iPhone Apps

Splash ID
My iPhone would be exactly 25% less useful without this app. Actually I'd still be carrying around a Palm without this app. It's completely necessary in my life. Keeps all 900 of my passwords encrypted and syncs to my MacBook. Indispensable.t

DocsToGo
This is the most used app on my iPhone due to my keeping my diet log in an Excel spreadsheet. I've lost 60 pounds over the last year using this, so it's worth not only the cost of the app, but basically worth the cost of the device as well.

Bento
The ability to take databases from the desktop and carry them around on the iPhone is awesome. You can use Bento as a stand alone database on the iPhone, but once you purchase the desktop app, then the mindmeld is complete. Besides Bento on a Mac is one of the coolest apps to come along in years. It is light years ahead of any other database for personal and small group use that I've ever seen.

Evernote
Best note taking app for the iPhone. Period. No syncing necessary, your notes are already accessible on the Evernote website. Make a note on the phone, or make a note on the web and access them either place as well. Genius.

Dragon Dictation
This is the greatest ever. You talk to your iPhone and then it translates that text into something that most times actually resembles what you said. Great for longer text messages.

Flashlight
Of all the, 'duh, that should have been included from the factory' apps, this one seems like a no-brainer. But, obviously, it wasn't and so it was left the 3rd party developers. This one's free, which is too bad, 'cause it's much more useful than some of the 99¢ apps that I have purchased.

myWireless
Yes, I do need to know that I have 8000 roll over minutes and when my bill is due. Plus, when you think about how many switched to AT&T just for the iPhone it's almost a crime that AT&T hasn't released more and better apps for it.

Facebook
If you're not addicted to Facebook, well, kudos to you. For the rest of us, this app is the best way to keep up with all the incessant chatter from friends, family, and internet acquaintances.

Wikipanion
I'm a Wikipedia addict. Seriously, is there anything that doesn't have a decent Wikipedia page at this point? If there is, I haven't found it. My kids teachers tell them not to use Wikipedia. I tell my kids not to cite it as a source and to use the links section at the bottom of each article.

Yelp
I used to switch between this and Urban Spoon when looking for restaurants and businesses when traveling. Eventually, Yelp won out. Makes me feel like a local wherever I go. I only wish I could complete my reviews using the iPhone app and not have to go log in to their website to finish the process.

Mac OS X Free Gems

This list is different from the "Must Haves" because not everyone needs these apps, but they are great just the same:

• Colloquy - a free IRC (Internet Relay Chat) program. If you need to do some old school IRC (which I do to talk to the support reps at Xmission.com) then this program is a godsend.

Mac OS X Must Haves

In no particular order:

• Adium - A Cocoa-ized port of GAIM (Gnu AOL(?) Instant Messenger). Like iChat, but allows you to connect to multiple chat services simultaneously.
  
  
• Camino - Currently the best browsing experience on the Mac. Based on the same Mozilla code base that Firefox is, but it's user interface is natively OS X. Apple's Safari is a close 2nd, but Camino is compatible with more site
  
  
• Spotlight - Spotlight is built into OS X 10.4. I used to recommend Black Tree's Quicksilver, but I've discovered that Spotlight is nearly as convenient and doesn't consume the system resources that Quicksilver does. Command (i.e. the Apple Key) + Space Bar, then type the first four to five letters of what you're looking for and then arrow down to it and press enter. It's bliss, you never have to remember where you stored a document or installed an application again.
  
  
• Fugu - For SFTP/SCP, now if only it did plain FTP too.
  
  
• VLC - Video LAN Client, plays video formats that Quicktime Player won't
  
  
• TextEdit - Seriously, the best free text editor/word processor for OS X comes free with the OS. The version in Tiger is amazing.
  
  
• Sound Studio - Looks like this has been sold to Freeverse. I got it free with my iBook or PowerBook a couple of years ago and it has been indispensable for recording old out-of-print cassettes and LPs and putting them on CD.
  
  
• Freecell
  So, Windows doesn't come with an SSH client? Well, OS X doesn't come with any good card games. This free version of freecell helps to close that gap.
  
  
• Mike's Cards Lite
  OS X also doesn't come with a version of Solitaire (Klondike), however, Mike's Cards Lite fills that void as well as coming with 6 other Solitaire games such as Arcade Poke, Forty Thieves, Go Fish, La Belle Lucie, Spider, and The Towers.
  

Windows Apps I Always End Up Installing

Yeah, I'm forced to use Windows- alot. I don't like it, but what can I do about it?



Anyway, seems like I always end up installing the following:

• PDFCreator - This great piece of free, open source software let's you "print" .pdf files from any MS Windows program that can print. Putting this on your system gives Windows something that has been built into every Mac since 2001.


• Open Office - OpenOffice.org is a free, open source office suite that, for me, can replace Microsoft Office. The latest version supports the new OpenDocument standard in addition to doing a fine job of opening Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.


• FireFox - The free, open source web browser that seems to have fixed their serious memory leakage and cpu cycle hogging problems in OS X is a complete necessity when using MS Windows. Safer than surfing with Internet Explorer, has tabs, and is a more familiar interface than Opera. Download it, install it, forget about IE.


• Spybot Search and Destroy - This is one of the two programs that I run on every Windows PC I have to use to immunize against and eradicate spyware and adware. Although, I usually find it easier to download from here. Also, I can never get it to successfully download it's updates right after installing it, I always have to reboot once first, otherwise all of the checksums fail. Weird.


