Some of these websites are helpful, some are funny, but all are definitely bookmarkable and worthy of a visit.

• 5 Must-Bookmark Websites for Emergencies is a list from Aibek of MakeUseOf. Aibek makes sure that you know about these 5 websites that can save your life, or at least get you the help you need to deal with an emergency a lot better!
• I just got a new cell phone, an HTC Mogul, so when I found Pocket PC Freeware, I danced in my computer chair! All of the software offered is FREE and the programs range from games to productivity software and everything in between.
• Have you ever wanted to send a friend a great photo from your vacation, but don’t want to send an impersonal email? Use Hazel Mail and send them a postcard using your photo for about $1.50, no matter where you send a postcard in the world!
• Loretta, my friend at Gadget Girl Accessories, is having a fabulous contest this month, featuring three great prizes and easy and fast ways to enter! Visit Gadget Girl Accessories to find out more about the contest and read more about neat gadgets that will help you maintain your ‘geek’ status!
• Logobama is a place for you to create your own custom Barack Obama logo and use it wherever you want. Upload your design to the site or download one of the many user-submitted logos available!
• Yes! Another free web-based text messaging service. textReminders offers a free account, so you can input your friends’ numbers once, and forget about typing them in each time you visit the site!
• If you need a website and are pressed for time or money, check out Webon, a full-featured service offering free web hosting, web design templates and website builders.
• RT at Untwisted Vortex introduced The UV SEO Series, a great series of posts that define search engine optimization and how to use SEO for your website or blog in easy to understand language.
• Any geek worth his or her weight in gold uses URL shortening services - here’s a Firefox add-on to help you create short URLs even faster. Spedr enables you to create short URLs by clicking an icon in URL bar.
• Read your Gmail wihout ever touching your mouse! Sounded hard to me, but this easy tutorial had me quickly on the road to going mouseless for my Gmail reading.

Do you have any links that you want to share with us? Leave the link in the comments!

Geek Girl Link Love!

I showed you a hack back in July that would force Gmail to be your default email client.

However, for those who aren’t as comfortable with coding, try these quick steps to set your Gmail account as your default email client:

1. Open the Options window (or Preferences on Linux and Mac).
2. Click the Applications tab.
3. Type “mailto” (without the quotes) in the Search Field.
4. In the Action column Select “Use Gmail”.
5. Click OK.

You do not have to restart your browser.

Happy emailing!

Firefox 3 Supports Built-in Gmail Default Email Client Support!

I have come to truly appreciate the concept of “microblogging” - but read more at Wikipedia if you don’t know what Twitter is.

When I first started using Twitter, I wanted to use the web client, but honestly it was UGLY! So, I poked around on Twitter’s website and found a page with a few downloads for Windows, Mac and iPhone.

I tried out Twitbin (very neat Firefox plugin/add-on), which is very clean and straight to the point. I still have it installed in my browser, as it is one of the top programs I tried. Here’s a quick screenshot:

Twitteroo is also a great program - it is stand alone, so it is not dependent on Firefox to run in order to update your tweets and keep up with your tweeple! Check out the screenshot below of Twitteroo in action!

Twitteroo

Then, I happened upon the Twitter Fan Wiki, which has an extensive list of Twitter Apps that are available by operating system/device.

After going through the list several times, I found twhirl, which is my new best friend. twhirl runs off of the Adobe Air platform, and it is lightweight and customizable. When compared to TwitterFox (another Firefox add-on) or other clients, twhirl looks more web 2.0-ish.

Twhirl Intro Screen

Vote in the poll — and let’s hear it in the comments - do you like Twitter? Do you use it? What’s your Twitter handle? Is microblogging a waste of time?

The deadline is QUICKLY approaching for submissions into the Ultimate Geek Girl’s Blog Contest! Enter today!

Twitter Apps to Keep You Twitting

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I logged onto icloud, which is built upon XML and Ajax. Each program runs smoothly and built-in features with this beta release are enough to keep you coming back to icloud for your computing needs.

Here’s a video demo of the program at work:

.

icloud is open source and customizable, so you can drag the shortcuts and icons around and develop your own XML applications. There’s also a built-in office suite (which strangely lacks a Word type application), file storage (it doesn’t save to your computer, but to the cloud!), real-time collaboration with other users and it works online and offline. icloud also has its own web browser, for quick browsing while using the cloud. It is no frills, but gives you the basics that you need to enjoy surfing your favorite websites.

I am waiting for the ability to upload preexisting files into my icloud environment, but I was able to make a PowerPoint-esque document, as well as a text file.

Check out how you can use the icloud presentation software:

Dayplan is its Outlook look-alike, and icloud even has a built-in music player. I balanced my checkbook with “Money Manager”.

All of these programs, plus a built-in web browser and others included with icloud are free and open source.

Because icloud runs via Internet Explorer, you can get flash, Shockwave, etc. running without any difficulties. No additional downloads needed!

