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Neat Mac apps that help you concentrate

factoryjoe.com — A roundup of apps that help you focus by removing your desktop clutter using various techniques.

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  • iMactel, on 10/12/2007, -18/+3Edit
    • liquidrums, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Thanks to this list, I discovered Doodim (http://www.lachoseinteractive.net/en/products/doodim/) which works well with VirtueDesktops.

      Unfortunately, though Backdrop Folders (http://www.lachoseinteractive.net/en/products/backdropfolders/features/) would be nice, especially when I'm constantly digging in the same directories and I despise multiple Finder windows, it isn't recognized by VirtueDesktops.

    • felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I love WriteRoom, thanks for turning me on to that. I usually do my writing on a typewriter, or even on my old Apple ][, just because I need to think without all those menu bars and windows all over the screen. This is awesome.
    • sunchild, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@felchdonkey

      I agree. I donated a few bucks to the developers because this is a truly useful app to those of us that want to concentrate on writing.
  • olddirtycr, on 10/12/2007, -23/+2I have teamed with the government to bring you many Mac OS apps
  • dmbrunjes, on 10/12/2007, -7/+28You realize most people who have macs don't even have stuff on their desktop, its all in the dock or finder.
    • recursivecall, on 10/12/2007, -24/+6Yeah, right! Have you ever downloaded stuff with Safari/Firefox?
    • monergism, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11I store a lot of data on my desktop. It's present and I don't have to drill down.

    • vprice509, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16Not me. I'm disorganized.
    • aquax, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Not me, I have a number of folders on my desktop, plus my five external hard drives.
    • FluffyArmada, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I usually keep files on my desktop that are part of something that I am currently working on. If I'm making something in Photo-shop, I put the images and stuff that I'll need onto my desktop. I also have an automator script run every morning to download the Frazz comic onto my desktop. Other than that, and downloaded files, my desktop doesn't see much action.
    • SkeletaLlama, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Most people only have the lone Macintosh HD icon on their desktop. It's clean and simple. That's the beauty of the magical disappearing reappearing dock and spotlight, or as I think of it, Google for my computer. Everything I need is either in my dock or as close as Command + Spacebar.
    • scratt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Wrong. All of us keep stuff on our desktop.. Chyah!
    • wastern, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10my desktop is a dumping ground for downloads and things, i sort through it every few days and clean it up so it doesn't look like ass
    • PychoChief, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10A word to the macusers out there: if you didn't know already, anything stored on your desktop takes a place on your mac's memory. The more you have on your desktop, the slower your computer will run.
    • shmatt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1really? anybody know what process that is?
    • betobeto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sometimes I get jealous of those that can keep their desktops ultra-sparse and clean as a whistle all the time. Then again, most of those probably touch their computers just to dust them off.
  • mikev, on 10/12/2007, -13/+5quicktime helps me concentrate

    that is quicktime w/ pr0n bring watched.
  • bradbeattie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6No mention of SpiritedAway? That's one of the good ones for concentration.
  • liquidrums, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14http://www.duggmirror.com/apple/Neat_Mac_apps_that_help_you_concentrate/
  • CaptShmo, on 10/12/2007, -27/+3how about turning off all that built-in eye candy, that would probably help with the concentration a bit...
    • noahhoward, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Does something smell like troll... *sniff sniff* ... it's either that or moron.
    • titlesaysitall, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8warning: don't feed troll or put fingers in cage, may bite.
    • vprice509, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Beautiful things are pleasant to look at, sourpuss tool. There is a setting under Universal Access in System Preferences where a person can opt for grayscale. I switch to black n white when I'm feeling *frisky*!
    • wastern, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3what eye candy? when working on something there isn't anything, the user needs to make preform an action for that.........the Vista sidebar on the other hand........
    • hosiah, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Man, people, all he did was express an aesthetic opinion.

