How to Build Your Own iCloud Today

Unfortunately, for the Apple-consuming public, iCloud won’t be hitting us until the fall. That means we’re going to have to wait several months because all the cloud-based syncing magic becomes a reality for us. However, either for those going crazy in anticipation, or those who oddly despise Apple, there’s a… read more

Useful Resources, Tools and Services for Web Designers

Productivity is a crucial asset of professional Web designers and developers. We regularly look for new resources, tools and services to make the search of these ever-growing techniques easier. Once we have a reasonable number of useful resources, we prepare them in a handy overview for your convenience. In this… read more

Home Office Tips – Eliminating Distractions When Working From Home

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If you’re new to working from home, you’re probably discovering that the distractions are constant.

Sure, you had people randomly approaching your desk to inquire about things in the office and other such nuisances, but you knew that with your boss watching, you had to snap back… read more

iA Writer: Simple, Beautiful Text Editing On Your Mac

There are already many options available to those of us who’re after simple writing tools. These apps encourage their users to focus in on the evolving text, minimizing distractions by cutting back both on visual clutter (I’m looking at you Microsoft Office) and on informational overload in the form of… read more

Useful, Free Smartphone Apps and Resources for Developers

Smartphones are everywhere, and people all over the world are using them because of the many useful and amazing features they have that people love. People use smartphones for their daily work because smartphones have loads of advantages over a PC or Laptop, portability being a major one. Smartphone based… read more

Vitamin R: Stay Productive with Time-Slices

We all struggle with procrastination from time to time, especially when overwhelmed with the size or scope of a project. There have been a number of studies and books written lately about the benefits of working for shorter periods of time, with regular short breaks in between. In combination with… read more

Essential Apps for New Chromebook Owners

Google, in association with Samsung and Acer, is launching the new Chromebooks today, a set of notebooks that run Google’s cloud-based operating system. If you’ve already seen all the coverage of what exactly the Chromebook is, including on AppStorm, you’ll know that a Chromebook has no local storage, and all… read more

How to Make a Happy and Safe Office Space

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Lately I have been working some extraordinarily long days in front of the screen. Not only has it been exhausting it has made me think much more seriously about the importance of a proper office setup. Today I will share some tips and ideas for your office space that… read more

7 Top-Notch Blogs for the Savvy Freelance Blog Writer

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In addition to FreelanceSwtich, there are a handful of blogs that stand out a cut above the rest, and are well worth reading for freelance blog writers. These blogs are dedicated to blogging, writing, utilizing internet tools and trends to maximize your freelance writing income, and… read more

Vector Purity vs Raster Live Effects: Where do you stand?

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Consider an artist using 90% vector in their work and only 10% raster live effects, would you class this artist as a “vector artist” or would you see them as a “mixed medium artist”? Do you think “vector art” should be without raster live effects? Today’s article looks at… read more

Calibre: iTunes For Your E-books

In recent years e-books have experienced a notable surge in popularity. Much of this can be attributed to devices such as Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad, which have seen a huge rise in popularity over recent years and seem to always be in those “top 10 gadget lists”. Amazon now… read more

How to Become a Successful Freelancer

As a freelancer, you are free to put your feet up and work, if that’s what gets your creative juices flowing. Yet it takes talent, business savvy, commitment and time to be a successful freelancer.

Freelancers are always in search of some work, so that they can earn something by rendering… read more

Two Cool Additions to Gmail: People Widget & Importance Markers

Gmail is one web app that gets better constantly. Despite being the third largest email service provider, Gmail holds the top spot in pampering its users with cool new features at regular intervals. The past few days have witnessed a couple of interesting additions and one in particular – Gmail… read more

7 Les Paul Google Doodle Tunes From Mashable Readers

If you’ve used Google at all on Thursday, you probably saw the Google Doodle tribute to guitarist Les Paul. Chances are many hours of productivity at offices around the world have been lost to Google’s interactive toy that puts 10 guitar notes at your fingertips.

Mashable readers have… read more

How Small Businesses Are Using Mobile [INFOGRAPHIC]

Small and medium-sized businesses rely heavily on mobile technologies. In fact, our smartphones and other mobile devices have become so critical to day-to-day operations that a majority of small companies around the U.S. say they couldn’t run their companies without mobile technologies.

These businesses are using mobile apps… read more

5 Copies of The StackSocial Mac Essentials Bundle Up For Grabs

I’m pleased to let you know that we’re kicking off a competition to win five copies of The StackSocial Mac Essentials Bundle. This amazing bundle contains a whopping 11 Mac apps worth $333! If you’re counting, that means we’re giving away over $1,600 in software this week.

StackSocial Mac Essentials Bundle

StackSocial… read more

5 Worthwhile Blogs on The Business of Professional Photography

While photography can be a tough way for some to make a living, there are a lot of free resources for established professional photographers or those hoping to get into the game that are both great and free. The trick is to constantly work at improving your knowledge… read more

Good Web content examples and what makes them work

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50 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

Mashable‘s back this week with another whopping list of tools and resources for your digital life.

This week we have stories about how to make a 3D video using YouTube, a look back at the history of WordPress and some great May roundups like the most shared stories… read more

Best of the Week #174

It’s time for our best news of this week. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to keep you updated about what’s… read more

10 Newly Discovered Websites You Should Try Out

In this round up of 10 we look at some really cool newly discovered websites for you to try out, so that you don’t have to wander to look for them, and they are just not cool they live up to the purpose they are built for.

You are welcome if… read more

3 Pressing Questions Facing the Future of Social Media

Soren Gordhamer is the organizer of the Wisdom 2.0 Conference, which brings together staff from Google, Facebook, Twitter and Zynga along with Zen teachers and others to explore living with awareness and wisdom in our modern age. He is SorenG on Twitter.

