Quick Online Tips » Computers

14 Easy-to-Use Time Tracking Software

QuickOnlineTips — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:35:54 +0000

Guest post by Elisabeta Ghidiu.
Time trackers have been more and more popular these days in different ways if you choose to use them on your computer at home or at work. These applications allow you to have a general view over the activities performed in a specific day and see the achievement level. Here is a list with the most used time trackers -

Image by Temari 09 under CC

Paid Time Tracking Applications

1. Achive Palnner – is a Windows time management software that capture, organize and manage all your projects and tasks in one central place. After you organize the projects, you have the possibility to prioritize them using ABCD priority system.

2. Cyclope Employee Monitoring Software – is a time tracking software that records your activity without needing you to introduce dates. It provides information about how much time you (or your team) have spent on different activities in a specific day or a specific period of time (week, month or period defined by you). You can find out total active hours, overtime periods, total time spent online, idle time and the top of the most used application. The application can also generate productivity reports, which allow you to check how much time you spend on a productive/unproductive application. This time tracking software helps you refocus on important tasks. Online demo available here.

3. Chrometa – is a great time tracking software that captures every second and you don’t even have to enter dates. The application allows you to view activities from days, weeks or months before. You can set reminders, organize your work and export the dates into a Microsoft Excel workbook. A nice feature is the possibility to organize your time by dragging records into client or project categories. Online video available here.

4. Dovico – time tracking software is not just another time tracking software. This application can help you can increase project profitability allowing you to compare budge vs actual time and costs. It’s a complex application but even so it’s easy to use and it takes only 15 minutes to learn improving your time management skills. Online video available here.

Free Time Tracking Applications

5. Klok – is an easy-to-use personal time tracking software with a very nice interface. The application will let you know how much time you spend on past projects and allows you to better estimate future projects.

6. Maniac Time – is not just tracking your time spent on a specific project but tracks which applications you use and presents them in an easy to understand way. More than that it is tracking your computer usage showing you how much time you were idle or active.

7. ProjectHamster – works like an agenda, allowing you to schedule your day and to track the time spent on a specific activity. The application provides some statistics of how many hours you have spent on what and the reports can be exported to some suitable format or printed out.

8. Rachota – is a time tracking software developed having in mind 3 ideas: planning work, work your plan and analyze your time data. Compared to other free time tracking software, this one seems more complex providing beside the standard features – HTML report generating, history view of activity, tasks prioritizing and compared view for specific users.

Web-based online time tracking software

9. 1TimeTracking – is a paid web based time tracking software that provides a wide range of features. The application is perfect for managers to track costs for specific projects and to find out which employees are maximizing their billings and track the profitability of each. What makes this application different from others is that users can now update and view their timesheets while out of the office via their mobile phone or cell phone.

10. ClickTime – is a simple time tracking software but its great advantage is the compatibility with Mac, Windows, or Linux. More that that, the time tracking software has a Mobile Edition for PDAs & Smartphones in order to keep you up to date with your tasks even when you are not at your computer.

11. My intervals – is a paid web-based project management software that combines the time tracking with task management providing data reporting. A specific characteristic of this software is the Theme feature. This will enable you to personalize the intervals so they can match your palette and workflow.

12. SlimTimer – is free and easy to use. It is so easy that all you have to do is to enter your name and tasks for a specific day. After the task is completed, you can click the checkbox to mark it off. Even if the application does not provide many features, it allows you to run reports or to export any report to CSV (Excel), subscribe to its RSS feed or email it to a colleague.

13. Toggl – is a web based time tracking software that can be embedded into a specific Internet application like iGoogle, Netvibes, Gmail, or in your own company intranet. The application provides both paid and free versions, depending on chosen functionalities and number of users. The application has nothing special compared to other applications but it provides real-time performance charts and reports for the whole team.

14. Time-Assistant – time tracking software has so many features embedded that will provide detailed information about a project or about the person working on a project. Beside the time tracking features, the application includes calculation of expenses and multilanguage support (English, French, German). Time-Assistant is web based timesheet software with time track and payroll automation. Online demo available here.

Beside the fact that all time tracking software are design to track your activity, each of them has its specific features trying to make you more productive and to better suit your needs.

This guest post was written by Elisabeta Ghidiu, who is interested in online privacy and security solutions. You can also write a guest article and share your favorite web services.

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Original article: 14 Easy-to-Use Time Tracking Software
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5 Free Programs to Manage Windows Clipboard

QuickOnlineTips — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:52:44 +0000

Guest post by Aseem Kishore.
Looking for free Windows Clipboard mangers? The Windows clipboard is probably the most under-recognized feature of the entire Windows family, yet it’s probably used the most often. In this post, I will give you my list of the 5 most useful clipboard manager tools that will help you increase productivity.

