This is the fourth post in the “Applications I Couldn’t Live Without Series”. I began this series of posts in 2007, and have continued on in 2008, and 2009. Each year I recap the Mac applications I couldn’t live without during the previous year. Some applications have remained on this list for years, some applications have been replaced, and others have dropped off or been added to the list. Thank you to all the Mac developers out there who make beautiful Mac software. These are the applications I couldn’t live without in 2010, in no particular order.

Video Monkey is my go to application when I need to convert video. Development of the application was very slow in 2010, but the project is still in development and it remains a very solid application. Any video that goes onto my original Apple TV is converted with Video Monkey.

1Password continues to be one of my favorite Mac applications. It makes managing your online passwords incredibly easy. 1Password 3 added some nice features, including the ability to manage software license information. I’ve entered a number of my software licenses into the application. The 1Password iPhone App (iTunes link) gives you the ability to make your login information mobile, which has been incredibly helpful at times. There is also a iPad App and Windows version as well.

If you want to manage multiple calendars, BusySync will make it easy. My wife and I use Google Calendar and BusySync bridges the gap between my iPhone, my work Outlook calendar, my Mac, and my wife’s calendar. For work and home, BusySync keeps my calendars in sync.

Cooking is one of my passions and MacGourmet is what I use to keep my recipes organized. I watch a ton of Food Network shows (Throwdown, Barefoot Contessa, and Giada At Home are some of my favorites) and have added countless recipes from their website. MacGourmet includes a very easy method to import recipes from the Food Network site and a handful of other popular recipe sites. For recipes on any website, the text clipping feature makes adding a recipe dead simple. MacGourmet touch (iTunes link) allows you to take your entire recipe collection with you on your iPhone or iPod touch. Having my recipes on my iPhone has been immensely useful when grocery shopping and I’m not sure what to make. MacGourmet 3 was released in 2010 and an iPad version and update to MacGourmet touch are both currently in development.

Caffeine easily allows you to suspend your power settings to prevent your Mac from going to sleep. I didn’t use Caffeine as much in 2010, but it’s still heavily used on my Mac. If you watch video on your Mac, you need this application. Best of all, it’s free!

I still write every AMHQ post with MarsEdit. Simply put, blogging with MarsEdit makes blogging easier. MarsEdit 3 was released this year, but I’m still running version 2.4.3. MarsEdit supports all the major blogging software platforms. If you blog, this application should be on your Mac.

After three years in beta, Skitch 1.0 finally hit in 2010. Nearly every screen shot you see on this website has been captured with Skitch. After capturing and resizing the picture, I just drag it straight from Skitch into MarsEdit and click insert. The application remains free with Skitch Plus offering additional features and storage on skitch.com for $19.95 a year.

After loosing faith in Cha-Ching, I began to look for alternatives to manage my finances on my Mac. I eventually settled on Money. The budgeting features are more solid than Cha-Ching and the free iPhone/iPad App (iTunes link) is very easy to use. I preferred the Cha-Ching UI over Money, but have no regrets in moving to Money after Cha-Ching was abandoned by the developer. Money is solid, easy to use, and actively developed. Having both a Mac application and iPhone app sealed the deal for me.

The other day I noticed I was running low on disk space. I fired up the application WhatSize which I hadn’t used in quite some time. I’ve written about WhatSize before, but I guess the demo period had run out. Long story short, I went looking for alternatives to WhatSize.

A short search later, I downloaded OmniDiskSweeper. When you first launch OminDiskSweeper, you’re prompted to choose a drive. Once you select the drive, it takes the application a few moments to “sweep” the drive. Once the sweep is done, you’ll see a list of folders with their current size. As you drill down in your folder list, the size is reflected in those folders as well. You can delete files from within the application and the folder sizes are automatically recalculated.

OmniDiskSweeper is a free application by The Omni Group. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. If you’re looking to clear up some space on your hard drive but don’t know what’s taking up the space, I highly suggest downloading OmniDiskSweeper.

