In response to Michael Arrington’s list on TechCrunch, here’s my list of products that I can’t live without. This list is in no particular order:
- Google Reader – I’ve been a fan since the start and their on-going improvements never dissappoint me. Along with Google Chrome, Google Reader can’t be beat.
- Twitter – At first I was a little apprehensive about this tool but I’ve recently become hooked. TwitterBerry adds to the addiction by making it possible to follow my fellow Twitters and tweet when I’m on the road.
- Facebook – At one point I was on at least a dozen social networking sites (Friendster, Bebo, MySpace, etc…) but in the end Facebook won. Primarily because it’s what all my friends use and has the mose user friendly interface (to some).
- FriendFeed – I don’t think this tool has caught on yet in the mainstream yet partly because it tends to be information overload. But once you figure out how to manage the people that you follow and setup your lists correctly, it’s great.
- Hulu.com – Four shows make this a product that I can’t live without: The Simpsons, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Family Guy
- Mint.com – Mint is what I consider my FriendFeed to my finances. Since they added the ability to track investments this year, Mint has replaced Quicken as my tool of choice to analyze my financial data.
- TripIt.com – I’ve used this site since it’s inception and it’s never failed me once. It makes organizing all my trips a piece of cake.
- WordPress.com – The latest release of 2.8 makes WordPress the blogging tool of choice.
- Blackberry Pearl – Though I’d love to upgrade to the latest Storm or Bold, the form factor of the 8100 can’t be beat. It’s nice not to have that cell-phone bulge in your coat or pants pocket.
- Google Chrome / FireFox – It’s a toss up between these two right now because I’ve grown so accustomed to the FireFox extensions that make my web-browsing experience so easy and comfortable. But Chrome is fast, and with so many AJAX intensive sites out there today, once they add plugins to the mix, I’ll probably make the switch.
- Gmail – I agree that Yahoo! Mail has the best UI experience but Gmail provides so much more functionality (Search, POP/IMAP, Chat, Tasks, etc…) making it the product of choice.
- LinkedIn – The career networking site of choice, there’s really no other site out there that can match the number of users that are on LinkedIn.