However, please allow me to present some multi-engine search engines which you should consider to take the place of your current home page.

Search Hacker (NSFW!)

SearchHacker hosts 15 different custom search engines from its homepage: Real Estate, Baby Names, Webcams, Audio Files, Jobs, Video, Wallpaper, Free Stuff, Questions & Answers, Product Prices, File Search (with filetype filter), Passwords, and BitTorrent.

Unfortunately, the first of the engines listed is an adult image search, featured prominently on the homepage alongside a troubling image of a Disney Princess character (!), so I cannot suggest using this site from work, unless your IT department as well as your coworkers are liberally tolerant of such things (Hint: Most are not).

Yahoo! Glue

Yahoo’s Glue returns multiple types of search results, such as videos, news, images, and biography, on one page. The odd thing is that many of these results come from non-Yahoo sites like YouTube and Last.FM. There’s no plain-vanilla Web search with Glue, but there is a handy Yahoo search box in the upper right.

Serchilo

Serchilo can be thought of as a command-line interface for Web search. For example, type “g keyword” for a Google search, or “g! keyword” for an “I’m Feeling Lucky” search. If you’re shopping, try “a keyword” for Amazon or “e keyword” for eBay.

Once you’ve memorized the commands, a search plugin is available for your browser. If you register, you can create your own commands.

Katapulco

Katapulco wins the multi-search game hands-down because of its quick and simple interface and availabilty of over 90 search engines from a single command line. It uses a shortcut system much like Serchilo, but allows for its users to create custom commands without signing up for an account. Use of more than one shortcut at a time is possible, and such results appear in a tabbed interface.

Katapulco will be my new home page for a while, but I’m sure that I’ve missed some great ones, so please share your favorites in the comments.

Honorable Mentions: The original multi-search, Dogpile, Dogpile’s cousins, as well as Twingine (Google + Yahoo).

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/

• Quickly Search All Of Your Favorite Sites With Sputtr (9)
• Google Social Search Makes Your Search Results Personal (7)
• 10 Sites to Compare Google vs Bing Results Side By Side (10)
• Search Google, Yahoo, Bing & Twitter From Your IM Program (16)
• MUO Polls: Best Google Search Tips & Operators (16)

Fortunately we will never have that problem, because if we did, the American recession, along with every other recession across the world would be double what it is today.

The problem is that although Google is essentially the answer to every website’s search difficulties, it’s not perfect for individual sites. You’re forced to browse to whatever particular site that you are looking for, type in your search term(s), and browse through your results. Although this typically isn’t a big deal to most people, it would be nice if you could collectively have all of the engines in one central depot. This is what Sputtr does for you.

Sputtr brings together a majority of the top websites across the web, and links quick access to each of their respective search engines. The screenshot below gives you a better idea of what I’m talking about.

After entering any particular search term, you simply select whichever search engine you would like to use and it redirects you to that site’s engine automatically. It takes a different approach at meta-searching.

It’s free, but not required, to sign-up for an account, and once you do you can customize your Sputtr page, however you like. There are 48 default engines, and hundreds of additional options to add yourself.

If your particular site isn’t listed already, you can even manually add your own. I’ve done this for MakeUseOf here.

In the end, this search engine tool is just another in the large collection for the ‘web lazy’. It eliminates browsing to an individual site search, and does so with a very clean, very fast and very easy-to-use interface.

Check it out, and see if it can become your new alternative to searching your favorite and most popular web sites.

Know of any similar alternatives to Sputtr? Is something like this worth switching over to?

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/

• 4 Multi-Search Engines to Consider for Your Home Page (11)
• Hittery – Awesome Custom Search Startpage (7)
• Compare Bing’s search results with Google’s using Bing vs. Google (20)
• Bringing Command Lines to The Web: Yubnub and More! (10)
• 10 Sites to Compare Google vs Bing Results Side By Side (10)

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/

• Ten Cool Gadgets You Must Add To iGoogle (15)
• Make Your Own Personalised iGoogle Gadgets (8)
• Jump Into The Sandbox & Play With The New iGoogle (7)
• 30+ Online Resources to Expand your English Vocabulary (23)
• Your Easy Guide to Windows 7 Themes (16)

PeopleBrowsr, a clunkily-named service if ever there was one, is deceptively useful.  Essentially it is an aggregator for your social networks. PeopleBrowsr organizes different lists into columns that can be moved around horizontally. Even though you’re in a webpage, you’ll swear you’re using a desktop app with all the Ajax in the interface (relieving you of the need to reload your page).

