You have to remember that hundreds of thousands of people who have given up their job search in the depths of the recession are all going to pile back onto the job market quicker than you can say ‘credit crunch’.

So I thought I’d share with you a tip I use when I’m looking for more blogging jobs. This tip can be applied for when you’re looking for work, a new house, great deals and other thing that are hard to come by. I simply set up iGoogle to perform how I want it to so it can become my Mission HQ.

Firstly, go to Google (if you don’t already have an account, create one). In the top right-hand corner click iGoogle. Then, from the tabs located to the left of the screen click ‘Add a tab‘ and give it an appropriate name in the box which appears.

Now that your new tab is created we have to add some gadgets which will help you in your job search. Our main tool here will be the RSS gadget so I need you to do the following.

Visit sites specific to your job search. Craigslist will cover pretty much everything from jobs to houses to items for sale. Most other jobs search websites also offer RSS feeds as a way of bringing you back to the site with the promise of alerts. Right-click on the feed’s icon and copy the address. Then go back to iGoogle.

Click on the ‘Add Stuff‘ link at the top right of the screen. Along the left-hand side in the sidebar you’ll see an Add Feed or Gadget link. Click on that and paste in the link address you copied from the RSS link on the job site and click ‘Add‘.

The RSS feed should now appear in iGoogle like my example at the bottom of this post. Keep repeating this procedure for all the job searches (or any other search) you like. Here are some popular websites which offer RSS feeds and jobs, apartments and more are frequently posted.

• Craigslist
• Twitter (perform a search and then use the RSS feed for that search)
• Indeed
• Yahoo HotJobs
• Monster

For more job search websites, click here.

Finally, click on ‘Change Theme from Classic‘ and select one of the cool themes they have there. This doesn’t really improve your iGoogle HQ but you don’t want to turn on your computer every day and see the same generic theme, do you?

Now all you have to do is check back daily and follow up on anything promising. Without a doubt you’re ahead of the competition by making iGoogle your search HQ because while you’re giving the advertisers a call they’re still rummaging through search results.

Photo Credit: Danard Vincente

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But now I am going to take a look at another link in the Google network chain by discussing a new iGoogle feature – social features.

This newly introduced set of features, which are still rather in the spartan stage, allows you to add social features to your iGoogle page.  This could be anything from playing chess with another Gmail user to sharing and collaborating information.

Let’s take a look at what there is.  I can’t cover them all but I can give you a broad overview.

The one I like the most is being able to play chess with another Gmail user. When you add the chess module, this is what it looks like on the main page :

The little crowd logo in the top right hand corner shows that the module belongs to the social gadgets group.  Now when you open it up, these are the options you will find :

You can start a new game (either by inviting a Gmail user from your Gmail Contacts or starting a game and waiting for someone to come along and accept), see your current games and you can even be taken to chess rules and techniques on Chess.com if you feel you are getting your butt whipped by your opponent.

There seems to be no limit to the number of games you can take part in and each game has various limitations on how long you have to move.   If you started the game, you can choose or if your opponent started the game, they get to decide. It’s a lot like “ItsYourTurn” which I have profiled twice in the past here and here..

But chess is not the only thing you can do on iGoogle. You can also play scrabble with other Gmail users but for some inexplicable reason, this game is only restricted to US users. Bah! Google, please remove this stupid restriction – I want to play Scrabble!

Moving swiftly on, you can also show your Flickr and/or Picasa photos and see others which your Gmail Contacts are also showing under “shared photos”.

As far as collaboration tools are concerned, the only current one is a basic yellow notepad where you can add tasks and then share it with other Gmail contacts who presumably can add to it or delete from it.  The collaboration column is to the right where you can specify who you want to share with but they must have this app installed too on their iGoogle page – or it won’t work.

If you wanted any further proof that Google is snipping away at Facebook, then take a look at iGoogle’s new “TimeLine” where you can say what you’re reading, listening to, watching and where you are at that moment – and read the same from your Gmail contacts.

When you start typing, you will start to get a drop down list of possibilities :

and eventually when you have filled in everything, it should look something like this :

As you start to play around with everything, you’ll see that it is all fully functional, but nevertheless a bit rough around the edges. The notepad collaboration is nothing to rave home about but obviously with a bit of improvement, this could turn out to be a lot better. They should also expand their list of social gadgets and maybe ditch some of the useless ones (a tile game is perhaps a bit pointless – at least to me anyway).