Best Free Clipboard Managers for Windows

1. Ditto – Ditto is an open source extension to the standard Windows Clipboard. You can store text, images, HTML, or any custom formatted content onto the clipboard. It has a simple and easy to use interface and a lot of cool features. For example, you can search previous copy entries and you can also keep multiple clipboards from multiple computers in sync with each other! And the data is encrypted when sent over the network. Even better! It also uses a database backend, so accessing and storing clipped content is super fast. Overall, it’s one of my favorites.

2. xNeat – This little program is really tiny! It weighs in at only 644KB! If you want something that will let you store more items in your clipboard and not eat up very much RAM, then xNeat is the clipboard manager for you. Of course, it’s not as fancy as Ditto, basically allowing you to bring up a menu with a list of all the items you have copied to the clipboard. You can setup hotkey also to make the copying and pasting very efficient.

3. Clipboard Manager – If you love using the Sidebar in Windows Vista and Windows 7, then you’re going to like clipboard manager. It’s actually a Windows Live Gallery gadget. Since it’s a gadget, it runs in the Windows Sidebar and lets you manage your clips from the sidebar itself, which is pretty neat. The copied items show up in a nice list that is also styled just like your sidebar.

4. Ten Clips – Another lightweight and easy to use clipboard manager is Ten Clips. Everything can be controlled by hotkeys, so you never have to use the mouse. If you work with any kind of data where you are always copying and pasting between programs, Ten Clips will make it much easier. It’s main standout feature is that you can quickly paste “purified” text, which means it removes all formatting and paste in uppercase or lowercase.

5. PasteCopy.NET – Though this program requires the .NET Framework to be installed, it works really well on Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2003/2008. It also is the only clipboard manager in the list to support multiple languages. It has some cool features like auto convert of HTML to RTF or TXT and auto convert of RTF to TXT. What’s really cool, though, is that you can mouse over and see a preview of the actual clipped item. It also has an export and print function built in.

Are you using another clipboard manager that I didn’t mention here? If so, post in the comments! Enjoy!

Aseem Kishore is a blogger and Internet entrepreneur who blogs at Online Tech Tips and Help Desk Geek about technology, software, and computers. You can also write a guest article on QOT and share your tips and tools.

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Original article: 5 Free Programs to Manage Windows Clipboard
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10 Most Useful Free Twitter Tools for Bloggers

QuickOnlineTips — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:20:38 +0000

I present to you my list of 10 most useful free Twitter tools for bloggers that we use daily and find of the most practical use in our blogging routine. I am sure you too would want to grab all these tools for your blog. Check them out.

Best Twitter Tools for Bloggers

1. Twitterfeed – This amazing tool will let you publish updates from any RSS feed to your Twitter account. You can decide how frequently you want Twitterfeed to check your feed updates and how many updated articles to post to Twitter so that you dont overwhelm your twitter followers with tweets. If you follow us on Twitter, you know we direct our blog feed, photoblog feed, new jobs feed, delicious feed all via Twitter feed and keep updating our Twitter account automatically.

2. Tweetdeck - I know there are lots of Twitter desktop clients out there. For one fact, Twitstats says Tweetdeck is the most popular Twitter client in the market. Next it allows you to keep control of multiple Twitter profiles and keep regular track of your tweets, profile mentions, replies and direct messages – all on one screen. For me, it is the best way to keep using Twitter like a pro. Another popular alternative is Twhirl.

3. Twitpic – Simply put, TwitPic lets you share photos on Twitter. Now most popular Twitter clients have inbuilt support for Twitpic. This a valuable addition to make your tweets interesting. If you want to share videos, its worth taking a look at Twiddeo or Vidly.

4. Tweetmeme Button – this nifty button has emerged as the most popular way to get your articles retweeted. Supporting various blogging platforms and websites, a Tweetmeme button is the best way to get retweeted and make your article go viral across Twitter for extra site traffic. We use the Tweetmeme Wordpress plugin on our blog and you can spot the green retweet button on this page and our feed.

5. Twitter Counter - is a statistics tools which allows you to show off your Twitter followers count on your blog. It will also show you how rapidly your followers are increasing (or decreasing!) over the week or months. See how our Twitter follower counts looks like. You can also add their Twitter Remote widget to your blog sidebar for more interaction. If you really want to look for the most popular twitter users, catch them Twitterholic.

6. Wickett Twitter Widget – As seen on many blogs on WordPress.com, it displays tweets from a Twitter account in the sidebar of your blog. It is by far the easiest, lightest and best way to add Tweets to Wordpress. Here are more tools to integrate Twitter with Wordpress.

7. Twitter Search Widget - Official Twitter widget which provides a cool custom interface to display your own profile search results in your sidebar. An excellent way to show how popular you are on Twitter as hundreds of your profile mentions and replies scroll across your blog every second. There is an official profile widget also if that suits your need better. Here is an official Twitter badge for Blogger.

