40Tech

You can dutifully sync and backup your files and still not be able to edit your documents when needed, if you are using a computer that doesn’t have the necessary software installed.  Online word processors can help you get around this problem.  Here’s a comparison of four such choices, Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Docs, Zoho Documents, and Box.net.  We’ll tell you the pros and cons of each, and see how they stack up.

In an effort to discover a reasonable replacement for the collaborative powers of Google Wave, 40Tech has gone forth and tested several free or mostly free services and methods. So far, we’ve reviewed Zenbe’s Shareflow, as well as a conglomeration of other Google services (which, reportedly, will be absorbing some of Wave’s features). As our next candidate, we tested Socialwok, a free, very Facebook-like service that allows you to not only create your own focused social network(s), but was designed to integrate tightly into Google Apps.

One of the drawbacks of most note taking apps is that they require you to fire up an app or a website, and log in to an account before you can start typing. What if you want to quickly enter a note from your computer, that you can later access from any browser? Take a look at Notepad.cc. Notepad.cc is simple. Just go to the Notepad.cc website, and you’re presented with a mostly blank page. Type your note, and then just use the URL from the address bar to access that note from any browser. Read on for more.

Web based office suites are great – and getting better all the time – but none of them can really top the formatting capabilities and ability to work without an internet connection that comes from Microsoft Office. Still, we are a world heading for the proverbial Cloud, and we often find ourselves with the need to easily share and collaborate on documents over great distances. The Make Tech Easier blog took the time to lay out three ways to get that done, using Google Docs, Zoho, and, of course, the relatively new Office Live.

Just last week, Producteev announced on their Posterous blog that their software now has the power to act as a virtual assistant, of sorts. Producteev has embraced the power of “natural language”, allowing users to actually tell the system (via email, IM, browser extension, and more) to do things like create or update a task and assign it to a specific person with a level 5 priority and a Friday due date. Producteev now also allows you to reply to reminder messages to change the status of a task, and to retrieve tasks by query. Read on for more.

Everybody knows that the folks over at Apple are flighty, at best, when it comes to what is allowed or rejected from their App Store. They have their, reasons, of course, but those reasons are often unclear to the public, or even to the developers of iPhone and iPad apps. Apple’s rejection of, or sudden pulling or neutering of apps has been the subject of much contention and even a few blog posts here at 40Tech. There may be a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, though, with OpenAppMkt.

Do you want to send a farewell message to a loved one after you die? Perhaps you live alone, and want to make sure someone finds you if you die? Death Switch might be what you need. Death Switch is a simple site. After you register, Death Switch will start sending you e-mail messages (at a frequency of your choosing). If you don’t respond to one of those messages, Death Switch assumes that you’re dead, and sends out an email message that you’ve created, to an email address of your choosing.

The human memory is an awesome tool, but it isn’t perfect. We all need gentle reminders now and then, so that we don’t forget what we need to do and where we need to be. It would be nice if there was one source that could be the end-all, be-all when it comes to sending yourself reminders. I find, though, that I use a mix of tools to remind myself of what I need to do. Here are four that I use.

Do you hate your local radio stations with a blinding passion? If not, you’re probably at least a little bit tired of hearing the same pop princess on the airwaves over and over and over and… well, you get the idea. Don’t despair! You’ve probably heard there are at least a few sites out there that do their best to provide you with alternatives to your local stations, and make it easy to find and lock into what you need. These are sites that will bring you real radio from around the world, as opposed to the often licence-restricted Last.FM or Pandora — and three of the best out there are RadioTuna, RadioTime, and Tun3r. Each have their good points — read on to see which will work best for you.

You might remember our post on Threadsy Beta way back in January. Threadsy is a great web app that pulls all of your email, Facebook and Twitter info into one neat little interactive package, and even gives you some detailed multiple social network info on your contacts. In May, Threadsy went live to the public with a slew of new features, and has added even more in the last week. It’s safe to say that Threadsy is growing fast and doing well, so if you tried it and dropped it, you might want to look again — and if you haven’t played with Threadsy yet, we recommend you check it out!

Here’s the shortlist of Threadsy’s new features, some detail on their latest updates, and a few things we would still like to see: