Showing posts with label Cool Tools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cool Tools. Show all posts

16 Websites to Super Charge Your English Vocabulary



It won't be an exaggeration if I say that English is the language of this world. Although Mandarin (Chinese) tops the list of most widely spoken languages, we know that it's English which connects people around the world. Hence, it can't hurt to get a deeper understanding of this ubiquitous language and work towards improving your grammar and vocabulary.

When it comes to online resources to improve your English language skills, there are millions of tools available. They range from software, tools, blogs, dictionaries, puzzles and much more. In this post I primarily mention websites which fall in the dictionary / thesaurus category. I'll preserve the other resources for another post.

  • Visuwords
    Visuwords is an awesome visual tool to find new words and improve your vocabulary. When you look up a word in this tool, it shows a neat graph which connects that word to various other words based on different relationships between them. You can hover over each word to get its definition and also zoom-in and zoom-out using your mouse wheel. It's certainly an excellent dictionary plus thesaurus.

  • Dictionary.com
    Dictionary.com is probably the most common and most comprehensive of all the dictionary tools available. Apart from giving the word meanings and pronunciation, it also provides various tools (like the dictionary.com toolbar), RSS feeds to improve vocabulary and word explorer podcasts.

    Thesaurus.com
  • Thesaurus.com is a part of dictionary.com and gives an elaborate description of words, the part of speech they belong to and various synonyms and antonyms of that word.

    Definr
  • Definr, as it says, is an incredibly fast dictionary. It starts suggesting the nearest possible word as you start typing a particular word. Most of the time you get the required word after typing 3 or 4 letters and then you can just click on the word to look up its meaning. Definr also provides some nice tools which make this service more useful.

  • Merriam-Webster Online
    Merriam-Webster Online is a huge online resource for learning and improving your English. It provides dictionary and thesaurus which includes spanish-english and medical dictionaries. You can easily look up words and listen to their pronunciation. Further it provides other resources like crosswords and word games. It also has a visual dictionary which combines words with images.

  • MetaGlossary
    MetaGlossary.com approaches the task of finding meanings of words in a different way. It aggregates various links on the web which provide an explanation to the term and shows the results. Hence it does the job of pulling definitions of the word from the entire web.

  • Thsrs
    Thsrs helps you to get shorter synonyms of long words. Although it's not dead accurate but still can be useful at times. It also provides a browser plug-in to easily look up shorter synonyms of words with a right click.

  • Wordsmith
    Wordsmith is a nice resource for new words, especially its ' A Word A Day ' newsletter, which is immensely popular and delivers new words everyday to your email inbox.

  • BBC Learning English
    BBC Learning English is another comprehensive resource of not only English grammar and vocabulary but on various aspects of this useful language. It includes stories, pictures, quizzes and various communication tools to improve your English vocabulary.

  • ESL Quizzes
    ESL Quizzes is a part of englishclub.com, a website which is a prominent destination for those who want to learn the language from scratch. Its vocabulary quiz section has some nice quizzes to help you learn new words and phrases.

    Ninjawords
  • Ninjawords, like Definr, claims to be a very fast dictionary. Although it doesn't show words as you type like Definr but is certainly very fast in displaying the meanings and synonyms once you hit enter. It also has a random tab which can be used to play around and learn new words.

  • About.com's Quizzes
    About.com's English Quizzes is a good place to find various quizzes related to grammar and vocabulary. It also provides listening quizzes for real time listening practice.

  • Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus
    Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus is a free-to-try visual tool which shows related words in an interactive map and helps you to easily find their meanings and listen to their pronunciation.

  • AskOxford
    AskOxford is the online version of the famous dictionary by the Oxford University press. It's comprehensive without a doubt and includes various other vocabulary resources and a quotations dictionary.

  • Urban Dictionary
    Urban Dictionary stands out from the herd. It's a dictionary of slang words. So use this dictionary and don't miss out on slang words either. :)

  • Alpha DictionaryAlpha Dictionary doesn't directly show you the meaning of a word. Instead it searches all the available online dictionaries (most of them) and displays the results in the form of links to the meaning of that word in those dictionaries. So choose your favorite dictionary (if at all you have one) and click on the corresponding link to view its meaning.Each of the aforementioned websites tries to accomplish the same task in a different manner and hence helps you to further refine your vocabulary and get a stronger grip on the world's most cherished language.
Do you use any other websites to improve your English language skills ? Let's hear about them in the comments.

Written by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is a blogger and web publisher from India. He loves all things tech as long as it aids in productivity. He edits Guiding Tech, a blog that publishes useful guides, tutorials and tools. Check it out and subscribe to its feed if you like the site. You can also find him on Twitter. Photo Credit: teacherhax

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9 Free Programs That'll Help You Build a Side Business


The traditional view of a small business is changing.

There was a time when building a business involved joint ventures and angel investors. It involved asking the bank for a big business loan to cover overhead costs until you turn a profit. If you had the dream to start a business, you needed to invest a lot of money.

No more – today's business, particularly a web-based business, has very little overhead. Want to start writing for a living? Have a service that you wish to offer? You can build a business presence with free software that has all the features you need to get started.



Here are 9 different software alternatives to “brand name” software that can get your business up and running quickly, with no financial investment:
  • LibreOffice/Google Docs (replaces Microsoft Word/Powerpoint/Excel)
    First, if you need to work with documents, you need software that can handle them. Unfortunately, while Word is the standard, Microsoft has priced it out so that any business looking for the latest software with no money is left in the dust. LibreOffice (formerly OpenOffice) is a powerful, free desktop office suite that can handle virtually all types of documents. With LibreOffice, you won't miss Microsoft Office for a second.

    If you want to go even lighter on your desktop, you can use Google Docs, which lives entirely within your Web browser. Again, you can use these tools to replace Microsoft Office pretty easily, and if you don't need to do any ultra-fancy formatting, they are more than adequate.

