New User! Things one should do on a mac!

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Hey everyone! I just bought a new Macbook Pro 13", the 2010 model. I love it so much so for!:D Just wondering what mac products you guys have, and more importantly, I want to know what cool things you can do on a mac (not little tips like keyboard shortcuts but more of apps). I should throw in that I'm a college student so I won't really need extremely heavy duty apps that are for people working! Just interesting apps that get stuff done!
Thanks!
 
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Hi and welcome to M-F Kobe

Have a look at these for starters .....
Mac Switching 101

Mac 101

MacTricksAndTips ~ 100 Essential Mac Apps

Mac OS Menu Bar Items


So there is a bit of reading there. As i goes for Apps we dont know what you are into, but ill list a few that most people have and you can look them up in the 100 Essential Apps URL i gave ...

Adium ~ Chat Client
Growl Notifications
SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner ~ Both make bootable copies of your HD
HandBrake ~ Video Converting
Burn ~ As it says A Burning App
Transmission ~ p2p client
Skitch ~ Screen capture and more
VLC ~ Video player that plays most codecs and does a lot more
Perian and Flip4Mac Makes watching certain codecs easier ... This is Essential IMHO
Audacity ~ Play with Music App
CandyBar ~ Mods all your icons, and dock
MainMenu or Oynx ~ Does the same as Disk utility only more thorough
Quicksilver ~ Works like Spotlight but way way better and does so much more
StuffitExpander ~ Opens Zip and rar files and more
Lil Snitch ~ Firewall type App that looks at your incoming and outgoing traffic
and last but certainly not least .....
AppTrap ~ Once installed it sits in System Preferences and deletes all associated files of anything that you put in the trash ...

Should keep you busy for a while lol
HTH

Cheers
 
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chas_m

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Read the essay in my sig, explore iTunes (particularly the podcasts and iTunes U!), there's plenty of fun pre-loaded on your machine, but if you want a suggestion for a cool little add-on, look into Radium ($25), a nicely-done menubar internet radio player or FStream (free, does mostly the same thing but you gotta add the stations manually) or just draw from iTunes' free radio selections.
 

Slydude

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There's a lot of cool stuff already included on your Mac. Check a lot of that out first. If you click the magazine link in my sig I have started a series of articles about interesting stuff on the Mac. In the meantime here are some articles describing a few things toy get you started:

ATPM 15.11 - How To: Making Your Own Speakable Items
ATPM 12.07 - How To: Maybe You Ought To Be Using Automator
ATPM 14.01 - Segments: Grandma's Life as a Video Star

The Automator article has a few scripts that are easy to build. The version of Automator looks a bit different now but I think you will catch on. If not give me a yell.

The Grandma article mentions one use for iMovie. There are many others. iMovie is included with every new Mac.
 
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As i goes for Apps we dont know what you are into, but ill list a few that most people have ...

LOL! Went down your list, and I don't have a single one of those! (oops! I've got one on your "secondary" list: Onyx) And as much as I love chocolate, I'd stay away from CandyBar. ;) I've seen way too many threads on forums wherein people have reported frustration with it.
 
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Kobe24
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Awesome!

Wow thanks everyone!
TattoedMac, thanks for the links i checked em out and they were really helpful. And that app list is boss!
chas_m, radium looks pretty sweet i think ill get it!
Slydude, thanks for telling me about automator! haha it looks really useful and im playing around on it!
 
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LOL! Went down your list, and I don't have a single one of those! (oops! I've got one on your "secondary" list: Onyx) And as much as I love chocolate, I'd stay away from CandyBar. ;) I've seen way too many threads on forums wherein people have reported frustration with it.

LOL i have everyone and use them often. I will look at chocolate, but i have never had problems with candybar. Thanks for that :)

Cheers
 

Slydude

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Slydude, thanks for telling me about automator! haha it looks really useful and im playing around on it!

You're welcome. I enjoy using Automator too although I am far from an expert at it. I usually have a hard time thinking of interesting things to do with it so if you have any ideas let me know.

There are several sites that have additional actions which can be added to Automator to extend its functionality. A couple I have found useful are Automator World and Automator - Downloads. There are also a few Automator podcasts around for free if you search the iTunes Store. I found four this morning but the only one I am familiar with is called Mac Automation Made Simple.
 
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robduckyworth


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LOL! Went down your list, and I don't have a single one of those! (oops! I've got one on your "secondary" list: Onyx) And as much as I love chocolate, I'd stay away from CandyBar. ;) I've seen way too many threads on forums wherein people have reported frustration with it.

i dont know how you can have a mac and not have any of tattoed's aforementioned Apps. every single one is essential and i use at least 3 of them everyday!

you dont even have VLC??
 
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Just a joke. I'm a chocoholic.


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Mate thanks for that ;P Im cracking up here atm I should have done what i usually do and google or MAS straight away but i was on my way out the door to work. If i did i wouldnt feel the fool now lol
How funny ? Well i think so :)
 
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'course the most important thing you should do is just think about your mac every moment you can. It will sure bring a smile to your face!
 
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i dont know how you can have a mac and not have any of tattoed's aforementioned Apps. every single one is essential and i use at least 3 of them everyday!

you dont even have VLC??

You're welcome to drop by when you're in town to witness the fact that I do have a Mac with none of those apps, except Onyx. I've looked at Onyx, haven't used it. So "essential"? Hardly.

What is VLC? Maybe I have it and am blissfully ignorant of that fact.
 

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You're welcome to drop by when you're in town to witness the fact that I do have a Mac with none of those apps, except Onyx. I've looked at Onyx, haven't used it. So "essential"? Hardly.

What is VLC? Maybe I have it and am blissfully ignorant of that fact.

well i guess we all use computers for different things. i have come across in many times a need for most of these apps! :)
 
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You're welcome to drop by when you're in town to witness the fact that I do have a Mac with none of those apps, except Onyx. I've looked at Onyx, haven't used it. So "essential"? Hardly.

What is VLC? Maybe I have it and am blissfully ignorant of that fact.

There's no VLC listed on iTunes. There's a VLC remote and a VLC streaming, but no just plain VLC. I know it's supposed to work with Handbrake, but I'm not sure exactly what VLC does either.
 

robduckyworth


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There's no VLC listed on iTunes. There's a VLC remote and a VLC streaming, but no just plain VLC. I know it's supposed to work with Handbrake, but I'm not sure exactly what VLC does either.

VLC is a media player. it plays a LOT of different formats. rest assured if you have a media file you need to play, VLC can take it.

VideoLAN - VLC media player for Mac OS X
 
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Ah! I don't play media files. I do play checkers. ;) (not really)
 

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