Overview: You will learn how to turn your iphone into a portable document scanner for free in under 15 minutes. This will all be done using one piece of cardboard, a ruler, a utility knife and a pencil.

Getting Things Done With Creativity and Elbow Grease

Occasionally I need to get digital copies of papers into my home and/or work computers. I don’t feel like having two full-blown scanners wasting space on my desks, nor do I feel like buying them.

What’s my quick, free, space saving solution? Build a stand that allows me to use my iPhone to make quick images of documents.

I have a few simple requirements for this document scanner:

1. Must be able to be assembled quickly and easily
2. Muse capture 8.5″ x 11″ documents perfectly (no cropping)
3. Must be able to be disassembled, and stored quickly and easily
4. Must be cheap (better yet, FREE!)

I searched for a few alternatives and found this really cool option by Kyle Koch.

He sells them for $15 here. This is an awesome idea and $15 is very fair price. But what fun would that be? I decided to try to build my own for free.

This is my finished prototype:

I place the document on the tray and the phone on the top supports with the camera application running. Then, I just press the “shoot” button and have a decent scan of the document. The key is to have the USB cable plugged in so that you can just grab them using the computer’s file manager. Also, the better the lighting, the happier you’ll be.

With a little bit of practice, I was able to get acceptable results on each documents first try.

Here are some of the document scans that I produced: (scaled down for this article)

Not bad for $0 and 20 minutes time.

Instructions for Building your iPhone Document Scanner

I know, you want to build yourself one of these handy gadgets, right? Well believe me, it’s very simple.

What you Will Need

Supplies: Utility Knife , Pencil, Ruler or Yardstick, piece of cardboard (15″ X 30″), scissor.

Instructions:

Print out and assemble the Templates diagram

Trace two Stand pieces on the cardboard

Cut out the Stand pieces using the Yardstick and Utility Knife (be very careful)

Trace and cut out the two Bottom Brackets

Trace and cut out the two Top Brackets

Cut the notches into the Stands and Braces as shown on the diagram

Insert the notches on top and bottom to assemble the Stand

Place the rectangular base into the stand

Place a document on the rectangular base

Turn the phone’s camera application on and place it on the top braces so that the document is in the picture

Take the picture.

Portable Document Scanner Video Tutorial

The following video tutorial shows you how to perform all of the steps necessary to make your scanner.

Overview: You will learn how to use Quix browser bookmarklet to Make a Super Bookmarklet for your browser.

What is Quix?

Quix is an exensible bookmarklet tool that performs the functions of several bookmarklets, extensions, and GreaseMonkey scripts.

What’s in it for You?

You can remove several extensions, GreaseMonkey scripts, and existing bookmarklets. This will get rid of some browser bloat (caused by extensions) and speed things up. It will also clean up your browser’s interface a little. Plus, you can add a lot of power and flexibility to your browser using Quix.

Removing Unnecessary Extensions

Before I added the Quix Bookmarklet to FireFox, I was running the following extensions: Ubiquity, Evernote Clipper, Delicious (among others).

I was able to uninstall them completely. This took two buttons off my toolbar and cut back on some ram. Not all of the big five browsers use extensions, but most support them in some form, so this will have a similar effect there too.

Removing Unnecessary Greasemonkey Scripts

One of the most handy FireFox extensions is Greasemonkey. Greasemonkey allows you to customize the way a webpage works using small bits of JavaScript. There are thousands of Greasemonkey scripts available that help you get more from just about any popular website or service. While these may be incredibly useful, they do come at a small cost.

I was able to remove a few Greasemonkey scripts that I no longer needed.

Combining Several Bookmarklets into One Button

Bookmarklets don’t place any processing load on your browser when they are not being used, but they do take up space on your toolbar. I was able to remove the following highlighted bookmarklets from my toolbar and replace them with functions in Quix.

How to use Quix

Just go to Quixapp.com and drag the Quix bookmarklet to your Bookmarks toolbar

Click the Quix bookmarklet and type a short command (1 – 10 letters).

