Nine Applications I Miss When I'm On Holidays

As some of you will already have seen, by checking out my Twitter updates to the right, I have been in Spain for the past 12 days. For this period I managed to not only leave my laptop at home but also steer clear of any of Madrid's Internet cafés! I had one moment of weakness when I jumped on my wife's cousin's machine to check the results of Swansea City (bad decision) but apart from that was pc-free.

There is one confession I have to make - I did take my Blackberry with me and I'll write a little more about this later.

Over this time period I did get Internet-DT's. When you're busy trying to build a business and have your head in the computer for 8+ hours a day, working in an area you enjoy, it's hard not to miss it (a little!).  Here are the applications that I missed most over this time:

Outlook - boy, did I miss the ability to check my emails, take out email addresses, download documents and search for information that was hidden away. I also missed the calendar which gave me a nice visual of the appointments and meetings I had booked.

Tweetdeck - I've been using TweetDeck for a few months now and use it as a means to keep up-to-date with friends and subjects that interest me. I love the way it delivers information through a great interface and the way it lets me reply, retweet and group people on Twitter.

Firefox - I love my Live Bookmarks feature, the ability to search Google immediately, the Del.icio.us plug in and multi tabs.

Twitter - though I did use Twitter extensively over the holiday, I did miss the standard web interface and the ability to view timelines on one page.

TypePad - Haven't used TypePad as much as I would have liked this year - been too busy building the business - but would have loved to have posted some articles on Madrid and about some of my observations about TV and the Internet in Spain.

BBC iPlayer - there's nothing quite like iPlayer to get your fix of programmes you have missed - probably because you've been busy on the Internet - and I just love iPlayer.

Skype - have used Skype quite a bit for keeping in touch with family and friends and would have liked to have been able to fire it up to speak to some people.

Google Web Interface - I have lost count of the amount of times that I check my Google AdWords accounts, Analytics and Documents in the day and have yet to suss out how to do it through my Blackberry in the UK (if indeed it is possible).

Google Maps on Blackberry - admittedly, I could pick this up in Spain but I was hesitant as my data allowance was 3MB - cost: £5. Last time I went to Spain I blew £17 on data charges - what crooks these companies are (Orange in my case).

As I said earlier, I did use my Blackberry but was not prepared to overuse it due to extortionate pricing. The Blackberry is a great device for at least keeping in touch with people via email, SMS-ing and carrying out Google searches. I also used Twitterberry quite extensively for updating Twitter and found this to be my favourite tool.

On the (very big) plus side I managed to spend more time than ever with the family - went to the mountains, touched a dolphin (really), went to a magic show, walked around Madrid, met some new people, went to the cinema and drank some (hic!) beer and wine.

And, I won't take my laptop next time either!