MacJournal
Keep a personal journal with a calendar and time line. You can also group entries, and use it as a notes app. Started out free 18 years ago, went paid, and now it’s free again.
Latest free apps
Hidden Bar
Simple and effective way to hide the icons cluttering your menu bar. Decide which ones you want to hide, then use an arrow icon to reveal them when needed. They’ll hide themselves again after a time that you set.
Tot
This tiny scrapbook with a gorgeous interface can live either in the dock or the menu bar. It’s a handy place to keep seven pages of temporary notes, and no more. Syncs with iCloud. If you want something even tinier, check out Tyke.
Shazam
Click on Shazam to listen to any music playing on your computer, or within earshot. It will give you the name and artist.
Seashore
Think of it as GIMP with a friendly interface. It won’t replace Photoshop, but it goes a long way. Development has restarted after a long hiatus.
Pomy
Timer helps reduce eye strain by reminding you to look away from the screen every 20 minutes — for 20 seconds.
Rectangle
Another app that lets you move and resize windows, using keyboard shortcuts or snap areas. This one is based on Spectacle, which is no longer being maintained.
Notable
The developer couldn’t find a notes app that did everything he wanted, he made his own. Supports markdown, with notes stored on your computer, zen mode, and split view. Sync via third-party services such as Dropbox.
Joplin
Open-source, cross-platform note-taking and to-do app organizes into notebooks. It supports markdown and can be synced with one of several cloud services. You can import from Evernote.
NetNewsWire
The venerable RSS feed reader is back with an open source version by Brent Simmons as his contribution to the open web. Features include a Safari extension for feed-adding, direct feed-downloading, and syncing via Feedbin.