Since cloud computing is pretty new, I wasn’t expecting a pretty web application, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that icloud is VERY pretty! It reminds me a lot of my Windows Vista Home Premium desktop.

The glossy colors, rounded corners and clean design make me want to leave icloud open 24-7, just so I can get a glance every now and then. You can further personalize your icloud by changing the widgets, wallpapers and sidebar properties. icloud is not a cookie-cutter cloud OS offering!

Take a look at some additional screenshots of icloud and videos and if you’d like immediate access to this dynamic and innovative addition to cloud computing, leave a note in the comments! I have five (5) invites available for immediate use, or you can signup at icloud.com.

Use Your Computer Everywhere with Web Based OS icloud

I even asked you guys, the readers to read my article, Automatically Add Links to Related Sites, and vote in a poll about PingCrawl.

The participation wasn’t that high, BUT, even I could see that my servers cannot handle the power of the great PingCrawl!

I will be manually adding pingbacks as I can, but if you have any suggestions, definitely leave them in the comments!

And on a side note, please donate to the American Red Cross to help those affected by Hurricane Gustav along my home, the Gulf of Mexico!

Update on PingCrawl - Adding Pingbacks Automatically to WP Posts

A knol by definition is a “unit of knowledge.” So, Google Knol is a collection of articles (called knols) on a myriad of topics - but at current, many of the knols cover medical topics (boring!).

However, there are a few really neat and helpful knols available, including my favorites:

1. What a Cook Needs to Know about Potatoes - Life without potatoes would be dull indeed, and Craig walks us through how to really enjoy potatoes from shopping for them to cooking them!
2. WordPress Plugin Development - A handy and timely piece on how to develop and maintain WordPress plugins. Less technical speak than a lot of other guides and it is a bit easier to contact the author if you have questions!
3. An introduction to Photography Composition for those of us who need some help getting started in photography techniques from an expert in the field.

Need some help finding a knol? Use Google Knol’s Search Toolkit to find exactly what you are looking for!

Additionally, the search feature is displayed in the upper right-hand corner, but you can also press CTRL+F to find a knol topic that is on the front page. Really liked a knol author? Click on their name for a biography and list of their knols. This is really helpful when you want to find similar or related topics!

The intent of Google Knol is to have user submitted content that is authoritative - meaning that if you write about gaming for example, that you have some experience and knowledge in the area, rather than just being anyone just writing something about gaming for kicks.

As your REAL NAME is attached to your knols, along with a profile and biography, you can easily show your readers that you do in fact have knowledge of the topic(s) you write about. There is also the opportunity to add comments and write reviews on knols, which gives Google Knol a decidedly social feel.

I should take the time here to let you know that if you do decide to write for Google Knol, you will be responsible for either providing a phone number or credit card number to verify your name. The service, however, is free. Name verification only works in the United States.

Upon first visiting Knol, you can see a few knols and even search for subjects that are of interest to you. As this product is in beta and is a new kid on the block, it may take a few months or even years for the content quantity to rival that of Wikipedia and About.com. If you want the facts and nothing but the facts, Wikipedia is still your best bet, but Google Knol can be a good resource for how-tos, like About.com.

The content on Google Knol is also searchable on popular search engines - namely Google - and you have control over the copyright status of your content - whether it is Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License or All Rights Reserved.

Some bloggers and internet experts are concerned about Google allowing knols to be included in search engine results - mainly because this is user created content that can be set to be uneditable (closed collaboration) to other readers; so false information could end up at the top of the Google search results and there’s no way to remove or change the false information!

Knols are created using a WYSIWYG editor, which gives each knol a decidedly personal feeling. Some authors use colors, others use bold, others combine all types of font faces and types and photos to create their knols and draw in the reader. You cannot use javascript, objects or frames, but you are welcome to add Google AdSense by connecting your Google Knol account with your Google AdSense account.

Do you want to collaborate on knols? If so, choose your collaboration level in the Settings - any signed in users can collaborate (edit), moderated collaboration (you must approve edits) or closed collaboration (no one can edit). You can always change this setting for each individual knol if you need to.

The screenshot below shows how you can view edits in Google Knol while you are editing a knol.

Courtesy of Blogoscoped

Every knol that you create will have some features that are similar to all other knols - each knol has a title, subtitle, link to your biography, summary and a table of contents. Other features include a print button, number of comments, and ratings. The print formatting is good, and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the printed knol.

Overall, Google Knol is an interesting new product in a market that is crowded by wikis and other collaboration tools. However, it stands out because it offers the opportunity for social networking and collaboration on various topics. Stay tuned for how the Google search/knol debate turns out - and whether or not we see a dramatic increase in knols hitting the first page of Google search results, instead of websites, blogs and news sources!

Login with your Google account and check out Google Knol for yourself. Send us your link in the comments so we can check you out your knols!