It handles the following services:

* Twitter
* Flickr
* YouTube
* Seesmic
* identica
* LinkedIn
* Digg
* Photobucket
* Facebook
* and FriendFeed

The overall interface is a bit hard to describe from scratch, so here’s a visual:

The core of the service is a three-column interface that is completely customizable. By default, Twitter is the primary account, so all the options will be Twitter-centric at first. I believe that you MUST have a Twitter account to use the service at all, though I’m sure that once this moves out of alpha, that will change.

When viewing any particular service (in the above case, Twitter is selected), you will have a list of available windows to add on. Twitter, for instance, has “Everyone,” “Following,” and “Directs.”  Each of these will come up in their own separate column that can be scrolled to if more than three are on the screen.

In order to switch to another service, run your mouse over the PeopleBrowsr logo and select one of the services that pops up. Changing services will change the color palate of the template.  From there you can choose new columns and add them to those of the other services.  For instance, my screenshot above has Twitter, Digg, and YouTube all on the same page.

If you want to get rid of the menu bars, click the tiny “X” button in the upper-right corner. This is very handy for maximizing your screen real estate.  Note: To get back to the standard view, click the little white arrow in the upper corner. It can be a bit hard to find.

Clicking on either your own profile or someone else’s will bring up a profile window. This is very handy because you can quickly investigate any user and see all the social networks they are a part of. Also, it can be dragged around the screen with the Ajaxy goodness that I spoke of earlier. You can see their most recent posts as well as their profile and a Gallery View of their friends across the top.

What is the Gallery View you ask?  Well essentially it is a pictoral version of any group of people you select on PeopleBrowsr. Here you can see the people I’m following on Twitter. What makes PeopleBrowsr nice is that you can select not only logical groups like following and followers (or friends on Digg, or followers on FriendFeed…..etc), but you can often see more complex groupings, like Top Followers and Outbox (direct messages waiting to be sent). There are even options for custom groupings.

It’s hard to write an article about PeopleBrowsr, because every user will probably use a different part of it and set up their page in a totally unique way. The service will remember which columns or views you have set up so when you log into it again in the future, everything will already be there for you.

Right now the service is in “public alpha,” which can be translated into “tread lightly.” Often alphas are made private by developers because they don’t want bugginess to give their products a bad name. PeopleBrowsr has decided to go public, so if you do test it out, send them some feedback so they can make their beta a strong one!

Speaking of feedback, what do you think of this lovely little webapp? Tell us in the comments!

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• Threadsy – Integrates Your Email and Social Networks (+Invites) (24)
• Retaggr Lets People Know Who You Are (10)
• Manage your Online Social Life with SecondBrain (12)
• Have All Your Social Updates Collected & Sent With NutshellMail (1)
• 9 Steps To A Great Start In Friendfeed (12)

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)
• Jump Into The Sandbox & Play With The New iGoogle (7)
• 30+ Online Resources to Expand your English Vocabulary (23)
• What is Netvibes ? (7)

The podcast is available through iTunes so don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast if you have an iPod, or in another podcatcher if you have a different MP3 player.

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/

• Zigtag – A Web App For Extreme Tagging (BETA Invites Included!) (4)
• What is Netvibes ? (7)
• Welcome to the MakeUseOf.com Podcast #1 (19)
• Ways to Build your Custom Browser Start Page (31)
• Use Stacks To Save Websites For Later Reading [Mac] (17)

Upon installing it, Fast Dial then lives in your blank Firefox tabs. You can insert any of your favourite sites inside each of the boxes (there is space for up to 100 sites if you fiddle around with the customization options) and when you insert the URL, a thumbnail picture of the site then appears. Any of the boxes are easily editable if you want to change the URL later or update the thumbnail picture.

You can also change the background colour to anything you want. The default colour of the home screen is white but I changed mine to black. You can also change the size of the boxes, the number of the boxes….everything is customizable.

Another very nice feature is a right-click option on each Firefox tab which says “add to Fast Dial”. So if you are on a website and you decide that this should go into your Fast Dial, just right-click on the tab and choose “add to Fast Dial”. The next time you go to your Fast Dial page, you’ll see the page there.

I absolutely love this extension because I have been able to get all my frequently used webpages all in the same place in a nice easy-to-view arrangement. I have found my productivity much higher as a result because no longer do I need to go searching through bookmark folders looking for links and no longer do I have to sit there and tediously type out URL’s. Now all I have to do is open a new tab and click on the thumbnail for the page I am looking for.

