5 Technologies That Make My Life Better

I love technology.  I don't think that is much of a secret to any of my readers.  What is surprising to me is how many of my readers aren't utilizing much of the technology that is available to them.  So here is my life of the "hot 5"...apps and hardware that you should be using.

1. SpinVox.  Yes...SpinVox is the great tool in my bag of tricks.  What does it do?  Simple...when you call my cell phone and I don't answer, it forward your call to my SpinVox account instead of traditional voicemail.  Your message is then converted to text and sent to me via email.  I love this.  I get a lot of calls when I'm in meetings (how do you always know to call me when I'm in a meeting?) and send it over to my phone.  Now I don't have to write down messages, they are already transcribed for me.  This is the best!  NOTE: I received an email from Mark Harris from SpinVox just a few days ago telling me that they are now finished giving away free SpinVox accounts, and that future accounts will be available directly through US mobile carriers. 
2. Google Reader.  This is a blog feed reader, an RSS interpreter. How can I follow 100 blogs daily?  Simple.  Google Reader.  Basically it works like this: most blogs have what is called really simple syndication (RSS).  You can tell Google Reader to "subscribe" to an RSS feed from a blog, and then it shows up all on one page.  So instead of bouncing from blog to blog, you go to one page and read them all.  It saves me so much time...I couldn't keep up without it.
3. ScrubIt.  This is a free DNS white list service.  Huh?  Okay, it means that it takes out bad websites before they reach your computer.  I have this installed at home (along with some other safety features) so that I can feel fairly comfortable with my family surfing the internet.  When an objectionable page is found, instead of displaying the page you get a "This page has been scrubbed" message.  If you have kids at home this is a must-have
4. Windows Live Writer.  This is a recommendation for my blog-writing buddies.  Windows Live Writer recently released their second beta, and it's pretty nice.  Have you ever been writing a post online only to lose everything you wrote?  Yeah, me too.  It's very frustrating.  With Live Writer you can compose everything offline and post directly to your blog.  It includes every tool you need to write your post.  In many cases it is easier to use Live Writer than the blogging service.  For example, it's not intuitive in TypePad to insert a link that pops up in a separate window.  With Live Writer it's easy.  Same with adding pictures, tables...you name it.  This is a great tool.
5. KatMouse.  Okay, this is a silly little app, but it saves me valuable seconds hundreds of times a day.  With KatMouse instead of having to click into a window to make it "live" so that you can use your scrollmouse, you can simply roll over the window and scroll.  Huh?  Yeah.  Seriously, I love this.  I put this on my list of top 5 because I realized that I would be aggravated without it now that I do have it installed.

Okay, that's my list.  I actually thought of several others, but I'll leave it at that for now.  If you have any "this makes my life so much better" apps that you think should be on here, feel free to leave a comment.  Cheers.