Thanks for putting together this list and sharing it. I had heard of a couple of apps here, and now I'm taking a closer look thanks to this post.
I would add Seesmic Desktop to the list of Twitter & Communication applications. It is very closely related to Tweedeck, but I've found it to be a bit more responsive and less of a memory hog than Tweedeck. In the end it's a personal choice, as they both do a great job with multiple columns and Facebook integration.
Finally, one app that is not really an app ;) is advising people to master Spaces (comes with Mac OS X). I've seen so many people who use Macs who never even knew they had it. It's very helpful with productivity and even more now with Expose in Snow Leopard.
Thanks again!
-Franklin
Christina Warren
· 2 months ago
Both excellent points! Thanks Frank!
Name
· 2 months ago
There are also SimpleGTD.com, NowDoThis and The Big Picture. These are free, online apps. The Big Picture can subscribe to iCal. Great list! Tony
John Attebury
· 2 months ago
Use & Love: @1password, @omnifocus, @tweetie, @dropbox. Tried the Google version of Quicksilver, but it's not as good. Going to try Bento & Xmarks.
connectionfailure
· 2 months ago
Of course, you make a "20" list but we can add items here in the comments :) I have found heaps of good stuff in comments sections.
In the "Information Organizer" sections I'll mention Circus Ponies' Notebook and DEVONnote. For "Calendars" I think maybe Plaxo, Calgoo and ThinkingRock (a GTD app) deserve a mention. For social media have a look at EventBox which supports multiple services. For "Working with the Web" I thought of Skitch which is great, and it has some competition called Voila.
I do not write or work for the companies mentioned above. However I do own Notebook and have accounts with Plaxo and Skitch.
Hey- you forgot CopyPaste which does text expansion and supports multiple clipboards. It's been around for years too. Even though we have Exposé for switching between apps, it still makes sense to copy a number of items at once then switch once and paste them back in the correct order. It makes me highly productive!
allenk1
· 2 months ago
The one that I find that helps me most of the time is Pathfinder. Has increased productivity a ton!
connectionfailure
· 2 months ago
Of course, you make a "20" list but we can add items here in the comments :) I have found heaps of good stuff in comments sections.
In the "Information Organizer" sections I'll mention Circus Ponies' Notebook and DEVONnote. For "Calendars" I think maybe Plaxo, Calgoo and ThinkingRock (a GTD app) deserve a mention. For social media have a look at EventBox which supports multiple services. For "Working with the Web" I thought of Skitch which is great, and it has some competition called Voila.
I do not write or work for the companies mentioned above. However I do own Notebook and have accounts with Plaxo and Skitch.
Hey- you forgot CopyPaste which does text expansion and supports multiple clipboards. It's been around for years too. Even though we have Exposé for switching between apps, it still makes sense to copy a number of items at once then switch once and paste them back in the correct order. It makes me highly productive!
Pasquale D'Silva
· 2 months ago
Things is one of the most useless applications I have ever tested. It's way too much fiddling to actually dig through tasks, there are no good reminder tools, & you can't share tasks in collaboration...
It's probably more efficient to scribble to-dos on a whiteboard than to use Things :/
friendlier projects
· 2 months ago
I've not used Things, but for reminder tools I'd recommend Remember the Milk (weirdly, not mentioned here), which is a handy web app with reminders via email and twitter, with Gmail integration and a hard-to-find (free, 3rd-party) Dashboard widget called Remember the Moof.
$25 for a 'pro' account gets you iPhone sync and not much else, but the iPhone and web app (with Google Gears) work offline too. RTM is working well for me at the moment, but there are some drawbacks (no true integration with iCal (can't edit) or Outlook (can't even read) tasks, for example).
Christina Warren
· 2 months ago
Like Adium, RTM was on a list in my head that somehow didn't make it through in the end. I can't believe I "forgot" the milk!
Don MacDonald
· 2 days ago
Agreed. Although they're web apps (but they do run on my Mac, so I think it counts), I've found 37signals' Backpack and Basecamp to be the best for to-do's, reminders, and project planning. Their design philosophy is to keep things as simple as possible, so that you can focus on doing stuff instead of fiddling around with all the settings.
dyegov
· 2 months ago
Nicely done! All of you make me want to buy a mac, just if I hadn't bought a laptop (PC) 3 months ago... T_T
NigelHall
· 2 months ago
You can probably turn that laptop into a Hackintosh real easy.
