Short Simplified Links #3

Useful links, to help get work done.


Create temporary email addresses with Guerrilla Mail. The service offers a temporary email address that lasts for 60 minutes, and can be used to avoid giving away your genuine email address to a potential spam website or otherwise. [Also see: 10 Minute Mail]


iTools is a simple website that contains the best possible tools that one can use, on the internet. Ranging from real-time search engines to dictionaries to tools that provide information on websites, iTools offers a wide variety in a plain theme.


Shorten URLs with Google’s goo.gl and track the number of clicks on them with the analysis given below. The improved URL shortener offers detailed analysis of web addresses.

[More Simplified Links]

Short Simplified Tips #2

More Useful Links

Boomerang for GMail – Boomerang is an add-on to the Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox web browsers that allows you to schedule the sending of your emails. You can select from the options given, or can provide your own specified time. [More Add-Ons]

Read It Later – Creates a reading list for you to read web pages later. You can also save web pages and read offline. It is available for most web browsers, and mobile operating systems.

TBUZZ – Is a bookmarklet that allows you to instantly share web pages on Twitter, and also check if the web page you are sharing is already being talked about on the microblogging platform. [More Bookmarklets]

[More Short Simplified Tips]

Google Scribe – Get AutoComplete Suggestions

The experimental Scribe offers word suggestions as you type.


Google Scribe is a text completion service from Google Labs. It offers suggestions for words and phrases which could be correct or alternative to what you type.

The service works for the English language and can be used with GMail, Blogger, Wordpress or other websites where text editing may be needed.

The best way to use the service is to add the Scribe bookmarklet in your browser bookmarks When needed, hit Ctrl+Shift+J to enable/disable the service.

Related Reading: More Bookmarklets

Track If Your Email Has Been Read

WhoReadMe – a free service to keep a check on whether your emails are being read.


Do you often send emails and want to know whether they are being read by your recipient(s)? Give WhoReadMe a try.

WhoReadMe is a free (they also offer premium services) website that informs you of important information regarding the receipt of your emails.

It will return you a report of the time and location of the opening of that email.

Just connect your email account with WhoReadMe and send a mail from the website itself. Alternatively you can add ‘whoreadme.com’ as a suffix on your recipient’s email address. 

Once your email is opened, WhoReadMe will send you an instant email report of the activity. For the free version, it offers ten notifications.

New Features in Google Buzz

Reply to comments via email and view entire photo albums in Buzz.


Google Buzz, the social networking and sharing platform in GMail, has introduced a couple of new features in the service.

Now you can comment on Buzz updates that appear in your email account, via your email itself. Simply reply to the message containing an update on your Buzz post (or any other that you may have commented in) and it will be posted as an update in Buzz.

You can also view entire photo albums in Google Buzz. Initially, if albums were shared on Buzz, you would have to go to the link where they were shared to view them in full. Google Buzz now has a photo viewer, where you can view all posted photos.

Related Reading: Compendium of Tips on Google Buzz

Drag and Drop Attachments in GMail

New feature in Gmail – Drag and drop attachments onto emails.


You can now instantly drag a file, that you want to add as an attachment in your email, from your hard drive’s folder directly to the web browser window where you’ve opened GMail.

Notice in the screenshot above – an empty green space will appear for you to drop your attachment(s).

Related Reading: GMail Tips And Tricks

[Via GMail Blog]

Google Buzz Simplified

Simple tips to make the most out of Google Buzz.


Google Buzz is Google’s social microblogging and information sharing service, that comes embedded in Google Mail.

What you basically do on Buzz is share your status, photos or useful links with people who follow you. Google Buzz is like an expanded form of Twitter. 

Here are a set of tips and tools that will help you do more on Google Buzz:

1. Send a Buzz to a user’s Gmail Inbox

You can send a message to a user through Buzz by specifying the @ symbol, followed by the person’s email address, which will post the update on your Buzz feed and send the message to the user’s email.

