[Captivate Themes and Apps] zmore:
Must-have apps

Of the 148 apps currently installed on my phone the following 50 or so apps are my MUST HAVES. I wouldn't really miss the other 100 (much):

=== Must Haves

*** Cognition ROM ***

ALL Google apps (except for Listen, Buzz, Orkut, and a few others)

gmail, maps, nav, tracks, places, voice, talk, barcode scanner, streetview, books, youtube, music, etc...

Launcher Pro

Fancy Widget Pro ($$$, or, find the old non-pro apk with HTC-theme only)

Titanium Backup ($$$ for batch app backup/restore)

SMS Backup+ (backup/restore SMSs + Call Log to Gmail)

No Lock (simple widget that toggles the damn lock screen on/off!)

BLN Control (LED notification via button backlights)

AppBrain (discover new & popular apps, and filters out the crappy spam apps)

Amazon's Appstore (a potentially good free app every day, + updates)

Battery snap (widget + graphs battery history)

NetCounter (keeps track of monthly wifi&data usage with overage notification)

Network Monitor (graphs current wifi&data usage)

QuickPic (faster & better than the default Gallery)

Gesture Search (often faster than scrolling through all apps to find one)

WeatherBug (weather forecast widget)

ConnectBot (ssh terminal client)

AndChat (irc chat client)

Speed Test (how fast/slow your wifi&data is)

GPS Test & GPS Status (still haven't figured out which is better)

CifsManager (to mount windows/samba shares on the lan)

CPU Spy (see which states your CPU has been using the most)

DiskUsage (see what's taking up the most space)

ES File Explorer

SD Tools (to benchmark your ext SD card. class6 >= 6MB/s write)

SGS Tools (list of all secret codes (lbstestmode, etc), + fixes)

Wifi Manager (widget)

Voodoo Control (for voodoo kernels, but the defaults are fine)

Swype (faster than any other keyboard)

Color Flashlight (to see in the dark during the zombie apocalypse)

=== Media

Slacker Radio (netradio)

TuneIn Radio (netradio)

XiiaLive Lite (netradio)

Stereo Test (to make sure headphones arent in backwards when it's dark)

RockPlayer ((ffmpeg) plays most videos; accelerated)

VLC Remote (Remote control a VLC player on another computer)

=== News

BBC

CNN

CME Group (S&P500 futures to see if the market's up/down big tomorrow)

Reddit

Phandroid

Engadget

=== Games:

WordFeud (better than WordsWithFriends and Wordsmith IMO)

Live Hold'em Poker

iMobsters & World War

Drag Racing

Fruit Ninja ($$$)

Angry Birds (& Seasons & Rio, until you're sick of it)

=== Keep Kids Busy

Toddler Lock (cant hit the menu/home/back/search keys)

Talking Tom

Ethereal Dialpad (colorful music synth)

xPiano

=== NOT wanted or needed

a screenshot app (ddms from the android SDK takes screenshots)

"antivirus" crap.

dropbox (i backup to my own servers)

web browser replacements (i don't "surf" that much on my phone)

a "home switcher" (don't switch often enough, and can do it in settings anyway)

=== Apps I read about in other posts that i'll check out later...

galaxy tuner

quick settings

tasker

alarmclock plus

smarter alarm plus

keepscreen (apps that cant turn off the screen)

screenfilter (even darker screen at night)

And... just to round out my first post on XDA, here's a screenshot of Cognition 4.4.4 with my Launcher Pro homescreen setup: