Feb 11, 2009
A Better Internet
I recently found (or already knew about and finally decided to share) some really cool websites that have some useful, entertaining, or efficiency-creating services or features. I thought I might share them with you all so you can have a better internet experience. Let me know what you think!
Oh, these are ranked in order of how often I use them/how useful they are to me:
Price: FREE
http://www.google.com
I don’t think how awesome Google is is news to anyone (at least anyone who would know what a blog is/take time to read one). For those that don’t know, Google does a whole lot more than search (and they are second to none in search). You have the ability to get movie show times, the weather, stock quotes, or even track a UPS or FedEx package by tracking number all from the Google search box. They also offer some very popular products like Gmail, Maps, and YouTube.
What you may not know is that Google offer some simple collaboration items such as Sites, Groups, and Docs that are useful on a personal and business level alike. Really, Google’s services and products seem to be endless and are constantly being added to. One new feature I’ve begun using with my BlackBerry is Mobile Sync and I also started using Reader for RSS delivery as I move between several computers each day. As you can see, I love Google!
Meebo
http://www.meebo.com
The newest ‘gadget’ to be added to my portfolio of daily tools is Meebo Messenger. I was first introduced to Meebo by the library assistance website at my school. After a little investigation, I implemented the chat widget on the website at my work (as I was in charge of customer service and this seemed to be a great tool to interact with customers right away). Little did I know that Meebo is also a great little tool to integrate all your popular instant messengers into one.
I recently added the Meebo chat tool to my blog website (see here) and integrated all of my current chatting platforms, including Google Talk (Gmail chat), Windows Messenger, and Facebook Messenger all to one account on Meebo. So, all I do is log into my Meebo account and all my chat programs log in at the same time.
The best thing? There is nothing to install. Everything is web based (ode to cloud computing coming soon). Although, there is a handy little sidebar that can be installed as a plug-in for Firefox so that you can always have your ‘buddy list’ in a viewable area, nothing is required to be installed in order to use it.
Drop Box
Price: FREE (or a $99/year upgrade)
http://www.getdropbox.com
Also a new find for me, although it shouldn’t have been, is Drop Box. My coworker started using this service months ago and I thought he said it was only for Macs. Then, just a few short days ago another friend of mine mentioned that he was using it on one of the school computers (PCs) and I was instantly psyched.
This service – offered in both a free version (2 GB of data) and a $99/year version (50 GB of data) – offers you the capability of storing every type of file you can imagine on a secure cloud server and having it automatically synced with the computers of your choice. Currently, I have installed their desktop software (which adds a folder to your Documents area on your PC) on three machines I routinely use and began using the web interface when I’m on a computer at school.
Give it a go! Amazing service that really is beneficial for those ‘computer hoppers’ like myself who need access to all their files without lugging around portable storage. Oh, they also allow you to share your files with friends by giving a public URL. This means an entire folder of music or pictures can be shared with a simple link.
Big Huge Labs
http://www.bighugelabs.com
So the main developer at my work launched this website quite a while ago and it become hugely popular with the Flickr crowd and pretty much anyone else that is a digital photo editing fanatic.
My favorite feature on the site – of the few that I’ve used – is the Palette Generator in which you upload a photo or image to the site and it will pull all the color information from the image and give you the hex code for the color. If you’ve ever needed the hex code for a color, then you know this is immensely helpful and can save a lot of time. Its also just pretty dang cool! I used it to generate a website’s color scheme from a photo that a client gave me.
JibJab Sendables
http://sendables.jibjab.com
I found out about JibJab several years ago, during the Bush-Kerry election year when they release their hilarious clips of the two. JibJab threw themselves back into my radar when a friend sent me a Christmas card with our faces as elves. Hilarious? Absolutely. Now, with valentine’s right around the corner, expect an awesome video to appear on my blog very soon! Everyone knows how much I love valentine’s. I mean, singles awareness day.
Onion News
http://www.theonion.com
Many boring days, sitting in front of my computer, have been made happier by the sweet scent of an onion. Well, Onion News that is. A hilarious source for real news (and some fake) in a parody-ish style with a focus on the best part of the news: the nation’s dependence on the media to tell us everything about everything. You could spend hours in front of this website laughing hysterically. I recommend the video section of the site.
Posted by Nathaniel Keifer
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