NetDrive
At work I use ViceVersa Pro to compare and move files between dev, staging, and production all via network paths. Since this site is hosted by a third-party and files are transferred over FTP I needed a way to map an FTP location as a drive letter to run the comparison and ulimately copy files up. NetDrive is the free solution for that and it works on Vista!

ColdCourse
This is a pretty nice URL Rewriter for CF that supports MVC frameworks. I had a bit of trouble getting it to work initially only to find out the ISAPI Rewrite script I was using was for the wrong version. I'm curious to do some load testing to see what kind of overhead this script has.

varScoper
Any Coldfusion developer with an application that utilizes CFCs should add this to their toolkit. VarScoper runs various pattern tests against your CFCs to make sure you're properly scoping your variables. Without properly scoping variables it'll lead to variable overwriting and/or User A viewing data meant for User B which isn't always apparent when a single developer is testing on a dev environment.

Sunset on Mars
I love this picture from NASA of a beautiful image of a sunset on Mars.

Yahoo's Best Practices
The Exceptional Performance team has identified a number of best practices for making web pages fast. The list includes 34 best practices divided into 7 categories (content, server, cookie, css, javascript, images, and mobile).

InstantDomainSearch
I used this a lot to check if a domain is available. It uses Ajax to instantly tell you, as you type, if the domain is available. It's pretty straight forward.

Quit Your Job
Another inspiring piece is a blog post at 37Signals which suggests leaving your job behind to start your own business, but rather than thinking big, think simple. There's a huge reward in building something modest that you're happy to wake up for in the morning. I love my current job. It's awesome to be part of starting a company with a handful of employees and growing to 150 in a little over two years, but at some point I plan to let go, move to Oregon, and slow down by taking a year off to relax. Programming, blogging, reading, hiking, and starting a business.

Stackoverflow
I've started burning podcasts to CD so I can listen to them to and from work. It's only a 20 minute drive one way, but I make the drive four times because I go home at lunch to let the dogs out. Anyways, I've been a huge fan of Joel Spolsky and respect his word and knowledge greatly, but he doesn't post on his blog often enough. However, this podcast occurs more often, so far it's been weekly. And it's really great to hear conversations from developers outside of the Coldfusion (Coldfusion Weekly) who have a wide range of experience with multiple languages and validates their practices.

xtimeline
I like this idea. xtimeline allows you to create a timeline for anything. View the history of a corporation, the progression of a science/technology, or follow a historical character. Each point you can click on for more details. It's like having an alternative view of Wikipedia, but you'll have to wait for user submissions to catch up. This is the type of thing I've wanted to implement in one or more of my projects, but in a more automated way.

VMware
Set up virtual machines on your computer/server for different testing environments. Create one Win95/98 to run old DOS games. Another with a LAMP server configuration. VMware is also great for testing new software and patches before you commit to it. If you ever make a mistake simply roll back to a clean install of the virtual machine. The server version is free!

SongMeanings
There are so many crappy song lyric sites out there which are riddled with ads, but I've found this one and have stuck with it over the years. It's pretty up to date and also has user input from commenters as to the meaning behind the lyrics.

Boing Boing
Here's one of the most interesting sites I've added to Google Reader. It's a complete medley of topics which, more often than not, I find interesting. One of my favorite features is they update posts by highlighting particular comments from readers (whether it debunks the story or adds to it.

MonoPrice
This site has amazing prices on all kinds of cables. I really wanted to move my sub-woofer behind the couch, but 20' Monster subwoofer cable costs $110. At MonoPrice I was able to purchased a 25' cable for $8! While I was at it, I purchased speaker banana plugs which hold together much better than the ones you clamp with pliers and 100 small, white zip-ties to clean up the cables I have running along my wall (network cable, 2 rear speaker wires, and the subwoofer wire).

Pitchfork
Love them or hate them they are a good source for finding new music to listen to. I try only to pick out artist, album, and song names while not actually reading any of the reviews. Their news may be worthy, too so I've temporarily added it to my feeds list.

Daily Dose of Imagery
A photoblogger who's daily picture has inspired me to add a personal project to my list - find/generate an RSS feed of my favorite photoblogs. Most of the work will involve me finding my favorites because photoblogs are not something I've gone out of in search for. Maybe this will also motivate me enough to update the photos shown on this site, or in the least add links to high res versions.

Firebug
A Firefox extension that puts a wealth of development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page. The amount of time you save using this tool to test/debug your code is invaluable. It has already become second nature in my web development and in combination with the Web Developer Toolbar extension you should have all your bases covered.

Google Reader
The most recent release of Google's Reader web app is a huge improvement over the earlier version. I'm always looking to make tasks I do more efficient and thanks for RSS feeds I'm able to read up on the latest from several sites at once. No need to load up each site individually, wait for all the content to appear, and adjust your brain to reading each site's own post layout. With an RSS reader all sites look the same and there are both headline and detailed views for your preference.

OldVersion.com
This site has helped me track down old versions of my favorite programs over the years. Particularly programs that used to be free or had a nag screen but switched to a 30-day trial option and stops functioning when it expires. You can even find old versions of web browsers to install for testing purposes.

LifeHacker.com
Great site for anyone looking to work/live more efficiently. Tip, if you're big on content but not on community interaction try visiting your favorite sites once a day or once a week to catch up. The content will be there when you're ready for it.

Pandora
Simply drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let it go. It will quickly scan the Music Genome Project database to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you. All for free.