Five Best Instant Messengers

Check out this Lifehacker post about the Five Best Instant Messengers. I often find myself forwarding this link to my friends when they tell me that they're still using AOL's Instant Messenger application (complete with advertising).

You can find upgrades to your current IM situation regardless of your operating system. I like Adium for OS X, and Digsby for Windows. When I'm not on a personal computer, it's the web application Meebo for me. All of the apps mentioned can do multiple protocols at once, meaning that I can be connected to my friends on Facebook, GMail, Yahoo! IM, and AIM all at once.

100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner

I just stumbled upon this magnum list of web-based tools to supplement your learning on the College@Home blog. The list is broken down into three types of learners (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic). You can find links to mind mapping, note taking, and chart/graph creation tools, as well as various podcast and presentation creation tools.

8 Useful Tips to Manage and Avoid RSS Overload

I found a really nice article on Dumb Little Man that talks about how to avoid being a slave to your RSS reader with 8 simple tips. It can be very easy to let yourself get carried away with interesting feeds. I currently have 57 feeds in my reader, and so far I've been able to get my news through RSS without losing control.

The article recommends a few rules that you should set for yourself. A few of them were new to me, but the others were just common sense ideas that I figured out as I went.

Text 2 Mind Map

I found a really clean, lightweight mind-mapping tool on a Lifehacker post this morning. It's called Text 2 Mind Map. You simply type out your ideas as a tabbed list. Your start with by writing out your main concepts, then tab in once for each level of sub-idea you have (see the screenshot below).



You can use the web application to visualize your concept map on the fly, and export it to a JPEG image once you're done working.

Jaw-dropping Photosynth Demo

Blaise Aguera y Arcas from Microsoft Live Labs demonstrated Seadragon and Photosynth at TED last year. I just came across the demo which is truly amazing. Check out the video:


You can actually play with the technology now at Microsoft Live Labs.