PTHVolume2 is a handy application that provides a menu bar-based contoller for your audio output and input. Normally, when you want to switch between say, the headphones plugged into the front panel on your Mac Pro tower or the "line out" port on the rear, you have to launch System Prefs, navigate to the Sound panel and switch the output settings. Quite a nuisance--especially if you wear studio headphones a lot as I do.

With PTHVolume2 installed you will not only have an easy volume controller on the menu bar, but you will have an individual slider and selection button for each output (see illustration). The app is free, but donations are welcomed by the developers at PTH Consulting.

Tags: app, mac, utility, audio

Teleport is a great little app that provides an elegant solution to the old KVM switch scenario: one keyboard and mouse for two computer/monitor set-ups. Install the app on both machines and you can switch between the two monitors by simply moving your mouse off the edge of one screen. You set it up in the same intuitive way you would set up a second monitor (for one machine):

The inactive monitor will display a nice looking overlay icon that points to the active monitor. My favorite use of this app though is in working on my desktop computer with my daily-driver laptop next to it on the table.

It’s actually a much nicer way to move between two adjacent machines than Leopard’s buitl-in Screen Sharing app because you can drag and drop between desktops and synch the clipboard. Nice. A very neat, clean implementation and a must-have for users of multiple computers. This app is dontation-ware and available from the developer, Julien Robert at www.abyssoft.com/software/teleport.

Tags: network, mac, utility, app