Web Apps, Programs, Sites, etc. That I Use and Love

A friend recently saw my laptop and asked what all those crazy things were on the side of my desktop and at the bottom of my web browser and where to get them. I’ve been asked about certain apps/services/etc from people before so I decided I would just write it down and put in one place that anyone that wants to know can find. So here it is…

Web Apps/Services

• Gmail - Best webmail, and arguably best e-mail, application out there, imho (GTD Must!)
• Google Calendar - Great calendar for people on the run or using multiple computers regularly (GTD Must!)
• Google Reader - Aggregate all of your feeds in one very easy to use place
• Google Notebook - A virtual notebook accessible anywhere there is Internet (GTD Must!)
• Remember The Milk - Best task management system I’ve found, great syncing abilities (GTD Must!)
• Twitter - Micro-blogging community, it is what you make of it
• Flickr - Photo community / storage of photos (100MB upload/mo, 200 photos max for free)
• Picasa - Online storage of photos (1 GB storage free)
• Mint - Free online money management software, very easy to use
• TrackMyShipments - Track all of your shipments by just forwarding the shipping confirmation e-mail
• Dopplr - Linked to my Travel calendar on Google Calendar, social network site to track friends’ travel schedules (Added 04/30/08)

Desktop Apps

• Firefox with macfoxIIgraphite theme - Best web browser available
• Twhirl - Twitter client to view and send tweets
• Google Desktop - Index and search your hard drive, e-mail, etc. Includes sidebar with widgets
• Pidgin - Multi-platform, multi-client chat program
• FolderShare - Sync files across computers over the internet
• Synergy - Share a mouse and keyboard across computers on a LAN
• SyncBack - Easy to use backup/sync software
• KeePass (KeePassX) - Store passwords in an encrypted file (pc/mac)

Firefox Extensions

• Adblock Plus - block ads on web pages
• Better GCal - enhance Google Calendar
• Better Gmail 2 - enhance Gmail
• Better GReader - enhance Google Reader
• Download Statusbar - downloads appear in the status bar instead of the ugly download window
• GButts - Links to Google services in your toolbar
• Google Browser Sync - Sync history, tabs, cookies, bookmarks across computers
• Google Gears - Allow offline access to some websites
• Google Notebook - Puts access to your Google Notebook in the status bar and context menu (GTD Must!)
• Greasemonkey - Run custom javascript on pages for enhanced viewing/features
• IE Tab - Load pages within Firefox as if they were run in IE
• Locationbar² - hide the “http://”, highlight the domain, and separate the path in the url bar
• Mouse Gestures - create custom mouse gestures for common actions
• PicLens - View photos on numerous sites in a full screen, wall-of-photos style. A must have!
• Remember The Milk for Gmail - integrate your RTM account with Gmai (GTD Must!)
• Tab Mix Plus - adds tab functionality and better session restore
• Twitterbar - post to twitter from your url bar
• Web Developer - debugging features for web developers

Google Desktop Widgets

• Calendar - show the current day on a small month calendar
• Google Calendar - show my Google Calendar events for the day
• Weather - weather in multiple cities
• Gmail Notifier - recent unread Gmail e-mails
• Windows Up-time - time since computer was shut down
• FlightStats Notifier - flight status information

Other Useful Websites

• PageOnce - aggregate tons of websites in one place - social, travel rewards points, utilities, etc.
• Facebook - social network
• LinkedIn - a professional social network
• iGoogle - aggregate widgets, feeds, etc on your home page
• Plaxo - contacts/calendar/tasks/social site, great to use for syncing Gmail with other sources
• Oobgolf - track your golf scores/handicap/stats
• Twitterfeed - automatically post to twitter when rss feed you specify updates
• YouMail - visual voicemail for non-iphone users
• Viddler - think YouTube…now add social network + video tagging (Added 05/03/08)

I’m sure I am missing some stuff, but this is a pretty good start. What kind of apps/sites do you use and love? Let me know in the comments