The folks behind MacHeist, the spy themed software bundle, are getting ready to kick off another event. Details are sparse right now, except the fact that the software bundle sale begins on March 2nd, 2010. The updated website does provides a few clues about what applications might be included with the bundle. The boxes moving across the screen contain application icons for RipIt, Flow, and several other icons for applications I’m not familiar with.

If you visit the MacHeist website right now, you’ll be able to grab a free copy of the Snow Leopard only application Squeeze. From the Squeeze website: “Squeeze is a background file compressor, which uses the new HFS-compression technology in Snow Leopard to transparently compress the folders you configure it to process. Mac OS will read those files normally, they will just take less disk space.”

If you aren’t familiar with MacHeist, you can see our previous coverage of it HERE.

Sophiestication Software is celebrating the 3rd anniversary of its terrific iTunes companion application, CoverSutra, with a sale. Through January 27th you can get CoverSutra for $5, which is 75% off the regular price.

CoverSutra has many great features, including Last.fm scrobbling, spotlight-esque searching of your iTunes library from the toolbar, cover displaying on the desktop and the dock, and much more.

I finally made the plunge and purchased CoverSutra and am not disappointed. The sale price is valid for all versions of CoverSutra, including 1.2 for Tiger and 2.22 for Leopard and Snow Leopard. Free upgrades are available until version 3.0 is released.

For both 2007 and 2008, I listed a number of applications I couldn’t live without those year. It’s now time to release the same list for 2009. Some applications remain unchanged from 2008, but a few have dropped off the list all together and a few more have been added. I’d like to say “Thank You” to all the Mac developers out there who make beautiful Mac software. These are the applications I couldn’t live without in 2009, in no particular order.

1Password remains one of my favorite Mac applications. It makes managing your online passwords incredibly easy. I recently upgraded to 1Password 3 in advance of my move to Snow Leopard. 1Password 3 adds some nice features, including the ability to manage software license information. The 1Password iPhone App (iTunes link) gives you the ability to make your login information mobile.

I still write every AMHQ post with MarsEdit. Not much has changed over the last year with MarsEdit, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Blogging with MarsEdit makes blogging easier, so I’m going to continue to use it. Alas, MarsEdit still doesn’t have bullet and numbered list support. Maybe it will happen in 2010?

Towards the end of 2009 my wife didn’t use Google Calendar that much, but BusySync still remains incredibly useful. Since I upload my work Outlook calendar to Google Calendar, I’m able to sync it to my iPhone with the help of BusySync. For work and home, BusySync keeps my calendars in sync.

Nearly every time my Mac is turned on, Caffeine is running. Caffeine easily allows you to suspend your power settings to prevent your Mac from going to sleep. This year they added the ability to suspend your power settings for 7 different time periods. If you watch video on your Mac, you need this application. Best of all, it’s free!

It’s 2010 and I still use Cha-Ching to manage the finances for my family. The iPhone App was released and I love having the ability to add transactions while on the go. I liked the Cha-Ching touch beta so much that I purchased version 1.0 the first day it hit the App Store. Cha-Ching for Mac is still in Beta however. In fact, I’ve begun to loose faith in the developers as the app has been in beta for well over a year and communication from them is thin at best. I’m slowly beginning to think that I need to look for another application to manage my finances.

Rising from the ashes of VisualHub is Video Monkey. Video Monkey is my go to application when I need to convert video. The very first version I tried was slow. Since then however, Video Monkey has turned into a very solid application. I use it often when converting video for my Apple TV.

I don’t watch many TV shows when they are first aired. Instead, I plug in my EyeTV Hybrid and use the accompanying software, EyeTV, to record shows onto my Mac and watch them later on my Apple TV. I just upgraded to version 3 which included Snow Leopard support and a updated UI among many other updates. There is also a companion EyeTV iPhone App.

