Web Worker Daily

Francisco says: December 13th, 2006 5:17am

That is a good question, my faverotie application is Evolution, I can’t live without it, I like how it integrates with the Gnome desktop, it is brilliant :-)

Greg says: December 13th, 2006 5:36am

I would have to say mine is NewsFire. It’s the first thing I use when I open my MBP and the last thing I use before I close it for the day.

Rich says: December 13th, 2006 5:47am

I’d have to say it’s Colibri on the pc. It’s an application launcher that you load apps by typing their names, similar to Quicksilver on the Mac, but not as cool sadly. Anyways, it saves me so much time for me instead of having to go to Start and find an application.

Jochen Lillich says: December 13th, 2006 5:49am

For me, Backpack is indispensable. It’s a web-based Getting Things Done toolset where I can build pages from lists, notes, files and pictures. It’s accompanied by “Writeboards”, wiki-like pages I can easily write structured texts on. Backpack and Writeboard pages can be shared with other people for collaboration.

I use Backpack to, for example, manage my tasks (aka “next actions”), keep checklists, plan vacations and outline my next podcasts. And, most importantly at the moment, I have a Backpack page for my christmas wish list. :-)

Fred Oliveira says: December 13th, 2006 5:56am

You pretty much read my mind, Chris. I was doing a post this morning about emotional connections to applications – and those people can’t bare to live without – and here you are posting this. I’d say my top two applications would have to be Gmail and Goplan – one manages my email, the second manages pretty much all my activity (from personal projects to work). Oh, and Flickr. Naturally.

Dave Child says: December 13th, 2006 6:04am

Entirely not on my mind at any moment is StrokeIt. I find it hard to use computers without it thought. Easily one of the best pieces of software ever written – does exactly what I want it to do, and so well that I rarely actually remember I’m using it all the time.

Stephen Glauser says: December 13th, 2006 6:09am

For me it is definitely Google Reader. I’m in my RSS reader approximately ten times a day. Couldn’t live without it.

jamie says: December 13th, 2006 6:12am

Quicksilver for the Mac. i cringe when using a windows machine solely because of the lack of this software.

Amie Gillingham says: December 13th, 2006 7:03am

Active Refresh. Not only do I do my daily reading this way, we also use it to manage events on our site by watching feeds of actions in quasi real time.

David Boyer says: December 13th, 2006 7:23am

Netvibes has become indispensable for me. I run all my feeds through it, including my iCal feeds from Google Calendar and my Basecamp projects making it the main focus in my GTD workflow.

Melissa says: December 13th, 2006 7:59am

Aside from email, the programs that I launch and leave running while I work are: Firefox, Gmail Notifier, Dreamweaver, Windows Explorer and Photoshop. Couldn’t work without ‘em.

Jonathan says: December 13th, 2006 8:06am

Google Reader baby!

Kevin says: December 13th, 2006 8:18am

Producivity – Emergent Time Tracker

Blog reading – Omea Reader

Development – Visual Studion .NET 2005

Email – Gmail/outlook

Todo: RememberTheMilk.com

Links: delicious, my web 2.0

Research: google

daveconrey says: December 13th, 2006 8:59am

WordPress without a doubt. I don’t think I could have ever designed my own blog without it. I’ve used other blogging interfaces and WordPress is still the easiest to work with in my humble opinion.

Corey says: December 13th, 2006 9:00am

i’ll do web apps, because i’m a web dev and designer. so dreamweaver, photoshop, and firefox and i are always open. but that’s part of the job.

what i can’t live without having open are:

newshutch.com – a brilliant, efficient rss reader

meebo.com – web-based IM client that covers AIM, yahoo, MSN, google, ICQ

mailas.com (fastmail.fm) – i pay for webmail. have for years. and still find this webmail client better than gmail. i’ve never found something it couldn’t do.

30boxes.com – the calendar i use. i don’t use it enough to need it to integrate with anything, which is it’s main downfall.

Nitin Badjatia says: December 13th, 2006 9:08am

Despite being a hardcore Tablet PC fan, I’m moving closer and closer to Firefox becoming my operating system. Tweaked with the appropriate extensions, and auto-starting with the right tabs (Gmail, WSJ, Google Reader, Tasks [http://alexking.org/projects/tasks/ - now GTD friendly], Personalized Google homepage, Google Notebook), I’m connected and ready to roll. I love the ability to operate ‘lean’.

Beyond this, Outlook is still king on the work front.

Daniel Sofer says: December 13th, 2006 9:56am

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Basecamp — that’s my home page, which I use to manage my web clients and try to keep all the balls in the air.

That’s besides Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash that are all open most of the time.

Brandon Wood says: December 13th, 2006 9:59am

Google Reader, without a doubt. I have my web browser open all day, and Google Reader is almost always open in a background tab.

Wynne says: December 13th, 2006 10:25am

I prefer not to rely on web-based organizers etc. as internet at home isn’t the best so if I realize I need to do something from home, chances are I can’t get to the information for a while. So for me it’s VoodooPad. I can have all the pages I need and they’re all linked, so for me it’s incredibly handy. I basically can’t go half an hour without checking it.

My web tools are Taco HTML Edit, GIMPshop, Inkscape… on my PC Photoshop was open nearly all the time.

