Archive for Online Tools
· July 30, 2008 at 5:49 am · Online Tools
Tags: crowd sound, feedback, opinions, suggestions, tools, votes, web-dev, widgets
Always looking for a better way to get the thoughts of the crowd, I ran across crowd sound. What is this web site all about? It is less of a web site and more of a tool to help you uniquely gather ideas and suggestions from your followers.
We all like feedback right? Here is how crowd sound works. All you do is sign up for your free account, and then login. Once you do, you can embed the widget into your web site. Just copy and paste some simple JavaScript into your own design.
Now with the web site widget, you can add some entries. and then have other visitors vote up the idea or vote down the idea. So this separates things into the people who want to give you good suggestions and the people who just like to vote for things. You can also via the widget browse through the most recent or the most popular.
I think crowd sound is delivering a very unique way of looking at feedback gathering from your base. Those could be customers, they could be readers. The thing that is important is that you get their views to make your content better.
· July 17, 2008 at 5:42 am · Online Tools, Resources
Tags: feedmysearch, feeds, Google, results, RSS, search, watch
FeedMySearch is offering a new service that is sure to please some of us out there who keep an eye on search results. Using their web site you can turn your Google searches into tiny RSS feeds. This is helpful when it comes to getting instant updates whenever a new result appears on Google. Another perk about this would be that you only get what is new when it comes to your search item.
To use it, all you do is type in your keyword into the search box, then select from these types of searches: web, news, video, blogs, local, books and patent. Hit the “Feed my Search!” button and away you go. Next you are given a preview of the search results and you can subscribe using a variety of different services or just grab the RSS feed itself.
If you spend a lot of time watching Google and how the results come up, FeedMySearch promises to save you time giving you the latest results instantly.
· July 14, 2008 at 4:51 am · Online Tools, Web Development
Tags: backgrounds, create, free, generator, graphics, patterns, web-dev
Need some tiled bliss to lay on the background of your own recent web creation? BgPatterns.com is the background generator that you want to use. Not only does it have dozens of designs to pick from, you can also set the color, size of the design, and also the level that it is rotated at.
I promise you, once you get started you will see this is just more fun to figure out if you play with it some… change your colors up, and try to get as creative as you can. Want to see an example of the end result? I used the first background I made on my Twitter profile.
Snazzy right? Check it out and make your own at BgPatterns.com.
· July 12, 2008 at 8:28 am · Online Tools
Tags: audio, feeds, podcasts, review, search, update, video
I was really behind Odeo years ago, thought it might be one of the break out podcasting web sites out there. Of course, then came iTunes and all the podcasting related sites just kind of got twisted in a tornado of, "what was that you do again?". Odeo is back though, with a fresh new look and I have to say it does look really pretty.
They have added a lot more video content - so they have both the video and audio aspects of podcasting covered now. Also the new design is pleasing to the eye and very functional. One little pet peeve for me was that it doesn’t keep me logged in. Each time I visit the site I have to login again.
Checking out my own page on there for the Web Hosting Show - I see another nice new addition. They actually updated the RSS feed! Before this redesign, it hadn’t been combed in a few months, so happy to see they are updating the podcast feeds they are watching because without it - well, you don’t have much of a podcasting service without freshness.
All in all, I wish the new Odeo the best of luck and who knows, if they can keep the feeds update this time around I might move my own subscriptions over there soon.
· July 11, 2008 at 5:33 am · Online Tools, Web Hosting
Tags: datacenter, hosting, plurk, question, suggestions, web-hosts
Here is a question I wanted to see answered on Plurk and thus far, there have been a lot of good suggestions. So who is your web host?
Need more? Check out the Plurk page to see if anymore suggestions have been added (or you can add your own!).
· July 9, 2008 at 5:51 am · Hot Web Topics, Online Tools
Tags: images, plurk, popular, review, share, social, status, videos
It is official, I spend too much time checking Plurk. This is why you should too!
The Rewards of Being a Good Plurker
The "rewards" feature of Plurk is very interesting too. You can get a little star by your name if you achieve a certain goal. Also, certain customizations (such as page styles) are not available to you until your Karma number has reached a certain point.
Go Out and Do Something Creative!
A great inspiration as well is the status messages you can pick from. You have:
freestyle, loves, likes, shares, gives, hates, wants, wishes, has, will, asks, was, feels, thinks, says, and is
Speaking of inspiration, seeking that great conversation starter?
- Messages of "good morning" seem to go over well with your following…
- Random messages really do the trick, create snippets from your brain do wonders too.
- You can’t forget the plugs for your own site content or interesting links you have found on the Web.
- Plurk is much more social than the other status and micro-blogs out there. Many more replies here and much more feedback to be had if you just ask.
Share Your Photos and Videos with Everybody!
You can share photos too, just make sure that link your posting ends with a .gif, .jpg or .png. Plurk will automatically generate thumbnailed images for you and open them up inside of Plurk when somebody clicks on them. The same is done for YouTube videos too.
What Makes Plurk So Different?
The timeline is what sets Plurk apart from the competitors. This gives you a unique view of all the messages from your friend that may seem a little odd at first, but you quickly catch on. You also have the option to view all the new message, or mark all messages as read.
Maybe it is just me, but Plurkers seem to be a lot more friendly too. They are all looking for replies of their own, so they might be more willing to stop by your personal Plurk page and say, "Hello!". Looking for a friend? Feel free to click here and add me!
When push comes to shove, Plurk really is becoming a favorite stop for me (or several stops depending on the speed of the day) and I wish them the best of luck in the future.
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