The command above (bd) will bookmark the current page to your Delicious account.

Your browser performs a helpful task for you.

Here is a full list of Quix commands and what they do.

If you have some coding skills and like getting your hands dirty, you can even create you own custom commands.

Quix Bookmarklet Video Tutorial

The following video shows how to install, configure and use Quix to make your browser more powerful.

Overview: You will learn how to use Instapaper.com’s service to quickly clean, reformat, and save articles on the web to a convenient location for you to read later.

What is Instapaper?

When you are on the internet, you probably find important, interesting, or useful information. The problem is that just don’t have time to read it at that moment. With just one click, Instapaper reads, cleans, and stores the information for you to read at your convenience.

Allows you to easily save information from the web into a central location to be read later on in a clean, simple format.

Advantages of Using Instapaper

Here are some of the main advantages to using Instapaper:

• Clean formatting for efficient reading experience (plain text and simple images)
• Stores the URLs to the source material
• Easily share your saved material
• Great third party integration

When you have a busy page (like the one below) that may have Headers, Footer, Sidebars, Ads, lot’s of media, and other distractions. It is not the optimum reading experience. This can be exacerbated by being on a mobile device or in a hurry.

Just click the Read Later bookmarklet and save a copy for later reading. Check this article to see how bookmarklets improve your browsing experience.

This is what the Instapaper version looks like. A little easier to read, don’t you think?

If you want to see the original page, just click the View Original button at the top of the page.

See How it Works

Here is the whole process:

1. Create an account at Instapaper.com
2. Add the Instapaper bookmarklet to our browser’s toolbar
3. Enter your Instapaper credentials
4. Click the bookmarklet when you find a page that you want to read later
5. Go to Instapaper and read your stuff

See Instapaper in Action in the Video Tutorial Below

Where you can Use Instapaper?

You can use the Read Later bookmarklet in any desktop or mobile browser that supports bookmarks.

Many Twitter clients for iPhone have it built right in.

RSS Readers like Google Reader and some desktop readers.

See the full list of places where you can use Instapaper on their website.

Instapaper Alternatives

There are a few other services that offer similar features out there.

ReaditLater uses a Firefox plugin to save pages to a location where they can be read at your leisure. They have an iPhone app too.

Readability is another tool that works through a bookmarklet to strip out distractions and give you a cleanly formatted page to read.

For the old school types out there, you can try the PrintWhatYouLIke bookmarklet and send a stripped down, clean page to your printer that you can read later.

PrintLiminator does a similar trick and works really nicely.

What’s Your Favorite Tip?

If you have any other tips for cleaning and saving content from the web for reading later, I would love to hear them. Shout it out in the Comments below.

OVERVIEW: You will learn how to perform some essential steps on a new computer that will provide a more secure, problem free computing environment.

Protect and Care for Your New Baby

When you take a new computer out of the box, it’s like a new-born baby that needs to be protected and handled with care. There are some essential things that you should do before you bring your new baby out into the world. This article will show you how to dramatically increase the health and safety of your new computer.

The tutorial focuses on three main areas:

1. Updating your WIndows Software
2. Security Software
3. Routine Maintenance

Updating your Windows Software

Run Windows Automatic Updates before you do anything else on your new computer. This will go out to Microsoft and install any Windows updates that affect system security and stability.

Click the Windows (Start) button, then select Control Panel from the menu.

This will open the Control Panel. There will be several options accessible from the Control Panel that will allow you to view and modify settings on your computer.

Select Turn automatic updating on and off and make sure that Automatic Updates are ON.

Then, click Check for updates to download and install all of the appropriate updates. This may take a while, depending on how many are available. After this is done, your computer will restart and updates will happen automatically. (That’s one less thing to worry about.)

Security Software

There are many things that you can do to secure your computer, but I’m going to stick with some of the most basic and effective ones. You will need to set up the following:

• Firewall – Prevent people from getting into your computer.
• AntiVirus – Detect, Prevent, and Remove Viruses that can harm your computer.
• Spyware Detection and Removal – Detect and Remove Spyware that can harm your computer.
• Malware Detection and Removal – Detect and Remove Malware that can harm your computer.

