Here are some of the favorite application I have been using on my new Macbook Pro.

MacPorts – Project to convert/port linux/GNU tools to OSX: http://www.macports.org/

Virtual Box – Sun version of VMWare/Parallels: http://www.virtualbox.org/ -- FREE

I just started using Handbrake, on a friends’s recommendation works very nicely.

Undercover- Theft recovery software for laptops; very cool: http://www.orbicule.com/

Handbrake- open source encoding tool for converting DVDs to mpeg-4: http://handbrake.fr/

DVD Imager- Great for making “backups” of your DVDs. http://lonestar.utsa.edu/llee/applescript/dvdimager.html

smcFanControl: A great way to manually adjust the fan speed on your laptop if it’s too hot for your lap: http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/software/page5/page5.html

Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper: Excellent bootable whole disk cloning/backup apps that run from within the GUI. http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html, http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

Flip4Mac: Microsoft endorsed plugin for Quicktime to handle those pesky .wmv files from within the browser: http://www.telestream.net/flip4mac-wmv/overview.htm

MacJanitor: Manually run automated Unix maintenance tasks that don’t run because you don’t leave your machine on 24/7: http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/macjanitor.html

TinkerTool: modify hidden system preferences. Most of which you can do via bash, but it saves you from looking it up: http://www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html

VMWare Fusion or Parallels for virtual machines. This is fairly well-known, but just in case.

AppFresh: Haven’t tried this yet, but looks very promising: http://metaquark.de/appfresh/

Fugu: This app is just brilliant for SFTP, SCP, and SSH related file transfers: http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/

AppZapper: automated software uninstaller. Removes all preference files, etc when removing a program… I am too cheap and just do it manually, but the app is cool: http://www.appzapper.com/

Disk Inventory X: Disk usage utility; very cool: http://www.derlien.com/

OpenPlist: Plist file editor: http://www.limit-point.com/Utilities/OpenPList.html

Stuffit: unstuff or unpack almost any archive file type. Free version is fine: http://my.smithmicro.com/win/stuffit/index.html

UnRarX: open RAR files: http://www.unrarx.com/

iStumbler: discover WIFI, Bluetooth, and Bonjour services: http://www.istumbler.net/

Flame: Network host and services discovery tool: http://husk.org/apps/flame/

LittleSnitch: stop those apps from “phoning home”: http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

Intego Security: My personal favorite for AV, Firewall, etc: http://www.intego.com/

Transmission: A lightweight bittorrent client: http://www.transmissionbt.com/