The program is easy to set up, and basically all you need to do is write your password, username and the server you want to connect to. The interface is pretty basic but you can customize some of the settings to suit your preferences. In addition, Spark also has support for emoticons and avatars and you can also define the colors. There really are a number of settings that you can change here, much more so than other IM clients.

The conversation window is similar to those in some IM clients so if you have used one before, the learning curve should be easy. Spark has also added some useful options like letting you view logs, taking a screenshot, send files to another user and view information about the person you are chatting with.

Spark even lets you invite other users for a conference. The Buzz tool will alert a person so they know you want to chat with them, and there is also a spell checker.

Spark is aimed primarily at organizations and businesses but that doesn’t mean casual users cannot use it for chatting. If you are tired of the usual messengers found on the Internet you may want to give this a try.

Related Links:
Spark Official Website

Vox can also play Game Music and AAC, and it even has numerous cool effects built in like echo, pitch shift, and time stretch. In addition the software has reverb and a fully functional equalizer so you can make adjustments to the sound.

While it does have a lot of features, the interface and window are well laid out. As a lot of music players have evolved to become all in one media apps, Vox does only one thing, and that is play music.

Unlike other music players for Mac, Vox’s 10 band equalizer is at par with commercial media apps, and you can also chain effects. Of all the effects built in, one of the most interesting is definitely time stretch, as it can speed up tracks without affecting the pitch. It supports drag and drop so you can easily rearrange the tracks on your playlist.

There are a lot of free music players for the Mac but the problem with those is they are very large and take a long time to download. Vox on the other hand, is less than 10 MB yet comes packed with a lot of practical features. If you’re not in the mood for long downloads, then give this a try.

Related Links:
Official Website
Vox on Facebook

A video tutorial appears when you first start the app. You will then see some preloaded samples. The I symbol has four options: About, Help, Getting Started and Support. Before you take pictures, try the 3D samples first so you know how to move an object. You can pan, rotate and scale objects.

Clicking the New Capture Button will start a tutorial when you launch the app for the first time. Finish the tutorial. Take a picture by pressing the camera button. The app keeps track of how images you’ve taken. Press Finish Capture when you’re done.

The images will be sent to Autodesk’s servers where they will be transformed into 3D and then sent back to your iPad when modeling and rendering is complete. The time it takes depends on the number of photos you took.

This is really the app’s best feature. If you’re familiar with 3D software, you know how resource intensive the process can be. Rather than force your iPad to do the work, Autodesk servers will do it instead. Catch is free, but you must have an account of some sort. It can be an account in Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.

123D Catch is part of the 123D family. The other apps include Sculpt, Make and 123D.

Related Links:
Download 123D Catch
Official Website 123D Catch
123D Catch on YouTube
Autodesk 123D Official Website
Autodesk 123D on Facebook
Autodesk 123D Blog

Lyx has a lot features ranging from math and science to creating documents, tables, and graphics. You can import Word, RTF, html ASCII, PDF, LaTEX, Postscript and many more. You can also send a fax from within the program. Lyx supports change tracking and it can compare different document versions plus you can make virtual sticky notes, perfect when you want to jot something down quickly.

One of the program’s biggest strengths, however, is in it’s structured document creation. If you’re creating long complex documents you will find features like bibliography, index, references, and labels very useful. Of course standard features like spell checking, cut/paste, opening multiple documents, undo, redo revision tracking and thesaurus can all be found here as well.

If those features are not enough, Lyx has support for different text classes so you can type LinuxDoc, presentations, movie scripts books, articles, letters and more. In addition, text classes for sciences societies are supported as well. Speaking of science, you can enter equations via point and click and it has a powerful math formula editor as well. Algebra systems are supported as well as algorithms, customizable math macro, equation numbering, and arrays and a whole lot more.

While Lyx’s set of features may seem intimidating it really isn’t since its graphical user interface is very intuitive and the menus clearly show where the functions are.

Related Links:
Download Lyx
Lyx on YouTube

With Teleport, controlling multiple Mac computers is very easy. When you reach the edge of your computer screen, the mouse you are using ends up being “teleported” to your other Mac. In addition, you can sync the pasteboard between your Macs, and if you go to the Preferences Pane you will be able to set up and choose which hosts you want to handle. You can also use it to graphically arrange the monitors, and once that is done you are ready to go.

Anytime you want to control your other Mac, just reach out to the edge of your screen where the slave host is linked to, and that’s it; you are now controlling it. Aside from the mouse, you can also use your keyboard to control the other computer.

At the master computer, you will see a notification that indicates the placement of your cursor. If you want to resume control of your master computer, simply drag your mouse back to where it once was. In short, Teleport is a very easy program to use.

This isn’t a utility that you will use every day, but it is nice to have one like this around. It is very easy to use and setting up is a breeze as well, so if you have several Macs, this is a handy tool keep around.