2. Connect your Social websites


If you want to connect various social websites like your blog, Twitter profile or Picasa to your Buzz stream, then simply select the Connected Sites option at the top of your Buzz stream, and add/remove websites accordingly. [Refer above screenshot]

3. A Firefox Add-on for Google Buzz


If you are a user of the Mozilla Firefox web browser, then you can instantly share what you surf with your followers on Google Buzz, by installing the Buzz It Firefox add-on in your browser. Buzz It also auto-shortens URLs with Bit.ly.

4. Google Chrome Extension for Google Buzz

The Google Buzz extension for Google Chrome, Google Buzz Pad, is a useful add-on that allows you to view your Buzz account and also share links with your followers from Google Reader.

5. Block unknown followers

Google Buzz offers you the option to block unknown followers, who might be posting inappropriate or unwanted comments on your posts.

Simply go to the list of your followers, and select Block corresponding to the specific follower to block him/her.

6. Privacy – Disable followers/following list from Google profile


A new option to disable the public viewing of who you are following and being followed by, has been introduced in Google Buzz. You can now disable the viewing of both of these lists from third parties visiting your Google profile.

To do that, click on the lists to open them. You will find a checkbox as shown above at the bottom of the lists. De-select the checkbox to ensure these lists cannot be viewed.

7. Update Buzz via email

To update Google Buzz via email, all you require is a Buzz-enabled GMail account. Simply send your update to buzz@gmail.com, to post your update to your Buzz followers via email.

8. Find more people on Buzz


To find more people to follow on Google Buzz, select the Find People option at the top of your Buzz feed, and you can find recommended followers, or search for users via their names or email addresses.

9. Select Public/Private while posting


You can choose to share on Buzz with a select people, or with anybody else on the world wide web.

When writing a post, find the Public/Private drop-down and select the desired one. [Screenshot above]

10. Remove posts from your Buzz feed


To hide a post on your Buzz feed that you may not be interested in, select the Mute Post option from the top-right drop-down menu on the particular post. [Screenshot above]

11. Disable Buzz/Hide Buzz


You can disable Google Buzz entirely from your GMail by heading to the bottom of your GMail page, where you will find a Turn Off Buzz option.

To hide the Buzz label from Gmail, simply head to Settings –> Labels and edit as required.

12. Update Twitter and Buzz together

In case you want to post the same update on both Twitter, the popular microblogging platform, and Google Buzz, read this Internet Simplified post to know how.

13. Create a Google Buzz widget


You can create a Google Buzz widget for your website, by heading to Buzz Counter. Simply specify your Google profile name and obtain the code for the widget.

Paste it on your blog/website, and a widget (see screenshot above) will appear with your Buzz updates.

Related Reading: Compendium of Tips on GMail

Update Twitter And Buzz Together

BuzzTweep – Send updates to Twitter and Google Buzz at once.


BuzzTweep is a free service, using which you can update your Twitter account and your Google Buzz stream at once, with the same comment.

Just follow the instructions given on their website (Tutorials Page 1 and Page 2) to set up the service. Basically, all you require to do is set up a GMail filter, and then connect your Twitter account to the service.

Learn in detail about setting up a GMail filter in our detailed GMail tips post.

Related Reading: What is Google Buzz?

Google Buzz - Google's Social Microblogging Service

Here's a video that explains Google Buzz.

[Via Google Blog]

Send Short Notes To Your Email

Scribbly is a lightweight application that allows you to send important notes to your email inbox.


Send short scribbles to your email address with a very useful lightweight application called Scribbly.

The freeware has a simple interface, where you can set up notes to be sent to your email address for future reference. Scribbly uses Adobe AIR.

If you are a user of GMail, organize notes effectively by creating a filter for emails from Scribbly and automatically labelling them. Learn more here.

Reply To Facebook Comments Via Email

Respond to comments on posts through email.


Facebook has introduced a feature that allows you to reply to Facebook comments via email.

Simply reply with your comment to the message you’ve received from Facebook notification and that would be posted on the particular post.

