Today, 40Tech is pleased to present a guest post by Keith from Computer Repair Vancouver.
File extensions have become a mainstay in the current computing landscape. Those two or three letter codes that follow a file name allow you as well as your operating system to determine what type of file is being dealt with as well as which programs should be used to deal with it.
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.
You can add electronic copies of your documents to Niggle It by emailing in a scan or a photograph taken with a digital camera. You can also use any mobile phone capable of taking pictures and sending email — or use the iPhone app to create the entire Niggle on the go.
The value of Niggle It is the ability to create reminders based on contract dates, and to add additional information and documents to the file (Niggle) that is dedicated to that one item/contract. You have a dedicated, always on hand back up of the documents you need if something goes wrong, and a tool that is able to remind you to, say, get that last full service in on your car before the warranty runs out — just in case.
Niggle It guarantees that your information is always available from anywhere you can access the internet, and that everything is private and secure, with no personal information ever shared with a third party.
Niggle It is free up to five Niggles, and also includes the following pricing plans:
What do you use to track your warranties and contracts? [Niggle It]
UPDATE: The pricing page for Niggle It is somewhat unclear. I assumed it was per month, but it could, in fact, be $25 and $30 per year — much more reasonably priced.
UPDATE 2: The price is yearly — not monthly — and has been corrected.
Finding the perfect domain name for your site can be challenge. With a gazillion sites out there, the obvious choices are all taken. Bust a Name can help you come up with something clever, when your brain fails you.
To use Bust A Name, you input words into what Bust A Name calls a “word combiner.” You will then be presented with a list of available domains made up of combinations of the words that you input. You also can organize your words into groups, so that only certain words are combined. For example, when I started 40Tech back in 2009, I put “40” and “forty” in one group, and several geek-related words (tech, geek, etc.) in another group. That ensured that I wouldn’t get results like 40forty.com.
Bust A Name also allows you to save the domains that you like for review, and to save your session to return to it later. If you want to buy a domain, you can select the registrar from a dropdown list, and go right to the registrar’s site.
What tools do you use when you need to cook up a domain name?
If you’re a blog owner, or just curious by nature, you may be curious about how the loading time of one website stacks up against another. You can see two sites square off at whichloadsfaster. Whichloadsfaster couldn’t be easier – input one site in the box at the top left of the screen, and another site in the box at the top right, hit the “Go” button, and sit back to watch the results.
The service has some other features as well, such as a repeat feature, which lets you specify how many times you want the faceoff to be run. This can give you a better idea as to which site truly is faster, since load speeds on any given visit can vary due to traffic and other factors. There is also a “race” feature, that allows you to list up to three sites in one column, three in another column, and have the two groups square off against each other. It sounds silly . . . but don’t knock it until you try it, I guess. That can be said for whichloadsfaster in general – it may sound whimsical, but it is oddly addicting.
What tools do you use to measure the speed of your site? Coming soon, we’ll take a look at a tool we use here at 40Tech to help improve site speed.
Try out whichloadsfaster
I don’t know about you, but I rarely even look at a Craigslist post that doesn’t have a photo of the product attached to it. I don’t see the point. If someone doesn’t take the time to take a photo of what they’re selling, I simply don’t trust it — and I really don’t want to drive to wherever that person lives for a first look at my potential purchase, you know? Spotli has made my life easier by providing a visual search tool for Craigslist and other places to buy online.
I know that you can already filter Craigslist to only show items with photos, but searching Craigslist is not a pretty experience. At all. It’s uglier than Google — and that’s saying something. Spotli will take your search, even narrowed down to city-level, and display an eye-pleasing grid of images, complete with title and pricing information. Hover over the image that catches your eye and it will expand to a slightly larger size for easier viewing. Click on the image and you will go directly to the listing.
You might wonder what the point is of some of the other online shops (Ebay, Amazon, Best Buy, Buy.com, Overstock.com, Discount School Supply) — after all, they are already visual sites. I find that I like the interface of Spotli much better, however, and highly recommend that you give it a try. I would actually like to see even more stores added, as well as a Canadian option.
Spotli is fully usable without registration, even the Coupons & Deals section, but registering does give a little back, such as saved searches, minor Facebook Connect (to invite friends), and the possibility of more tools in future — maybe sharing functionality for found items?
My only wish for Spotli would be the ability to have my search term be persistent across all stores, so that I don’t need to type it in repeatedly when price-matching. If that were also integrated into the saved search functionality, Spotli could become the perfect shopping companion for me. How about you? What are your thoughts on Spotli? Know of any similar services?