"CoachDeb" Micek
· 2 months ago
Nigel - so if a PC turned MAC is a Hackintosh - what would my new MAC Book Pro be if I can now run windows on it as well?
NigelHall
· 2 months ago
I think I'd call that a compromise :)
machine906
· 2 months ago
Well PC's make nice bookends or doorstops :-) There's your out if you want to Mac!
jyoseph
· 2 months ago
Freaking great roundup. Bookmarking this for sure. Stellar job.
Kichgai Mentat
· 2 months ago
I've used Things, and I love it. I also own Bento, but I wish I had more to do with it. Currently it just sits around.
I think the ability to sync iCal with Google Calendar was underrated though. Google has a one-click app that you run to set it up.
Also, except for Propane, none of those apps were IMs. Adium is the get-stuff-done app for IMs. One app to rule them all. I find TweetDeck actually counter-productive if Twitter isn't in your job description, because it's so freaking distracting!
To be honest, the only part of the article I was 100% in agreement was the Task Management section. Not a huge fan of The Hit List or OmniFocus, but that's because I'm so indoctrinated and invested in Things. Nothing against the other two, but Things is what works for me, and I'm glad there's enough variety in task managers that there's one for for just about everybody's style.
Christina Warren
· 2 months ago
Yeah I love Adium, though I think it's Twitter integration is understandably weak. I only left it out initially because I was aiming for exactly 20 apps. I should have put ut back in. Maybe for a follow-up.
jyoseph
· 2 months ago
Title says 20+ so i think you're good w/ more than 20 ;-)
jyoseph
· 2 months ago
Question, do you happen to know if Things, the desktop and iPhone app sync together?
EDIT: Sorry I asked a bit prematurely, from their site: "We've put the whole application in your pocket. Even better, it syncs seamlessly with Things on your Mac via Wi-Fi. "
donnacha | WordSkill
· 2 months ago
"Even better, it syncs seamlessly with Things on your Mac via Wi-Fi"
Think about what they're actually saying there: every morning, before you rush out to work, you have to remember to manually sync Things on your iPhone while you are still within Wi-Fi range of your computer. If you forget or are too busy, Things on your iPhone will be out of sync all day.
Similar desktop+iPhone products have automatic online syncing which keeps both your iPhone and your computer in sync via the cloud i.e. their own service or a third-party service such as MobileMe or any other WebDAV server. This is, by far, a better solution because it removes a major point of failure and, in GTD terms, gives you a system you can trust. Your task management app should not be giving your extra tasks to remember!
Cultured Code rushed the release of Things because they had booked a booth for the January 2009 Macworld and wanted to use it for their official launch. They also rushed users into making a purchase by offering a time-limited discount. At that time, many users were alarmed because they knew that, without online syncing, Things was not going to be a workable solution for them. The owner of CC made a promise that online syncing was on the way and would be delivered within the first quarter of 2009 and many paid their money on that basis.
By Summer, the failure to deliver online syncing led to a lot of bad feeling on the CC support forums. Some users were happy to work around it, some felt that they had been duped into buying a product that was of no practical use to them. The issue came to dominate their forums and was much exacerbated by the curious lack of any response, any response at all, from CC, apart from locking threads to get them off the front page.
Worried that potential customers might be put off by massive number of complaints on the forum, CC sneakily removed all links to it from their website. The only indication of user response to their product were the heavily-edited comments on their blog posts, with CC removing anything that was not a glowing tribute. Some people, however, still managed to stumble across the forums via Google, so, finally, CC took down the entire forum. They recently put back up a heavily edited version with all complaints removed and anything critical of the product or the lack of support is immediately removed.
So, as we are about to enter the final quarter of the year, a vital feature has still not been delivered, despite their competitors all having it BEFORE they started charging, and CC have shown themselves to be contemptuous of their customers. Yes, Things is pretty and, yes, it works well for people who have the time and the inclination to work around the problems, or who don't have an iPhone and use it merely as a desktop app, but think long and hard before getting involved with people who are dishonest enough to bury legitimate complaints rather than address them or fix the problems.
It is also pretty damning that none of Apple-focused blogs had the guts to report on something as important and newsworthy as the deletion of an entire support forum. Aren't these blogs meant to be looking out for our interests as consumers?
Pawel
· 1 month ago
Hi Donnacha, i agree, wifi syncing is useless. Most of the time you just simply forget to sync it with the desktop app.