8. Twibbon – lets you add a logo of your website or a cause you support to your twitter profile avatar. This also enables your supporters to add the same logo to their profiles and show support for your blog or cause and is great to develop a community of supporters and get lots of publicity.

9. Twitterberry – is a popular Twitter client for Blackberry mobile phones. It helps me stay connected with my Twitter account anywhere in the world and on the move. I can access my Twitter followers, get replies and post tweets without my computer. My friends with Iphone and ipod Touch will like Twitterific or Twitterfon. Other mobile phone users can check the official mobile version of Twitter.

10. Twitbin – is a firefox extension that allows you to keep up with all of your Twitter conversations right from your browser sidebar. This really helps you stay connected with your followers while you are busy blogging. Or open Twitter 100 in a tab and keep following latest tweets from 100 followers on one screen.

What are your most useful tools which you use on a daily basis? Post in comments and I will add to the article. Image by mark.benton

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Original article: 10 Most Useful Free Twitter Tools for Bloggers
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10 Useful Small Softwares for Free Download

QuickOnlineTips — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:03:25 +0000

Guest post by Ishan.
Download Size: 35 MB! Does this line make you think twice before downloading a software? These days, many softwares have grown large and people on slow internet connections have to spend a lot of time to download them. For example, OpenOffice.org is a good alternative to MS Office but it is 300 MB + in size! It will take around 6-7 hours on a normal dial-up connection to download it.

Free Small Light Software

In this post, I will introduce you to 10 softwares that are small, lightweight (in terms of download size as well as system requirements) and Free!

XMPlay Audio Player: XMPlay does not have fancy skins like Winamp! It does not support loads of audio formats. So, why am I mentioning it here? Because of its download size! It’s just a 305 KB (Yes, that’s “KB”). There is no setup, just unzip and play. It can remember last played song, playlists and equalizer settings. It also supports plugins and skins that you can get from official site. Download XMPlay.
Opera: Opera is not just a browser, it’s a complete web suite. In just 6.6 MB download, you get a full fledged Web Browser, Mail Client, RSS Feed Reader, Chat Client, Download Manager, Notes Manager, Opera Link (Online Synchronizing Tool for Bookmarks, Notes and Speed Dial) and a lot more. For slow connections, Opera 10 also has Turbo feature. It can speed up loading of web pages by compressing the images and scripts. Download Opera.
Free Download Manager: As name suggests, FDM is a Free Download Manager! It uses multiple connections to download files faster and has support for BitTorrent, YouTube video downloading and FTP. Download size is 6.39 MB.Download FDM.
Miranda IM – Miranda is a multi protocol chat client that supports most major services like GTalk, Yahoo! Chat and MSN among many others. You can extend it easily with add-ons. Download size is 2 MB. Download Miranda
AbiWord: AbiWord is a small and lightweight text processor. It is a good alternative to Microsoft Word and supports .doc (MS Word) and .odf (Open Office) formats among many others. The download size is 5.6 MB. Download AbiWord.
IrfanView: IrfanView is a light image editor that is only 1.3 MB download. You can easily convert images to different formats, perform basic fixes to photographs and crop and resize them. Download IrfanView.
BlogDesk: BlogDesk is a free offline blog editor that supports most major blog platforms (except Blogger.com). It also supports basic image editing. For more, you can read BlogDesk review by me. Download BlogDesk.
Foxit PDF Reader: Foxit Reader is a great alternative to Adobe Reader. It also uses less resources. Download Size is 5 MB. Download Foxit Reader.
CCleaner: CCleaner helps in keeping your computer clean by removing useless Registery Keys. It also lets you manage Start Up programs. It is just 3.2 MB download. Download CCleaner.
IOBit Smart Defrag: This software automatically defragments regularly used files when your computer is idle. You can also manually defrag your files and folders. Download Size is 2.98 MB. Download IOBit Smart Defrag.

These were 10 small softwares that can help you a lot. If you have any suggestions or similar softwares that can be easily downloaded on slow connections – Please tell us through comments.

Guest post by Ishan Sharma, who blogs about blogging tips and resources on Blogging With Success blog. If you liked this post, check out 101 Free Tools And Resources for Bloggers on his blog. You can also write a guest article and share your favorite software.

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Original article: 10 Useful Small Softwares for Free Download
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Host Windows 7 Launch Party: Get Free Windows 7 Ultimate

QuickOnlineTips — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:52:36 +0000

If you decide to host a Windows 7 Launch party, you will get a free special Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate and your very own Windows 7 Party Pack.

If you are selected, you will be assisted by House Party, the world’s leading party organizer to help you out. Pick a theme, then upload photos and videos, chat with other hosts, blog your experience, and download fun favours all from your personal House Party page.

