I bought a digital camera for my mother for Mother’s Day — got her a Kodak EasyShare based on the advice of friends (thanks guys!).  I love technology, and I love finding just the right tool for the job.  So this is a post for all the geeks* out there.  Below is a list of programs, services, and mashups (like Twitter + Jott/Facebook, or Wordpress + Livejournal/MySpace) that I use on a daily basis. You probably know about a lot of these things, but maybe not all.  I love to try out new things.  I love to tinker, so every blue moon** I make a post like this.  If any of you out there have anything to add, then by all means leave a comment and tell me what your technological must-haves are.

Being a tech reviewer would be my dream job — I absolutely love testing out gadgets and programs.  I could write a few pages on each of these things, but I tried to keep it as short as possible.  Information below the cut.

* I use the term “geek” in a positive way.  I have never used, nor taken, any such word in a derogatory fashion, even if it was meant that way.  To me, “geek” means “someone who is considerably more intelligent than the average person, so much so that they are constantly using their brain.”

** I had a discussion recently wherein I was told that a lot of people don’t know what a “blue moon” is.  I find this notion staggering.

Internet

  • Browser: Firefox w/Google BrowserSync — Everyone knows about Firefox, but the Google BrowserSync plugin synchronizes your Firefox stuff across computers. Not only bookmarks, but also passwords, which I’ve found to be quite handy when going between work and home. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support Firefox 3 beta yet.
    • Alternatively, if you have a USB thumb drive, you could just use Firefox portable. (I don’t because for some reason my work computer freezes up when I plug in my thumb drive.)
    • If you don’t have a thumb drive, I highly recommend the Corsair Flash Voyager — I’ve owned several, and this is the only one that was rugged enough to not snap off of my keychain or otherwise break.  It also comes pre-loaded with TrueCrypt, which (optionally) automatically encrypts all data you copy to the drive, with the minor yet necessary annoyance that when you initially plug in the drive, it asks for a password to access the encrypted portions.  Only downside to it is that the write speed is a little slow for a USB 2.0 device.
  • Chat: Trillian Astra — Trillian was one of the first popular programs to allow you to connect to multiple IM services simultaneously. It got a bit bloated, but the upcoming version (Astra, which is in Beta) is a lot leaner.
    • As an alternative, there is also Pidgin (which also comes in a portable flavor for USB thumb drives)
    • There is also Digsby, which is new on the scene but definitely worth checking out since it integrates into email and social networks. Even allows you to do things like respond to an email right from the client, without having to open up the website. The one major feature it’s lacking right now is the ability to set different accounts to different statuses — once it has that, I may very well switch.
    • For those that prefer not installing anything, there is meebo, an incredibly slick (and free) web service that lets you chat through all major IM services.
  • Blogging: On my personal website I use Wordpress with the ljxp plugin to auto-post to Livejournal when I make a post on my Wordpress-driven blog. There is also a plugin that auto-posts to MySpace, though it’s a really roughly written plugin.  I could probably do a whole post about Wordpress and the various plugins I’ve found invaluable for it.
  • Other: Twitter, which is like a micro-blogging thing. Sometimes I use this through Jott, which lets you call a number and does voice-to-text transcription, and can then do things like push out a Twitter message, add an appointment to your Google Calendar, etc. I also have my Facebook profile status update automatically to match my last status update on Twitter.  So basically, I call Jott, it asks, “Who do you want to Jott?”  I say, “Twitter,” then say, “I am the very model of a modern major general.”  It will transcribe this, it will be posted to Twitter, and then my Facebook status will update to that.

Phone

  • My phone is currently a Samsung Sync; nothing special, though I plan on getting the 2nd gen iPhone which might be as cheap as $199 and most likely will be released in late June.  I used to be of the opinion that I want my phone to be a phone, and nothing else.  But in the past year, I can’t count the number of times I’ve been sitting somewhere and thought, “Damn, it would be handy to have web access right now.”  I might end up going with a Blackberry, but I do really like the iPhone interface, and you can’t beat that price if the discount is more than just rumor.
  • I have the BlueAnt Z-9 bluetooth headset. This thing has amazing noise canceling technology — in the same league as the Aliph Jawbone, but less expensive (and I personally like the form factor better, too). The firmware is also upgradeable, which is a plus. The noise canceling technology on this is nearly magic. I activated it when about to walk past someone cutting wood with a circular saw, and the person on the other end didn’t hear a bit of background noise. Another time I was in a noisy airport, my friend couldn’t hear me well, so I engaged the voice isolation. She seemed quite amazed that all background noise ceased instantaneously. This is some military-grade stuff.  Also, I’ve worn it for over 4 hours at a time, and it remains comfortable (though sometimes you have to adjust it a bit to get it just right).
  • GrandCentral — This is a very coo service that Google bought up, that gives you one phone number which can ring you at other numbers, but it has a ton of other neat features (like the ability to screen calls, record conversations to MP3, etc.).  Unfortunately, they seem to have removed the ability to invite friends; otherwise I’d offer a few invites to the beta.

Email

  • Gmail — The standard for geeks these days, I’m sure you already have an account.  It offers POP based email so you can check it through a standard mail client if you want, a simple web interface, and really good spam detection.  What I especially like is the ability to check your other email accounts through GMail.  So you can just have one “master” GMail account, that checks all of your other accounts.
  • Thunderbird — This is an open-source email client from the same foundation that brought us Firefox. I use this primarily at work, in conjunction with the EnigMail plugin for encryption. Remember, whenever you send email, it goes across the Internet in plain text. So never use email to send things like passwords and such.  EnigMail is actually pretty easy to set up and use.  When I walked one of my minions through it, and one of my bosses, they were like, “Oh… that’s all there is to it?”

Misc. Programs/Utilities

  • Paint.net — Free image editing program that is quite slick and has some nice features that users of Photoshop might recognize, like layers. And also, an auto-updater, so when there’s a new version you click one button and be done.
  • Launchy — Damn is this thing simple, but absurdly handy. You press Alt+Space, and it brings up a little widget. Start typing and as you type it shows a list of programs (or files or links, but with a preference for programs) with the most likely candidate selected. So when I want to start Skype, I don’t have to go Start -> Programs -> Skype -> Skype. Instead: Alt+Enter, type “sk”, press Enter.

That’s about all I can think of now.  What about you?  Is there any “must-have” utility/service that you use, that’s not on this list?