My Top Ten Software Tools

Social Media Automation, Free Goodies, Free WordPress Templates

Free Stuff

Optimizing Social Media Automation

Mike Troiano writes convincingly that automation in social media is something that should be handled with care. Read More →

Free Goodies

I always like to get something  for nothing. Here are some services, downloads and sites that are 100% free. Free Goodies Here →

Free WordPress Templates

Here a few gorgeous free WordPress templates. Free Templates →

HostMonk, Skype on Mobiles, ColorSplash, HomeMade Pizza

Homemade Pizza

HostMonk Compares various web hosts according to price, platform, bandwith, memory, CPU type, and management. The original article for this information came from the good people at makeuseof.com. lifehacker has an article on this ( via makeuseof.com) Read Lifehacker Article Want more on reliable, affordable web hosts? Read More Here>>

Skype Comes to iPhone, Blackberry: phonescoop and Reuters have the news on this development. The application for putting Skype on the iPhone will be available Tuesday, March 31st, 2009. The Blackberry application will make its debut in May. Free long distance phone calls anyone?

iPhone App ColorSplash: This app allows you to dress up pictures on your iPhone with vibrant colors. ColorSpash sells for $1.99 Read About ColorSplash>>

Make Home Made Tasty Pizza: I haven’t tried this recipe yet; I’m on a special diet. When the diet is over in a day or so I may just have to fire up the old oven. Make Pizza at Home>>

Who’s on Crack in Tech: 03.27.09, Browser Wars, TwitterSheep

Browser Wars

From Gadgetell: Who’s on Crack in Tech

• Best Buy = Best FAIL
• China hates Chad Vader?
• April Fools’ Worm is hungry
• Facebook just messes with us
• Surveys – Hate ‘em

Read More Who’s on Crack Here>>

Browser War: IE8, Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. Read More Here>>

TwitterSheep is a handy app that works with Twitter to form a tag cloud of subjects your Twitter followers are talking about. I just discovered that marketing is the most popular subject my followers talk about . . . even though I’m not a marketer. That’s what I get for following back all those marketing types that follow me!

Low Down,Dirty Best Buy?, MixTape.me, Mac Apps Galore

Cool Music

Hey Mama by Black Eyed Peas

Oh say it ain’t so Best Buy! Tell me it’s not true you lure unsuspecting victims customers into the store with the promise of honoring price matches, only to pull the rug out from them when it’s time to pony up. More Best buy Shame>>

When I found out there was another music service on the internet, I groaned: not another one?! I was skeptical till I tried out MixTape.me I was B L O W N  A W A Y!! The  MixTape.me UI (user interface) is slick, the music is CD quality – crisp and clear. MixTape.me is a music mashup: it integrates artist bios and album art from Last.fm, song lyrics from LyricWiki and music videos from Youtube. MixTape.me is most definitely worth your time: take a few minutes to look around – don’t be shy about registering for a free account, as I did. ReadWriteWeb has an informative article on MixTape.me

Alright Mac-Heads, this one’s for you. 100 Free Mac Apps to die for Pt. 1 and here is Pt. 2

Beware The Twitter Worm! This worm is only a proof-of-concept right now, if it isn’t addressed soon, it may become reality. Read More Here >> (ReadWriteWeb)

Technologizer’s 5Words, Beware of Internet Thieves, Twitter Visualizations

Internet Thief

Technologizer’s latest big tech news stories. 5Words

ReadWriteWeb has an interesting article on PC security: “Is Your Pc Part of a Botnet?” The things criminals are able to do these days are quite scary. Please stay safe: Use a firewall, antivirus, antiphishing and keep your software updated regularly. Remember, the biggest threat to your online security is between the chair and the computer – you! Don’t click on links sent to you in an email from someone you don’t know.

I like playing around on Twitter. I have used Monitter before. I also tried something similar to Twittearth. I look forward to trying out the other Twitter visualization tools. 6 Unique Twitter Visualizations from Mashable

Friends With Benefits Wedding. I always enjoy a wedding. This video is hilarious! FWB Wedding (contains mature language)

Cruxlux, Apple Takes Advantage?, Revolutionary Baldness Cure

Male Pattern Baldness

Cruxlux, currently in beta, looks at the current web page you are viewing and scours the web for related material. It then summarizes the material it found and presents it to you. The nice thing about that is that you never had to leave the web page you were working on initially. More About Cruxlux

Is Apple taking advantage of the consumer? There appears to be a tiny chip on the iPhone Shuffle’s headphone control system that has been installed for the purposes of DRM (Digital Rights Management).  iPod Shuffle Uses DRM? boing boing has more on this. boing boing article

Revolutionary Baldness Cure: Male Pattern Baldness Finally Meets its Match. Silly Video

5 Words for You, Google Voice Replaces GrandCentral, Beta Firefox Extensions

Technologizer’s excellent read on the world of technology.

