Review: WordPress launched a poll feature

I think everyone was waiting for this specially those that host their blog on WP. You can now create polls in WP using Poll Daddy. When you're writing a post, you will see an orange icon on the toolbar for Polls.



If you don't have a Poll Daddy account, you will be prompted to create one the first time you access it.







You can also manage your polls in the Manage section.



And for those that have an account with them you will be able to import your polls.

After this post was published WP is allowing you to add a poll on a sidebar. All you have to do is get the poll link and paste it in a text box. Now you might have to play with the sizing... but PollDaddy does have a custom poll feature that allows you to create your own look and feel and size.

This was a long time waiting and I'm glad WP launched it so kudos for WP.

How do you like the WP poll feature?

VS: Bookmarks vs Red Delicious App

If you're like me and do a lot of research then you are a big fan of Social Bookmarking. My favorite
site is Delicious and I was happy to see the Delicious app appear in my apps store some time ago.

The app that I was using is called Bookmarks, and it's free. You can program your Delicious username and password, and it will display all yours tags. By just touching the tag name, the websites you have tagged are displayed and you can navigate to the website by of course, touching the name of the site on the screen. Download it to try it out, it's free.

The app was working fine for me but then last night I decided to visit the app store which I had not done for a while and I noticed another app called Red Delicious. The icon is the same as Delicious, the only difference is that they blue area in the Delicious logo is red. If you're buying through iTunes, the app is filed in the Social Networking category which is different from the Bookmarks app which is filed under the Utilities category.

The Red Delicious app is only $1.99 and I think it's worth every penny. To start, as soon as you open the app a list of the most recent tags you used appear. At the bottom of the screen you have your standard icons to navigate to Recent, Bookmarks, Search, Features, and More....

The app defaults to the Recent screen which again displays the most recent tags used which are linked to the most recent sites you've bookmarked.

My favorite thing is the search, I'm a Googler at heart and search for me is very important and it works very well. The Featured screen shows you the featured bookmarked sites on Delicious which is another great feature of this app. Download it now.

There is another app called "My Delicious" which looks very similar to Red Delicious. This one I haven't tried because it's another $1.99 and I read in the reviews a lot of complaints on the app crashing.

By looking at it on iTunes, it has the Bookmark screen which shows you the sites you've bookmarked, including the title, notes, and tags which I like. It also has the search feature but that is all I see. This one is filed in the Productivity category. Download it now.

Have you used any of these apps? if so, share your reviews or any other app you're using to bookmark.

Review: A graphical interpretation of your website.

This site is great for developers, it creates a graphical representation of your website. It's like looking into the soul of your website and spilling your guts. All you do is enter your website URL and it will instantly start creating a graphic. The colors in the graphic represent the links, tables, and other html tags you have in the website. This gives a developer a picture of how many html tags they have in their code and they can make changes accordingly.


Here is a graphic of one of my sites:



What do the colors mean?
blue: for links (the A tag)
red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)
green: for the DIV tag
violet: for images (the IMG tag)
yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)
orange: for linebreaks and blockquotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)
black: the HTML tag, the root node
gray: all other tags

The site is: http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/

You can see my site graphics on my Flickr page.

If you create a graphic for your website, add it to Flickr and tag it as websitesasgraphs. You can view other website graphics by searching for that tag.
If you've used this service before post the graphic url below and share it with us.

Making How To Videos for Free with Jing Project

A friend reminded me the other day about Jing Project and I'm glad she did. Some months ago this software was on beta and It was not available to download. Yesterday when my friend reminded me of this I went ahead and download it to try to out.

I don't know how may people use Camtasia Studio or SnagIt but anyways Jing Project is from the makers of these two applications and also of Screencast.com which makes using this new application even better.

When you download Jing Protect you automatically get a free acount with 2GB of storage on Screencast.com which is more than you get if you sign up for a free account on their site.
With Jing Project you can create videos with audio and annotate screen captures. You can post your content on your website, and share through e-mail or IM. The good thing is that everything gets stored in your Screencast.com account. That's not saying you can't store your content in other places because you do have that option.

To share any content, you can click on the History icon that gives you access to all your content thus making it easier to share anything you need to.

Oh but did I mention, it's FREE.

Have you use it? Tell us your experience with Jing Project.

What to look for in iPhone download sites

As a result of the iPhone launch, many free download sites have popped up that allow for downloading copyrighted material. It is best to avoid these sites as I am sure you do not want the authorities knocking on your door.
However, there are iPhone download membership sites that provide an excellent alternative to itunes. The problem is determining which of these iPhone sites provides the best service.
Here are some tips to help.