It works perfectly. This extension should be built into Firefox as a default feature and everyone should use it! There’s no better time-saver! Plus it looks very cool on the screen – I’ve lost count of the number of people who have stopped to gaze in awe at it – “where did you get that screen?!”

Install it and try it! Right-click on the Fast Dial window, go into the options and customize it to just the way you want it! I guarantee you won’t want to let it go afterwards!

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/

• Feedly – A New Firefox Start Page Addon You Can’t Afford To Miss (12)
• Welcome to My Firefox: Extensions, Themes, Setup (14)
• Watch Videos In The Firefox Sidebar With YouPlayer (16)
• Ubiquity – Extend Firefox and Improve your Browsing Experience (9)
• The Winners of ‘Extend Firefox’ – Best Firefox Addons (14)

Hittery, as I mentioned, is a custom search dashboard with different search boxes on different subjects. It provides you with the best choices for topic-specific websites and search engines. If you go to the Hittery homepage, you’ll find a huge number of boxes with different names like Internet and Tech, Gadgets, TravelGuide, Weather, Stock Quotes and many more.

Most of these search engines search through big sites like Google, Digg, Youtube and eBay. However, Hittery has also included established and trusted websites like Wikipedia, Britannica, DailyMotion and many more in order to deliver most accurate results. In total, there are about 12,000 different websites which Hittery claims to have included in the custom search results.

There are two drop down menus in the Hittery homepage at the top which let you add more custom search engines and even normal search engines. There are many options available and you can choose to add them and diversify your search results on a particular topic. You could also click on ‘ show all custom search engines ‘ to get all the custom search boxes.

Now lets talk about the execution. Does Hittery deliver the required results ? Is it spot on target ? If you ask me, after playing with it for around 20 mins I’d say that it definitely works..and works really well. For example, I selected the ‘ Headlines and Papers ‘ custom search box (yeah, it seems to have all kinds of boxes ) and then searched for Barack Obama in that. The results were impressive. It immediately showed results from top news sources like CNN, Reuters, NY times and Chicago Tribune with the content related to Barack Obama.

You’ll see the search results on the left hand side with ads above them ( they aren’t obtrusive and probably a way to generate revenue for the site ) and on the right there’s a sidebar with more options.

The sidebar lets you do the following : -

1. Set the time frame for search results.

2. Search the query in a specific website like Google, YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia or Live.

3. Add the custom search engine to iGoogle, Netvibes or Google Toolbar.

4. Suggest a site for inclusion in the results.

5. Check the latest news related to your query.

If you really love to narrow your search results to specific websites and like custom search engines then Hittery could be the ultimate choice for you. I’ve already saved it in my bookmarks toolbar and I’m sure I’ll visit it many times everyday.

By – Abhijeet Mukherjee is addicted to the internet and loves blogging and freelance writing. He blogs about tech tweaks, blogging tips, productivity hacks at Jeet Blog.

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/

• Feedly – A New Firefox Start Page Addon You Can’t Afford To Miss (12)
• Bringing Command Lines to The Web: Yubnub and More! (10)
• Welcome To The Future Of Online Search (5)
• Taking Search Back To Basics With Wikia Search (7)
• Quickly Search All Of Your Favorite Sites With Sputtr (9)

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)

Nick mentioned Feedly in the comments of this Make Use Of article and the fact that it’s just a Firefox extension caught my eye. I checked it out immediately and I was pleasantly surprised. Feedly is like a browser start page – but it works from your local computer. It’s touted as a social and magazine-like start page and I must say it lives up to its name.

Once you install the Feedly Firefox extension from here and restart Firefox, you can load the Feedly start page by clicking on the Feedly icon on the toolbar.

What you’ll see is a neat page that asks you if you want to synchronize with your Google Reader, Twitter, FriendFeed and other web 2.0 accounts. If you ask Feedly to connect with Google Reader or Bloglines, it will then load a copy of your OPML file that contains a list of RSS feeds you read from there – you need not essentially subscribe to every one of them manually on Feedly. If you’ve got it integrated with Twitter, it lets you tweet about articles on your start page. Similarly, many other services can be integrated.

The cover page lists new and unread items from your subscribed blogs as you can see from the screenshot below. The page looks like a magazine cover. Fancy stuff to love.

There’s another tab called What’s New that lists items based on your reading patterns. Your Google Reader contacts and their recommendations are available from here too, and they rank higher on this page.

