15 productivity tools to play with

The web is changing day in and day out at an incredibly fast pace. What I found that matters most to me when using new tools is that the switching cost needs to be as low as possible.

The less “lock-in” and learning an app requires, the more likely I am going to be to try it out.

So here is a list of tools I have started to mess around with.

They are super intuitive to use and save me a ton of time each day. Also, getting to know them better only makes them quicker and easier to use.

Ge.tt – filesharing at its simplest

In case you are familiar with Drop.io there is no introduction needed to Ge.tt. It is super simple file sharing, where you can start uploading your files without any hassles of signing up or logging in. Go there, upload files, and share them.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 10 seconds or less

Find out more: Ge.tt

Flow – managing to do lists

Flow is amongst the simplest task management tools I have used to date and as you know there are dozens of them. With Flow everything revolves around working together on to do lists, with integrated commenting and collaboration.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 1 minute or less

Find out more: Flow

EveryTimeZone – see multiple time zones at once

It would cost me a ton of time and I would always get super fidgety when I had Skype meetings or twitter chats scheduled in different timezones. With EveryTimeZone you see all the different time zones intuitively on one page and you can adjust them to your needs.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 10 seconds or less

Find out more: EveryTimeZone

Tungle – the way meetups are supposed to be scheduled

Although Tungle has been around for a while, I never get tired of telling others about it. Create your schedule and then let others find slots to meet up with you. This gives them more opportunities to find a suitable time and saves you lots of back and forth emails.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 2 minutes or less

Find out more: Tungle

BounceApp – get feedback about web sites

This is one of my new favorites. BounceApp allows you to grab a screenshot from any page by typing in the URL. With a simple comments feature you can mark parts of the page. This is super handy for getting feedback from others or even fun if you found something hilarious you want to point out.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 10 seconds or less

Find out more: BounceApp

Screenr – making screencasts faster

Screenr is my number one destination to create screencasts. It takes you one click to start recording and I find myself using it more and more often. It gives you a chance to build top notch customer service and simply acts as a pleasant surprise if you reply with a personal video instead of an email.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 1 minute or less

Find out more: Screenr

Buffer – tweeting often, without annoying followers

(Full disclosure: I work for Buffer) Buffer is a Twitter App that makes it super simple to give your tweets a personal face. You can highlight any line of text in an article, then hit the Buffer icon via the browser extensions and it will be added to your Buffer as a tweet. Those tweets are posted well spaced out throughout the day.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 1 minute or less

Find out more: Buffer

Rapportive – know more about Gmail contacts

With Rapportive you get a chance to see immediately what the email contacts you are conversing with are up to on other social media platforms. You can connect with them right there from your email or use the information you see to make emails more personal.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 10 seconds or less

Find out more: Rapportive

Skinnyo – keep track of your weight with help from others

With the summer approaching fast, Skinnyo is a polished opportunity to help you get into the right shape. The best part about Skinnyo is the playful manner you can compete with other members, whilst you get detailed graphs about your performance.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 2 minutes or less

Find out more: Skinnyo

Proxlet – unclutter your Twitter stream

Proxlet is a great opportunity to get rid of those tweets that clog up your Twitter stream. What I really appreciate about this simple app is that you don’t have to unfollow anyone to get back a timeline that adds value. Instead you just mute spammy apps, loud mouths, or overused hashtags.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 1 minute or less

Find out more: Proxlet

Mockingbird – website mockups

Mockingbird is a great tool to make quick mockups of a project or website that pops up in your head. The simple drag and drop features give you everything you need to get into a lean flow of creating sketches you can share and work with in the future.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 1 minute or less

Find out more: Mockingbird

KISSmetrics – measure site visitors

First off, KISSmetrics is not an “instead of” Google Analytics, but rather something to use along side it. It is a great way to analyze the steps visitors to your site are taking before they signup or click away. The focus on design and ease of use makes this a wonderful add-on to your tracking toolkit.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 5 minutes or less

Find out more: KISSmetrics

SlideRocket – presentations that engage

Only recently I came across SlideRocket, and immediately fell in love with this tool. It allows you to create stunning presentations with powerful tracking analytics for each individual slide. The options to engage your audience and to collaborate with your slides in a Dropbox-esque interface are very useful.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 2 minutes or less.

Find out more: SlideRocket

FontStruct – Create fonts the easy way

Creating new and exciting fonts couldn’t be easier. FontStruct’s editor is super intuitive and allows anyone, regardless of your skills, to create beautiful fonts. The best part is that you can share them across a community, get feedback, and then polish them further.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 2 minutes or less

Find out more: FontStruct

WooRank – overall website score

WooRank is an interesting concept allowing you to get a set of detailed analytics covering everything from Alexa stats to SEO to server load time and more. The best bit is that you simple put the URL in and it’s all there for you within seconds.

Time to familiarize yourself with the service: 10 seconds or less

Find out more: WooRank

I hope you will get the chance to try out one or the other tool from the ones mentioned above.

What do you think about them? Can they help you out too? Let me know below.

Leo Widrich

Leo Widrich is the co-founder of above mentioned Buffer, a smarter way to publish tweets and Facebook posts. He writes more about Twitter tips and tools on the Buffer blog. Follow him on Twitter @LeoWid.