First you need to choose your country and apply online to host a Launch Party. You can choose any day from October 22-29, 2009 and if you’re selected, you’ll get a free special Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate and your very own Windows 7 Party Pack. Apply now.

Microsoft had earlier released free downloads of Windows 7 Beta and Windows 7 RC for trial and testing purposes and I hope QOT readers got hold of the Windows 7 software. Now you can download Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and scan your PC to see if it’s ready for Windows 7, and find any known compatibility issues.

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Original article: Host Windows 7 Launch Party: Get Free Windows 7 Ultimate
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Buy Nokia Laptops: Nokia Booklet 3G

QuickOnlineTips — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:50:15 +0000

Now Nokia not only makes the best mobile phones but also laptops! Nokia Booklet 3G is creating a lot of buzz and the full specification list is now released at Nokia World 09. I am sure people will line up to buy this new laptop er… booklet!

Check out this introductory promo of Nokia Booklet 3G -

Check out the Nokia Booklet 3G full specifications.
* Up to 12 hours of usage time
* Windows 7 and Intel Atom processor
* Chassis made from a single piece of machined aluminum
* 19.9 mm thin
* Inbuilt WLAN and WWAN enable connectivity
* 3G/ HSPA with hot swappable simcard
* Weight (max) 1250 g
* Dimensions (max) 264 x 185 x 19.9 mm
* Intel Atom Z530, 1.6 GHz
* Intel Poulsbo US15W, fanless design
* RAM: 1 GB, DDR2, 533 Mhz, soldered down
* HDD: 120 GB, 1.8”/5mmH/SATA, 8 MB cache, 4200 RPM
* 10.1”, 1280×720 pixels, glass window
* Battery 16 cell, 56.8 Wh, Li-Ion prismatic, removable design
* Inbuilt 3G modem (data calls only).
* Assisted-GPS
* 1.3 MP front facing camera with integrated microphone
* I/O ports- HDMI 1.2, USB 2.0, headphone, DC-in, SD card reader, SIM/USIM
* Software – Windows 7, MS Office Small Business (60 day trial), MS Internet Explorer 8, Ovi Suite, Ovi Maps Gadget, Social Hub, F-Secure Internet Security 2010 trial

Check out this hands-on video about the Nokia Booklet 3G -

How much does the Nokia Booklet 3G cost – 575 Euros!

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Download Opera 10 Turbo Browser Free

QuickOnlineTips — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:16:57 +0000

The Final version of Opera 10 is released and now you can download Opera web browser free and enjoy the sleek new design coupled with the new Turbo technology, which loads Web pages really fast, even on slow internet connections.

Opera 10 claims to be the world’s most innovative browser and is now available in 43 languages, and works on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. The major highlight of Opera 10 is Opera Turbo – a new compression technology that allows you to browse the web at broadband-like speeds even on slow internet connections. Once turned on, Opera Turbo instantly compresses pages, so less data needs to be transferred over the limited connection. Opera Turbo claims to give up to eight times faster Web surfing over slow connections than other browsers.

Next check out the new sleek and beautiful interface. Now powered with Better tabs, you can also resize your tab bar by pulling down on it or double-clicking the handle, revealing full thumbnails of all your open tabs. This video will show you all the new features of Opera 10 –

Download Opera today. Though it claims 8 times faster speed on slow net speeds, it still does not beat the Apple Safari claim to be the fastest browser.

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Original article: Download Opera 10 Turbo Browser Free
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Ask Lorelle: Why Woopra is Best Web Analytics Tool Ever

QuickOnlineTips — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:31:16 +0000

Lorelle VanFossen explains why Woopra is the best web analytics tool on the web. I have been using the amazing Woopra for a long time, and now let one of the most authoratative voices on the Internet convince you why Woopra is different and a generation ahead from any other traffic tracking tool available online. Lets ask Lorelle…

Let me thank you first for taking the time to talk to me about Woopra – and warn you that it’s hard to shut me up once I get going! I love Woopra and am proud to be on their team.

We have a small team that create and maintain the Woopra world. It’s amazing that something so powerful and revolutionary came out of the heads of two incredibly talented and gifted people, Elie Khoury and Jad Younan, and we have a fabulous team of five supporting all of what you see with Woopra. Amazing!

People laugh when I say that I believe Woopra is going to change how we think and work on the web. Then they see it in action, especially the brand new Woopra 1.3x, and eyes pop and mouths fall open. We call it the Woopra Effect. :D I present workshops and programs and keynote at conferences talking about Woopra, so I love seeing that Woopra moment for the audience.

As I said, I can talk about Woopra for hours, so to your questions.

