1. Start!

The Start! new tab page has the perfect name for the extension to start off our list! This new tab page replacement does one thing really well: it puts your bookmarks on the page so you can easily and quickly access them when you open a new tab.

You can also set up Flickr for a more personalized backdrop. You can also do stuff like place RSS feeds and customize the page’s layout.

2. Awesome New Tab Page

As far as graphics, or how cool it looks, Awesome New Tab Page is a really good choice. It’s made up of custom placed tiles that really does end up appealing to the eyes.

You can add links, widgets and apps to the new tab page setup which makes for a real customized situation. For an added touch, use the note widget to leave messages as reminders to yourself.

3. Incredible StartPage

The Incredible StartPage really does live up to its name, in my opinion. I has three main boxes: recently closed tabs, bookmarks, and the main or large box. The larger box has three tabs: my bookmarks, my apps, and most visited sites.

You can really make this one your own by changing the background color, choosing your own wallpaper for the large box, and several other design elements. Then there is the handy sticky note where you can type your own messages, much like the note app.

4. Speed Dial 2

Another customizable option is SPeed Dial 2. The default setup has several of your favorite links right up front with a screenshot of each site. Then there is a pull out tab to the right that offers lists of applications, bookmarks, and recently closed tabs.

Seriously though, there are so many settings you can tweak to get things customized to your liking. Check them out and see what you can pull together for yourself.

Conclusion

This is a list of four out of many other options out there for new tab extensions for the Google Chrome browser. Check out the Chrome Web Store for more. These are some of the coolest though. Do you have a Chrome extension giving you a cool start page every time you open a new tab? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Getting started with SlimTimer

The obvious first step is signing up for the service. All they really ask for is your name, email, and a password. The interface of the app is a little aged, but don’t worry, it works flawlessly. The site warns that it only works on Firefox, Internet Exlorer, and Safari, but this writer uses Chrome almost exclusively and there hasn’t been any issues at all.

Next, click “OPEN TIMER” to open a small window with everything you’ll need. the website suggests that you add that link to your bookmarks (which would make life a lot easier).

Adding tasks

In order to track the time it takes you to do a task, you must first setup the task. You can have more than one on the list at a time so don’t feel too pressured to pick one over the other. In order to begin a task, click Add Task. You can then give it a name and press enter.

Running the timer

To start recording the time, simply click the name of the task you want to record. Pretty easy, right? To stop the timer, just click the task name again or just close the window. The data is all saved for you. You can stop and restart the timer over and over and the time just gets added to the task for you. Notice that at the top of the window, you’ll see the running total to the left and the current time running to the right.

Sharing tasks

SlimTimer gives the option to be held accountable as well as hold others accountable and even add your own time to other people’s tasks. This is all done by going back to the SlimTimer main page and clicking the “Manage Tasks” tab. Click the Edit link next to the task you want to add people to.

There are two types of people you can add to a task: Coworkers and reporters. A coworker can log time on a task, mark the task as complete, and run reports about the task. A reporter can run reports and nothing else. Once you enter the email address for each person you want to add, each person will receive email messages with further instruction.

Conclusion

As you can see, SlimTimer is very easy to use and makes adding accountability to your tasks just as easy. Now, go get a grasp on your procrastination and time wasting and give this tool a try!

WordPress plugin

Since the number of websites running on WordPress, regardless if they are labeled as blogs, is huge and growing, the first solution happens to be a WordPress plugin. Actually there are several plugins to choose from. Several years ago we featured an article on MobilePress. There is another very popular plugin called WPtouch Pro.

If you find the right WordPress plugin, it will automatically redirect our mobile friends to a good looking mobile version of your site. Many of them offer some customization options so you can make sure the mobile site reflects what the full-sized site looks like.

Flexible design

Many website designers decide to make one design instead of two. They can make the site flexible enough to look good at almost any resolution. For instance, take a look at this site (maketecheasier.com). Try it! Resize the browser window and see the changes that take place as the window shrinks. The design looks good all the way down to the size of a mobile phone’s browser.

This type of design can be tricky and hiring a good designer to make it look and work nice might be the best route to take.

Mobile app

Did you know that you can also make your website or blog into a mobile app? You can even have them listed on iTunes and the Google Play Store. This can be a good way to not only make your site mobile friendly but get the word out at the same time.

There are several choices when it comes to websites that offer the service for free. Try appsbar.com and freeblogapps.com.

Custom design

The last and final option is to hire someone to design a mobile version of your website from scratch. They can do anything from taking your design and shrinking it, setting up your site to redirect mobile browser users to the new site, all the way down to rewording the copy to fit better on a smaller screen.

Obviously this can be the most expensive of the options but with a design team on your side, you’ve got personalized service and someone to turn to when it doesn’t work right. A good example of a service that can help in this capacity is NotixTech. They can handle making your site mobile-friendly but can also handle mobile coupons, marketing campaigns and QR codes.