• AdAware SE Personal Edition - This is the other program that I use to remove spyware and adware. Again, I usually find it easier to download from here. The splash screen says it is free for private use, but I've poured over the license agreement (disclaimer: I am not a lawyer) and I think that they have left it sufficiently vague enough that anyone can really use it. In fact, I checked their website to see if the license agreement for the commerical version was different and it was exactly the same as the one for the personal edition.


• iTunes - Even if you don't own an iPod, iTunes needs to be on your system. It's the best music jukebox made for any desktop computer system, and it's free. Not free as in free speech, but free as in free beer. It will play most non-proprietary media formats (mp3, aac, aiff, wav, ogg- with an add-in), keeps your music files neatly organized, burns custom audio CDs, rips to mp3, aac, or aiff without needing to shell out any additional money (unlike some media players from other companies). Additionally, it is a great way to listen to streaming radio stations.
  
  
• PuTTY
  I can't believe that Windows doesn't come with a real command shell and a built in SSH client. Thank goodness there's PuTTY. Microsoft owes the developers of this freeware gem big time.
  
  
• Launchy
  Launchy is like QuickSilver for Windows. It's a program launcher. That might not sound exciting at first, but once you start using it and realize how it works, you just can't seem to go back to not having it. The default key combo for invoking Launchy is Alt+Space (I changed this to be Ctrl+Space so it could be the same in Windows as it is in OS X on my MacBook Pro). It automatically indexes the items in your Start Menu, so once you invoke it you start typing the first few letters of the thing you want. Like if you want to open Notepad, you type "not" and by the time you get to the "t" Launchy is presenting you with Notepad a as your choice. Press enter and Notepad launches. It's the Windows+R option of opening programs on steroids. It's adaptive and addictive. You have to download it and use it for a little while and then suddenly the lightbulb appears over your head and you realize that this method of launching programs is the closest anyone has come to having the computer read your thoughts. Install Launchy and you'll never be more than 4 keystrokes away from any of your programs again. You'll almost forget what you used to use the QuickLaunch bar for.
  

Truly Portable Apps

There's a lot of talk about "portable apps" these days. Portable apps being programs that you can run off of a USB keychain drive. However, most of what I've seen are Windows apps that you can run directly from your USB key chain drive. What about the truly portable apps? The ones that will run on any computer- Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X? Right now, the only apps I know of that do this are Java based, so here's my list of truly portable apps:

• jGnash
  jGnash is a personal finance mananger. It's completely free and will run on any computer that has a Java virtual machine version 1.4.0 or greater.
  
  
• Thinking Rock
  Thinking Rock is a free software application for collecting and processing your thoughts following the GTD methodology.
  
  
• Risk
  Wow! This implementation of Risk in Java is amazing. In fact, this is the nicest looking Java app I think I've ever seen.
  
  
• Java Sudoku
  Just like the name sounds, a Java based version of Sudoku. Needs JRE 1.5.0 or above.
  
  
• Secure Data Manager
  Secure Data Manager keeps your passwords stored in an ecrypted file. Requires JRE 1.4.1 or later.
  
  
• Java Shishen
  Shishen is a Mahjonng tile removing game. The tiles are not stacked as they are in most Mahjonng variations that I'm familiar with. Instead, you can only remove 2 tiles if it only takes 3 straight lines (or less) connected by 90 degree turns to get from one tile to the next. The idea is to to remove the tiles in the least amount of time possible.
  
  
• jEdit
  jEdit is a mature programmer's text editor with hundreds (counting the time developing plugins) of person-years of development behind it.
  
  
• jBidWatcher
  A Java-based application allowing you to monitor auctions you're not part of, submit bids, snipe (bid at the last moment), and otherwise track your auction-site experience. It includes adult-auction management, MANY currencies (pound, dollar (US, Canada, Australian, and New Taiwanese) and euro, presently), drag-and-drop of auction URLs, an original, unique and powerful 'multisniping' feature, a relatively nice UI, and is known to work cleanly under Linux, Windows, Solaris, and MacOSX from the same binary.
  
  
• yEd
  yEd is a graph/diagram editor. It can be used to generate drawings and to apply automatic layouts to a range of different diagrams and networks. It is available as a free download with no restrictions on its functionality.
  
  
• Freemind
  Freemind is mind mapping software. It's great for laying out a bunch of interconnected ideas. A great example of just how smooth and polished a Java desktop app can be.
  

Palm Apps

These are the apps that anyone with a Palm should have installed:

• Ultrasoft Checkbook - Who needs Quicken? This $19.95 program does it all on your Palm handheld.
  
  
• GNU Keyring - (FREE) It hasn't been updated for some time, but it still works perfectly and there is a java desktop viewer that will let you view but not edit your passwords on any computer with a JVM 1.4 or newer.
  
  
• Converter - (FREE) Why Palm doesn't include something like this with their devices, or at least showcase a free little gem like this on their site baffles me. This great little app will convert over 200 different unit types in 23 categories.
  
  
• Vexed - (FREE) Vexed is a really cool puzzle game. Slide the blocks left and right. Any time two or more of them come into contact, they disappear. Blocks fall down when they lose the support below them. Eliminate all blocks to get to the next screen.