I consider Things iPhone app as one of my worst purchases.
donnacha | WordSkill
· 1 month ago
Yeah, me too, worst app I've actually paid money for, essentially the opposite of a productivity app, it wasted a lot of my time, I wish I hadn't fallen for all the hype.
Olukay
· 2 months ago
Unfortunately no. The Apple-focused blogs are more like (or worse than) apple fanboys. No objectivity in most of the things they write. And before they scream and whine, I'm actually an apple user.
donnacha | WordSkill
· 1 month ago
You make a good point but I think it's actually more cynical than that: the "pro" blogs don't want to offend possible advertisers, so, they only act as cheerleaders for software, they have no interest in reporting on matters of consumer interest. When Cultured Code closed the Things forum, I thought it would be widely reported by all the Apple blogs, especially given how clear the problems were and how angry hundreds of users on the forums were, but, no, not a peep from any of the blogs.
D6Veteran
· 2 months ago
TweetDeak is a memory hog - try HootSuite instead. I switched and am happier for it.
Sourav Sharma
· 2 months ago
Cool stuff here..I recently switched to Mac and I am enjoying my experience..and these apps will come handy
Jay Cuthrell
· 2 months ago
Now I'll be installing these all evening and losing productivity tonight ;-)
Great list!
mtappenden
· 2 months ago
I use OmniFocus religiously (as well as OmniOutliner and OmniPlan for work), and also use Bento and Tweetie off this list (all three of these apps I sue both on my Mac and iPhone).
William Todd
· 2 months ago
Your timing couldn't be better. About to buy a 15in Macbook Pro, my first Mac in many years and my first Mac laptop.
Anthony Bynoe
· 2 months ago
I would like to submit posts on PC productivity apps, but Mashable has so many that have been posted in the past. The lists are endless. Not dissing your 20 Mac apps post, I'm just saying ......
Bob D
· 2 months ago
Terrific article, it covered most of the apps I use every day. Although Bento is a good app, be aware that its price is more like an annual fee. Version 1 owners had to pay full price for version 2, and pay for the iPhone app as well. People considering buying now might want to wait until Bento 3 is released.
Circus Ponies Notebook is another great app I use for less structured data, random writings and outlines, web clippings and links, photos, etc.
Spaces probably doesn't belong here as it's an Apple app, but it is a great productivity boost as you can run all of your apps full screen and switch between them quickly. I miss it tremendously when I use Windows.
Sikat Ang Pinoy
· 2 months ago
Thank you for instructing about mac. But I think this is more expensive than vista.
fergielei
· 1 month ago
yes llyod you have a point.
Ankur Moulik
· 2 months ago
Mac applications have always satisfied me.Also when it comes to their Quick Time Player i'm not a big fan of this application.Rest are pretty good.
Justin Wright
· 2 months ago
Awesome list! Thanks for putting this together, as I'm always on the lookout for new apps to try out.
glennarcaro
· 2 months ago
Some great apps for macs here. I've been using macs for the last 10 years and they have been getting better and better every year.
robertliparulo
· 2 months ago
Great roundup. Do you know of any app that blocks the opening/use of user-define apps during user-defined times (a Freedom-like app for your whole computer)? Thanks.
Christina Warren
· 2 months ago
Green Gordon a few comments down mentioned Concentrate, which IIRC does what you want (I remember liking it but I tried it a long time ago). Also, Alex Payne wrote a blog post this week about how to block distractions while you work. Pretty geeky, but good. I'm on my phone so I'll have to double check but I think the URL is al3x.net.
robertliparulo
· 2 months ago
Thank you for the information. Currently, Concentrate does not block apps from being launched, though it is a feature in 1.1 (in private beta right now). That's the one feature I really need. By the way, I use THINGS and love it.
One app I could NEVER live without is Default Folder X.. It's a nice plugin that integrates with Finder and allows to (when saving a file) to choose a finder window that'd already open.
englandnz
· 2 months ago
I second Default Folder X. Utterly indispensable and really ought to be incorporated into the operating system.
Ekrem Büyükkaya
· 2 months ago
Expensive but OmniFocus is really awesome especially you have an iPhone. With a good sync you can do your task management things
Swastik
· 2 months ago
Excellent list! I've got OmniFocus on my Mac but I like Things better!