Cooking is one of my passions and MacGourmet is what I use to keep my recipes organized. I watch a lot of Food Network show and have added countless recipes from their website. MacGourmet includes a very easy method to import recipes from the Food Network site and a handful of others. For recipes on any website, the text clipping feature makes adding a recipe dead simple. MacGourmet touch (iTunes link) allows you to take your entire recipe collection with you on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Despite still being in beta, Skitch was rock solid in 2009. I use Skitch to capture and resize pretty much every picture you see on this website. After capturing and resizing the picture, I just drag it straight from Skitch into MarsEdit and click insert. I wonder if 2010 will finally bring a 1.0 version?

When I needed to handle multiple Twitter accounts, I found Nambu. Nambu allows me to manage every aspect of the Twitter accounts I use. The ability to unfavorite tweets has been one of the most used features of Nambu. When I upgraded to Snow Leopard, Nambu started to crash randomly. Nambu moved from an open to private beta so I haven’t been able to update it for Snow Leopard support. Because of poor Snow Leopard support, I’ve been on the lookout for another Twitter app in 2010.

No browser has made me completely happy.  Safari is my main browser, but I have tried just about every other browser out there for Mac.  Which means I had to give the Google Chrome beta a test drive.

The first thing I noticed when using Chrome is the placement of the tabs on top, which provides more browsing room.  I have longed for this feature since using it in the Safari 4 beta.  Google’s take on the tab bar is far more intuitive then Apple’s implemention in the Safari 4 beta.  Tabs run in separate process sandboxes in Chrome so one crashed tab will not bring down all the others.

The “Omnibox” combines the URL and search boxes into one.  Search engines can be added to search a specific web site, such as Wikipedia or CNET.

Themes provide a way to drastically alter the look of Chrome.  I didn’t care for any of the current themes, instead opting for the default look which is more “Mac-esque.”

As this is a beta, there a more then a few issues with Google Chrome.  It is missing many features compared to its Windows brethren, including a lack of bookmark syncing between Chrome browsers, no bookmark manager (how is that even possible?), not being able to install extensions, only running in 32-bit mode, and not being able to pin tabs (this option sizes tabs so only favicons show).

The most recent builds of Chromium, the open source project behind Google Chrome, can install extensions and do bookmark syncing, but still lacks a bookmark manager. It is great to see extensions come to another browser besides Firefox.  There are already a large amount of useful extensions that improve sites like Gmail, Google Wave, and Twitter.

Google rushed the Chrome beta so it would be out for Mac users this year, and it shows.  This browser is very stable (I can’t remember the last time it crashed for me) and zippy enough for every day use, but feature-wise is barebones.  It is available now for free.

I enjoy using a minimalist Mac that limits distractions.  I do not like having many icons in the taskbar or tons of applications open.  Internet browsing, e-mail, instant messaging, and Twitter distract me incredibly easily.  OmmWriter helps block out diversions like this while writing.

OmmWriter, from the digital creative agency Herraiz Soto & Co., is a full screen text editor like WriteRoom, though that’s where the similarities end.  OmmWriter is very different compared to other writing applications.  It is an application that is a unique experience.  It draws me in and helps me focus with calming audio.  Yes, audio.  There are seven tracks to choose from, including flowing water and birds.  There are also seven different sounds for keyboard key hits.  All audio can be muted if you find them distracting.

The uniqueness doesn’t end there.  There are also three background images to choose from which are simple and beautiful.  It would have been nice to choose background images from my iPhoto library.

There are not many settings to choose from.  There are three different fonts and text sizes.  Having too many configurations can be distracting, which is not what OmmWriter is about.  OmmWriter is about sitting down and writing while ignoring anything else going on in the world.

I am very excited about where the future lies for OmmWriter.  It has the potential to be a special application.  Currently in beta, it is freeware that is compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 or higher and is available now.

It must be nearing the holiday season because the software bundles are coming. This time however, the bundle is totally free. The folks at MacHeist are giving away a “nanoBundle” for absolutely nothing. So what are they giving away?

• ShoveBox
• WriteRoom
• Twitterrific
• TinyGrab
• Hordes of Orcs
• Mariner Write

The first 5 applications are available free of charge right now. Mariner Write will be unlocked when 500,000 nanoBundles are downloaded. If share a quick status update on Facebook, you can also get VirusBarrier X5 for free.

The free nanoBundle ends in just 1 day, so get your free applications quickly. Visit MacHeist for more information.

Of all the Apple gear in my house, perhaps the least appreciated (but very much loved) is my Apple TV. I use it several times a week to watch podcasts, TV shows I record, and videos I download. To get some of the videos I download into a format compatible with the Apple TV, I use a great tool called VisualHub. Unfortunately, VisualHub was abandoned by the developer nearly a year ago. VisualHub’s developer was kind enough to open source his code however. From the ashes of VisualHub, a new application has risen, Video Monkey.

If you’re familiar with VisualHub, the Video Monkey UI will be easy to pick up. You begin by dragging your source file into the middle of the application. You then choose an output type from a large list of presets. Next choose encoding speeds, quality, and a few other options. If you want to send the encoded file into iTunes, just check the appropriate checkbox. Once the encoding options are set, just click the start button in the top left corner.

I used the first version of Video Monkey shortly after it came out, but I hadn’t used it again until recently because the encoding time said it would take nearly two hours to encode a 30 minute video. The current version, 0.5, has seen huge improvements since that initial release (version 0.1). That being said, the application does have a few bugs. While the list of presets include about 20 options, the only ones I could set are those related to iTunes (Apple TV, iPhone, etc). I also received a javascript error while I was changing the output presets.

One feature I didn’t know about until today was the metadata feature. I encoded a TV show and the output file included the name of the episode along with a Poster for the show! After a little poking around on the Video Monkey website, I found a detailed blog post from the developer explaining how the metadata feature works.

Unlike VisualHub, Video Monkey is a free application. The most recent upgrade brought Snow Leopard support, which the last release of VisualHub lacks. If you are looking for a replacement for VisualHub, Video Monkey is likely it.

My need to go to the library has decreased over the years because of the Internet, though I still go there frequently. When I do go to the library, a freeware application by Harold Chu called LIbrary Books makes managing my account easy.

Library Books is a application that resides in the menu bar and provides quick, helpful knowledge without making me go to my library’s web site. After entering in login credentials, the menu bar icon changes color depending on if books are due or holds have come in. It also shows the number of books currently checked out. Libraries from around the world are compatible with Library Books.

Library Books can be set to automatically update every few hours. It also supports multiple library accounts and can go directly go to my account page on the library’s web site.  Library Books can also add due dates that are automatically synced into iCal.  Optional alarms serve as due date reminders.

There is one issue to be aware of for MobileMe subscribers. iPhone OS 3.1 syncs subscription calendars to the iPhone and iPod touch. The calendar will not sync any events through MobileMe. The Library Books’ subscribed calendar will show events on the iPhone or iPod touch when syncing through iTunes.

Currently on version 2.5, Library Books 3.0 promises to show Growl notifications when holds have arrived. The only Growl notifications currently in 2.5 are for due dates. The minimum OS requirements are 10.4, but I can verify it works with 10.5 and the beta is compatible with 10.6. There is also a plan to bring a version to the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch users.

When I first started using Twitter, I used the website and text messages. Later on I started using Hahlo when I accessed Twitter on my iPhone, and Twitterrific when using my Macbook Pro. I’ve recently stopped using Twitterrific on my Mac and have started using a new Twitter client named Nambu.

Nambu has changed the way I interact with Twitter. You can see a picture of Nambu in use below.

What’s so great about Nambu?

• It’s free
• Multiple account support
• Easily view DM’s, @replies, and Favorites
• Threaded @replies
• Ability to group people to more easily view tweets
• Link organization
• Tr.im support
• And more!

What I like so much about Nambu is that you can easily slice up your Twitter stream nearly any way you like. If you are only following a few people, Nambu may be overkill. If you have multiple accounts, are following many people, or have a very active stream, you should really give Nambu a try.

I’ve been using Cha-Ching on the Mac for about a year now. While Cha-Ching is not perfect, it fits the majority of my money management needs. When I heard Midnight Apps was developing Cha-Ching for iPhone, I was very excited about the possibilities. After beta testing the application for a month or so, Cha-Ching for iPhone (iTunes link) has finally hit the App Store.

