menubar-blog

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Twitter: My favorite Mac Twitter client, I don’t have it open all the time but often enough to warrant inclusion in my Mac Menu Bar Post. I only let the bird light up blue if there are new @replies or new DMs. Timing: The latest addition to my Menu Bar is Timing. It’s a utility app that runs just in the Menu Bar and keeps track of where you’re spending time on your computer. The app does all the heavy lifting of tracking what apps I’m active in, what websites I’m spending time on, and more. Then I can bundle those apps into “projects” (or categories, as I consider them) of work. You have to give Timing a few weeks to really get some good useful stats that you can look over in aggregate to see how you are spending your time, where you’re spending it, and if there are certain apps or websites you need to be more conscious of in order to be more focused and productive. Dropbox: I keep it monochrome and am on the fence about if I actually prefer to not have it in the Menu Bar or not. I like seeing that everything in Dropbox on my Mac is up to date, but that’s about all I use the Menu Bar icon for. Droplr: I use this for uploading screenshots, sharing files, and shortening URLs. It’s a great utility app and runs very quickly. Also, I have the keyboard shortcut set to CTRL+OPT+CMD+D to enable “Droplrizing” whatever URL or file I have selected at the time. Fantastical: I’m a big fan of this nimble yet powerful calendar app. CMD+OPT+C brings it up and I can quickly toss in a new event using Fantastical’s natural language parser, and I can quickly see the month at a glance and what events are on my plate for today and tomorrow. For the times I need full-fledged calendar I use BusyCal. Airport Networks: I’m sure I could get by without Airport status showing in the Menu Bar but I really like to have that quick-visual status update on if I’m connected, how strong the signal is, and if I need to quickly re-boot Wi-Fi. Battery Status: Same as Airport networks, I like to see about how much battery I’ve got. Clock: For seeing what time it is. Spotlight: For searching for documents. Since I use LaunchBar to launch applications, bookmarks, and even navigate to folders, I do not use Spotlight all that often. There are tricks to remove the Spotlight icon but when I do use spotlight I prefer using it up there in the top-right corner – especially with its improvements in Lion. What you don’t see: TextExpander: By default TextExpander runs with an icon in the Menu Bar but you don’t have to have it there. It can be handy if you have many, many snippets that you don’t remember the shortcuts to and so you can access them by clicking on the Menu Bar icon. But I prefer to let TextExpander run in the background and if/when I need to access it I do so via LaunchBar. An Icon for my application launcher, LaunchBar, because it doesn’t have one. (Thankfully.) (From Shawn Blanc, author of ShawnBlanc.net and Tools and Toys, in 2011)

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Dropbox - custom icon courtesy of iAndrew. Sparrow - a beautiful, minimal mail client; custom icon provided by pgera. Battery - again, courtesy of iAndrew. Clock. Hidden from view: Airport, Alfred. (From Darla B.)

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Dropbox (o rly?), CloudApp (basically for screenshot sharing), Keychain Access (quick lock of my screen, activate it in Keychain Access.app), Battery, VPN (for my home VPN), Wi-Fi, Clock, and Spotlight. (From Trung Nguyen Chi)

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Sophos Anti Virus - Because you can never be too careful! Fantastical - I use this to simplify my iCal workflow, especially for school.  smcFanControl - This keeps my Mac cool during processor intensive activities. I have several preset speeds that I choose based on what I'm doing. It also boosts the fan speed by 750RPM while my Air is charging.  Ejector - I use this especially on my MacBook Air to make removing my external disks simple.  FreeMemory - I have this set to automatically purge my inactive RAM whenever it drops below a certain level. Keeps my Air smooth and responsive.  Dropbox - Self explanatory. Also, awesome.   BwanaDik - Keeps tabs on my current Wi-Fi situation. More informative than the built-in menu app.  MenuPrefs - Simplifies changing the System Preferences.  Growl - Apple should have done this... CloudApp - For quick sharing of small items between my Macs and friends Evernote - For jotting down stuff I want to remember Weather HD - Displays the weather in really nice HD graphics, and the menu bar app drops down a list of current temps for selected cities.  Caffeine - Keeps my Mac running high.  Then the standards: Keychain Access, Time Machine, Bluetooth, Battery, Wi-Fi, Volume, Date/Time, and Spotlight. (From Vincent Sanchez)

