Jim Barraud

I often find myself downloading shareware/freeware/demo applications thinking they’re the greatest thing. Then after a week or two realize they serve no good purpose and abandon them. But I also find that if an app sticks around after a week or two, it’s worth recommending to others.

Here’s a couple applications I’ve come across recently that I think rock. These are small out of the way apps that can make a big impact. And to top it off, they’re free.

Library Books

I’m a big fan of the local library. Not only for reading stimuli, but for audio/video as well. In today’s modern age library catalog lookups, requests and renewals can all happen online in the comfort of your own home via the library’s website. You can also see what you have checked out and when things are due. But what if you didn’t have to check the site?

Along comes Library Books. Library Books allows you to see what’s checked out, when things are due, what you have requested and when your requests are available all from your Mac OS X menu bar. It takes a little configuring to get Library Books to access your local library’s system and it’s still at a very early development stage. But with added features like iCal integration and color coding of overdue items, it’s already a great little app.

Side Note: Pair this little app with The LibraryLookup Bookmarklet which will search your local library from the item’s Amazon.com page and you have a one-two punch of library goodness.

Caffeine

Nothing’s more annoying (or embarrassing) when presenting your big presentation and your screen saver decides to kick in or your computer decides to take a nap. Followed by fumbling through system preferences to turn these features off. Along comes Caffeine. Caffeine is a menu bar item that when clicked prevents your computer from sleeping, screen dimming or screen saver from launching. Once your done, click it again and your computer returns to it’s normal operations.

Twicetab

Since it’s launch as a beta, I’ve been a big fan of Safari 3. While previously I was a dedicated Firefox user, Firefox’s role has been pushed to development use only. But one thing I miss from Firefox is the ability to double click on the tab bar to open a new tab. Twicetab is a little plugin that brings this feature to Safari. It’s a little thing, but makes me feel more at home.