Use Kaleidoscope to spot the differences in text and image files. Review changes in seconds with the world's most advanced file comparison application.

os x system monitor

Hazel watches whatever folders you tell it to, automatically organizing your files according to the rules you create. It features a rule interface similar to that of Apple Mail so you should feel right at home. Have Hazel move files around based on name, date, type, what site/email address it came from (Safari and Mail only) and much more. Automatically put your music in your Music folder, movies in Movies. Keep your downloads off the desktop and put them where they are supposed to be.

Keyboard Maestro is a powerful macro program for Mac OS X Lion and Snow Leopard which has received glowing reviews.

Your Mac is capable of producing sound as well as playing sound channeled from outside sources—devices plugged into the Mac’s USB- and sound input ports as well as audio streamed from the Internet. Wouldn’t it be great if you could captures some of those sounds for later listening? You can. And you can for free with Soundflower. Here’s how it works.

Read Later gives you access to your Read It Later or Instapaper accounts in a single easy-to-use application. Within Read Later you can manage your read later account without logging in to the services via browser. With Read Later all stored articles are just one mouse click away. Its design offers you a fast navigation and will save you time storing and accessing articles you are planning to read.

Building a custom computer for Mac OS X can be a very rewarding experience, When you choose compatible hardware, the results can be astonishing. Based on our research, all of the components listed in this guide are compatible with Mac OS X. Included are bare bones builds and individual items through which you can design your own custom rig. All builds are fully compatible with UniBeast, have pre-edited DSDTs available in our DSDT Database, and are compatible with the CustomBeast Project.

Everybody loves the drag and drop nature of OS X. Drag an app into your applications folder, and it's installed. You'd think it would be that easy to delete an app — just a matter of dragging it to the trash. But it's not. Apps install support files on your computer that generate clutter. Introducing AppZapper. Simply drag one or more apps onto AppZapper. Then, watch as it finds the extra files and lets you delete them with one click.

If you’re fastidious about keeping your windows tidy, Stay is for you. Stay ensures that your windows are always where you want them to be, even as you connect and disconnect displays.

brings tabs to your native Finder and more!

Netspot is a new wireless survey software for Mac OS X. Find out what your Wi-Fi network is capable of right now, it's FREE! All you need to run your wireless site survey is your MacBook with native Wi-Fi / AirPort adapter. No special knowledge required. Exceptional simplicity, only 2 steps to get your first reports: survey Wi-Fi network and apply sleek visualizations. Download NetSpot wireless survey tool now.

Welcome to Take Control of Your 802.11n AirPort Network, Second Edition. This book helps you install and get the most out of your network using Apple’s AirPort and Time Capsule gear with the 802.11n Wi-Fi networking standard in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. It also gives advice for 10.5 Leopard, 10.6 Snow Leopard, and Windows 7. It was written by Glenn Fleishman, edited by Tonya Engst, and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc.

With thousands of predefined corrections for common typos and misspelled words for US and British English, German and French, Typinator is not only a typing assistant that speeds repetitive typing tasks, but also a system-wide auto-correction tool that automatically fixes typing errors and misspelled words.

The Mac calendar you'll actually enjoy using

Creating an event with Fantastical is quick, easy, and fun:

Open Fantastical by clicking the menu bar icon or pressing a customizable keyboard shortcut
Type in your event details and press return
...and you're back to what you were doing with a shiny new event in your calendar!

Fantastical's natural language engine is expressive and intelligent so you can write in your own style. Fantastical will even recognize the location of your event and let you invite people from your Address Book to the event.

What makes TrashMe special is that with the help of an add-on fron the developers, the app will also change permissions on apps you may not have write access to and uninstall them, which is perfect if you inherited a Mac from a friend or family member. TrashMe is $4.99 in the Mac App Store.

This program allows you to record with your mac from any input device directly to AIFF, WAV, MP3, MP4 or AppleLossLess

When you activate tracking, Hidden will locate your stolen computer anywhere on the planet, collect photos of the thief and screen shots of the computer in use. (We also collect lots of nerdy network information, but we won’t bore you with the details!)

The Hidden team will also help you work with the police when recovering your stolen computer.

Going minimalist with my note taking tools has been a fantastic boon to my work flow. Using applications and tools that let me access my data set of files, without taking them over and making my work flow conform to the needs of those applications, has removed a whole set of steps, perhaps most importantly the one between capturing ideas and processing them to finished work.

Here's a plan to convert an old Macintosh into a backup server - for all the computers in your "shop."

Windows/Mac: Divvy takes Windows 7's window-lock Aero Snap powers to the next level—originally on Macs, and now on Windows, too. Using a small Divvy windows, or keyboard shortcuts, you can line up your app windows any which way you want.

Divvy's use is explained in the screencast up top, but to summarize, Divvy provides a small, gridded window in which you can arrange your open windows into neat order: side by side, half-and-half vertically or horizontally, split up 5 windows to fill one monitor, or combinations of all those and other configurations. You'll use the Divvy mini-window to set up your ideal window configurations, but you can then set keyboard shortcuts to enact those configurations later, no excessive clicking needed.

Divvy is a free download, with some nags, for Windows and Mac systems; buying a $14 license removes the nags.

AppleJack is a user friendly troubleshooting assistant for Mac OS X. With AppleJack you can troubleshoot a computer even if you can't load the GUI, or don't have a startup CD handy. AppleJack runs in Single User Mode and is menu-based for ease of use.

I keep seeing lists of 10 must have Mac programs, but the lists is they are well known can't-live-without programs like Launchbar and Windowshade already installed on Machead machines. Here are some slightly more obscure programs I use every day:

Command-Tab is great…if you only ever have one window open in each of your applications. With more than one window, though, it's a hassle to find the one you want. Witch solves that problem by taking you directly to the window you want to reach.

