The StyleSheet - For businesses that use the internet

VLC Media Player

Posted December 9, 2009 By Sarah Buser

VLC Media Player by Videolan is a fantastic cross-platform, open-source multimedia framework, player and server and, well, a mouthful. To me, it’s a cool program that plays just about any video or audio file I throw at it – no more having to search for a program to play weird video files. It also does other fancy things like rip DVDs and stream media to other computers, but I just like having go-to program that’ll figure out file formats so I don’t have to.

Foursquare

Posted December 9, 2009 By Manoj Thomas

Foursquare, the latest social networking app to hit the public, is somewhat of a spinoff of Twitter, but takes it to a whole new addictive level by letting users share where they are and learn about the places they frequent in their city. When you “check-in”, your friends are notified of your location and you can suggest other places to go and things to try out. Foursquare also boasts a competitive element by rewarding you with points and badges each time you arrive at a new location – I just unlocked the “Newbie” badge for checking-in at Hot Mama’s Espresso Bar down the street from the TradeMark studio! Check out how other businesses are using Foursquare to reward frequent visitors.

Dipity

Posted November 13, 2009 By Janis Gonser

Creating interactive timelines can be simple. With an easy-to-use interface, Dipity allows you to upload descriptions, images, URLs, videos from video-sharing sites and even locations that display via Google Maps. With a simple code snippet, the timeline can be embedded into your own site and registered users can comment on your content. There are four different payment plans, including a free personal version.

Example timelines:

• Tom Cruise
• Phoenix (Band)
• Apollo (not the Boxer from Rocky)
• H1N1 Vaccine

Greasemonkey

Posted November 13, 2009 By Kyle Greenan

Greasemonkey is an add-on for the popular open-source Web browser Firefox. Greasemonkey allows you to customize Web sites using Javascript. You don’t need to be a programmer to use it, either. If you can install a program, then you can use Greasemonkey. One specific Greasemonkey script I like adds Twitter Search Results on Google when you do a Web search. Remember, these are user-generated scripts so use caution when you install them.

YouMail

Posted October 19, 2009 By Manoj Thomas

Long gone are the days of fiddling with your phone to manage your voicemail inbox. Whether you own a smartphone or not, YouMail allows you to listen to and download voicemails from the Web. YouMail offers completely visual voicemail so you can jump online to see who called and to play back or delete old messages. That’s not all! You can also opt to receive text message transcripts of voicemails as they come in, set up personalized custom greetings for specific callers and block those pesky telemarketers. Start being more productive today!

Groupon

Posted October 19, 2009 By Jean Conover

Groupon.com is a great site that offers its subscribers useful and highly discounted coupons to local businesses. Each day a new deal is featured, and as long as enough people sign up for it, the coupon is available. The idea is for subscribers to invite their friends to join, and for each referral you get $10 in “Groupon Bucks”. This is a great way to support local business and save money at the same time. Check it out and start saving today!

Yelp

Posted September 11, 2009 By Sarah Buser

Need to find a reasonably-priced restaurant? Dependable dry cleaner? Yelp has you covered. Yelp has thousands of reviews written by real people about the businesses in their communities. You can join in writing the reviews or just type in your zip code and heart’s desire to find the best of the best in your area.

ooVoo

Posted September 11, 2009 By Caroling Lee

ooVoo is a video conferencing service that allows multiple users to chat with video. The free service is for 2-way chat only, but ooVoo can support up to six users at once if you subscribe to their ‘Business’ ($39.95/mo.) or ‘6-way plan’ ($17.95/mo.). While on the video conference, you can also chat, send and receive files, record your conferences and share your desktop. If you’ve ever used something like WebEx or Yugma, it’s virtually the same thing, but with a video component. You’ll have to install an app, but users you invite will get a link to use the Web application which also makes it really convenient to join a video conference.

Xing.com

Posted August 19, 2009 By Janis Gonser

Xing.com is the German/European counterpart of LinkedIn. When I started using it in December of 2008, I was amazed how many people I found at xing.com that are not part of the LinkedIn network. For your national networking approach stick to LinkedIn (at least for now), but if you do or plan to do business overseas (especially in Germany), this is your networking powerhouse. The groups come in various languages, mainly English and German, and I have joined various groups related to the Internet industry which give me a great insight of the market outside the U.S.

Basic Membership is free; Premium Membership is $5.95/month

Pastie

Posted August 19, 2009 By Mike Wisian

In spite of the name, this little iPhone app has nothing to do with tanning. Instead, Pastie allows you to create and store standard email and SMS content along with the ability to send them out with a couple gestures. So monotonous messages like “I’ll be running late” and “I got stuck in a shark’s mouth again – please bring the jaws of life” can be sent with very little thumb flailing. If you’re always sending the same message to a particular contact, Pastie can store that too.