1. Per iPhone Download Fee vs. One-Time Fee

Many iPhone sites will offer free membership, but then charge you for each file you download, 99 cents or $1.99. If you love your music as much as me, this can get very expensive. Sites that charge a one-time fee are the way to go. You will save a lot of money in the long run.

2. iPhone Music Download Variety

It is true what they say: Variety is the spice of life. You probably want to find an iPhone download site that offers files from all genres of music.

3. File Selection for Movies, TV, and other Media
Having access to a lot of files is perhaps the most important thing to look for if you want to get your money's worth! Fortunately, most iPhone download sites have overwhelmingly large databases that range in 100,000,000 files. Also, make sure the site you are looking at offers music, movies, tv shows, games, and software, not just music. Remember, we are trying to get the most for our money!

4. Website Interface
This is an important feature because the easier a website is to navigate, the easier it will be for you to find what you are looking for. Although you can't see the member's area until you sign-up, you can get a good idea just by browsing around the non-member's area of the site.

5. Free iPhone Software for File Compatibility
A quality iPhone download site should provide you with free software to help you in downloading those movies and MP3s. They should also provide free converting software for files that need to be converted to play on the iphone.

6. Fast iPhone Download Speeds

Does the site offer fast download speeds? Some sites with small servers will put a limit on download speeds in order to allow more people to connect. Look for sites that do not have any such limits.

7. Safety of Files

When downloading anything off the internet, there is always a risk of the files being infected with spyware, adware, or viruses. The best iPod download sites will screen all their files before you download them. Additionally, you may want to have adware scanning software on your computer before you sign up. This is a great back-up just in case any corrupted files slip through the cracks.

8. Reputation
Does the iPhone download site have a good reputation? You can judge this by the credentials they list on their site and through various iPhone related forums.

9. 24/7 Customer Support

Customer Support is a very important thing. The best iPhone download sites will have an extensive FAQ (frequently asked questions) section that covers most common questions. However, don't hesitate to contact a site with a question to determine how long it takes them to respond and in what manner. They should respond to your inquiry within 24 hours. If not, you may want to consider another service.

10. Secure Payment Processing

This usually is not a problem, as most online merchants accept payments through Paypal, Clickbank, or another trusted source. With these companies, you do not have to worry about anyone reading or accessing your personal information.

Did you find this information helpful? This is a site I recommend for the best unlimited iPhone Downloads at the lowest cost.

Review: Very cool instant Twitter chat - Roomatic

Just a quick post to tell you about a really cool app. Roomatic is an application that allows you to have instant chats on Twitter. All you have to do is sign in using your Twitter username, search for the topic of your choice, and you're own your way.

This is a very creative way to keep up to date on hot topics... just read quick, the hotter the topic the faster the chat goes. What I like the most is that it works great with the iPhone :)

If you're addicted to Twitter then I wouldn't recommend this one. For more information visit Roomatic.

I love my iPhone....

It's funny how we can say "I love my ......" and it's referring to an object. What does it take to make
some one say this about an object? Well that's the reason I decided to start writing articles about it. In every post I will write a little bit about something that makes me love my iPhone more and more. It can be a feature on the phone, an app, a tip, or just the simple fact that it makes my life a little easier by allowing me to perform functions that I could usually only do on my computer.

Let me start with this. My biggest fear used to be losing my wireless connection until I got my iPhone. A couple of days ago I was without wireless and it was like nothing had happen because I was still connected via iPhone. Of course, there are a couple of things I can't do on the iPhone but they are very minimal. In the other hand there are lots of things I can do to keep myself entertained and these are the things that I focus on.

So that's it for now.....

Why do you love your iPhone?

Review: Visual Search Engine - Searchme

In my quest for finding new and cool tools to use I ran into this visual search engine called "Searchme". I'm known by my coworkers as the Certified Googler because I'm a search fanatic. I don't rely on my memory anymore, why if you have Google? And now Searchme?

Unfortunately for Google, Searchme does something they don't. They return visual results which makes them very unique. After entering your search terms, Searchme returns the following:

The first search result is displayed in the middle of the page, and the others are located to the right. You can view the other results in three ways; by clicking on the result image, on one of the blue arrows below the main result, or by using the slider.

Now you're probably saying but how can I know which sites these are if I don't see a URL? Well Searchme has taking care of that as well. You can view the site's URL by using the mouseover functionality and to visit the site you click the image.

You can also click on the arrow below the slider to display the results in a Google manner.


They also have a new feature which let's you save and stack your own results. View this video to see how this feature works.



Have you used Searchme? What is your review on it?