Related Links:
Download Teleport

NASA World Wind is packed with a lot of features starting with Blue Marble, a stunning hi-res image of Earth, and finishing on being able to see the planet at a kilometer per pixel res. It also comes with Land Sat 7 that allows you to view terrains up close, and you can even use it to browse your own neighborhood or notable landmarks close by.

The program also comes with SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) and used in conjunction with Land Sat 7 gives you an awesome vista of the planet at eye level. With this feature you can fly in any direction and in any location on the planet. You will also find NASA SVS interesting as it showcases high quality animations explaining various natural phenomena, and then you can have World Wind play it.

MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) consists of different kinds of data that is regularly updated by NASA. Among the data that are updated are volcanic activities, fires, floods, dust, and other natural phenomena. This feature is updated daily and you can download them using this program. Apart from the fantastic images, NASA World Wind lets you get rainfall, temperature, cloud cover and other data from any city in the world.

Related Links:
Download NASA World Wind

It’s a sophisticated program, capable of modeling human figures, creatures, vehicles, and so on. The program uses a graphical interface instead of icons. You use the keyboard and mouse to change an object’s geometry. Four selection modes are available: Body, Face, Edge and Vertex. Make no mistake about it; Wings 3D has a lot of tools. Each mode comes with its own set of modelers and editors. Its auto-UV feature makes adding textures easy.

There are a lot of mesh and selection tools plus lights, materials and colors. You can export objects as OBJ and other popular formats. Standard features include weld, cut, bridge, bevel, extrude and rotate among others. Advanced features include inset, shear, bend, intersect, circularize etc. You can use its Smooth Preview to assess your model. Other advanced tools like sculpt, tweak and Virtual Mirror are perfect for modeling symmetrical objects.

There are a lot of options, but you can configure its interface. You will find more commands with its right-click menus. Keep your cursor over the mouse over a menu, a brief explanation will pop up. It can import ndo, 3ds, ai, .lwo/.lxo, .obj and other popular formats. You can export to 3ds, ai, obj, pov and many others.

Wings 3D is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. It is continuously being updated. The software uses OpenGL for rendering. However you can export and render with YafRay, POV-Ray and other software.

Related Links:
Download Wings 3D
Wings 3D on SourceForge
Wings 3D on Facebook
Wings 3D on YouTube
Wings 3D Development Forum

With Tomboy you can easily organize and even branch off notes. You can also create links for those pages you made, and what’s even better is that the links stay intact even if you rearrange and rename your notes. In many cases changing names and reorganizing is unavoidable, so this is a really handy feature.

Using the program is also very easy as everything is just a mouse click away. All you need to do is click the Tomboy Panel applet and select any of the notes you made, and you can also use its search function to find older notes that you made before. Another handy feature is the Table of Contents as it shows all your notes in the order when you last changed them.

The versatility of Tomboy doesn’t end there though, because with it you no longer have to drag your applications around the desktop to find the website you added. As far as editing features go, it has many advanced features but you probably won’t need to make many adjustments as the basic set up works just fine. The interface of Tomboy is very streamlined so you can focus on just writing notes. In addition, the application offers.

Related Links:
Download Tomboy

When you install Focus Booster Adobe AIR is installed as well. With this software you will be able to operate any web application without using a browser on your desktop. A close look will show that Focus Booster is more like a widget than a full blown application. The interface is pretty simple, with a black rectangular shape and a play icon (the green one) and a counter that is configured to 25:00.

The small “I” will toggle a panel that allows you to begin a session, set the break and turn the sounds on or off. There is also an option to have the app always at the top or not. The controls are flexible enough and you can set the break length to as low as 5 minutes, which is really the ideal minimum break time.

Once that is set you just need to click the play button. This will activate the countdown and will display a semi-transparent Session 01 message and a momentary stopwatch sound. As you work you will see a green progress bar, with the colors slowly turning into a warm color as it reaches completion. When the break is reached, an alarm bell will set off. While Focus Booster is simple, it gets the job done.

Related Links:
Focus Booster Official Website

Bowtie also makes it easy to perform other tasks like upping or lowering a track’s rating, changing the volume, and you can also have the app stay visible or function like your normal Mac window.

One of the nice things about Bowtie though, is that it is skinnable, giving you control over the appearance of the controls. The themes are extremely varied, with some displaying album art and others more simple. Some of the fancier skins even come with animations and give you some control over the track you are playing.

There are a lot of themes available with more being made, and every single one can be downloaded from within the program. Once you have downloaded a theme, it takes just one click to apply it. The built-in keyboard shortcuts make Bowtie a great tool to use in managing iTunes, and while it may not be as fancy as other applications out there, it does the job right. Installing the app is a breeze, and it won’t take long before you get accustomed to it.

Bowtie doesn’t just offer complete functionality in terms of managing iTunes, but the many themes built in make it a nice program to have around. If you are having trouble managing your stuff on iTunes, Bowtie can help you out.

Related Links:
Bowtie Official Website
Bowtie on Twitter