5 Reasons Why I Should Use Woopra?

Only five? :D

Real time live stats and analytics: No waiting to see who is visiting your site and what they are looking at.
Actionable Data: We live in a world where fast has a new meaning. Woopra gives you data RIGHT NOW so you can make decisions to change ads, content, update pages, fix problems, track spammers and hackers, and respond in the moment instead of hours, days, or even weeks later. Decisions can be made through the data or through the popular Event Notification feature which alerts you when a specific event or trigger happens on your site – helping you to respond now.
Customizable Analytics, Segmentation, and Reports: We’ve just added the first in a series of improvements to our Analytics area bringing customization and personalization of your analytical data. You can sort, filter, search, and customize what information you need to know now. You can save commonly used search filters and even apply them to a variety of data. It’s your data. We’re working hard to bring you the data you need, not what we think you need to know about your site’s traffic and visitors.
Individuals Not Numbers: A lot of people talk about their pageviews and traffic to impress people, similar to bragging about having 12,458 Twitter followers. If you don’t know them individually, or even how they can help you or you can help them, who cares? It’s noise. Woopra turns the numbers into individuals, personalities. You can track who comes back for more. Your numbers become relationships. When they register or comment on your site, they become a name not a number, so now you are tracking Sally not #4598301. You can chat live with your visitors, be alerted when an individual shows up, or find out what one person has been doing over time on your site. When you talk to individuals, you can benefit the masses much more than trying to talk to everyone.
Woopra changes your online life and work: It sounds strange, but we’ve seen that “Woopra Effect” on tens of thousands of users. When we present Woopra at conferences, we watch people’s eyes glow and the motors churn with a new perspective on how to make their site work better for them and their customers and visitors.

How Many Sites Use Woopra? Can You Name a Few Major Sites?

We have more than 80,000 sites using Woopra during this phase of testing. We’re opening approvals with the release of Woopra 1.3x and that number may grow to almost 100,000 by the end of the month.

As we are in closed private beta testing, we’re focusing on testers. They may be running Woopra on huge, heavy traffic sites, or private sites with only a few visitors for testing purposes. We have people running a wide variety of servers, operating systems, website types and platforms, and browsers, helping us put Woopra through the wringer to make it as strong, flexible, and powerful as possible.

Who uses Woopra? Some folks who love what it does and are willing to help us put it through its paces and give us the feedback we need.

There are colleges and universities, high schools, elementary schools, non-profits, government agencies, radio and television shows and stations, multimedia and web technology companies, famous people, bloggers, employment agencies, entertainers – the list is long. Woopra is running in dozens of countries including Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Bulgaria, Germany, Sweden, Israel, Spain, and Russia.

Our servers are tracking millions of hits and serving up stats in the billions live, right now, to Woopra desktop clients, WordPress users, and those using the new Woopra Web Analytics app, so you don’t have to be tied to your computer to check your stats. There is currently an unofficial iPhone Woopra app but we’re working on an official version now that this version of Woopra is out.

A few examples of “big” sites using Woopra include Bjork (the singer), Ireland Breaking News – Irish News site, ButterScotch Tech portal, Envirolink Environmental community, Cali Lewis of GeekBrief.TV, John C. Smith University, Al Gore’s Live Earth, The Fan Sports Radio 97.1FM, No Fact Zone – #1 Stephen Colbert fan site, Portsmouth Police Department, the Samsung Newsroom, Dave Courvoisier – Las Vegas News Anchor/Voice Actor, Barbados Fair Trading Commission, New Zealand Human Rights Commission, Linfield College, MojoPortal, Port of San Diego, The Pew Charitable Trusts: State policy and politics, The Big Bay – San Diego Travel Guide, and the NBA Trail Blazers.

While it’s nice to know that these well-known and popular sites are using Woopra, for us, it’s about our beta testers at this stage in the game. The reports and feedback we get in the Woopra Forums help us make Woopra better. Those are the people we praise daily.

How is Woopra better than other traffic statistics tools?

Better? Define “better.” It’s different, and we like to think it’s better because it offers a unique perspective on your web stats. On the surface, Woopra is prettier than any other web analytics program. DB Ferguson of the No Fact Zone calls it “eye candy, stat crack.”

Woopra is not all about the pretty. It is has a hard driving engine underneath that was totally rewritten from the ground up to be more powerful and efficient, as well as with a framework that will help third-parties develop a variety of applications, plugins, and tools for the new Woopra 1.3x.

Primarily, Woopra was the first to offer comprehensive, real-time, live stats and web analytics. In the past, you had to wait 12-24 hours for updates from Google Analytics and other web analytics programs. The data was clumsy and hard to understand, especially for the novice. Woopra’s new Analytics segmentation features allow you to set up the data in ways you want and need.

What is fascinating is how people are using Woopra. A web analytics program is all about the numbers, right? The giant virtual score card. Woopra changes the game by giving you more than numbers. It tracks people. Individuals. Human beings.