  • Gmail (replaces Microsoft Outlook)
    If you have separate business and personal email addresses, the last thing you want is to have to switch back and forth between them. Many people use Microsoft Outlook to handle all of their email addresses, so that they only have one place that they have to look. Instead, try using Gmail. Gmail makes it easy to handle multiple email addresses, and it runs light and quick. So if you need to search through your vast backlog of email, you have the speed and power of Google behind it. Gmail offers a number of other great little tools, but the ability to easily handle multiple email addresses is at the top of the list.

  • Evernote (replaces OneNote)
    Brainstorming is a valuable practice in a business. Whether you are keeping track of your latest ideas or just fleshing out your latest campaign, having a centralized place to store your thoughts is valuable. Microsoft OneNote is a handy piece of software, but it is expensive. Instead, sign up for Evernote, and store your thoughts online. There, you can access them from anywhere so if you are out and about and have that great business idea, you can pull out your phone and get it into Evernote (via an Evernote app or by texting through Twitter) so that you will not forget it. Their excellent notebook/tagging organizing scheme makes finding any of your thoughts as efficient as possible.

  • Spreadsheet/ClearCheckbook (replaces Microsoft Money/Quicken)
    Tracking all of your expenses and income is a hassle, especially if you have separate business expenses. While many choose to use Mint for their finances, I much prefer handling the transaction record keeping myself. Set up a spreadsheet in LibreOffice or Google Docs (Google Docs even has a great template for it), and you can keep track of your finances on your own. Or, you can use a service like ClearCheckbook, which gives you a few more reporting options. Either way, the bloated price of dedicated financial software just isn't worth it.

  • MailChimp (replaces Aweber)
    The power of your business is in your email list. You need subscribers that are interested in hearing from you on a regular basis, so put a sign-up box on your home page and encourage people to sign up to receive updates, free reports, etc. The industry standard seems to be Aweber, which is a very powerful tool, but it comes at a cost. Instead, MailChimp offers free emailing for a large number of subscribers, so you can keep your overhead low while you build your list (their interface is a little more pleasant, too, in my book).

  • Google Voice (replaces a separate phone line)
    If you are dealing with clients, you don't want to be passing out your home phone number or your personal cell number, either. Who has the money to afford a separate business line? Instead, sign up for a free phone number from Google Voice and have it routed to your cell phone or your home phone. Then, you can block numbers, set up special voice mail messages, and do a ton more without having to pay for a separate line or service.

  • Gimp (replaces Adobe Photoshop)
    One of the “necessary evils” of graphic design has been Photoshop. A powerful and useful tool, Photoshop is also incredibly expensive. If you are looking to save money, Gimp is a free tool that works very similarly to Photoshop. The interface is slightly different, but once you use it (and search around for a few tutorials), you can use it for plenty of graphic design and desktop publishing purposes.

  • Scribus (replaces Adobe InDesign)
    Creating a publication, whether it is a magazine or a newsletter, can be a pain without the right software. Again, Adobe claims the standard with InDesign, but Scribus is a free tool that offers much of the same functionality, allowing you to create elegant and beautiful PDFs and printed documents with little hassle (and no cost).

  • Ubuntu (replaces a new computer)
    Finally, if you want to run a business but worry that your old computer can't handle it, you may be looking at getting a new computer. But instead of wasting hundreds of dollars on a new PC or Mac, try installing Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a version of Linux that feels and acts a bit like Windows or Mac OS X, but without the bloat. You may be able to give that old computer new life and save yourself an expensive purchase.
There are plenty of ways you can build a business online, and you do not need to spend an arm and a leg to do it. Use some of these free software alternatives, and you'd be surprised how quickly and easily you can get moving. Now, if you want to build a business on the side, you have nothing standing in your way!

Written on 6/14/2011 by Tom Meitner. Tom is a freelance writer who helps average people reach their goals at The Practical Nerd, and he publishes a free digital magazine devoted to making your life awesome at HustleLife.Photo Credit: Steve Snodgrass

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Top 13 Tools For Efficiently Running Your Online Business


If you own a business, especially one that's entirely online, it is likely that you’ve got a distributed workforce. That means your employees (and contractors and partners) are located in different countries around the world.

Running an online business efficiently--and productively--requires the use of various tools and apps that can help you properly communicate with your employees, collaborate easily on multiple projects and hence compensate for the lack of everyday face-to-face interaction that happens in a real world office.


Following are ten tools that every web based business owner should consider for greater efficiency and productivity. All of these general tools that can come in handy irrespective of the type of business you run.

Basecamp
Basecamp is without a doubt the most popular web-based project management tool. Its interface is simple and easy to use, lets you create multiple projects with various customizations, share files, create to-do lists and milestones, and do much more.

Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is usually considered ahead of Basecamp for online project management in terms of features. However, it's viewed as slightly more difficult to use. Zoho Projects has been surging in popularity since it was launched, and you should take a look at it too.

Google Apps
Google Apps is a package of popular Google tools like Gmail, Google Docs and all, allotted specifically for your domain. Needless to say, it is must-have for any online small business owner, at least for Gmail on your domain if nothing else.

Zoho Suite
Zoho Suite also offers an impressive suite of online tools for businesses (Zoho projects, discussed above, being a part of it). Ranging from docs to wiki, reports to CRM and planner to invoice, there’s a huge number of applications to choose from.

Hipchat
Hipchat is a cool group messaging service that is multi-platform, helps you share files, create chatrooms and lets you collaborate quickly with multiple people in real-time. It replaces the back and forth emails and hence saves time.

Yammer
Yammer is another tool that aims to foster better communication among a group of people. It is a private social network for your business, and has an interface similar to popular social sites (like Twitter).

Skype
Any list that talks about tools for collaboration and conducting business can’t be complete without Skype. Skype remains the defacto method for making audio and video calls online, helping people save tons in phone bills and communicate with friends and colleagues around the world.

