In this golden internet age of disruptive technologies, there are very few products that actually deliver on their promises. Software, and technology in general, is supposed to make our lives easier. Instead, it seems like we consistently find novel ways to waste time. No matter how much I love twitter, it isn’t a productivity booster. All of the GTD apps, and philosophies take more work to get started than they typically save.
I have found at least 2 tools that I use all day, that I love, and they actually do boost productivity. Oddly enough they both bring better “search” experiences to the desktop.
The first is Launchy (mac users have Quicksilver). I have been using this tool for a little over a year. If I am on a PC without it, it really pisses me off. Launchy is a great keyboard based app launcher. Set a hot key, and it finds all of your apps, folders, and files with the touch of a key.
The second is brand new to me, but I have seen other people in the office using it. Xobni is an awesome email search app that plugs into Outlook. They just announced their public beta, so anyone can download the client and give it a try. They give you a unique view of your email that you never had, and make searching it easy. Forget the built in search in Outlook, or Google Desktop. They look like suckers when you see what xobni is capable of.
If you can’t tell already,I have a serious crush on xobni right now.
Anyone out there have any other apps that you can’t live without???—drop it in the comments.
