Most web-based email services limit the file size you can send or receive. The practice is especially common for mail boxes on corporate networks. If you ever need to send or recieve a file larger than your inbox allows, look no further than YouSendIt for a solution. Simply upload your file, enter your recipeint’s email address, add a custom message and send. The recipient gets a pick up notice in their inbox with instructions on where to go to download the file you sent. Quick, easy, limitation shattering!
The YouSendIt service comes in several flavors including the free Lite version which allows you to send files up to 100MB. If you need to send larger files, consider signing up for their Pro or Business plans for a very reasonable monthly fee.
One of the ways I keep up with great online resources is to bookmark them. I’m sure you’ve clicked that “bookmark” or “favorites” button in your web browser a few times, too. Over time though, my collection grew unwieldy and I could never find an easy way to keep up with them across the various computers I use. I tried del.ico.us and a couple of other social bookmarking sites but they didn’t really meet my needs. I wasn’t necessarily looking for a way to share my bookmarks with others as much as I needed a way to access them from anywhere.
A couple of weeks ago I added the Google Bookmark widget to my iGoogle page. 
That’s the ticket! It’s simple, easy to organize and available anywhere by logging in to my iGoogle page. I’ve taken the time to actually visit most of the bookmarks in my collection. It’s been fun rediscovering a lot of terrific resourceful sites. Good thing I bookmarked them. Now I can share them with you. Stay tuned!
I just hate getting a call from a mysterious phone number! I figure if it’s not a number in my phone’s directory, I certainly don’t know the person. I’m obsessive about keeping numbers in my phone. Personal, work, you name it. So was it someone who dialed a wrong number? Someone I know calling from a strange location? Opportunity knocking, er - calling? I can’t stand it, I have to know.
The Internet is perfect for solving this kind of mystery. My favorite reverse phone directory resource is SuperPages.com. Here you can do a reverse search by residential or business phone number or address. Just type in that mysterious phone number and see the address and name of the person calling. Of course unpublished numbers aren’t included, but it sure beats the days of going to the library to look up this kind of information.
Even though I haven’t been blogging for long, I recently decided that I was bored with my first choice of blogging tool, Blooger. It was very easy to use and I would highly recommend it to anyone starting out. But…
Last Friday I met with Doug Karr, who is working on a Google mapping project for us at Wild Birds Unlimited. Knowing that Doug is a very sucessful and prolific blogger who uses WordPress, I took the opportunity to ask him about it. I few mouse clicks later he was giving me a “behind the scenes” tour of the WordPress interface. Wow! What a difference - I was hooked.
I spent the weekend moving my stuff from Blogger to WordPress. I was worried that I would lose my posts and comments in the move. I studied the help section and followed everything very carefully. Then to my amusement, I arrived at the WordPress ”Magic Button.” One click and everything from my Blogger account magically appeared in WordPress. Most excellent! Now, if I could just find the “Magic Button” in my laundry room.
I know just enough about graphic design to be dangerous. I can hack my way through using PhotoShop but it isn’t 
pretty. I always struggle with making rounded corner graphics for that nice Web 2.0 look. Today I found a nifty tool called Cornershop that will make my life easier. Simply type in your page background hex color, the corner radius, transparency and viola, instant corners! You can download .gif images ready to use in your page layout or download CSS or HTML code. All this for free. Gotta love coders!
OK, I know I’m off to a rocky start with this blogging thing! I’ve already broken one of the cardinal rules of blogging by not posting for a loooong time. Well, life takes strange turns sometimes and that’s what happened to me recently.
I’ve been fortunate to work with Marty Bird, a fantastic boss, mentor and friend for the past nine years. A few weeks back, Marty announced that he would be leaving Wild Birds Unlimited to join a local start-up, Compendium Software. Suddenly, it all made sense! Marty was the one who challenged me to start a blog in the first place. Little did I know at the time that he was about to go to work for a company whose tools help organizations create, manage, and search-optimize multiple blogs.
