Gabe is Director of Customer Support for Articulate. He is passionate about technology and learning, and has more than a decade of Web publishing and software support experience. He blogs at Word of Mouth and at gabeanderson.com.

Gabe's Top 10 Tools as at 21 April 2009

1. Articulate Studio '09: Of course, I’m biased, but our new products are more powerful and easier to use than ever. Here’s a blog entry I wrote outlining some of my favorite features. It’s a great set of tools that’s helping people around the world learn every day.

2. iPhone: I love it. The learning possibilities are endless. From GPS for driving directions to reading the New York Times on the go, it’s a mobile learning device that’s always with me.

3. Garmin Forerunner 305: Last year when I started running, the Nike+ was my running device of choice for tracking my distance, time, and pace. Then I got more serious about running and “graduated” to the more accurate GPS-based device. I’ve logged more than 2,000 miles in the past year+ and count on my Garmin with every run for accurately tracking my pace, distance, time, and even my heart rate. I learn from all of these data to help me fine-tune my training, as well as my race pace (e.g., I ran a 3:19 marathon in December 2008, maintaining an average pace of 7:37/mile over 26.2 miles, thanks in large part to my Garmin).

4. Facebook: I use it almost daily online and via my iPhone to learn what my nearly 300 contacts –family, friends, and business contacts – are up to. I learn about and from other people by following links they post that they find interesting; by seeing how they feel about news stories; etc.

5. Articulate Community Forums: It's my job to help people learn to use our tools. Thankfully, our thousands of worldwide customers are incredibly creative, so I learn as much from them as they do from me.

6. Backpack: Whether used for group collaboration on a project or to manage my own project priorities, this product from 37signals has become an integral part of my daily work routine. I work best when I keep my inbox as empty as possible, but if I need to follow-up on something later or on a specific day or time, I leverage the “Reminders” feature to have Backpack email me a simple reminder. When I’m done with it, I delete it. The lists feature allow me to add attachments and comments to each of my “to dos,” and to collaborate with my colleagues on projects.

7. X1: A mail and file search utility, X1 brings the power of Gmail’s archive and search functionality to the enterprise. X1 is an integral part of my daily work routine, and allows me to instantly find any email I need to do my job.

8. Mint.com: Through regular emails and easy-to-use reporting dashboards, this personal finance tool gives me a quick overview of my financial picture and allows me to learn about my spending habits, when bills are due, and more. And after you set up your accounts once, it’s almost totally automated.

9. Evernote: Great way to archive digital and scanned paper documents, and find later. One of our customers built an impressive, award-winning Evernote demo, which you can learn more about and view here.

10. Google: Search, docs, Gmail, Reader. My digital life is not complete without this set of tools – just the way Google likes it… I recently added Google Voice to my online arsenal, too.

Gabe's Top 10 Tools as at 26 February 2008

1. Articulate -  Our products – the Studio desktop offerings along with Articulate Online – are an amazing way to create compelling online content -- be it elearning, a customer survey, a performance quiz, an online fundraiser for a non-profit, or a party invitation (all actual ways I've leveraged our tools).

2. Articulate Community Forums - It's my job to help people learn to use our tools. Thankfully, our thousands of worldwide customers are incredibly creative, so I learn as much from them as they do from me. Our forums have nearly 14,000 active members and nearly 24,000 posts.

3. Google Search: I've long been a big fan of Google and its simple, targeted results. It's my window to the world.

4. Firefox: Best browser there is. So much of my work happens in the browser, I'm not sure what I'd do without it. All the add-ons are great, too - I use Foxmarks, delicious add-on, Foxclocks, and more.

5. iPod Nano & Nike+: I was a sprinter in high school and college, but was never a distance runner before I started training for my first marathon this year. For the first couple months of training, I didn’t track my time or distance too accurately since I was focused mostly on building endurance. Now that I’m in my 10^th week of training, I like to know my time, distance, and pace. My new iPod Nano & Nike+ is incredible both as a training tool and as a learning tool. It monitors my current run and helps me improve my time and pace, so I learn about my performance as I go. And I can even blog about my running data, including the embedding of live data

6. Words: I work in technology, but have a degree in English. Words enable us to communicate, to learn, to influence, to motivate, to inspire.

