Productivity Tools

These are really use productivity tools that I found on Computers In Libraries page s4. I am going to list all of them here. Just scan through the list to if there are any tools you my be interest to you.

1. Microsoft Maps-Live Search
http://maps.live.com
This site can find directions, businesses by category, and maps for areas. Easy to use and an all in one site for the SMB.

2. TinyURL
http://tinyurl.com
Long URLs become managable, tiny ones.

3. Trip Advisor
http://www.tripadvisor.com
Helpful for planning business trips.

4. Seat Selection
http://www.seatguru.com
If you travel a great deal and want to understand seat selection, airline travel rules, and other amenities, start here.

5. Hot Spot Finder
http://www.jiwire.com
Find wireless connects for 150,000 plus hotspots in approximately 135 countries. I know that Dunn Brother's Cafe also provide free wireless.

6. Data Visualization
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/08/02/data-visualization-modern-approaches
Smashing Magazine shows different ways to present data visually. Some powerful approaches to displaying information as visual images appear on this link.

7. Panimages.com
http://panimages.com
When you want images but don't want to pay for them or at least not much, try this site.

8. Time Zone
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock
Time zones around the world.

9. Weather
http://weather.com
Heads up on weather conditions hour by hour.

10. Conference Calls
http://www.budgetconferencing.com
Set upa conference call quickly and cost-effectively from this site.

11. Melissa's Lookups
http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/index.htm
This site allows you to look up a variety of information for free as long as you register. In addition, it offers sources for direct mailings and other products for a fee.

12. Widgets/Gadgets
http://widgets.yahoo.com
The tag line of "Save Time, Waste Time, Have Fun!" sums it up. Find some useful gadgets here, but watch out that you don't end up wasting too much time looking for timesavers.

13. Who Called Us
http://whocalled.us
This site logs call from phone numbers that appear to be unknown. Sometimes ou can find a company name.

14. Google Search Tip
http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html
Everyone wants to search google more productively.

15. Google Usability
http://More links to make Google searching more productive and profitable.

16. Travel.State.Gov
http://travel.state.gov
This site from the U.S. State Department gives good advice for those traveling internationally, e.g. passport information, danger zones,ect.

17. LookSmart's Furl
http://furl.net/home.jsp
With this site the SMB can save a copy of any webpage with one click, share the webpage or mark it as private, and organize and store the information with tags the SMB creates. Additionally, this site allows the SMB to read and save other information "furled" by other users.

18. Zotero
http://www.zotero.org
This site has some of the same elements as Furl but with more academic feel.

19. Snagit
http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp
This site provides a low cost yet easy way to capture information on a screen.

20. PDF Creator
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator
Download software here that can convert other document formats into PDFs.

21. You Sent It
http://www.yousendit.com
When you have a file larger than your email service can handle, try this site.

22. DropSend
http://www.dropsend.com
Another site that can handle large files up to 1GB and store files too.

23. Format conversions
http://docmorph.nlm.nih.gov/docmorph
Fifty document conversion tools from the National Library of Medicine.

24. File Extensions
http://filetext.com
This site helps identify unknown file extensions.

25. Transfer applications on a USB device or ipod
http://mojopac.com/portal/content/products/index.jsp
mojopac has a free software download (currently 1MB) that allow you to transfer key software applications onto a USB device or ipod and run it on a host PC using Windows XP with the look the SMB owner would have on his or her PC back home. Mojopac "transforms your ipod or USB Hard Drive or flash drive into a portable and private PC."

26. Iron Monuntain
http://www.ironmountain.com/digital/pc/backup.asp
this company uses connected.com to automatically back up files on an SMB's PC for a fee.

27. Carbonite
http://www.carbonite.com
This company will also automatically back up files on a PC for a low annual cost.

28. Copyscape
http://www.copyscape.com
This site lets the UMB owner see if anyone has copied portions of it's company website.

29. Domain Tools
http://whois.domaintools.com
SMBs can use this site to keep updated on their website status and to make sure it does not expire.

30. TrendMicro
http://housecall.trendmicro.com
This site can do analyis of a user's computers to see if it has been infected by viruses, spyware, or other malware. There is information on donating to schools if the user wants to express his or her appreciation.

31. Belarc
http://www.belarc.com
This site does a PC audit of hardware and software.

32. ScanSafe
http://www.scandoo.com
This site rates the safety of websites.

33. Open Office Suite
http://www.openoffice.org
This site offers a downloadable free office suite and includes desktop applications such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentaion manager, and drawing program.

34. Zamzar
http://zamzar.com
This site helps when you need files converted. It has online conversions for documents, videos, music, and images plus other miscellaneous file extentions for free.

35. Stuffbak
http://www.stuffbak.com/sb/default.aspx
This site has information that can potentially help a business recover lost electronic asset and at a very low cost.

36. Inc Mazagine
http://technology.inc.com/internet/articles/200707/campbell.html
In the technology section, you will find several sources of information for technology related issues. For example, the link discusses 10 tips for choosing a domain name.

37. Copernic Tracker
http://www.copernic.com/en/products/tracker
For a mominal fee, this site provides software to monitor changes of content on webpages that have a business interest.

38. University of Minnesota, Duluth
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/support/Training/Online/webdesign
This site provides information and resources on web design.

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