Google Web Fonts - Download or use on your web site

OK, this may not be for everybody, but I love tasteful, attractive fonts. The add some beauty to my life. Google has a ton of such fonts which you can download and install locally or use free on your web site.

Visit Google Web Fonts

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ClipboardFusion - Powerful clipboard text scrubber!

As a blogger I've made excellent use of the Firefox add-on called Copy As Plain Text. It's been very upsetting to me, and surely to others, that it doesn't work with the latest version of Firefox. Come one developer, update it, please.

But as they say, necessity is the mother of invention, so I've found (not invented) an alternative means of scrubbing my clipboard text copied from the web. I've already made great use of it.

Features:

• Remove clipboard text formatting
• Remove HTML tags from clipboard
• Clipboard string search/replace
• Modify clipboard with Macros
• Preview clipboard images and HTML colours with a toaster pop-up
• HotKeys to manage your clipboard
• Sync your clipboard with other computers

Get ClipboardFusion

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Tagxedo - Another sweet tag cloud tool

Yesterday I featured an online tool for creating word, or tag, clouds. Here's another one that a reader recommended. From the website:

"Tagxedo turns words -- famous speeches, news articles, slogans and themes, even your love letters -- into a visually stunning tag cloud, words individually sized appropriately to highlight the frequencies of occurrence within the body of text."

Visit Tagxedo

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WhatTheFont! - Get the name of any font you see on the Web

This tip is for anyone who runs across a font on the Web and wants to know what it is. Since I'm a publisher this happens to me all the time. I see it, I like it, I want to get it for my sites. Your motives may be different but the need is the same.

Visit WhatTheFont!

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Which is the best type of hosting for my web site: VPS or Shared?

Choosing a web host for your new or existing web site can be difficult, mainly because there are factors to consider that you may not be familiar with. This article will sort out some important factors and help you make your choice with confidence. The question is, should I choose VPS Web Hosting?

Shared, VPS or Dedicated?

VPSs (Virtual Private Servers) represent the middle ground between shared and dedicated hosting.

Shared hosting means you're sharing all of the host's resources, RAM, disk space and CPU, with other web sites. Your site will be one among many. Sharing is a nice concept, but it means there will be less for you when it comes to your web site.

At the other end of the spectrum is the dedicated host. This means your web site will live on a machine that hosts only your site. This sounds nice but there are disadvantages. One disadvantage can be cost. Another one can be that you end up with a low-end machine if you have to keep costs down. Finally, you may be killing a fly with a bazooka, getting (and paying for) more than you need.

Rather than having to choose between the aforementioned options, there is another one you should consider: VPS.

VPS offers dedicated RAM and disk space, while sharing only the CPU.

What makes VPS a better choice than shared hosting?

First, you get server-level customization. I'm a huge fan of customization. I like things to look, feel and work according to my own preferences. With VPS, you are allowed to set things up the way you like.

Second, you get burstable memory. On a practical level this means there's additional power available when you need it. When there's a spike in your traffic, your site won't bog down or crash. Instead, the resources available for your site will ramp up to handle the added load.

Third, you get scalability. It's not one-size-fits-all, but instead you get what you need at the moment with room to grow and without the trauma and disruption of switching machines or upgrading. Starting with a single site and no databases, for example, you can grow into several sites, large databases, e-commerce, etc., easily and smoothly.

Can my site benefit from a VPS?

It may be time to move up from shared to VPS hosting if you're starting to feel cramped by your current host. You want/need more resources because your site/s and your traffic are feeling a pinch, or you find you need customization options that are not allowed by your shared host. Going to a dedicated server is overkill, but you need more than you have now.

If you now have multiple sites, dynamic content and the possibility of major spikes in traffic, VPS may be just the ticket.

(Sponsored post.)

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CoolText Graphics Generator - Graphic text with little to no effort

Make a text logo out of your name or the name of your website or business without spending lots of time on complicated software. Developer sez:
"Cool Text is a free graphics generator for web pages and anywhere else you need an impressive logo without a lot of design work.  Simply choose what kind of image you would like.  Then fill out a form and you'll have your own custom image created on the fly."

Visit CoolText

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DroidSense (Android) - View earnings from multiple AdSense accounts

If you use AdSense to make money from your blog or website, and have an Android-based smartphone, you've probably wanted something like this app. You can set up multiple AdSense accounts and get performance data and analysis on each. There's a paid and lite (free) version available on the Android Market.

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Wowzio - Enhance your blog's wow factor with fabulous interactive gadgets

With bloggers it's all about bringing people back again and again. Obviously this is accomplished by consistently posting content people want to read, but it always helps to have some exciting interactive gadgets. This website has some of the best I've seen. What they say:

"We know making meaningful, beautiful, and lasting content for your blog is no walk in the park. Our widgets are designed to make your content more engaging and more enjoyable for your readers to consume.

Our widgets are an automatic and attractive way to get your readers to read more posts per visit. Bloggers have told us that page views on their blog have gone up as much as 30% after installing our widgets. Additionally, since all the widgets link back to your own site, it's a no-brainer to take advantage of them!"

Go to Wowzio

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ColorSuckr - Build color schemes from your photos

If you want to create a color palette from a photo, this is a powerful way to do it. You can use the web app or the Firefox add-on. (And I know what it sounds like.)