But once again, we are seeing another piece of the Google social network being slotted into place alongside Reader. What will be coming next?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Ten Cool Gadgets You Must Add To iGoogle (15)
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For those of you who have been living in space for the past few years and who don’t know what iGoogle is, this is the big G’s attempts to get you to personalise your Google start page with what you want to have on the page. This could be gadgets that Google offers you or gadgets that you have made yourself. You can also have various themes to decorate your page.

But as I said, you can now create your own iGoogle themes and even have them automatically uploaded to the Google Directory so that other people can use them and enjoy them too.   Here’s how to do it :

• First, go to ThemeMaker and click on “Upload An Image”.



• The upload box that appears is identical to the one that pops up in Gmail when you are uploading your picture in the settings. As you can see from the screenshot, you can choose an image from your computer, Picasa Web Albums or an URL,The image in question needs to be a minimum 680 pixels in width and needs to be in either JPG, PNG or GIF format. I decided to go with an image of the Marienburg Fortress in Würzburg, Germany.



• When the image has uploaded, now comes the VERY tricky part and it took me ages to get this right. You may have to re-upload the image and crop the image over and over again until you get it right. Using your mouse, you have to crop the image to specify what you want to show in the header. But depending on the image, it may not work the first time around. Or the second time. Or the third, or the fourth…or the fifth… When you think you’ve finally got it right, press “apply changes”.



• Next, you’ll be asked for some “theme info”. So give your theme a name, give your own name and describe your theme. Then press “create theme”.



• Nope, you’re still not finished yet. But don’t despair because you’re almost there. Now you have to specify to Google if you want to keep your theme private or if you want to share your creation with the world. You also have to accept Google’s Terms Of Service. If everything looks good, just click “accept” and you’re done.



• You’ll then be taken to your iGoogle page where you’ll see your newly installed theme!

You can make a nice collection of imaginative and creative iGoogle themes in this way and offer them to other people. I will post the link to the Marienburg Fortress theme here when Google puts it in the themes directory.

Have you used ThemeMaker to make your own iGoogle theme? If so, what theme did you make?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Remember the Milk is my task manager of choice, and is one of the most popular task applications on the Web. It’s powerful, it’s simple to use, and does a great job of taking all my tasks, and showing me the ones I need to see.

My favorite feature, though, and the one that helps with the whole “write it down or die” mantra, is the absurdly large number of places from which you can manage your tasks with RTM (Remember the Milk). You can use a number of different applications or methods to manage your tasks, and it’s accessible to you no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

Here are eight of the best ways to manage your RTM tasks:

1. The Web

This one’s the obvious one, but it’s great. With Remember the Milk’s web interface, you can have lists, tags, due dates, time estimates, high-powered search, and a number of other killer features that make RTM worthwhile. Plus, with the addition of Google Gears, you get all the functionality offline.

RTM can serve as a desktop application for those who want one, a web application, or a hybrid of the two- plus, it’s available from anywhere with a browser (including your phone- but we’ll get there).

2. Your Cell Phone

For any cell phone with a browser (all smartphones, plus a huge number of others), you can access RTM through their mobile interface. It’s somewhat stripped down, but gives easy access to all of your tasks, as well as letting you add and edit tasks.

If you’ve got a Windows Mobile phone or a Blackberry, RTM offers an application called MilkSync that will sync your tasks to the native task application on your phone. That way, you can edit your tasks on the phone, offline, and then sync them back to the Web. It’s free, but requires a Pro account, at $25/year, that gives a huge number of other features as well.

3. iProducts

If you’ve got an iPhone or iPod Touch, RTM recently released a native iPhone application that is truly a killer for managing your tasks, offering all the features of the web app, on or offline. It has the same search, editing and adding features that the Web does, and also adds a “Nearby” feature that lets you know what tasks you can do near where you currently are- a great use of the iPhone’s geolocation features.

I use it every day on my iPod Touch, and it’s the primary way I deal with my tasks. They do require a Pro account, after a 15-day trial.

4. Google Desktop

Google Desktop is a desktop and Web search program for your computer, as well as a gadget program similar to Dashboard for Mac OS. RTM doesn’t officially offer a gadget, but there is a Google Desktop Gadget that looks like the mobile interface, and allows you to manage your tasks right from the desktop, with only a mouse click or two Shift clicks to bring it up. It lives in the background until you need it, and then provides all the access you need to your tasks.

