Apps we have loved
– posted January 23rd, 2009 by Elizabeth McGuane No comments
So Obama may not have to give up his beloved BlackBerry after all. As tech addicts ourselves (at varying stages of denial and recovery), we can understand the feelings of the new US president who famously said “They’re going to have to pry it out of my hands”.
The tools we use for productivity, design and communication are ever-evolving, so with new arrivals joining us and change on the horizon, we wanted to take a time-stamp of how we work today. These are just some of the apps and tech tools we couldn’t live without.
The shortlist
First up is the productivity tool Things, which Brian called “My new favourite to-do app”. It’s simple, nice to look at, and really helps get things done.
Another time-saving tool received several honourable mentions: Evernote, the web-clipping and note-taking application armed with powerful search, tagging and category facilities. It’s made us wonder how we ever coped when we used to hunt for notes buried in individual documents.
Colman appreciated the new email response feature on Basecamp, the project management web app from 37 Signals that we use as our extranet and all-round lifeline. When you receive notification of a message from the app, just reply straight from your mail client and your comment will appear in the original Basecamp message thread.
Everyone who worked on the Great iQ User Test loved Silverback for making user testing on the Mac a compact, quick and mobile exercise.
Which brings us to the fact that we’ve now nearly evolved into an all-Mac office. New iQber Colin was delivered with the first unibody MacBook Pro to sail through our doors in December (yes, we were all jealous). Here’s what he had to say:
“I love the multitouch track pad. I can click anywhere on the pad - no need to repetitively move my finger down to a separate click button. The multitouch sensor is great too: 2 finger click for a right click, 2 fingers to scroll, 3 fingers to browse through mails and 4 fingers to see the full desktop. I also love the keyboard: the definition and space between keys has reduced my type miscue count and increased my typing speed. My first Mac and already a convert.”
Skitch scores
Like an indie film sweeping the Oscars, a deceptively simple application gets the most love from us right now: Skitch.
John summed up its wide appeal:
“It’s the best tool for screenshots, ever, and best name for a product devised from a Kiwi pronunciation of an English word. Publishing the products of Skitch to a (free) web interface that gives every picture a unique and private URL for sharing is pure class, and makes collaborating with colleagues and clients a breeze.
It’s great for highlighting parts of a screen when doing screenshots for a presentation or report:
- First select the circle tool and circle the area of interest.
- Then select the paint bucket tool and fill the area outside the circle with one of the two transparent colours thoughtfully provided on the main toolbar.
Now you have a screenshot with an area of the screen in a clear circle, surrounded by a smoky, see-through rendition of the rest of the screen.”
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