Vector Designer
If you don't want to shell out the big bucks for Adobe Illustrator, Vector Designer is the App for you. It nice and clean and has advanced features such as boolean operations on vector paths and can even apply Core Image filters on vector elements!
Parallels Desktop
There are three virtualization applications that work well on the Mac: Parallels, VM Ware and Suns Virtual Box. I like Parallels for two reasons: fantastic integration and leading edge. In the Mac realm, the leader is not VM Ware it's Parallels.
Screenflow
In my opinion, this is the best amateur screencasting software on the market. It has a non destructive editing interface as well as the ability to "call-out" the cursor and active window. You can zoom-in on sections of the screen just as easily. You can basically do everything you need for a production quality screencast from inside the application. Perhaps the only thing you can't do so well is titles.
Textmate
To me this is the best code editor on Mac OS X. It's sophisticated macro processing is really a powertool in the hands of a Unix programmer. It comes with macro bundles for many languages including Ruby, Rails, HTML, ERb. It's able to handle nested color coding when multiple languages are intermixed. If your a programmer then this is the editor you need. I also recommend that you get the Textmate book and/or the peepcode screencast about textmate. You'll learn a few tricks in these that will help you get the most out of this app. Now if they could just bring out version 2.0!
Delicious Library
This has got to be the best looking front-end to Amazon. This software let's you make an inventory of all your books, DVDs, video games and CDs though I only use it for books. Put the books bar-code in front of the integrated iSight and "bam" the information is automatically looked up on Amazon. One thing I would like to see though is better integration with my personal Amazon profile and be able to review my books directly from the app. That would really be nice.
NewsFire
There are lots of great RSS apps around. I use Newsfire RSS tough I've used Pulp Fiction in the past, which I like too. I also used Postino but until it's glitches are solved I'm sticking to Newsfire. It's main features is that it's simple, clean and does not clutter your workspace too much. Though this can also be said of most other good RSS readers. I guess in this case it boils down to taste.
Contactizer Pro
This is by far the best contact manager that I've seen. Daylite may also be a good option but I like the native Apple database integration that comes with Contactizer Pro. I always know who's calling without taking my mobile out of my pocket and I can answer with the touch of a button. I can also dial someone right from the App. Though I currently don't use it, it's supposed to have a nice integration with Ovolabs Phlink. Finally, I like to see all the communications that I had with someone all in one place. It's like an inbox that includes emails, phone calls and faxes (the rare ones).
Expandrive
This fantastic little software has quickly been replacing Forklift as my favorite software of choice for working with FTP/SFTP and the likes. It now supports Amazon S3 and has the added benefit of supporting SSH as well. Because expandrive uses Mac Fuse in the background, all your applications are able to access your remote files once you have "mounted" it. FTP, SFTP, Amazon S3 or SSH/SCP are now integrated into your file system transparently.
OmniGraffle
As a consultant I often need to draw nice diagrams to illustrate my ideas. In a previous life I would have used Visio but now I use OmniGraffle. As soon as new versions are available I always jump on the bandwagon and get it. It's really the best tool around for this type of job. One reproach that I hear at times is that does not have as many stencils as Visio. But who ever needed so many! I'd also prefer to use labeled boxes then cool looking network elements or computers when I need to clearly get a point across.
OmniFocus
The guys at Omni make great software. OmniFocus is their take on the "Getting Things Done" (GTD) task management application. There are other good Mac GTD programs out there but I like the OmniFocus simple and uncluttered look. Yet it remains a full featured GTD program. With it's little brother "OmniFocus iPhone" I can synch over the air to my mobile phone. A few keystrokes away is the quick entry module, which allows you to enter tasks and assign them project and context from anywhere. Could not live without it anymore.
Keynote
I didn't hesitate very long to switch from Powerpoint X to Keynote. It's got all the features that I will ever need and more. I don't use the new 3D charts though they look good. If you've read my book reviews on visualization you will have guessed that I'm more of a purist when it comes to charting and 2D is king (on paper anyways). I have not yet tried Powerpoint 2008 but I'm almost certain that it won't make me switch back.
Merlin
Though it's a bit more expensive than other project management software, it's well worth the price. I find it's the best looking one too. The guys at the OmniGroup also make something along these lines but I've not had the heart to change. I just like Merlin that much. It also integrates well with NovaMind, which is another nice app I use.
Numbers
Though there is no way that I'll abandon Excel soon, for most of my personal Excel jobs, I've switched to Numbers. It's just so much nicer than Excel even Excel 2008. The only feature that I do miss is the "Goal Seek" feature of Excel, which finds the value in a cell that will bring you the closest to your goal in another cell.
1Password
Better than the Keychain, 1Password not only encrypts your password better but also offers more advanced form filling, "personalities", and integration into all your browsers so that the passwords you entered in Safari work also in Firefox or Opera for example.
Novamind
I use this program all the time. Need to jot out a few ideas and organize your thoughts. You can do it without leaving the keyboard. And the mind maps look good with their nice colors and bezier curves. Of course you can add graphics and big pictures but I find that just gets in the way. Unless the map is meant to be used by other people too then I tend to stick to the bare essentials. There is also a nice presentation mode in the latest version, which I have yet to use.
Pixelmator
I could not justify spending a small fortune on Photoshop as I only use such software once in a while. Pixelmator gives me most of the functionality that I need while remaining relatively low cost. There are other competitors out there that I also own (such as Acorn) but I did not have the chance to test them.
Rapid Weaver
Rapid Weaver 4 is the software that I use to maintain this Website. It's a fully featured CMS for small websites. So long as you have only one person responsible for publishing anything to the Web RW4 can work for you. There is also an entire market for themes and plugins of which I have made liberal use on this site. Developing a Website with RW4 is easy and painless.
PDFPen
A while ago I was looking for a PDF software to help me with my digital workflow (got a Fujitsu Scansnap S510M scanner recently) and this was just the tool that I needed. It allows me to annotate the PDFs that I scan easily without a fuss.
