Robin Good: You have probably seen this cool little widget at work on many sites already, and have probably been wondering, how could you get that on your web site too.
Well the answer is simple: The Slide by SimpleReach does it all for you, and at no cost. It recommends related posts without asking you much in return.
It can increase pageviews and the time web visitors spend on your web site.
Useful. 8/10
Web Publishing Tools
Robin Good: PressJack is a service which allows you to utilize any RSS feed to create a professional-looking digital magazine which you can host directly on your own web site. If you are looking for a way to make better use of the resources you curate, share and bookmark online, or for a way to create extra value for your newsletter subscribers PressJack may offer a very interesting proposition. By using PressJack it is in fact very easy to aggregate into a beautiful-looking magazine content coming even from multiple feeds and to "edit" only those stories and items you think are of most value. (You can accept or reject individual stories, edit their content, and the specific images that will be published). For this capability alone PressJack provides an excellent way to "curate" your own content stream while producing a richer and more focused content item. A free version of the desktop software (PC - Mac) that allows you to see how you can build your own digital magazine, is immediately available on the home page of the site. There are three versions of PressJack one of which is fully free. This free version allows you to create and publish up to 3 digital magazines at a time on your website. The magazine does contain a few ads, but I must say they fit in quite nicely without disrupting or diminishing the overall output quality. This version does not support reader statistics. Examples of digital magazines created with PressJack: http://www.pressjack.com/online-magazine-samples.html Pricing info: http://www.pressjack.com/digital-magazine-pricing.html More info: http://www.pressjack.com/ 
Robin Good: If you are looking for an easy and fun way to generate and customize your own QR Codes, QRhacker.com provides a simple interface just for this. With QRhacker.com you can decide whether your QR Code is a text, a url, a phone number, a VCard with your contact details or a gateway to provide WiFi access.
Once you are done you can save and download your ready-made QR Code and start sharing it with the world. Try it out now: http://www.qrhacker.com/ Robin Good: OnSwipe is a great service that allows anyone to easily generate an iPad-compatible version of their blog, that is beautifully designed and extremely easy to access and navigate. OnSwipe provides a free online dashboard in which, after you have registere yourself, you can set up any number of content sections based on RSS feeds or other content channels you have access to. What you need to do on your end is to place a tiny JavaScript snippet into your web site home page HTML code and from that moment on, iPad-based visitors will be served your web site "special" version, organized around the sections and feeds you have previously provided. To get an idea of the final results looks like check also this other video clip:
Try it out now on any site. I have tested it and it does work flawlessly. Impressive. 9/10 Try it out here: http://onswipe.com 
Robin Good: If you are wondering which service to use to get your content out into an eBook in a professional-fashion, you may want to check this very informative comparison table that FoliumBookStudio, a new service in this space, has published on its site. Comparison table: http://www.foliumbookstudio.com/price-and-compare/ The FoliumBookStudio is an interesting new solution providing the option of a free trial, and a number of extra features that the other services do not offer. Find out more about FoliumBookStudio here: http://www.foliumbookstudio.com/ 
In short: ICE is an open-source customizable JavaScript library, created by the New York Times newsroom, that will allow you to track changes in any element that is "contenteditable", or in a TinyMCE or Wordpress text editor." From a review on ICE by Poynter.org: "When you’re working in a collaborative environment as we and a lot of journalistic organizations are, you really need that ability for multiple people to touch a piece of copy, and for those changes that everyone has made to be catalogued and archived and shown, so that there’s a record of who’s done what to who, when. … No one on the Web had such a thing, because most bloggers, when you think about that, are smaller operations than most newsrooms." ICE demo: http://nytd.github.com/ice/demo/
Right now ICE will work with WordPress and TinyMCE. The Times also has released the code on Github so that other developers can integrate it into other publishing platforms and modify it if they see fit. More info: http://open.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/introducing-ice-writing-for-the-web-first/ (Curated by Robin Good) 
Robin Good: Project Argo is collection of tools and best practices for building topic-focused sites in WordPress. Funded by grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Knight Foundation, Project Argo offers optimized templates, plugins, code and a several good tutorials for independent web publishers targeting a specific news topic or theme. "If you're building a website that will feature frequent topical posts in a variety of media types, the tools we've built and the lessons we've learned are yours to use and extend." Among the key immediate benefits Project Argo offers are: - a set of WordPress themes optimized for niche-reporting web sites. (see the four themese here: http://argoproject.org/theme.php ) - a collection of plugins optimized for use with the Argo framework, such as the slideshow plugin or the Jiffy Post plugin which makes it quick and easy to embed links, photos, videos and rich media on your site using nothing more than a source URL. (check the plugins available here: http://argoproject.org/plugin.php ) - code and tutorials originally designed and targeted targeted at enabling small independent web publishers to curate and report on news about specific topics of local interest. Examples of Argo Project web sites: From the official site: "Funded by grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Knight Foundation, each site is produced by a full-time journalist-blogger (or, in some cases, a combination of full- and part-time journalists). " Recommended. 9/10 Learn more about Project Argo: http://argoproject.org/learn.php Find out more: http://argoproject.org/ 
Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for the Apple iPad. From Mashable: Using the app, which was announced at the same time as a new textbook experience for iPad, users can drag a Word file into a book creation space. The app automatically determines the best way to lay out the book and creates appropriate sections and headers. Users can then drag and resize images within the text and add definitions, photo galleries, movies Keynote presentations and 3D objects. Users can preview their books on their iPads or publish them directly to the iBook store." N.B.: iBooks Author is designed to be used with the iPad and published in the iBookstore. After the user is satisfied with the proof, the book can be published using iTunes Producer directly into the iBookstore.
