I'll use this post to tell you about a few Mac or iPhone applications that I've had a fantastic time with lately.  These are typically applications that perform a common task extremely efficiently & effectively, but there are a couple Mac or iPhone applications in the list that completely transform tasks for the better.

This is by no means a comprehensive list; I think you can expect some more lists like this in the future since there are so many great Mac & iPhone applications out now or coming soon...

Quicksilver or LaunchBar

Both Quicksilver and LaunchBar are really cool & useful, but could be a hard one to get used to.  They both basically accomplish the same thing - they set a key combination (I use ⌘-Space) to bring up a floating interface that accepts type.  Whatever you type is then used as a type of search query which instantly returns what you're probably looking for…

For example, if you want to launch FireFox then you'd hit ⌘-space and start typing "firefox" - you probably won't need to get past the letter 'f' after using it for a day, though, because it learns your actions.  By learning I mean that if you downloaded another application that started with the letter 'f' tomorrow, and started using that more than FireFox, then it would learn the new application and present that to you when you typed 'f' instead of FireFox.

It can be as difficult to explain as it can be to get used to - rather than going by visual cues like taking your mouse and traveling down to your dock and knowing where a certain application sits, you have to train yourself to type out the name of the application you want to open or the name of the command you want to run.

It's well worth the initial learning curve, though.

TextExpander

TextExpander lets you set up custom abbreviations for your frequently-typed text & frequently-used images.  Additionally, there are add-ons that will correct common spelling mistakes or provide pre-made snippets that will complete HTML code, etc.

I use it a lot for beginnings of emails, since I usually start them all out the same way.  I also have a snippet for my email signature, since I don't want it included in every email I send but I also don't want to retype it.  Beyond that, I haven't gotten too far into it yet, but I'm sure it will continue to work itself into daily use.

There's also an iPhone version that accomplishes the same task on your iPhone by providing you with a place to store snippets & compose messages that can then be sent to Mail, Twitter, SMS, or copied & pasted wherever you like.

MindNode Pro

You can read through my post on Mind Mapping for more information on MindNode Pro .  You'll also read about MindNode Touch while you're there, which is a great implementation of MindNode for the iPhone.

Things

Things is a great task management application.  It's very easy to use, which is one of the most important aspects of an application that's supposed to help you accomplish more.  I'm not fumbling through menus or forced to click through options or added features - don't get me wrong, there are plenty of features in this application, but the point is that they're all opt-in features which allows me to quickly get ideas/tasks down instead of fighting with due dates, scheduling and organization right off the bat.

It also pairs very nicely with Things on the iPhone by syncing over wifi when the application is open both on the Mac and on the iPhone.  The iPhone version does just as good of a job as the Mac version in making the interface clean & easy to use.

Tweetie

Tweetie is a good Twitter application, and a new version is expected soon.  From my searches, this is the best Twitter application that doesn't use the Adobe Air platform (which I've been avoiding due to complaints of slowness I've read around the internet).  There's also a version of Tweetie for the iPhone, which is currently my hands-down top choice for using Twitter on my iPhone.

Related posts:

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Mind Mapping is something that I've recently gotten into, and I've found it to be hugely useful in all of the projects that I'm involved in.  A Mind Map is a bit like a flowchart that has all categorizations of importance stripped out of it; it's very useful for quickly getting down all of the ideas or tasks surrounding a particular project or topic.

The map starts at the center of the page/document, and non-linearly stems out from there into different branches - each branch representing further & further refinement of the overall project or topic.  The result has an organic feel to it; something like roots of a tree ... But, it's probably easier for me to just show you an (extremely complex) example:

image by Adam Sicinski

Process & Benefits

The main idea with Mind Mapping is that you're getting all of your ideas out of your head and onto the paper or document as fast as possible.  The goal is to make the actual mind mapping process as easy and effortless as possible so that you come as close as you can to automatic-note-taking while you brainstorm.  I guess it would be a bit like recording your thoughts straight to paper, or typing a document using only your thoughts ... sort of a nod towards Automatic Writing but tailored to suit the conscious mind.

The benefit is that you can brainstorm on a particular project or topic, and not have to worry about forgetting about that awesome idea you had five minutes into an hour-long brainstorming session.  Not only are all of your thoughts & ideas fully documented along the way, they're also naturally sorted into logical & useful tree structures that share a relationships with your central project or topic.

It's backtrackable brainstorming ... brainstorming with 100% recollection.

Some Mind Mapping Software Suggestions

Mainly, you can sift through this list of free Mind Mapping applications (both Mac & PC), as well as this list of both free & paid Mind Mapping applications over at Wikipedia.  I'd suggest that you try at least a few out before you settle on one, because each application has its own nuances that can make mind mapping that much more useful (or agonizing).  The biggest factor in your decision should be the application's ease of use; find the software that allows you to enter & organize your thoughts as easily and quickly as possible.

My primary computer is a MacBook Pro, so I've only had first-hand experience with Mind Mapping software that's available for MacOS.  Some of my favorites, for other Mac users out there, are FreeMind, MindNode, and OmniGraffle.  For the iPhone, iBlueSky looks like a fantastic Mind Mapping iPhone app, but I've had fantastic first-hand experience with MindNode Touch.

FreeMind had the simplest data entry, but it currently doesn't work (without Rosetta) in MacOS X Snow Leopard unless you easily hack it by quickly copying a file.  Because of that bug, and because I wanted a tighter integration between my computer and iPhone experiences, I decided to go with MindNode Pro (on my laptop) and MindNode Touch (on my iPhone).  The iPhone synchronization between both MindNode apps is fantastic - I can easily work on the same mind map on both my laptop & my iPhone with barely any fuss.  It's on par with the synchronization between Things Mac & Things iPhone, which is no easy feat (more on Things, and to-do lists later).

The following is Tenero's product video for iBlueSky version 1.0, which does a great job in displaying this app's power:

And the following is MindNode's product video for MindNode Touch:

Related posts:

1. Some Fantastic Mac And iPhone Applications
2. Welcome
3. How To Use Neat Stuff