Conclusion

The answer to the mobile-friendly website conundrum really depends on your situation. In the article we discussed four very different solutions and each one may work really well for different circumstances. Which one works for you? Oh, and what other solutions can you think of?

You have to know where to look for them. One really great place to find those Amazon promotional codes is on a site called APCodes.com.

What does APCodes.com do?

Simply put, APCodes.com is a site run by a kind women who loves couponing. Her name is Nancy Philips and she actually hunts down the promo codes for the site. She does have some help though. Users can “share the love” and contribute codes they find as a help to the site.

It seems as if the site is kept up and running through Amazon affiliate links to site for each deal. Pretty ingenious, right? Do the work of finding deals for her users, and fund the operation through affiliate sales. Win-win.

How to use APCodes.com

The site really is quite simple to navigate. Here’s a rundown of what you’re looking at:

Finding deals

First, the deals are listed in a blog-like manner with the most recently posted at the top. In fact, the site is run on the popular blog platform WordPress. If you’re used to reading blogs, then finding the deals lists should be easy. Simply click on each listing to go the the whole post outlining the details.

Clicking on the box containing the code and the pair of scissors will automatically copy the code to your clipboard and bring you to Amazon.com. You may have to find the store offering the deal to take advantage of it but that shouldn’t be much of a chore. Simply enter the code at checkout and you should get the discount!

Check the code’s rating

APCodes.com does us a favor by finding and listing Amazon promotional codes but you may find that not all of them work all of the time. That’s why the site has a rating system.

If you’re looking for a code that you can be pretty convinced will work for you, simply look for a favorable rating.

Rate the code

Of course you too can share with the site whether or not the code worked for you. This helps the rest of us know if the code is worth messing around with.

Rating the coupon code should be easy enough because the icons to click are green thumbs-up and red thumbs-down. Just click to rate. So please, tell us, “Did this coupon work for you?”

Conclusion

You may already be accustomed to saving money by finding good products at great prices on Amazon.com. Why not take advantage of a tool such as APCodes.com to help you save even more?

1. ViewBug

ViewBug is actually a bit more than just a photography contest site. It’s more of a photography social network. You can have your own profile, upload your own photography and follow other users that you like. There are of course many different types of contests to enter.

There’s pretty much everything from zoomed in photos, fashion accessories, and sports to climate, feet and headshots. ViewBug is free to join but if you want more options and access to special contests, you have to upgrade to premium or pro.

ViewBug

2. Photography Contests Network

The Photography Contests Network is a site that helps you keep track of open photography contests that are off the site. This means that, unlike ViewBug, the contests are not related to the site. Photography Contests Network is more of a tool than a social network.

From the horse’s mouth: “Photography Competitions Network (PCN) works closely with thousands of competition organisers from around the world to bring you the very latest, and the very best, open photo contests.” You can also sign up to use the “photo contest finder” tool to make your search for the right photo contest for you that much easier.

Photography Contests Network

3. Pixoto

Pixoto is an interesting online photography community. It offers prize money for weekly contests in different categories. The amount of the prize depends directly on the amount of photographs entered in that category that week. What this means is that the winners are not chosen by appointed judges but by the community itself. Very interesting indeed.

Pixoto also has a points system where a user spends points to enter photographs. Points are earned by voting on images. The voting process is cool because all it ends up being is two photos being pitted against each other at a time in what’s called an ImageDual. Voting actually becomes fun, going through and choosing your favorite out of two and going on to the next. What a fun way to share your photos and perhaps win some cash prizes!

Pixoto

4. PHOTObraniac

PHOTObraniac is another photography contest site with many categories to choose from where voters, not appointed judge(s), choose the winners.

Entering to compete in a contest is as simple as clicking on the image of the desired contest (in the banner rotating on the contest page), click Enter Contest, and follow the instructions (includes a quick sign-up process).

PHOTObraniac

Conclusion

If you love taking pictures, and you think you’ve got some kind of skill going on, entering photographs into contests might be a great way to earn a few bucks doing something you love. In fact, if you’re even a professional photographer, entering your work into contests could be a great way to hone your craft, get your work out in front of people, and even earn a bit of cash all at the same time. There are sure to be many more sites to help find photography contests to enter and this is only a list of four. If you know of more good resources, please leave comments below!

Mobile Newsletter Themes

Unless you would like to go ahead and design your email newsletters from scratch, coding included (you masochist, you), templates are a gift from heaven. Don’t worry, just because you choose to use a template, you don’t have to settle for a cookie-cutter newsletter design. You can first choose a template, then modify and customize it until it suits your fancy (and MailChimp user already knows this). MailChimp has just released some 14 to 15 mobile-friendly newsletter templates with a promise of many more on the way.