While Cha-Ching for iPhone is a completely stand alone application, the real power of the application lies in the integration it has with the desktop application. My review will concentrate more with the total Cha-Ching package (iPhone and Mac) than just the iPhone application by itself.

Once you have data in the desktop application or the iPhone application, you can begin using them together. To sync your data open both the iPhone application and desktop application. Go to Settings in the iPhone application and then hit Sync. Once you touch Sync, you’ll get the below screen telling you how to proceed with the sync on your Mac.

Currently everything is synced between both applications except for Budgets. Why? The budgeting function is being overhauled in the desktop application so right now they aren’t compatible. The budgeting function is a critical feature of any money management application so I hope the feature will be working within the next few beta releases of the desktop application.

Entering transactions on the iPhone application is a breeze. After hitting the New Transaction button, choose from a payee or add a new one. Once the payee is chosen, just enter in the amount and choose Income or Expense and click done. It takes just 3 taps to enter a new transaction!

Cha-Ching for iPhone allows you to schedule transactions, create new accounts, add notes to transactions, password protect the application, is location aware, and much more. Cha-Ching for iPhone currently costs $2.99 and requires iPhone software 2.2.1.

The verdict: Cha-Ching for iPhone is a winner. The application itself is gorgeous, intuitive, and features killer syncing with the desktop application. The ease of use is incredible. In fact, I actually prefer to enter transactions on the iPhone vs. the desktop application because the iPhone application is that easy to use. Currently the only downside is the lack of budget support with the desktop application. The budget feature is currently being worked on so it’s only a matter of time before that downside is erased. In short, Cha-Ching is the preferred method to track my family finances.

If you’re familiar with MacHeist, you probably know that the whole point of the event is to sell lots and lots of software bundles for an insanely low price. Each bundle as a few killer applications that for most people, make the decision to purchase the bundle a no brainier. Oh wait, you don’t know what MacHeist is? Visit the MacHeist website for details.

Without further waiting, here are the contents of the MacHeist 3 bundle:

• iSale
• Picturesque
• SousChef
• World of Goo
• PhoneView
• LittleSnapper
• Acorn
• Kinemac
• WireTap Studio – Unlocked after $100,000 is raised for charity
• BoinxTV – Unlocked after $100,000 is raised for charity
• The Hit List – Unlocked after an unspecified goal is hit
• Espresso – Unlocked after an unspecified goal is hit
• Big Bang Board Games – For the first 25,000 buyers only

The bundle is cheaper this year, only $39 USD. The entire bundle retails for over $550 so if you find one or two applications you want, the bundle is probably worth it. Me? I’m not sure yet. I have many applications that are similar to those offered in the bundle. For the time being I’m going to wait and see if anything is added to sweeten the deal.

If there is one thing us Mac users can count on, it is that every couple months there will be some kind of software bundle/deal offered. The deals vary in applications and methods. Some deals are a flat fee and you get the entire lot of applications. Other deals give a sliding discount based on how many applications you buy, the more applications you buy the bigger the discount.

The Mac Bundle Box is the former type of deal. For $49 you get 13 applications. The entire bundle is valued at over $300 and includes:

• Relationship
• Code Collector Pro
• DrawIt
• Espionage
• Cover Stream
• DEVONnote
• QuickScale
• Project Calculator
• Transcriva
• Magnet
• Involver
• Stuf
• Blog Assist

If you in the market for a few of these applications, it makes the price of the bundle very attractive. I don’t need any of the applications myself so I’ll pass on this particular bundle. The folks behind Mac Bundle Box are donating %5 of each sale to charity: water. charity: water is a non-profit devoted to bringing clean water to people in developing nations.

The bundle will run for 11 days according to the website, but I don’t see a mention on when that “timer” started.  If you’re interested in a few of the applications, it’s probably better to buy early than later.

