Today we have a guest editorial from Andy Warren. 

Thinking about how I use my smartphone and my Kindle Fire at home, I realize I’ve fallen into a rut about exploring new software on my laptop. I use MS Office, I rely heavily on Outlook, I use RoboForm, Hamachi, VirtualBox, FeedDemon, Dropbox (replaced LiveMesh), Livewriter, and Tweetdeck a lot too. But that doesn’t seem like much does it?

I think part of it is that it’s easy to do on the phone. There’s a market you can go to, a few quick reviews you can glance at, prices are low and often free, and there isn’t – so far – the perception of risk we typically associate with installing apps on our PC.  Part of is that the tools above work for me. I’ve probably long since learned to ignore any quirks they have and they do what I need to do. How often do you go out looking for a new password manager?  Or a solution you didn’t know you needed, or existed?

I’ve shared some apps above that I use and like. Go try one! And in return, how about posting a comment with your favorite software? We all have software toolboxes, let’s share and chat about the tools we use!