Dropbox
Dropbox is a brilliant online backup and synchronization tool that has a host of features to suit individuals as well as small online business owners. It’s easy to setup and has a decent free plan too.

Mozy
Mozy is another popular online backup service and has a product called Mozypro that’s meant for businesses wanting to do a secure data backup on the cloud.

Freshbooks
Most of the online businesses require some form of invoicing and there’s no better tool than Freshbooks. It helps you manage invoices, track time and even manage your accounts. If you are a freelancer or a service provider who manages a team of freelancers, this is an invoicing tool you should consider using.

Pingdom
Unless you are freelancer and don’t own a site or a blog, chances are that your web business is centered around a website (or websites). Pingdom is a monitoring tool that alerts you via emails and SMS when your site goes down. This ensures that you know immediately about downtimes and can take swift action.

Evernote
Evernote can take notes on the desktop, browser and mobile, enables quick capture of anything on the screen and serves as an organization tools for random ideas, text, images and more.

Nowdothis
Last but not the least, we’ve got Nowdothis. This is the simplest of the tools mentioned so far, and yet extremely effective. It helps you get rid of the myriad to-do lists and lets you focus on one thing at a time. And that’s the best way to actually get things done. :)

Cheers,

Abhijeet

Written on 1/29/2011 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is a blogger and web publisher from India. He loves all things tech as long as it aids in productivity. He edits Guiding Tech, a blog that publishes useful guides, tutorials and tools. Check it out and subscribe to its feed if you like the site. You can also find him on Twitter. Photo Credit: Company Logos

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21 Excellent Tips For an Amazing & Productive New Year

New Year
This is that time of the year when your mind is ruled by the thoughts of the upcoming year and what it might bring for you. You start making plans and resolutions to make the most of the next 365 days. You want to be more enthusiastic, more energetic and more productive next year. You want to achieve what you couldn't achieve this year. You want the year to be just awesome.

Nothing wrong with the above thoughts, except that most of us fail to achieve even half of our resolutions and goals.

If we could be more productive in what we do every day, and understand how to get the most out of our professional and personal lives without stressing ourselves out, I think only then we might come close to achieving the targets we set for ourselves.

In the past 2 years (more than two in fact) of my association with this site, I have produced a number of articles to help our readers get better at what they do, and enjoy life. In this article, I have decided to revisit those, and also include some other gems by my fellow DLM authors.

There are tips, tools and advice to help you have a better year ahead. Read it through, choose what's relevant to you, and implement it. I'm sure this list has something for every one. So, lets get started!
  1. Set the Right Goals
    Setting the right goals at the beginning is important. Here are some tips to help you do that. If you are not sure what you want, and hence don't know what should be your goals, we've got you covered here too.

  2. Track Your Progress Towards Your Goals
    Setting goals is the first step. Tracking your progress towards them is the next, and the more important step. Here are some great ways to do it.

  3. Get Your Finances in Order
    Most of you would have one of your new year's resolutions as getting better at your finances. For the ones in a hurry, we have some five minute finance fixes. I also published a list of excellent web apps for managing your personal finances. That's something you should check out.

    Oh, and never make these financial mistakes.

  4. Manage Time
    Wish you had more than 24 hours in a day? You wouldn't if you knew how to make the most out of those 24 long hours. So, improve your time management skills and get started with one of these time management tools.

  5. Get Healthier
    Start the new year by implementing one of these 50 ideas for a healthy lifestyle. Also check out this quick 60-second guide to healthier living.

  6. Shop Smarter
    Shop often online? Check out these online shopping tools to help you shop smarter.

  7. Manage Email
    Did this year feel like being a slave to your email? Well, then make sure that the next year we see you managing your email like an expert.

  8. Deal With RSS Overload
    RSS feeds are a boon but too much of them...a big hassle? Not if you know how to read them productively. Learn to avoid RSS overload and know how you can use Google Reader productively.

  9. Use Your Cellphone the Right Way
    Just can't keep that phone away for a second? Too hooked to it? It's time you free yourself from its shackles. And learn how to use it productively.

  10. Get Productive While Working On Your PC
    This new year switch to Windows 7 if you haven't yet, and start working productively on your computer.

  11. Get Productive At Writing
    It's not just about writing articles like this one. It could be writing emails, notes, letters, documents...so, in a sense, each one of you might need to do a good bit of writing next year. Here's how you can improve your writing and get it done efficiently. And if you are ever short of ideas, here are some tips to get going.

  12. Speed Up Web Browsing
    Needless to say, a major chunk of your time next year will be consumed in browsing the web. Hence these power tips to speed up your web browsing are sure to come in handy.

  13. Use Wikipedia Like a Pro
    This huge repository of knowledge is likely to be a site most of you visit every day next year. So, learning how to get more out of Wikipedia would make sense.

  14. Use Twitter Like a Pro
    If you aren't on Twitter yet, there's a 99.5% chance that you'll be next year. And when you are on it, you won't be like any other Twitter newbie. You'd know how to be an expert at using it right from day one. And that applies to searching Twitter too.

  15. Use Facebook Like a Pro
    As I have mentioned in the past, you can actually use this so called productivity-eater productively. Here are the Facebook productivity tips you need to know. And please, don't have a Facebook profile that jeopardizes your job.

  16. Learn Mind Mapping
    Get started with mind mapping with one of these feature-rich tools.

  17. Beat Information Overload
    Yes, absolutely. You cannot get consumed by this beast called information. Information is going nowhere and it'll continue to reach you in greater proportions. So, better learn how to deal with it.

    Here are some smart ways to beat information overload.

  18. Manage Passwords Like a Pro
    Too many online accounts and passwords? Overwhelmed? Use one of these amazing tools to manage passwords.

