images without losing quality.
1.8.8 - January 16, 2019
Miro Video Converter
A beautiful, simple way to convert almost any video to MP4, WebM (vp8), Ogg Theora, or for Android, iPhone, and iPad. Batch conversion, custom sizing, and more! AND 100% Free and open-source.
3.0 - December 5, 2012
VLC media player
VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
3.0.6 - January 16, 2016
Internet
Browsers, Chat, FTP, RSS, and more.
Browsers
Browsers come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors to access the web platform that is an open standard for all to follow. The multiple engines that browsers are built upon vary with speed, features and security — and do they play nicely with what the server dishes up.
Brave the one i use the most now, use Blink, as do applications built with CEF, Electron, or any other framework that embeds Chromium.
Apple created the WebKit engine for its Safari browser by forking the KHTML engine of the KDE project. iCab is also uses the WebKit engine.
Gecko is Mozilla's browser engine, used in its Firefox web browser, the Thunderbird email client, and the Tor Browser.
Microsoft maintains its own proprietary EdgeHTML engine, which is the successor of its Trident engine. However, EdgeHTML is now only used for Universal Windows Platform apps, as the Edge browser has been remade with the Blink engine — and they have a mac version.
Brave
You deserve a better Internet. So they reimagined what a browser should be. It begins with giving back power to us. Get unmatched speed, security and privacy by blocking trackers. Earn rewards by opting into their privacy-respecting ads and help give publishers back their fair share of Internet revenue.
NOTE: You can install and use Chrome Plugins and Extensions listed below in Brave. Yeah, it is a form of Chrome, but I like it.
November 1, 2019
Google Chrome
DO NOT USE ANYMORE. AVOID.
DO NOT USE CHROME
Mozilla Firefox
Add Extensions for various things (weather on the bottom, tab control)
Add themes — new buttons and colors
iCab
A browser I used quite often before Safari and Firefox existed. Started with 1.7 back in 1995. It is now a paid program where others are free.
1995
Microsoft Edge
I WAS NEVER A FAN OF IE, of course I have not hidden my dislike and for Microsoft in general. But they say this browser is far superior. I will give it a try.
August 30, 2020
Opera
I use Opera every now and then when I need to hack things. Firefox was my go to hacker browser, but they conformed to the higher standards to be recognized as a browser that follows.
You can add extensions to Opera from the Opera Addons page or you can install GOOGLE Extensions, but you must add the 
Install Chrome Extensions first before you do so. · Developer Site
August 19, 2023
Browser Plugins
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Ad-blocker for Gmail™
Hide ads in Gmail, and more cool stuff (see Developer Site for more info). No Javascript, CSS only.
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AdBlock for Youtube
Removes ads from Youtube™
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AdBlock - best adblocker
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The most popular Chrome extension, with over 40 million users! Blocks ads all over the web. · Developer Site
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AdGuard AdBlocker
Unmatched adblock extension against advertising and pop-ups. Blocks ads on Facebook, YouTube and all other websites. · Developer Site
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AdNauseam
Fight back against advertising surveillance. · Developer Site
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Bitwarden - Free Password Manager
A secure and free password manager for all of your devices. · Developer Site
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Broken Link Checker
The Easiest Way to find all broken links (404 errors) on the web page. Find more! Save more! · Developer Site
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Check My Links
Check My Links is a link checker that crawls through your webpage and looks for broken links. · Developer Site
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Checker Plus for Gmail™
Get desktop notifications, read, listen or delete emails without opening Gmail or Inbox by Gmail & easily manage multiple accounts. · Developer Site
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Clipboard History Pro: best productivity tool
Clipboard manager extension for your browser: history of copied text, sync clipboard items, instant paste. · Developer Site
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Country Flag +
Shows country flag based on the server location for any website · Developer Site
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Disconnect
Freedom from tracking· Homepage
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DuckDuckGo for Opera
DuckDuckGo is the search engine that doesn't track you. We also have smarter answers and less clutter. · Developer Site
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DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials
Privacy, simplified. Protect your data as you search and browse. ***Permissions are to block hidden trackers lurking everywhere.*** · Developer Site
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Email Privacy Protector: Is My Email Tracked?