You can click on the tweet button near an article to share it with your Twitter followers (of course, you should have told Feedly about your Twitter account initially):

There’s a preview button you can click and the web page of that item opens in a page in popup, as you can see here:

To mark an item for reading later, click ‘Save for Later’. To share an item, click ‘Recommend’. You can also click on the ‘Annotate’ link to quote an item and share it on Google Reader, NewsGator online, etc.

There’s a search bar on top that lets you search and find articles from sites that you’ve favourited.

Oh and did I mention that by clicking on the screensaver link on the top right, you get a cool view of what’s new on your reading list. Articles appear and vanish one by one and you can click on the title to read/save it for later. Have a look:

Final Thoughts

Feedly is simply AWESOME. I tried it for about an hour, and it seems that I’ve fallen in love with the tool. It’s slick, fast and simply works out of the box, I found no niggles.

The fact that it integrates with many of my other accounts like Twitter, FriendFeed and more and being able to share items with my friends without being on Google Reader is making me love Feedly even more.

There’s a Feedly content API as well. What that means is that developers can easily build on top of the tool and make plenty of tools for the same (the cover page and the screensaver tool for Feedly exist due to the API). I’m waiting for something exciting from here.

What are your views? Did you try Feedly, or will you still stick to the traditional about:blank and Google Reader? Drop a comment and kick off a debate!

(By) Shankar Ganesh, a 16 year old blogger and freelance writer from India. He writes about computers and software at Killer Tech Tips.

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/

• Access Your Websites Quickly With Firefox’s Fast Dial (15)
• Welcome to My Firefox: Extensions, Themes, Setup (14)
• Watch Videos In The Firefox Sidebar With YouPlayer (16)
• Ubiquity – Extend Firefox and Improve your Browsing Experience (9)
• The Winners of ‘Extend Firefox’ – Best Firefox Addons (14)

For our dear readers who are back in time from Year 2050’s multitouch interfaces and voice recognitions and don’t remember what a command line is, I would like to remind them that the command line is the allegedly boring but the all powerful geeky way to work, where you write commands and your system says, “yes master I will do it!” (of course it can say bad command or filename too!).

Nevertheless what we are going to show are web command lines which are powerful for sure, but not a bit boring! Have a look:

First up bringing such features to the web is Yubnub. But wait. Don’t count out the Web 2.0 effect just yet because Yubnub not only offers you a command line (or box), but it also offers you a “social command line”. We will see what it means in just a moment. First let’s have a look around Yubnub.

As soon as you reach Yubnub you are greeted with a search box thingy! This my friends is your “Command Line for the Web”. It lets you search, convert, download, play … and do lots of other things usin simple 1-3 letter commands. It’s like a Google Search box on steroids. You will see some popular (not common) commands listed below the box. Lets see what you can do with the Yubnub command line. Take a deep breath – this is going to be a long list.

• Search Google, Yahoo, eBay, Flickr
• Get stock quotes
• Get news from CNN, BBC, this and that
• Search music
• Get meanings of words
• Get a thesaurus
• Search Wikipedia
• Generate a random number
• Play games
• Generate Sudoku puzzles
• Perform a Who is query
• Get Java Classes documentation
• Do a reverse lookup of phone numbers
• Strip off images, css and javascript from a web page
• Find a username and password for a site
• Search movies
• Get Torrent files
• Create ASCII art
• Convert between units
• Convert currencies
• Open up a RSS feed in Google Reader
• Translate text from one language to another
• Get weather forecasts
• Digg articles
• Search your mail
• Create mashup of yubnub commands
• And
• And
• …..

I give up. There are thousands of commands. Let’s now move on to the social aspect of YubNub. YubNub allows you to create your own commands and let’s you use the commands created by others so there is practically no limit to the number of commands and what you can do with them. You can view the most commonly used commands.

Not only this but you can install addons or tweak your browser (almost all browsers are supported) so that you can use YubNub irrespective of the web page you are on. You can also find community created widgets for your operating system on this page so as to improve your YubNub experience and get the truly command line experience!

You can also view what people have been up to by looking at the most popular commands. Also some of the commands are called Golden Eggs which means the commands people find particularly useful and interesting.

In case you are still wondering why the hell its called YubNub, then first of all be aware these are the Web 2.0 days and you can never trust the names.