When you get to the design stage of your campaign, choose either basic templates (there are two basic mobile-friendly templates) or designer templates (there are 12 designer mobile-friendly templates). Make sure you glance down the left column and check off the mobile-friendly category so you get the whole list showing.

Personally, I like to choose from the more basic templates because I feel they give a cleaner look and I have more of a clean slate to customize from.

Mobile Testing Tools

An important part of getting that mobile-friendly newsletter looking just right is being able to test it. MailChimp has several tool that can help.

1. The “Mobile Styles” view while customizing

When you editing the design of the template, you can use the style editor. Within the style editor is a tab labelled “mobile styles.” When using this tab, you can view what the newsletter will more than likely look like on a mobile device the size of a regular smartphone.

This is only an approximation but it should give you a good idea. You can rotate the preview at will which also helps. Go ahead and make design changes and watch the preview change in real time.

2. Preview and Test tools

MailChimp has a button labeled “Review & Test” which when clicked gives a list of options. Among those options are two tools that help test your newsletter’s mobile design.

The first option is not necessarily a new one. You can Send a Test Email and you can manually test the design using your own device.

Finally, there’s the Push to MailChimp Mobile option. This requires downloading the app for your device (iOS, Android, etc.). Once installed though, sending a test view of the newsletter is simple. Just select it from the drop down and you’ll get a popup window with a send button.

This gives you a very nice preview on your mobile device.

Conclusion

Managing a newsletter is complicated and involved enough without worrying about the design and many different devices subscribers use to read their email. MailChimp is getting ahead of the mobile curve and helping make the mobile newsletter design process simple.

How to change themes in Gmail

Click the “cog” and the themes option should appear in the drop down menu.

Next you’ll see the many Gmail themes you can choose from. In the first grouping, there’s the Color Themes. These change just the colors giving your inbox differing feels. Under that is the HD Themes which offer high definition images to place in the background.

The new Custom Themes section is where we want to go. All you have to do is choose either the light or dark theme and then choose an image to set as the background. .

You have several options when it comes to choosing your own picture. From the menu that pops up, you can choose from:

• Featured images – Google has a good assortment of wonderful featured images.
• My Photos – You can choose from any photos you already have uploaded to your Google accounts.
• Photos from phone – Android phones synced to their Google accounts can automatically upload photos taken. Choose an image from your phone.
• Upload photos – Manually upload any photo from your computer’s hard drive.
• Paste a URL – You can paste a URL to any photo you know of online.
• Recently selected – Google saves your previous choices so you can have quick access to them again if you want.

What about Google Apps Gmail accounts?

If you are using a Gmail account associated with your domain (or someone else’s) utilizing Google Apps, then you too can change your Gmail theme. Check to see if the theme option shows on the cog’s drop down menu because it may not. If it’s not, you or the administrator of the Google Apps account need to enable themes.

From the drop down menu (remember the cog?), you should see an option to “manage this domain.” Click the setting tab and then choose Email from the column list to the left.

Scroll on down the list under the “General” tab and you’ll find the Themes option. All you have to do is make sure the box is checked next to “Let users choose their own themes.”

This writer has not, however, had the customs theme option show up in the list of themes offered. It is possible that the feature is in the process of being rolled out so the option may show up soon.

Conclusion

Although just changing colors and images may seem like only very little when it comes to customization, it is a step in the right direction. Even having the ability to change the image can give you great visual flexibility. Truly, knowing how to implement Gmail themes can help make your Gmail inbox more like home.

Paper.li has the ability to take links posted on your social networks and bring them together into an organized online newspaper for you. This means you have control over what goes up, assuming you have control over who your connections are in your social networks (and you do). On top of that, you can also add feeds from other sites manually and have them feeding articles to your newspaper as well. This means that if you write online, you can add those sites as well.

In this article, we will make you more familiar with Paper.li and show you how easy it is to setup and maintain.

How to get set up using Paper.li

The first thing you do is sign in with your Twitter account. Click on the link in the upper right corner of the homepage that says “sign up/sign in” and you receive a popup asking you to sign in using either Twitter or Facebool. For the purpose of this article, we’re using a Twitter account.

Once you’re signed in, click the button labeled “Start your paper” to get started.

Next you’ll get a popup asking for some details about your newspaper.

Add content streams

The next step is to add some content streams. You can add sources from your Twitter account. We’ve added both timeline links (links tweeted by those we follow) and tweeted links (links we have tweeted). You can browse the other subjects provided in the menu there or you can click Done.

From here, you can add sources from other sites or blogs you want articles curated from. After clicking the done button, you were probably brought to your new newspaper. Click the settings button and go to the Content section. What we want to make use of is the Paper.li bookmarklet.

Drag the button to your browser’s bookmark bar to begin. Now just visit sites that you want to add to your newspaper then click the Paper.li bookmarklet button.

