Lookout! Theres a Zombie, I mean Xobni in my Outlook!

Xobni, Inbox spelled backwards, is an add-on for Outlook that helps to unlock the potential of the wealth of data that is your inbox. Sure, Outlook has a search function and you can add folders and the like, but Xobni takes emailing to a whole new level.

After Xobni is installed, a pane on the far right of the Outlook screen opens with all of the Xobni features. This utility will make a contact page for each person. The page is complete with threaded conversations, a list of all attachments ever sent between the two of you, neat statistics, and the network that person belongs to. There is also a linkedin feature! 

My guess is that the company is waiting to be acquired by Microsoft or Google. Currently the app is free and on the website there is a hint that Xobni will be available on other platforms soon. If it becomes available on Gmail, I may just have to say goodbye to Outlook...

Check out the video below! 

5 Indispensable Apps for Your Blog

Relax, you've been RickRoll'd for the 1 millionth time. If you want some real tips, go to copyblogger.

(Ok, so this isn't a true RickRoll. Until I can figure out how to autoplay the video, you will have to RickRoll yourself :)

Why don't you add some Chrome to your browser?

It' s now been a couple of days since Google entered the browser business. Their entry was with an easy to use, minimalist yet powerful (think iphone) browsing experience. 

As someone who has used all the main browsers, Internet Explorer 8(beta 2), Firefox, Safari, and now Chrome, I must say that Chrome is fast becoming my favorite. 

It offers a new, why hasn't it always been this way, look at tabs. The tabs are now at the very top of the screen. They are easily moved, and when you open a new tab you get a screen with 9 screenshots of your most visited websites. I hate opening a tab to a white screen of nothingness.

The biggest innovation is behind the scenes. Each tab is independent of the others, meaning that if one tab freezes (a few of mine already have) the whole browser does not have to be x'd. Your tab gets frown-face while its sorting out the mess and you continue on with your other business frustration-free. 

The ante has been raised. The line has been drawn in the sand. This should spur much more creativity and we should all end up with better and better browsers! 

Check out the official blog: Link: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html

Pandora's Box. Go ahead, Open it :)

I admit it. I am definitely late to the party. Some of you have been streaming radio over the web for years. For the rest of you late blossoms you are officially invited to the Pandora Party.

First of all Pandora is FREE. "What?!? Theres more?", you say. Yes. A lot more. Pandora is also commercial free. But that's not the best part. The best part is that us that you get to make your own radio stations.

It's really simple. You type in a song or an artist and *boom* you have just started a radio station. Pandora then plays similar artists based on why you liked that song. It goes beyond just playing a bunch of songs that belong your choice's genre.

For instance, lets just say you really like "Word Up!" by Cameo. And who doesn't like that song? OK, you enter that in, and you get this explanation, "Based on what you've told us so far, we are playing this track because it features funk roots, flat out funky grooves, a subtle use of vocal harmony, and a political satire lyric." 

Who knew? But then Pandora starts to play other music that is similar. If you like the song that's playing, you can give it a thumbs up, and if not, a thumbs down. After a short while, you will have your own custom, commercial free radio station. You can also make tons more stations.

After a thoroughly enjoyable 3 minutes of Word Up!, Doo Wa Ditty (Blow That Thing) by Zapp just hit the box. Why? Glad you asked. Because it features funk roots, flat out funky grooves, heavy use of vocal harmonies, repetitive melodic phrasing, and extensive vamping.

                                                                

Happy listening!

"How to Read a Book" by Mortimer Adler

 image provided by freefoto

A good friend recommended this book to me a few months ago and I must say that I'm recommending it to you today. At first glance, the book seems likely to found in kindergartens across the country, but no no my friend, this is a book for the serious reader. 

The premise of the book is that most of us do not read books well. We read yet do not comprehend. We read far and wide but not deep. Adler takes a quality over quantity approach to reading. He sees little if any value in just reading words on a page. This book teaches you to read and understand, and then critique the ideas and form your own opinions. In other words, he teaches you to read analytically. 

Life is short. Adler agrees. He does not want you to waste time on books that are not worth reading. Go for the 'great books' he says. In reading and struggling through books that are above your head, you can better yourself. If you read books that are beneath you and you understand them completely on the first reading, you have not gained anything. But, if you read (and understand) from the masters you can pull yourself to a state of understanding and be like or almost like the masters themselves. 

This book is definitely inspiring. My friend and I and few others have been challenged to apply Adler's techniques to some of the great books. We are starting with the Republic by Plato (I guess its really by Socrates, but Plato wrote it down--but that's open to debate). From there we may go on to some Gibbon with the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. I believe my friend is making a blog where we can all comment and go through the book together. If you are interested, message me, or leave a comment and I'll send the blog address. 

Adler is big on intellectual ownership of a book as opposed to merely financial ownership. He encourages you to really mark up the book. As someone who likes to keep things in good condition, I have found this hard to do in the past. When I did attempt to mark up books it resulted in haphazard underlining and highlighting. But Adler teaches you to mark up with purpose and this really helps to crystallize the authors message in your understanding. 

Check it out! Read some other reviews on Amazon and pick up a copy, then begin your own journey to figuring out the world and then make it a better place!

A Microsoft Money User Yodels A New Song

First off, let me say that I have been an avid user and sometimes even an evangelist for Microsoft Money. For the past five years I have downloaded and categorized every expenditure. It's empowering to see where money is going and to set (and keep!) a budget.

Over these last years I have upgraded Microsoft Money three times. Each time I am filled with anticipation of how much better the new Money will be. I read on the box about all the 'enhancements' and I'm sold. However, once installed, the new version is barely distinguishable from the old version. So, I decided that this year I would not be upgrading. I would continue to use the old version.

Well, it seems Microsoft thought otherwise. The main feature that makes MM so indispensable is that it aggregates and displays all of your bank account transactions automatically (can you imagine entering these manually in excel?). It turns out that this part of the software expires after 2 years. So if you want to continue banking bliss with MM you are forced to upgrade whether or not you believe the new version is that much more magical than the one you have.

My version expires today and I'm not upgrading! Microsoft uses a company called Yodlee to accomplish the automatic downloading of all your bank accounts. It turns out that Yodlee offers the same service direct to the consumer! There is no software to install rather everything is done online via Yodlee's website. In fact, Yodlee actually was able to link to ALL of my accounts while there were still a couple that MM could not incorporate.

After using Yodlee for a few days, I will say this: It definitely lacks some the extras that MM has. But I never made use of those extras anyways. I was only interested in downloading and categorizing all of my expenses across all of my accounts. Yodlee does all this, does it better than Microsoft Money, and perhaps the sweetest thing is Yodlee does it all for FREE!

Microsoft Money has been invaluable to me at tax time. Since all my expenses were categorized, my total spending for the year in any area was only a mouse click away. If Yodlee were not able to analyze your spending in this way then that would have been the deal killer for me. Fortunately, Yodlee can show you your total spending in any category across every account for custom time periods. You can even make your own categories and sub-categories.

Suffice it to say that Yodlee is a viable alternative to Microsoft Money.