Related Blogs

• Related Blogs on Everything Google
• What who? Google says everything is Sunny!
• The Search Engine That Could
• Is Google Moving Towards Becoming a Social Search Engine

• Related Blogs on Fun Stuff
• Fun Stuff: Thor’s Kitchen
• Ableton Live, Linux, and Wine
• Fun Stuff: Princess Juliana International Airport
• Links and other fun stuff - 8/23/08

• Related Blogs on Geek Girl

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• The failure of open science

All About Google Knol

Unfortunately, there’s no way in Windows XP to say “No To All” just like you can say “Yes To All” when copying or moving files. You have to click “No” over and over and over… and if you have a dozen or hundreds of files, this can be exhausting!

Photo credit: Lifehacker.com

So, I found this handy tip:

Press SHIFT then “No” when copying files - and this will force Windows to use the “No To All” feature.

You can try this on Windows XP, but I was unable to duplicate on Windows Vista.

Source: Synapse

Force “No To All” in Windows

So, here are 7 Ways to Entertain Yourself for Free - both on and offline - but tied back to technology one way or another - because we wouldn’t be geeks if we didn’t figure out how to tie it back to a computer or a piece of hardware or software, right?

1. Check out some Podcasts - You already have internet access, and most of us have iTunes or MediaMonkey installed; so start looking for podcasts that are interesting to you, and listen to your heart’s content! What’s even more fun is to put your new podcasts on your iPod or laptop and go out to the park and enjoy these last few days of summer!

2. Take a walk around your neighborhood - How has your neighborhood changed since you moved there? Do you see anything interesting? Take photos! Make photo albums of your neighborhood as the seasons and development changes - it is always fun to see how time changes even the most established of neighborhoods.

3. Read a book that you’ve been meaning to read - Most geeks also have piles of books that they mean to read but never get around to it - well, read it already! Take a couple of hours and just read until your heart’s content. Once you are finished, put the book up for sale in your Amazon Store.

4. Check out some new software you’ve been meaning to try - Of course, this only works if you are using free software, or free trials, but at least you can get a few hours of entertainment by playing with a new piece of software and learning how it works. You might even find a new time saving program that will make your life 10x easier! Also check out online software or web applications.

5. Go through your bookmarks and read various websites - especially those you bookmarked to read later. Not only will you clean your bookmarks up once you delete or move the bookmarks to new folders, but you will have learned something or had a good laugh - both of which are entertaining!

6. Remove old programs and files from your computer - Do not hold on to old software that you aren’t using, instead uninstall it and watch your hard drive’s free space expand! Even better, make Vista SP1 permanent on your drive, freeing up up to 2GB of space!

7. Play a game online - There are literally hundreds of free game sites online, including my favorite, Pogo, Yahoo! Games, Free Online Games,  and more. You’ll see time pass quickly as you play games such as dominoes, Sim Taxi, Mahjong and chat with players from all around the world.

7 Ways to Entertain Yourself for Free

When would you want to use slydial? If you just want to leave a quick message and don’t really want to get into a long, drawn out conversation about work, their latest surgery or what Paris Hilton is doing in LA.

slydial is easy to use - simply call 267-SLY-DIAL (267-759-3425) and follow the prompts. Because the service is free, you will have to listen to an advertisement to use the service. But for a monthly fee of $4.95 (or annually for $29.95), you can skip the advertisements all together and just use the service.

I tested slydial out today, because I really did not want to talk to someone but I did need to give them some information - and it works! slydial was easy to use - and best of all, free!

slydial the new way to leave voicemail

The Firefox Bookmarks Library features built-in tagging support and easy drag-and-drop labeling.

To access the Firefox Bookmarks Library, click on Bookmarks in your toolbar at the top of the browser. You will see some of the actions you are used to, like Bookmark This Page or Bookmark All Tabs. Check out the new blue folders, though - Most Visited, Recent Tags and Recently Bookmarked. As we can guess, Most Visited shows you the sites you visit the most, Recent Tags displays the most recent tags that have been used and assigned and Recently Bookmarked keeps you on top of which bookmarks you recently added to your collection.

When you want to view your bookmarks in the Bookmarks Library, make sure that you checkmark Tags, so you can see the tags you have already assigned.

I also have Keyword checkmarked, because I use keywords as shortcuts for some of my favorite links.

As you can see from the screenshots above and below, you just highlight a link then edit the tags as you see fit. You can select from the list of preexisting tags or type in your own tags in the tags text box.

You can also modify your bookmarks directly from the toolbar - if a website you are viewing is already saved in your favorites, the star in the location bar will be bright yellow - click on it once, and a drop down menu will appear. Enter the tags or modify the name or link as you need to.

Drop down buttons to the right of the tags box will give you the same drop down features as you saw in the Firefox Bookmarks Library.

It’s really up to you, the user, which method you prefer to modify your bookmarks. If you have time on your hands, I suggest using the Bookmarks Library, but if you are wanting to complete your tagging while browsing, use the location bar.

What are your favorite ways to use Firefox’s Bookmarks Library?

This special feature, Geek Girl, appears every Monday.

Firefox Bookmarks Library Tips & Tricks