5. Twitter

RTM’s Twitter bot is one of the features I use the most. Just follow RTM on Twitter, and activate it through your account. Then, you can add or complete tasks through direct messages with RTM.

To add a task, just type “d rtm yourtask.” To complete one, type “d rtm !complete yourtask.” RTM’s smart, which means you can also add due dates, assign tasks to other people, or even request a list of all the tasks you have due today. You can actually manage all your RTM tasks without ever leaving the Twitter window.

6. Email / Gmail

Every RTM account has its own private email address, which you can use to send tasks. When you email RTM, it reads the subject line of the email as the name of the task. Using keywords, you can set due dates, priorities, or almost any other feature to your tasks right in the email. RTM will put the task in your Inbox, where you can process it later.

For Gmail users, there’s also the Gmail Gadget, which allows you to manage all your tasks from the Gmail sidebar (underneath the chat and labels).

For Firefox users, there’s a popular extension called RTM for Gmail that puts a separate sidebar into Firefox with a full-featured task manager, and one that integrates beautifully with your emails.

7. Your Home Page

RTM has modules for both iGoogle (Google’s popular start page), and NetVibes, another popular start page application. They’ve both got all the requisite features- adding, editing, sorting, completing, postponing. With these, you can see and manage your tasks from the minute you open your browser; no remembering to open the page or check your to-do list, as it’s put right in front of you.

You can also use the gadget links on a number of other start pages by manually adding them, though they’re not officially supported by RTM.

8. Adobe AIR

If you’re looking for a pure desktop application from which to manage your tasks, look no further than the Adobe AIR application called Remember the Task. Remember the Task basically puts the mobile interface, the tall rectangle, into a desktop application that you can use just like any other offline app. It’ll have its own window, be easy to find, and be always available to you.

These are only the tip of the iceberg – there are a ton of ways to interact with your Remember the Milk tasks, and it’s a truly ubiquitous way to have a to-do list. It’s also a saving grace for those of us with a lack of remembering skills.

How do you manage your task list, RTM or otherwise?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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One minute I was trawling for articles, blissfully convinced that Facebook was all I’d ever need to connect me to items of real time relevance. The next I was pulled into a vortex created by masterminds so ambitious and intrusive, they plan to index the worlds information. Yes, I’m talking about Google (and their latest uber-success, iGoogle).

iGoogle began its life with the name ‘Google Personalised Homepage’, briefly became ‘Google IG’, and a few makeovers later, emerged as iGoogle, a name that makes it sound like an Apple product (iPod, iTunes). Nobody seems to agree on what the most popular startpage service is but iGoogle is up there. Users are so passionate about their iGoogle pages that recent changes were met with uproar and violent protestation. The ‘changes’ were basically a new sidebar and the removal of some gadget resizing privileges. Yep, people are obsessed.

iGoogle isn’t just for accessing feeds from your favourite sites; there is a growing catalogue of gadgets from reputable developers. Google are also inviting people to create gadgets, both practical ones and social stuff of the ‘here’s what I’m up to right now’ Twitter/Facebook variety. You can see why people are saying it’s the next Facebook. What’s good about iGoogle is that the gadgets tend to be useful (feeds, search aids, shortcuts), not vacuous (throw a mudpie at your friends! become a werewolf/pirate/vampire!) and no one – absolutely no one – is going to poke you, ‘get low with’ you, post lewd comments your mum can read or invite you to rate their sexiness.

Here are the best of the best iGoogle gadgets for streamlining your online life:

1. A Podcast Player

If I say “I heart this” does that blow or bolster its case? A Podcast Player is a neat little player with a search facility; enter your search term into the bar at the top, choose your favourite podcast directory from the scroll-down list, and away you go. The options are Feedster, all4RSS, Podkast, Digitalpodcast and Podscope.

If you don’t have a favourite, I recommend the Podscope directory; here you can find a piece of audio according to the words that are spoken in it!

For example, if you want to find podcasts that mention Obama, simply enter ‘Obama’, select ‘Podscope’, press ‘Find’ and voila: ‘A Podcast Player’ returns a list of audio and the exact times (0:53, 1:45, 1:49) the keyword Obama is mentioned! Pretty amazing, and great for people like me who love to listen to news (or any podcast) as they work on the computer. You’ll find a lot of interesting stuff.

