Some apps, though beyond-words useful, are just too niche for the developer to have any chance of winning a yelling match with the thunderous white noise of the internet.

That’s where the Mac App Store has helped the software economy. It facilitates the creation, marketing, and distribution of low-priced apps that we’d probably never see otherwise.

Today I’d like to raise a glass of ‘nog to the Mac App Store, as well as a few developers that’ve put some really great products there. Here are a handful of stocking-stuffer-priced apps that I use every week.

Moom ($5)

Moom is my favorite window manager. It lets you quickly resize and re-position windows anywhere on your screen. I use it nearly every day to get the most out of my 13” MacBook Air screen. It’s intuitive and fast. It’s also highly customizable for you fiddly types.

Caffeine (Free)

Caffeine, like its xanthine namesake, keeps your Mac from sleeping, only without side effects like rapid heart rate and diuresis. Very useful during presentations or any time you’re using your Mac but not touching the keys too often. I also use it when I’m running a remote desktop client; it prevents a sleep-induced connection loss.

Byword ($10)

Byword is a beautifully designed plain text writing application that’s ideally suited for Markdown fans. Honestly I did not take to Byword immediately after downloading it earlier this year, but my use of it has really crescendoed the last few months. Now, I almost always end up in Byword when writing anything more than a couple of paragraphs.

Marked ($4)

Marked watches Markdown files and displays them in HTML. It’s the perfect companion for any plain text writing tool you use. If you’ve been reading PE for more than a few weeks, you know I’m a big fan of Marked.

ScreenFloat ($8)

ScreenFloat is a screenshot app with a super handy feature: It lets you “float” screenshots above other windows. In other words, you can keep your screenshot in the foreground at all times. I use it nearly every day to hover a grid card over my web browser so that I can enter coordinates without flipping between windows.