Lets start with some fun. Here is a list of my favorite YubNub commands:

pod – searches podcasts
flkall – displays flickr pics with tags
url – converts a yubnub command to a URL
explode – Explodes a string to an array in xml, xoxo, or json
php – php function look up
muo – you know what it does!
techCrazy – Searches my blog!
The g, gim, a commands are common so I m not mentioning those

Bonus:

Since we are already talking about using the so called “commands” on the web, I must mention Sugarcodes here. Sugarcodes also allows you to launch, navigate, search, locate, translate, find and look up items on the web with the help of commands. Like Yubnub, Sugarcodes also has a variety of commands to offer. You can browse commands by categories and even create your own commands.

Sugarcodes has one additional feature that the commands users create are first termed “usercodes”, after some time they are upgraded to “sugarcodes” after their correctness and conformance with the policy is verified.

Navino.com is another site that offers similar functions as Yubnub but the functionality is limited to search only. You can perform a search on a number of sites and engines using the keywords from just one search box, but that’s pretty much it.

Goosh - The unofficial Google shell allows you to use various Google services via the command line. The interface in this case is the closest to the command line. Functionality and usefulness? Um….not much, given that there are hundreds of other ways to do the same things without visiting the site.

Yubnub is certainly my favourite and offers a lot of functionality. Once you get to know the commands you want (or probably create the ones you want) then its very addictive. The ability to add Yubnub to your browser makes it a sure killer and a must have to save time.

So what do you think of YubNub? Which commands do you like? Let us know the commands you created so that we can check them out.

(By) Varun Kashyap – A tech enthusiast, programmer and a blogger who invites you to visit his TechCrazy Blog

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• Nircmd – A Power Packed Command Line Tool (6)
• Hittery – Awesome Custom Search Startpage (7)
• Welcome To The Future Of Online Search (5)
• Ways to Build your Custom Browser Start Page (31)
• Ubiquity – Extend Firefox and Improve your Browsing Experience (9)

I think ClutterMe is certainly one of the simplest yet very effective start pages available. Instead of just praising on it, I’ll immediately start with its features so that you can see what exactly I am talking about.

1. Write anywhere, everywhere

That’s right. ClutterMe allows you to just click and write anywhere on the page. Once you are finished writing, it will save it for you. Therefore you can take notes on your start page in the simplest possible manner.

2. Save Links Easily

It also allows you to copy-paste or type links easily on the page. It is wise enough to distinguish between normal text and links.

3. Add videos and pictures directly

This is a wonderful feature. You just need to copy-paste your favorite youtube video link and it will add the video directly. Similarly you can add picture files. It can’t get simpler then that.

4. Drag, drop and resize stuff easily

Yes, you can easily drag and drop stuff by clicking on the small icon which appears on each note at the top right. You can even resize videos and images easily and needless to say, you can customize the fonts in your notes too.

5. Custom Backgrounds

ClutterMe also offers a wide range of custom backgrounds for your homepage.

6. Get social by adding friends

This is a unique feature. You can register with ClutterMe, create an account and then add friends. You can share stuff and browse through your friends’ homepages. You can even write on your friends’ homepages in exactly the same manner like you edit your own page. Cool, isn’t it?

7. Doesn’t rely on Cookies

They don’t mention this, but I have found that when I go to clutterme.com and make changes (without signing in ), the new page appears as it is in different browsers. This means that it doesn’t rely on browser cookies like most of the other start pages.

Overall, I found ClutterMe to be simple, productive and useful. Hope you like it too.

Abhijeet Mukherjee is addicted to the internet and loves blogging and freelance writing. He blogs about tech tweaks, blogging tips, productivity hacks at Jeet Blog

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/

• Hittery – Awesome Custom Search Startpage (7)
• Feedly – A New Firefox Start Page Addon You Can’t Afford To Miss (12)
• Access Your Websites Quickly With Firefox’s Fast Dial (15)
• What is Netvibes ? (7)
• Welcome to My Firefox: Extensions, Themes, Setup (14)

The Google / Firefox Start page in the upper and my own favorite sites mix in the lower window. I love the look, but it has become a pain to keep it updated. Links have changed, my favorite sites have changed, some don’t exist anymore, and thus the time has come to try something new.

Fortunately, there are many services out there that will do much of the work for you, and in my quest to find the best replacement I tested a few and will share my experiences with you. Let me just say that any personalized start page requires a bit of work – constantly. That’s pretty obvious.

If you prefer an extremely simple, yet stylish start page, give AwesomeStart a try. It’s your favorite search engine and your very own selection of links at the bottom, infront of a pretty background. You can pick a theme from different galleries such as movies & tv, music, videogames and some miscelleanous themes. Great plus: no need to sign up! They recognize you as you by using cookies. So you better back up that cookie if you don’t want to lose your personal page.

