As this simple site states:
Can’t choose default search engine? Want to compare Bing & Google results? This is the right place to be. Just put your query in the search box and press Enter. You’ll see results from both engines side by side.
Archive for the 'Tools' Category
With so many people having facebook accounts, and facebook’s user base significantly growing as well as twitter rejecting facebook’s offers to buy them, it was only a matter of time before facebook decided to implement the ‘@’ feature in some form or fashion.
Today facebook launched the @mention feature which takes the basic principle of twitter’s @username piece and implemented it on facebook. Now you can @your-friends-name and have your post/status/etc post on your friends wall as well. In addition to being able to @-tag your friends, you can also do the same to groups, fan pages, etc.
Let’s try an example shall we:
@mention facebook feature
So what does this mean for us?
Well, first lets think about this new facebook feature as an extension of the already popular “tag” function. From images to videos to now basic posts and status updates, this will allow you to offer a more social connection to your posts. Instead of saying “I went to lunch with the people at Evolve Media”, now you can do something like “I went to lunch with my brother @evolvemedia today” * The @evolvemedia would be replaced with the link to the company’s account. The update will post on both yours and “joe’s” walls.
Call is saving some time.
I have to admit, I really don’t go around reading who said what on the main wall when I log in, but it would be of some value to be able to quickly see any mention of me on my own profile. Which you would probably already know about since you will get a notification of this action.
Pros:
* Could be used for tracking information later on.
* Posts about you, your company etc, that were missed could quickly be seen and response with customers, friends and such would be faster.
Cons:
* Maybe the other person does not want to be mentioned.
* The world is losing its privacy.
* I can just write on the other persons wall.
Google Voice is about to change your life.
If you’re a busy person who’s always juggling several phones (your work number, your cell, your home number, etc.) you’ll never have to worry about which number to give people again.
Google Voice applies the principles of e-mail to telephones. All calls will go to one number, but you will get to set rules about where and how to route them.
It will work like your personal switchboard. If your cell phone is out of range, you will be able to forward calls to your other line without a caller being aware of any change. You will even be able to switch from one phone to another mid-call.
That may mean the end of interruptions like, “Are you still there?” and ” Can you hear me now?”
Google Voice (previously known as Grand Central) is being released to the general public soon. You can sign up now for it so you’ll be first on the list.
Other features that may make life easier for any road warrior include voice mail transcripts and the ability to access voice mail online or off.
Google Voice has been endorsed by TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, king of online trendsetters, as Google Voice’s Secret Weapon: Number Portability.
“Once you’ve jumped in head first … it will straighten out your phone life forever. Give them one number …your Google voice number .. . and then use rules to determine where your calls go, based on who’s calling and what you are doing,” he wrote.
Another great benefit: Google’s planning to introduce number portability later this year, so you will be able to transfer existing phone numbers over.
Read more about Google Voice.
HP Browser Tool Saves Web Content In One Document
There’s no denying the Web’s value as a resource, but the temptation to quickly navigate from one site to the next makes it challenging to remember where the content was found.
A query on hotels in Italy might lead you to select a link about Florence, then two links about Michelangelo and four links to Italian Renaissance art. Suddenly, the home page for a carefully researched hotel is forgotten. It’s especially tough to backtrack through research using new sites with rich Web 2.0 features that display extra data directly within a Web page.
Some people try to organize Web research by opening Microsoft Word documents alongside their browsers. They copy and paste data from sites into the documents, but this is usually a messy process that traps users into wasting time fixing formats and deleting ads. Others press Print whenever a helpful site appears, resulting in wasted paper and ink. Savvier users create folders within their Web browsers that hold multiple URLs about a research topic, but these data can’t easily be shared or printed for use away from the PC.
There’s a better way, and I took it for a spin. I tested the HP Smart Web Printing Software, a free program from Hewlett-Packard Co. that aims to help users compile a virtual clip book of content from Web sites while they’re browsing, within the same window. Using a tool in the browser, users highlight and copy images and text from a Web page and add them to the clip book. These clips can be edited, enhanced, saved as a PDF or printed out, without excess banner ads or sidebars.
HP Smart Web Printing Software isn’t without its quirks: It only works on Windows computers, not Macs, and only with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0. Not everything copies over to the clip book perfectly. Also, typed-in text has its limits: changing the font type, size or color of one word changes all words in the text box.
But all in all, I found this smart program to be a real boon. It’s unobtrusive enough to stay hidden until used, and you’ll remember how it works even if you only use the program once in a while. It functions as a printing assistant, helping to send certain sections of a Web site to the printer, and it will also save whatever you’re working on as a PDF — the universal format for sharing with others.
HP likes to tout its HP Smart Web Printing Software’s environmentally friendly qualities, namely its ability to print just what you want, without wasting ink or paper on extra pages that would otherwise print. But make no mistake about it: This product, while helping users not to print extra items from Web sites, still encourages users to print, thus helping HP sell more of its high-margin ink and paper.
I used the program to trim content from Web sites, printing more of what I wanted to read in fewer pages. I focused on this program’s clip-book functionality, which works as a bare-bones virtual scrapbook to organize research.
I downloaded and used the newest version of this free program on my machine running Windows Vista. I came across a few items that, when highlighted and moved over to the clip book, didn’t actually move, but most of the text and image clips moved without a problem.
A small HP Smart Select icon appears in the Internet Explorer command bar after this program is downloaded; selecting it toggles its highlighting capability on or off. By default, the clip book is hidden from view, but a quick change in settings opens this on the right edge of the Internet Explorer window.
The more I used this program, the more I wished it offered the ability to work with two clip books at once. For instance, if I was planning a trip and was researching hotels and tourist attractions at the same time, I could clip the hotel data into one book and store the touristy information in the other.
Maybe HP will release a version of this program for Mozilla’s Firefox browser, and god forbid they introduce a version that is compatible with Apple’s Safari browser.
The HP Smart Web Printing program is a useful free solution that organizes online research right in your browser. Its ability to modify and preview documents before printing is also a help.
Macworld has a brief article for anyone going from web design to print design, it’s a good start for anyone that wants a little background on the main differences between the two mediums. Nothing helps more than having a seasoned print designer, in-house, to bounce questions off of, but this provides a nice list of things to consider, including DPI for screen versus printing, the CMYK color space as opposed to RGB for screen media and recommended programs.