LarryMcJ
· 2 months ago
It's too bad one of your requirements to get on this list wasn't "responsiveness from the developer". I agree that Spanning Sync is a great app, but I asked a simple presale question twice "is it licensed to the person or the computer" because I needed to used it two Macs. Sadly, I never got a reply. I equate that type of responsiveness to the type I'd likely get after I paid for the app so never bought it.
LarryMcJ
· 2 months ago
Christina...I believe Google has increased the number of Google Calendars (from the five you mention) that can sync with iCal. I currently have seven being sync'd just fine, but I don't know the ultimate limit. The only problem with Google synching is you can't control the time intervals as finitely as you can with Spannning Sync, but it's free...and it really does work well.
Christina Warren
· 2 months ago
Larry, that's good to know. I know it was five, which was one reason I kept using Spanning Sync, but it is good to know the limit has been raised. Thanks for the info.
Green Gordon
· 2 months ago
'Concentrate' is quite a good tool for productivity. It allows you te set profiles for different tasks you need to do and can launch documents, web sites, set alerts, lock you out of distracting websites, and lots of other useful things. Sadly it doesn't write my essays for me.
randeg4
· 2 months ago
Those are all helpful links for Mac Users; they will certainly increase one's productivity. It is just too bad I am not a Mac user, but I have friends who are so I am going to send them to this article. I am positive they will be thrilled to get this information.
Evelyn Guzman http://www.homebusinesssteps.com (If you want to visit, just click but if it doesn’t work, copy and paste it onto your browser.)
zxa1911
· 2 months ago
Fantastic
Audrey Nay
· 2 months ago
thanks for a comprehensive overview of apps. really helpful.
Szabi
· 2 months ago
Nice list but don't forget MyTexts. It is an awesome little shareware text editor.
Tricialew
· 2 months ago
Great article. Not mentioned is my favorite productivity app for projects that take a lot of research and organization....Curio. I'm using version 5 but 6 was just released. From brainstorming to completing projects, this is the app to keep everything in one place as well as stay on deadline by using it's calendar features.
Christina Warren
· 2 months ago
Ooh, Curio is good! Thanks for the reminder!
Jamie Flinchbaugh
· 2 months ago
Awesome stuff. I'm definitely grabbing a couple more apps.
One of my favorite for productivity is JumpCut, which is great and extremely simple / low-profile way to keep a history and recall your cut and paste. Really saves time.
For writing I love WriteRoom, which removes all distractions from your screen and turns it into an old-school word processor. Very easy to focus - love the app.
Christina Warren
· 2 months ago
Yeah I love Jump Cut! LaunchBar 5 has that functionality built in, which is nice,but if you don't want all the other options, Jump Cut is a great clipboard history manager!
Charles
· 2 months ago
My long-time favorite is iData3, which began in the 80s as QuickDex and has evolved with the Mac. A simple free-form database that can store just about anything you'd like to instantly recall — code snippits, addresses, recipes, articles, URLs, photos, etc., etc.. It's a constant fixture on my desktop that I can't do without it. Multi-user and mobile.
Mohan Arun L
· 2 months ago
You could also include notational.net a Mac note-organizing app.
Laurinda Shaver
· 2 months ago
What a great list to explore! I use RTM.. but now I'm going to give Things a try. If only I could be more productive with the time I use to explore productivity apps.
Troy Thompson
· 2 months ago
Xmarks also provides password syncing as well, so you can keep your password synced across Windows and Mac, which is great for me since I use Windows at work and Mac at home.
Mike
· 2 months ago
I am not surprised Things is right at the top. Although this isn't necessarily a ranking in the strictest sense, Things is an awesome product, as is Dropbox. Between them, my Mac life is pretty much complete. DropBox has rendered the need for burning and USB sticks pretty much obsolete for internal projects / sharing...
Julian
· 2 months ago
great round up, Christina. there really is very little more to add to your list as far as productivity apps. some god finds too. i agree with connectionfailure's comment about skitch.app, though. it should have made the list (under "working with the web" or perhaps a new category within productivity... "collaboration"). littlesnapper.app is great for *certain* web snapshots (e.g. full web page) but skitch *rules* snapshot-land. also, better sharing features, better for text annotations, and UI.......and it's freeware : ).
Christina Warren
· 2 months ago
No, you're right -- Skitch is great. For my needs, I've actually started using LittleSnapper more even for odd-sized snaps, and I like that it keeps everything in one tidy place, but Skitch is a GREAT app and I hope they continue to do great things with it.