And while I’m all over Flickr and other sweet sites, I don’t use them to organize my life. Not the way I work ;)

Bennett says: December 13th, 2006 10:32am

Gaim – My favorite AIM client. Allows me to view people in my buddy list under aliases (I just put their real names) rather than their screen names; smoothest performance for me than others like Trillian.

Bastian says: December 13th, 2006 10:49am

For me it would be Skype and Gmail. I think it would be communication tools for mot people… or not?

Deepak says: December 13th, 2006 11:06am

Probably backpack or Firefox.. but there are so many others (Google Personalized Homepage, Google Reader come to mind)

Julian Bennett Holmes says: December 13th, 2006 12:11pm

Adium

Mary Deaton says: December 13th, 2006 12:31pm

My browser, of course! I use FireFox unless I have to use IE. I did download IE 7, but while there are certainly improvements, it is not going to change my default browser.

IM is always on; it opens auotmatically when someone sends a message, so that counts, doesn’t it?

Word. I like Google Docs, but it is not robust enough for what I do. I do use it when I need to collaborate with someone, especially for client reviews.

Google spreadsheet. I never use Excel anymore. For me, a spreadsheet is seldom more than a list maker with a built-in calculator. I do all of my hours tracking and my invoicing with Google spreadsheets. I just invite the clients to view the invoice when it is billing time.

I think I need a bigger monitor!

Robyn Tippins says: December 13th, 2006 1:42pm

Google reader – Just changed over from Bloglines about a month or two ago. The plumber was up too much for me.

Firefox – I spend 90% of my day in this browser using WordPress, Google Reader, pulling Adsense reports, opening Basecamp, Netbank, LinkedIN, Doostang, TechMeme, etc.

I like the printable CEO Emergent Task thingy too.

FatMan says: December 13th, 2006 1:56pm

DQSD, Dave’s Quick Search Deskbar. Sits in the toolbar and lets me search for anything anywhere and quickly build site specific searches. Windows-S puts the cursor there and from there I can email or search amazon (amaz), ebay, Congressional bills at Thomas, google news (gn).

Really couldn’t live without it.

Chris Williams says: December 13th, 2006 3:31pm

Firefox and The Bat. I use four email accounts daily, for everything from work contacts to newsletters to job searches. These two take up about 80% of my day. The rest I usually spend in OpenOffice or my Wiki.

Leo F says: December 13th, 2006 4:02pm

Definitely Firefox, as it has become my platform for almost everything. I barely need local apps at this point. LF

Derek Coleman says: December 13th, 2006 4:03pm

Netvibes is central command for me. Meebo connects me to my people. Bloglines for the organized feeds.

Glenn says: December 13th, 2006 4:45pm

For me it’s got to be FeedDemon, it saves me so much time (although, because it’s so easy, I’ve doubled my RSS reading list over the last 12 months, so that point is debatable!)

James Booker says: December 13th, 2006 5:39pm

To be controversial – my “can’t live without” application is windows media player – drowning out noise is one of the most important things to help me concentrate.

jspad says: December 13th, 2006 6:36pm

If I had to pick one, Firefox — no question. That gives me access to IM, email, my feeds, posting to blogs, searching… so really I think of it more like an OS than an app.

Must Have Apps « My Life With IT says: December 13th, 2006 8:06pm

[...] Now, if you ask me if there’s any application that is my daily dose, I can’t say it’s only one application. I need my daily dose of blogging and blog readings, thus Firefox is always opened until I shutdown for the day. In addition, I use IE partly due to habit. Other applications that I use is of course, WordPress. If not, this post wouldn’t be here, right? I use MSN Messenger too, it’s my best connection to my friends. Calling isn’t an option due to work. [...]

billyfoxtrot says: December 13th, 2006 10:22pm

If you’re counting web-based applications, I’d have to say Bloglines. I’ve used at least 5 other options for managing feeds, including desktop software, but I haven’t found anything as easy to use. I should mention though that I haven’t tried Google Reader yet. Maybe I’d like that just as much, if not more.

nets says: December 14th, 2006 2:49am

For me it’s got to be my personal blog. I posted idea, faq, troubleshooting, life log with photos and more.

techbee says: December 14th, 2006 6:54am

WordPress and Bloglines on line RSS reader. (I am the faithful type)

Joshua Kaufman says: December 14th, 2006 10:55am

Quicksilver for Mac hands down.

David Babylon says: December 14th, 2006 12:31pm

Photoshop. For web or print there is not a program I use more than Adobe Photoshop.

Evan says: December 14th, 2006 3:15pm

Funny how for most people it is an RSS reader.

For me the one program I probably can’t live without is vim (yes, a text editor). Although it is not the “first thing we look at in the morning, and the last one we use before we shut down for the day” it is probably the first thing I will end up installing on an unfamiliar computer to help me deal with it. Under windows the ability to right click on any file and select “Edit with Vim” is gold – and let’s face it, notebook is just a glorified text area control.

As for the first and last think I look at department – that would have to be my browser (firefox). It is one of the programs (along with email (thunderbird) and rss (liferea)) that I leave open all day no matter what I’m up to.

Jay says: December 14th, 2006 4:22pm

Netvibes: i use this to hold speed dial info for my deskphone, news reader, todo list, currency converter (i live in Australia).

RoboForm: I am growing more and more dependant on this, in fact it’s a little scarry, i don’t know what i would do if i lost the database.

Island in the Net says: December 17th, 2006 7:32am

Firefox. What would I do without the web?