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ConvertIt - A great little app that can be used to convert images to multiple image formats really quickly. Just drag and drop on the icon. I’m running it as a menu bar app only but it can be configured to run in the Dock as well.
Delibar - App to manage all my Pinboard bookmarks. Also an iPhone app
Dropbox - Just to make sure everything is in sync
TextExpander - While I don’t use it to its fullest extent, it is great for typing long repetitive strings in the Terminal
Location - Just the Mac OS X Lion icon letting me know what apps are currently using my Mac’s location data.
Sidekick (Previously NetworkLocation) - I use this to automate my Mac depending on where it is. For example when I get into work it will drop my volume, mount the work server drive and open up Remote Desktop Connection. I used to use AirPortLocation but since the dev isn’t supporting Lion I’ve had to switch. I only hope the devs of Sidekick add more features in the future.
CloudApp - Used on almost a hourly basis to upload pictures, links, etc. for easy sharing.
unDock - Great for cleanly ejecting all manner of drives be they network, Time Machine or USB/FW ones. Allows you to run scripts as well.
Seamless - Transitions songs from iPhone to Mac and back again.
Hazel - There isn’t enough room here to say all the good things that I want to about Hazel. If you don’t have it, get it. Think Folder Actions on steroids that have been given Green Lantern’s ring, is Superman’s secret brother, & has been soaked in cosmic rays.
Time Machine - Just to monitor how everything is running.
Wi-Fi - Because I’m constantly having to change networks.
iStat Menus 3 - This app is great. It lets me monitor what my Mac is doing at a glance and if I need more information I simply click on one of the stats to bring up a full menu. I’ve got it monitoring my Disk Activity, Network, Disk Usage, Memory, CPU, Battery, & Date and Time.
(From James Smith)
CloudApp & Droplr: Sharing documents and other files. CloudApp has a great link shortening feature (I use the keyboard wherever possible) but is limited to 25MB files. Droplr also has the much better iPhone app.
Dropbox: Using it with 1Password, PKGBackup, and other things that should be stored and accessed wherever possible. Also great photo gallery implementation for simple photo sharing
Adium: The one and only IM
: For displaying the current track
ControlPlane: Automatically switch location by rules (‘WG’ is the German abbreveation for ‘flat share’ though)
TextExpander: Save your time - use TextExpander!
Blast: Keeps track of my recently changed/opened/created files. Very good when I’m downloading tons of documents for university
Evernote: Note taking accessible over Mac, iPhone and internet
Caffeine: Prevents my Mac from falling asleep
SlimBatteryMonitor: Does what the name suggests
Then the usual: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (with MagicMouse connected), Time Machine (damn! how I hate that exclamation mark appearing on Lion when not backing up for 30min), Clock and Spotlight.
I got some other apps running like Alfred, Default Folder X, BetterTouchTool and Divvy. I would have put them into the menu bar but the problem is my Mac being a MB13,3inch model. Therefore space on the menubar is rare.
(From gramuel)
Flux - I’ve hidden the icon since I couldn’t figure out how to change it. Tints the screen a warmer tone at night.
Vienna - RSS reader. I wish I could figure out how to disable the unread menu count though.
Gmail Notifr - nice and simple.
Echofon - Twitter app.
nvALT - great for quick note-taking.
Delibar - for access to my Delicious bookmarks.
CloudApp - quick file uploading.
Calendar - calendar that shows iCal events.
CalendarBar - I’ve hidden the menubar icon and checked “Show badge inside icon” in the the preferences, so I end up with just the number of events I have for the day.
Caffeine
Focusbar - pop-up reminders to keep me focused.
- current condition icon and temperature.
iStat Menus - battery and time.
Spotlight
Most of the custom icons are from the Clean icon set (no longer available), modified to fit different apps. The CloudApp icon is from here.
(From )
Meteorologist - Great, detailed weather on my menu bar.
- Great for Gmail.
Hidden are: Coversutra and
Then just some defaults: Time Machine, Time, and Spotlight.
(From idpk)
(opensource; gets Android notifications through Growl), Last.fm scrobbler (for music), Adium IM (menubar theme used: Adium Twitbar), Caffeine (prevents the Mac from sleeping), Dropbox, (helps display a variety of info on your desktop), Macfusion (Filesystem mount plugin), and Anxiety (light weight to do manager that syncs with iCal and Mail).
(From Bharadhwaj Narayanan)
Dropbox: Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily.
CloudApp: CloudApp allows you to share images, links, music, videos and files.
: Google Notifier is an application that shows you alerts in your menu bar, so you can see when you have new Gmail messages or upcoming Google Calendar events without having to open a web browser.
Reader Notifier: Reader Notifier aims to supplement the official Mac Notifier menubar plugins for OS X, in adding support for Google Reader. Reader Notifier tells you when you have new unread rss/feed items available, and lets you visit those feeds without ever going to the Google Reader interface.
CalendarBar: CalendarBar is a unique way to keep track of your events. It shows a list of upcoming events in your menubar where it’s easy to access from any application. CalendarBar supports Facebook, iCal, and Google Calendar so you can keep track of all your events with ease.