Turning on the Windows Firewall

Windows XP, Vista, and 7 all come with a pretty good firewall already built in. The only thing you need to do is make sure that it is turned on. Go to the Control Panel again.

Click System and Security.

You will see a list of options. Select Check Firewall status under the Windows Firewall heading.

Make sure the the firewall is turned on.

Installing Antivirus Software

The most important security software on your computer is Antivirus protection. My favorite Antivirus software is AVG Antivirus, which happens to be free, light, and very good.

The first thing you should do after you install and launch your antivirus software is update the virus definitions. This is the latest list of bad stuff that it will look for. Click the Update Now tab and then the Update button.

Once you get the first batch of updates, it will get them automatically from now on. Click the Computer Scan tab to check your computer.

Installing Spyware Detection Software

Spyware is another threat to both your security and performance. Spybot Search & Destroy is an excellent, free spyware removal tool.

This is just like the antivirus setup. Search for the Updates and then Scan your computer.

Installing Malware Detection Software

Malware is yet another lovely type of crap that screws up your computer. MalwareBytes is a great free tool that will help you find and remove this scurge.

Yup, you guessed it! Install, Update, Scan, just like the last two tools.

Routine Maintenance

Just because your computer is protected from the evil doers out there, doesn’t mean that it’s protected from itself. The longer your computer runs, the more junk, gunk, and funk will creep into the works. I use two excellent tools to perform routine maintenance on my computer: CCleaner  and Defraggler.

Keeping your computer Clean and Lean

CCleaner is one of my favorite system utilities of all time. Small, simple, effictive, and free. Is that enough for you? CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner.

Use the three panels on the left side to:

1. Clean junk files from your computer and browser
2. Diagnose and Repair Registry problems (This is a HUGE help.)
3. Uninstall Software (The right way.)
4. Control which programs run when Windows starts (You’ll be amazed at what junk is chewing up your power.)

You should probably perform these steps every week or two.

Defragment Your Hard Drive to Speed Things Up

After you start using your computer for a while your hard drive starts to get fragmented. This slows down your computer’s performance. Windows has defragmentation software build right in, but the free Defraggler works better and faster.

Just select your hard drive and click the Defrag button. (This will run for a while, so kick it off when you’re not busy.)

You should run disk defragmentation about once per month.

See the Video Tutorial

If you’re not quite sure about any of the steps that are covered here, watch the following video tutorial to see and here how they work.

Getting All of That Software in One Shot

I just covered several applications that you will need to download and install on your computer. See How to Create a Bulk Software Installer in this tutorial. You will see just how easy it is to install tons of great free software on your new computer in just a few clicks.

What are Your New Computer Security and Maintenance Tips?

If you have any other good tips on what to do to a new computer, I’m all ears. Enter your best tips in the comments below.

OVERVIEW: You will learn how to install dozens of awesome, free applications on your computer in 5 simple steps. No money, 200 Point IQ, or Back-Breaking Labor required!

Once you get past the excitement of getting a new computer, then the aggravation sets in. You have to download and install all of the software that you need. This can take hours and hours even if you’re organized.

You can spare yourself so much of the pain involved with this process by using a bulk software installation tool. I recently found a tool that creates an installer that automates the process of installing multiple applications.

Ninite.com gives you a selection of close to 100 free or open source applications that can be added to a 1-click installer. Some of these are my absolute favorite apps of all time. (Firefox, Skype, Digsby, Notepad++, DropBox, Evernote, and many more.)

Follow the steps below to create and run a Bulk Software Installer.

Creating the Installer

Open your browser and go to http://ninite.com.

You will be able to select from a large collection of free/open source applications that are grouped into several categories.

Select the checkbox next to all of the applications that you want to include in your installer.

After you select all of the applications that you want to include in your installer, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the button.

You will see the Download page. This page will display all the icons for all of the applications that you selected for inclusion in the installer. The click here to change apps link will return you to the previous page, where you can add or remove applications.

Your download should begin automatically. Use the click here to retry the download link if your download does not begin right away.

You can use the permanent link to get a link to the installer download page. This is convenient if you want to share this collection of apps with other users or computers.

Installing Your Collection of Applications

You can either save the installer file to your computer and launch it, or let it run automatically from your browser.

Saving the Installer to Your Computer

The installer’s file name will include the applications that you selected.

Double click the installer file when it has finished downloading.

Automatically Running the Installer When it Finishes Downloading

If you elected to automatically run the installer when the download finishes, you will see the following window.

Click the button to launch the installer.

This is actually the last action that you are absolutely required to take. Everything else runs on its own.

Monitoring the Installation Process

The installer file does not actually contain each applications installation files. It downloads them when it is run.

Click the Show details link to monitor the progress of your installation process.

You will see the list of applications that you included in the installer. You will be able to follow along and see which applications have been downloaded and installed.

When all of your applications have been installed, you will see the following confirmation.

Click the button to exit the installer.

That’s it, all of your applications are installed and working as if they were each installed manually.

Printable Instrucitons

Click to Download a Printable Version of these Instructions.

See How it’s Done

The following video tutorial shows how to Install Multiple Applications using a Bulk Software Installer.

What Applications Do I Bundle?

I put a huge list of applications by category at the bottom of this article. (I didn’t want to break up the flow with a huge list.) You can also check out one of my lists of my favorite free applications:

22 Most Useful Free Applications for your PC (2009)

26 Best Free Mac Applications (2009)

32 Free Applications that I Could Not Live Without (2008)

What Applications Would You Put in your Installer Bundle?

I would love to hear what you think. Let me know what applications would you include in a Bulk Software Installer in the comments below. (List OS, then Apps.)

List of Suggested Applications to Include

Here is a list of some of the availabe applications that I highly reccomend:

Web Browsers

Google Chrome

Opera

Firefox

Messaging

Skype

Pidgin IM

Digsby

Mozilla Thunderbird

Media

iTunes

Songbird

Hulu Desktop

VLC

Winamp Lite

Audacity

Spotify

Imaging

Paint.NET

Google Picasa

GIMP

IrfanView

Inkscape

Documents

OpenOffice

Foxit Reader

CutePDF Writer

Security

Microsoft Security Essentials

Avast

AVG Free Anti-Virus

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware

Spybot – Search & Destroy

Runtimes

Flash

Flash Player 10 for other browsers

Flash Player 10 for Internet Explorer

Java JRE

Microsoft .NET

Microsoft Silverlight

File Sharing

uTorrent

eMule

Utilities

ImgBurn

CCleaner

Launchy

Revo Uninstaller

Defraggler

RealVNC

TeraCopy?

CDBurnerXP

7-Zip

Dropbox

Evernote

Google Earth

Steam?

Developer Tools

FileZilla

Notepad++

OVERVIEW: This video tutorial shows how to set up a collection of portable apps on a USB drive that can be used to diagnose and repair almost any broken windows computer.

The Difference Between Men and Monkeys is Tools

During the holidays I typically spend a great deal of time travelling to see freinds and relatives. As you may have guessed, I frequently get asked to "fix" everybody’s jacked up computers. When I’m not at home with all of my resources, it’s pretty hard to figure out what’s wrong and even harder to fix it. What if thier internet connection is down? There goes just about all of the things that you can download to fix any problems. These are the sort of catch 22’s that I’m usually up against.

Since I’m not about to carry my laptop and a bunch of other junk to a New Year’s Eve party, I decided to build myself a portable USB Rescue Kit that takes up no space in my pocket. Now, next time I get asked for help, I can spring into action, diagnose, and fix thier PCs in time to see the big ball drop. If you’re the "computer guy or gal" in your family, you can prepare yourself to handle these situations by investing about $10 and 30 minutes of your time building your own kit.

