1. TwitBird. A very simple user interface where you can manage your tweets, mentions, DMs, and lists much easier than on the Twitter API. The only drawback is that it is a bit slower than other Twitter applications.

2. Meebo. This application is a great way to integrate all of your chat platforms (AIM, Google Talk, Facebook Chat, Yahoo IM, MySpace IM, Windows Live, etc.) in one place. This way, if I want to talk with friends on AIM and Facebook at the same time in one place, I can turn to Meebo. See my video demonstration of this app here.

3. AroundMe. This application helps you find anything from ATMs to gas stations to hotels that are nearest to you. It picks up your location, finds local businesses, and imports them right to your phone. This is a great app to have if you are in an area that you are not familiar with and need to find something quick, such as a gas station. There is an additional feature I find great: if you click on “Nearby” on the app, it shows you towns and districts around your area along with a quick bio on each.

4. Shazam. If you are ever in your car, out at a party, or anywhere else music would be playing and a great song comes on, all you have to do is open this app, click “Tag Now” and it recognizes what song is playing just by picking up the beat. It then saves the song name in the queue so you can reference to it later. I use this on a weekly basis.

5. Pandora. This is an excellent app to get free music on the go. Simply type in a favorite artist or band and Pandora comes up with songs that are either by them or are related to their songs.

6. Qik. I started creating videos on my phone, but needed a way to quickly upload them to the Internet. Qik instantly uploads your recorded video right from your phone to Qik.com and you have the option to share it on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. You can access the videos on your phone or on your browser by visiting Qik.com.

7. Lokast by Nearverse, the “future of mobile networking.” This application allows you to add content that you would like to share with others, such as music, videos, contact information and pictures, and you can add them all right to your profile. Nearby users can then access your shared content. This is a much easier way to share information instead of texting or emailing it to people. View a demo of the app here.

These are my favorite seven applications, what are yours?

The below video is one that is similar to so many news stories today regarding smart phone applications. Are they good? Are they bad? Why do people use them? What are the top apps to use?, etc.

A major question people have been debating over is whether the abundance of applications leads to more productivity or an inhibition of productivity.

Being an iPhone owner myself, I find myself overwhelmed by the amount of applications available for download. However, people use apps for different reasons, and the pros and cons can both be fairly argued. I have reasons for both, but more strongly support the abundance of applications since they can lead to productivity, if used right.

Read On…

Benefits of the abundance of applications:

Drawbacks of the multitude of applications:

Are you an app supporter or opponent? What are your favorite applications?

Leave your comments below to add onto this post about how you view this issue.