Anytime you open your emails, people could be tracking when you do it, and which links you click on. Protect your email privacy. · Developer Site
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Emmet Re:view
Fast and easy way to test your responsive design in multiple viewports · Developer Site
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Forecastfox (fix version)
Get international weather forecasts with this highly customizable extension ·Developer Site
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FoxClocks
FoxClocks shows times around the world at the bottom of your browser. It deals with daylight saving time so you do not have to. ·Developer Site
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Ghostery
Ghostery is a powerful privacy extension. Block ads, stop trackers and speed up websites. · Developer Site
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Gmail Conversation Thread Reversal by cloudHQ
How to reverse your Gmail conversation threads to show in chronological order ·Developer Site
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Google Analytics Opt-out Add-on (by Google)
Tells the Google Analytics JavaScript not to send information to Google Analytics. · Developer Site
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Google Translate
View translations easily as you browse the web. By the Google Translate team. · Developer Site
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JavaScript Toggle On and Off
Toggle JavaScript engines (inline, data URL, remote, and external) on and off the easy way · Developer Site
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LastPass: Free Password Manager
LastPass, an award-winning password manager, saves your passwords and gives you secure access from every computer and mobile device. · Developer Site
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Lighthouse
Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool for improving the performance, quality, and correctness of your web apps. · Developer Site
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Link Checker
This extension runs through links on the current pages and checks whether they work
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Link Redirect Trace
The all-in-one redirect path analyzer. HTTP Headers, Rel-Canonicals, robots.txt, link power, trust and risk analyzed, too! · Developer Site
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LinkMiner
Checks webpages for broken links, and pulls metrics on those links. · Developer Site
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META SEO Inspector
Useful to inspect the meta data found inside web pages, usually not visible while browsing. · Developer Site
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NoFollow
Outlines links with rel="nofollow" (or UGC or SPONSORED), links on pages with nofollow and noindex robots meta tag. Supports search engine specific meta tags: googlebot (Google), bingbot (Bing), slurp (Yahoo) and msnbot (Bing). · Developer Site
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Nofollow Trio
Highlights Nofollow, UGC, Sponsored links on webpages. · Developer Site
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PixelBlock
PixelBlock is a Gmail extension that blocks people from tracking when you open their emails. · Developer Site
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Privacy Badger
Privacy Badger automatically learns to block invisible trackers. · Developer Site
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Redirect Path
The HTTP Header & Redirect Checker for SEO. · Developer Site
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Schema Builder for Structured Data
Easily build validated json-ld structured data markup for any webpage. Based on schema.org specification. · Developer Site
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SEO Analysis & Website Review by WooRank
Instant SEO analysis and website reviews for SEO, mobile, usability and social media. The freshest data when and where you want it. · Developer Site
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Tab Session Manager
Save and restore the state of windows and tabs. It also supports automatic saving. · Developer Site
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Tampermonkey
Tampermonkey is used to run so-called userscripts (sometimes also called Greasemonkey scripts) on websites. · Developer Site
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uBlock Origin
Finally, an efficient blocker. Easy on CPU and memory. · Developer Site
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Ugly Email
Get Back Your Email Privacy, Block Email Tracking. · Developer Site
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Wave Evaluation Tool
Evaluate web accessibility within your browser. · Developer Site
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WCAG Color contrast checker
To test the color contrast according to WCAG accessibility requirements.
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Weather
The best way to see the Weather right in your browser. Easier than looking outside! · Developer Site
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Web Developer
Adds a toolbar button with various web developer tools. · Developer Site
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Webmail Ad Blocker
Block ads on the right side of the screen when using Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and Outlook.com which expand your message space. · Developer Site
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WhatFont
The easiest way to identify fonts on web pages. · Developer Site
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WordPress Theme and Plugins Detector
This tool detects theme and plugins used on WordPress sites and displays information about them. · Developer Site
Thunderbird
I use it for 50% of my email use since it is has more features and plugins than Apple Mail, but using Apple Mail more often now.