How to Set Up Portable Apps on a USB Drive

Here is a tutorial for loading portable apps on a usb drive that I wrote a while ago. It walks you through the process of setting up a portable application suite on a USB drive.

What Apps to Load on Your Rescue Drive

Now that you know how to set up your USB drive, you need to know which applications and utilities that you want to have in your arsenal.

I set myself up with the following applications (in no special order):

• Antivirus (ClamWin)
• Disk Defragmenter (JKDefrag and Defraggler)
• Archive Tool (7zip)
• FTP Tool (Filezilla, Putty, WinSCP)
• Remote Access Tools (VNC, RDP)
• CD / Disk Imaging Tools (InfraRecorder)
• Screenshot / Screen recorder – (Lightscreen and VTuteRecorder)
• Spyware Remover – (SpyDLLRemover and RootKitRevealer)
• Password Manager – (KeyPass)
• System Cleaner – (CCleaner and Revo Uninstaller and PC Decrapifier)
• Registry Tools – (Wise Registry Cleaner and Dial-A-Fix)
• Media Player (VNC and K-Lite Codec tool)
• PDF Tools (Foxit and PDFTKBuilder)
• Software Serial Numbers (ProdUKey)
• Communications – (Skype and Pidgin IM)
• Startup Management – (Startup Manager and CCleaner)
• Wi-Fi – (WirelessKeyFinder)
• Plus any Office, Internet, and Graphics tools that you may think you need.

ReadWriteWeb recommends a good list of portable apps and utilities that you can use to repair a computer. A Computer Repair Utility Kit You Can Run From a Thumb Drive (Just about all of them are included in my build.)

Where to Get Good Portable Apps

There are a few great sites that have all of the applications on this list and plenty of others.

PortableApps.com has a great suite of applications and a very nice launcher tool that basically makes your portable suite into its own operating system.

LiberKey.com has a 270+ applications in their extensive catalog. If you can’t find the right tool here, it probably doesn’t exist.

PenDriveApps.com has a large, albeit poorly organized collection of useful application and utilities.

LupoPenSuite.com has a collection that combines dozens of USB and Web-Based apps that can perform typical productivity, media, and maintenance activities.

Video Tutorial for Building a USB Recue Kit

The following video will show you how to install and configure your USB Rescue Kit.

What to do After Everything is Fixed

After you get that nasty mess cleaned up, you may want to do a little preventative maintenance. Set up this newly healthy machine with a few good tools:

• Antivirus Protection (AVG or Avast)
• A Good Browser (Firefox, Chrome, or Opera)
• Malware Protection (Spybot Search and Destroy, Malwarebytes, Microsoft Security Essentials)
• PDF Tools (Foixt Reader and CutePDF  Writer)
• Safe P2P Downloading (uTorrent and eMule)
• Zip Tool (7zip)
• System Cleaner (CCleaner)
• VNC Server (RealVNC so that you can connect to their machine and fix it later)

Before you balk at how much time this will take to set up, there is a great tool that will make this take just a few minutes. Ninite.com allows you to create a "batch installer" that will download and install dozens of great free applications in just a few clicks.

Set yourself up with a bulk installer of recommended applications and keep that on your USB drive to install once your done. Since they download the actual files at the time of installation the files will take up less than 200K on your drive.

My Holiday Gift to You

Here’s the prize for the diligent PC repairman who has read this far. On Christmas Eve (December 24th, 2009) I will select one random commenter to receive a 4 gig USB drive that I set up with everything mentioned in this article, plus a few extra goodies. The rules are simple: Just leave a comment about who you would help with this USB Emergency Kit. Good luck to all!!!

OVERVIEW: This video tutorial shows how to use Google Voice to convert your speech to text that can be used in other applications. Use the feature that converts voicemail audio to text.