Go to ColorSuckr

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RightThumb - The easiest way to create thumbnail images

Any web-traveler knows about thumbnails. Those small images that give you the idea, though not the full-sized image. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a thumbnail image must be worth at least 200. Using thumbnails saves tons of room on a website's pages and gives the user the option to click for the full-sized graphic.

But creating thumbnails can be a chore. This little executable app makes it as simple as it could possibly be. Once your started the app and set up your size and other preferences, simply right-click on any selected pics and you'll see the context-menu option to "Create thumbnail(s)."

Get RightThumbs

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Create your own website in minutes with Weebly

Have you often said to yourself, "Dammit, I want to make a website!"? Do you have stuff to say to the world, by God? Have you been held back by concerns about how much time it would take and losing what little bits of life you still have left after work and family? Then Weebly is for you!

Weebly has got to be the simplest way for someone to come into the 21st and get a web presence, finally. It's simple yet full-featured and can have you going in a few minutes. (After that it's up to you to come up with something to say.) The site offers tons of help and an interface that won't leave you frustrated.

And here's the beauty part: If you want to make money on the Internet, Weebly supports that, too!

Go to Weebly

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$timator - How much is your website worth?

Come on, you know you're curious. $timator purports to place a monetary value on your websites; all you have to do is enter the url, click the "Calculate" button and watch the money roll in! Not really.

$timator

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w.bloggar - Post to your blog with ease and accuracy

It's not always convenient or best to post to your blog from the blog's dashboard itself. Sometimes it work better to post from a stand-alone client. Here's one that does the job admirably. From the web site:

"The w.bloggar is an application that acts as an interface between the user and one or more blog(s); in other words, it is a Post and Template editor, with several features and resources that the browser based blog editors do not offer.

Because w.bloggar runs over the Windows GUI, it allows the user to edit posts without being connected to the Internet. Posts can be saved locally; and anytime the user wants to publish a new text, one click on the w.bloggar icon in the system tray brings up the editor, and one more click will post it to the weblog."

w.bloggar

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Embedit.in - Embed any file in your website

More and more of us have web sites, and it's always useful to have an easy way to embed files therein. It couldn't be much easier than this... As demonstrated by this Chili recipe.




Embedit.in

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kwout - Web-based, context-sensitive screen capture

This little bookmarklet allows you to capture only the part of a web page that's relevant to you. From the site...

"kwout" is a way you quote a part of a web page as an image with an image map. To use this service, all you need is to add our bookmarklet to your favorite browser.

Kwout

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PicPick - An all-in-one design tool

Finding a great screen-capture tool that's also free has become a bit tougher, which is why I was thrilled to discover PicPick. Not only does it do screen-captures with ease and versatility, it also "has an intuitive interface and simple, elegant operation. After starting the software, you simply select one of the tools from the PicPick Tools tray icon menu when you want. It features a powerful capture tool, image editor, color picker, color palette, pixel ruler, protractor, crosshair, whiteboard, etc. You can use all these tools freely......."

PicPick 


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Debut Recording Software - Record video from your screen

If you've tried to explain to friend or foe how you did something on your computer, you know how painful the attempt can be. Especially if they don't know anything remotely useful about their computer besides how to turn it on. Well, now you can show them what you did by recording it with Debut. But then they probably won't know how to play the video, so what's the use?

If you'd still like to try, here's a bit more about Debut from their web site:

Debut is a simple, easy to use video recorder that lets you capture video files directly on your PC using a webcam (video camera), or capture device (from video). This PC video capture software can also capture and record almost anything that can be played or displayed on the computer screen. The program saves the video on your hard drive as avi, wmv or many other file types.

Typical Applications:

• Produce your own videos with captions and effects from your webcam or other video input device directly to your computer.
• Create "how to" instructional and training videos by capturing screen movements and audio.
• Capture video presentations such as internal company meetings or announcements for archiving.
• Record video memos and email to staff or colleagues.
• Capture instant snapshots from your favorite home videos to save them as jpg files.

This video recording software is completely free.

Get it here.

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DashBlog - An excellent Firefox extension for bloggers

Bloggers like me are ever on the lookout for tools that make our work easier. It's not that we're lazy. We just like to be efficient, is all. Really.

In any case, this Firefox extension has to be seen to be believed. With DashBlog you can grab a screenshot and mark it up in several ways. You can grab an image or a video. Once grabbed, your content can be saved to disk or posted on your blog, as I did with the image below.



Get it here.

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Best By Golly Blogger Backup Bar None

An appropriate number of words beginning with the letter B, don't you think? Anyway, here's a wonderful little Windows utility that lets you backup your blogger blogs so you don't lose your life's work.

Blogger Backup

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Blog Like a Pro with Live Writer Beta 3

Whichever blogging platform you use, you will find that Windows Live Writer makes your blogging easier and more flexible.

What's that? You don't have a blog? What are you waiting for, the Singularity? Get with the program! Seriously though, check out Live Writer Beta 3 and see what's new:

• XHTML Support
• Insert videos
• Upload photos to PicasaWeb
• Additional language support
• Enhanced image handling
• Beaucoup bug fixes

Windows Live Writer Beta 3

[via downloadsquad]

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