Top Apps You Can't Live Without (4)

Let's speed through a huge number of interesting and useful apps.

TextExpander ($34.95) for Mac automatically expands long blocks of text when you type shortcuts. For example, if I type "mmw," TextExpander spells out my name. The shortcut "isg" types my email signature, and I have several shortcuts for blocks of HTML we use in our blog posts.

Moom ($1) simplifies sizing and moving windows on the Mac.

I use the Microsoft Office suite: Communicator, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint. They're still the corporate standard.

I use Google Voice as my main phone number for work and personal calls, and Google AppsGmail for my personal email (starts at $50 per year, though plain Gmail is free).

Chrome is getting a little bloated, but still the best browser for the Mac.

Backblaze ($3.96 per month and up) provides online backup.

Dropbox (freemium, $9.99 per month and up) is a workhorse for document-sharing with other people, and for sharing documents across my multiple devices. It also gives me another backup for key documents. Yeah, that's two online backups. I also back up my calendar and address book to Google Apps. I'm compulsive that way.

LastPass (Freemium, $1 per month) manages passwords on the desktop, iPhone, and Android.

I listen to podcasts on the iPhone using Instacast ($4.99).

I read books using the Kindle app on my Nexus 7 tablet. The app is free, but you pay for the books.

I listen to Audible audiobooks on the iPhone. Again, the app is free, you pay for the books. I'm currently listening to Strip Tease, the comic crime novel by Carl Hiaasen. Love it.

I save articles for reading later with Pocket. My colleague Kim Davis likes Readability. They're both free.

I already mentioned the If This Then That (free) service for piping content from one place on the Internet to another, and for sending alerts. I have 24 active IFTTT recipes, for sending my saved Pocket articles to Evernote, for sending me alerts when the weather changes, and more.

I use Skitch (free) to save, crop, resize, and annotate screenshots and other images.

Due ($4.99) is a timer app for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac that makes it easy to set fast alarms and reminders.

Check the Weather ($0.99) is an attractive and more accurate alternative to the iPhone's standard Weather app.

Google Maps for iPhone. 'Nuff said.