At the end of 2007, I listed a number of applications I couldn’t live without that year. I recently realized I hadn’t updated the list for 2008 so I decided to do it now. Some applications remain unchanged, but others have been replaced or dropped off the list all together. I’d like to say “Thank You” to all the Mac developers out there who help make the Mac the premier computing platform today. These are the applications I couldn’t live without in 2008, in no particular order.

Blogging wouldn’t be as fun or as easy without MarsEdit. The ability to draft posts offline allows me to work anywhere and publish once I get online. I love the ability to add new categories without visiting my WordPress powered site. If you blog without MarsEdit you aren’t being as productive as you could be. My one wish for MarsEdit would be bullet and numbered list support.

While there are a number of good ftp clients for the Mac, many of them aren’t free. I’m not a power ftp user and Cyberduck allows me to get the job done. Cyberduck supports ftp and sftp and has integration with Spotlight, the Keychain, AppleScript, and Growl. If you don’t want to spend money on an ftp client, give Cyberduck a try. If you try Cyberduck and use it frequently, consider a donation to the developer (I donated).

In 2007 I used iBank to manage my household finances. Sometime in 2008 I switched to Cha-Ching as my Mac money management application of choice. Neither application is perfect, but I liked the UI and ease of use of Cha-Ching. Cha-Ching 2.0, currently in beta, improves the UI and a number of other features. There is even a Cha-Ching iPhone application in beta (I’m testing it right now) that will sync your Cha-Ching database to your iPhone. When both of these Cha-Ching applications are officially released, it will create a killer experience.

Caffeine is a one trick pony but it works like magic. When watching TV shows or movies, just activate Caffeine and it will stop your display and Mac from going to sleep. You don’t have to mess with your power settings, just a click to activate and a click to deactivate it when your done watching your video. Preventing your display or Mac from going to sleep couldn’t be easier. I use this all the time when watching my EyeTV recordings or viewing TV shows on Hulu.

If you have to use Windows and don’t want to reboot into Boot Camp, VMware Fusion is a great application to add to your arsenal. Though Parallels was first on the scene, VMware has closed the gap in a relately short amount of time. I use Fusion to access some IE only websites for my work. I’m so thankful I don’t have to tote home a Windows laptop and can instead just fire up WMware Fusion. Get VMware Fusion 2 for about $60 from Amazon.

If you read RSS feeds on multiple devices, you need NetNewsWire. The ability to read feeds from nearly anywhere and have everything seamlessly sync is absolutely amazing. I can read feeds at work, feeds on my iPhone (iTunes link), and feeds on my Mac and the changes are all kept in sync. NetNewsWire syncs with NewsGator online and the mobile version of NewsGator to allow reading from almost anywhere. Mobile NewsGator even has an iPhone optimized version which I actually prefer over the native iPhone application. If you are an iPhone toting Mac user and haven’t tried NetNewsWire, why are you waiting?

Skitch is a screen capture application from Plasq. It’s been in beta for well over a year but is very stable and ridiculously useful. Nearly every single picture you see here on Apple Mac HQ has been captured or edited with Skitch. The ability to easily resize and markup a picture and drag it from Skitch into the MarsEdit media uploader makes adding pictures to Apple Mac HQ dead simple. Skitch even comes with it’s own web-service which allows easy uploading and image sharing. When Skitch hits 1.0, there is no question I’ll plunk down my credit card to purchase it.

1Password is a password manager and form filler for OS X. These days nearly every website has a login of some kind. 1Password will help you login to those websites with ease. 1Password works will nearly every browser on OS X. If you ever find yourself forgetting your passwords or having to manage different passwords in your different browsers, you need 1Password. Currently, the 1Password iPhone application (iTunes link) is even free!

BusySync is the glue that keeps my family schedule together. My wife uses Google Calendar to keep her schedule up to date while I use iCal. BusySync makes syncing between iCal and Google Calendar completely transparent. I update my iCal and then when I sync my iPhone, my calendars and my wife’s calendar is available anywhere I have my iPhone. The synchronization of calenders prevents those moments when someone isn’t home in time to go somewhere or those “where are you” phone calls.