The Best Voicemail System Ever

Once you see the iPhone’s Visual Voicemail, you realize how cool it is. Well, Google Voice has actually one-upped them by adding the new voice transcription feature to what is already an incredible voicemail system. The audio for all of your messages is saved in an inbox that works just like an email inbox. This alone is pretty cool, but then they convert the message to text and put it in your inbox too. When you click the play button to hear the voicemail, the transcribed text is highlighted in sync with the audio. The words that are in black text are usually perfect, while the ones in gray are 50/50. They also send the text to your email, so that you can read the message without having to play it. This cuts hours and hours of blah, blah, blah time out of your life.

I have been using this feature when I come up with "good" ideas while I’m on the go. I just call my Google Voice number from my mobile phone and leave my idea as a message. Then, when I get home, I just copy and paste the transcribed text into Word, an Email, or whatever other application are applicable.

How to Use Google Voice’s Text Transcriptions with Other Apps

Just log in to your Google Voice account and go to the Inbox.

Once you call your Google Voice number and leave a voicemail, it will be saved in your inbox as an audio file. Google’s severs will also convert the audio in the voicemail to text.

The length of the voicemail will be displayed next to the Play button. The words that are in gray text (not black) are ones whose accuracy is "questionable". You should double-check them for accuracy.

When you click the play button, the text gets highlighted in green along with the audio. (This is actually pretty cool.)

Now that your voicemail has been converted to text, you can copy and paste it into any application that you want.

See How it’s Done

The following video tutorial shows how to use the Google Voice audio transcription feature to use your messages as text.

Good, But Not Perfect

While this is a cool feature, it is FAR from perfect. I’m sure that there will be tweaks and upgrades down the road, but I’m really impressed with its humble beginnings. I would love to see some vocal training or learning features added, sort of like Dragon Naturally Speaking has had for years.

OVERVIEW: You will learn how to use Synergy, a free software application to control multiple computers with one keyboard and mouse. These computers can all be running different operating systems.

What Is Synergy?

Synergy is an open source software application used for sharing a single keyboard and mouse between multiple computers. One user can control several computers in the same physical area, with a monitor connected to each. The “server” software runs on the computer with the keyboard and mouse connected and the “client” software runs on the computers that are being controlled. Synergy can run on all of the popular operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, and UNIX) at the same time. This means that you can move your cursor from your Windows desktop to control a Mac, and a Linux machine without batting an eye.

Why I Use Synergy

I constantly need to use and document applications in Windows, Mac, and Linux environments. This requires me to have at least one machine set up running each of those operating systems. I currently have three laptops on the desk in my office running each of those systems. Synergy allows me to line them up next to each other and use my mouse to bounce back and forth between them as if I was using a single, very diverse computer. The best part of it is that there is a common clipboard that allows me to copy pictures and text from any machine and paste it on any other machine, as if I was pasting from MS Word to PowerPoint on the same computer. (Regardless of which operating systems.) I could also see this being powerful for someone running a computer room at a data center.

Getting Synergy on your Computers

If you’ve read this far, I’m assuming that this sound kind of interesting to you. Well, enough sales, let’s see how to make it happen. Start off by downloading and installing the software on all of your machines. FYI – there are a few different variations of the Synergy software/project available, but they all play fairly well together, so just pick one that you’re happy with.

Windows: Synergy, Synergy-Plus, Synergy KM, Quick Synergy

Mac: Synergy, Synergy-Plus, Synergy KM, Quick Synergy

Linux: Go to your distribution’s Applications installer, then search for and install Synergy and Quick Synergy. (Synergy is the service and Quick Synergy is the GUI that let’s you configure the service.)

The steps differ slightly based on the specific software installed on each operating system, but the concepts are the same. I will include links for each application’s specific instructions below.

Configuring Synergy

Once you have the software installed on all of your machines, you are ready to begin configuring your systems. The biggest decision is which computer will have the keyboard and mouse physically connected. This will probably be based on some sort of unique personal preferences. The computer with the keyboard and mouse physically connected will be the “Server”.

Before you go any further, find the Internal IP Address and Computer Name of all of the machines that you are going to control.