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BetterTouchTool - Just discovered this little gem and it's great to be able to do more with touchpad gestures. Window snapping feature allowed me to get rid of ShiftIt. Dropbox - If you haven't heard of it or don't use it, welcome to Earth. Meteorologist - Handy weather, click for details, extended forecast at radar. ClipMenu - Clipboard organizer and also useful for doing "plain text" pasting in apps without that option natively. Can configure the number of items it remembers. Caffeine - Because it is handy at times. Display - Because I use an external display fairly regularly, but not always the same one. Battery - I know there are slicker third-party ones out there, but the native one does what I need. Bluetooth - For moving stuff to/from my dumbphone. Wi-Fi - Sometimes you need to check or tweak stuff. I use multiple networks in the course of most days. Date and time - Because I always forget and 12-hour time stinks. Spotlight - I occasionally use it to search, more often as a simple calculator. (Just type in your equation!) (From Chris Moellering)

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Desktoday - utility to clear the files and folders that get scattered on the Desktop and put them into a folder with today's date Skitch - annotate, edit and share your screenshots and images CopyLess - comfortable clipboard manager Radium - best online radio player for Mac DoublePane - effortless window management Caffeine - prevents your Mac from automatically going to sleep, dimming the screen or starting screen savers ClamXav Sentry  - provides the ability to watch folders for changes and start virus scan  Translator Free - Translate texts and links on the fly MagicPrefs - enhanced functionality for my Magic Mouse and Macbook Pro trackpad. AccessMenuBarApps - must have for accessing all menubar apps on a small display The rest: Monitor, Bluetooth, Time Machine, Wi-Fi, Volume, Battery Status, Clock, User, Spotlight. (From Jo)

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Dropbox — Probably the most brilliant gem. I use the 50GB Pro plan. ClipMenu — My choice for clipboard manager. Pretty simple app with a lot of custom options. Caffeine — Click it to prevent your Mac from automatically going to sleep, dimming the screen or starting screen savers. CloudApp — A well-known one. Allows you to share images, links, music, videos and files. Also, automatically uploads your recent screenshot and copies the link ready to share. BaseApp — Helps you stay on top of everything that happens in your Basecamp accounts. I use Basecamp in my work and I'm tired of the inbox overflowed with Basecamp notifications. Let BaseApp do it. From creators of CloudApp. Growl — The one and only notification system for Mac. Should be built-in. DisplayPad — Allows you to use your iPad as a second display for your Mac. There's a variety of such apps, but this one seems to be the best. Twitter — Official Twitter app. LittleSnapper — Allows you to capture screenshots, organize them or annotate and share. This tool has a very nice and native interface and, as a UI designer, I use it a lot for capturing some inspiring elements. The rest are built-in ones: Keyboard, Clock and Spotlight. (From Gadzhi Kharkharov)

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Vox (lightweight music app), QuickCal, F.lux (better lightning ... for your computer), plus basic Apple apps: Displays, Time Machine (manual backup), Sound, Bluetooth, Airport, Battery, Day and Clock, and Spotlight. iOS-like dark menu bar with MenuBarFilter. (From Victor Nicolescu)

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First a disclaimer: We develop applications for Mac and we have done a few for the menu bar that I use daily, so I will include them. Gnotifier: A Gmail and Google account notification system for multiple accounts (mail, calendar and documents). I've set it to check my personal Gmail account and two company accounts that are hosted on Google Apps. We didn't find a solution for that, so we developed it :). The 3 next icons are CPU LED. (Using the well known red, yellow and green colors, all the leds indicate the status of some important part of your Mac). First, Disk Usage, then CPU Usage, and lastly Memory Usage. The next one is Adium. Having to answer chats from multiple networks, that was an easy choice. Next, my second app to be installed on my Mac: Dropbox. Full Sync Backup Cloud Storage. No more words. And then the last icon and the first app that I use every single day. We created it after suffering tons of lost time from missing some important piece of info: Clipboard History. A clipboard history manager with tons of features and loved by thousand of happy users. (From Ariel Di Stefano)

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I've been trying to keep my menubar as clean as possible, and only have in it the functions that I need on a constant basis, since it is always visible. Obsidian MenuBar - So that the menubar blends in with the trim of my MacBook Pro, and blends into my black background. Time Machine - For back up. Clock - With everything unnecessary removed. Lack of Dropbox - Because launch bar has made it easy enough to open when I need it quickly. (From Sam)

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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)

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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 GrowlTunes: 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)

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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. MenuWeather Lite - 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 mashimero)

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Meteorologist - Great, detailed weather on my menu bar. Sparrow - Great for Gmail. Hidden are: Coversutra and Chuck Then just some defaults: Time Machine, Time, and Spotlight. (From idpk)

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Remote Notifier for Android (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, GeekTool Geeklets (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)

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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: 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)

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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)