  19. Go Paperless
    Get things done efficiently (and save the environment) by going paperless in 2011.

  20. Productivity For Web Workers
    Being a web worker myself, I've got a soft corner for all you web workers out there. So, especially for my web worker/freelancer friends, here are is some useful advice on staying fit, saving money, managing time, avoiding loneliness and being more disciplined when working from home.

  21. Have Fun!
    Finally, all the above mentioned tips are meant to make you productive enough to take time out now and then, and have fun. Don't be Jack, the dull boy. Have fun on these cool sites, get involved in these simple and entertaining activities and just make sure that you live, and not merely exist. :)
Wishing all DLM readers a happy and prosperous year!

Cheers,
Abhijeet

Written on 12/26/2010 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is a blogger and web publisher from India. He loves all things tech as long as it aids in productivity. He edits Guiding Tech, a blog that publishes useful guides, tutorials and tools. Check it out and subscribe to its feed if you like the site. You can also find him on Twitter. Photo Credit: mescon

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40+ Tips to Improve your Grammar and Punctuation


After all these years you finally have the courage and opportunity to write the email announcing that you and you alone have single handedly saved the company from utter disaster. You're excited, you type it, you spell check it, and you hit send.

Everything is great except that your gold star memo has dangling modifiers, double negatives and run-on sentences colliding with each other.

Now I am no grammar whiz but I know a good resource when I see it. Purdue University maintains an online writing lab and I spent some time digging through it. Originally the goal was to grab some good tips that would help me out at work and on this site, but there is simply too much not to share.



Learn and enjoy!

Adjectives and adverbs
Nouns
Prepositions
Pronouns
Sentence structure
Verbs
Apostrophes and Quotation Marks
Commas Hyphens Other punctuation
Sentence Punctuation
Spelling
Written on 12/22/2007 by me, Jay White, the founder of Dumb Little Man and an all around average guy. Republished on 12/21/2010 because this stuff is just SO useful!
Photo Credit: tommy the pariah

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8 Great Mind Mapping Tools For Effective Brainstorming


A mind map is considered a great way to brainstorm and generate more ideas. It helps you create a number of small ideas from one big idea, see how different ideas could be connected together and create a plan of action.

This article talks about eight mind mapping tools to help you brainstorm effectively. Almost all of them have free versions available. Some of them also help you collaborate with other people while working on the tool. Check them out.


1. Xmind
Xmind, available in both free and pro versions, is a brilliant and feature-rich mind mapping tool. The interface is easy to use and you could create a variety of mind maps without getting stuck in complex options. The mind maps could be shared, embedded on your site and exported as PDF, Word or PowerPoint.

The tool also offers a special "Brainstorming Mode" to help you capture ideas effortlessly. It works on Windows, Mac and Linux (separate installers) and the code is open-source.

2. FreeMind
FreeMind is a unique mind mapping tool. Unique because it's Java based and hence works on almost all the major platforms in exactly the same way. And being completely free to use, I'd say the features offered are quite good, the best thing being a wide range of keyboard shortcuts which could help you create a mind map in no time.

3. MindMeister
MindMeister is a pretty popular mind mapping tool that's web based and doesn't require any download. It has a great user interface and also offers a set of tools to enhance its functionality. There's a real-time brainstorming mode to collaborate with colleagues in the mind map creation process.

The basic version of the tool is free but it doesn't include all the features. There are premium and business versions available.

4. Mind42
If your mind mapping needs are fairly simple and you are looking for a no-frills, online tool then you should go for Mind42. It's free, has a clutter-free interface, helps you get started easily and offers most of the features that a good brainstorming and mind mapping tool should provide.

5. MindJet MindManager
Mindjet MindManager is a mind mapping tool for business professionals (and hence costly). It incorporates things like tasks and projects, information maps, interactive dashboards and much more into a mind map. It is in fact a complete idea visualization package that's available for Windows and Mac computers.

6. Mindomo
Mindomo can work as a web based tool as well as a desktop tool on Windows, Mac and Linux. It has a nice project planning and tracking feature to help teams work together on mind maps and track the progress. Both free and premium versions are available.

7. Freeplane
If Freeplane sounds similar to FreeMind mentioned above, it is because it is a redesigned version of the same tool. It is created by one of the developers who created FreeMind and many prefer it over the previous one. You could try both Freeplane and FreeMind and then decide, depending on the design, which one you find comfortable working with.

8. iMindMap
Lastly, we've got iMindMap, which according to their site, is created by Tony Buzan who is supposedly the inventor of mind mapping. The tool lets you create colorful mind maps using drag and drop functionality. It's not free though. But you could give the trial version a shot.

Do you use mind mapping tools? Which ones have you tried?

Cheers,

Abhijeet
Written on 10/21/2010 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is a blogger and web publisher from India. He loves all things tech as long as it aids in productivity. He edits Guiding Tech, a blog that publishes useful guides, tutorials and tools. Check it out and subscribe to its feed if you like the site. You can also find him on Twitter. Photo Credit: Peter Hellberg

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8 Awesome Tools to Quickly Take Notes and Annotate Webpages


Most of the research one does nowadays, be it of any kind and in any area, requires that significant time be spent browsing online and scouring through all kinds of websites and encyclopedias. After all, the internet is an ocean of knowledge. Where else would one find such information that's readily available?

Now, when you do research for something on the web, it's imperative that you take notes and capture some stuff for checking out later. Using methods like copy & pasting and sending emails to yourself are passe. You don't need to go through those tedious processes when there are brilliant note taking tools available.


This article lists eight such note taking and web page annotation tools to help you in capturing and organizing information productively. Check them out.

1. Evernote
Evernote is probably the most popular tool to take notes and organize ideas and information. The great thing about the tool is that it is multi-platform (works on the web and has desktop as well as mobile apps) and keeps your notes in sync.

It also provides a small utility called the web clipper which lets you quickly capture text and images from web pages and transfer them to your Evernote account. Overall, a useful and feature-rich note taking tool.

