40Tech

Is your PC’s desktop or downloads folder cluttered with files? If so, and you’re feeling overwhelmed with the thought of getting your system organized, check out DropIt. DropIt is a free program that creates a big icon on your desktop, that can be thought of as a drop zone. When you drop a file onto the icon, actions will be performed on it depending on how you’ve configured DropIt. DropIt can help you quickly move files to the proper place on your PC, without having to manually select a folder for each file.

Less than two months after our last update on Springpad — one of our hottest topics on 40Tech — the tool to save and organize pretty much anything has sent out another press release full of updated goodness. Goodness to the tune of more than 250,000 new users in the month of January alone, 4 million new bookmarks via the Delicious bookmark importer, new saved-search filters, delete and archive support, and an overhaul to what was already one of the better Google Chrome extensions out there.

Check out the details after the jump.

There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding Springpad lately, both here at 40Tech and around the web. For good reason, too. The app’s new features and interface improvements have put it strongly in the running for one of the best save-everything-and-get-organized apps out there. People are loving it! According to CEO Jeff Janer, the new Springpad has seen a huge spike in usage. After playing with it for a while, I can see why.

If you’re like me, you let your computer – and particularly your PC’s desktop – become a complete mess before you dive in to tidy it up.  One way to speed up the cleaning process is by filing away all that mess.  If you want to speed that up, via a fast way to dump files into predetermined folders, take a look at FileMenu.  FileMenu is simple in concept, but it is like the Swiss Army Knife of file management.

Zomm is one of those neat little gadgets that I’m not sure I would ever buy, might raise an eyebrow at if given it for a gift, but would probably find ridiculously useful if I had one. It does three things:

1. Helps you never forget your phone (or other bluetooth-enabled device you’ve paired to it) by sounding an alarm if you start to walk away from it.
2. Answers phone calls with the touch of a button, improving driving/cell-phone safety.
3. Acts as a personal security alarm that will even dial 911 for you

Check out the video after the jump.

If you’re like me and have a tendency to lose track of your warranty information, Niggle It is a service with a singular purpose: to help you keep track of the details of all of your agreements, including warranties, business contracts — even those conversations that you have with your mobile carrier’s customer service agents. Niggle It will track anything you feel important enough to be reminded about, be it personal or business related.

According to several sources, Verizon and AT&T are working on a partnership to develop contactless payments from your cell phone. The financial website The Motley Fool has more information on the deal. It seems there is no word yet on when this might be rolled out, or how they are going to fill my mailbox with pre-approved cell phone / credit card offers.

So what do you think? Would you use a system like this? Would you trust it?

Using bookmarklets has become a staple item for me in internet browsing — I use everything from Readability2Evernote, to a multitude of sharing and tracking tools, each with its own nifty difference from the other. My only qualm has been the way they clutter up my toolbar. No longer! I have now installed the bookmarklet [...]

Over on our Posterous site, we recently addressed one use case for reQall, a personal reminder service that allows you to capture information using voice or text.  In that post, we explained how to get information into Evernote using reQall’s voice capturing and transcription features.  There are other ways, though, to use reQall to stay [...]

I’ve talked about Evernote quite a bit here.  Next to Firefox, it may be my most used application.  One of the strengths of Evernote is that it is available on several different platforms, such as Windows, Mac, portable USB, iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre, and via the web.  A quick visit to the Evernote forums, though, [...]