Xobni, a very useful Microsoft Oulook plug-in that we’ve covered with praise previously, has just released a new update that now reveals more information about your contacts, including acquiring valuable data from their Salesforce account. This has been a much-demanded feature that is available for all Xobni users for free at this time. Ultimately, there will be a small fee for this feature but the return on investment for those organizations that use Outlook and Salesforce will make the decision a no-brainer.
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I recently wrote “How to Carry Your Office on a Stick,” which showcased the best ways to install portable applications on a USB flash drive. But what if you’re the type of person that doesn’t like to carry a flash drive around or happens to lose or forget it? The solution then might be a desktop in the clouds. This idea of an online or virtual desktop that you can access from any computer has actually been around for years, but continues to evolve with time. Here are some of the best ways to host your desktop online today. Read the rest of this entry »
As USB flash drives continue to get faster and provide increasing amounts of storage capacity, you can use them for more than just backing up files and documents. You can actually run a ton of applications right from your flash drive, which can come in handy when you’re on the road outside your office or home. There are some popular suites of flash drive apps, such as PortableApps, which we’ve covered before. There recently announced freeware portable apps for popular packages such as Google Chrome, Skype and even uTorrent. However, PortableApps is not the only game in town these days. Read the rest of this entry »
Quirky is a unique service catering to those fledgling Thomas Edisons in our midst. Similar to Threadless, it’s a social network that allows inventors to upload ideas and vote on them. If a product gets enough votes, it gets manufactured and sold through the site. While stories are rife of wannabe inventors losing their life savings to dishonest organizations that prey on these hopeful individuals, Quirky appears to be legitimate and is very open about the entire process (I also have a friend who’s submitted an invention idea to Quirky and it was actually manufactured; see the image below).
There are other social networks for inventor-types such as Incuby, InventBay, InventTube and IdeaWicket, to name a few. However, Quirky strives to be as innovative as the products it helps bring to the masses. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the great features of social networking is how easy it is to share information with large groups of people. In this post, I’m going to share some ways that you can create bundles or collections of useful stuff that you can share with others, which can save you and your organization a great deal of time and effort. It can also be a lots of fun to discover some interesting and informative collections that others have taken the time to build for you.
RSS Feed Bundles
Google has unveiled a slick way to create what they call “bundles” of RSS feeds. These are actually just collections of related RSS feeds that you pick. For example, here’s a bundle that I created in a couple of minutes which aggregates all of the sites from the GigaOM Network: Read the rest of this entry »
Ning, the do-it-yourself social network, has taken a hint from Apple and Facebook by announcing the availability of Ning Apps. This is a big deal because now every Ning social network, whether they’re for personal groups or professional organizations, will be able to install many useful apps in no time at all.
There are approximately 90 Ning Apps already available in the directory. Everything will be managed by the Tab Manager, which will allow you to control the navigational structure of your Ning network as well as the layout of your shiny new Ning Apps. Read the rest of this entry »
In this age of instant gratification, we are always busy and increasingly impatient. Even with the latest computer technology and ever-faster broadband speeds, most of us would still like do be able to get things done faster. Here are some buttons and bookmarklets for your browser that will help.
Save Things for Later
Sometimes we don’t have time to read entire articles or blog posts, but we don’t want to miss out on the information we’ve discovered. We all have some way of saving things to read later. Usually it entails simply bookmarking the link, either locally in the browser or, even better, online with a social bookmarking service such as Delicious. Read the rest of this entry »
Single sign-on adoption continues to spread, as increasing numbers of web sites embrace technologies such as OpenID, Facebook Connect and OAuth, which let you log into web sites using an existing account from another service, such as Twitter, Gmail, Facebook, and many others.
JanRain, a respected OpenID provider, has released RPX, a service which makes installing single sign-on on your own web site extremely quick and easy, allowing your visitors to register using their existing account credentials from another site. RPX’s basic plan is free and lets you support up to six service providers, such as Windows Live ID, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and more. Read the rest of this entry »
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
