backboard

Backboard is a simple web app designed to help you collect feedback on whatever you are working on from friend, co-workers, classmates, or anyone:- Marketing teams can collaborate and gather feedback on graphic designs.

- Web designers can get client feedback on their latest designs.

- Students can discuss and evaluate ideas for class projects

Backboard can gather feedback on documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
WPD, ODT, Text and PDF), images (GIF, JPEG and PNG), web pages or other
URLs, and free-form text.

Check it out here: http://www.getbackboard.com
More info here: http://www.getbackboard.com/pages/faq

Get Feedback on your Project.

Add Some Spice to Your Photos

Sync Mutiple Computers with a Microsoft App That Works (really, it does…)

Ever realized you needed a document that was on a different computer
from the one you were on? With FolderShare, you can access your files
from anywhere.

• Keep all your files in sync
• Use
  FolderShare to create a mirrored image of your most important folders -
  like your Favorites, Pictures, and Documents - so they’re the same on
  all your computers.

• Sharing files is easier than ever
• Sharing
  with friends, co-workers, and family is easy when you add and update
  files in a shared library. Large files? Not a problem - FolderShare can
  sync files up to 2 GBs in size. And it works on both Mac and PC.

• Get to your files instantly when you’re away from home
• Install FolderShare on all your computers, and you can access all your files from any computer on the Internet.

Microsoft Foldershare is what we finally settled on after months of trial and error. Hopefully, in us sharing this with you and your business, you can get to syncing with a bit less effort then us. Best of all, unlike many of the other apps we tried, this one is completely free. The only draw back we can find is that there is a 10,00 file limit on a single sync point, but you can get around that by syncing the underlying folders separately. If you need help, as always, feel free to contact us @ 1.866.516.1576 for all your online consulting needs.

A brand spanking new release came out April 22nd and you can Install Foldershare for Windows by following this link.

Please let us know what you think…

Reverse Phone Lookup

If you are anything like us, we use Google for everything. The overwhelming majority of the time, you get what you need. Sometime, its nice to diversify a bit, and use a slick little app with a very specific purpose, instead of using the sledge hammer that is Google.

www.sullr.com

Sullr is a tool for obtaining information from telephone lines in
reverse mode. Very quickly, it will allow you to know the name of the
person responsible and find on the map the address where he is. They have a working version for the iphone as well.

Give it a try, and tell us what you think.

Bringo - Skip “Pressing 1 for English” and Just Get Down to Business

So Simple, but I think I start every entry about a cool new app this way. It is true, the simplest ideas are usually the best. I want to introduce your to Bringo (http://www.nophonetrees.com) their headline reading:

Tired of dialing 1-800 numbers and not being able to get through to a human who can help you?

BRINGO gets your through with no effort on your part.

Here’s how it works (from Bringo Website):

1. Find the company you’d like to call by category (credit cards, mortgages, loans, health care)
2. Enter your phone # (we will never disclose your phone number to anyone, not even your mother!).
3. Wait a few seconds while we navigate the phone tree.
4. When we call you back, pick up your phone and you’re done. No more phone trees.

Ready to get started?

• Click here to list all categories of companies
• Click here for an alphabetical list of all companies

Technorati Tags: bringo, web 2.0

Test ScribeFire Blog Entry

Nothing like being able to post about anything, at anytime, directly from the best browser around, Mozilla Firefox…

This post is being done directly from Firefox to test the latest and greatest blogging tool out there, ScribeFire.

How Much Google Juice Do You Have?

The inspiring design, llc. PageRank Tool

PageRank is a numeric value that represents how important a page is on the web. When one page links to another page, it is effectively casting a vote for the other page. The more votes , the more important the page must be. But, it is also important to realize that Google also measures the importance of the page that is casting the vote, so one vote can be of more “significance” then another. Google then uses all of this information to calcualte a PageRank or PR. A very technical analysis can be found at Wikipedia, Google, and WebWork Shop.

Whats Your Google Juice? Check out Our Page Rank Tool at inspiring design, llc.

Why is it important? Read about Online Marketing - why its important, why you need to do it, and how you can do it now.

Google Gadgets - Make Your Site a Hub

In previous articles I combed over Google Gadgets for your iGoogle homepage. Now, I move into looking into Google Gadgets for your website. How can you male it that a user of your site doesn’t need to leave? Simply give them all of what they need online in one place - your place. The following are a few of the google gadgets we have been experimenting with. Leave us a comment if you use one on your website and have received positive feedback on it. Most of these gadgets lend themselves well to blogs, but can work on a website if incorporated ina tasteful and thoughtful way. Not like we have here…

Contact Us if you would like help setting these or any other gadget on your blog or website.

General Modules

Real Estate Specific Modules

Easy 1099 and W2 Filing for the IRS Challanged

Its that time of year again, and I am not talking about Groundhog Day, even thought it is an undervalued national holiday (and a equally undervalued and spectacular Bill Murray movie.)

Nope, its tax season. And if you are like me, and run a small business, that’s great for your accountant, and not so great for you, your free time, or you wallet. I wanted to pass on a small tool that made my life just a touch more manageable this year. I work a lot with contractors and consultants, which means a bevy of 1099 activity. There are several avenues you can travel down for your employee W2’s or 1099’s. You can let your accountant take care of it, you can do it yourself, or you can let the magic of the world wide web help you along. Since I am a believer in magic (an an online solutions company), I opted to explore my options on the web.

Most services out there will do your 1099’s, but for a price, and most only make sense if you are doing bulk submissions (20-30+). However, I found a little site, with a very apt name: FileTaxes.com

I searched and searched, and stumbled across this one. One can file single 1099’s or multiple 1099’s for a flat rate of $3.49, a great price for the small business that don’t need a ton of them filed. It also efiles with the IRS, mails them to the recipient, provides you with hard-copies, and emails a conformation upon delivery. You can read more at http://www.filetaxes.com

Read more at inspiring design, llc.

This is an article in a monthly series - how to run a business using online tools.

Personal Intro to Your Business Website or Dysfunctial Max Headroom Clone?

I try not to blog too much about what has already been talked about, but could only find one article on gizmoz.com, and since I have been playing with it extensively this morning, thought I would share a bit, and hopefully solicit some feedback.

So to start, what is gizmoz? In short - it is a service that will allow you to generate a talking avatar. You can upload a picture of your face and it will build a 3-D image. It also allows you to put voice to your digital communications. Personal service to the comical extreme. For most of us, once you complete the easy process of building your first (what they call) character-based visual expression, it may come out looking like a dysfunctional mini-clone; eerily reminiscent of the 80’s pop culture icon Max Headroom. So can their be a legitimate business application to this?

I have decided to experiment.

I have produced a short 20 second video clip (see the sidebar to the right) that can be played upon entering my website. From this point on, for the next month or so, I will monitor my analytics account to see if I can keeping more people on my site for longer. Take a look:

Now - I didn’t use myself, since I was trying to give this a hint of professionalism and no matter how many different pictures I used, I couldn’t get it to a point that didn’t make me want to reconsider this experiment. Maybe I am just digitally self conscious, but I’d rather use one of the provided (and admittedly better looking) provided pictures.

Does does this work? We shall see. I will have statistics next month, but in the mean time, take a look, let me know what you think, and if you could ever see using this as an application in your business.

Justin

inspiring design, llc.

202-552-1825