2. Driving Directions

The beauty of iGoogle is that the gadgets are integrated so well with key Google services. Driving Directions is the ultimate gadget for people who finds themselves scrolling dumbly in Google Maps or thumbing through a street directory, trying to trace journeys that jump from page 46 to 49B to 109, back to page 46 and so on.

With Driving Directions you have two entry bars (’From’ and ‘To’). Enter your starting address and destination and you’re redirected to Google Maps, where the page is sized just so and your route easily plotted. You also have the option of sharing the map by pressing ‘Send’ or ‘Link’ in the top right hand corner.

Google Maps is great because it contains business information; there is a large and growing catalogue of business locations, so you can search by, say, the name of a restaurant or bar even if you don’t know the address. A good startpage shortcut to a useful service.

3. Digg

Not sure which feeds to track on iGoogle? Why not be a sheep and let public opinion decide?  Digg is the ultimate online popularity contest; the Digg iGoogle gadget lets you keep track of the articles people are digging.

Click the tabs at the top of the gadgets to view either News, Video, Images or All Content, or you can opt to see a list of what your friends are digging (if you have any Digg friends).

To filter according to content, open the scroll-down menu in the top righthand corner and choose between Science, Technology, Entertainment, World and Business, Lifestyle, Sports, Gaming and Offbeat. The gadget is updated continuously, so you’ll know as soon as something rises in the Digg ranks. Keep track of what’s creating buzz on the web from the safety of your startpage.

4. Facebook

A sprawling page within a sprawling page. Once upon a time Facebook was my number one web destination. Now it’s just another little box on my iGoogle page. Like a big fish swallowing all the little ones, Google is insatiable and unstoppable.

Who can resist? No need to visit Facebook anymore; just add the Facebook gadget to iGoogle and keep track of who, exactly, is poking you.

5. Memba Velodoc

To be fair, Velodoc is a great large file sharing service, and would deserve a mention even if they didn’t have an iGoogle gadget. The fact that they do just confirms how damn fantastic they are.

Have a large file you can’t send via Hotmail or Gmail? No need to burn a CD, send anything via post, sign up with some paid site, or even register with anyone.

Enter your email into the Velodoc file sharing gadget and the ‘Browse’ button will appear. Search your directories for the file you want to send, click it and send away.

Now, this is what’s great about the Velodoc service. The person you select as your recipient will receive an email. They’ll open it and find a neat little link. They’ll click that link and be directed to another neat little page- minimal text, no images- where they can download your file.

For a while I was using Sendspace (another free large file sharing service) and thought it was fine until I actually opened what I was sending. It was all pop-up ads, blocks of weird text and flashing arrows next to the words ‘Download Here’! After you opened my file everything was good, but that interim page was a killer: really gaudy and unprofessional looking. Not good if you’re sending files that are supposed to land you a job, which is what I was doing.

Don’t make the same mistake I did. Send files linked from nice-looking pages, and do it in your iGoogle. Great for people who send a lot of audio files, images or videos.

6. Anagram

Another shortcut to Google services – this time to Google Accounts and Google Calendar.

Anagram is really just an efficient way to save contact details to Google Accounts and add events to Google Calendar. No need to navigate all the way to Accounts and enter somebody’s number, name, etc. Simply enter their information in the Anagram text box in an incoherent blob. For example

Bob 77447744 3 Grate St

You don’t even need to keep pressing enter. Anagram will do the rest for you. A lazy person’s dream, and perfect for when you need to take details down fast.

Calendar details work the same way; this time you’re writing ‘Staff Lunch 3 November 5:30′. Anagram will understand what you’re doing and submit the information to Google Calendar.

7. Dictionary.com and Wikipedia

Two commonly used references in one handy gadget. Flip from tab to tab to alternate between Wikipedia and Dictionary. Results open in a new window, so your iGoogle is safe and secure.

8. Internet Bandwidth Speed Test

Created by an independent developer and applauded for its accuracy, this quick and easy speed test estimates your bandwidth and places you on a spectrum between plodding dial-up and hardcore DSL.