Related Reading: More Facebook Tips

[Via Facebook Blog]

5 Useful Free Tools From Microsoft

Free downloads from Microsoft, that help you do useful stuff.


1. Microsoft SharedView


Microsoft SharedView is the company’s response to Google Wave. Work, share and collaborate in real-time with SharedView. All you require is a Windows Live ID, and you can work together with upto 15 people.

Read our full post on SharedView.

2. Windows Live Writer


A very useful tool that is available as a free download from Microsoft is the Windows Live Writer. Live Writer is basically a writing interface for bloggers. It makes content publishing on various blogging platforms much easier to go with, as does it simplify easy uploading of photos and videos on blogs.

Get Windows Live Writer.

3. Windows SteadyState


Working on your computer in a shared environment? Do you have multiple users logging in to your PC every now and then? Well, you should download Windows SteadyState from Microsoft to ensure that your computer stays the same, irrespective of how many are using it.

Windows SteadyState protects privacy and settings of custom users. The application works on Windows XP and Vista.

Get Windows SteadyState.

4. Windows Mail


A useful substitute to Microsoft Outlook, Windows Mail essentially allows you to access multiple web-based mail accounts in a dedicated email client. Mail may not be as extensive as Outlook, but makes it easier to work with web-based email accounts in one interface.

Get Windows Mail.

5. Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery is a photo management tool from Microsoft, that allows you to easily work with and share photos uploaded from a digital camera onto your computer. You can also edit your photos with Photo Gallery’s features.

Get Photo Gallery.

Merge Duplicate Contacts in GMail Easily

GMail’s new feature allows easy merger of duplicate email addresses.


You can now merge duplicate contacts from your list, with a new GMail feature. Simply head to Contacts (find in your left-sided navigation bar in GMail).

As can be seen in the screenshot above, you would find a Got duplicate contacts? option.

Simply select Find duplicates and you would get a list of contacts that are duplicated. Choose to merge duplicate contacts, individually or all at once.

Related Reading: More Amazing GMail Tips

[Via GMail Blog]

Send A Free Google Holiday Card To A Friend

With Google, you can send a holiday postcard to anybody in the US for free.

If you have friends and family members residing in the United States, then you can send a free holiday card to one person, courtesy of this free Google service.

Just fill in the details and write a message on the card, and Google will send a snail mail to your friend or relative. The service caters to the US only, and allows you to send one holiday greeting card.

[Via Google Blog]

Read Books in Email

Get installments of a variety of books via email or RSS feeds.

DailyLit is a great website where you can read from a selection of books. You can choose to subscribe to books via email or RSS feeds (read our post on Google Reader to know more about RSS feeds).

The website will send you short parts of your chosen books for your daily reading.

You can search for books on the website from a host of categories, and then subscribe in your preferred medium. DailyLit has both free and paid books.

Related Reading: How To Browse For Great Books Online And Download Them For Free

Get Invited to Google Wave

Internet Simplified has 8 invites to Google's new real-time collaborative platform.

Google Wave is a pioneering new tool that allows you to collaborate and communicate with your friends and business associates in a real-time platform.

You can start a wave by including your friends in it, and then work in a single window with all involved. The idea is to bring together email, data sharing, wikis and instant messaging in one interactive place.

Internet Simplified has 8 invites to Google Wave. To get an invite, please leave a comment with your email address on this post. Alternatively, you can leave a comment on our Facebook Fan Page.

We will give out invites on a first-come-first-serve basis. Kindly note it takes a while before the invite is given out by Google. Thank you.

Instantly Send Free Video Emails

Record a video with a webcam and a microphone, and send it as an email.


Voxlite is a free service that allows you to instantly create a video and send it as an email, even without signing up with the service.

All you need is a webcam and a microphone. Record your video or upload a pre-recorded one from your computer and send it as an email from Voxlite itself.

You can link Voxlite with your existing mail account and send as many video emails as you like.