We’ve had Woopra Members report on how they use Woopra in ways we never envisioned. Ron Pare wrote about his hobby train site and guild, Scratch Builders Guild, and how tracking the visitors to pages featuring model train kits can not only help him know which kits are successful, but use the geographical information to know which kits to sell to which area distributors and hobby stores.

Charles McKeever of Open Source Marketer, wrote about tracking visitor activity and using the Woopra Event Notifications to not just track visitors to test his social media marketing efforts. Submit an article to Twitter, StumbleUpon, or other social networking and bookmarking services and watch in real time to see the immediate response. One of these services not working for you, it’s time to make a change.

Real Estate agents and companies are changing how they track visitors through their site, monitoring which properties are of interest and where the interest is coming from. Woopra allows them to create a wide range of Event Notifications to alert them immediate to interest in a specific property or area, and the Live Chat feature lets them talk directly to the visitor and answer any questions they may have. They can respond now, turning visitors into customers.

Bloggers are loving Woopra. Sure, it gives them keywords and search terms to help them understand what their readers are looking for, but it personalizes the blogging experience. Before, interaction and relationships were built through the comment box. With Woopra, bloggers actually see the action and navigation through their blog, making the experience much more personal and tangible. They can watch people move from one article to the next, looking for information or possibly throughly studying the content, understanding how people use their site and information. It’s fascinating to watch the walls between the blogger and the reader disappear.

We’ve heard from some ad agencies and web development usability researchers that they are using Woopra with their testing, letting them monitor live how people are using a website or website application. They can use the Live Chat feature to ask a question at the moment something happens, getting immediate feedback that they might not get hours later when they sit down to review the test with the users.

We recently asked our Members to tell us about how they use the Woopra Live Chat. We were stunned at how popular this feature is for Woopra Members! The Woopra Live Chat requires nothing but the Woopra desktop client to hold a conversation with someone live on their site. Right now, the Live Chat is one way, initiated by the webmaster, but we’re working on making it more interactive and customizable.

People are using it to hold contests on their site, offering customer service, chatting with regular visitors or their team of bloggers and authors, getting feedback, interviews – it’s amazing all the ways people get creative with a tool we’re still developing.

As Woopra moves through the closed private beta process towards full release, we are learning so much about how people use the numbers and Woopra to make their online decisions and actions. And Woopra is evolving accordingly.

What is the easiest and fastest way to set up Woopra? How long does it take to get approved?

There is only one way. First, register to be a beta tester. We approval new beta testers in random batches when we have resources available. Once approved, install Woopra. Takes seconds. Put the Woopra JavaScript on your site per the Woopra Installation Guide, install the Woopra Desktop Client, and it will work within a few minutes as the servers catch up.

Remember, Woopra is currently in closed private beta testing. We approve new beta testing members when we have resources available, and then randomly. Let me explain this as people have a hard time understanding what “random” means.

We are tracking billions of bits of data across our servers at no cost to our beta testers. When we move Woopra out of beta, we will have a free basic version and paid versions, depending upon need and usage. Until then, we’re paying out a lot of money every month for the most powerful servers in the world.

To keep our costs low, we restrict our members to a 10,000 pageview per day limit and two sites per beta tester. That’s a lot of pageviews for the average webmaster. Few ever pass that limit. This keeps our costs down and allows us to manage tends of thousands of beta testers instead of the couple hundred originally budgeted.

We approve randomly. There are no favorites, no time limits, not even first-come-first-served. It’s done manually, so it is time consuming and random. We approve sites, not members. This is why we tell people it can take months or minutes, there is no telling. We’re adding new servers as fast as we can afford, and when we move out of beta, there will no waiting to use Woopra.

As a special deal for QOT readers, if you sign up and add your site to the Woopra Members > My Websites area, and tweet @woopra with the word “QOT” I will approve your site as fast as possible. This is only good until 8 September 2009, so act now.

Can Woopra be used on any website?

Yes. If your site can handle JavaScript, the Woopra JavaScript is quickly and easily installed per the Woopra Installation Guide. It also includes links to scripts, plugins, and installation tips for many different website and CMS platforms, and more are being added all the time.

We have the Woopra WordPress Plugin for WordPressusers. As a reminder, Woopra will not currently work with WordPress.com, only single hosted versions of Woopra. We’re working on a WordPressMU version of Woopra and looking for Plugin authors across a variety of platforms to help add to the list of sites Woopra can be installed on.

Can you highlight some new developments in the latest Woopra version?

Most of the news about the new features and upgrades are in the new version of Woopra announcements, so I’ll highlight only a few of them. We’ll be doing screencasts, videos, and publishing a ton of details about the new features over the next few weeks.

The most exciting features are the improved Analytics and segmentation features I’ve already mentioned, especially the Custom Reports feature. We’re really looking forward to hearing about all the ways we can improve this new feature, but also how people are using it. I’m working on a way to get people to report their Custom Report criteria to share with others.

