CloudApp Blog

This is my current setup. The real essentials are Dropbox, ST2 and Homebrew, but these are all amazing pieces of software:

- Sublime Text 2 editor (even has a vim mode) (http://www.sublimetext.com/2)

- Sparrow, but you might be happy with the native Mail app (http://sparrowmailapp.com/)

- Media: iTunes and Quicktime do a good job, VLC occasionally.

- Handbrake for encoding (http://handbrake.fr)

- Transmission (http://www.transmissionbt.com/)

- Dropbox (http://getdropbox.com)

- Cloud app: instant, easy uploads (http://getcloudapp.com)

- Twitter's official client (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/twitter/id409789998)

- CSS: uh? There is Coda/TopStyle/Espresso, but ST2 is enough

- Github for Mac (http://mac.github.com)

- Versions for SVN (http://versionsapp.com)

- Sequel Pro (http://www.sequelpro.com/)

- Homebrew package manager (http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/)

- ImageOptim (http://imageoptim.com/)

- CodeKit or LESS.app for LESS/Coffee compiling (http://incident57.com/codekit/)

- MS Office: yeah (it's much better than the windows version). Just hide the cruft away (MSN etc) after installing.

- Wunderlist to-do app (http://wunderlist.com)

Nice to have / superfluous:

- Mou markdown editor (http://mouapp.com/)

- Cathode: vintage terminal emulator (http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/)

- Lidpop: make noises when you close/open your lid (https://shinyplasticbag.com/lidpop/)

I'm a freelance designer and I've worked remotely almost my whole career. For example, I've successfully worked remotely for Hipmunk on and off for the past year.

I'll be honest, things do move faster when you're in the same room. But if they haven't replaced me with an on-site designer yet, I'm guessing that means the benefits of working with the right person outweigh the disadvantages of working remotely.

So it's been a very positive experience for me so far, especially since if I didn't work remotely, my only two choices would be A) move to the US (which I can't) or B) work only for French companies (which I don't want to ;).

And the only tools I use are Skype and email, I like keeping things simple, and I like that both tools force you to only talk to one person at a time, it makes things a lot easier.

I also use CloudApp (http://getcloudapp.com) for easy file sharing, it's especially useful combined with Skype to quickly share my progress since it lets you upload images straight from Photoshop and copies the URL to the clipboard automatically.

Btw. if somebody's looking for a good screenshot application that automatically creates a URL when you take a screenshot, I can't recommend this software enough: http://getcloudapp.com/

You can also drag files onto the icon and all kinds of stuff - there's also a keyboard shortcut to upload the contents of the clipboard to a URL.

Works well and is available on all platforms.

Edit: (ouch, harsh down-votes) Sorry, not all platforms, only OSX and Windows (AFAIK). The windows version was built by a third party on top of their API and works exactly the same way: http://fluffyapp.com/ - I use both versions daily and I'm addicted.

Re-edit:

- a beta linux client: http://abhinandh.com/post/2755166494/cloudapp-for-linux-and-windows-py-cloudapp

- ipad and iphone clients: http://bluenubeapp.com/ & http://cloud2goapp.com/

- android client: http://android.appstorm.net/reviews/utilities/share-easily-with-droidcloud/

- wordpress plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-cloudapp/

a rear camera would not be useful at all for an on-screen walkthrough as it would be facing a wall or a surface. my face on the other hand, added for a personal effect, to an on-screen recording or so you can easily match my voice and my mouth to better understand me. perhaps you haven't seen a face + full screen desktop walkthrough? https://www.getcloudapp.com/. very useful.

a facetime call with my wife does require video, because it's a facetime call. i want to see her.

my kids school remote calls do require video because their teachers require video on. they do this because kids from ages 6-18 may not actually be paying attention in class, so the hardware camera is used to help the teacher.

if you were to look on youtube for walkthroughs of products, or twitch streams, you'll frequently see front facing cameras added to videos because people do actually like, enjoy, and find value (you can follow along to voice/face/emotion) in them

I do web dev, and my setup probably isn't nearly as crazy as most of you guys but here we go.

Hardware: 15" MacBook Pro, w/ 19" external LCD and external Apple keyboard if I'm at home.

Software: MacVim, MAMP setup w/ BIND for local dev (using this configuration: http://postpostmodern.com/instructional/a-smarter-mamp/), git for vc, Parallels for IE testing, Firefox w/ Firebug and WebDev extensions for debugging js and editing css, and I prefer iTerm over Terminal.app (sadly just for 256 color support, I'm sad I know).

Web apps: http://www.getcloudapp.com/ for sharing, http://www.freshbooks for time tracking/billing

Supervision: 8-month-old boxer-lab with an attitude.

I've still been using the old version of Skitch, but without the instant upload and copy to clipboard it was a lot less useful.

Then I found these this week:

Skitch to S3 upload (through webdav) — http://brad.me/skitchs3

Skitch to CloudApp upload — http://brad.me/skitchcloud

If you are a CloudApp user (http://getcloudapp.com/) the second one is super slick. Pretty much duplicates the old Skitch functionality and returns a short URL that you can use to post. You can also use a custom domain with CloudApp if you use the paid service.

Totally made Skitch useful again.