Best Cloud Apps for Freelancers

If you're in the market for an ebusiness suite, this is the best place to start.

Email
http://mail.google.com/ - Google Gmail. Get an account. Try it out for a while. If you don't see what the fuss is about then try something else. But personally, I could never go back to unthreaded email. And I LOVE to be able to keep every email I've been sent and never need to delete it.

Calendar
http://calendar.google.com/ - Google Calendar. Yes, I'm recommending Google again. With the Google Calendar, you can have multiple calendars, each shared with whoever you like. You can sync/subscribe to them in Outlook or iCal if you really must, but in the meantime they are online and you will never lose them.

Documents
http://docs.google.com/ - Google Docs is reliable and powerful. It allows you to write word documents, spreadsheets, presentations and forms. You can save these in popular formats to email them to people, or you can email a link to the document and allow people to collaborate with you online. All Google Docs can be easily saved as PDF too. There's other office suite software out there too, but if you're using Google for email and calendaring, it's possibly easier to keep them all together.

To-Do List
http://rememberthemilk.com/ - Remember The Milk is the best to-do list I've ever come across. Trust me, I tried out many before I found RememberTheMilk. This to-do list allows you to create Smartlists of your tasks using powerful searches. You can access your list with an iPhone app, Netvibes, iGoogle, through Gmail, have reminders sent to Twitter - in fact, most places you can think of. It's GREAT. You can also share tasks with people - either by task or by list.

Anti-Procrastination Devices

Want to take a break from work? You could set the timer for an agreed amount of time and get back to work when you hear the sounding of the gongs. - Let's Tick Tock This idea

http://ticktocktimer.com/ - Let's Tick Tock this is a nice, loud timer to keep you working solidly or to get you back to work.

Insomniac Society Timer - Another timer I like.

Billing and Timesheets

http://blinksale.com/ - Very professional invoicing system. Free accounts are limited by the amount of invoices you can send out.

http://freshbooks.com/ - Freshbooks is a great way to keep track of your hours and to then be able to bill your customers appropriately.

Freelance web workers need to ensure their work is backed up, but normally don't have a decent arrangement at home. Why not use the web for backup too?

http://www.getdropbox.com/ - Dropbox is the simplest form of online file storage I've seen. It's available for multiple platforms (or via the web). It allows you to see your online storage as if it's another drive on your computer. So, you just copy files across like you would from any drive to another. So easy! Plus, you can share folders with other people, such as clients or family.

http://www.fileqube.com/ - FileQube is another online storage app I really liked.

Here's a few free online photo editors I've tried and liked:

• http://pixer.us/ - Simple, but really quick. No sign-up. Just start.
  
• http://www.splashup.com/ - Powerful, yet quick online photo editing. Can use straight away or sign up.
  
• http://www.pixlr.com/editor/ - Can use straight away. Modest editing capability. Quick and easy.
  
• https://www.photoshop.com/ - Sign-up is compulsory, but it's extremely powerful software (it's Photoshop) and you can store up to 2G photos online with them.
  

Here's two great lists of photo editing software online:

• 37 Great Online Photoshop Alternatives
  
• Top 15 Online Photo Editors
  

• WikiDot - Create a wiki for free.
  
• Meebo - Online IM. Sign in to most of your IM accounts in the one program.
  
• Mibbit - Web-based IRC.