Geek to Live: Best apps of 2005
by Gina Trapani
A year of AJAX, APIs, mashups, tags, maps, aggregators, feeds, launchers, shortcuts and search: 2005 ushered in an explosion of swanky new webapps and desktop software that munges, tracks and transmits data every which way.
Here at Lifehacker I've spent the last 12 months testing, cajoling, cursing and adoring the stream of digital tools that came across my Mac and Windows desktops. In the grand tradition of end-of-year lists, here are my top picks for the best desktop and web apps of 2005.
These applications didn't necessarily launch this past year, they just made lives easier in 2005. In no particular order:
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Web browser, Mac/Windows/Unix, free download
Oh Firefox, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I can't say enough about this browser. Some may think I already have, so I'll shut up about it until the end of this article. (Whoops, spoke too soon - be sure to check out all of Lifehacker's Firefox extension mentions, too.)
Web browser, Mac/Windows/Unix, free download
Oh Firefox, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I can't say enough about this browser. Some may think I already have, so I'll shut up about it until the end of this article. (Whoops, spoke too soon - be sure to check out all of Lifehacker's Firefox extension mentions, too.)
Mozilla Thunderbird
Mozilla Thunderbird
Email client, Mac/Windows/Unix, free download
Firefox's baby brother Thunderbird wrangles and herds email like nothing else. Following in the footsteps of open, pluggable software, feature-enhancing extensions like QuickText are available for T-bird.
Email client, Mac/Windows/Unix, free download
Firefox's baby brother Thunderbird wrangles and herds email like nothing else. Following in the footsteps of open, pluggable software, feature-enhancing extensions like QuickText are available for T-bird.
Google Earth
Google Earth
Mapping tool, Windows only, free download
Even having spent hours bookmarking the planet with Google Earth, I'm still dazzled by the spectacle of this software. Zoom, pan and fly over the entire globe from any height or angle. Find the top of your house, any address, landmark, hotel, ATM or coffee shop. Aspiring pilots and aerial photography sluts? Watch out. This one'll burn up your entire day.
Mapping tool, Windows only, free download
Even having spent hours bookmarking the planet with Google Earth, I'm still dazzled by the spectacle of this software. Zoom, pan and fly over the entire globe from any height or angle. Find the top of your house, any address, landmark, hotel, ATM or coffee shop. Aspiring pilots and aerial photography sluts? Watch out. This one'll burn up your entire day.
iTunes
iTunesDigital Music Manager, Windows/Mac OS X, free download
If only my actual file system worked like this: iTunes searches, sorts and organizes gigabytes and gigabytes of music, PDF's and video files and metadata without blinking. "Saved search" Smart playlists and podcasting support keeps your media library fresh and at your fingertips. Check out how to automatically download music and video to iTunes using del.icio.us.
Flickr
Flickr
Photo-sharing
My digital photos finally escaped the dark lonely confines of my hard drive thanks to instant publishing and sharing on Flickr. Flickr's an addictive, vibrant community of people centered around photographs. Take a glance into others' lives and show a bit of your own on Flickr. Just make sure you've got time to explore, because explore you will.
Photo-sharing
My digital photos finally escaped the dark lonely confines of my hard drive thanks to instant publishing and sharing on Flickr. Flickr's an addictive, vibrant community of people centered around photographs. Take a glance into others' lives and show a bit of your own on Flickr. Just make sure you've got time to explore, because explore you will.
Gmail
Gmail
Email
Google truly raised the bar - in terms of disk space and user interface - with Gmail, their free, 2.6 gigabyte and counting free webmail service. Gmail's threaded conversations, dynamic interface, labels, archiving and search innovated both in the way people use email itself and web applications in general. I'd just hate to see their hard drive bills.
Google truly raised the bar - in terms of disk space and user interface - with Gmail, their free, 2.6 gigabyte and counting free webmail service. Gmail's threaded conversations, dynamic interface, labels, archiving and search innovated both in the way people use email itself and web applications in general. I'd just hate to see their hard drive bills.
del.icio.us
del.icio.us
Public social bookmarks
It's amazing that a site with such a difficult name and downright ugly design could be so irresistable. Del.icio.us lit the tag fire and introduced the whole idea of surfing OPD (Other People's Data) based on keywords. Slicing and dicing bookmarks every which way with a feed for every permutation didn't hurt, either.
