A brief round-up of applications I greatly enjoy, use daily and think you should use, too.
Accompl.sh – An internet hit list of stuff you’ve always been meaning to get done but never quite get around to doing. Not just a to-do list (although why not use it that way?) but more of a “what do I want to accomplish this year?” type of thing. Has a nice social networking component, which is starting to richly grow with the advent of Challenges (a group way to get stuff done). Jenn (the dev) is also responsive and posts informative blog pieces about the work she does on the site. Highest props for this bootstrapped web app.
750words.com – an online writing tool which challenges you to write 750 words a day, every day, based on a tip in the Artist’s Way. It’s gamified, you get badges for writing, which surprisingly motivates me to keep going. I can see that going the other way, too, for some writers, but for me, this is working much better than keeping a journal by my desk. Right now, I’m using it to write a novel. Who would have thought I would have gotten around to writing a novel finally?
Instapaper – found a long read that you don’t have time for now but want to read later? Instapaper. Yes, Safari can do this too in iOS5, but Instapaper still works better. Marco (the dev) is also a great read on many internet topics.
Pinboard – Like Delicious once was but moar better. Saves bookmarks online with tagging. For some bucks, archives that content, too, so that when decay happens, you’ve still got the content.
Zite – a personalized news reader for the iPad. It uses an algorithm and my social network to present stories of interest to me. It’s cut down on my online distraction factor because the algorithm usually gets it right and at the end of the day, I can get caught up with what’s happening. Flipboard is similar, but Zite gives me more interesting reads with less effort, although Flipboard brings you your Twitter and Facebook feeds, so there’s that if it’s important to ya.
Gowalla – Location services – find places to go, let others know about places you’ve been. Honestly? I enjoyed this much more before their recent revamp which tossed out ‘items’ (virtual things you could pick up at a location you’ve checked into, like a coffee cup, raccoon or pennant) and bagged check-ins for stories. Essentially, you post a story instead of checking into a location and Gowalla pulls content to create city guides. The city guides are very cool if you’re traveling. I’m still waiting to see about this, but since it can also post to Foursquare, I’m covered.
Localmind – Uses the check-ins you make on Gowalla, Foursquare, or facebook to provide a QA platform, not unlike Aardvark. I imagine this app works best in a places San Francisco or New York, full of early adopters and enough people to make asking and answering questions an immediate thing. When I first loaded up Localmind months ago, there was exactly nothing happening nearby. I fired it up again recently and was thrilled to find people asking/answering away. Then my phone buzzed and someone nearby asked where to find coffee in the ‘hood. I was even happier to recommend my new fave local cafe and they thanked me. Cool.
This was just a quickie post to get something out there today, then I’ll be migrating this blog once again to elsewhere; self-hosted WP spam and administration sucks and I’m not dealing with it anymore. :/