Google Voice takes the place of GrandCentral. Read More Here

Experimental Firefox Extensions

Rules? We Don’t Need No Stinking Rules!, DoINeedAnUmbrella, In-Flight Internet

Airbus 380

Read about five people who got tired of the time proven, sound advice of the “media experts”. They marched to the beat of a different drummer and won – against the odds! Read More Here

DoINeedAnUmbrella I already use, Yahoo Upcoming looks interesting. Are there any Cool Websites and Tools you like?

I have flown on average once a year for the past five years. I have never used the internet on any flight, although I would consider it on a long, boring flight. Here is an article on the state of in-flight internet

Good Deals, Reddit for iPhone, Free lifehacker apps

If you are like me, you are always on the lookout for good deals on electronics. Here are a few items that are on sale this Valentine day’s weekend. More

For those of you who would like the official reddit app on your iPhone, wait no longer! More

Here are some good productivity tools from our friends at lifehacker. More

Best Free Software, Free SAT Prep

Lifehacker

Lifehacker has a list of their favorite free software. I currently use seven of the forty or so products mentioned in the article (Firefox, VLC Media Player, Gmail, CCleaner, Google, uTorrent, and IrfanView). There are two others I used in the past but no longer use. I guess I got tired of all the scans and looking for updates in exchange for mixed results. The two others are Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy.

Lifehacker List

Free SAT Help

If I had done better on my SAT s, I’d be on a beach in  Ipanema instead of writing this blog. Get your kids ready for the SAT so that they won’t have to toil thanklessly in anonymity!

Free SAT Prep

Twitter and Fring

What is Twitter? Twitter is a community of micro bloggers who send out posts, or tweets, that tell others in the community what they they are doing. Read more here: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/twitter

I really like Twitter. I have been a twitterer(tweeple) for a few months now, and I must say, I did not see any use for it. Why Do I need to tell a bunch of people what I’m doing? Do I care what all these guys are tweeting about? At first my posts, or tweets as the twitter community says, were few and far between. Now, they can’t get me to shut up! The twitter community has about two million users worldwide, with the majority living in the U.S.

Here is a link to a video that explains more on Twitter: http://current.com/items/89362068_twitter_tweeters

iPhone owners, how would you like to make free international calls via Wi-Fi? Well, now you can Fring http://www.fring.com/ just became available as a download from the iTunes store. Check Fring out.

Update Firefox 3 Download Day

Success! Over 8 million downloads of the new Firefox 3 web browser have occurred world wide in the last 24 hours.

Got a Question? Want to let the world know about a cool website, a hot application, or a neat gadget? Drop me a line at asktonyc@aol.com

“Surf Fast, Surf Free!” (TM)

Best Freeware Utilities, Hopstop Update

I like free utilities that perform as advertised. Some of these applications work as well or better than commercial products. There are many articles out there that claim to list the best free utilities that will make your digital life run smoothly. Here is a list I have found myself returning to time and time again: The Best-ever Freeware Utilities List, http://www.techsupportalert.com/dr/

Hopstop update: I tested two of the three mobile features Hopstop, http://www.hopstop.com/ , offers(I do not have the smartphone I would need to see the maps feature that Hopstop can display on PDAS. The Good: The SMS feature functions as advertised. I sent a text message(SMS) to Hopstop – - I wanted directions from a location downtown on the west side of New York City to a destination on the upper west side. In very short order I received five text messages from Hopstop. The instructions they sent were correct and were clear enough to be serviceable. The Bad: If you do not have a text messaging plan, all of these text messages may take a sizable bite out of your wallet. Hopstop’s voice feature lets you speak into your cell phone to ask Hopstop for directions. The directions will still be sent to you in the form of a text message. The voice feature only works for street directions in New York. The voice feature had trouble understanding what I said. I had to repeat my requests several times.

I do not have a smart phone; I was unable to test the maps feature. Perhaps one of you kind smart phone owners will test out the maps feature and let me know what she thinks. The Ugly: I find it easier to use a map or ask for directions. Hopstop sometimes gave me directions that made my trips longer than they needed to be.

Got a question? Want to let the world know about a cool website, hot application, or a neat gadget? Drop us a line at asktonyc@aol.com

“Surf Fast, Surf Free!” (TM)

Hopstop and Phonezoo Games Update

I have been playing with researching Hopstop, http:// www.hopstop.com/ . So far I like what I see. Hopstop allows you to get door-to- door subway and bus directions, and maps for several large cities and metropolitan regions. Parts of the United States that are currently covered include: New York City, Metro North Area, Long Island, New Jersey, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

Another cool feature Hopstop has is mobile capability. After registering on the site and plugging in your cell phone information, you can send requests for directions and get answers on your cell phone. If you have a smartphone you can also view maps. Hopstop also lets you plan a trip with multiple destinations using the itinerary feature. Hopstop also displays search results for places to eat, sleep, stay, and explore. I will post more on Hopstop’s features in upcoming posts.