There are so many things that have completely changed in this version of Woopra, it’s hard to select a few. The new charts and graphs, the added Analytics, the right click menus for analyzing data, webmaster tools to check page ranking and WHOIS…The new Woopra Theme Editor is fun, allowing users to customize and share their Woopra colors and designs. We’ll be adding more to that in future versions.

What is the long term plan for Woopra?

We’re in the early stages of offering customizable web analytics, so expect to see a lot of more development in that area. We want to not just be different in look and feel but also in customization. If you want to track specific information on your site, we want you to be able to do so. It’s your data. We want you to have control over it.

We’re making dramatic improvements to the Live Chat, Live Map, and all the various features of Woopra.

We’re also working towards developing a billing system that will allow us to move from the free version to paid versions, removing all the restrictions and limits. We are working to incorporate such a system into our website, and possibly even into the client in the long term to make it as easy as possible to customize how Woopra works for you.

Most important to us is the Woopra Community. The feedback on Twitter through our accounts, @woopra and Woopra Members, and in the Woopra Forums, and other social media sites helps us make Woopra better. We are working hard on getting as many people using and testing Woopra as possible, and using that feedback to squash bugs and create a strong and flexible web analytics tool. So we are listening a lot and answering a lot of questions on how Woopra works, as well as how to help you make Woopra work for you.

You are known as the Queen of WordPress, so why Woopra?

LOL. Honestly, the first moment I saw the earliest version of Woopra, my mouth would not close. I’ve been in the web business since its earliest development days and have been looking for something new to invest my time and energy into for over ten years, something totally new that will help change the web. I knew in a second that Woopra was it.

I’ve fought long battles to help break down communication barriers, helping everyone get a chance to have their say in the world, against copyright infringement, and have worked hard to break down language barriers around the globe through machine and live translations. Woopra breaks down some fascinating barriers as well.

Woopra provides instant and live information and interaction on your site. It isn’t about the past or the future but the present. To me, that changes the relationships we have with those who spend time on our site.

Woopra is just the tip of the iceberg. We’re in the earliest phases of development and have a ton of fantastic ideas and projects coming soon. Just as I continue to feel the same kind of excitement and energy that keeps me involved and passionate about WordPress, Woopra is even more exciting!

Lorelle VanFossen is Editor-in-Chief of Woopra. She is a top public speaker, trainer, writer, and consultant on web writing, web design, and blogging, and a leading voice on WordPress. She has written the book Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging, where she shares her web writing and blogging experiences. Read more interviews on QOT.

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6 Apps to Create Free iPhone Ringtones

QuickOnlineTips — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:20:44 +0000

Guest post by Srikanth
Convert your favorite audio file or an mp3 to iPhone ringtones? Here are some handy applications which enable you to create iPhone ringtones from different audio formats MP3, WAV, WMA and MP4 etc., for free.

Create Your Own iPhone Ringtones

iRinger: Free iphone Ringtone Maker Software. It allows any iPhone user to customize their iphone ringtones. It’s a handy ringtone maker solution that does not require any ” jailbreak” for your iphone. You can customize the ringtones with a variety of features supported by iRinger. It runs on all the versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows Vista. It requires iphone firmware 1.1.2 or newer, iTunes software 7.5 or newer, also works with the new iphone 3G.

ToneShop: Free iPhone ringtones maker (Windows). ToneShop is an free software utility which allows us to make ringtones from MP3, WAV, WMA and MP4 audio formats. It’s very simple to use, just we need to select the input file, define the audio snippet you want ringtone of and select the desired output format according to your cellphone. Using ToneShop you can create ringtones in MP3, WAV and AAC formats. The Apple iphone M4R (AAC) format is the latest addition to it. ToneShop Works on Windows 2000, XP and Vista PCs (32 bit and 64 bit)

imTOO: iPhone Ringtone Maker for Mac. It provides an easy way to create iPhone ringtones from video or music and transfer it to iPhone directly. This Mac iPhone ringtone maker software supports converting almost all video/audio formats and trimming video/audio to make the most colorful clip as your iPhone ringtone.

Xilisoft: iPhone Ringtone Maker for MAC. Xilisoft allows us to convert music files like WMA, RA, WAV, M4A, MP3 formats to M4R iPhone Ringtones. It even allows you to convert file formats like AVI, WMV, DivX, MP4, AVCHD, MKV, RM, MOV and MPEG to M4R for making background music as your iPhone ringtone. You can also create ringtone clip from any video/audio and turn it into iPhone ringtone. It allows you to transfer ringtones to iPhone directly and set as iPhone ringtone after iPhone ringtone creation is done. This ringtone software provides several interface languages to choose like English, German, Japanese and Chinese.

