Carlton's Ultimate Technology List

I created this list because:

• I'm frequently asked for technology recommendations and decided to keep a consolidated and updated list.
• I wanted to speed-up my software download/install process when setting up a new computer.
• I've personally tested everything on this list and feel all of it offers the best performance for the price.
• Many of the software products are free and open source; the developers deserve more recognition than I can give them this is a start.

Hardware

Computer Hardware:

• Home Network Router: Linksys WRT54GL + DD-WRT firmware (free + open source) or Tomato firmware (free + open source)
• General User Laptop: Apple MacBook or MacBook Pro (get the Pro if your budget is willing)
• Power User Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad (X61 for portability, or T61 for home/office use)
• Computer Monitor: The largest Dell LCD widescreen you're willing to afford: 20", 24" or 30" widescreen (or if great industrial design is more important than low prices, go for an Apple cinema display)
• Computer Webcam: Anything from Logitech
• Ergonomic Mouse: 3M Ergonomic Optical Mouse (available in sizes for both large and small hands)
• Surge Protection: Panamax surge protectors are the best for both computer and home theater. One nanosecond response time to incoming surges; protection for every type of cable entering your house - enough said.
• Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) case: Atceh Fabrication (very nice, made-to-order, exensive) or Omaura (great off-the-shelf cases for more-reasonable prices)

Music Player Hardware / Home Theater Hardware:

• Home Network Music Player: Sonos Music Player
• Portable Music Player: Apple iPod (any/all versions) + RockBox firmware (free + open source) or iPodLinux firmware (free + open source) [third party firmware needed to play FLAC files and adds a few other potentially useful features like RockBox voice prompts)
• Digital Video Recorder: TiVo Series3 with off-the-air antenna or AT&T Uverse or Verzon FOIS cable television / Internet service.
• Universal Remote Control: The most expensive Logitech Harmony remote you're willing to afford. I like the 890 with the RF base station. However, I do not recommend the Harmony 1000; go for a Philips Pronto instead.
• Ultra-complicated Highly Customizable Universal Remote Control: Philips Pronto Professional TSU9400 (do as I say, not as I do — this remote is too complicated for most users and sometimes even me but it is fully customizable. If you're a perfectionist and are willing to devote the time, this is a great remote.)
• Home Theater A/V receiver: Which ever Onkyo or Denon receiver fits your budget
• High-end Home Theater A/V receiver: Anthem D2 or AVM-50. Built-in high-definition video processing and amazing audio quality; great factory support.
• Surge Protection: Panamax surge protectors are the best for both computer and home theater. One nanosecond response time to incoming surges; protection for every type of cable entering your house - enough said.

Digital Camera / Photography Hardware:

• Compact Point-and-Shoot Digital Camera: Canon Powershot SD870 IS Digital Elph is great camera because it is very small, very fast, and has great low-light (ISO 1600) sensitivity. Also, it has image stabilization and a 4x zoom. If you are interested in adding some great features, check-out the CHDK firmware enhancement project.
  
• High-end Digital Camera: Any Digital SLR is almost certain to be an improvement over a point-and-shoot. I recommend the Nikon D60 because it is small for a D-SLR, has great ergonomics, and is easy to use. Also, you can't go wrong with the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens.
• Entry-level Digital Photo Frame: Philips 7" or 9" Digital Photo Frame because they are very simple to use (just plug-in your flash memory card) and they have a high-quality display.
• High-end Digital Photo Frame: Digital Spectrum MF8104 Premium - 10.4" Wireless Digital Picture Frame because it appears it will have about every feature you could ever want in digital photo frame and then some.

Mobile Phone:

• Applie iPhone: hands-down the best phone available in the US (since 3-party apps are now being supported by Apple, you can get this phone to do whatever you want it to do.)

Windows Computer Software

Web Browsing/Email:

• Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox + these extensions (free + open source)
• E-mail Client: Mozilla Thunderbird + these extensions (free + open source)
• Browser & E-mail backup: MozBackup (free) - great tool for backing-up and restoring all of your browser/e-mail settings when you reformat or purchase a new computer

General:

• Office: OpenOffice (free + open source) or Microsoft Office (commercial)
• Finance: Quicken Premier 2006 (commercial)
• PDF Viewing: FoxIT PDF Reader (free)
• PDF Creation: PDFCreator (free + open source)
• Genealogy: Genealogy Finder? Still not sure about this one.
• Mapping: Google Earth
• Clock / Alarm Clock: Qlock (free)
• Text Editor: TextPad (free commercial demo) or Notepad++ (free + open source)
• Note Taking: EverNote (free or enhanced commercial version) - fast, easy, and free, EverNote allows notes to be stored in many formats, has categories, and built-in security.

