Notational Velocity is a note taking app. There are plenty of these for the Mac, but this note taker has got a lot of positive features. Aside from is syncing capability, Notational Velocity is also very simple to use. Created by Zachary Schneirov, it is one of the most popular open source programs for the Mac OS.
Zotero is open source software for academic research. It is primarily aimed at professionals and students. But anyone who has to do research will find the program handy. Zotero gathers your materials in one place which you can then search and edit. The software is developed by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media.
The software allows you to add webpage snapshots, videos, images, audio files, PDFs and other files.
Biogenesis is educational software that simulates the processes that take place in the natural evolution of unicellular organisms. It is educational but can also be viewed as an entertainment program.
With Biogenesis you will learn important facts about biology. You will learn and see the microscopic world – how organisms reproduce, collide and travel. Although scientific in nature, it is simple to use and can be fun. You don’t need to be a geek to enjoy or use it.
So you just made a cool 3D model, but wouldn’t it be great if you could turn that into a real object you can hold? Well, 123D Make by Autodesk allows exactly that.
How does it do that? It turns a 3D object into cardboard templates. After printing these templates, you can use these to cut cardboards or foams. Glue them together, paint and your virtual 3D object is literally in your hands. The program is a bit different from other 3D graphics software, but it will only take a while to get used to the interface.
Bean for Mac is a word processor that can handle basic writing tasks and a bit more. It doesn’t have as many features as full office suites. But it doesn’t take as much space either. Bean combines a beautiful interface with several helpful editing tools. Even better, it is very quick and doesn’t have the intricacies that come with office suite based word processors.
The product has some limitations; it cannot display style sheets or footnotes; compatibility with Word is partial. However, it has plenty to offer. There is a grammar / spell checker, dictionary, change format font style, color, size and a live word count. The font manager makes it simple to organize and add favorites.
Gramps is one of the most popular genealogy software around, with good reasons. It’s free, and there are many advanced features that are comparable to those of paid genealogy apps. Simply put, the software is a great way to collectively store family history.
The program’s strength lies in its ability to let you enter numerous details about a person’s life. Gramps allows you to record a person’s relationship with regards to events, places and people. All the information you enter is searchable and always well arranged.
Bos Wars is a free real time strategy game (RTS) set in the future. This fast paced RTS game has you creating a war economy while battling enemies all around. Unlike turn based strategy games, the events take place in real time. You don’t have to wait your turn, but then neither do your enemies.
This will keep players on their toes. The game is challenging but not frustrating. The key to success is creating an army to attack your foes. At the same time, your army must be able to defend your plants needed to power the economy.
TextWrangler is a free professional HTML and text editor from Bare Bones, and it is certainly no Notepad. It is a very powerful program that can make your work a lot easier. Its search and replace feature allows you for instance, to change a list consisting of last name, first name to first name, last name, among many. TextWrangler can also read corrupted word processing files.
The application also has a state saving feature. All open documents are automatically saved when you exit the program, a great one for those who forget to save their work. The software also has full screen view support.
There are many comic readers for the Mac, but Simple Comic from Dancing Tortoise is a cut above most. Not only is it free, but it makes comic reading easy and comfortable. The program’s strength lies in the simple interface and how simple it is to move among pages.
After opening the app, you have the option to load two pages or center it. You can browse pages using its scrollbar. Simple Comic will display thumbnails. This is a very convenient feature that will save you time from going back and forth.