Get More Out Of GMail – A Simple Guide

25+ tips, tricks and more to get the best out of GMail. 

 
Google’s free email service, GMail, is a very useful web-based service you can use as an email client. Here are 27 tips and tricks to help you make the most of GMail.

1. Use GMail as a secondary hard drive with GMail Drive


GMail Drive is an interesting tool that allows you to use that extra space in your account as an online storage drive.

The drive will appear listed in My Computer. When you transfer a file to the drive, it generates an email and posts it to your account.

Filter emails from GMail Drive in a separate category in your GMail account to keep it clean and organized.

2. Check spam with a simple GMail trick

When you register for a new account with a website and would like to check in the future if that website is giving away your email address to irritating spammers, then you can try this simple trick.

When registering on a website say http://www.abc.com, give your email address as username+abccom@gmail.com when asked for an email.

The thing here is that you will still receive mails on your username@gmail.com normally with the plus sign making no difference, but when you search GMail for username+abccom@gmail.com to see any messages received for this particular email address that you registered with, you’ve just found out that abc.com gave away your email address to spammers.

3. Create and use GMail filters effectively

You can filter and categorize the emails you receive everyday automatically by making the best use of GMail Filters, and Labels. Designate certain emails to be of a specific category and set up a filter to automatically have those mails transferred to that label.

You can also create filters to check spam or auto-delete bugging emails.


For example, say abc@xyz.com is a troublesome email sender. Create a filter and provide his email address in the To: field in the filter.


Then select Next Step and choose from the various options provided. You can auto-delete those mails, archive them or apply a label. Select Create Filter and never bother above these emails again.

4. Multiple GMail email addresses - @gmail.com, @googlemail.com

When you register on GMail, you basically get two email addresses. For example, john@gmail.com and john@googlemail.com will send your emails to the same account.

To get the best out of this, you can probably set a filter (as explained above) in GMail to make these two addresses completely specific. For example, give username@gmail.com to your friends while keep username@googlemail.com for your business purposes.

5. The GMail Dot trick

You should also know that GMail completely ignores dots in your email addresses. For example, an email sent to user.name@gmail.com will be received by username@gmail.com. 

Again, you could take advantage of these glitches by using multiple email addresses at multiple places and setting a simple filter in GMail that can categorize your emails.

6. Access GMail when it’s blocked at work or school

There are a few ways to access GMail at places where it might be blocked, like work or school. Learn more here. 

7. Convert your GMail account into a portable online drive

Download gDisk, a free tool that helps you transfer and maintain your files through GMail hence making them accessible everywhere.  

8. Manage multiple GMail accounts and do more easily with the GMail Manager Firefox add-on

The GMail Manager add-on for the Firefox web browser is a simple and smart tool to help you get more out of GMail. Download it here. 

9. Back up your GMail account to your computer with POP and IMAP


You can back up your entire GMail account on your computer by enabling POP in Settings. You can do this without having to pay any money for the service. POP enables one-way communication between GMail and your email client (like Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail). You can also use the IMAP protocol, which allows two-way communication. IMAP is recommended.

To do this, go to Settings and select Enable POP for all mails. Then set up your email client and follow instructions as provided.

All of your emails will now have a backed-up copy on your hard drive, which you can further back up to a secondary disk to never lose your emails.

10. Watch YouTube videos, see Flickr and Picasa picture streams in GMail


You can watch YouTube videos and check Flickr streams right from within GMail itself by enabling the specific Labs features. Select the green Labs image from the top-right corner of your GMail screen. [Shown above]

Do explore tons of other Labs features, provided in GMail.

11. Search Google, Yahoo, Bing or Twitter from GMail Chat

Add the Search Bot as a friend in your GMail Chat to search Google, Bing or Twitter from your mailbox itself. Learn more here.

12. Import existing mail into GMail

You can now import existing mail from any email client by using the Google GMail Loader. To import from web-based services, go to Settings –> Accounts and Import.