Music:

• Music Editor: Audacity (free)
• Music Ripper: Exact Audio Copy (free) or dbMusicConverter (free or enhanced commercial version)
• Music Format Converter: dbMusicConverter (free or enhanced commercial version)
• Muisc Storage format: FLAC (free + open source)
• Music Player: MediaMonkey (free or enhanced commercial version)
• Music Tagger: MP3Tag (free) and/or TagScanner (free) and/or MediaMonkey (free or enhanced commercial version)
• Podcast Downloader: iTunes seems too be the best but I'm still looking for something better.
• Muisc Lyrics: EvilLyrics (free) - Automatic lyrc downloading - supports about any music player software you can imagine: Winamp, WMP 9, iTunes, MusicMatch, Foobar, MediaMonkey, Real Player, QCD, Y!Music, XMPlay, AlbumPlayer, etc.
• Apple iPod Audio Book Converter: MP3 to iPod Audio Book Converter (free + open source) takes *.mp3 files and converts/merges them into one single *.m4b file that is recognized as an audio book by iPods, so it can be bookmarked.

Video:

• Media Player: VLC Media Player (free)
• DVD Player: TheaterTek (commercial)
• DVD Catalog/Collection Manager: DVD Profiler (free or enhanced commercial version)
• DVD Decrypting: Slysoft AnyDVD (commercial)
• DVD Ripping: Slysoft CloneDVD (commercial)
• DVD Format Conversion for Mobile Devices: Slysoft CloneDVD Mobile (commercial), HandBrake (free, open source)

Dedicated Media Player / Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) Software:

• Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center
• MyMovies for MediaCenter movie database plugin
• Combined Community Codec Pack for playing Xvid, Divx, and many other video formats in Windows Media Center
• Position Changer Add-in to jump forward to a specific position in Xvid / Divx files (since fast-forward does not work)
• WMP Tag Support Extender to playback FLAC, OGG, AAC, M4A, and other music formats with Media Center (and Media Player)

Pictures:

• Image Editing and Organization: xnView (free)
• Image Thumbnailer: Photo Gadget (free)
• Image viewing: IrfanView (free)
• Advanced image editing: GIMP for Windows (free), Macromedia Fireworks (commercial)
• Photo Gallery Creator: JAlbum (free)
• Lossless PNG file size reduction: PNGGauntlet (free)

Utilities:

• Zip Compression Application: Zip Genius (free) or 7-Zip (free + open source)
• Anti-Spyware: Microsoft Windows Anti-Spyware (free) or SpywareDoctor (commercial)
• Disk Partition Management: GParted (free + open source)
• Multi-OS Boot Manager: BootIT Next Generation (commercial)
• Tree Size: TreeSize (free)
  
• Unit Converter: Convert by Josh Madison (free)
• Personal File Sharing: Grouper? still not sure about this one
• BitTorrent Client: Azureus (free + open source) or uTorrent (free)
• Instant Messaging: Pidgin (free + open source) works with every IM network you can imagine and has plug-ins to add any feature you'd ever need.
• Start-up Manager: Startup Control Panel by Mike Lin (free) and Startup Monitor by Mike Lin (free)
• Anti-virus: Symantec Norton Anti-virus Corporate Edition (commercial), AVG Anit-Virus (free)
• Firewall: ZoneAlarm Personal Edition (free) or Windows firewall (free)
• FTP Client: FileZilla (free + open source) or FTP Voyager (commercial)
• Print Screen: ScreenPrint32 (free)
  
• Icon Maker: IcoFX (free) or PixelToolbox (free)
• MD5 Checker: hkSFV (free)
• CD and DVD Burning: Nero Burning ROM (commercial)
• Computer backup software: Cobain Backup (free)
• Computer online backup service: Mozy Remote Backup
• Program Launcher: Launchy (free + open source - quickly launch any program from you keyboard. No more searching through the Start menu. Starting typing the name of the program and Lanuchy will figure out the program you want.
• Remote Access (away from home): LogMeIn.com (free + enhanced commercial version) or CrossLoop (free)
• Remote Access (between computers on same home network): UltraVNC (free + open source)
• Web Site Backup / Offline viewing: HTTrack (free + open source)
• Screensaver Control: SaverNow (free)
• Screensaver: Power Dimmer (free)
• File Copy: TeraCopy replaces and vastly improves the file copy function built-in to Windows (free)