2. Onenote
Microsoft Onenote is another popular tool to gather and organize notes. You can capture and arrange text, images, audio and video notes with this tool. While it primarily works as desktop software as part of the Microsoft Office suite of tools, it also includes the Onenote webapp that works from the browser and Onenote mobile for your cellphone.

One unique feature of Onenote is that it allows you to share your notebooks with others and hence collaborate with them on the note taking and editing process.

3. Zoho Notebook
Zoho Notebook is a web based note taking tool that lets you aggregate and collaborate on all kinds of content. Apart from the usual features, this tool allows you to enable selective sharing where in you can share just a part of a note to collaborate on. It also has the version control feature to help you keep a track of the changes to a particular note.

4. Diigo
Diigo is a pretty cool web annotation and research tool that lets you highlight parts of web pages and bookmark them selectively. This tool does a lot of things actually. Apart from highlighting parts of web pages, it can help you add sticky notes to them, archive them and make them searchable, organize them through tags and lists and much more.

5. WebNotes
WebNotes is another feature-rich note taking and researching tool that lets you highlight and annotate web pages as well as PDFs. Notes can be organized in a hierarchical structure, they can be shared easily via email or through a link and professional reports can be generated. The tool also boasts of a built-in RSS reader.

6. Springnote
Springnote differentiates itself by using a wiki-like format and helping you create pages and add notes to them. The user interface looks pretty good, and you could also use it in group projects where people need to collaborate on a page because it does allow you to add and invite members to a page.

7. Scrapbook
Scrapbook is an old and popular Firefox add-on that lets you save web pages (complete or just snippets of them) and manage huge collections of such saved stuff easily. If Firefox is your primary browser as well as research tool then you might as well try out this tool.

8. Ubernote
And last but not the least, we've got Ubernote. It's a nice browser based note taking application that offers a host of features along with extras like Firefox toolbar, web clipping bookmarklets, ability to create public pages and more.

Cheers,

Abhijeet

Written on 9/8/2010 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is a blogger and web publisher from India. He loves all things tech as long as it aids in productivity. He edits Guiding Tech, a blog that publishes useful guides, tutorials and tools. Check it out and subscribe to its feed if you like the site. You can also find him on Twitter. Photo Credit: Red Mum

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6 Cool Startpages That Can Make You More Productive

Start Page
The purpose of a startpage is to save you time by making the best use of that first browser window you open when you are starting the day.

While you could always set a preferred homepage that opens when you click the Internet Explorer or the Firefox icon on your desktop, a startpage provides a lot of different options and lets you check things like email, RSS feeds, news and much more without leaving that browser tab.


A well designed startpage could definitely make you more productive as you don't need to open separate windows to visit sites you need to everyday. This article talks about six such startpages. The list includes usual suspects like Netvibes and iGoogle, and some other little known but nice startpages that could enhance your productivity. Check them out.

Netvibes
Netvibes pioneered the startpage concept when it launched its service in 2005. And it continues to be the most well known, and probably the most used personalized dashboard platform till date.

The good thing about the tool is that it hasn't stayed the same. It has evolved with changing times, adopted AJAX based interface and now it is highly customizable, allowing you to configure it in a way that could make you productive. You could read feeds in real-time, add notes, check email and do much more, all from one page.

iGoogle
iGoogle is the usual suspect number 2 in this list, and is without a doubt the preferred startpage for millions of users around the world. Built by Google, it integrates well with Google services like Gmail, Google News, Google Reader etc, and has some innovative features like ability to store bookmarks, designing your own iGoogle gadget and more.

Check this page to know more about iGoogle customization.

Fav4
Fav4, as Lifehacker describes it, is a dead simple startpage (by the way, Lifehacker calls it "start page" instead of "startpage". Both the versions are correct though ). And that's exactly what makes it useful. It's minimalistic nature ensures that you focus on the four most important sites to begin your day with, and then move on to other tasks.

The site has no complex features. Simply add the sites you want, select the look and set it as the default browser page. While you can add many sites to the interface, I'd suggest you stick to the default view of 4 site icons. That'll definitely make you more productive.

Only2clicks
Only2clicks is another simple startpage, which, at the first glance looks like Chrome's default speed-dial startpage, but it isn't exactly the same. It has got more features, some of them really innovative. Like, it has a tabbed interface which allows you to add many more websites and not clutter it at the same time.

You could drag and drop icons, add default search icons, import and export bookmarks, create bookmarklets and quickly share a link (which is pretty good) through this tool.

Things To Do For Google Chrome
Things To Do is a brilliant startpage extension for Google Chrome. It's in fact a pretty cool GTD app. The concept is simple - your to-do list for the day will become your startpage. Your tasks are outlined in bold letters, and each time you open a new tab in Chrome, you'd be reminded of the tasks you need to complete.

You could of course customize the tool, rearrange the list, delete and add tasks. Overall, I think this startpage could be the best to-do list app if you use Chrome as your main browser.

Google Tasks
And last but not the least, we've got Google Tasks' standalone page which could be used as a startpage too. It's just this url - https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig which will open your Google Tasks in a new window. You could set it as the default page to open in any browser. Similar to Things To Do, but only for Google Tasks users.

So what startpages you use? Share them in the comments.

Cheers,

Abhijeet

Written on 6/25/2010 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is a blogger and web publisher from India. He loves all things tech as long as it aids in productivity. He edits Guiding Tech, a blog that publishes useful guides, tutorials and tools. Check it out and subscribe to its feed if you like the site. You can also find him on Twitter. Photo Credit: TexasDarkHorse

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10 Sites Where You Can Earn Some Extra Cash While You Are a Student


This blog has talked about making money online before. We've also shown how you could get started with making money online if you are new to web working, want to make a living from the internet, and have no clue.

Now, there's a difference between making a living on the internet and making a few quick bucks. No, there is no get rich quick scheme but that doesn't mean you can't make ten dollars in ten minutes; you could if you know the right way to do it.


