Top 7 Apps for Staying Productive in the Cloud

These are some of my most essential applications for staying productive in the cloud.

Google Docs

I’ve slowly moved to using Google Docs as my primary document creation and storage platform. With the recent Docs update came a slew of new, useful features and enhancements, many of which enabled me to take the plunge to using it as my primary document platform.

Google Calendar

I now use Google Calendar to schedule all of my meetings and appointments. It even syncs with my iPhone (including push notifications for upcoming meetings), so I always have access.

Gmail

Gmail is my productivity center. All of my e-mail addresses filter into a single inbox, with intelligent filtering and categorizing for easy organization. Gmail’s recent Priority Inbox update means it’s also become my defacto to-do list.

Dropbox

Dropbox serves as my virtual hard drive (as it’s meant to), and allows me to access important files on any computer I use. Dropbox features a desktop app, web app and iPhone app.

Evernote

As I’m fond of telling friends and colleagues, Evernote augments my brain. Evernote is a desktop / web / mobile app that allows me to save notes, pictures, website and other information into a single collection point. Evernote also features a series of browser plugins so you can save important web pages (i.e. – that study on Facebook users) to your notebook.

Flickr

With Flickr’s pro account, I’m able to upload an unlimited number of photos at full quality, as well as re-download them again later. Given the number of hard drive crashes I’ve experience in my lifetime, it’s great to know that my photos are safe, secure, and accessible from anywhere.

HootSuite

HootSuite is my Social Media dashboard. I’m able to access and manage my Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as a slew of other social networks from one interface. HootSuite is primarily a web based application, with several flavors of mobile apps as well.