Spotlight: Hopefully no description is necessary.
All menubar icons are my own customizations and can be downloaded here.
Instructions for customizing your menubar for a black background (directions only for 10.6.*, I am not responsible if you don’t follow the directions correctly) can be found here.
(From Zachary Yocum)
Tweetie - Clicking this icon will bring up Tweetie and show me my latest tweets, DMs, notifications, and more from Twitter. I don’t really like the new Twitter for Mac compared to the old one, so that is why I still use the older version.
Adium - I love Adium and use it everyday. It is the best IM client on OS X by far. I have changed the menu bar icon to a 1up icon depicting a mushroom from the Super Mario games.
gfxCardStatus - My Macbook Pro 15” has both Intel HD and AMD Radeon 6750m GPUs in it, and OS X only gives the user to have automatic switching between both GPUs or using the discrete Radeon only. gfxCardStatus lets me use the integrated Intel GPU only so I can save on battery life when I am unplugged.
SMARTReporter - I always worry about my SSD and external hard drives’ health/S.M.A.R.T. status, so I keep this utility on at all times. I even have it so it sends me an email if it is starting to fail!
MenuMeters - From left to right, I have two aqua lights that show Disk Activity, then since I have a quad core Macbook Pro, it shows me the usage from all four cores. Memory usage is next, showing me the used and free totals, and lastly, we end with network, which upon clicking on it, shows me detailed information about my current network, which is through gigabit ethernet.
Airport - Currently off, as I use gigabit ethernet most of the time.
Bluetooth - Currently off, but I do have it on whenever I need to transfer a file or I am paired with another device.
Time Machine - I have recently reinstalled and haven’t plugged in my external Firewire drive as of yet. Otherwise, this icon is really handy to see how much OS X has backed up and its progress.
Sound - Usually I have an optical cable running from my laptop to my set of Logitech Z-5500 speakers and the icon would be greyed out, but I am currently away from my desk, so I am using the built-in speakers and the icon is usable.
Battery - I have my laptop battery on the left side and my APC UPS battery on the right side. I love to show both, so that way I know which one is being charged at the moment.
Time and Date - I have it set to 12H time and day only, because I am so used to clicking the icon and finding out the exact day.
Spotlight - I use it constantly. I just couldn’t use OS X without it.
(From Anchit Panchal)
Dropbox: A really important service for my study, but also for my personal use. I love the possibility of sharing folders to colleagues or friends. A must have app for me…
Delibar: This is a menubar client to organize and use your Delicious or Pinboard bookmarks - in combination with the Safari extension it’s a killer-app! Love it!
Sparrow: A lightweight Gmail-client. It fits my needs perfectly.
: I think everyone knows it…
CoverSutra: Great iTunes controller which gives you the ability to search your entire music library over a Spotlight-like searchbar, displays album-artwork on your desktop, it also offers really nice iTunes player controls and more…
: Don’t know why this app still has a place in my menubar… horrible weather-forecast, but at least it looks nice… ;)
: Gives you the possibility to bookmark webpages and open it via the menubar icon…. I abuse it as a “perhaps I will read it later” button…
: Altough it’s a bit expensive, I really love this little helper in my menubar - it detached Date-Line from my desktop.
Transmit: FTP client of my choice. Great UI, great functionality!
Slim Battery Monitor: Nomen est omen.
DropIn: The best extension you can get for Dropbox, adds some really nice & useful gimmicks.
Screens: Mac Client for Screens to control your Mac with your iPhone / iPad.
Facebook: Hopefully Google+ will eliminate it from my menubar…
Radium: A menubar radio player that exactly does what it promises. Has a huge selection of radio stations included.
Time Machine
Bluetooth
Volume
Analog Clock
User Switching
AirPort
: I use it in combination with strongVPN, at the moment mainly to use Spotify here. But there are some good other reasons to use it…
Spotlight
(From Joresch)
Dropbox - Does this really need an explanation? It’s Dropbox dammit!
ForeverSave 2 - Actually won this from MacFormat, use it quite a bit especially with Photoshop. Life saver (although will be made redundant in Lion I think)
CloudApp - The best file sharing app out there.
- Nice and lite, seeing the weather at a glance.
CodeBox - For all my coding snippets (because I’m lazy).
Keychain - So I can lock and unlock it on demand, more of a security thing.
WiFi - So I can connect to the internets.
Sound - Alt-click it, I dare ya.
Battery - So I know when I need to dart for a power outlet.
Date - Because I don’t have a calendar.
Spotlight - Can’t get rid of it afaik, I use Alfred more.
(From )
I like to keep my menubar simple. There’s MainMenu Pro, where it’s easy for me to fix things in one click, there’s CoverSutra because it’s the only iTunes remote I’ve ever gotten used to since the beginning plus it’s easy to find music without having to open iTunes. Next is Cloud.app, simple drag & drop, who doesn’t love that? Then Wi-Fi, Time Machine, Time, Battery Life and Spotlight. I hate seeing my menubar cluttered with things.
(From yummeh)