Read full photo-review: http://mashable.com/2012/01/19/apple-ibooks-author/#view_as_one_page-gallery_box3931 Read the "hands-on" review: http://mashable.com/2012/01/19/ibooks-author-app-review/#view_as_one_page-gallery_box3937 Find out more or download it: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibooks-author/id490152466?mt=12 http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/ Learn more about iBooks: http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/ Update: There seems to be something disconcerting and unprecedented inside the License of this software. Please be forewarned, that this is something you may not like or want. Read here: http://www.businessinsider.com/warning-apple-can-hold-your-work-hostage-if-you-sell-through-ibooks-2012-1 and here: http://venomousporridge.com/post/16126436616/ibooks-author-eula-audacity
TheInterviewr is a tool to schedule, record and archive audio interviews.
Free to use, the Intreviewr uses Twilio to power the recording of phone calls. After entering your and your interviewee phone number, both will receive a call at the scheduled time and the conversation will automatically be recorded. Right after, you will be able to download the full recording and play it back. (Recordings are kept for free for up to 6 months). Free to use.
FAQ: http://theinterviewr.com/faq/ 
Kl1p is an online notepad allowing anyone to write, edit or simply copy and share any text or programming code through a published web page. How it works: You go to http://kl1p.com and enter your preferred custom your URL for your page (e.g.: http://kl1p.com/giggiolina next to where it says Step 1. There are three types of editors that you can use: Plain, Rich Text or Code. A menu link make it easy for you grab the URL of your newly created web page container and share it with whomever you want. Each page created with kl1p has an integrated unique characterizing QR code. A free Chrome extension is also available here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/coifoiflgljdceahcnakhakiaahajahm?hl=en No signup or registration is required. The service is free. Try it out now: http://kl1p.com/ (Reviewed by Robin Good) 
Generate a printed book from your blog by simply selecting a few options and letting FeedFabrik do the rest for you. FeedFabrik can hook up with major blogging platforms such as Blogger, Wordpress (hosted and self-hosted), Typepad and Tmblr as well as photo sharing sites Picplsz and Instagram and can convert selected contents (you can specify a date range) to be formatted and printed as a physical book with cover, full table of contents and everything else you expect in a traditional book. Once you have connected FeedFabrik with your blog, you are offered a number of options to configure the content to be published and the layout of the book. Three types of paper are available plain white paper, plain creme paper and photo quality paper. FeedFabrik provides the user with three final output options: 1) printed Book - starting at 7.45€ ($10) 2) PDF Book - 4.95€ 3) PDF Proof - FREE The print proof PDF file is a file that shows your book just like we send it to the printer. It is perfect to make sure that everything looks like you expect. The printed book will look the same. The print proof file has crop marks around the content which are used to cut the printed pages out of the larger print sheet. You can order any number of print books: one or a hundred, and they will be shipped to you from Europe. See an example: http://www.feedfabrik.com/bookfabrik/view/zszd8s Wordpress plugin: https://www.feedfabrik.com/blog/wordpress-printing-plugin Very interesting. 8/10 Find out more: https://www.feedfabrik.com/ (Reviewed by Robin Good) 
Scribr is a new service which makes it possible for anyone to publish a print book that includes all of the best content and images from their selected social accounts. Scribr lets you plug in your social media accounts – Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Tumblr and Foursquare – and create a printed book of all of your updates, photos, check-ins and posts. You can also include your Instagram photos, but only if they are shared on your Facebook or Twitter accounts. How it works: Connect your accounts, and then choose between two options. a) Either generate a book with all of your posts for any given year, or b) determine the time frame and which items from each account you want to include. At the moment you can include or exclude your personal Scribr diary, Facebook photos, likes and notes, all Flickr images, Foursquare checkins, Tumblr photos, text, and quotes, and of course, all of your tweets. More services will be added in the future, including Google+, Posterous, 500px, and native Instagram support, as well as support for RSS feeds. "The book itself, which will cost you $45, looks pretty impressive. The glossy cover has a magazine feel to it, while the matte paper will show off your yearly photos beautifully." Scribr books are printed in vivid full color on 80-pound matte "snow white" premium paper, and perfect-bound in a glossy customizable cover. Read the full review: http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/12/30/scribr-preserves-your-social-media-posts-turning-them-into-a-beautifully-printed-journal/ Find out more: http://myscribr.com/ Plot.io is a new web-based software that helps you visuliaze, plot and make sense of large amounts of data, without requiring you to download, install or setup any software at all (no Flash, Silverlight, Java or plug-ins required). You simply point to an existing database resource or upload a text file and Plot.io immediately reads all your data while providing you with intuitive and easy to use tools to visualize it. As a matter of fact there are nearly limitless visualization possibilities available to the user. See many examples of data infographics that can be created with Plot.io in this video (starting at 2'): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m2ywMAlT-M&feature=related Visualizations created with Plot.io can also be easily shared and published on the web. See how Plot.io works in this other video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-43fgzEcmqo&feature=related You can sign-up to be invited to try Plot.io here: http://plot.io (reviewed by Robin Good) 
This is a great little tool that makes it easy to select and highlight any text on any web page and then to share it easily with others. The content you have selected, which can be highlighted in different colors and also annotated with post-it-like sticky notes, can be easily emailed, or shared directly on Facebook, Twitter, Delicious or onto any blog or web site via an "iframe" embed code. Very easy to use, intuitive, and more effective than other methods. The bookmarklet, makes it perfect: http://www.awesomehighlighter.com/user/welcome Recommended. 8/10 Try it out now: http://www.awesomehighlighter.com/ |
Robin Good: Speechpad Transcription is an online service that provides professional text transcriptions of video and audio files at reasonable rates. You can either a) upload an audio file, b) record a phone call with the service or c) call-in and record a text that you want to be transcribed. Pricing starts at $1/min with a 3-5 day turnaround time and goes as high as $2/min for a 24-hr transcription time. Find out more: http://www.speechpad.com/ 
Robin Good: Quipol is a new free service which makes it extremely easy for anyone to create a one-question poll to be rapidly published online. Readers can vote up or down and comment as well. Created polls can still be edited with Quipol even after having been published, and can be deleted at any time. Check this Mashable review: http://mashable.com/2012/01/30/quipol/ Other interesting tools in this space: Toluna, Micropoll, PollDaddy. The service is free. Find out more: http://quipol.com/
Robin Good: You have probably seen this cool little widget at work on many sites already, and have probably been wondering, how could you get that on your web site too. Well the answer is simple: The Slide by SimpleReach does it all for you, and at no cost. It recommends related posts without asking you much in return. It can increase pageviews and the time web visitors spend on your web site. Useful. 8/10 
Robin Good: OnSwipe is a brand new service which allows any web publisher to instantly create a beautiful-looking iPad magazine by simply providing the references to RSS feeds, Twitter, YouTube/Flickr channels and more. OnSwipe does the rest. The service is extremely simple to use. Just go to OnSwipe.com, click Get Started, and one registered you only need to provide the URL or name of your different content or social media channels. Once you have setup all of your content sources, OnSwipe provides you with a snippet of JavaScript code to place in the head tag of your web site. iPad-based web site visitors visiting it will automatically "see" the "optimized" OnSwipe view. You can also setup a custom domain such as robingood.onswipe.com for your iPad aficionados. Very promising. 9/10 N.B.: The service looks like it has been freshly baked and there are a few things that may not work yet as expected. I am myself testing it and trying to understand how to make it work. Read more about Swipe and the philosophy behind it: http://blog.onswipe.com/news/the-road-ahead 
Robin Good: With no need for registration, no set-up, and no installation requirements Checkthis makes it as easy as it can get, to publish a web page of multimedia content on the web. As soon as you click the Create a Page button, you can start immediately adding a main title, text, and any type of additional content including images, audio, web links, lists, video, maps, tweets and more. The appearance of the page can also be customized somewhat by changing the background image and specifying colors for each one of the content components present on a page. Other features include the ability to make your web page "private" or public, and whether it will "expire" after some time. Only in the case you want to keep your web page "private" you will need to login into Checkthis by using Twitter/Facebook or Google as sign-in intermediaries. Useful. 8/10 Find out more or try it out immediately (better): http://checkthis.com/ 
SlideDeck is a Jquery-compatible add-on (adaptable to any site) as well as a WordPress plugin that allows you to organize content, images and more into professionally-designed sliding decks.