13. Upload files from another mailbox into GMail

Try this handy service, GMail Uploader, that allows you to instantly upload files of another mailbox to your GMail account.

14. Be notified of new mails in GMail

Download a simple tool called GMail Notifier that informs you of new emails you might have received in GMail, from your taskbar.

15. Use GMail Offline

Use GMail when you are not connected to the web by enabling the Google Gears option in Labs features in GMail settings. 

16. Set up GMail Voice and Video Chat

You can easily setup GMail Voice and Video Chat in your mail account. Read this to learn how. 

17. Stay Invisible in GMail Chat

To stay invisible in GMail Chat, simply select the Invisible option when you set your status. Note that this feature is not available in the stand-alone chat client Google Talk. 

18. Enable keyboard shortcuts in GMail 

You can use keyboard shortcuts in GMail. Simply enable them from settings and use them. Here’s a list of GMail’s keyboard shortcuts.

19. Set Email Forwarding to receive GMail emails in office


Go to Settings –> Forwarding and POP/IMAP and provide your office email address in the field to have your mails sent there. You can choose to also archive/delete them from GMail.

20. Add a cool signature to outgoing mails in GMail

Automatically add a custom signature to outgoing GMail messages with the WiseStamp Signature Add-On for Firefox. Learn more here.

21. Add a Facebook Profile Badge to your emails

You can put a Facebook account Profile Badge in your GMail messages. Learn how to do that here. 

22. Get things done efficiently in GMail with GTDGmail

GTDGMail is a simple freeware that allows you to change the way you use emails. The tool has unique features that allow you to speed up your daily activities in GMail and also helps you maintain your account. 

23. Create and manage a simple GMail To-Do list

GMail Todo is an open-source application that helps you effectively manage tasks in GMail. Download it now. 

24. Do everything with GMail for Mobile Phones

Enable GMail on your cell phone – download this simple GMail For Mobile client from your mobile phones. 

25. Use GMail’s advanced search operators


GMail has a list of advanced search operators you can do when you browse through your email archives to look for that relevant mail you had received a long time ago. Check out the list of search operators here. 

26. Add a Random Quote to your GMail signature

Read this to learn how a random quote is added to all your outgoing mails in GMail. 

27. Select Contacts from GMail address book

You can select contacts from your address book by simply pressing the To: tab when composing a new mail. Learn more here.

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Convert Favourite Feeds into a Magazine

Get a magazine-style newsletter in your email, consisting of your favourite websites.


Tabbloid is a brilliant service from HP that combines your favourite RSS feeds together and delivers them to your email as an e-magazine.

You select the feeds, and even decide when you want them emailed. For example, you can combine the feeds of the top four newspapers of your country and read them all in your email the first thing in the morning.

To learn about RSS feeds and where you can read them, do check our basic post on Google Reader.

Access Everything that is Blocked at Work

Some tips and tricks to pass the ‘Access Denied’ barrier at school, college or work.

There are various techniques you can use to access your personal web-based email, Facebook, Orkut, Twitter or instant chat clients at work. Read our guide.

Google Talk 


- To access Google Talk at work, one thing you could do is (shown below) add the following Google Talk gadget client URL - http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/client - to your Firefox bookmarks and select the option to load it in the sidebar.


- Try an online instant messaging service like IMO, Ebuddy, KoolIM1, KoolIM2 or Meebo to access Google Talk when provided with net access. Chances are these websites may have not been blocked in your office.

- You can access Google Talk in iGoogle. On your left sidebar in the iGoogle page, the Chat section is your Google Talk. iGoogle is basically a Google startpage you can use as a portal.

- Try the KoolIM extension in Firefox. Type this URL - http://www.koolim.com/koolimsidebar.xpi – in your address bar. An option to install the add-on will pop up. Install it. Please note that this extension doesn’t work the latest version of Firefox.

- Yoono Firefox add-on is another tool you can install on the web browser to instantly access Google Talk.

