Well 2009 is officially over, and I was thinking about some of the tech that made it’s way into my world during the year. Here’s some of my favorites:

Software:
Mozy – I committed to online backup this year having deciding that my time machine wasn’t enough.  Mostly because if something happened at my house the chances of losing both were pretty high.  I went with Mozy, and after having a harddrive crash while on a trip and I was still able to access my data, I’m sold.  It’s definitely worth the $5 a month it costs.

Dropbox – This has become a tool I use daily.  Great for online storage and sharing.  And it’s FREE!

Teleport – This little bit of software allows you to share one keyboard and mouse between 2 macs without any extra hardware.  It’s really cleaned up my desk and I love the way it works.  Price: FREE

Hardware:
iPhone 3gs – This is so much more than a phone to me. It allows me to be away from the office but still take care of quite a bit of my daily tasks.  I love it.

MacBook Pro Uni-body – My old Macbook Pro was great for almost 3 years, but my recent upgrade to one of the new Uni-body models has been a great one.  The power is awesome.  To compare, my old machine took 90 minutes to export the SYM podcast that I produce each week, and the new laptop does the same video in 35.  I love it.  Although if you are thinking about upgrading, I would wait to see if there are any upgrades early in the year.

Flip MinoHD Camcorder – This is such a great little camera.  So easy to use and a great picture for what it costs.  You aren’t going to produce a major motion picture with this, but to capture camp memory, quick event highlights, and fun family moments, I love it.  Read my full review here: review-flip-minohd.

Kindle 2 -I upgraded my ebook reader to the Kindle this year.  I really enjoy reading on it.  A few things that make it great:

1. Battery life
2. Amazon Store – so many titles, and great prices.
3. Always connected – I can download books where ever I am, and it doesn’t cost any extra

Web:
Gdgt.com: Great new gadget site.  I do a lot of my gadget research here.  I also really enjoy their podcast.

LIVE Curriculum: I think most of you know, I am the web manager for Simply Youth Ministry, and one of the big projects I worked on this year was this online curriculum. I am really proud of what we put together, and when I think of 2009 it was a huge part of it.

Now on to 2010.

I’ve mentioned DropBox before as a replacement for iDisk, but recently I’ve been reminded about what a great service it is.

What is it?  Dropbox is an online file storage / sharing service.  When you install the software it creates a fold on your computer.  Once you put files in that folder it automatically syncs them to their server so you can access your files from their website.  If you have it installed on multiple computers it will automatically download those files to the other computers keeping them all in sync.  I use this to keep certain files that I want access to where ever I am up to date.  It also allows you to share files or folders with others.  I use this all the time to share files with co-workers that are too large to email.  It’s so much easier than trying to upload files to an FTP server or many of the other services I’ve tried.

Another killer feature is the recently launched iPhone app (link opens iTunes).  It gives you a great interface to access all your files, but the killer feature of this app is it allows viewing of pictures and playback of music or video files directly from the app.  It works over wifi or 3g.  It’s just great, now I have easy access to my files, even away from my computer.  And did I mention it’s FREE?

The free account gives you 2 GBs of space, but if you use this link you’ll get bonus space: Dropbox Sign-Up.

Bonus Tip:

Most of the time I skip the getting started guides, but if you complete the steps you’ll get more bonus space.

2008 was a big year for me and tech. It seems like a lot of the tools that I use everyday were not part of my workflow a year ago. Not all of them were new in 2008, but they became part of my everyday life this year. Maybe they can help you too.

• Twitter – Love it or hate it, this has become a great tool for communicating, building community, and having fun. It’s by far my favorite social network.
• Skype - Definitely not new, but I have started using it more than ever.  Communicating with co-workers, or family when I’m away from home it’s great.  I think it has one of the best video chats out there.
• iPhone – This is another one you either love or hate, but I love it.  I didn’t jump on the bandwagon when they first came out because it didn’t work with my exchange email, but now that it does, I think it’s one of the best smartphones I’ve used, and I’ve had a lot of them.  
• Evernote – This has become an indispensable for me when it comes to gathering information and keeping synced to all my devices.
• Wordpress – Another one that wasn’t new in 2008, but I really starting digging into it, and I think it’s the best blogging platform out there.  It powers this blog and it’s definitely part of my everyday life now.
• YouVersion – I just love having the versions of the Bible I like to read with me where ever I go.  I still haven’t found myself using a lot of the tools it offers, but maybe in 2009.
• Hulu – This one doesn’t really have anything to do with work, but I have found there are many shows that I enjoy watching that I just catch on Hulu whenever it works for me.  There are a number of these tv streaming sites popping up, but Hulu is still my favorite.
• Dropbox – I almost didn’t put this one on, but when I stop and think about it, I use it everyday to share files or keep them synced over multiple computers.
• Mozy – Nothing about backup is exciting, but I feel a lot better about my data since I started using it.

What was your best from 2008?

Chris