Mac users rejoice, the new version of Evernote has just been released. Version 1.1.4 can be updated from the “Check for Updates” command from the Evenote menu.
For a break down of what this version brings to you, read the release notes.
Evernote is an effective way of making sure you never forget your ideas. With the ability to catch your ideas no matter where they are, a napkin, online, a street sign, a window posting, capture it all with Evernote. Evernote also links across your laptop, your desktop and your mobile so you are never far from the inspiration you seek.
You can read a full review of Evernote here.
Last week I ran into a small problem when trying to put an audio book onto my iPod. The audio book was in .wma, or Windows Media Audio format, my iPod doesn’t like that format. A quick Google searches lead me to one of the simplest pieces of conversion software that I’ve used in some time.
Switch is a multi-platform dead simple program to use. Simply tell it where the directory of files lives that you want to convert, point it to the directory where you want them to end up (or the same one), along with what format you want them converted into and click a button. I seriously wish more software was this easy to use.
On my core 2 duo Macbook with 2GB of RAM it took about 4 hours to convert 12 .wma files into 192 kb/s .mp3’s. This isn’t a five-minute job to do, and I fully expected it to take some time, so plan ahead.
Sound quality, to my untrained ears was identical.
Ease of use for this multi-platform software, being able to handle dozens of file formats and being free means this small app will stay installed for some time.
Last year AOL paid $275 million for Tacoda. Now, according to Venture Beat, AOL is dropping the brand and rolling the technology into Platform A’s Ad.com unit. This is a move that shows that AOL are trying to actually combined their Ad.com/Platform-A, but are they going about this in the right way? Im also curious to find out what AOL might be doing with the Tacoda technology, because other companies and myself including would be very interested in licensing this technology from AOL! I must admit that these days im sick to seeing ads from Ad.com and other remnant networks, simply because there is no targeting and I know that the publishers are earnings a crazy low CPM for the ads. Thus, the industry is not benefiting from this, neither the publisher, only the ad networks!
While at the SummerMash party in Austin last week, I was introduced to a breakthrough site that had just launched in beta the week prior, MySites. A MySites representative spoke with me briefly to highlight some of the amazing features his site offers.
Some might say that MySites tries to be too much, but I think they execute their offerings very well. Let’s take a look at the Virtual Desktop aspect first.
MySites does a great job of storing up to 10GB of items, to include photos, movies, and music. While it can’t necessarily import files from Flickr, iTunes, or any other site, you can personally upload your own files. With 10GB of space available you can set up your virtual desktop with more than enough to keep it functional. The files are stored in folders that you have to double click to open, just like your real desktop. You have access to the full customization of MySites which makes it a great addition to the usual items you can place on there like calendars, emails, sites, etc.
The flipside of MySites is the Social Networking aspect. MySites fully intends for you to share your content with friends and across as many sites as possible. With the ability to add buddies and designate which files can be accessible, it’s sure to be a great place to gather to share all of your uploaded files. Seeking others with similar interests is also possible, and is encouraged to fully extend your network via MySites.
As of last week MySites could not connect to any currently existing social network site, but again the site is in beta. I was assured that future offerings would be made available as the site is built out.
There is famous and there is infamous, and StumbleUpon (SU) can make you both. In a recent event, Darren Rowse of Problogger got a first hand look at what SU did to make him infamous.
Darren has been a big supporter of SU, thus using it very heavily to rate sites across the net. In return for his dedicated support of others sites, a great number of his readership returns the support by stumbling his articles, creating a supportive community. Yesterday, he was notified that StumbleUpon had not just blocked, but banned him for abuse.
This misunderstanding hit the media networks in approximately an hour and a half the entire situation was resolved thanks to dedicated fans, but more importantly a customer friendly, transparent company willing to be open on the errors they make.
While many feel that SU was in the wrong, I find that measuring a business by how it admits and handles its errors is more important than assigning blame. SU did a fantastic and prompt job responding to Darren and Problogger was reestablished.
What is StumbleUpon?
StumbleUpon, similar to Digg, allows you to vote for sites, increasing the popularity based on user support. Once a site has been stumbled, a chain reaction through the social network is viral, and many sites see an increase in traffic.
A toolbar installs into the browser header once downloaded. This allows them to “stumble” a site, a basic “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” If you “thumbs up” a site, you are allowed to provide a brief description of the site and your rating. If a site has already been stumbled then you’ve simply boosted the sites rating, which affects the frequency in the rotation of random sites that SU will display. StumbleUpon is heavily monitored for abuse to provide a level playing field for all sites involved.
I for one enjoy and fully support StumbleUpon, and encourage you to explore the application and while ranking sites is always enjoyable, clicking the “stumble” button can t
ake you to sites you may never have found otherwise.
Photo Credit, tris
Searching is big business. Those listings on the right side of any Google search are there because someone paid money to advertise there. Same goes with the top 2 or 3 links. Google makes a lot of money off of these paid placements, which are there based on their dynamic search technology. Google has also come under fire for the way in which it ranks sites, called Page Rank, it is a top secret way they calculate what search results should be at the top for any given term, based on their algorithm that, some have suggested, is based on the number of in-bound and out-bound links from other sites.