Jen
· 2 months ago
Aside from Quicksilver (and a few other ones), what about 20+ Mac App *Freeware*?
Christina Warren
· 2 months ago
I really did try to find or mention as many of the free alternatives as I could find (Skitch was an omission, more because we've covered it many times in the past and LittleSnapper does things that Skitch just doesn't do, Adium was just an oversight, as I use it every day), but the truth is, many of the best apps in this space aren't free. There are alternatives, but they aren't always updated and are almost never as feature-rich. Oftentimes you can find many of these apps in the various Mac software bundles that always seem to be going on. The Hit List, LittleSnapper, 1Password, Typinator and LaunchBar have all been included in bundles at some time in the recent past, so that's always a good option to look for a way to save.
Ross
· 2 months ago
As a long time Mac user, I find Scrapit Pro X one of my must haves. It is what the scrapbook application should have become. I especially like the fact that I can have several scrapbooks open and drag and drop from one to the other. One to stuff things into as I work and later I can drag and drop to more focused different scrapbooks.
forbetaorworse
· 2 months ago
I'm confused. Team America taught me that Freedom ISN'T free... *chuckle* I am a riot.
Nigel Hall
· 2 months ago
Another vote for Adium. Didn't see anyone mention Butler. It's by Peter Maurer, the guy who originally wrote Texpander, renamed as TexteExpander by SmileOnMyMac. Butler does a lot of things, but I use the app launcher and extended pasteboard the most. It can trigger almost anything on your Mac off keyboard shortcuts.
Other nice little freebies I find useful: Sidenote & Scribblet for fast note taking, xCode and RapidWeaver for web design, Acorn for image editing, and many many more.
GoodMillwork
· 2 months ago
Christina,
Curious if the Mashable team uses Campfire as an internal communication tool. Always looking for best practices and team communication is always on top of my list.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Harley Rivet
· 2 months ago
DestroyTwitter is a great little Twitter app for the desktop. It's built on Adobe Air and has many features.
Jens P. Berget
· 2 months ago
I use Things on my Mac and on my iPhone, it's an awesome application. I've been thinking about buying BusyCal for some time now, but so far, I think iCal is good enough for me.
Awesome list.
- jens
Paul da Silva
· 2 months ago
Great Round up. I have to say the two best business apps I've found are Daylite and Billings - both from market circle.
I run my own consulting business and these are just brilliant. The ability of Daylite to manage projects and integrate with Apple Mail is just fantastic. Real CRM technology for SMEs. Billings is brilliant for tracking and billing time without it taking longer to do the admin than it does to do the job.
Love them both and because they're from the same company the two apps even integrate.
brookwarner
· 2 months ago
Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but i really like the Google Search Box - hit Command twice and then type the first few letters of what you want - whether its an app, a google search, an email. And its really powerful - you can open, delete, show in finder, get info - all from within the GSB. and its free!
Ashli Norton
· 2 months ago
Cool article , I didn't know Mashable covered Mac apps.
For students to be productive there is an app, Cram and another SchoolHouse.
dvi-kabel
· 2 months ago
Well my DSL downloads at around 150 KB/s, max. There is no way to make that faster, even with breaking it up into smaller chunks. You are only allowed so much bandwith, and I don't see how a download manager could help with that.
I use Outliner for my organizer... which is very non conventional, but outline processors rock, and this is the best outline processor going. If you give talks without powerpoints... this is the best tool going, way better than Word.
Then, Graffle for mind mapping, also rocks. Omni makes great applications for a reasonable amount.
Rob
· 2 months ago
I've been a Mac user for many years and I find this article very valuable and insightful. Thank you for suggesting great applications such as Things, Dropbox, Xmarks and Tweetie. I will try out some other apps such as BusyCal. Keep it real.
Garry
· 2 months ago
I LOVE MacJournal by Mariner Software. It's a wonderful tool for organizing journal entries, ideas and various media . . . but mostly I love it because it's a great tool for composing blog entries off line, automatically posting them and keeping backups of everything.
madmilker
· 2 months ago
jus using your head works too!
wawak
· 2 months ago
G
wawak
· 2 months ago
Good apps but some are way too expensive. If you're a student like me, I simply don't have the money to pay for these. It's kind of contradictory, I have to work more to pay app to make me productive. Great list but it would be even better if you could find some that are affordable in a college student level.