In my search I found a few very techie sites, among them yourminis, which collects bookmarks on a desktop-like environment, complete with calendar and other widgets. Feel free to check it out. I found it too challenging to even try.

If you are into widgets and different little windows in which you can search, view RSS Feeds, videos or pictures and your notes, but want it to be easy to maintain and without the desktop feel, there is MySurfPad, Pageflakes or iGoogle to try.

They are all pretty much the same, but Pageflakes left me with the best overall impression. Flakes are those little widgets that will bring news, tools (calculator, weather, Wikipedia, e-mail, address book), pagecasts (calendars, to-do-lists, bookmarks, clocks), entertainment (YouTube videos, Flickr photos, podcasts), and Fun (Sudoku, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace) straight to your start page. Open the menu and make a selection. If your page is becoming too full, create a new one and drag&drop flakes from one page to another.

You can import your bookmarks from Del.icio.us, Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.

There definitely is potential for addiction in Pageflakes. But frankly, even though all of the widgets are extremely cool, my bookmarks get a raw deal in this setup. They should be the focus, not the side dish.

So let’s have a look at Tabmarks. You start out with a selection of ten default tabs, i.e. categories for your bookmarks. That’s also the maximum number of tabs you can add to one tabmark.

Below each tab is a list of links belonging to that tab and this list can be personalized. Click on a link and it opens underneath the tabs. To make some space, you can hide the tabs. You can personalize tabs through the Library, not through Preferences! In Preferences you can select your landing page, the overall style, and which tabs are to be shown or hidden. In the Library you can control all of that plus re-name, re-order tabs, and add a whole new “tabmarks”.

It’s not quite what I was looking for. Rather than a plain text link I would love to see a little preview image of my bookmark. However, I love the way links are opened and I realize that images would take up much more space, making this impossible. Also I can still open links in a new tab if I wish using the middle-mouse click in Firefox. So the way links are treated is a huge plus and Tabmarks will be my new browser start page.

Finally, attentive MUO readers will recall that Linda has written a similar post back in February. In Aggregate your Favorite Websites on One Page she wrote about AllMyFaves and Symbaloo. I found AllMyFaves quite overwhelming. There are way too many icons and logos on one page to handle and it’s not yet customizable. Symbaloo on the other hand is pretty neat with an adorable style and allows for some customization.

What does your start page look like? Do you know of other, better services? Please share with us in the comments!

(By) This post was written by one of our regular authors, Tina from Recommended.

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

• Bringing Command Lines to The Web: Yubnub and More! (10)
• Windows System Tools at your Fingertips with FastKake (13)
• What is Netvibes ? (7)
• What is a FeedReader ? (19)
• Web’s Refrigerator Door (8)

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

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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)

Two very useful and time-saving web services I use for this purpose are Only2Clicks, which was profiled on MakeUseOf before, and Hyperigo, both of which allow you to organize your favorite websites on one tab-supported page. They come equipped with a few token sample offerings in place, but both are easily customizable for the main purpose: adding your own stuff!

With either Only2Clicks and Hyperigo, you can add or upload any of your bookmarks and they will be displayed as small screenshots of the actual sites themselves, usually 15 to 18 to a page.

Recently I came across another couple of sites which are similar in principle to Only2Clicks and Hyperigo.

AllMyFaves – calls itself a “visual directory” and contains countless visual links (icons) to most popular sites within dozens of categories. You probably frequent mots of them on a regular basis, thus the slogan, “why search?” This is just a random sampling of the “Entertainment” tab, and there are other tabs as well, for Shopping, Travel, etc.

Each tab lists relevant sub-categories, i.e. of Finance, E-Trade, Magazines, News, Compare, Shopping, Photo, Movies, Music, Web Radio, Astrology, Dating, Games, Chat, Blog, Voip, Instant Message, Insurance, Courier, Health, etc. Pretty extensive.

AllMyFaves continues to be a “work in progress” as it even has a “Weekly Faves” report of all the new sites found each week. Plus even though it is not currently customizable, it is expected to be in the future. The site suggests that AllMyFaves can be used as a Start Page, and it would no doubt be a good one, but for me it is better suited as a shortcut on my desktop for now.

After all, it contains links to many of the shortcuts on my desktop already! If yours is anything like mine, you’ll be able to replace several of them with the one, saving yourself a little time searching.