Google is the killer app of this decade, no one is doubting that. It is so popular it has become a verb, people just say, “Can you Google this for me?” which is almost impossible to do with anything anymore. So what if a new search engine comes along and tries to flatten the playing field?
That is exactly what Cuil (pronounced Cool) is trying to do. They claim to index three times the number of sites Google does and display them in a three-across pattern. That alone is kind of unique for searches, as they have always gone vertically. They have also implemented tab searches, a kind of, well maybe if you were looking for camera you might also want to look for digital camera. The search engine works, that really isn’t a question, but why should I use it?
Google does so many things now, like simple and complex math problems, fast weather look-up, package tracking from UPS and other services, all the way to stock quotes and word definitions. For me, it has eliminated the need to go to specialized sites if I can just put a special query in the Google search bar in Firefox. Cuil is also missing an image search function, something even Microsoft and Yahoo have worked into their site.
Cuil has some cool features, like roll overs, drill-down menu’s and the tabbed feature mentioned earlier. They are taking on the proverbial 800 pound gorilla by going after Google too. My two cents say that Cuil will have a small cult following for a while but ultimately, this will only make Google stronger.
Over at Royal Pingdom they have a great article on the wonder things that can be found at Googles online store. Some of this stuff is a little strange, but why not try to cash in on your good brand as much as possible.
Who doesn’t like yo-yos? Especially ones lit up by flashing lights…
An emergency flashlight with an FM radio, siren, and cell phone charger. The whole thing can be charged by cranking it.
The classic Lava Lamp, Google style.
Portable speakers you can place on your bike, which will of course also carry your MP3 player.
Two powerful magnets to play around with. Seems like fun!
It’s apparently exactly the same kind as the ones in the Googleplex.
Build that Google tower as high as possible before it tumbles back down.
Want your toddler to get Googlified as soon as possible? Look no further than this. 
If you have noticed over the last week or so we have made some serious changes here at Crenk, and the site has dramatically improved in the process. Today we are announcing that we have just added Mybloglog back onto Crenk. Mybloglog have just launched a new design for their site which has been in the new a lot of late, and I thought it was about time that we really tried here at Crenk to really build a community around our site.If you are on Mybloglog please make sure you head over the join our ever growing community.
For those us who desk jockey, day in and day out, it’s tough to stay focused on work all day long. A few of us get sidetracked to read personal email or do personal web searches in order to break the monotony of the daily grind.
Here are a 4 Firefox plug-ins to keep track of that time and stay on task. Nothing is worse than realizing that you just blew an entire day on surfing rather than working. Keep these tools close at hand to prevent any effects on your job performance.
1. MeeTimer 
MeeTimer is probably one of the most effective plug-ins for tracking time that I have found. MeeTimer will not only time your time wasting, but also can provide you a report where you spend your time to give you a better idea of how to properly make corrections. The thoroughness of this plug-in can truly assist in correcting time wasting habits. Warnings have also been placed to warn you prior to going to a new address or loading a new tab.
2. TimeTracker
TimeTracker is a comparable plug-in to MeeTimer in terms of usefulness. TimeTracker is much simpler, and focuses more on tracking your time, as opposed to providing direct reports. Still this plug-in offers some attractive additions. TimeTracker allows you to input “work” sites that should not count towards the tracking, so your clock will actually stop as long as you are on those listed sties. Time also pauses when you are taking a break from surfing, and the clock will provide you a daily report as to where you are spending your time. You can reset your clock daily or track an entire work week, depending on your needs.
3. LeechBlock
The LeechBlock plug-in comes at you with an interesting approach. It asks you to type in all the sites you want blocked. That’s right, it will block from sites, and it even allows you to designate days and times to keep them blocked from you. An interesting approach, but I would have far too many sites to include on that list. I like the approach of TimeTracker much better by adding the sites that you actually need for work, as those are sure to be fewer and easier to remember. It also tracks your time to provide you with an accurate view of where you spend your time.
4. Procrastato
This plug-in cuts to the chase! No fancy reports, no time tracking, it doesn’t even care if you like the way it works or not. Procrastato does one thing, and one thing very well. Once you input the sites you spend most time on, the plugin will monitor you very effectively. Spending more time than you should on any of the listed sites and you get smacked down with a massive alert informing you that you are wasting time and they are watching (not literally watching you but the eyes they show you are creepy). If that does not disrupt your time wasting, then you are doomed to waste time forever!
Photo Credit, sugu
With Digg currently being rumoured to be in talks with Microsoft for an acquisition, I thought I would check out and see how the Digg competitors are fairing. One of Diggs’ main competitors is Mixx, now Mixx has been gaining a lot of traffic of late, but I still have a lot of problems with their site compared to Digg.
It seems like everytime I go to Mixx the site isnt function right. Today I headed there to promote a few of our articles, but I could barely launch the site and when I went to submit an article it wouldnt even load the page. So with all the growth, funding and syndication deals, how come Mixx still isnt up to scratch?
