My favorite Internet and Web applications

I'm still old-fashioned in that I still use desktop apps for most of my work, but I've come to rely on a toolkit full of Internet and Web applications for communications and scheduling. Here are some of my favorites.

MobileMe. Apple's much-maligned services for synching e-mail, calendars, and contact lists between multiple Macs and iPhones, as well as sharing documents and photos. The service had growing pains which give it a lingering bad reputation, but I've found it quite reliable for the past couple of years. Many people prefer DropBox for simple document sharing and synchronization between multiple computers running different operating systems.

I also use BackBlaze for online backup. Apple really needs to step up and make MobileMe cross-platform, offer a free introductory package, and offer unlimited online backup to make MobileMe more competitive with BackBlaze and DropBox.

I keep blogs on Typepad and Wordpress, and I like them both.

I use Google for search. I tried Bing for a couple of weeks, but I went back to Google for the cleaner interface -- although I do like Bing for image search.

I use Google Apps to host one of my primary e-mail addresses, which lets me use the Gmail interface with my own domain. For my second main email account, launched a few weeks ago when I became self-employed, I went with a private Web hosting service, WestHost. One reason for the change is that I was tired of the restrictions of Gmail's filtering rules. I was also getting creeped out by how much of my life goes through Google.

Facebook and Twitter, tools to connect with people.

Google Reader, to keep up with the latest news and blogs. I know some people think that Twitter replaces RSS readers, and I do subscribe to a lot of news on Twitter (@Computerworld, for example). But I still rely on Reader. There's no substitute for scanning a couple of dozen news feeds for finding out what's going on.

I also check TechMeme and Google News Sci/Tech to see what's hot in tech news daily (after I've checked the Computerworld feeds in Google Reader, of course).

Google Calendar. It's not my primary calendar, but I use it to co-ordinate schedules with my wife. I'm also experimenting with publishing my calendar publicly, to make it easier to schedule appointments.

Google Voice: I like having one number that rings both my iPhone and desktop, it's the only number I use for work or personal calls. This morning, Google made Voice better by introducing a slick browser-based Voice app for iPhones and other smartphones. I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

Skype for instant messaging and voice chat. I ripped out my office phone in late 2008, now I use Google Voice and Skype In for nearly all my office phone calls.

AIM, Google Talk, Facebook Chat, I use 'em all. Rather than running four desktop chat clients, I use Adium, a free chat client for the Mac which connects to all those IM services and more.

Flickr for sharing photos.

Second Life. Yeah, it's a game, but it's so much more. It's useful for 3D prototyping and healthcare applications. I use it as a social medium, for making connections and keeping up with people. It's also great for realtime events -- meetings, live music, training and simulation exercises -- which are an emerging use for the Internet. Nobody's really got virtual events right yet, but Second Life is closer to getting it right than anyone else.

Also:

My favorite tools: Hardware and iPhone apps

I have one more installment coming in this exciting series, where I'll talk about my favorite desktop apps. I might hold off on posting that for a few days, or wait until next week, to let Apple tablet fever subside a bit.

Those are my favorite Internet and Web tools. What are yours? Leave a comment below and let us know.