Configuring the Server (Computer sharing its keyboard and mouse)

You need to tell the server which computers it is going to be controlling and where they will be physically located (to the left, right, above, diagonally above, etc.).

Enter the computer names of each machine and place them where they belong. As you can see in the image below, I have three computers set up, with “christopher” in the center, “Laptop” on the left, and “cm-mac” on the right.

The interface will look slightly different on each OS, but they are conceptually alike.

Configuring the Clients (Computers “borrowing” the Server’s keyboard)

Now that your server knows about the other clients and where they are located, you need to tell the clients to allow the server to take control of them.

Select the Use Another Computer’s Keyboard and Mouse option on the client machine. Then, add in the Server’s Internal IP Address. If you set a password on the Server, enter it on each client machine. (Use the Advanced button below.)

Once you have your client(s) configured, click the Start button to give control to the Server’s keyboard and mouse. That’s it! Now, just move your cursor across the edge of your monitor onto the next machine. The cursor will instantly start to move on the client machine and anything that you type will be happening on the client machine. If you want, you can select and copy text on that machine and then move your cursor to one of the other machines and paste it in seamlessly. Pretty cool and simple, right?

See Synergy in Action

The following video shows how to configure Synergy to share a keyboard across Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. It also shows you a simple example of what you can do once you have everything set up.

Alternatives

There are of course a several available options for working with multiple operating systems. I actually do use a few of them when the situation lends itself, but none of them give you the most power and features of each OS all at the same time. Let’s take a look at some of the alternatives and their pros and cons.

What are your thoughts?

What do you do when you need to work on multiple machines and operating systems? Please let me know in the comments. If you have a cool solution, I would love to feature it in a future article.

OVERVIEW: Learn how to use bookmarklets to get every drop of power out of your favorite browser.

What are Bookmarklets?

Bookmarklets are special bookmarks that add one-click functionality to a browser or web page. They look like normal links, but are written in Javascript and can perform different tasks depending on what page you’re visiting, what text you have highlighted, etc. When clicked, a bookmarklet can apply filters to the page you’re viewing, open prompts for searches, or a host of other helpful features. Bookmarklets are added to your browser as a bookmark and usually work in all browser.

What Can Bookmarklets Do for You?

There is no limit to the type of things that you can do with some clever bookmarklets, but here are just a few of the things that I use them for on a regular basis:

• Open your email app (Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) with the title of the current page and a link to it; poised for you to enter a recipient. (In one click.)
• Subscribe to a new blog in Google Reader without all of the annoying clicking.
• Strip out all of a pages junk (ads, header, footer, sidebar, etc.) and send just what you want to your printer.
• Look up Definitions, Translations, Currency Conversions and other useful information with one click.

How to Use Bookmarklets

Acquiring and using bookmarklets is both incredibly powerful and simple. Follow the steps below.

1. First you need to make sure that the Bookmarks toolbar is visible in your browser. View> Toolbars> Bookmarks Toolbar (Links in Internet Explorer)
2. Find a web page that has bookmarklets that you can "grab" (See list below under the Additional Resources heading.)
3. Click and drag a bookmarklet to the Bookmarks/Links toolbar on your browser.
4. Click on the bookmarklet when you want to use its functionality.
5. The Javascript will run and perform the specified action.

Video Tutorial

The following video shows you how add bookmarklets to your browser and use them to improve your web surfing.

Take your Bookmarklets on the Road

Bookmarklets are not just useful in your desktop browser, they also provide extra functionality and convenience to your mobile browser. In fact, they’re even move helpful on a mobile browser, because they make up for the lack of flexibility that a full size screen and keyboard provide. I use Xmarks to sync my favorites across all of my browsers and iTunes to sync them to Safari on my iPhone. If you use another smartphone (Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, or Symbian), you can sync your bookmarklets too.

Here is a list of great bookmarks for your mobile browser.

Additional Resources

Now that you know how awesome bookmarklets are, you probably want to know where to get them. Here’s a list of places where you can find bookmarklets to do just about anything you need.

Digital Inspiration’s Guide to Most Useful Bookmarklets for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.