Remember, if you want the newspaper to mostly be about a specific topic, you may want to be selective about what sites to add.

Your finished product should be organized and looking like a real newspaper!

Tweak settings and filters and you’re good

There are more settings and filters you can tweak to get things just the way you want them but once set up, you should be good to go. See how easy it is to run your very own online newspaper using Paper.li, your Twitter account, and feeds?

What do you think? Could Paper.li have a place in your publishing future?

1. ReminderGuru

If you’re looking for an online reminder service with several options for delivering reminders, ReminderGuru is one to try out. Although you have to register using your email address, ReminderGuru gives the option to deliver a timed reminder via email, text message or phone call. You can even set up reminders to be reoccurring daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly.

• Positives: ReminderGuru offers several ways of notifying you such as an email, a text message, or a phone call.
• Negatives: Registration, although understandable, always makes one more service you’re signed up for.

ReminderGuru

2. Remindeo

Remindeo has many of the basic options for a reminder service such as recurring reminders, date, time, and the ability to send email reminders (sorry, no texts or phone calls). It does however offer the ability to send several reminders before the saved date. This way you’ve got the date on your mind as it arrives.

• Positives: As mentioned earlier, you can have a reminder sent to you several times as the date/time is approaching.
• Negatives: Only offers email as a notification option.

Remindeo

3. Forlater.net

Forlater’s charm is in its simplicity. This online reminder service seriously allows you to just enter the subject, message content, the email address and the date/time. There is no registration necessary. For sending a quick reminder, with no hassles, Forlater does the trick.

• Positives: No registration required. Period.
• Negatives: Not many options, but, as mentioned above, this can also be charming.

Forlater.net

4. Reminder Thing

Reminder Thing is a tool that works with your Google Contacts and Calendar. It looks ahead two weeks for events such as birthdays, doctor appointments, and anniversaries and puts them all into one email reminder. What you then have is one email a week, looking ahead two weeks, giving you at least two weekly email reminders to do something about those appointments.

• Positives: Works hand-in-hand with Google Calendar giving you only one place to enter those appointments and reminders.
• Negatives: Only works with Google Calendar. There’s no using it by itself or with another calendar tool or feed or any import option.

Reminder Thing

I’m sure there are many more ways to receive reminders via tools available on the web. These are only just a few but they are very worthy of our attention. Go through this list, test each of them one by one, and see what you think. Share your thoughts in the comments below. At the same time, if you know of another Internet-based reminder service that you like even better than these, please tell us about it.

Image credit: Big Stock Photo

Still, Instagram is only available on a mobile device. If you want to go to the homepage on your desktop or laptop, you’re faced with a simple home screen forwarding you to the two app stores.

Since this is an issue for many who would like to view Instagram photos in large size on their desktops, it is no surprise that third-party web tools start appearing, making viewing photos on desktop possible. One of the best among them is Westagram. From Webstagram’s site, you can view photos, like and comment on them, follow or unfollow other users and even browse the popular photos section.

Getting started with Webstagram

Head on over to web.stagram.com to get started. In the upper right hand corner of the front page, there is a small field for you to enter your Instagram username. It only asks for your username because after authorizing the web app, that’s all you’ll need

After you enter your username you’ll be forwarded to the beginning of Instagram’s authorization process. Here you’ll be asked for your username and password. Notice that the address in the web address bar is actually the Instagram domain.

The next screen will show you exactly what you are authorizing the web app to do with your Instagram account.

The authorization process should look familiar if you use third party apps for other social networking services such as Twitter or Facebook. After the authorization process is finished, signing in and out of Webstagram in the future should be a lot easier.

What can you do with Webstagram?

You can do with Webstagram pretty much anything you can do with the Instagram app, short of posting photos. Seriously, you can view everything from your feed to the popular photos section. You can comment and like other photos and even run powerful searches.

Westagram does offer a few tools (“tools” link on homepage) unique to the service that you may find interesting.

Follow Me Button

If you run a blog or website, you may be interested in giving your readers the ability to quickly and easily find your Instagram account from your site. Webstagram offers a quick bit of iframe code for easy inclusion in your sidebar or site. After copying and pasting the code, just replace the “__USER__NAME__HERE__” with your user name.

Search.Stagram

Webstagram also offers a page to run Instagram searches from called Search.Stagram. I’m not sure of the difference between it and the search box in the upper right of every other page on the site but perhaps it runs a deeper search from actual pictures instead of just tags and users.

One last trick Webstagram offers is the Photo of the Day link. It’s a contest of sorts where you can tag your best photos with #photooftheday and it’ll be entered. One photo each day is highlighted so it sounds like quite the honor.

Webstagram claims to be the best online Instagram viewer and it really is quite the tool. If you find yourself on a computer much of the day and want to view that Instagram stream life-sized, give Webstagram a try!