SBook®5 is an extremely fast, AI-based personal information manager. Information is organized in free-format entries --- one for each person or company. Each entry can have any number of postal addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, photographs, URLs, and other information.

SBook5 automatically tells the difference between an entry that represents a person and one that represents a corporation, and sorts accordingly. The database then sorts entries as you would, if you only had the time.

SBook uses an artificial intelligence engine to recognize information in each free-form entry. SBook provides for transparent multi-user access to files shared over AppleShare, two-way synchronizing with Apple AddressBook, and automatic export of vCards to the Apple iPod.

Import all your stuff onto your digital shelves using your Mac’s iSight webcam, our wireless barcode scanner, or your keyboard.

Last week I mentioned that, following Steven Frank’s lead, I’d completely disabled Flash Player on my Mac. But I have a cheat, for web pages with Flash content with no non-Flash workaround. I’m really happy with this setup, so I thought I’d document it here.

Fake is a new browser for Mac OS X that makes web automation simple. Fake allows you to drag discrete browser Actions into a graphical Workflow that can be run again and again without human interaction. The Fake Workflows you create can be saved, reopened, and shared.

Inspired by Apple's Automator application, Fake looks like a combination of Safari and Automator that allows you to run (and re-run) "fake" interactions with the web.

Does your MacBook burn your legs? Does the every running fan give you a headache? Take control of the fans using smcFanControl, an amazing free little utility.

CoverSutra gives you a handy and attractive way to control iTunes without having to leave your current application.

See what's currently playing or enjoy your album artwork. Don't let yourself be distracted from your work... CoverSutra is never in your way but always by your side.

Cocktail is an award winning general purpose utility for Mac OS X. It is a smooth and powerful digital toolset with a variety of practical features that simplifies the use of advanced UNIX functions and helps Mac users around the world to get the most out of their computers. Cocktail is installed at more than 200 000 computers world wide. The largest part being private individuals, but Cocktail can also be found at large international companies (Puma, Sony), educational institutions (Harvard University, University of Texas) or newspapers (The New York Times, Business Week).

The application serves up a scrumptious mix of maintenance tools and interface tweaks, all accessible via a comprehensive graphical interface. Most of Cocktail's major features are arranged in five basic categories. In addition, a Pilot lets you clean, repair and optimize your system with one click of the button.

Snapz Pro X allows you to effortlessly record anything on your screen, saving it as a QuickTime® movie or screenshot that can be e-mailed, put up on the web, or passed around however you want.

InstantShot! offers classical screenshot functionality for capturing the whole screen, a portion of it or a window and also the option to make timed screenshots or to make delayed captures over time. It offers a wide range of preferences and options to fit everyone's needs.

InstantShot! creates an icon in the menu bar. Clicking on the icon, a menu will appear. Select the capture type from the menu (whole screen, a portion of screen, timed screenshot or multiple captures) or, if you want to change the save format, select the desired one from the submenus and then... capture!

Bookends is a full-featured and cost-effective bibliography, reference, and information management system for students and professionals.

A highly configurable, interactive, and editable interface lets you work with reference information the way you want. In the concise reference view arrange fields in any order, show just the ones that you find useful, and label them as you like. Editing or entering information is a single click away. Notecards let you enter, edit, and rearrange your thoughts, and make citing pages in footnotes a snap.

VoodooPad is a place to write down your notes and thoughts. Plant ideas, images, lists and anything else you need to keep track of and VoodooPad will grow with you, without getting in the way. You can even drag and drop folders, images, applications, or URLs into VoodooPad — they're linked up just like on the web. And with powerful search, nothing will be lost or out of reach.

Caffeine is a tiny program that puts an icon in the right side of your menu bar. Click it to prevent your Mac from automatically going to sleep, dimming the screen or starting screen savers. Click it again to go back. Right-click (or ⌘-click) the icon to show the menu.

Backdrop is a simple utility to fill your screen with a giant blank window. Fill the window with a solid color or a custom image, your choice. This is useful for:

Mac only: Wine has always been popular among Linux users for running Windows programs, but Wine is available for Mac, too—and now, free utility WineBottler can "bottle" Windows programs into separate application bundles that run as standalone Mac apps.

Apple's Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server is aimed squarely at small businesses that, for any number of reasons, need or prefer to host their core Internet services in-house without breaking the bank. Ars kicks the tires on the new combo to see if Apple has another hit on its hands.

Together lets you keep everything in one place. Text, documents, images, movies, sounds, web pages and bookmarks can all be dragged to Together for safe keeping, tagged, previewed, collected together in different ways and found again instantly.

Writing a book, short story or research paper is about more than hammering away at the keys until it's done. Research, scrawling fragmentary ideas that don't seem to fit anywhere yet, collecting faded photos from old newspapers, shuffling index cards to find that elusive structure - most writing software is only fired up after much of the hard work is already done. Enter Scrivener: writing software that stays with you from that first, unformed idea all the way through to the first - or even final - draft. Outline and structure your ideas. Take notes. Storyboard your masterpiece using a powerful virtual corkboard. View research while you write. Track themes using keywords. Dynamically combine multiple scenes into a single text just to see how they fit. Scrivener has already been enthusiastically adopted by best-selling novelists, academics, lawyers, script writers and journalists - whatever you write, grow your ideas in style.

it allows you to copy songs and videos from any iPod or iPhone to any Mac running OS X 10.4 or higher.

If you have a broadband internet service with a monthly download limit, you may find SurplusMeter comes in handy. It measures the download and upload traffic on your Internet connection and keeps a record of your traffic volume. It gives you all kinds of

The concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere.

@marshallk This might work, free Mac audio tool: