It’s almost 2010, and I think it’s safe to say technology is a mainstay in our lives at this point. But it can be frustrating. There is so much software and information at our fingertips, and it can be difficult to know what’s worth it and what’s not.

To sort through it all and streamline your technology experience, I’ve compiled just a short list of useful applications your association could benefit from. Some have a great convenience factor, others are useful for sharing information with others. Feel free to contribute to this list and add your own favorite applications!

1. Google Reader – Some say RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is on the decline thanks to services such as Twitter, which lets bloggers and news organizations give updates as they happen. But Google’s RSS Reader also lets your tag items to share with others. You can put blogs into different folders for easy sorting (I have several related to “Social Media,” “Associations,” etc…) and you can also import your Google Alerts into the Reader. So useful.

2. Tweetdeck – I love Tweetdeck for its monitoring capabilities. I follow the #assnchat hashtag and if there is a conference going on that I want to keep up with, I add a new column with that hashtag. It lets me keep up with my personal Twitter account as well as MemberClicks’. And when I need to buckle down and get productive, I turn off those pesky notifications.

3. Evernote – If you’re on-the-go (and even if you’re not), I predict you will adore this application. Evernote claims you can use it to “capture everything,” and it’s true. Whether it’s an image, text, a screen cap or pretty much anything else, you can store it in Evernote and access it from any computer. You can tag items and have different folders for organization. And there are mobile apps for iPhones and BlackBerrys, so you can add to your account anytime. If this sounds overwhelming, check out Evernote’s About page — it will rock your world.

4. Typinator – This one can save you tons of time if used correctly. To sum it up, I’m just going to quote from its Web site: Have you ever experienced the tedium and frustration of having to repeatedly type your name, e-mail address, home page url, or other words or phrases again, again and again? Typinator is an automatic text software that helps you insert words or phrases quickly into any document. You can abbreviate any phrase and it will be updated as you type. Unfortunately, this one is Mac-only, but there is a similar one for special characters (called PopChar) that works for Windows.

I hope one or more of these can help your organization be more productive! If you use a cool application I didn’t mention (trust me, there are thousands), feel free to share it! I love finding new tools!

(Typinator screencap via its Web site.)