9. World Webcams

For the voyeur inside us all. Spice up your iGoogle with popular webcams from all over the world. Watch a beach in the south of France one day and a bustling scene from Rio the next. All pared down (of course) to iGoogle size. That’s about 5 x 6 cm, though if you’re really keen you can expand it to fill the page.

10. Random Google Gadgets

There are new gadgets popping up all the time, and we all know that the most useful, innovative stuff isn’t always the most publicised (remember our feature on Google services that get no love?).  With this gadget you can test drive a different, random Google app every day, and have the options of keeping stuff you like.

So what gadgets sit on your iGoogle page?   Which ones get your love?    You might also want to check out Mark’s earlier article from May this year on how to make your own personalised iGoogle gadgets.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Make Your Own Personalised iGoogle Gadgets (8)
• Make Your Own iGoogle Theme With ThemeMaker (15)
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Keeping this in mind Gmail has some new lab features that allow you to keep a close watch on other Google services.  One of the most recent ones and the subject of this article are the Google Docs and Google Calendar gadgets, as well as the ability to add iGoogle gadgets to your Gmail account.

These are all available under Labs on the settings page (or you can click on the labs icon at the top as well). Once you are there you just have to enable the appropriate Lab features.

Google Calendar Gadget

This gadget lets you view upcoming events, locations and details as entered in your Google Calendar.

Google Docs Gadget

Provides the ability to view recent as well as starred documents in your Google Docs Account, as well as providing search functionality to search documents right from within the Gmail page.

Add other Google Gadgets

While the Calendar and the Docs gadget are provided as distinct lab features, you also have the ability to add iGoogle Gadgets to your Gmail page. This opens up an array of possibilities considering the number of gadgets that are out there.

The screen real estate is limited in the left bar of Gmail page where all the gadgets are placed when you add them. However with a new lab feature surfacing every now and then, we can hope this shortcoming is overcome sooner rather than later. Moreover, we may now see developers developing gadgets specially for Gmail or modifying existing ones for Gmail.  Nevertheless, there are some gadgets out there that don’t require so much space.

Recently Gmail also received Canned Responses and Gmail Goggles. Check them out as well. Also check out the “Navbar Drag and Drop” Labs feature which allows you to reorder content on the left navbar.

The Lab features are stepping stones to what could finally find its way into Gmail. Google collects data about usage of Labs features and there is a Google Group which you can join to have your say. You can also use the “Send Feedback” link to post on the Google Group for that particular Labs feature.

While some of the Lab features are intended for a little fun like the Old Snakey and Gmail Goggles (yes I don’t believe it can stop you from sending drunk emails), there are other features that are pretty useful and make you wonder why it was not included in Gmail in the first place.

Which Lab feature is your favorite?  Definitely the calendar and docs gadget in Gmail are two of the more useful labs features.  What else would you like to see in Gmail?   What gadgets are you planning to add to your sidebar?

Let us know in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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It appears to be organized this way: each of your tabs appear in the left navigation and listed under each tab are the gadgets included in that tab. When you click the link for a gadget, it appears on its own in the main portion of the window. Click the tab name and all the gadgets appear as before. The switching between gadgets and tabs is very fast, almost instantaneous, so when you open the Gmail gadget on its own, for example, it’s much faster than opening Gmail itself. Of course, you’re not getting all the Gmail features, only the ones that are part of the gadget. Google calls this feature, canvas view and you can also access it by clicking on the maximize button on the gadget itself when viewing an entire tab.

It all appears to be very much in the experimental stage. Things don’t seem to work even as Google’s Help page describes. For example, the Help page shows a screenshot of a feed in canvas view, which looks an awful lot like Google Reader.

When I try it though, I get what appears to be a single gadget on a page, with no extra functionality and a “you might also like..” list of suggested gadgets.

The new iGoogle also includes Google Chat right there in the left navigation column.

Are you salivating yet? Dying to try it? Well sorry, it’s only open to developers. But wait, can you keep a secret? OK don’t tell anyone but if you go and sign up to play in the iGoogle sandbox, you’ll instantly have access to the new test version.

You do have to give them a few pieces of information about yourself but it’s mostly stuff Google knows about you already (email, name etc.)

Don’t want to play with it anymore? Go back to the same link and the experimental version will be turned off. (But remember, if anyone asks, you’re a developer, right?)

The full rollout of the new iGoogle is expected next month.

