Useful Things

Do you have something useful we should share? Let us know about it and we'll post it along with your name and company name.

WhatsOnWhen

What's On WhenLooking forward to traveling abroad this summer and want to find out what kind of music or nightlife there is in Lisbon, Portugal or Oslo, Norway during your stay?  Frommer’s world events calendar website called whatsonwhen.com is a great guide that gives you information on anything from music festivals, sports and outdoors events, attractions, and kids and family activities.  And, if you are feeling really adventurous during your travels, they even have a section called “Weird & Wonderful”.

Dropbox

DropboxDropbox is an application that allows you to access files across multiple computers seamlessly – just by dropping them into a shared folder. Download Dropbox to share documents between your Mac, PC, and most smartphones – it syncs automatically so you can have your most important files accessible from multiple places at once. You can even link your Dropbox to your friends’ Dropboxes so you can share files without having to email them or put them on a USB drive. You get 2GB free to start or you can use this referral link and we’ll both get an extra 250MB!

Suggested Reading: Confessions of a Public Speaker

Confessions of a Public SpeakerScott Berkun’s Confessions of a Public Speaker is a great roadmap for anyone who is a public speaker of any level, including the elementary school teacher battling daily for the kids attention. The chapters come in perfect bite size chunks for easy reading. He covers a variety of dos and don’ts supported by some of his personal experiences. Throughout the book, Scott keeps a humorous tone which adds an additional layer of entertaining to this read.

Prism by Mozilla Labs

Prism logo width=In the spirit of cloud computing, I’m introducing Prism by Mozilla Labs. Prism is a desktop application that allows you to run Web applications in their own window, just as if they were applications running on your local computer. Prism gives you the feel of running a desktop application with all the benefits of running a Web app. Give it a try!

Gowalla

GowallaThe name reminds me of koala, but without the fuzzy ears and a love for eucalyptus. Gowalla is a mobile web application that allows its users to check into places they’ve been. You can find friends, comment on events, search for prizes, go on trips, and meet mysterious gorillas. Gowalla works on many popular smart phone platforms such as iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Palm.

Google SketchUp

Google SketchUpReady for your personal Extreme Makeover Home Edition? Google SketchUp might be just what you need. This 3D modeling program has been around under the Google brand since 2006. Download the “non-pro” version and jump right into designing your next flower planter, log cabin, or your favorite firefighter. It’s all possible as the extensive 3D Warehouse reveals. The Pro version comes with a heavy price tag of $495, but does enable useful features, including a larger variety of file formats when importing and exporting. Plenty of video tutorials are available, but don’t be fooled, Google makes using SketchUp look very easy.

Vimeo

VimeoLooking for an alternative to YouTube? Give Vimeo a try. Vimeo is a video hosting platform that lets you upload, organize, share and embed videos. It takes most popular video file formats and can even stream your video in high-definition. Need more? Vimeo offers their Plus account with more files storage and other options for a small fee.

Howcast

HowcastHave you ever needed to know how to do something, but just didn’t have time to read the manual? Now there’s a handy new Web site that features professional videos on how to do everything under the sun. You can search Howcast for any topic and learn how do anything from changing the oil in your car to making corn chowder to being a great boss.

This is like a specialized “how-to” version of YouTube, and of course, the site is complete with a downloadable application of Howcast for your iPhone and Android. Check it out, and learn something new today, or bookmark the site for when you need to figure out how to do something fast!

Posterous

PosterousPosterous is a new way to look at blogging. Not a blog pro? If you can send an email, then you can blog with posterous. Easily share pictures, music and more with family and friends. There is no need to sign up, simply email your files and you’ve got a blog. Who knew that it could be this easy?

CraigLOOK

Craiglook BetaIntroducing CraigLOOK: finally, an app that remixes everyone’s fave classified ad site. Pros: listings are formatted more at-a-glance and more robust search options. Cons: doesn’t seem to update in real time and not sure if ALL the listings are showing up, but I’m still figuring that out. Check it out – beats clicking on every single listing!

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