Public social bookmarks
It's amazing that a site with such a difficult name and downright ugly design could be so irresistable. Del.icio.us lit the tag fire and introduced the whole idea of surfing OPD (Other People's Data) based on keywords. Slicing and dicing bookmarks every which way with a feed for every permutation didn't hurt, either.
Google Maps
Google Maps
Maps
Spawning dozens of mashups that plot sets of location-based data, Google Maps is an eye-popping accomplishment in what can be done with Javascript, HTML and some images on a web page. The hybrid view which overlays street names onto satellite photos is my favorite part.
Maps
Spawning dozens of mashups that plot sets of location-based data, Google Maps is an eye-popping accomplishment in what can be done with Javascript, HTML and some images on a web page. The hybrid view which overlays street names onto satellite photos is my favorite part.
Bloglines
Bloglines
RSS Reader
Feed readers and aggregators are a dime a dozen these days, but I've gone steady with Bloglines all year long. Sure the plumber shows up more often than I'd like, and that damn turquoise ain't very pretty, but the truth is Lifehacker wouldn't get written without Bloglines.
RSS Reader
Feed readers and aggregators are a dime a dozen these days, but I've gone steady with Bloglines all year long. Sure the plumber shows up more often than I'd like, and that damn turquoise ain't very pretty, but the truth is Lifehacker wouldn't get written without Bloglines.
Wikipedia
WikipediaUser-edited encyclopedia
Enormous, collaboratively-edited database of information on just about any topic under the sun, Wikipedia's recently come under fire for unchecked inaccuracies. However, errors are the exception to the rule. Wondering about the diet of the blue-footed booby? Wikipedia shouldn't be your last word, but it sure should be your first stop to finding out. Get in on the action and edit Wikipedia yourself.
TextWrangler
TextWrangler
Text editor, Mac OS X only, free download
I'm writing this very document in TextWrangler right now, my go-to app for anything that involves, um, typing. Code? Check. Prose? Check. Markup? Check. When it comes to .txt, BBEdit's free little cousin TextWrangler's got you covered.
Text editor, Mac OS X only, free download
I'm writing this very document in TextWrangler right now, my go-to app for anything that involves, um, typing. Code? Check. Prose? Check. Markup? Check. When it comes to .txt, BBEdit's free little cousin TextWrangler's got you covered.
Quicksilver
Quicksilver
Launcher /Appender /Searcher /Do-aller, Mac OS X only, free download
It requires a bit of self-schoolin' to get going, but once you wrap your head around Quicksilver, you'll never interact with your Mac the same way again. Wow your friends and confuse your mother by completing 2 dozen tasks in 3 keystrokes. New to QS? Start here.
Launcher /Appender /Searcher /Do-aller, Mac OS X only, free download
It requires a bit of self-schoolin' to get going, but once you wrap your head around Quicksilver, you'll never interact with your Mac the same way again. Wow your friends and confuse your mother by completing 2 dozen tasks in 3 keystrokes. New to QS? Start here.
Yahoo! Widgets
Yahoo! Widgets
Mini-app runner, Windows/Mac OS X, free download
I'm on a widget honeymoon right now, as I check the California weather forecast, monitor my laptop's battery life and wifi signal, track my clipboard history and save text files to the web, all with chunky colorful desktop mini-apps called widgets. Mac OS X's Dashboard is similar to Yahoo! Widget engine - difference is, the software formerly known as Konfabulator works on Windows too.
Mini-app runner, Windows/Mac OS X, free download
I'm on a widget honeymoon right now, as I check the California weather forecast, monitor my laptop's battery life and wifi signal, track my clipboard history and save text files to the web, all with chunky colorful desktop mini-apps called widgets. Mac OS X's Dashboard is similar to Yahoo! Widget engine - difference is, the software formerly known as Konfabulator works on Windows too.
A few grains of salt: I like free; I like cross-platform; I am just one, particular, finicky user. This list i
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