So yes, there are ways to make some extra cash online when you need it. And the best beneficiaries of such methods, in my opinion, are students. Students love working part time (or I should say have to work) because that pays their daily expenses. Hence, they could use the world wide web to get that extra cash.

This article talks about ten such sites which could help students, or anyone who wants to make some extra cash online, get started. And who knows, you might just end up doing it full-time and making good money out of it. :)

Elance
Elance is probably the most popular marketplace for freelancers and their clients alike. Freelancers, be it designers, programmers, writers or proofreaders, could bid for projects submitted by prospective clients and make money out of them.

There's a long list of skill categories on the site so you could see which one you might fit into and get started.

Amazon Mechanical Turk
Amazon Mechanical Turk is another marketplace where one could get money for work as simple as finding the contact information on a website. It basically lists the tasks it calls "Human Intelligence Tasks" i.e the tasks that require human intelligence and cannot be easily accomplished by a computer (or a software).

BuyMyTronics
Since students are usually huge gadget freaks, it is likely that they have a lot of unused gadgets lying around. The best use of such gadgets would be to sell them to BuyMyTronics. Yes, this is a site which purchases old gadgets and also offers free shipping. It couldn't get better.

Ether
Here's another unique site that could help you make some extra cash. Known as Ether, this site lets experts share their knowledge for a price. If you consider yourself well-versed in any subject or a field, you could sign up for the site and start taking calls at your will.

eBay
I don't need to introduce this site, do I? eBay is definitely the biggest site to make quick money by selling and buying (then selling it for more) stuff. It may not be that quick but is definitely quicker than many other ways of making money online.

Odesk
Odesk is like Elance for coders and programmers, except that it has a better tracking mechanism. If you are into programming, designing and things like that, you could make use of this site to grab projects and generate income.

Buxr
Now, Buxr doesn't look like a site where one can make money. It's a deals/coupons aggregator and helps visitors save money. But if you are able to find good deals for them and your deals receive a lot of votes then you could get cash rewards too.

Crossloop
If you like helping people with their computer troubles then you might as well make money doing that. On Crossloop, you could create a profile, set your hourly rate and help people from all over the world in resolving their computer issues.

Pickydomains
Pickydomains might probably one of the best ways to earn $25. You just need to come up with a domain name for a client that isn't registered yet. Yes, there are a ton of domain names that are yet to be taken up. Just fire up your imagination and get started.

Craigslist
And last, but by no means the least, is our very own Craigslist. Make no mistake, this site remains one of the hottest destinations for people seeking part-time income. You could sell stuff, post your resume, contact people seeking freelancers and do much more. So, don't forget this site when hunting for a way to make extra cash.

Cheers,

Abhijeet

Written on 5/20/2010 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is a blogger and web publisher from India. He loves all things tech as long as it aids in productivity. He edits Guiding Tech, a blog that publishes useful guides, tutorials and tools. Check it out and subscribe to its feed if you like the site. You can also find him on Twitter. Photo Credit: J D R

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12 Awesome Tools For Efficient Twitter Searches

Twitter
It's no secret that Twitter's native search tool isn't that efficient. Yes, it offers some nice advanced search options (advanced search isn't accessible directly from your Twitter homepage. You need to go here for that). But it just limits itself to searching tweets when there are so many other things people might want to find out (like followers, profile bios, etc.).

This article attempts to list some of the best third-party Twitter search tools. I know there are more than 12 out there. But many of them have similar functionality so it was about picking and choosing the best ones. Check them out and make Twitter-time more productive. If you happen to be one of the few that have not tried Twitter, here is a good video explaining more about what it is.

  • TweepSearch
    TweepSearch is for searching people on Twitter. Enter your keyword and it'll scan the profiles of Twitter users who have that keyword listed in their bio. The resulting list can be sorted by number of followers and friends.

    Hence, if you are looking for a designer or programmer on Twitter, just type that query in this tool's search bar and get the corresponding list of people.

  • Backtweets
    Backtweets is a nifty Twitter search app which can search for links and short urls on Twitter. Now, this is something that even Twitter's advanced search can't do.

    You can use this tool to see how many people have tweeted a specific link. It doesn't matter if the link was shortened using an url shortner. This tool will still show that in the results.

  • Nearby Tweets
    Nearby Tweets, as the name suggests, lets you discover tweets from local users. It uses Google Maps to find your location and then shows the tweets by Twitter users near you. This tool could come in handy for businesses who are looking to expand their local footprint. They can check what's buzzing among the local community.

  • TwitJobSearch
    Looking for a job? Then TwitJobSearch is a site you should bookmark. It filters the tweets that contain words like "hiring", "job", etc. And it does that quite effectively. Just enter the relevant search term and you are good to go. You might just land your next gig using this site so keep a watch.

  • Searchtastic
    Searchtastic is another nice Twitter search tool which not only shows results that are older than those shown by Twitter's native search tool, but also lets you search keyword specific tweets. Louis Gray gave a nice description of the tool here.

  • Tweetmeme
    You must have heard of Tweetmeme. No? You know those retweet buttons that are ubiquitous in the blogosphere, right (you'll find one at the end of this post too). Those come from Tweetmeme.

    Tweetmeme, apart from showing the most popular tweets across the web, has a search function that's pretty effective.

  • Monitter
    Monitter is probably the most well known Twitter based reputation management tool. It can display different keyword and phrase searches on Twitter, all parallel to each other in a neat interface. Oh, and it's as real-time as Twitter is.

  • Areaface
    Areaface lets you search location based tweets via keywords and phrases. You can pinpoint a location on Google Maps and it will shows recent tweets as well as twitter users from that area in a visually attractive interface.

  • Twellow
    Twellow is a cool site. It organizes the information it has gathered from Twitter in a yellow pages format. You can search for services, for people in different professions, and much more. It's like a complete Twitter directory.

