I’m having way too much fun discovering new tools for the Cheapskate Computing book. A couple of people have recommended BeFunky, and I finally checked out their site last week. I’m so impressed. Just upload a graphic and click around on the filters. Within minutes you can create an interesting graphic to spice up your website, your newsletters or your …
PDFescape: The PDF editor I’ve been dreaming of!
Oh, I’m thrilled! I just found a PDF tool that allows you to add text, notes, form fields and more to existing PDFs. I’m often frustrated when my clients send me PDFs to edit because I have to do screenshots with Jing page by page. Don’t get me wrong — I adore Jing, but the process takes forever. But PDFescape …
WhatTheFont!: Font recognition from graphics
WhatTheFont is a lot like one of my favorites, Identifont. This little free service allows you to upload a graphic that contains words, and the system does its best to identify your font. I tried it with a few logos I’ve developed where I knew what the font was. It hit about 50 percent of the time, but the misses …
Task.fm: Free SMS and Email Reminders
The web is now full of helpful reminder systems. I like Task.fm because you can write the way you speak and it converts your note into a smart reminder, such as if you tell it to remind you about “my meeting with Scott Thursday at noon.” You can set reminders to come to you via text, email, twitter or a …
Jott.com: No More Texting and Driving
Come on… be honest. Some of you still text and drive, right? Jott.com is the solution. Just dial a number on your phone, and a chipper voice asks, “Who do you want to Jott?” Say the name of a contact (or yourself), and Jott will take your message and convert it to text, plus attach the audio for the recipient’s …
Dropbox: Store, Share and Sync Your Files
It’s about time I profile Dropbox, a great little tool my readers have mentioned several times, and it came up again when I was presenting “Free and Low-Cost Tech Tools Your Organization Can’t Live Without” at the Fancy Food Show this week. Dropbox allows you to synchronize your files among your computers and also stores them online for access anywhere. …
Penzu – Write in Private: Free Online Diary and Personal Journal
Now here’s a switch… Penzu is an online blog-type service — that you can keep private! All the other blogs in the world are out there so you can share your thoughts, but Penzu lets you create a private journal for your eyes only, though you can choose to share with others. I’m not sure what type of business application …
Poll Everywhere: Free Audience Response System
Monday I’m speaking for the Western Association of Chamber Executives, and during our webinar dress rehearsal, the coordinators told me about Poll Everywhere. Poll Everywhere is a free/low-cost replacement for the very expensive audience polling devices. Instead of handing out devices that connect to a man behind the curtain who creates a chart of results for the audience to see, …
LogMeIn: A free (and reliable) remote desktop tool
I’m in Orlando this week, teaching a series of sessions on Free and Low-Cost Social Media Tools. Ordinarily I remote in to my computer at the office using Live Mesh from Microsoft, but the software is misbehaving. So I returned to an old standby, LogMeIn. I abandoned LogMeIn because it didn’t have all the cool features that Live Mesh does, …
Elance: Freelance Database for Every Item on Your To Do List
Freelancers and small businesses from all around the world are waiting to help you on Elance. All you need to do to hire a pro is to create a project and put it out for bids. You can find providers who meet your needs and invite them specifically to bid on your projects, or you can wait and see who …
GreenPrint Software: Take control of your printer
Most of us green-types cringe when we print out a 10-page document that has giant pictures and a last page with 3 words on it. GreenPrint helps take control of your printer, allowing you to save money, ink and trees. Download the application and it installs like a printer. Then you can print to GreenPrint and choose which pages you …
chartbeat: Real-time website analytics
I first discovered chartbeat when Ashton Kutcher and CNN were competing to be the first Twitter account with one million followers. Chartbeat showed the race live, and I was hooked. For about 10 bucks a month, you can monitor the traffic on up to 5 websites in real time. I mean really real. It shows how many people are visiting, …
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