This post is going to be dedicated to a group of applications that are all freeware, and absolutely phenomenal at what they do, generally lightweight, and very stable.
Cyberduck [mac]
Cyberduck is an excellent mac only FTP client. Â It allows for the editing of files on the server and saving their updates in an external application. Â I would also like to mention that development is quite fast paced, and very well maintained. Â A final note, this application scores extra points for having an awesome dock icon.
get it from here: Â cyberduck.ch
Smultron [mac]
Smultron is an excellent lightweight text editing application. Â It is straight forward to use yet quite feature rich. Â Imagine an amped up version of your basic notepad/textedit. Â If you feel like the text editing application you are currently employing is missing a feature, take a look at smultron.
get it from here: smultron.sourceforge.net
VideoLan Client (VLC) [mac/pc/linux]
Ever get a video or audio from somewhere and receive an error that it could not be opened, or a window prompting you to choose the application. Â VLC is able to open pretty much any file you throw at it, and is used as the backend for a lot of other freeware applications.
Get it here: Â videolan.org/vlc/
Handbrake [mac/pc/linux]
Handbrake is one of the best applications to use for shifting the format of content. Â Have a DVD that you want to put on your iPod/iPhone/iNewDevice, use Handbrake. Â Have a video file that you want to transcode to a smaller size/audio quality/container format. Â The newest version of Handbrake brings that application an even greater level of stability and ease of use.
Get it here: Â handbrake.fr