Still Shiny: 23 Apps We're Using One Month Later
Here at ReadWriteWeb we see hundreds of new apps, scripts, plug-ins and doo-das every week. We review some portion of those. Many we get excited about. But few stand the test of time for even 30 days. Here are 23 apps we're still using a month or more after discovering them.
We wrote a similar post last November ("30 Days Later: 22 Apps We're Still Using 1 Month After Finding Them") and can happily report that we're still loving almost all the services we wrote about then. If a service can make it past the 30-day mark, it has a good chance of sticking around for a while. 22 or 23 in a month is a pretty impressive number really, so go web innovators go!
Four members of our crew named services they have recently become real-life users of: Marshall Kirkpatrick, Sarah Perez, Frederic Lardinois and Phil Glockner (clockwise from top left in picture).
Here's this month's list. It's split into 3 categories: search-related services, iPhone apps and productivity tools.
Search-related.
1. Twitter Real-time Search in Google
25 days ago we reviewed a simple Greasemonkey add-on that displays Twitter search results for your search query at the top of Google search results pages. The entire team is still using it and Frederic in particular calls it "the best thing since bread came sliced." Sarah Perez says "that twitter google script is the invention of the year, can't image life without it...not kidding."
2. Add Flickr, Wikipedia, YouTube and more to Google Search Results
We question whether Phil Glockner really saw this one a month ago, since we wrote about it two weeks ago, but it's a keeper!
3. Google Preview
Phil added this one to the list as well; it adds thumbnails to Google search results.
What does a Google search results page look like with all of the above turned on? Here's a screenshot.
4. Google Voice
Frederic reviewed Google Voice earlier this month and he says he's still using it happily!
5. GCal PopUp
The GCal Popup plug-in was a month old for me in our last 30-day round up, but now Phil is a recent convert. This Firefox plug-in gives you super-easy access with a click to your Google Calendar and has increased our use of GCal many-fold. I've tried poking the code to create multiple buttons like it for other sites, Basecamp in particular, but the developer says just that is on the way soon. I hope so.
6. Drag and Drop Zones
I use lots of search engines throughout the day and the Drag and Drop Zones Firefox plug-in has made it super-easy to do. I love it.
iPhone apps.
7. Flickit
Rick reviewed the Flickit Flickr uploader for the iPhone here last month and I've been using it ever since. It goes a long way towards solving the lack of MMS on the phone.
8. NYTimes iPhone App
We reviewed the latest version of the NYTimes iPhone app at the top of this month and both Sarah and I have been using it regularly. I've been flying a lot lately and the off-line reading is great.
9. Instapaper
The only thing better than offline reading of the NYTimes on an iPhone is offline reading of anything. Instapaper recently helped me find the time to read Alex Iskold's last 10 blog posts while flying from Indianapolis to Portland. I landed feeling much smarter. Thanks Instapaper!
10. Yelp
I used to use Google 411 a lot. Now I use Yelp on the iPhone and I love it. I've even discovered restaurants close to my house that I didn't know existed.
11. Tweetie
Apparently Sarah and I both just discovered the best iPhone app for Twitter. I love seeing people innovate on top of Twitter, so hopefully other even cooler apps will come out soon.
12. Kindle on the iPhone
Frederic reviewed the Kindle on the iPhone and liked it so much he's kept it. Steve Jobs may think no one reads anymore, but he's forgetting the people who study the foundational mythology of 11th -13th century British monasteries. That's what Frederic does when he's not writing for RWW and he loves the Kindle on the iPhone!
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+1 for instapaper and tweetie. Those are pretty much the only apps I use on the iphone. Also, +1 for enjoysthin.gs, but I made it, so that doesn't count.
I've also recently really been getting into friendfeed. Something just clicked with me recently. It's not a new site, but still...
RWW is on my list! Since I started following you on Twitter and reading your blog, I have learned so much. I've also learned how incredibly innovative the folks out there doing that developing thang are. THANKS!
I think FrontPocket is still pretty useful. It's an iPhone app for Backpack from 37Signals.
Also, I prefer Tweetville over Tweetie and the evernote app for iphone.
For Mac OSX, I love DestroyTwitter and couldn't live without Fluidapp.com, an app that creates SSBs out of any site you want.
Great list. Thanks for collection. I like Google Preview and Instapaper very much.
See more Web Apps in my blog: http://tr.im/hUFh
Thanks for the mention! I'm glad you're getting some use out of DestroyTwitter :)
Gee, just when you think you've got some of apps mastered, more come along. Twitter has reached a fever pitch, it'll be interesting to see how it maintains it's edge.
I gotta check out the Destroy Twitter app, the name alone sounds great!
My main focus is how to incorporate these apps with a blog to make the blog more sociable.
Great article!
I should have mentioned that SnapDat has a new, improved version since my last review. It lets me use my own logo now, among other things. I will be testing the update at Web 2.0 Expo.
What a great collection! Google Preview is my favorite of that list.
OH man, on my list--White pages iphone app is so good.
and of course the big ten basketball highlights app!
Great list...
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I think FrontPocket is still pretty useful. It's an iPhone app for Backpack from 37Signals.
Also, I prefer Tweetville over Tweetie and the evernote app for iphone.
Gee, just when you think you've got some of apps mastered, more come along. Twitter has reached a fever pitch, it'll be interesting to see how it maintains it's edge.
Some great classics in there and a few I hadn't heard about. I really appreciate this series of posts. Nice to hear what sticks rather than just the flavor of the day.
The Greasemonkey script for real-time Twitter search on top of Google results is an especially nice find.
I've also been enjoying Readability lately to cut down on the noise while reading anything outside of my reader: http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/
my life is pretty much summed up by 3 apps : backpack (37 signals) to organize everything in my life, facebook (i know, too obvious) to communicate and keep up to speed on everyone, and snappages to share pics, blog, etc with my friends and family on our web site. but yelp and google voice, as mentioned above, are absolutely amazing.
30 days is too short a time! the following have crossed the one year mark for me:-
HyperOffice (1 year for mobile collaboration and access to corporate mail, calendars etc)
Power Gramo (1 year to record Skype Calls)