December 21, 2009
File Sharing
DropBox
Dropbox is a home for all your photos, docs, videos, and files. Anything you add to Dropbox will automatically show up on all your computers, phones and even the Dropbox website — so you can access your stuff from anywhere.
November 7, 2012
FTP
File Transfer Protocol: upload files to a server and vice versa.
Cyberduck
Libre FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, S3 & OpenStack Swift browser for Mac and Windows.
December 29, 2011
Web Development
MAMP PRO Macintosh, Apache, Mysql, and PHP
With just a few mouse-clicks, you can install Apache, PHP and MySQL for Mac OS X!
December 22, 2009
Text Editors
Word Processors, Journals, and Screen Play writing
BBEdit by BareBones
A great little text editor; packed with features. Finally bought it, no more demos
• Apple Education Store • $109
12.6.7 is the last update for MacOS 10.13. You need BBEdit 13 to run on Mojave (10.14) or Catalina (10.15)
September 30, 2003
12.6.7 - December 26, 2019
Grammarly by Grammarly
Great Writing, Simplified. Compose bold, clear, mistake-free writing with Grammarly’s AI-powered writing assistant.
From grammar and spelling to style and tone, Grammarly helps you eliminate writing errors and find the perfect words to express yourself.
Been with them since 2017 and the past several years Terrible customer service. Just terrible. Looking at other alternatives that are cheaper, more tools, and better customer service.
October 26, 2017
November 11, 2024
MacJournal by Dan Schimpf
Back with its creator, MacJournal is a must have for me because the mind going blank, is inevitable! A MUST HAVE FOR ANYONE!!!
2.6.1 - February 16, 2005
October 31, 2019
Reunion by LeisterPro
Reunion is a genealogy software — a “family tree program” — for the Mac. Forget the others!! There is an upgrade to version 9 which is really nice.
1998
Visual Studio Code by Microsoft
Code editing. Redefined. Free. Built on open source. Runs everywhere.
May 10, 2020
Tools
In my "tools" folder as an addition to my installed tools for System, Hard Drive, and File managing
BaskUp by Peter Kaminksi
Baskup is a bash script and macOS app that are aimed at converting iMessages, which Apple stores on your local machine in non-readable iChat files, into human-readable .txt files that you can read and keep as backups on your computer. Whether it's a group message, picture, audio file, iMessage, or SMS, Baskup will back it up.
March 16, 2019
DB Browser for SQLite
Database viewer, editor by Mauricio Piacentini, Jens Miltner, Pete Morgan, René Peinthor, Martin Kleusberg, Justin Clift, and many others.
July 31, 2016
August 26, 2021
EasyFind by Devon Technologies
Another file finder with many prefs to find that one file.
July 31, 2013
December 26, 2019
Find Any File by Thomas Tempelmann
A MUST HAVE for anyone who searches their computer for files.
January 3, 2010
December 26, 2019
FreeDMG by Kelley Computing
FreeDMG is a utility which allows you to create DMGs (disk images) with very little fuss.
January 14, 2007
January 13, 2012 - still active December 26, 2019
iTerm 2 by George Nachman
A full featured terminal emulation program written for OS X using Cocoa
July 31, 2013 - still active August 19, 2023
Monolingual
Monolingual is a program for removing unnecessary language resources from Mac OS X, in order to reclaim several hundred megabytes of disk space. I saved over 1.2 gig of space
December 22, 2009 - still active December 26, 2019
OnyX by Titanium Software
OnyX is a maintenance, optimization, and personalization utility for Mac OS X.
August 22, 2021
The Unarchiver by Dag Âgren
The Unarchiver is a much more capable replacement for "Archive Utility.app" — the built-in archive unpacker program on Mac OS X — and is designed to handle many more formats and to better fit in with the design of the Finder.
December 29, 2011
February 8, 2019