Stephan
· 1 month ago
I use Things for to-do and also sync with a iDevice for being able to always write down my next actions or check my list of actions. In a meeting i'm just writing the actions down and processing them after in Things. It's a fantastic program based the even more fantastic Getting Things Done workflow suggested by David Allen. I feel Dropbox is incredibly easy for sharing low to mid-sized files with anyone, as the program just runs in the background, youre always logged in and you just drop the files in the folder. Quicksilver is also a must have, since you can 'automate' any action you'd like to perform on your mac. It also helps your productivity because you have to think first which program or file you're gonna open and you don't end up opening Firefox for 100 times in a row while you should open Photoshop :) My calender and mail is synced with Google and Mail/iCal apps (also on my iDevice) and works like a charm.
slrman
· 1 month ago
The fact that you quote that old saw about there not being much software for the Mac shows that you still believe the trash that Windows fanboys shout because they have no facts. There has always (at least since 1986 when I first started using Macs) been plenty of software for Macs. In addition, that software has either been free or far cheaper than the Windows equivalents.
Listing time-wasters like twitter apps isn't something I would consider productive. No listing real productivity apps like NeoOffice (free) and GIMP (also free) is a disgrace.
simmondia
· 1 week ago
I think it's Twitter integration is understandably weak,so play around with them and then choose what works best for your workflow.
All Comments
Thanks for putting together this list and sharing it. I had heard of a couple of apps here, and now I'm taking a closer look thanks to this post.
I would add Seesmic Desktop to the list of Twitter & Communication applications. It is very closely related to Tweedeck, but I've found it to be a bit more responsive and less of a memory hog than Tweedeck. In the end it's a personal choice, as they both do a great job with multiple columns and Facebook integration.
Finally, one app that is not really an app ;) is advising people to master Spaces (comes with Mac OS X). I've seen so many people who use Macs who never even knew they had it. It's very helpful with productivity and even more now with Expose in Snow Leopard.
Thanks again!
-Franklin
Great list!
Tony
In the "Information Organizer" sections I'll mention Circus Ponies' Notebook and DEVONnote.
For "Calendars" I think maybe Plaxo, Calgoo and ThinkingRock (a GTD app) deserve a mention.
For social media have a look at EventBox which supports multiple services.
For "Working with the Web" I thought of Skitch which is great, and it has some competition called Voila.
I do not write or work for the companies mentioned above. However I do own Notebook and have accounts with Plaxo and Skitch.
Hey- you forgot CopyPaste which does text expansion and supports multiple clipboards. It's been around for years too. Even though we have Exposé for switching between apps, it still makes sense to copy a number of items at once then switch once and paste them back in the correct order. It makes me highly productive!
In the "Information Organizer" sections I'll mention Circus Ponies' Notebook and DEVONnote.
For "Calendars" I think maybe Plaxo, Calgoo and ThinkingRock (a GTD app) deserve a mention.
For social media have a look at EventBox which supports multiple services.
For "Working with the Web" I thought of Skitch which is great, and it has some competition called Voila.
I do not write or work for the companies mentioned above. However I do own Notebook and have accounts with Plaxo and Skitch.
Hey- you forgot CopyPaste which does text expansion and supports multiple clipboards. It's been around for years too. Even though we have Exposé for switching between apps, it still makes sense to copy a number of items at once then switch once and paste them back in the correct order. It makes me highly productive!
It's probably more efficient to scribble to-dos on a whiteboard than to use Things :/
$25 for a 'pro' account gets you iPhone sync and not much else, but the iPhone and web app (with Google Gears) work offline too. RTM is working well for me at the moment, but there are some drawbacks (no true integration with iCal (can't edit) or Outlook (can't even read) tasks, for example).
I think the ability to sync iCal with Google Calendar was underrated though. Google has a one-click app that you run to set it up.
Also, except for Propane, none of those apps were IMs. Adium is the get-stuff-done app for IMs. One app to rule them all. I find TweetDeck actually counter-productive if Twitter isn't in your job description, because it's so freaking distracting!
To be honest, the only part of the article I was 100% in agreement was the Task Management section. Not a huge fan of The Hit List or OmniFocus, but that's because I'm so indoctrinated and invested in Things. Nothing against the other two, but Things is what works for me, and I'm glad there's enough variety in task managers that there's one for for just about everybody's style.
