Other Things We do

Part 2 - Our Internet Culture; Tools you can use.

11.09.2007 at 06.16.46 hrs | 15 Comments | Back to Discussion Page

In the first part of this series, our focus was on how we all utilize the Internet. The comments you have submitted pointed at some of the examples I had listed in that article such as - downloading files, sending emails, 419 and more. If you missed that article, you can still read it here, however, it is closed to comments.

The focus of this second part in the series is to bring to the forefront several web-based tools and solutions, many of which you can use at no cost, to enhance your Internet experience.

  1. The first of these I am going to mention is a file storage and transfer tool called DropSend. The authors of this product figured out that email users were always limited by their providers as regards the sizes of files for email attachments (Gist: as at the time of this writing, Yahoo!\'s free account, which almost everyone uses, offers a maximum of 20MB for file attachments.), so the DropSend Team built an application that gives you FREE file transfer and Online storage of about 250MB, ten times Yahoo! does. So what\'s the clause here, you have a maximum of five (5) file transfers a month. If you need more space or more transfers they\'ll charge you a token fee, a link to DropSend is listed in the Resources section below. DropSend is just one of the many Online file transfer and storage tools available.
  2. Do you deal in foreign currency? If you do, you can obtain up-to-date conversion rates from and to any currency in the world using the XE Converter. This service is FREE and does not require you signing up for an account. You simply supply the figure to convert, the figure\'s currency and the currency you want to convert the figure to and that\'s all, you obtain the equivalent in the new currency of your choice right before your very eyes!
  3. The third tool I recommend is for those of you who are involved in translating documents from one language to another or require the services of those who do, you can ease your task by trying out AltaVista\'s BabelFish, a FREE tool which converts to and from English, French, Chinese and a few other languages. No account sign-up is required.
  4. Have you ever sat on a computer not having your favourite chat program (e.g. Yahoo! Messenger or MSN Messenger) installed on it and the desire to chat is burning deep within? Well you don\'t have to worry spending the few minutes you have online trying to download and install any chat software. Simply point your browser to Meebo, which offers an online chat facility for users of Yahoo!, MSN, Gmail and more. It\'s FREE and does not require the creation of a new account. A caveat I have experienced with this tool is that, you may have difficulties signing in with your account if you use a slow/ unstable connection (as is obtained in many cybercafes).
  5. Are you searching the Internet for an object whose name you do not know, but which you can sketch on paper? Well, Lococitato helps you find matches for what you seek by providing a canvass where you can sketch what you seek with the mouse cursor. I must warn you though, ensure you use simple shapes to represent the object you seek, as this will help improve the search results.

I have listed only five, which should be of benefit to the average Internet user. If you know some more that have been of use to you, kindly tell us about them in the comments section. The next and final part of this series focuses on more advanced tools that are useful to people who create content for the Web (Bloggers, Developers, Designers e.t.c). Till then, I hope you find some of the tools listed above useful. Either way, do tell others as it may be of use to them.

Resources

The following comments were posted.

dupe on 06.08.2007 at 04.37.03 hrs

www. webmessenger.yahoo.com. Here u can download the messenger or chat directly.

Muizz on 14.08.2007 at 02.23.55 hrs

Thanks Dupe, the URL is http://webmessenger.yahoo.com/ it also lets you connect with users of Windows Live Messenger

ismail on 15.08.2007 at 01.43.51 hrs

is great sharing your ideas with others i tell is a great pleasure because i have gained alot going throug the article keep it up

bukenzo on 15.08.2007 at 01.59.26 hrs

Collaboration and information sharing. this is the new direction of the internet. Its good to see a nigerian blazing this trail. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading your other articles

Qasim on 20.08.2007 at 02.12.30 hrs

a nice & informative write up on how we can better make use of the internet . keep it up brother. u can find other FREE tools that can increase ur productivity in the link below: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130045-page,13-c,freeware/article.html

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