25 Free Web Apps That Make Life Easier
Here’s the revised list of various free Web applications that I’m using. I tried to rank these in order of perceived value they add to my life.
- Gmail – I’ve been using it for years for personal/blog email. Last year I ditched Outlook and am also using it for all work email. Try Gmail Labs for fun beta options.
- Google Calendar – We’ve been using it for family calendar for several years. Last year I also shifted my work calendar. Now my wife, my assistant and I are all on the same page.
- WordPress – It’s how I share daily insights about ministry, leadership and life from my blog.
- Twitter – It’s how I share mini-insights throughout my day.
- Google Reader – I made the switch from Bloglines to Google Reader within the last year. I use it to track about 100 blogs each day.
- PeopleBrowsr – I loved TweetDeck, but I made the switch recently to PeopleBrowsr (no “e”) because it provides a browser-based option for following friends on Twitter.
- YouVersion – I love being able to read, search and study the Bible online. It also adds an entirely new dimension when you can do that in community with others.
- Mint.com – I quit Quicken cold turkey in January, and I’ve started using this app for tracking all my personal finances.
- Google Documents – Whenever possible, I’m trying to shift all my word processing and spreadsheets to the online option because it makes sharing and collaboration a lot easier. This is especially helpful when working with teammates in other cities.
- Lala.com – This music site lets you listen to a stream of a full song before you commit to purchasing it. You can also sync your iTunes library to the site.
- Google Analytics – I use it to track stats for my blog.
- FeedBurner – This is the service I use to track subscribers to my blog.
- ChurchMetrics – This free service offered by LifeChurch.tv is what we use to track stats across all our NewSpring campuses.
- Delicious – I use Delicious to track cool churches and tag websites for future blog posts.
- ScribbleLive – This website allows me to live blog events. One click allows full integration with my WordPress blog.
- Facebook – Okay, I don’t really use it. “Fake Tony” uses it. I’m on it, though, because it’s how the world is connected through social networking.
- YouTube – There are other (maybe better) websites for sharing video, but everyone is using YouTube.
- Hulu.com – It’s my preferred site for watching television shows online.
- Skype – Anything that allows me to make video calls to my sister in Cambodia for free is a pretty cool service.
- Mogulus – This is my current favorite app for broadcasting live video from my webcam.
- Google Groups – When I need a private method of communicating and sharing information and files with others, I use this site to bring people together.
- Pandora – This is a site that you can use to create your own Internet radio station that plays your favorite genre of music.
- Woopra – This site is amazing. I use it to periodically monitor live traffic on my blog…though I’ve been afraid to try the instant chat with current visitors on my blog.
- YouSendIt – It’s a great tool for sending big files to other people.
- Bringo – This site places the telephone call and navigates the phone trees so that you can talk directly to a human.
That’s my current list. What am I missing?
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Great list. I use most of them. Thanks.
HOW ABOUT USTREAM?
Thanks for posting these. There were two or three I wasn’t aware of but will be checking out!
SkyDrive has proven to be useful for me. 25GB of free storage that allows you to share the files with others. It’s Microsoft product so there will be some haters, but I’m guessing it will be around much longer than some of the smaller companies offering similar solutions.
Did you sign up for grand central (now beta google voice?) It kills. Give out a phone number but protect your real number…transcribed VM & cheap international…..LOVE IT. Not open yet unless you were at GC user before….but soon for public.
One more, Google Voice. Once it’s open to the public it’s a must-have for a simple feature: voicemail transcription. Getting a preview of voicemail text messaged to your phone is sweet!
Anne: You’re thinking the same as me. I actually have an extra GrandCentral account with an Oklahoma City number. If anoyone wants it email me: kevin at rossen dot net
that’s hilarious. i set mine up in OK too so i am stuck with the 405 until later… i would KILL for a 615 number now…anyone wanna trade :)
Video apps, like Ustream or pic sites, like Picnik.com (love that one!). I’m curious as to “who” you read. You mentioned you read 100+. That would be a long blog post but I am interested in who you might be reading that I’m not.
/TC/
Not sure if Mint.com has this feature, but http://www.xpenser.com allows you to post expenses to multiple accounts immediately without having to log-in, etc. In fact, I’ve yet to make the switch to a smartphone (intentionally) and live on SMS. I can text in my expenses and keep accurate records without having to keep up with receipts.
Oh…re: Google Calendar, you can link it to your Outlook calendar so that the two operate in tandom. Again, since I’m still in the “dark ages,” I can have reminders sent as SMS (texts). I can also post appointments from my phone. Guess you can say that I have “FakeBerry”…
I love it when you post these “best practices” of the technologically savvy! Thank you!
Thanks Tony,
I believe MemberHub.com is a better choice for group interaction and collaboration. You can have a single hub for free.
Also, like PeopleBrowsr over TweetDeck, I prefer TokBox over Skype as it is browser-based and no need to install extra software (there is an Adobe Air desktop client if you want to however).
I think that’s pretty much every important web-based application known to man LOL However, I think Google Apps is pretty awesome too – If you’re using Gmail, Docs, and Calendar but haven’t tried it for your domain, you should. It also allows the use of Labs (which it didn’t previously so that was worth mentioning)… as well as setting up additional users, user groups, and I use it to manage my mailing lists (much better than just using Gmail calendar groups).
Tony I like your list, use most of them, some I have no use for, one free app you are missing is Open Office it’s a open-source office software suite, it is everything and more that MS Office Pro is (yes it has more features and most people say it’s superior to MS Office) and its free. I’ve used it for years. Get it here: http://www.openoffice.org/
http://Www.evite.com
I use this for all of our family gatherings.
I’d like to share another free and useful website: http://meehive.com/hive
This site allows you to create your own online newspaper where you can read all articles of your own interest. Topics vary from jobs, online marketing, business and economy, travel, health and fitness, religion, sports and lots more.
Tokbox
Scribblelive.com for live-blogging…phenomenal, i used it this week at a conference.
I love the idea of church metrics. How does Newspring use church metrics to track children’s attendance? Thanks!
Thanks for the tips!
You forgot Zoho !! One of the most versatile comprehensive suite of online applications @ zoho.com
I just love Zoho ! Mail, Writer, Docs, Creator, DB, Invoices, Chat, Meetings, Projects…. and list goes on… all for FREE
I personally use Creator, Writer and Chat..
Think you should explore it if you haven’t!
Check out Evernote. It rocks as well. Great iphone, web, and platform integration. It syncs anything to any of your devices. I use it to clip ideas quickly for later use. Also, any pictures are text searchable which is kind of cool.
Tadalist.com – for simple lists that can be shared.
Great list! I already use some and was introduced to others in the article and the comments. I also like to use “Read It Later” to save web pages I don’t have time to read in-depth at the time and want to come back to.
Thank you, Tony! I’m already using several of these aps, so I’m glad to see your recommendations here. I plan on trying some more of them too. This is awesome. Also looking forward to the Killing Cockroaches tour a little later this month. Question: Is carbonite useful to you for backing up your computer, or do you recommend another service?