Symbaloo – Unlike the above, Symbaloo also aggregates essential search tools on one page. Seach for weather, phone numbers, address locations, dictionary search, videos, recipes, eBay auctions and so on. Symbaloo also supports tabbed browsing and drag’n drop interface. Apart from search engines, it allows you to add websites, feeds, email accounts (ex. Gmail), radio channels, etc. [Video demo]

Finally if you’re looking for a startpage-like online feedreader then go straight to Netvibes.

And, as usual, if you know of any similar or better concepts, let us know!

(By) From the non-geek perspective of Linda Martin-Peoples, author of CoolOnlineTools, MyBlognosis and a few other sites scattered across the web. Linda lives with her husband and two cats just outside of beautiful Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

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/

• Hittery – Awesome Custom Search Startpage (7)
• Get Your Online Profiles Organized With PeopleBrowsr (9)
• Feedly – A New Firefox Start Page Addon You Can’t Afford To Miss (12)
• Zenbe – All Your Emails In One Place (20)
• What is Netvibes ? (7)

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

• Ten Cool Gadgets You Must Add To iGoogle (15)
• Make Your Own Personalised iGoogle Gadgets (8)
• Make Your Own iGoogle Theme With ThemeMaker (15)
• Jump Into The Sandbox & Play With The New iGoogle (7)
• Who Needs The Amazon Kindle When You Have A Netbook? (26)

iPhone StartPages

The idea behind the iPhone startpage is to bring all essential applications on one iPhone-friendly page. These apps can be anything, ranging from news sites to To-Do lists, Office apps, IM clients, VoIP services, Calculators, and more. All iPhone friendly and easy-to-navigate through.

*Leaflets – features in-built search tools (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Wikpedia, … ), Feedreader, Flickr, del.icio.us, App list (directory of iPhone apps), and more.

*AppMarks – iPhone-friendly, well-categorized directory of iPhone applications. (Categories include: Cooking, Financial, Games, Email & Chat, etc.)

*More Similar StartPages: iPhoneAppr | MockDock | iPhoneAppsManager | Mojits | Gridgets

iPhone App Collections

In case the above mentioned startpages don’t include the application you’re looking for than check out one of the following sources. These are standard directory-like websites so don’t try accessing them from your iPhone.

* iPhoneApplicationList | iPhoneWidgetList | iPhoneTopSites

Couple of cool iPhone Tools

* iFuntastic – simple tool that lets you add/remove ringtones, change carrier logos, and rearrange the home screen icons. Currently only runs on Intel Mac’s.

* iPhoneDrive (Mac) – lets you use iPhone as portable hard drive, ensuring that you always have important info/software with you. To get started check out our massive list of free portable apps. (Note: iPhone drive isn’t a freeware, costs $9.95)

iPhone WallPapers, iCons and Ringtones

• Gizmodo’s – iPhone Wallpaper Collection
• ThemeMyPhone – more wallpapers
• iPhone Candy – and some more wallpapers
• iPhone Ringtones – collection of original iPhone ringtones.
• Apple’s – iPhone icon collection (by Apple)
• iPhoneDesktops – and wallpapers again.

Fun Stuff

• iPhone Musical [go2web2.blogspot.com]
• What the iPhone Could’ve Been [techeblog.com]
• Will iPhone blend [willitblend.com] – check it out below.

(6) iPhone HowTo’s

HowTo: Create iPhone ringtones from iTunes previews [tuaw.com]
HowTo: Add custom ringtones/system-sounds to iPhone (intel Mac only) [hacktheiphone.com]
HowTo: Send MMS messages on iPhone [hacktech.wordpress.com]
HowTo: Replicate iPhone Buttons the ‘-webkit’ way [launchpadhq.com]
HowTo: 17 powerful bookmarklets for your iPhone. [lifeclever.com]
HowTo: Turn your Windows Mobile phone into an iPhone [lifehacker.com]
HowTo: Emulate iPhone’s features on your everyday handset [techcrunch.com]
HowTo: Activate iPhone Without AT&T [nanocr.eu]
HowTo: Set up your iPhone as a prepaid account [tuaw.com]
HowTo: Use the IPhone with a Business or Prepaid Account [reghardware.co.uk]
HowTo: Port ‘ineligible’ mobile numbers to AT&T and iPhone [appleinsider.com]
HowTo: Make iPhone work with old Cingular SIM (intel Mac only) [hacktheiphone.com]

iPhone Reviews

in-depth reviews:

• iPhone review [Engadget]
• No BS iPhone review [Gizmodo]
• iPhone in depth: the Ars review [ArsTechnica]

guided video tours:

