Digging For Mac Gold: The Latest Friday Freebies.

Someone has to be the keeper of the Olympic flame.

Since there’s no category for pregnancy weight gain, I’ll keep a list of free Mac applications instead. It’s much easier on my back and feet. Guess what? It’s Friday. You know what that means?

My bum is sore, my back is sore, and my feet ache. Besides that, I found another list of great Mac applications. Free or mostly free.

Some of these I use, some are Tera’s favorites, others Bambi swears by (you should hear her swear; I don’t even know how to spell some of those words).

All of these are on one page which makes clicking and downloading much easier. Here’s the highlights of what I found most useful.

MenuMeters
I love this thing. It just sits in the OS X Menu Bar and shows you what’s going on.

There’s internet activity, CPU usage, free and not so free RAM status, and disk space (or, what’s left of it). It’s never caused me grief, it just sits there and works, it’s customizable in case you get bored, and it’s priced right.

SysStat Nano
If you’re really into on-the-fly statistics, you’ll love this Widget.

Unlike MenuMeters, you’ll have to bring your Widgets forward (which, in a way is how I got pregnant in the first place...), but the system stats are all there.

It’s more colorful than MenuMeters.

Clam AV
Worried about all the new fangled Mac viruses, worms, and trojan horses? Don’t be.

But if you want to feel better and worry anyway, Clam AV is just what you need. Apple includes Clam AV on Mac OS X server and it must be doing a good job because I never get spam on my Mac360 email account.

Either that, or no one wants a rant from a raving pregnant Macophile.

Camino and Firefox
What? You don’t have one of these (or both) installed on your Mac?

Frankly, I really like Camino, though it’s missing a few things that Safari does well. RSS?

Handbrake & Squint
Nobody knows how to name Mac products better than Mac developers.

We don’t have the latest HDX-1237-Lnet MP3 player. We have an iPod. So it is with video compression tools. Need to rip a DVD? Use Handbrake.

Need to squeeeze a QuickTime movie down to iPod size? Try Squint.

Skype and Adium
Talk is cheaper. So cheap, it’s just about free. Skype is like iChat AV for the masses, though Windows users get to video conference on Skype 2.

But, hey. Skype for the Mac is still free.

Adium is instant messaging for those who get tired of having iChat, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and others open and running at the same time.

This is a healthy list of free, open source, or nearly free Mac applications. T

he usual culprits are found on the list, including CyberDuck for FTP, NeoOffice for those of you not willing to live under the boot heal of Microsoft Office another day.

There’s also Chicken of the VNC. This is a nifty open source application which lets you connect to and control one Mac from another Mac.

Think of it as Apple’s $299 Apple Remote Desktop but without the $299.

Where do you sign up to download all these choice morsels of Friday Freebie goodness? Click Here. The list belongs to Pablo, and it’s my understanding you won’t be charged to use it, or even to look at it.

That’s so much different than Bambi, who wants to charge you just to watch her smile (it’s not often, so the price tag is probably pretty steep). Does this give you an idea of what kind of mood I get into as baby birthdate nears?

Got a freebie application you can’t live without? Share with the rest of us.

Off Topic Note: Have you ever noticed how much Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” television commercials remind you of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote? Seriously.