Online Tools

Online tools are getting more and more powerful, so I wanted to mention a couple that I've enjoyed recently.

Google Reader (http://reader.google.com)
This is truly a fantastic invention. More and more I enjoy this site. If you visit a number of sites on a regular basis looking for updated articles, this is the site for you. It is a way to grab all those sites, and stick them into an inbox style list that lets you view a synopsis of the articles off a particular site, browse through quickly, marking read items so you know if a new post comes in, and allowing you to keep track of all the sites you like to visit. And no bookmarks! You can be on any machine anywhere and pick this up. It is truly more and more enjoyable as you use it over time and you wonder why someone didn't tell you about it sooner.

Del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us)
I started using this as a bookmark site because I got tired of again, going to a new machine, a new computer, and not having that bookmark. Well no more! With Delicious I can bookmark and go...and at that other computer pull up the same list of bookmarks.
There are a couple really excellent features with this that bookmarks don't offer. It is a site that other use and bookmark their sites, so you get to see how many others are bookmarking the site you bookmark. Second, you can network with others and share bookmarks. Third, you can search on tag words that you setup when you bookmarked a page. Fourth (running out of fingers) you can search on other peoples tag words, helping you find sites that google and other regular search engines really may not help you find as easily.
Digg is a similar site; I just haven't used it yet.

Google Docs (http://docs.google.com)
Store documents online for access anywhere. Word docs, spreadsheets, you name it. Basically comparable to an online microsoft word, google style! Whatever you might want to save here you can; and even share it with others. It is really quite a system and a treat especially since it is free.

Good enough for now; I had a moment and thought I'd do a dendrite dump.