How many times have you been to an event, conference or convention and wanted to be able to cover all sides of the story? Often times these events will break up into different sessions and obviously you alone can’t be there to report on what’s happening. If you could, you’d be spending perhaps hours recording and then writing blog posts about what happened in session 1, then you probably missed a good part of session 2 because you weren’t paying attention while writing up something about the opening session and so on and so forth.
You could allow other people to help you report on what’s going on in these events. And that’s a novel idea, but if you went the conventional way and went through your blog, then you’d have dozens, if not close to hundreds of blog posts where the size of these entries could be summed up in one or two lines – and chances are they could too. That’s where live blogging comes in…and there are a couple of web applications that come to mind, perhaps more prominent is Scribble Live.
Scribble Live is basically a community of live bloggers that can keep track on what’s going on with different events. Take this month’s WWDC event in San Francisco. Scribble Live became Twitter blogging and in short bursts, multiple authors were able to post their observations and thoughts to the same area. While live blogging seems simple enough, Scribble Live has made it even more easier by allowing you to use either your Microsoft Live, OpenSocial, or Facebook ID as your login. So you don’t even have to worry about having yet another login that you’ll probably forget the username and password to in a few months when you’re not using the thing.
Okay, so it can get boring after a while to just continually typing short (or long) bursts of copy into this simple interface. You can actually do much more than that. It’s a mini-version of WordPress, I would say except you don’t have to install it onto your server. Everything is hosted on the Scribble Live servers and you can share images from your camera, computer, etc. and also video.
However, for large conferences that you might go to, whether it’s South by Southwest (SXSW), WWDC, Ad:Tech, LeWeb3, or any big name conference and you want to share with the world, try out Scribble Live and keep the world posted. It’s free use but the pain in the ass, but obviously understood, is that the developers embed Google Ads into your live blog so every few entries or so, you’ll see an ad that looks kind of out of place. You’ll see what I mean. Another issue that I’m worried about is allowing people to post to live blogs seemlessly via text or SMS messaging. I believe right now they only allow you to go through the web interface. I’m sure that it’s fine for those with the Apple iPhones but for folks like me with a Blackberry, I’m not able to access Scribble Live.
So get your “account” on Scribble Live now and start live blogging. Don’t worry, I don’t think you’ll be giving up your Twitter account anytime soon, but it’ll be good to have live blogging at any of your next big events. It’ll help keep people informed on what they’re missing. Be the first to catch up on the good stuff.
ReminderFox
This neat little plug-in goes for simplicity. While not necessarily an official “to-do” application, I find it almost necessary for those that seem to forget the important dates. People that forget birthdays, anniversaries, parties, and other date based events, ReminderFox will send out an alarm or an alert to remind you of what’s coming up. This plug-in has no aspirations to be a full calendar application, but rather makes its home at the bottom right of your browser ready to announce the days you NEED to remember!
ToDo Cue (experimental)
ToDo Cue unfortunately was very buggy in my use of this plug-in. It relies on the user creating simple, let me stress that again…simple, to-do lists. Once installed a side bar will appear in both your Gmail and Gcal accounts with the lists of things to-do in priority order. I was only able to get sustainable functionality with the older version of Gmail, which did me little good as I have updated it. There are a lot of other tools that do the same with better results. This plug-in needs more work, but remember, it is still labeled experimental, just not sure if it will ever be ready.
Todo Reminder
I found this to be the plug-in with the most potential. Currently the plug-in is very effective with event reminders. Things like parties, birthdays, get togethers, anniversaries, etc. What I loved about it is that alerts not only come via email, but you can set yourself up with SMS alerts. If more than one person is involved, take it further by setting up group alerts. This will make sure everyone is on task and aware of what is coming up. I especially found the one mouse click addition through emails and pages very effective when needing to list something quickly. The site says further development is needed, but I think this little plug-in has a great future in the productivity field.
Delegate to Remember the Milk
A lot of you have heard of Remember the Milk. If you’ve not, no worries, Remember the Milk (RtM) is simply another way to create your to-do lists with functionality with both web apps and mobile apps. There are a great number of power users for RtM, and as such, this plug-in is very popular. For starters, if you follow the GTD (Getting Things Done) philosophy, then this plug-in will be very effective. A “remember” button is added to all of your emails for quick task managing directly from you email. No bothering with cut and paste, simply click and the message is tasked into your RtM account. Yes, it’s that simple!
GTD Inbox
GTD Inbox is a plug-in that tries to do a whole lot. Unfortunately in this endeavor it tends to fail on a l
ot of fronts. This plug-in completely changes the face of your Gmail inbox by adding the functionality of GTD (mentioned above). For hardcore GTD’ers, the layout will be very familiar with intuitive clicks to productively manage all of your information. Similar to the RtM plug-in, you have a button that will take your emails and place them into your task list. You have the ability to create labels, ticklers, and build the productivity method that best suits your needs. This productivity juggaurnaut is definitely not an entry level “to-do” plug-in and may confuse first time users of GTD. A little buggy with newer versions of Gmail, but useful if you can understand it.
There are more I am sure, and even more being created for Firefox 3, but share your favorite To-Do Plug-ins here and let’s all get more done.