- Google Desktop has a gadget for Google Talk. Try installing Google Desktop and access Google Talk within it.

GMail


- To access GMail when you dont have access, simply try the mobile version http://m.gmail.com.

- Use https –> https://gmail.com, https://mail.google.com

- iGoogle has a specific GMail gadget from which you can access GMail.

- Register on Netvibes reader to access GMail as a gadget. You can check new email from Netvibes.

- There is a paid service available to use GMail. It’s called GMail From Work. If you are willing to pay money to access GMail at work, you could try this out.

- Again, like Google Talk, there is also an add-on gadget for GMail in Google Desktop.

- Access it from a mobile web simulator, like Opera.

Yahoo Messenger


- Try online IM services like Meebo or IMO. Refer the similar point above in ways to access Google Talk.

- Yoono Firefox Add-on allows access to Yahoo Messenger.

- Try Yahoo’s online messenger service to use it if it’s unblocked.

Facebook


- There are various stand-alone Facebook applications that are available, which you can probably download at work if allowed. These are independent, desktop apps that one can use to access it – like the Facebook AIR app. Download it now.

- You can access Facebook through Firefox add-on Yoono.

- To access Facebook chat, you can try web-based messengers like IMO.

- Try Facebook Mobile in your web browser to access Facebook at work.

- Facebook’s new Lite version might still be unblocked at work or school, considering that it’s newly released.

- Access it from a mobile simulator, like Opera.

Orkut


- Try Orkut India’s website to access the social network – http://orkut.co.in. Chances are this one’s not blocked by your admin folks.

- Like Facebook Mobile, you can access Orkut on your office PC at Orkut Mobile.

- There is another trick to get to Orkut. Try http://images.orkut.com. Now this one actually leads you to your Orkut homepage, provided you are logged in to your Google account.

- Access it from a mobile simulator, like Opera.

Twitter


- Users of Mozilla Firefox web browser can try various Twitter add-ons. (TwitterBar, Echofon, Yoono)

- Internet Explorer 8 users can try the Cloudberry Twitter Plugin. This one also works with Firefox.

- You can tweet from your office email address. Simply, head to TwitterMail and obtain an email you can send your tweets to and start using it right away.

- You can tweet from Gmail by using the Twitter gadget. Head to Google Labs features in GMail, enable the ‘Add Gadgets’ feature and simply add this URL - http://twittergadget.appspot.com/gadget-gmail.xml – to find the Twitter gadget added to your GMail account. For Twitter from GMail, you would have to obviously have access to GMail first.
 
- To tweet from Microsoft Outlook, you can get the Twitter Outlook Plugin.

- You can tweet from this website to make it look like your actually working on a spreadsheet, but actually tweeting.

- Use Google Desktop’s Twitter gadget. 

Other Blocked Websites

- Access the website through a proxy server. Proxies basically allow you indirect access to a network with your identity made unknown. Check out this list of proxies. All you have to do is type the URL of the website you want to access to use proxies.

- Web2Mail is a great service that sends you web pages by email. Learn more here.

- Type the IP address (computer-understandable) of the website instead of URL. An example of an IP address is 74.125.79.85 (Orkut’s IP address). To obtain the IP address of a blocked website you are trying to access, visit here or here. Type in the URL and the service will fetch you the IP address.


- Search the website in Google. And find Google’s cached version of the website. Click it to access a stored version of the website (usually the span of a few days). See image above.

- You can always read a website’s content by accessing it’s RSS feed address. Learn more in our post on Google Reader.

- Try the Firefox add-on for proxy management – FoxyProxy.

- Add https (Secure HTTP) ahead of the URL instead of http and see if the website can be accessed. 

- A really cool way of accessing almost any website online (including above mentioned ones like Facebook, Orkut or GMail) is to use a mobile simulator. Opera’s famous mobile web browser can be used to access any website. You can also try the DotMobi mobile emulator. Just head to these links and start using any website, from a mobile phone view of course.

Related Reading: How To Bypass Compulsory Website Registration