Besides being very happy for Marty, his departure from the company sent me into a “resource-less” panic. You never realize how much you rely on a person you spend 8 hours a day with until he isn’t right across the hall ready to brainstorm at a moment’s notice.
For now, I’m learning to get input from other co-workers when thinking through work situations. They’re a set of resources I knew existed but haven’t used to their full potential until now. I think it’s going to be a good thing.
So, dear readers, I’m back at it. I’ll try to add new resourceful tips on a regular basis from now on.
Oh yeah…and I still haven’t purchased an iPhone!
I’ve been tagged by Marty of Technology, Marketing & Birds to share my Eight Random Facts.
Here are the rules for Eight Random Facts:
- Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
- At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
- Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
And here are the eight random facts:
- As a child I was terrified of Sammy Terry, a local host of horror movies on late-night TV. (Shivers, I just clicked on the link to his site and I think I still am!)
- I started riding motorcycles at the age of 5.
- I was the first-ever female editor-in-chief of my high school’s newspaper.
- I spent the summer before my senior year of high school studying and living with a wonderful family in Mexico as a participant in the IU Honors Program in Foreign Language.
- I’m kind of a picky eater.
- My parents recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Mom & Dad, you rock!
- I recently joined eHarmony.com but I’m too scared to respond to any of my matches. (Sheeesh!)
- I believe that everything in life comes down to three things; love, respect and responsibility. If you have those three things for yourself and for those around you, you can work through anything.
I’ll have to think of other bloggers to tag.
If you or someone you know will be flying the friendly skies this summer, make note of these cool travel tools:For those among us who need to know what the environment will be like on the plane, SeatGuru.com provides a detailed look at your scheduled flight’s seat configuration. Want to know if your assigned seat has more leg room or if the aircraft is equipped with video monitors? No problem, just locate the listing for your airline and the type of plane and you get a complete picture of what to expect.
And if you’re like me and can never find your flight number listed on those annoying monitors at the airport, keep up with your flight’s status with FlightStats.com. Register with the site to receive a text message on your cell phone if your flight is delayed. You can also get a notice when a flight departs or arrives at its destination.
Have fun with these tools and I wish you safe travels!
Today I was driving around town when my tummy decided some frozen custard from Ritter’s would be a good thing. Not knowing where to find the closest store, I whipped out my trusty cell phone and dialed up my new favorite resource: GOOG411. Within seconds I knew exactly which direction to head and shortly thereafter was enjoying a frosty treat.
This free service from the good folks at Google is a voice-activated phone directory available by dialing 1-800-GOOG-411. After dialing the number, the rest of the process is handled by voice prompts, making it ideal for use while driving. The automated system will ask the city, state, business name or category you wish to search. Next you’ll listen to a list of matching results, choose one and have Google dial the number for you.
The service is currently experimental, though I’ve had good results every time I’ve used it. Plus, it sure beats paying the 99 cents my cell provider charges for a call to 411. (Air time applies.) The next time you need an address or phone number, give GOOG411 a try!
I admit it, I’m a gadget geek. The smaller and shinier the better. Apple’s new iPhone definitely falls into that category.
I drove by my local AT&T store yesterday and looked longingly at the other geeks waiting in line for the iPhone to go on sale at 6:00 p.m. I didn’t get in line, though.
Today, I actually went in the store to hold an iPhone and take it for a test drive. It’s much more tempting than I expected. Grrrrrrr! Even though it’s bigger than I would like and requires signing a two year service contract, the clean Apple interface and overall cool factor nearly got the better of me.
But I resisted. Being the resourceful diva that I am, I reminded myself that the $599 price is quite steep and not a good use of my hard earned cash right now. I decided to wait a month and see if I’m still itching to buy this uber-cool device or if it’s just a passing impulse. So, that’s my resourceful tip for today, folks: avoid impulse purchases by giving yourself a time out. If you find that you still want the item after this self-imposed cooling off period, then it’s likely not an impulse buy and worth the financial resources you’ll spend on it.
The iPhone is real hottie, but I’m going to resist buying it for now. (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…)