Do you remember that I said that Phonezoo games can not be downloaded to Verizon Wireless phones?

I also said that I would give the downloads a try anyway, just to see what happens. Well folks, nothing happens. When I went to the download page to get a game, the “send to my phone” button was disabled. This holds true for Alltel Wireless subscribers also.

Got a question? Want to let the world know about a cool website, hot application, or a neat gadget?

Hit me up at asktonyc@aol.com

“Surf Fast, Surf Free!” (TM)

Welcome To Ask Tony C

Ask Tony C
asktonyc@aol.com

Welcome to Ask Tony C, a fun blog sharing cool websites, useful applications, neat gadgets, and funny stuff. Write and tell us about some of your favorite sites and gadgets. Also, check me out at Global Vibe Magazine (www.globalvibemagazine.com).

Cool Sites:
http://www.youmail.com
This site allows you to set different greetings for people who leave a message on your cellphone. You can leave a goofy message for your friends, sweet messages for loved ones, and professional messages for business. Youmail has thousands of recorded messages in many categories. You also have the option of recording your own personal greeting. Youmail also has a wonderful feature called ditchmail. Ditchmail prevents a caller from leaving a message on your phone. I had a telemarketer call me on my cellphone. He was trying to sell me satellite TV. I put his number into my Youmail contact list and set a pre-recorded message for his phone number. The message is one most of us have heard – - a woman says ” we’re sorry – - the number you have called is no longer in service . . .” To use Youmail, it is necessary to make some changes to a few settings on your cellphone. The changes you make will disconnect your voice mail from your cellphone service provider and instead connect it to the servers at Youmail. I recommend that you write down the initial values for the settings that have to be changed; This way you will be able to switch back to your service provider’s voice mail system quite easily.

http://www.jimmyr.com
This cool site takes up a good bit of my time every day. jimmyr (Jimmy Ruska) is a great collection of the best that several sites have to offer: Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, Wired, Youtube, Fark, Wikihow, Stumbleupon, and Lifehacker are some of the sites that jimmyr reviews and posts to his site on a daily basis. jimmyr.com also has a great collection of video tutorials on programming, “How To”, and a wide variety of other subjects that will be of interest to anyone who spends a fair amount of time online. There are so many more great things that jimmyr.com has to offer. So check it out.

http://www.quamut.com
This cool how to site explains in detail how to accomplish certain tasks. It’s great for those who want to acquire a new skill or improve on an old one. I found the section on faucet repair illuminating. The clear, easy to read instructions and the well illustrated diagrams make learning how to get things done a snap.

http://www.spokeo.com
There are a lot of sites that you are interested in. There is only so much time to devote to staying up to date on them. Spokeo lets you stay up to date without having to check up on each individual site. Simply enter the URLs of each site that you are interested in and Spokeo sends out an e-mail (in my case, about once a week) with a link to any new information.

http://www.pandora.com
Free streaming music that’s tailored to your taste. What more could you ask for? OK this site is ad supported; it really doesn’t stop me from recommending Pandora – - it knows what music you want to hear before you do.

Hot Applications:
Kcoolonline
http://www.kcoolonline.com – This site gives you the ability to download your favorite online videos directly to your computer. Kcoolonline will work on videos from over 200 websites.

Mozilla Firefox
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/ – This web browser is superior to Internet Explorer. I used Internet Explorer for years – - it crashed often and without warning. I have been using Firefox for the last few months without one glitch!

IrfanView
This image viewer, created by Irfan Skiljan, allows you to resize, crop, edit, and add text to your images. These are only the tip of the iceberg – - there are many more things that can be done with IrfanView: file conversions, batch file conversions, and red eye removal are also a snap with this handy application.

Screenhunter 5.0 Free
Sometimes when I’m web surfing, I’ll come across some image or text that I would like to make a copy of. Screenhunter 5.0 Free, owned by Wisdom Software Inc., Does just what I need – - quick screenshots with no muss and no fuss.

Ccleaner
If you share a computer with others, you may not want them to be able to track your recent online (or offline) activities. Ccleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com) will remove temporary internet files, empty the recycle bin, get rid of tracking cookies, and empty the History file on your computer. Ccleaner, which comes to us courtesy of Piriform Ltd, also has a neat uninstaller which I found to be quick and thorough. Did I mention it’s free for personal use?

Surf Fast, Surf Free! (TM)

Hey guys, let me know about the latest gadgets people are using in your part of the world or submit any new happenings around the web to asktonyc@aol.com. Spammers can hit me up here: http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/spam/