Top 10 Tech Things You NEED
Okay, so maybe there’s 12. Or 13. But man alive, there’s a lot of cool stuff out there on the Interweb. (and a few non-web goodies thrown in for good measure too). Oh, and first of all, you are using firefox, right? Umm go get it. And you know that you can use tabs to open multiple sites at a time right? And you know that you can simply drag any one of them there tabs right up to your “bookmarks toolbar” where it’s there ready and waiting for you to click, click, click away. Oh boy, we have a lot to cover.
Full disclosure, this is mostly for my fellow blogger buds out there, but, in my typical style not wonkish enough for those of you who REALLY know anything about technology. Still stick around. I’m learning something everyday in this brave new world. Hope you will too!
In no particular order,some of the cooool things I’m using:
FeedBlitz – The Leading RSS and Blog to Email Service
Just discovered this today. Who knew? See that new little orange box on the right under “share the love” ? Click it or this and you’re taken to a page to subscribe to my newsletter (of all my blog posts) in email! You can do the same for your own blogs. I’ve set mine to publish once a week only; there’s also a web site you can check it (but of course, you can also just check here). Feedblitz also lets you subscribe to blog newsletters in your twitter, AIM or various other ways.
Drop.io washwords
Reach out and touch me! This site, first highlighted by my pal, Soupy Meg (but alas, I was too “busy” to listen fully) is the coolest freakin thing. You set up a site – people send stuff to it. Files, yes, cool enough! but faxes, phone messages, links, comments. All for you, all controllable by you. Whoa.
Shareaholic. First of all you are using Firefox browser, right? Oh right, we covered that. So this is a firefox add-on. You go to it and a little green icon pops up to the left of the firefox address bar. Click this thing from ANY page or tab and you can share it multiple ways – send it to del.ic.io.us, digg, bloglines, facebook. you name it. You can also access this menu by right-clicking (windows) or control-tapping your mousepad if you have a super cool macbook. Why do you need this, so you can send your love to me (and any other bloggers you might read) every time we right something you like.
ScribeFire Okay apparently I heart the developer of this handy gadget which lets you send other web pages directly to your blog (he also did shareaholic below). The tool does a lot of supercool things useful for bloggers but what I really love is the ability to use it for making lists of websites (like ahem, this one) with the code already in the right places. You can send it to your blog as “draft” or a note (just for you) or directly publish. Trust me, it’s cool
BBCode :: Firefox Add-ons And for those times when you’re trying to comment on someone else’s blog, and darn it all, what’s the html to enter a website again? how can I “block quote”, again right click in the typing box, and presto bammo, a menu appears with all kindsa html. Highlight the term you want linked and it sets you all up leaving a nice little hole where your linky needs to go.
quicksilver:what_is_quicksilver [docs] we interrupt this program to bring you some mac lovin. How I miss quicksilver when at work. essentially this program lets you open applications, complete various functions (even select an itunes playlist, or send a message to your pal right from one little bitty box at the top of your screen that you get to with literally a bunch of one, maybe 2 buttons.
Adium – Download More Mac-cy love. This program consolidates all your favorite instant messenger (IM) programs into one. Yes you need that.
Twitter Haven’t heard of twitter? Go there right now and sign up. No, you don’t NEED it but somehow it seeps into your brain and MAKES you want it, need it. If you’re already twittering, do you know about “tracking” ? Set twitter up in your IM (ahem, I use adium). You can type your status updates right to twitter or enter a series of “commands” such as “track” ____ . Whatever you track (diet coke, purple antelopes, washwords, american idol) is searched among all the twittering fools out there… it’s how I found some great movie critics, fellow “Talk Soup” and “Bachelorette” snarkers and engaged in some awesome debates on politics and society. No, really, I did. It’s also a great way to promote your blog to people you KNOW are interested in X topic.
More on these late (yes, i’m tired):
soupisnotafingerfood said,
Wrote on May 20, 2008 @ 12:07 pm
AAAAK, my eyes are crossing! It’s hard to cull the must-have tools from all the available choices. I do NOT do well when presented with too many choices. That’s why I’m happy my pal WashWords has boiled ’em down to a manageable list!
BTW, try the Twitterfox add-on for Firefox. It’s cool.
The others? You may have to come give me a tutorial. Bring your laptop. Let’s do lunch.