i’m getting around to a lot of housekeeping tasks in this final week of 2010 – one of which is giving back.  there are a number of organizations i support including our church , the maccfund , the cowalunga bike tour, the american brain tumor association...

no list of applications would be complete without microsoft office.  i have always used this on windows and had a chance to check out office 2004, 2008 and 2011 on the mac.  the latest versions of office (2010 for the pc and windows phone, 2011...

games on the xbox have always been “apps” that i use, but this christmas kinect games like joyride, dance central and even the included kinect adventures have provided hours of entertainment for family and friends.  the controller free play was really...

i guess there was room for it after all – microsoft paint has always been an application i come back to for one reason of another.  on touch screen/tablet computers, it allows you to write your name as well as draw pictures.  it’s always allowed...

thinking back to applications i’ve used for a long time, snagit comes to mind.  screen shots for a techie are very important and snagit was my first.  since snagit there have been virtualization programs that even let me capture screen shots...

if i think back to some of the first apps i’ve used in windows (besides paint which should appear on this list somewhere), winzip has to be among them.  in early versions of windows, this wasn’t even an option.  in later versions, winzip still...

first it was myspace, but then as soon as facebook allowed microsoft employees to create profiles, i jumped ship.  facebook quickly became the main personal/social connection for me (surpassing email in most cases).  now twitter along with facebook...

my wife finally broke down and asked for a kindle. it was a friend - not me that finally convinced her to take the plunge and she loves it! i had taken the plunge a while ago with the kindle app and i think this emphasizes one point on this list - an...

in the first month of this blog (back in april 2008) i blogged about ice cube.  it’s now two and a half years later and i’m blogging about diddy.  he’s #9 on klout’s twitter influence list (the top 20 is interesting – included below) and microsoft...

this one made the list because of it’s use of geolocation and humorous application – itoiletfinder is a free app for windows phone 7.  you pick a location and rate “the facilities” found there.  is this the next foursquare?  time will tell...

i caught the bug a little late (stood in line at midnight for the guitar hero 3 for xbox release) but was waiting for wireless guitars since it’s one of the main reasons i love xbox 360.  when rockband released it was another pre order for me and...

no list of the most important applications of the year would be complete without this – the netflix silverlight player (for computers).  i can access netflix on my windows phone 7, windows devices, macbook as well as the xbox in the family room. ...

last january i picked up a fitbit from the 1st microsoft store in scottsdale, arizona and any list of apps wouldn't be complete without mentioning this (and it's hardware + device software + web application) since it's something i've used pretty regularly...

amazon’s mp3 store has a nifty little application that reminds me of when i first started downloading music.  they are also offering 25 free christmas songs ( http://amzn.to/guPRiO ) which is an added bonus. pc version of the application – either...

my daughter used to make up songs all the time (she still sings a lot but now it’s usually something she’s heard before) and that’s when i first discovered songsmith from microsoft research .  this is a program that can create a musical soundtrack...

i use a lot of different computers (desktops, laptops, tablets, touchscreens, netbooks, etc.) and access to data is always the most important thing (it doesn’t matter if i have the program – most of the time i need access to my data in that program),...

i’ve been using an eye-fi sd card in a digital camera for over a year now (so why is this on a list of the 25 apps for christmas?) – i actually switched to a newer digital camera and still love the fact that the pictures wirelessly transmit to the eye...

remember real player ?  winamp ?  codec’s like xvid and divx ?  there are addins like adobe flash and quicktime to work with certain video formats on webpages.  occasionally i’ve had to go find a video codec or install one of these...

ever since live mesh was shown to employees in 2008 by ray ozzie i have been a huge fan.  this christmas there is a released version for both windows and the mac os .  i’ll add some screen shots shortly, but this is one application i’ve become...

imagine you are in your car, at a restaurant or a store and a song comes on that you really like but you don’t know the artist or song title (you make an educated guess with what sounds like the chorus, but certain songs/artists might use this as the...

with software there is a leader (or creator) and then there are alternatives.  sometimes these alternatives improve upon an original, sometimes they simplify a program that has become large and occasionally they consolidate multiple programs or features...

before joining microsoft i was a technical trainer and part of that job was dealing with the constant "what if" questions that would come up in a microsoft course ("what if you created or deleted an object from two windows 2000 active directory domain...

for the last 30 years i have been using a computer and the one common thread among all those computers?  applications that made it useful.  many of these applications were “off the shelf” meaning i or someone i lived with paid for the application...

it’s december 1st and having recently gotten a windows phone 7 and starting to play around with applications, i’ve decided blog posts of my 25 favorite apps would be a good series for my blog. i’ve been using microsoft applications since...

i haven't posted a lot of videos to youtube and a couple that i did post were apparently marked because of the musical soundtrack (since i "created" the photo and video portion and own the music, i didn't think about using it to impress my grandma and...