Paradigm Shift

I just had what one might call a Paradigm Shift. I had abandoned this blog because, well, there are so many tech blogs that I was just one tiny paper clip voice among many.

Then I thought: Why just report facts that anyone can find on other tech blogs? Why not make everyday information valuable and meaningful, something to think about rather than just clicking a link and signing up or downloading something?

Thus, I shall, in the future, be drawing spiritual applications from everyday tech news that I read.

Stop laughing, I'm serious. Hope this goes well!

Digsby - Chat with ALL of your friends

You have a friend who uses Yahoo instant messenger. Another friend only uses Facebook, and you hate having to go to twitter.com every time you want to let everyone know you're tying your shoe. Plus, you have email accounts at Gmail and Yahoo, and it's a pain to check every five minutes because you don't know when that important email is coming.
The folks at Digsby have created an all-in-one instant messaging client, which supports AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo IM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, and Facebook IM. It also notifies you when you receive an email from your Gmail, Windows Live Mail, Yahoo, AOL, and any email account that supports POP or IMAP.
Besides that, it connects you to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and LinkedIn. You can update your Facebook status or send a tweet from your desktop.
Digsby also has an amazing feature that synchronizes your settings across computers. If you have a home computer and a work computer, you just need to log into your Digsby account and all your saved settings (layout, accounts, etc.) will be available.
This is a great program for anyone who uses several IM networks and email accounts. You can find Digsby at digsby.com.

Digsby

Google Reader - Get updated.

Long time no update. I shall try harder from now on. Anyway...

I briefly mentioned Google Reader in my post about RSS. I'm currently using Google Reader as my main feed reading program, and it has some great features. First of all, it's on the internet, so I can access my feeds from anywhere with internet access. If you have a Google account, you don't need to sign up for it again. You can set up Firefox to automatically add feeds to Google Reader when you click on the feed link. Google Reader has handy shortcuts, like "r" for refresh, and "u" for full screen mode. After you've added feeds, Google will recommend other feeds for you based on your preferences. You can also star items for easy access.

Google Reader is a great tool for subscribing to and reading RSS feeds. I highly recommend it to beginners and experts.

Flock - the social web browser

Flock! Ah, Flock. I'm using it right now to post to this blog without even having to visit Blogger. What a handy web browser! You can post to Wordpress, Blogger, Xanga, self-hosted blogs, and more! But, of course, that's just the beginning. You can manage your accounts on many social networking sites right from the browser! I post to Twitter and Pownce (a similar micro-blogging service) from the sidebar, update my Facebook status from the sidebar, upload pictures from the sidebar, subscribe to RSS feeds from the sidebar, save text or images from a page onto the sidebar, and I also get notified when I have new e-mails. Not only can you bookmark websites to Del.icio.us and Ma.gnolia, but the latest version also supports Digg! If you're a social kind of person, you should have Flock. But, if not, I'd stick with Firefox version 3, which will be released tomorrow!

Download Flock!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Cooking By Numbers

Don't know what to cook? Try this tool! Just select the ingredients you have, and a list of possible recipes will be generated for you based on which ingredients you have. If you select eggs, milk, and flour (I bet you have those!) a bunch of recipes will come up, including Perfect Yorkshire Puddings and Fried Egg. There are a bunch of recipes on here, and if you're out of ideas, it could be a lifesaver (no, wait, Lifesavers aren't on the list). Just go to cookingbynumbers.com.

StumbleUpon - Wander through the web.

I'm addicted to this one. It takes wandering aimlessly through the internet to a whole new level, because with StumbleUpon I can wander through websites that not only would I probably never have found on my own, but I can review them and add them to my online bookmarks. Just sign up (it's free!) and download the toolbar (it only works in Internet Explorer and Firefox). Then click "Stumble!" and you'll be taken to a website that is under one of the categories of interests (computers, animals, meteorology, art, etc.) that you listed when you signed up. For example, if you told StumbleUpon you liked cats, then you might find a cute cat picture, or if you like homeschooling, you might find good homeschooling resources. You can stumble through one category or choose to stumble through pages in any category you like. You can thumbs-up or thumbs-down a page and review it, and your reviews will go on your StumbleUpon blog. You can also stumble through pages your friends like. It's a really amazing site, and I bet that when you try it out you'll be addicted too. Just go to stumbleupon.com to sign up and get started! If you would like to see my reviews, go to http://sivartm.stumbleupon.com/.

Cafepress - Open your own online shop.

You can open a free online store with personalized products! If you aren't familiar with Cafepress, you should be. It's wonderfully easy to open an online store and add products. The hardest part (for me at least) is coming up with a good product design that people will buy, but Cafepress has helpful resources, like templates and guides to designing an image. Then you just select the product you want, upload the image, write a description, and you've basically got your product. Your store is now open for business. And yes, it works. I've gotten one check already (you can decide how much you want to earn before they send you a check), and I don't even really sell that much (my store is at http://www.cafepress.com/thehamstore, and my mom's is at http://www.cafepress.com/picturepretty). Cafepress is a great way to earn money online, and it's easy, too! Just go to cafepress.com!