These types of lists usually have some common ground, and then they divert based on the type of work and nature of your computer usage. In my case, I work in financial services as a technologist.
OS X has come a long way since I started using it in 1999 - and now I find that I can use nearly every tool natively on the Mac - including the majority of the financial applications I list on this site. One exception is Morningstar - though Java drive - still requires Internet Explorer and I jump into VMWare Fusion to accommodate that in Windows 7 (installed on the Mac).
Here I am focusing on the business tools that enhance my productivity.
Business Tools:
- Arkovi.com - In private beta for another week or so - provides social media archiving with a business bent. My Twitter archiving is free.
- Dropbox - cross-platform file syncing to access files across multiple computers and from multiple locations
- Evernote - never lose any snippet of information you need to save. I store audio, video, pdf's, emails and other chunks of text in it - and it syncs and is accessible from the web, my Blackberry and multiple computers.
- Skitch - screenshots on the Mac with lots of controls. Useful for documenting process, capturing errors when you need help and more. Connects with Flickr, Mobile Me and your local photo files.
- Spanning Sync - synchronizes Google contacts and calendar with my local Address Book and iCal. Since I sync from my Blackberry to Google - all three stay in unison and organized.
- Keynote - from Apple's iWork. The presentation application for Mac. It opens Power Points and also can save its output as Power Point (and PDF). However - it provides amazing presenter tools for those using dual monitors that Power Point does not. Integrated with iPhoto, iTunes and iMovie and very easy to use.
- Tweet Deck - for those with a social media bent - update Facebook and Twitter from your Mac and monitor the streams of those you follow.
- Time Machine- constantly backs up every bit and byte on my Mac to an external drive. Serves as a nice companion to the online backup via Carbonite. Gives me peace of mind having two backups in two different locations.