Web Applications

• RSS Feed Reader: Google Reader

Web/Server/Developer Tools

• Server-side CMS: WordPress, Joomla
• PHP Editor: PHP-Designer
• Programmer's File Editor: Programmers' File Editor
• Software Installer: Install Creator
• CSS Editor: TopStyle Lite (free) or TopStyle Pro (commercial)
• Server-side Webpage Editing: Microsoft Frontpage
• Webserver: XAMPP is a very easy-to-install Apache Distribution for all operating systems and includes MySQL, PHP, Perl, an FTP server, and phpMyAdmin.

My Favorite PalmOS (Treo 650) Software (for those still using a Palm)

• Converter: To convert from one unit to another (free)
• FileZ: A file manager that moves files around (between ROM and SD card); file deletion. (free)
• PowerUp: Automatically turns on the phone after a reset/reboot.
• SplashID: Store and encrypts sensitive information such as user names, passwords, etc. (commercial)
• NeatFreak: Uninstall Manager & Cleanup to completely uninstall applications with no left behind data (free demo + commercial version)
• Minutes Plus: Monthly minute usage info (peak vs. off-peak vs. mobile-to-mobile). Great if you go over your monthly minute allowance. (free)
• KeyCaps600: Allows fast Caps and Numbers without using the shift (option) key. Extended press of a key gives a capital letter. Rapid double press of a key gives a number/symbol. Latest version supports Treo 650 although the program is not yet renamed. (free)
• AreaCodes: Tells you the state and often the city/region of every area code in the US. I don’t use this program all that frequently but it is handy when I need to figure out from where a call originates. (free demo)
• BackupBuddy VFS Pro: Backs up all programs and data onto the SD memory card automatically every night. (commercial)
• TCPMP: Plays pretty much any audio and video file you through at it. I use it to watch movies and listen to music while on a plane. (free)
• Audible: Great for downloading and listening to audio books. Entertainment during the morning commute and while running. (free software, you pay for the audio books)
• Butler: Manages the blinking LED, makes the side Buttons more useful, allows the Key Launcher to work in all applications. Also includes an enhanced key guard, attention grabber, remote phone locking (if you lose your phone), and alarms.
• Phone Technician: Makes ring tones escalate in volume (so it vibrates for the first two rings and then starts ringing quietly and gets louder). Keeps you from messing with (or forgetting to use) the mute switch on top of the Treo. Also allows auto on/off of the phone (off at night for example), a volume sound booster, auto phone on after reboot. (commercial)
• PowerUp: Automatically turns-on the telephone after a reset/reboot — not needed if you have Phone Technician. (free).
• Day Off: Tracks how many vacation and sick days have been granted/used. (free)
• DateMate: Tracks birthdays and anniversaries and displays reminders (commercial)
• Dir Assist: if you have a data plan, this is great for 411 info. If you don't, use 1-800-free411 instead. (free)
• BrightCam: Changes screen brightness based on the brightness of the surroundings using the built-in camera. The screen can be blindingly bright in a dark room or overly dim in a bright environment and this program solves that problem. (free + enhanced commercial version)
• HandyShop: Great for generating shopping lists or any other type of list. (free)
• Palm File Browser (PFB): Allows transferring of files between the Palm PDA and your desktop computer. It is not quite as nice a CardExport II, but is it free and is great for occasional use. It works over USB as well as Bluetooth connections (free)

My Own Personal Wish List

• Velodyne SMS-1 Subwoofer Processor / Controller
• JVC D-ILA (LCoS) projector -or- maybe a single-chip 1080P DLP front projector (haven't decided which brand yet)
• Philips TSU9400 remote control with a RFX9600 Wireless Extender
• Two additional Sonos ZP-100 Zone Players

External References

• Anandtech.com forum post of freeware apps
• PC Magazine list of Editors' Choice products
• Audio Video Revolution Top 100 products of 2005
• Audioholics Recommended Home Theater Systems Guide