Your HTML Source’s Bookmarklets Explainedx

Marklet.com’s Bookmarklets Directory

LifeHack.com’s 20 Useful Bookmarklets

LifeHacker.com’s 10 Must Have Bookmarklets

ToThePC.com’s 30 Useful Bookmarklets for KickAss Web Browsing

UPDATE

Check out this cool tutorial on the Instapaper Bookmarklet. It allows you to save, clean, and optimize articles on the web for you to read later on. You’ll love it!

OVERVIEW: You will learn how to turn your favorite web applications into standalone desktop applications using site specific browser tools.

What Is a Site Specific Browser?

A Site Specific Browser (SSB) is is an application with an embedded browser designed to work exclusively with a single web application. It doesn’t have the menus, toolbars and accoutrements of a normal web browser.

Benefits of Site Specific Browsers

OK, I know I "can" break web based apps into standalone desktop apps, but why "should" I? Well, there are a number of benefits to SSBs.

• Use just what you need. Crop the window down to just the usable part of the application. (Pandora)
• Control each application separately.
• When one application crashes (and they always do), you all of your other tabs don’t go down in flames too.
• Have One Application visible all the time.

What Sites have I Applicationized

Pandora  – I like to be able to control this just like I would iTunes when it is palying. It just works well as a really tiny, really awesome little music player off in its own littl corner of my screen.

RememberTheMilk  – When I want to manage or add to-do’s to my task list, it is very handy to have RTM sitting in its own little window.

Google Voice  – Truth be told, I don’t use GV that much, but when I am using it, I just keep it off to the side.

Worth Considering?

Email – If you can’t make the jump from Outlook to full webmail, this may help ease you along. (Kind of like the patch for dektop junkies.)

Meebo Instant Messenger

Twitter App – There are a bunch of nice desktop Twitter apps (TweetDeck, Seesmic, Twhirl, etc.), but there are also some cool web based ones too (TwitHive, Seesmic Web App, GTwit, HootSuite, etc.). If these float your boat, you can turn them into a full desktop applicaiton.

Google Reader – Some people use Google Reader as a power tool for the web. These users may enjoy splitting it off as a standalone applicaiton.

How to Make Site Specific Browser Apps for Your Desktop

There are a few tools that make creating these standalone applications simple. You just install one of the tools listed below. These tools create a framework on your machine that allows the web sites to function as independent applicaitons. Then, you create your applications from a simple wizard.

Each tool has its own secific steps, so pick the one that is appropriate to your operating systems and get started.

Here are some of the ones that I have tried on the three major operating systems.

Windows:

Mozilla Prism -  This is built by Mozilla, so it uses the Gecko (Firefox) rendering engine to run your web apps on the desktop. Bonus – you get to use Firefox extensions and Greasemonkey scripts to customize your desktop applications.

Bubbles – This Windows only tool gives you a very simple wizard to turn your favorite site into an applicaiton. It also has a small but powerful set of extensions.

Google Chrome (Browser, not OS) – To put a Chrome Application Shortcut to Gmail, Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook, or any other webapp you like to keep open in a separate window, open the site in Chrome. From the Page menu, choose "Create application shortcuts." From there decide to put your shortcut on the desktop, quick launch bar, and/or Start Menu.

Mac:

Fluid – This Mac only tool is built on the webkit (Safari and Chrome) rendering engine. It is very simple to use and creates stable web applications. You can also use most Greasemonkey scripts to customize your new creations.

Mozilla Prism -  See Windows section above.

Linux:

Mozilla Prism -  See Windows section above.

Video Walkthrough

The following video shows how to turn a Web Service into a Desktop Application using Site Specific Browser technology.

Cool Hack

Put links to the application launcher in your Bookmarks. Then, you can launch it straight out to a standalone from your browser.

What Sites Would You Put on the Desktop?

What applications do you think are best suited as standalone desktop applications?

I would love to hear what you think. Let me know what sites you have converted to a SSB in the comments below.