(By) Jason Mayoff is a radio newscaster, tech geek and the Make Use Of Podcast Editor. If you’re ever in Montreal, Canada you can hear him on CJAD 800. You can also find Jason at Podcasters4Hire.com and pleasantnights.com, where he talks about keeping an organized and clutter-free home.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Make Your Own Personalised iGoogle Gadgets (8)
• Ten Cool Gadgets You Must Add To iGoogle (15)
• Make Your Own iGoogle Theme With ThemeMaker (15)
• Google Introduces Video Audio Indexing to Labs (2)
• Google Gadgets To Download For The Fun Of It! (6)

Now the conspiracy theorists in the world are speculating that iGoogle is the start of a Google social network, the beginnings of a rival to Facebook. But if so, I would say it’s very early days and Facebook needn’t worry too much. Right now, iGoogle is just a collection of amazing artwork and useful (and not so useful widgets, sorry, modules) that has found itself a very loyal following among Googlers.

Amazing artwork aside, why is iGoogle so popular? Well, let’s see. Do you have a blog? Yes? Well then why not make a widget with your constantly updating RSS feed so other people can have it on their iGoogle page? Such a simple idea but you’d be amazed at how many people have asked me for one for my own blog . You’re probably thinking it’s involves a lot of programming but nothing could be further from the truth. It only involves a few clicks and a few seconds. Just enter into your internet browser the following line (obviously removing ENTER YOUR BLOG FEED URL HERE with the actual URL of the blog feed).

http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&moduleurl=ENTER YOUR BLOG FEED URL HERE

So for example, Make Use Of would be http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&moduleurl=http://feeds.feedburner.com/Makeuseof

This would then take you to your personalised iGoogle page and the widget will appear. You can customize it by clicking on the downward arrow button at the top right and you can drag the box around the screen with your mouse if you want to reposition it.

So whenever somebody asks for your iGoogle module, just give them the URL above with your blog feed URL attached to the end – that’s it! Google does the rest.

Now if iGoogle ends up becoming your default browser homepage, you can have widgets that show your Gmail, your calendar, your RSS feeds, and much more. You can then create your own additional widgets such as to-do lists or framed photos. In other words, iGoogle can easily become your one-stop webpage and there’s no need to go anywhere else. I can easily imagine a future scenario whereupon Google scraps the plain default Google dot.com search page and automatically pushes everyone to their personalised iGoogle pages instead.

When you’ve got developers constantly pushing out new iGoogle applications all the time, it’s easy to see why people are comparing iGoogle to Facebook. The only good thing about iGoogle is that you don’t (as yet) have total idiots coming up and poking you. Or your enemies coming up and stabbing you.

Web Worker Daily published a list of some nice useful widgets that you might want to consider putting on your iGoogle page. I am using the Google Analytics one which is quite good. The iGoogle directory starts here and oh you might want to check out a feature Lifehacker did some time back called “Show Us Your iGoogle” where readers sent in screenshots of their iGoogle pages. It might give you some inspiration. Personally I am not sure what to put on my page yet. I am wracked with indecision!

(By) Mark O’Neill is a blogger and professional freelance writer. Visit his blog at BetterThanTherapy.net

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Jump Into The Sandbox & Play With The New iGoogle (7)
• Ten Cool Gadgets You Must Add To iGoogle (15)
• Make Your Own iGoogle Theme With ThemeMaker (15)
• Google Gadgets To Download For The Fun Of It! (6)
• Get Your Google Profile Organized For Friend Connect (13)

Here, I have listed the resources I have used in the past, and those I’m currently using, for your own benefit.

Online Dictionaries and Thesaurus

Reference.com – Comes with a dictionary and thesaurus, and is one of my favourite destinations to know the meaning and origin of a particular word. You can use it for free, although there’s a premium version of the site that you can pay for if you need pronounciation help.

The Free Dictionary – Get ready to learn a lot of things at the Free Dictionary site. It’s an awesome resource that has information categorized, helps you with definitions, spelling bee games and lots more. The site also features a start page where you can add your favourite modules and learn things new every day.

Visual Thesaurus – At Visual Thesaurus, you can have a great time exploring words and related terms and play around with them. Includes a pronunciation helper so you need not worry about getting a word wrongly pronounced. Some other features include examples of usages and additional tips to help you from mistakenly using the wrong word. Available as a download, it’s worth paying for.

