I have listed below some of my favorite tools. The best part is that they are all free! Sure there are plenty of expensive tools that do amazing things, but when I find a free piece of software that makes my life easier, that is truely something that I cherish.

Mobile Devices

Here is a list of my favorite software that I use for my Blackberry
8310 Curve. And yes it is all free. These are not mobile websites but
actual applications that run on the device. This is way faster and
definately cooler. Most of it will run on other mobile devices but
please check with your device maker first. As a business traveler I
look for productivity apps more then free games but your useage may
vary.

I complied a complete list of my favorite free mobile software with some images but here is the quick list.

 

You want me to browse on what?

What's internet access without an internet browser? Opera Mini gives you some powerful features for free on your mobile device.

Search hits my Mobile

Yahoo! Go
is an mobile application that provides access to a true portal full of
widgets, applications, services and info. Yahoo! response to the Google
Phone project.

 

Voice Activate Search

TellMe
is a Blackberry product by Microsoft. Yes this is the MS come back to
Yahoo. Just tell your BB what you want and it searches for you
(traffic, directions, businesses, movies, weather...). It even
integrates with your GPS if you are one of the lucky few. Sorry folks
its just for AT&T users for now.

 

But I don't have a Google Phone

Yeah, neither do I but Google Mobile
has some great mobile applications for lots of phones. Gmail and Google
Maps are my favorites, but the SMS and 411 services are well worth
checking out.

Google Talk
is available for the Blackberry only, but man is it great!
Conversations move from desktop to mobile. And if you have a little
techie time you can even use Talk with MSN, AIM and Yahoo.

 

Where am I?

amAze
is a free GPS navigation application for use on many of the new GPS
smartphones. With most companies charging about $10 a month this might
be just the tool for you.

 

Trip Itinerary and Travel Info

World Mate Live
is a really nice blackberry app with a website input interface. Just
add the flight # online with your PC and it send stats and details to
the mobile app. The world clock and weather are nice too.

Mobile TV Schedules

TV Guide offers a mobile application to check movie and TV schedules. Very nice.

 

Show Me the Weather

Just in case you can't look out a window, or have the need to plan
your outfit days in advance try this awesome weather application by XSYS Weather. Okay it is a web based tool but the search function IS an application and the resulting Radar map is just too cool.

Too lazy to load a website? Try WeatherEye
from The Weather Network (they are Canadian but can deliver weather
anywhere with the internet - cool yeah?). The icon will give the
current weather and 2 or 5 day forecasts are availabe in the mobile
application.

 

Metro-xual? More than a fashion statement

Subway maps for famous cities on your mobile! Here are several solutions for varous devices.

iSubwayMaps - As the name implies this site is intended for Apple devices. Check the airline seat pocket if you do not already have one.

CrucialSoft offers MetroMaps for the Blackberry.

NYC MTA mobile website okay this is a mobile website and not an application but it is still nice and very useful.

 

My Social Mobile

Facebook has a slick mobile application that lets you reads updates and change your Facebook 'status'.

 

Desktop in a Palmtop

Now this is just too cool if you are techie. MidpSSH offers free remote Telnet access to your server from your mobile device.

J2ME VNC
offers you one step up by giving you actual desktop access. If you have
the cash there are better solutions but this one is free.

Internet Browser

Mozilla Firefox Faster, better and much more productive. My favorite extensions for Firefox:

• I am a little 'bloated' because I have 42+
  extensions installed on my Desktop FF. Here are some of my favorite
  Firefox extensions, but I love all 42 of them equally!
• All-in-One Gestures - Great stuff, forget the keyboard, use your mouse
• All-in-One Sidebar - I use a widescreen monitor and ths keeps important items out of the way on the left side.
• Web Developer - Simply a must if you create web pages.
• Colorzilla - Another must if you create web pages. This little tool tells you the color of anything on the web. Is Paris really blonde?
• Gmail Manager - The perfect tool for the email crazy
• QuickProxy - One easy click to turn the proxy on/off and with a visual light to let you if it is running.
• IE View - For those sites that only run on Internet Explorer just right click and choose "View this Page in IE"
• Duplicate Tab - It copies not only the website into a new tab but the tab's history as well.

Office Document editors and viewers

• Currently I use Office 2003 for work related document creation but,
• I have started using Google Docs for managing my personal reference and research.
• Wikipedia offers a list of free and commercial word processors
• Microsoft Office File Viewers - allow people to open and view documents created with with MS Office products
• Vim - This handy tool will read just about any text based file

Misc and Everything Else

• Video LAN - Will play just about everything and runs on Windows, Pocket PC, Mac OS, Solaris and Linux
• Media Player Classic - What WMP should have been, small light and fast!
• Foxit PDF Reader This is the fastest PDF reader I have ever seen. Simply a must have for people that regularly read PDF files.
• Unlocker - A mystery this doesn't come with XP. Ever had a file you couldn't move/delete? Just right click and "unlock"
• Ping Plotter - Constantly pings domains and IPs and gives you a graphical feed-back
• 7-Zip - Free software - can unpack: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR, CAB, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM and DEB
• RocketDock - Free software launcher that just plan works and looks great!