  • Schmap Picks
    Schmap Picks is for searching reviews on Twitter about restaurants and bars. It only has some popular cities in the U.S. along with London and Sydney, so it is useful to people only in these cities. But it's a good service nevertheless.

  • Local Follow
    Local Follow aims to simplify your search for Twitter users by giving 4 main search fields - Bio, Location, Name and Tweets (if you remember a tweet but can't recall who tweeted it). It uses Twitter's API and Google search to produce a list of user profiles based on your keywords.

  • Hashtags
    Last, but by no means the least, is Hashtags.org. Hashtags is a popular method to categorize tweets and this website lets you search tweets matching to a particular hashtag. Simple and useful.
Hope you liked the above list. Don't forget to spread the word if you did. :)

Cheers,

Abhijeet

Written on 4/8/2010 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is a blogger and web publisher from India. He loves all things tech as long as it aids in productivity. He edits Guiding Tech, a blog that publishes useful guides, tutorials and tools. Check it out and subscribe to its feed if you like the site. You can also find him on Twitter. Photo Credit: trekkyandy

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Ditch Productivity For A Day: 12 Great Sites To Kill Time & Have Fun


Sometime back, Leo Babauta from Zen Habits talked about how doing less and being less productive could benefit your work and life. He talks about spending less time doing quality work and have more time for fun.

Taking inspiration from Leo, I thought it'd be nice to take a break from productivity here at DLM and focus on some ways to kill time and have fun. That means another list of cool sites, but this time, it's not a list of productivity tools. Instead, it's a list of some great sites that will help you unwind and have fun.

The list includes some prominent social networks, video and humor sites, games and some unusual sites you might not have heard of. Check them out.

  • Yearbook Yourself
    I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't love this site. Yearbook Yourself lets you upload your photos and give it the old retro look from 1950s and 60s. It has different looks for different decades. It's fun to see yourself in a black and white picture with some weird wig on your head. You can also edit the pictures and download them to your computer.

  • Veryfunnyads
    Veryfunnyads, as the name suggests, is a site which brings you some of the funniest video adverts of different products. There are different categories you can choose from, like animals, cars, gadgets, kids and more. You could also pick specific brands or watch ads by countries in which they appeared.

  • Google Image Labeler
    Google Image Labeler is a cool tool. In fact, it's a game within Google's Image Search that helps you suggest better labels for web images. It's very simple but can get addictive once you start playing it.

    You are randomly paired with an online partner and both of you label the image you see in the time allotted to you. When both of you type the same label it's a match and you proceed to the next image. A fun way to pass time.

  • AudienceSounds
    Another really interesting way to kill time. AudienceSounds is a repository of sounds. Be it clapping, laughing, giggling, snoring or cute baby sounds, they've got all covered. There are different categories too, like crowd sounds, people sounds, sounds by gender and baby sounds.

    Listen to them online or download them to your computer/mobile phone to use them as your ringtone.

  • College Humor
    College Humor is a well known comedy site that has humor videos submitted by users along with pictures, articles and much more. Some of the videos are really innovative like this prank played on a guy in a basketball court. It's awesome.

    Along this same line is a site named Funny of Die. It was created by Will Ferrell and is pretty funny.

  • The Onion
    The Onion is another very well known source of laughter and entertainment on the web. It is a satirical news site and is also circulated in print in the U.S. It contains current event and news parodies, some of which are simply hilarious.

  • YouTube
    When there are million of videos watched everyday on a site, it just can't be ignored in this list. YouTube is probably the first site we visit when we think of taking a break from work. With videos from all over the world and on almost every topic you can imagine, this site never disappoints.

  • Twitter
    Want to kill time and not think about Twitter? Many would consider it a sin. Twitter, which continues to grow by leaps and bounds every month, is the simplest way to communicate with people around the world. While it has many advantages, it is without a doubt a great site to pass time.

  • Miniclip
    Miniclip is a popular site which hosts games of all kinds. From flash games to nifty puzzle games, car racing games to big multi-player games, there are a number of options for games addicts.

  • Unnecessary Knowledge
    Unnecessary Knowledge presents you facts which are weird, hilarious and could well be untrue. But that doesn't matter. The site is entertaining and the facts, true or not, give you the opportunity to have a good laugh. Just rate the facts and flip through them to keep enjoying.

  • Scribbls
    Scribbls lets you draw whatever you want to draw. You could also take random drawings from other users and apply your creativity to them. Also rate and comment on other pictures.

  • Facebook
    And lastly, we have our social network of choice - Facebook. Going by the news I browse through everyday, Facebook could well become the only meaningful social network ten years from now. Its growth is just insane. Obviously, people love spending time on it. I am guessing most of you love doing it too.
So that was about how you could kill time and have fun on the web. Did you like the sites? Do you have some other way of killing time on the web? Lets hear about them in the comments.

Cheers,
Abhijeet

Written on 11/07/2009 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is an internet entrepreneur who loves writing about tech, productivity, blogging & making money online. Catch him at Jeet Blog and also subscribe to his weekly newsletter.Photo Credit: icanhascheezburger.com


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7 Free or Cheap Ways to Effectively Promote Your Business Online

As a business owner, sales person, or marketer, you should always be trying to find ways to drum up more business – especially with the current economic climate. Each dollar that you spend on marketing and advertising should show a return on your investment and produce results that can help increase your bottom line. Easy enough right?

While recent times have made many businesses tighten their belts on their spending, it’s extremely important to the success of your company to keep marketing your business in order to gain new customers and continue to generate revenue.

Luckily for marketers and business owners, there are several ways you can very affordably advertise your services and products online (many of which are free). Let's go through a handful of them.