Garage Band: Create free iPhone ringtones using Mac. Apple introduced a simple and free way to create and sync your own custom ringtones to the iPhone using GarageBand. Download and install the latest update of GarageBand. If you’re using a song from your iTunes library, just open GarageBand, open iTunes, and simply drag and drop the song from iTunes to a new track in GarageBand.

Fission: Create iPhone ringtones. Using Fission, you can crop audio down to your desired snippet, fade the ends in and out and save all in just a few clicks. Add the files to any phone that accepts MP3 or AAC audio files for ringtones. Fission can edit AAC and MP3 files without any loss in clarity. It’s always been great for creating ringtones.

Guest blogger Srikanth writes on Tech Inspiration blog about tips, gadgets, and technology. You can write a guest article and share your favorite tools too.

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7 Best Applications for PC Remote Access

QuickOnlineTips — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:11:46 +0000

Guest Post by Srikanth
Many applications allow you to share desktop and remotely access your computer. Using these applications you can control your computer from anywhere via the web. These applications work well over the system firewall enabling you to control your computer securely. Remote access applications are very useful to share files and hardware. You can even control your computer from your mobile using some of these applications.

If you hold all your business files, presentations, photos and music files in your computer and you are staying away from home – You do not have to carry your computer with you, just install any of these applications and you are sure to see the things that are present on your computer as if you are sitting right in front of your computer. Here are some of the coolest remote access applications that allow you to do just what you want.

Best Remote PC Access Software

1. GoToMyPc - This is one of the popular remote access applications. It automatically configures itself to your computer and you can access your computer from anywhere in the world with a computer running on Windows, Linux or even Macintosh, you can also control your computer with a Windows enabled mobile device giving you the freedom of access and control. Data transfer between the computers is encrypted with AES using 128-bit keys and password protection giving you maximum security.

You can even use hardware like printers and other hardware devices to print documents. To share files and folders between systems, just drag and drop the files or folders across the screen to share them.

2. LogMeIn - You can try this application if you are looking for a free remote access application to control your computer or remote desktop viewing. Using this application, you can access your computer from virtually any browser or from any wireless devices that can access internet. LogMeIn free version does not support file sharing and hardware sharing or remote printing but LogMeIn Pro does support all these functions.

Using this application you can organize a mini meeting with group of friends, business meetings or office meetings on the net. You can listen to the songs saved on your computer and synchronize clipboard with the remote computer. It has the feature to chat between connected computers. You can even reboot or reconnect your computer, and it works even in the safe mode. All the data is encrypted for maximum security and detects any intrusion via SSL/TSL. Works on Windows and Macintosh systems.

3. TeamViewer – This is another application for remote accessing your computer. This application allows you to control any computer through web – all you have to do is run the application on both the systems. You can use this application to give business presentations to your partners or customers. By drag and drop, you can easily transfer files between computers. This application will work just fine with any kind of firewall and you need not make any changes like port forwarding. Security is no longer an issue using this application, since all the data is encrypted and has standard SSL. From the web, you can access a remote computer with ease.

4. PCnow – If you are looking for a remote control application and online backup service then pcnow is for you. This application works on any Windows and Mac systems and you can also remote access computers through web from Windows and Mac systems and even from your mobile. You can also invite a friend to assist you with the computer or to share your desktop remotely. Now you can control your hardware’s like web cams and printers using this application so that you can see what is happening at your home or print documents remotely. High security features like SSL, TSL and data encryption are available. It supports file transfer and sync computers. You can also listen to music on your local PC from the remote computer.

5. Radmin - This application is completely compatible with Windows Vista. It has high-level security using 2048-bit key size. Your data is securely transferred between the computers giving hackers no chance. It works at high speeds, it automatically adjusts with change in the internet speeds. It supports text and voice chat so you can stay in touch with the people on your network. Just drag and drop files to transfer files between computers. Using this application, you can have multiple connections at a time and control remote computers in real time.

6. Anyplace Control – This utility gives you the freedom of controlling any computer from virtually anywhere in the world with a computer that has internet access. You can view the desktop of the remote computer on the local computer using this application. It’s very easy to use and install. Supports file transfer by drag and drop method and you can even print documents using printer on the remote computer. It works even on the systems running on a dynamic IP address. Using this application, you can even turn on a remote computer using Wake-On-LAN technology.

7. Remote Computer Access - This software allows you to access and control your computer from any other computer that is connected to the web or you can control computer on local network. This application supports multiple connections at a time and you can access remote computers in real time.

You can also set different work modes like view only, which allows users only to view the contents on the computer. It has a high-level security. You can even shutdown remote computer or reboot and even log off remote computer from any local computer. This application works through the firewalls and gives you a high resolution view with detailed color.

Guest blogger Srikanth writes on Tech Inspiration blog about tips, gadgets, and technology. You can also write a guest article and share your favorite web services with our readers. Photo by momentmedia (under CC)

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