John PolacekChicago Web Developer

I’ve recently acquired both a new Macbook Pro and iPad. When you get new tech, it is an ideal time for tech spring cleaning, where you re-assess all your old ways of doing things in light of new capabilities provided by your shiny new toys. I cleared out a bunch of old apps that I never use anymore, and also took a few minutes to make a list of the ones that I use all the time.

I am in an interesting spot, because I have an Android phone (Droid 4) and I have a preference for the Google ecosystem over Apple’s. My wife is also on Android and has a Windows laptop. Our list of tech is:

• New Macbook Pro (home) – Shared with my wife. Used for personal stuff like family home movies, photos, music, etc.
• Macbook Pro (work) – All my work projects.
• Droid 4 – My phone
• Samsung Something – Wife’s phone.
• iPad 3 – Just won this at a Yahoo! agency event. I primarily use it as our video camera and for occasional internet browsing while watching TV.
• Motorola Xoom – A gift from a client, this is primarily an Angry Birds console for my son.
• Logitech Squeezebox – A wireless audio system (we have 3 players in 3 different rooms in the house that are synchronized). Unfortunately, it looks like the Squeezebox line of products has been discontinued.

Here’s a list of all the apps/websites that I’m most thankful for (not including ones for my job):

• Chrome – My browser of choice and, of course, the dev tools are phenomenal. Since we share a computer, my wife uses Firefox so we can keep all our accounts straight.
• Gmail – Is there even another email client that comes close?
• Google Reader – My RSS feed is how I stay up-to-date on the rapidly changing world of web technology,
• Trello – I use this to organize my projects and my life.
• LastPass – So many passwords, so little space in my brain. This is what we use to keep ‘em straight.
• Dropbox – I use this to transfer pics and video from my iPad to the Macbooks
• Google+ Instant Upload – We have this on both our phones. Every time we take a photo or video it gets instantly uploaded to my Google+ account.
• Pandora – We have Pandora set up with our Logitech Squeezebox audio system to play music at home, as well as one our phones. We have a paid Pandora One account so we don’t get commercials.
• Doggcatcher – A podcast app for Android, this makes my hour-long commute to/from work enjoyable. Not sure if this is currently the best one on the market, as I purchased it a long time ago before there were many Android apps available.