There are two versions available: a) Free version - fully working (it doesn't have vertical sliding options, it carries a link to slidedeck and has no pro support) b) Pro - $99 More info on pricing: http://www.slidedeck.com/pricing/ Find out more: http://exclusive.slidedeck.com/ub-slidedeck/ (Reviewed by Robin Good) Wappwolf is a new service which allows you to completely automate a broad number of typical image editing tasks as well as related conversion and publishing or uploading needs. Available pre-set web publishing tasks include "summarizing" documents, converting them to PDF and translating them to other languages. Mac and Android (coming up) (Reviewed by Robin Good) 
shortText.com is a simple tool to post text online, with minimum fuss. You type your own text and you can publish it instantly, including links to images or videos, to a real web page. (Free urls will remain active as long as it is visited at least once in 6 months by anyone, after which we may purge the URL for others to use it.) Warning: once you post something, is posted. No way to swtich back. shortText also allows you to reduce the size of any text to 140 characters so that you can post it on Twitter. It does so by keeping the long text on shortText.com. ShortText allows to keep a page private and to turn on or off the use of comments. No sign ups, no sign in are required. The service is completely free and it is ad supported. Firefox Add-on: http://www.shorttext.com/twitzer.aspx *shortxt is a simple Addon which lets you post text longer than 140 characters on Twitter.com. 1) Just write as much text as you want in the Twitter box Chrome Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lgndmpfddmhonmjkgleaidcjjhdeplch FAQ: http://www.shorttext.com/faq.aspx Find out more: http://www.shorttext.com/ (Reviewed by Robin Good) 
Onepager is an free online service targeted at small business owners who want to create a one-page professionally-looking website without having any technical skills. Onepager lets you indeed create a one-page only website in a matter of minutes by providing you with basic templates that you only need to edit and customize with your text and images. The user can select hat type of information modules to publish on the site among a list of available options. A map of your location, address and contacts info, social media links, newsletter signup are among the several modules immediately available. The site can be immediately paired to an existing domain you own or matched to a new website domain. An analytics functionality is integrated to provide basic information about website traffic and visitors. No technical skills are required to use Onepager. Mashable writes: "The objective of the website can be found in its name: It provides easy, one-page websites for small businesses to fill out their hours, provide information for social media, and even invite fans to sign up for a newsletter. All of this construction is done through the company’s modular content blocks, which can be organized into single or double column layouts. The result is a straightforward yet customizable page-builder that offers the brass tacks of the company’s business." Read the full review: http://mashable.com/2012/01/01/onepager/ See a few sample one-page websites: Try it out now: http://onepagerapp.com/ (reviewed by Robin Good) 
DoNanza is a web-based service that allows anyone to create a professional-looking presence on the web, by providing a simple web site structure where to publish basic info, links to social media, recommendations, a portfolio section and more. The service is free. See some examples at work here: http://donanza.me/Jahid http://donanza.me/ValentinManov Create your own: http://donanza.me/ MadMagz is a webservice that make it easy for anyone to publish a Web / PDF / printed magazine by providing professional-looking templates with sample content which can be easily edited and personalized with your own. Though there is one free option, most templates cost $9.99 to be used. Once the magazine has been edited and prepared it can be sold online at a price of your choice. In the case of the printer magazine format, it can be set in A4 or A5 size, and when readers order and pay for a copy, it is expressedly printed and sent to them via standard mail. For the PDF version you need to pay $9.90 and then it is your to do whatever you want. The web version is completely free. By making it extremely easy to work on existing professional-looking formats MadMagz is a great publishing solution for someone who, while having great writing abilities, has no competence or skill in creating a professional-looking publication or guide. Find out more or try it now for free: http://madmagz.com/ (Thanks to Marco Esposito for having unearthed this one) 
Excerpt from article intro: "One question I get asked often is how to start a blog. While there are many platforms to choose from, I always suggest that if your purpose for blogging is anything related to branding, business, or making money online, then you want to go with WordPress on your own domain.
While WordPress.com, Blogger, Tumblr, and other platforms are great, there is nothing like having full control of the design and functionality – something you will only get if you are running WordPress from your own domain.
The following are resources for starting your own blog on WordPress including choosing a domain name, purchasing your domain, hosting, WordPress installation, themes, plugins, settings, essential pages, backups, updates, and more!..."
Useful WordPress Guide.
Curated by Giuseppe Mauriello [read full article http://j.mp/u2qerh] Via Giuseppe Mauriello |
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