EDIT: Sorry I asked a bit prematurely, from their site: "We've put the whole application in your pocket. Even better, it syncs seamlessly with Things on your Mac via Wi-Fi. "
Think about what they're actually saying there: every morning, before you rush out to work, you have to remember to manually sync Things on your iPhone while you are still within Wi-Fi range of your computer. If you forget or are too busy, Things on your iPhone will be out of sync all day.
Similar desktop+iPhone products have automatic online syncing which keeps both your iPhone and your computer in sync via the cloud i.e. their own service or a third-party service such as MobileMe or any other WebDAV server. This is, by far, a better solution because it removes a major point of failure and, in GTD terms, gives you a system you can trust. Your task management app should not be giving your extra tasks to remember!
Cultured Code rushed the release of Things because they had booked a booth for the January 2009 Macworld and wanted to use it for their official launch. They also rushed users into making a purchase by offering a time-limited discount. At that time, many users were alarmed because they knew that, without online syncing, Things was not going to be a workable solution for them. The owner of CC made a promise that online syncing was on the way and would be delivered within the first quarter of 2009 and many paid their money on that basis.
By Summer, the failure to deliver online syncing led to a lot of bad feeling on the CC support forums. Some users were happy to work around it, some felt that they had been duped into buying a product that was of no practical use to them. The issue came to dominate their forums and was much exacerbated by the curious lack of any response, any response at all, from CC, apart from locking threads to get them off the front page.
Worried that potential customers might be put off by massive number of complaints on the forum, CC sneakily removed all links to it from their website. The only indication of user response to their product were the heavily-edited comments on their blog posts, with CC removing anything that was not a glowing tribute. Some people, however, still managed to stumble across the forums via Google, so, finally, CC took down the entire forum. They recently put back up a heavily edited version with all complaints removed and anything critical of the product or the lack of support is immediately removed.
So, as we are about to enter the final quarter of the year, a vital feature has still not been delivered, despite their competitors all having it BEFORE they started charging, and CC have shown themselves to be contemptuous of their customers. Yes, Things is pretty and, yes, it works well for people who have the time and the inclination to work around the problems, or who don't have an iPhone and use it merely as a desktop app, but think long and hard before getting involved with people who are dishonest enough to bury legitimate complaints rather than address them or fix the problems.
It is also pretty damning that none of Apple-focused blogs had the guts to report on something as important and newsworthy as the deletion of an entire support forum. Aren't these blogs meant to be looking out for our interests as consumers?
I consider Things iPhone app as one of my worst purchases.
Great list!
Circus Ponies Notebook is another great app I use for less structured data, random writings and outlines, web clippings and links, photos, etc.
Spaces probably doesn't belong here as it's an Apple app, but it is a great productivity boost as you can run all of your apps full screen and switch between them quickly. I miss it tremendously when I use Windows.
Evelyn Guzman
http://www.homebusinesssteps.com (If you want to visit, just click but if it doesn’t work, copy and paste it onto your browser.)
One of my favorite for productivity is JumpCut, which is great and extremely simple / low-profile way to keep a history and recall your cut and paste. Really saves time.
For writing I love WriteRoom, which removes all distractions from your screen and turns it into an old-school word processor. Very easy to focus - love the app.
*chuckle* I am a riot.
Other nice little freebies I find useful: Sidenote & Scribblet for fast note taking, xCode and RapidWeaver for web design, Acorn for image editing, and many many more.
Curious if the Mashable team uses Campfire as an internal communication tool. Always looking for best practices and team communication is always on top of my list.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Awesome list.
- jens
I run my own consulting business and these are just brilliant. The ability of Daylite to manage projects and integrate with Apple Mail is just fantastic. Real CRM technology for SMEs. Billings is brilliant for tracking and billing time without it taking longer to do the admin than it does to do the job.
Love them both and because they're from the same company the two apps even integrate.
For students to be productive there is an app, Cram and another SchoolHouse.
http://stuntsoftware.com/Overflow/
I use Outliner for my organizer... which is very non conventional, but outline processors rock, and this is the best outline processor going. If you give talks without powerpoints... this is the best tool going, way better than Word.
Then, Graffle for mind mapping, also rocks. Omni makes great applications for a reasonable amount.
Listing time-wasters like twitter apps isn't something I would consider productive. No listing real productivity apps like NeoOffice (free) and GIMP (also free) is a disgrace.