• iPhoneGuided Tour [Apple.com]
• iPhone interface complete walkthrough [Engadget]
• iPhone keyboard walkthrough [Apple.com]

things you should know before buying iPhone:

• A list of iPhone dissapointments [HowardForums.com]
• 10 Things that “absolutely suck” about the iPhone [MacRumors.com]
• 10 Things you should know before you buy an iPhone [Gizmodo]
• 10 Reasons why you shouldn’t buy an iPhone [extremetech.com]
• What the iPhone Doesn’t Have [gizmodo.com]

comparative reviews (iPhone vs…):

• iPhone vs Treo, BlackBerry, N95, Ocean, LG Prada [wirelessinfo.com]
• iPhone vs Samsung BlackJack, BlackBerry 8800 and Treo 700P [WSJ]
• Apple iPhone vs Nokia N95 [cnet.com.au]
• Engadget iSwitchers [Engadget Mobile]
• Apple iPhone vs Nokia N95 and Samsung BlackJack [mgopinath.blogspot.com]

stress tests: (bunch of tests to check how the device handles abuse)

• The Original iPhone Stress Tests [PC World]
• Stress testing the iPhone [macrumors.com]

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/

• Quick Tip: Create an If Found screen for your iPhone/iPod Touch (1)
• How To Create Your Own Unique iPhone Ringtones Using Garageband [Mac Only] (6)
• How To Create a Ringtone For The iPhone In iTunes (7)
• Create Custom iPhone Ringtones with iRinger [Windows] (3)
• 10 Websites For Free Mobile Phone Ringtones & Other Mobile Downloads (55)

So what can you do with Netvibes ?

It lets users createall-in-one online start page (not a personal profile page) that will display latest updates from their favourite websites, freeing them from visitng these sites individually.

Apart from website updates, there are plenty of other features that can be added to the page, these include but not limited to emails, to do lists, webnotes, bookmarks and much more. And all of these in an easy to manage and highly interactive interface. If you spend considerable amount of time online, Netvibes can CONTRIBUTE to your overall productivity CONSIDERABLY. It lets you do and track many things from a single page, saving you all the trouble from jumping one webpage/program to another.

Now lets look at features…

By going to netvibes.com and pressing “Add Content” button on the right upper part of the screen, user gets following menu. Let’s go through some important features of it.

Add my feed: This option lets user to add websites to get updates from. When user presses on the ‘Add my feed’ he is asked to provide the URL for the site’s feed. If you are not familiar feed is then simply look for something like RSS, ATOM or XML on the site you want to add, if found press on one of them and copy the address of the destination page and add it. If not found then simply add the address of the site and netvibes may locate it itself.

Netvibes ecosystem: This is something really cool, once you get used to it. Netvibes ecosystem is a place where you can get a lot of stuff for your account. For instance you can some basic games to you page (ex; Pacman) and much more. The best thing to do is to check it out yourself.

Featured Feeds and Feed Directory: display featured and directory of feeds, respectively. This can be a good place to get some feeds.

Gmail / Yahoo Mail / PopMail: Using these tools it is possible for user to get emails right on his netvibes page.

Webnote / To Do List: These features let user create notes and to do lists. One advantage on having notes and to do lists stored online, is that they can be accessed from anywhere. We have alreadt profiled different ‘to do lists’ services here.

Flickr Photos / Delicious: While I haven’t personally used this one, it may be interesting to some. flickr photos lets users to get photos from flickr (profiled here). And delicious feature enables users to get tags from their delicious(profiled here) accounts.

Writely Documents: writely is new google owned service that which can be called an online word processor. By embedding this feature into your page you can work with word documents as well.

Bookmarks: Tool to store bookmarks/favorites. But if you are delicious user, there is no need for this one.

Box.net: This tool get’s user 1 GB free of online storage on box.net. Once itegrated it is possible to add/remove right from netvibes’ account.

Digg: Lets you get news from digg. If you are not fimilar with digg, then our profile it is here.

Meebo: Tool to inegrate meebo multi instant messaging platform to netvibes. More on meebo here

Apart from the fatures mentioned above, Netvibes offers a really amazing user interface . If you go to netvibes.com, you can see that the content boxes can be easily moved from one place to another according to your preference. In the same way each box can be colored and named.

Also within your profile you can have several TABs, which function as TABs on Firefox browsers. This feature offers even more space for grouping and organizing the stuff. For instance, during the ‘world cup’ in germany I had one tab that was llocated only for world cup related stuff. On this tab I would have latest news from official site, articles from several blog sites, related pics from flickr.com, schedule of the matches etc.

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