Apps You Need To Experience
When I chat with family and friends, I’m struck when people haven’t heard of an app, product, or service that I find indispensable. Below is a list of apps, websites, products and things I find beautiful, useful, or even a bit magical that I wish someone had told me about a long time ago. I’ve avoided wonderful products that most are familiar with, so an iPhone, DropBox, or Uber doesn’t count. I’ve also leaned towards products that make life vastly better, rather than just “oh that’s cool”. LastPass –It is a software app (or browser extension) that remembers all your passwords, and auto-fills them, as well as payments info like credit cards etc. It probably saves me hours each week and plenty of headaches of having to look up lost numbers. Sonos – I love the flexibility of the Sonos sound system. We can play different music in different rooms or have a connected experience yjtough out the house. It works great with most of my music services as well and the sound quality is awesome. Pocket - Put articles, videos or pretty much anything into Pocket. Save these directly from your browser or from apps like Twitter, Flipboard, Pulse and Zite. TSA PreCheck/GOES –It is such a no-brainer that makes the misery of airport travel almost wonderful again. Ditto for GOES and international. Beepi –They come to your house, do an inspection, then give you a price quote. If the car doesn’t sell on their website after 20 days they buy it. They show up to your house with a check and drive away. The price is typically about 10% higher than CarMax, and none of the headaches of Craigslist/eBay. If you are a car buyer, only rub is that you can’t test drive the car, but you do get a 7-day free return period. Momentum extension – This simple browser extension opens up all new tabs with a gorgeous photo. Simple and beautiful. Unclaimed.org – State governments owe individuals billions in unclaimed assets (usually due to their moving, relatives dying etc). We remind readers each year around tax time to take a look, and if you’re an advisor, see if any clients are owed $. Let me know if you find anything… Hotel Tonight – It solves three problems. 1 – It curates the list to only a handful of great hotels ala Tablet, 2 – Super easy to book/pay, 3 – Most importantly you often pay a small fraction of rate listed elsewhere. Wirecutter – I can’t remember the last time I bought a TV, electronic, or home appliance without first checking this site, and their sister site Smarthome. They do all the research for you and whittle it down to the best option, followed by a few variants. It is like a simplified CNET or Consumer Reports, on steroids. Waze – Living in Atlanta, dealing with the daily joys of traffic is like a bad video game. Using Waze will allow you to get where you want to go a bit quicker by selecting the fastest route. Uncrate – The ultimate man’s wish list website. Lots of great gift and travel ideas. Brooks Salzwedel belt buckles – This local artist’s paintings are hauntingly beautiful, and I particularly love the belt buckles. CharityBuzz – A really cool site with auctions of unique experiences and items. Want to meet the cast of Hamilton? Rent a villa in Hawaii? No problem. Best part? It all goes to charity. Happy Money book – Most people spend all their time working and thinking about money, but very little optimizing how to spend it for happiness. A great perspective. What are some of your favorites I’m missing? (Here’s another fun list of free apps that may be helpful as well.) Below is a list of my client suggestions… Todoist CityMaps2Go TripIt WordLens Hiking Project KeepGo Qapital WolframAlpha TeamViewer Slack Evernote Scannable Life360 Weather Underground PaybyPhone Kimoji Cash The Room One, Two & Three BandsInTown TripAdvisor for food recs instead of Yelp Overcast Fantastical Venmo
