Top 10 “Single Purpose” OS X Programs

Have you ever installed a large program only to use just one of its features? I’m a big fan of programs that only do one thing, but does it well. The following are my favorite “single purpose” OS X apps.

1. iWillQuit - a timer to put your Mac to sleep or shut it off
2. Namely - the fastest program launcher out there
3. Fob - a countdown program
4. Pic2Icon - convert pictures to icons
5. Burn - open source cd/dvd burning program
6. Address Book to CSV Exporter - export your address book to a gmail compatible CSV file
7. Think - limits your attention to one application at a time
8. webPM - a password manager
9. SetAlphaValue - an extension to set transparency in Cocoa apps - an alternative to Think (#6 above)
10. Finder Browser - quickly view images in a folder

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iWillQuit

Download: http://djodjodesign.free.fr/rightEN.html
Description: a very simple and straight forward app that puts your Mac to sleep or shuts it down, after the time period you specify. Saving energy has never been this simple.

Namely

Download: http://amarsagoo.info/namely/
Description: Unlike Quicksilver - which is arguably the most popular program launcher for OS X, Namely only launches programs. If you don’t need the zillion bells and whistles of QS, this app is for you. Note: I do need and love the zillion bells and whistles.

Fob

Download: http://homepage.mac.com/tfinley/LeakyPuppy/fob.html
Description: Fob is a simple, straight forward countdown timer/reminder. Never forget to take a break, leave a soda in the freezer, or burn those nachos again.

Pic2Icon

Download: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/13226
Description: Pic2Icon is a program that creates beautiful 128×128 Mac OS X icons for your pictures. Simply drop pictures or folders full of pictures onto the application and it will start creating icons. These icons will be applied to the pictures, so you can browse through them in the finder and you will be able to identify them without having to open them!

Burn

Download: http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net
Description: Burn doesn’t convert video files to DVD, create covers for your CD’s, or include ’smoke’ eye-candy. It burns CD’s and DVD’s. How novel. And as an added bonus, it’s open source.

Address Book to CSV Exporter

Download: http://www.antoniolore.net/ab2csv.php
Description: Allows you to export your Address Book in a CSV file (Comma Separated Value) that suits the “Import contacts” function on Gmail, by just following two steps.

Think

Download: http://www.freeverse.com/think/
Description: Think allows you to limit your attention to one application - any application - at any time. If you suffer from OS X A.D.D., this program will help you become way more productive. It has an added bonus of making your screen easier on your tired eyes.

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webPM

Download: http://www.daniele.ch/downloads.html
Description: webPM is a very straight forward, easy to use Password Manager. Set one “master password” and you can store all of your user names, passwords and web addresses in one place. And the database file is encrypted. Passwords are shown by hovering your mouse over the ‘reveal password’ icon.

SetAlphaValue

Download: http://www.mparrot.net/index.php?page=products&lang=en
Description: SetAlphaValue is a utility that allows you to alter the transparency OS X programs created using Cocoa (Safari, iCal, iChat, iTunes, Stickies etc). Its main intent, aside from being eye-candy, is to allow you to focus on one application at a time, without completely hiding the others.

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Finder Browser

Download: http://www.tekuris.com/products/finderbrowser
Description: The sole purpose of Finder Browser is to allow you to quickly and easily browse all of the images in a single folder. Just right-click (ctrl- click) a folder and select Browse Images.

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