Google’s Define Operator – Since people have got used to Googling for everything that you can imagine, it’s not a surprise that they’ve included a little functionality to their search engine. If you want to know the meaning of a word, just type define: followed by the word in the Google search box, and get the definitions instantly on your screen. Example: define: intuitive.

Definr – Definr calls itself an incredibly fast dictionary, and it really lives up to its name. Type in a word, and get the meaning instantly. Advantages – it loads really fast so you rarely have to wait. But it seems to have a smaller database of words when compared to the tools mentioned above.

HowJSay.com – This is a brilliant web 2.0 tool, just type in a word and get it pronounced immediately. It might prove very useful in some situations. This site has a large database of words so you won’t be disappointed.

Offline Dictionaries

WordWeb – WordWeb functions as a dictionary tool that comes packed with the features that you expect in a dictionary. Select a word from any application and then press a shortcut to find out its meaning in WordWeb. Something you’ll love is the way its interface has been designed. In case you need synonyms, related terms, etc, just click on the appropriate tab and you’re done. The Pro version includes a few more capabilites, although the free version might be more than enough for your needs.

Merriam Webster – Puts the reputed Merriam Webster Dictionary tool on your PC. Get instant meanings, just a right-click away. Spell Checker included.

Enso Dictionary and Spell Checker – Instantly check the spelling in your text by holding down a hotkey (works universally in Windows). Also included is a dictionary that can be activated using the command ‘define’

Grammar Resources

The BBC Learning English site has loads of information on English grammar, such as FAQs, exercises and quizzes. If you still need more, you can test yourself with the aid of exercises in these sites:

About.com Grammar Quiz, Interactive Grammar Quizzes, Grammar Self Tests, 40+ Resources to improve your Grammar and Punctuation

Dedicated Portals

BBC Learning English – There’s just so many things here that you can retain for learning – quizzes, crosswords, podcasts, radio and many other useful resources all under one internationally-recognized brand. It’s a site that must be bookmarked.

Wordie.Org – This is a social network centred around words. You can list your favourite words and phrases, see who else has your favourite word in their list, browse around their lists, tag them and have lots of fun. Create words you hate, words you find weird, words that make you laugh etc. Within a few minutes of wandering on the site, you’ll find lots of new terms that could improve your vocabulary skills.

A Word A Day

The following sites are updated every day with words that you might have never heard of. You can see their origin, etymology, pronunciation and a lot more. You could subscribe to their newsletters and spending less than a minute every day you can enrich your English vocabulary greatly.

Wordsmith’s A Word A Day – One of the world’s most subscribed-to newsletters.

Other “Word of the Day” sites: Yahoo! Education, Merriam Webster, Oxford’s Word Of the Day.

Podcasts

Podcasts are MP3 files that you can download and play on your computer or your portable media player such as your iPod. I listen to the Grammar’s Girl Podcast quite often. Maybe you want to tune in as well.

eBooks

Project Gutenberg – 20,000+ downloadable books. An awesome project that has rich classic books included. Download and distribute, share the knowledge. You have content here that’ll take you a lot of time to read and quench your thirst for literature. Books from many languages are available, just take your pick from the online Gutenberg catalogue.

There’s quite a lot of Shakespeare stuff as well, Google is your friend.

Foxit Reader – Ok, you download a lot of eBooks in the PDF format, but do you find that your Adobe Reader software slows down your entire computer? Get this alternative instead. It’s called Foxit

Educational Games

Jumble – A game I love to play when I see it in the newspapers every morning. It’s playable online and downloadable.

BingoBinge – Play Scrabble Online

ManyThings, Hangman Flash Game – Play Hangman Online

Blogs

There are of course a few blogs that provide tips on improving your English. You can check these that I found: Daily Writing Tips, The Grammar Vandal, Triangle Grammar Guide.

Start Pages

These are quite great, and can save you loads of time. A Start Page is a page on the web that you can customize with stuff that you need to keep an eye on. For example, my start page contains modules that give me access to a few blogs, top news stories and weather:

Likewise, you too can create a start page with modules like a dictionary, word a day stuff, etc. Try Netvibes or iGoogle. Trust me, if you know how to use them, you’ll find them very helpful and fun to learn with.

Let me know in the comments if you found the post useful.

(By) Shankar Ganesh, a 16 year old guy from India who blogs about computers and soft at Killer Tech Tips.

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