With all the new web/desktop applications popping up on the scene its hard to tell which ones actually save time and make life easier. I recently installed three applications that I’ve heard great things about but haven’t had the chance to try until now. Here they are:

1. Skype – This one is a no brainer… free calls over the internet to other people on Skype. Easy to use and beats holding a cellphone up to your ear when your on long business calls. Also great for conference calls and keeping in touch with with family.

2. Last.fm – There are a lot of tools out there for discovering new music but Last.fm seems to be the most comprehensive. The last.fm website is incredibly dense and the desktop radio is great for sitting back and discovering new music. There’s even an iPhone application for listening to your stations on the go.

3. DropBox – Store, Sync, and Share your files online. Occasionally I’ll need to send large files to friends or clients and DropBox seems to be a great solution. It’s easy to use and it stores files in the cloud so you can access your stuff from anywhere.

Honorable mention: Quicksilver is another amazing application that I recently tried adopting. Quicksilver allows you to quickly perform tasks using keyboard commands. Tasks such as launching applications, manipulating files and data, and sending e-mail. While extremely powerful I couldn’t get passed just using it as an application launcher. Therefore I got rid of it since Leopards built-in spotlight works just as well.

Oh yeh, and they’re all FREE! Happy downloading!