      If all you do on a computer is websurf and play games, doing without eye-candy may seem silly. But those of us who compile 10 MB apps, ray-trace photo-realistic images, do heavy office work, crunch big numbers and other power-user jazz really *need* to do something with our expensive processor and RAM besides make the window widgets look pretty.
    • wastern, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4*....crunch big numbers and other power-user jazz really *need* to do something with our expensive processor and RAM besides make the window widgets look pretty.*


      good looking buttons and ugly once are both just a bunch of pixels. its about design, not processor power making them look good
  • Masna, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Geez... Servers are so slow on factoryjoe.
    • factoryjoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3WTF. TextDrive blows. They apparently just lost my whole domain. Talk about losing your concentration.
  • seanm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3MenuShade is a another neat app that may help you concentrate better (it dims your menu bar a bit, try it out its free) - http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16640
    • wastern, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4because the menubar is so bright and distracting? huh?

      that would make one less productive as you couldn't see the menus up there at a glance quite as easily
  • Subtonic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6My favorite app that helps me to concentrate on my current task is alt+command+H.
  • cedrick, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2yay!!! mac apps!!! wait, i run on windoze. my bad.
  • thegsa, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4[rant]
    if i wasn't so poor, i would get a macbook.
    as of now, the only os i use other than windows is ubuntu linux because linux is for poor/cheap people.
    [/rant]
    • wowbagger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2get a job and save up, one day you too could own a shiny new macbook.
    • skidogallard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5
      Ditto to that. If I had the money I would so get a MacBook, so I stick with a crummy inferior OS called Windows XP, and hate every minute of it. I would run Suse but once again I don't have the money to buy a hard drive controller for a third hard drive.
  • Scriptic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I wonder if there's some way to have all your app icons show up for when you want to scan through your applications, sort of like the guy's screenshot?

    Or just some way to look through all the apps you have installed on your comp, the spotlight is a nice feature but sometimes I just want to see a list of ALL the apps I have on my comp. I don't keep track and my memory is seriously glitchy.
    • craz82, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Not quite sure if this serves your purpose but you can try typing 'kind:applications' (without the quotes) into the spotlight bar and hit show all. Hope it helps.
    • losvedir, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I can't see the screenshot so I don't know exactly what you're talking about, but here's what I do: I put my Applications folder in the dock, and then whenever I want to get a listing of them I right-click it and they all appear. Maybe that's kind of what you mean?
    • Agret, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2uhhh this was on digg yesterday, it's called todos. Your new around here. Welcome to digg. He even tells you the name of what he used to take the screenshot at the start of the article....
  • antdude, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3http://www.duggmirror.com/apple/Neat_Mac_apps_that_help_you_concentrate/
  • sky100010, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3WriteRoom makes me feel like Doogie Howser
    • donatj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Haha, I agree completely, but I love the app, good for getting some rants down for my blog. Their icon needs work, I can't put that ugly thing in my dock. I'll change it my self for now.
  • iamanutcase, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ur link is hosed. see autdudes link
  • Drahknon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Some of this software is interesting, but I confess I don't get Writeroom. It's not like maximized Textedit is "distracting," and it has more features. But, for that truly old school feel, I still like Wordstar.

    Mmmmm... Wordstar.
  • uppedbyhiggins, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I'm so sick of "Todos".

    On the other hand, I'm very glad to have found out about WriteRoom!
  • noeljohnhoward, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1doodim is free
  • hosiah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Gee, it never occured to me that people even had this problem. I use Linux and window managers like Fluxbox, Window Maker, or TWM where your desktop is *empty* until you specifically put something there, then add the few applets that I can't live without. Don't they have these for Mac OS X?
    • craz82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think you're missing the point. Linux/windows/mac, if you put lotsa items on your desktop then it's cluttered. The point of the highlighted softwares is to temporarily cover those items (or even just the bare empty background) when you need to 'concentrate'.
  • felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3By the way, I have found a Windows clone of WriteRoom - http://they.misled.us/dark-room
  • Zanneth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is just like Trailfocus for Compiz on Linux.
  •  

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