Kicking off our first edition of freeware picks this year are three apps that simply shouldn't miss from your Applications folder. I took the liberty to throw in a demo app, for its usefulness and ease of use was simply breathtaking.


Boxee – "you are now free to be entertained"

When you fire up boxee, it scans and adds all your media to its library. It not only adds all of the artwork that comes with it (album covers etc.), but also the reviews and trailers that are available on the Internet. Also, it automatically downloads the lyrics for anything that's got lyrics posted somewhere on the Internet.

Boxee plays any non-DRM media, and it's compatible with nearly all file formats, including high definition (HD) videos. Since boxee is open source, anyone can develop new applications and channels within the interface. If you want to share media with others, you can do so through the boxee UI, as the app integrates with your twitter or tumbler account. You can play files from your hard drive, network, or you can stream content from the likes of YouTube and flickr. Best of all, boxee has remote control support.



Boxee UI - main window; communicate & share; accessing media on a network / the Internet; see the latest recommendations; stream media from popular sites; access content from your drive

Although still in Alpha, the app feels pretty solid. There's really no reason to run away from this feature-packed test-build. The latest version brings iPlayer support for UK users, dual screen support, Netflix streaming improvements, and search in Hulu, among others. The only requirements are a Boxee.tv account and Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or later.

Download boxee Alpha (Free)


AddMovie – split / join movie files into one, or batch convert to other formats

AddMovie is the demo app I was talking about in the introduction. This program is, by far, the most useful of its kind I've seen in a while!

Limit Point Software's utility can concatenate several files into one single movie, or batch convert movies to other formats. It supports various input file formats, including Apple's own Quicktime format. Best of all, the output format is configurable. This means you can also use AddMovie to convert movie file formats. For example, if you find something cool like the 13-inch unibody MacBook making-of video and want to show it to your friends when you go out for drinks, simply grab the free video from Apple's site and use AddMovie to convert it to 3GP for playback on your mobile phone.


System requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 and above. The demo version is fully functional for 11 days. The full version costs just 10 bucks to buy. Limit Point Software is the author of dozens of other great Mac apps, so you wouldn't be doing yourself any harm by checking out their portfolio.

Download AddMovie (Update / Demo / Buy)
(Check out other Limit Point Software apps).


JuiceDrop – upload files to your iPhone using drag and drop

Although the user interface is a bit strange even for an app like JuiceDrop, the utility does a pretty good job at filling your Apple handset with all sorts of content, including books! Best of all, no jailbreak is required.

Uploading files to your device is done easily by just dragging and dropping files over the JuiceDrop window. Your iPhone will need to be connected to the computer using the USB cable provided with the purchase of the iPhone. You can configure the mapping for file types you drag on and appropriate folders on the device. You can also customize JuiceDrop to upload different kinds of files to different directories on your iPhone. For example, you can put pictures in the Wallpapers folder, dictionaries in Dictionaries, and books in BookLibrary.

While JuiceDrop uses the same protocols as iTunes to achieve its goal, the app is available on both Mac OS X and Windows. To download the Mac version of the software, use the link below. The Universal app requires Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) – Tiger not supported.

Download JuiceDrop (Free)

Thanks for dropping by. Until next week...