Somebody asked me the other day about the software I use. So I decided to make a list and share it around. This list covers desktop, phone and web software and I’ll add to it as I go.
- Text Editor / Simple Coding Tool: TextMate ($56) is the best by far. I use it to write my blog articles, ruby code and simple text files. I highly recommend buying a license.
- Web Browser: I use Firefox (Free) with the Firebug (Free) development extension.
- Email: Gmail (Free) is web-based and also works on my iPhone.
- IDE: Eclipse (Free) with the Flex Builder ($249) and PDT for PHP (Free) plugins.
- Image Editing: I’m a developer, but I use Pixelmator ($59) to quickly measure designs, chop images up and convert files between formats. It’s lightning fast compared with Photoshop and Fireworks on my MacBook Pro. Well worth the small price-tag.
- FTP / SFTP / Amazon S3: Transmit by Panic ($29.95) has proved itself over the years.
- Blogging: Tumblr (Free) is good and it can host your custom domain name as well for nothing.
- Web Stats: I’ve always used Google Analytics (Free), but I heard there are a few new good contenders albeit with Twitter, Bit.ly integration etc.
- Twitter: I use Tweetie on my Macs and iPhone. I’ve found it to be alot faster than TweetDeck as it’s written in Cocoa.
- Short URL Service: Bit.ly (Free) is ridiculously simple and also provides statistics including referrer and timestamps for tracking your links.
- Web Proxy: Charles ($50) is an indispensable tool. I use it everyday and it’s saved me so much time. The main features I love about it are the throttling for testing slow connections, decoding of binary AMF data, JSON data, XML support and also the ability to repeat and modify HTTP requests.
- Music: iTunes (Free).
- Music Downloads: The iTunes Store and Beatport are my favourites.
- Music Production / Sharing: I have a premium account on SoundCloud ($14/month). I use this to share my DJ sets, tracks and host my podcast.