7. LinkedIn: Ultimately, learning is all about people. Building and maintaining a professional network is important not only for one's career, but for leveraging the human talent pool. I've hired consultants via LinkedIn based on searches for specific skills.

8. Skype:   Instant messaging has been around for ages, but no tool offers more functionality than Skype. Whether it's a department conference call, discussions throughout the day about support cases, or even sending screenshots via Skype, my colleagues and I rely heavily on it.

9. Blogs & blogging: Others have mentioned specific tools, but when it comes to learning from blogs and helping others learn via my blog, I think the content matters more than the tool. The Articulate Knowledge Base is powered by MovableType (as my blog used to be), and my blog is now powered by Wordpress. From a publishing standpoint, those are my blogging apps of choice. (I launched my first personal blog on Blogger in 2000.)

10. SnagIt:  I use it nearly every day since a picture speaks 1,000 words. Be it in a blog entry, an email to a colleague, or to a customer to illustrate a particular product feature, SnagIt makes it super-easy to take a high-quality screenshot and share it with the world.

Gabe's Top 10 Tools as at 28 August 2007

1. Articulate: Our products – the Studio desktop offerings along with Articulate Online – are an amazing way to create compelling online content -- be it elearning, a customer survey, a performance quiz, an online fundraiser for a non-profit, or a party invitation (all actual ways I've leveraged our tools).

2. Articulate Community Forums - It's my job to help people learn to use our tools. Thankfully, our thousands of worldwide customers are incredibly creative, so I learn as much from them as they do from me. Our forums have nearly 8,000 active members and nearly 17,000 posts.

3. Google Products:

   • Google Search: I've long been a big fan of Google and its simple, targeted results. It's my window to the world.

   • Gmail: I archive everything, and Gmail allows me to find anything in no time at all. Oh, and it's also the best email application ever developed, with live chat built right in. Keyboard shortcuts rule. (I use Outlook just as much, but wish Outlook were as powerful as Gmail.)

   • Google Reader: Through blogs, we humans learn from each other every day. Google Reader lets me quickly scan my favorite blogs with keyboard shortcuts.

   • Google Calendar: If it's not in my calendar, I'll forget about it. Google Calendar allows me to keep my life in order - I make a note in my calendar, then I can think about more pressing matters. When the time comes - be it a project I want to work on or a scheduled event, Google Calendar emails me the scoop. I started using Yahoo Calendar in 1998 and switched to Google Calendar shortly after it was launched in 2006 - and imported all my archives, of course.

4. Firefox: Best browser there is. So much of my work happens in the browser, I'm not sure what I'd do without it. All the add-ons are great, too - I use Foxmarks, delicious add-on, Foxclocks, and more. Firetune makes Firefox incredibly fast.

5. RoboForm: RoboForm safely remembers my passwords, protects sensitive text in SafeNotes, and fills forms for me. I run the portable version via my USB disk, and I can't imagine being without it. I have so many logins that I'd lose my mind trying to keep track of them all. Maybe a stretch as a learning tool, but hey, it learns whatever I tell it to learn, and it never forgets. It also allows me to focus more on my job of helping people learn, and less on mundane details like passwords and URLs.

6. Words: I work in technology, but have a degree in English. Words enable us to communicate, to learn, to influence, to motivate, to inspire.

7. LinkedIn: Ultimately, learning is all about people. Building and maintaining a professional network is important not only for one's career, but for leveraging the human talent pool. I've hired consultants via LinkedIn based on searches for specific skills.

8. Skype:   Instant messaging has been around for ages, but no tool offers more functionality than Skype. Whether it's a department conference call, discussions throughout the day about support cases, or even sending screenshots via Skype, my colleagues and I rely heavily on it.

9. Blogs & blogging: Others have mentioned specific tools, but when it comes to learning from blogs and helping others learn via my blog, I think the content matters more than the tool. The Articulate Knowledge Base is powered by MovableType (as my blog used to be), and my blog is now powered by Wordpress. From a publishing standpoint, those are my blogging apps of choice. (I launched my first personal blog on Blogger in 2000.)

10. SnagIt:  I use it nearly every day since a picture speaks 1,000 words. Be it in a blog entry, an email to a colleague, or to a customer to illustrate a particular product feature, SnagIt makes it super-easy to take a high-quality screenshot and share it with the world.