Safari

1. For the latest, install both the latest Safari and Webkit β, then use the Webkit β.
2. Block ads with GlimmerBlocker, an http proxy (with settings in System Preferences); it can also add a download link for high quality in YouTube, and has extra filters to do things like kill pop-up previews in blogs.
3. YouTube now has a non-Flash, HTML5-based website for Safari/Chrome.
4. JavaScript bookmarklet for translation (drag to Bookmarks Bar) to click while viewing relevant page.

Graphics

1. Vector graphics ("draw"): OpenOffice (Draw)
   • Lots more tools than basics: e.g., gradient shading, transparency, primitive 3D.
   • Retuns to Select tool after use of any other tool.
   • Uses click, click-&-drag, & double-click instead of left, middle, & right mouse buttons.
   • Includes text editor (Writer) that's better at reading MS Word files than TextEdit.
   • Sun PDF Import Extension allows editing of PDF.
2. 3D graphics (raytracing, etc.): Art of Illusion (Java); saves as JPG (e.g.), but Preview will convert to PDF.
3. Bitmap graphics ("paint"):
   • Seashore (now with a cloning tool) or LiveQuartz (now with a background eraser tool, in Leopard).
   • Gimp X11 (also Cocoa version α: Help menu crashes it; also GIMP for Painters) is more powerful but more awkward.
   • Hugin is a GUI for Panorama Tools to stitch overlapping photos together.
4. JaxoDraw (Java) draws Feynman diagrams with just the mouse. (Others require programming & specifying coordinates.)
5. STIX fonts have all the characters of TeX's Computer Modern fonts in a form that can be used in other programs, e.g., when making figures. ("STIXGeneral.otf" and "STIXGeneralItalic.otf" are the most important ones: TeX does math numerals as roman, math letters as italic.) Also, Computer Modern Unicode fonts (Latin/Greek/Cyrillic only; "cmunrm.otf" and "cmunti.otf" are the ones most relevant for math.)

Other freeware

1. TexShop
   • Simplest GUI front end for TeX.
   • Installed by MacTeX.
     • Includes rest of TeX, mostly TeX Live (cross-platform), with its load of TeX documentation.
     • Get as much as 25% speed improvement with 64-bit version.
   • SyncTeX: ⌘-click on input/output to find same spot in other window.
   • Now with source line numbering.
   • If you have font cache problems, try this bug fix.
   • To get Preview Window Magnification to work, you need to set After Window Resize to Fixed Magnification.
   • To convert pdf to eps (Mac OS X will do eps → pdf & pdf → ps, but not pdf → eps), open the pdf in TeXShop, choose the "Selection" tool in the Preview window toolbar, select all (either with ⌘-A or manually), choose "Preview>Save Selection to File...", & save as eps.
   • Modeled on TeXShop, TeXworks is for all platforms (included in MacTeX, TeX Live, & MiKTeX); includes SyncTeX.
2. MacFusion is an interface to MacFuse, which allows mounting (s)ftp volumes as the Finder should, so you can add files, & edit with TextEdit (or use the latest iWeb, which includes ftp). To get it to work with Snow Leopard:
   1. Replace its preference pane, in /Library/PreferencePanes/ with the updated MacFUSE.prefPane.
   2. Update to the latest β of MacFuse via its preference pane in System Preferences.
   3. Remove the file
      /Applications/Macfusion.app/Contents/PlugIns/sshfs.mfplugin/Contents/Resources/sshnodelay.so
      (using control-click on MacFusion to get Show Package Contents, as usual), or replace it with the update found @ the above link for the preference pane.
3. Screensavers
   • Electric Sheep, modified by internet sharing
   • Really Slick screensavers: Hyperspace & Helios; Lattice
4. Radar in Motion: weather widget
5. Fortran & related stuff; CERNLIB & other HEP.

Tips

Text

1. Substitution, built-in (e.g., 1/2 → ½) or added (e.g., ^2 → ²). Set up in System Preferences…>Personal>Language & Text>Text. Use menu item Edit>Substitutions>Text Replacement. Great if you like to type math (in email, e.g.) as Unicode.
2. Option-delete deletes words.
3. Control-click on selected word(s) to look up in Dictionary, Google, or Spotlight; hold control-⌘-D to go from word to word for Dictionary.
4. Control-clicking on a typo to choose a correct spelling is easier than retyping; control-T between 2 letters to transpose them.
5. Click & drag to select text as contiguous letters, double-click & drag to do it with words, triple-click with paragraphs.
6. Character Viewer for all Unicode characters (e.g., math in Mail): "Edit>Special Characters...", or add directly to Title Bar by selecting in "System Preferences…>Personal>Language & Text>Input Sources". (See also my Unicode page.)
7. Xcode (install separate from System) includes FileMerge (or opendiff in Terminal): Compare 2 files (etc.) with nice interface.
8. In TextEdit, you need the setting "Format>Wrap to Page" to get the magnification bar in the lower-right corner.

Finder

1. Screen Sharing (also in iChat) allows remote control of your Mac (even over the internet).
2. ⌘-Shift-4 to select portion of screen for snapshot, or hit space for camera to select window (or dock, menu bar, or desktop for all).
3. When a file won't delete because it claims it's in use, Secure Empty Trash.

Preview

1. Delete files directly from Preview.
2. If you want PDF to fill the screen in Two Pages mode, set "Initial document scale" to (@ least) twice what you want for a single page.

Other

1. News/rumors: AppleInsider (RSS), MacRumors (RSS), MacBidouille (RSS), Ars Technica (RSS).
2. Apple keynote coverage: Gizmodo, gdgt, engadget.
3. Quicktime X does screen video capture.
4. Grapher (in Applications>Utilities) also does equations nicely; for arithmetic, just delete the "x=" (or whatever) & type.
5. Turn picture into icon in Terminal with "sips -i". (Cut & paste icons in Finder with Get Info.) Useful to give icons transparency.
6. If a program gives some weird error message doing something it did fine the day before, and seems to run fine otherwise, restart it.