Jean Galea

Health, Wealth & Happiness

  • Start Here
  • About
  • Investing
    • Cryptoassets
    • P2P Lending
    • Real estate
  • Podcast
  • Search

My Software Toolbox – 2019 Edition

Last updated: April 05, 2020Leave a Comment

software i use

In this post I’ll be sharing the apps, websites and tools I use on a daily basis. What’s the point? Well, I’d like to look back to this lineup on a yearly basis and see whether I can improve the way I work online.

Moreover, maybe you’ll find a new app/website listed here and you’ll decide to try it out based on my recommendation.

Software & Online Apps

Day One – where I keep my personal journal.

Telegram – Mac app for Telegram. Much better than the Whatsapp app that needs the phone to be active nearby. I try to keep some distance from Whatsapp as it’s such a big distraction. Telegram is used to communicate with my family mostly.

Dropbox – backups of my work files and sharing with the rest of my family and team.

Evernote – save any important (or trivial) pieces of information I come across for perusal at a later stage.

Chrome – my favorite browser (including many awesome extensions).

1Password – no more lost passwords.

Skype – video conversations (masterminds, family, team).

Google Calendar – calendar app.

Things3 – experimenting with this todo list app this year.

Funter – showing/hiding system files.

FreeFileSync – backups to offline drives.

Speedtest – Wifi speed tests.

Clippings.io – Upload and organise Kindle notes and highlights/

Sublime Text – text editor.

Lightshot screenshot – Screenshots and simple annotations. I use Awesome Screenshot when I want to take a scrolling browser screenshot, which is increasingly rarer these days.

SnagIt – Screenshot app.

Slack – real-time communication with my team.

MAMP Pro – local server.

Camtasia + Screenflow – screencasts.

Trello – official Trello app.

ShiftIt – arranging windows on Mac. Used SizeUp before, but it wasn’t free.

Transmit – FTP.

The Thread Reader App – Unroll Twitter threads.

Alfred – find and open files and apps faster.

OpenEmu – for playing retro games.

Duet – using the iPad Pro as a third or second monitor.

LinkLiar – changing the MAC address on demand. See my post on why this is useful.

Zencastr – recording podcast episodes when we have multiple guests. All done through the browser, for free.

Boomerang for Gmail – scheduled sending and email reminders.

Final Cut Pro X – used for scrubbing through padel videos to analyse the game.

Followupthen – delaying emails or reminding me about them later (online service not an app per se)

MailPlane – manage all my Gmail accounts from one app.

Time Machine – backups for my Mac.

The Unarchiver – opening zipped files.

Strava – Monitoring my cycling and running.

VNC Server and Viewer – connecting remotely to my Raspberry Pi.

Scroll Reverser – reversing scrolling directions for my mouse.

WordPress – CMS powering all my websites.

Whatsapp – desktop app for whatsapp messenger.

Pocket – all clipped articles go to Pocket first, then I save the ones I want to keep in Evernote.

Photoshop – image editing.

MindNode Pro – mindmaps.

myTuner – for listening to local radio stations.

CleanMyMac – cleaning up the Mac’s drives.

Bartender – lets you organize your menu bar apps, by hiding them, rearranging them, or moving them to Bartender’s Bar.

Cornerstone – management of WordPress.org SVN plugin repositories.

SourceTree – management of Bitbucket Git repositories.

ManageWP – multi-site management and downtime notifications to my phone.

DaisyDisk – cleaning out big files on my laptop.

Calibre – ebook format conversions.

Plex – Media Server

High Sierra Media Key Enabler – check this post on how I use it.

Youtube-dl – Command-line utility for downloading videos from YouTube. Used iSkySoft before, but this is more convenient as it’s a free website instead of a paid app. I mostly use it to download padel matches for slow motion analysis of moves. Warning: It’s quite technical as it is a command-line utility. Alternative: You-Get. If these tools sound daunting, try Conv, Peggo, or ClipConverter.

Ecamm Call Recorder for Skype – does what it says.

IFTT & Zapier – online task automation.

Calendly – Scheduling guests for the Mastermind.fm podcast.

Giphy Capture – Make GIF animations.

For those frequent sites, I visit which don’t have a desktop app, I use Nativefier to create a Mac app. I use it for Google Maps and Google Calendar, for example.

Social

Facebook – connects me to several groups revolving around my interests.

Messenger – Chatting with Facebook friends without the distractions of Facebook.

Quora – when I need a complex question answered.

Goodreads – discover new books to read.

IMDB – movie reviews.

Tripadvisor & Foursquare – Finding new restaurants to try out.

AirBNB – renting apartments when traveling.

YouTube – how to videos and publishing through the WP Mayor and WP RSS Aggregator channels.

Vimeo – private video uploads

Twitter – my source of quality real-time news (rarely used).

Chrome Extensions

  • Awesome Screenshot
  • Evernote Clipper
  • Goodreads
  • Pushbullet
  • The Camelizer
  • OneTab
  • Save to Pocket
  • Google Translate
  • Tripadvisor
  • 1Password
  • Grammarly
  • News Feed Eradicator for Facebook

Music

Spotify Premium – no more need for an MP3 collection. Experimented with Google Play briefly, but Spotify remains the most convenient due to its seamless integration across all devices.

Brain.fm – scientifically proven (so they say) music to help you be more productive.

Am I missing out on anything you use? Let me know in the comments.

Filed under: Tech

Related

About Jean Galea

Jean Galea is a dad, amateur padel player, host of the Mastermind.fm podcast, investor and entrepreneur.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords or links in the name field.

Latest Padel Match

Jean Galea

Investor | Dad | Global Citizen | Athlete.

Follow @jeangalea

  • Padel
  • Affiliate Disclaimer
  • Cookies
  • Contact

Copyright © 2021 · Hosted at Kinsta · Built on the Genesis Framework