Free Mac utility apps that make life easier

I thought I'd share a list and short description of Mac utility applications I use that have made my Mac experience a little easier. Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments ;)

Pixelmator tutorials

Last updated: 3 June 2008

Pixelmator is a relatively new but very promising image editing application. You can click here to read the Pixelmator user manual, or you can check out the following links to tutorials I have found:

Text & image tutorials

My tutorials:
Converting .png brushes for use in Pixelmator
Converting Photoshop .abr brushes to .png using Gimp
Batch converting brushes for Pixelmator

Wooster's tutorials:
Blueprint and Sketches
Reflection and Gloss
Disco Effect
Using the Color Picker
Using Automator with Pixelmator
Manga Scanlation

Other tutorials:
Abduzeedo.com

Video tutorials

Sebastiaan's tutorials:
Creating a Graduated Neutral Density filter
Removing red eyes
3 ways to sharpen images
Making a realistic drop of water
Creating rounded corners and a reflection
Creating a Badge

Other video tutorials:
JustinSeeley.com
Bernskiold.com
ScreenCastsOnline.com
Expert Village
Smokey's Video Tutorials
Agupoli on YouTube (Spanish)

The sites in the "Other tutorials" and "Other video tutorials" categories have links to their various tutorials on their own sites.

Abduzeedo has tutorials for creating some stunning effects, but unfortunately they are all missing some steps, and the author doesn't seem to answer questions in the comments. You can still learn new things by following the tutorials though, even if you aren't able to exactly replicate the effects.

The video tutorials mostly just walk you through basic features of Pixelmator, but check through them to see if there's anything useful to you.

If anyone knows where to find any other Pixelmator tutorials, please leave a comment! ;)

60 free stock photos from iStockphoto

For those of you who have never heard of iStockphoto, it's a site that sells quality photos, vector illustrations, flash files, and videos for use in websites, advertising, screensavers, etc. If you're a photographer or illustrator, you can sign up and sell your own work too.

While looking for some photos to use in graphics, I found the following links which I thought I'd share with you:

StockLayouts Promo - 10 free photos from a selction of 50

HP Promo - 10 free photos from a selction of 50

Scoopt Promo - 30 free photos from a selction of 60

iStockphoto Camera Hunt - Find the 4 hidden logos to get 5 free credits, which can be used to buy anything on iStockphoto

Free Weekly Photo - There's a new free photo every week, and at the bottom of the page are links to the previous 3 free photos

Free Monthly Vector - There's a free vector illustration every month, and at the bottom of the page is a link to the previous month's illustration.