Twitter, Facebook & Social Sites
Connecting with your customers or potential customers is more important than ever. Take part in the conversations people are having about your industry or business by interacting with them on social networks.
Where to start: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn

Tips & Resources:
· 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
· 32 Ways to Use Facebook for Business
· Using LinkedIn As a Small Business Owner

Video
Whether you’re promoting products or offering your services, creating videos is an excellent way to attract new customers. Additionally, videos have a tendency to go viral and quickly reach a large audience.

Where to start: YouTube

Tips & Resources:
· YouTube Marketing – 11 Terrific Ways to Promote Your Business on YouTube
· How to use video to promote your small business
· How to Produce “Business-Quality” Online Video on a Small Business Budget

Blogs & Forums
Similar to social networks, blogs and forums are a great place to take part in creating a dialogue. You want to be resourceful, really help people, and provide valuable information in order to gain the maximum benefits of these mediums.

Where to start: Google Blog Search & Forums Relevant to Your Business
Tips & Resources: 10 Rules For Driving Traffic Using Forums

Press Releases
A great way to gain new customers is by creating press releases about your services, products, or business. Try and stay away from highly commercial press releases that simply show your company in a positive light. Instead, focus on a unique angle that will draw visitors’ attention to something you are doing or an interesting aspect of your business.

Tips & Resources:
· The New Rules of PR (PDF – 21 pages)
· 20+ Free Press Release Distribution Sites
· Online Press Release Checklist

Local Resource Sites & Classifieds
If you’re an offline business that is looking to promote your company, ensure that you are listed in all of the sites that relate to your local area. These can include newspaper sites, local portals or hubs, classifieds, and national sites that focus on local businesses like Yelp, CitySearch, or Yellow Page directories.

Where to start: Yelp, CitySearch, SuperPages.com, Google Local & Yahoo! Local, & Craigslist

Tips & Resources:
· List your business on Google Maps, Yahoo Local & More
· GetListed.org
· Local Search Ranking Factors
· A Look at Important Local Business Listing Attributes

Email Newsletters
Not only will building an email list help you connect more often with your customers, it is a great way to promote people who are extremely interested in your products or services. This can be one of your most powerful online marketing tools because you become less reliant on search engines and other ways of generating traffic to your site.

Where to start: Constant Contact, MailChimp, Aweber, and iContact

Tips & Resources:
· 5 Common Newbie Mistakes
· Choosing An Email Newsletter Provider
· 50 Ways to Get Email Newsletter Subscribers

Contests & Giveaways
To be successful with contests and giveaways, you need to give people things that are valuable and relate to your business or industry. The great thing about contests is that you can give your own products away and your only out-of-pocket expense will be your hard costs for the product(s)
Where to start: Promote them on blogs, forums, press releases, video, and newsletters

Tips & Resources:
· Anatomy of a Successful Blog Contest
· 14 tips for Twitter contests that build followers and brand visibility

+1 Bonus Tip: Start a Blog
One of the most beneficial and inexpensive ways to promote your site online is by creating a blog that compliments your business’ services and products. Not only does it give a chance for you to talk about new happenings in your industry, but it allows you to start connecting with people on your site – where you can promote your own business as much as you want.

Where to start: WordPress, Blogger, TypePad

Tips & Resources:
· Freelancers: Here’s Why You Need a Blog
· Does Your Company Need a Blog?

Written on 10/14/2009 by Big Manta. Big Manta writes tips aimed at helping people succeed online. He covers a wide variety of topics including: blogging, business, marketing and making money with the internet on his blog - BigManta.com.
Photo Credit: Intersection Consulting

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Six Online Shopping Tools To Help Shop Smarter

Who doesn't love shopping on Amazon and eBay and getting the products shipped to their place? E-commerce has been one of the major drivers of the internet since the world wide web began to spread its wings and online retail stores are a common phenomena today.

While it's great to shop online and save the commute time, it sometimes becomes overwhelming to find the best deal and choose a site from the plethora of web shopping sites available. This article features certain tools and sites which aim to make online shopping easier for you. You'll save time by using these tools, and hence become more productive.

InvisibleHand
InvisibleHand is a brilliant Firefox extension which was covered on many sites a few weeks back. The purpose of this add-on is to let you know the availability of the particular product in some other online store which may be offering it at a lower price.

It pops up a small notification bar just below the browser tabs to show you better offers from other retailers. It takes into consideration over 50 major retailers in US and UK.

Alice
Alice provides a great way to organize your household shopping by helping you choose from a number of household products, get bargain deals on them, and set up reminders to let you know that you are running out of the item and you need to buy it.

It offers free shipping and good support options via toll free numbers and live chat assistance.

MyThings
MyThings comes into the picture after you've bought the product and got the receipt. You can forward that email receipt to your MyThings account email address and it will track and organize the purchases you've made.

It also provides valuable information about electronic items like manuals, product recall alerts, warranty expiration alert, tips and much more. Taken further, you can use this as a way to track possessions for insurance purposes.

Amazanian
Being the biggest online retailer, Amazon's got various tools built on its API that enable consumers to have a better shopping experience on this site. Amazanian is one such tool and provides a cleaner and better search interface for Amazon.

This tool provides a huge number of options to search and compare products and their reviews on Amazon. A must use tool when you plan to shop on this site.

Kallow
If you are planning to buy an electronic gadget and can't decide on the brand then Kallow is the perfect site for you. It provides a single recommendation for all categories of gadgets and the corresponding Amazon buy link. The recommendation is by the site's owners Jordan and Caleb who have already done in-depth research on the category and have come out with the best product for you.

DealLinker
DealLinker aggregates the best deals and bargains from sites like Fat Wallet and saves you the time you would take to scour for bargains on the web. It reports up-to-date deals and lets you sort them using various parameters. Certainly a must visit site if you want to save some money on your online purchase.

Cheers,

Abhijeet

Written on 10/05/2009 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is an internet entrepreneur who loves writing about tech, productivity, blogging & making money online. Catch him at Jeet Blog and also subscribe to his weekly newsletter.Photo Credit: mcmorgan08

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