The conversation about social media in… read more

100 Web Apps to Rule Them All

There’s so many web apps today, it’s hard to keep up with them all. From the apps we’ve all used for years such as Gmail to newer apps that just came out this year such as Flow, web apps have increasingly become a part of our daily lives.

Whether you’re just… read more

Apple iWork Makes Debut on iPhone & iPod Touch

More than a year after its debut on the iPad, iWork, Apple’s suite of productivity apps, is now available on iPhone and iPod touch.

Apple’s iWork apps — Keynote, Pages and Numbers specifically — have been available on the iPad since the device’s debut last year. The apps,… read more

35 Inspiring Mac Related Websites

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There are a few standards we can find in almost every Mac related website: eye candy style, minimalism and attention to detail. We can say that the websites follow a mac mania, a mac culture. And we will find that in ninety percent of Mac related… read more

Best of the Week #173

It’s time for our best news of this week. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to keep you updated about what’s… read more

Social Media Distractions Are Costing Businesses Major Money [STUDY]

How many times each day are you distracted by social media, email or instant messages?

According to a recent survey from social email software provider harmon.ie, you and other employees are blowing $10,375 in productivity each year, and all because we don’t disconnect from an online chat quickly… read more

The Hotlist: Edition 9

PRODUCT
Mountains by UGMONK

An awesome print from the always talented Ugmonk. (Jeff Sheldon) The majesty of mountains – Ugmonk style.

NEWS
Redesign, Wanderlists, and Facebook power Wanderfly 2.0

A half-year after our official launch we have overhauled the entire destination page on Wanderfly to help you get going on your next Wanderfly adventure…. read more

10 Productivity Tips Specifically Designed for Designers

10 Productivity Tips Specifically Designed for Designers

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9 Ways To Increase Your Productivity While Working From Home

Nellie Akalp is CEO of CorpNet.com, her second incorporation filing service based on her strong passion to assist small business owners and entrepreneurs in starting and protecting their business. She has formed more than 100,000 corporations and LLCs across the U.S. To learn more about Nellie and… read more

Punakea: Clean Up Your Finder With Tags

A couple weeks back, I reviewed an app called Yep, a scanning and tagging app for managing documents. I love the idea of tags and am just starting to harness their power in other apps like Things and Evernote, and nudge:nudge’s Punakea attempts to offer tagging support for documents and… read more

Your Chance to Win a Copy of Fantastical!

It’s an application that everyone has been talking about recently, and we ran our own review last week. Fantastical is a menu bar application that provides a simple way of interacting with iCal. You can view your upcoming events, and enter new ones using a natural language engine that works… read more

25 Superb Mac Apps for College Students

Macs are becoming much more popular with college students nowadays, owing to Apple’s generous student discount (around 15%) upon purchase. But once you’ve bought your shiny new computer, you’ll be wanting to know which are the best Mac apps aimed at college students and which ones to download or buy.

Up… read more

38 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

Mashable has finally returned from Disney World (also known as the happiest place on earth) with the conclusion of Connect. Since returning, we’ve have no time to slump, turning out another great week of tools and resources for your social media pleasure.

Read on for some great stories… read more

Give Feedback on Code With Chop App

Whether you’re writing a simple app to try out a new language or coding the next Facebook, sometimes you’re going to want to share a bit of your code. Maybe you’ll want to show your coworker what a certain function does, or make a suggestion about SEO to your copywriter…. read more

Distraction Management: How To NOT Procrastinate or Get Distracted

Whenever we are working on a design, facing a deadline, it is of the utmost importance that we stay on track and power through til the end. Doing whatever is necessary to keep us walking with progress over stalling with digression.

All too often, we find ourselves facing a… read more

Why Can’t We(bbies) Be Friends?

These are widespread stereotypes, chiefly shaped within the industry. But what’s the true culprit that hinders teamwork in the Web industry? The famous line from Cool Hand Luke says it best: “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”

Communication Is Key

Good communication is one of the keys to successfully planning,… read more

20 productivity apps for the iphone and ipad to help your workflow

20 productivity apps for the iphone and ipad to help your workflow

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Weekly Poll: Do You Use Mobile Internet?

Do You Use Mobile Internet?online survey

It seems hard to imagine that just 20 years ago the average person had never used the internet. Today, we’re expected to use the internet more and more for school, work, and keeping up with family and friends. Anytime we’re wondering about… read more

8 Tips for Nailing Your Next Startup Job Interview

Alex Berg is the Chief Product Officer of Bonanza and Bags Bonanza. Bonanza is a marketplace focused on creating a browse-friendly experience that helps you discover unique items. Prior to Bonanza, Alex served in leadership positions with Wetpaint, Expedia and Blue Nile.

While unemployment remains high, some sectors… read more

45 Awesome Utilities for Tinkering With Your Mac

The “utility” software niche is one that is extremely active in the Mac application community. There is an abundance of fantastic utilities currently available, and that list is ever changing. We love this type of software at AppStorm, regularly reviewing different apps that let you tweak and tune your computer.

With… read more

20+ Easy Exercises You Can Do at Your Desk [VIDEOS]

While we now know that sitting down all day is a veritable death sentence, many of us are still chained to our desks from 9 to 5. If you’re looking to stay active during office hours, we’ve got some videos you can bookmark that demonstrate exercises to incorporate into your… read more

SpeedTask: The Cloud-Sync To-Do List Solution?

I’ll be honest: the past 18 years of school have made me a forgetful, disorganized, unmotivated procrastinator. Since I like shiny, pretty interfaces and putting off doing work, I’ve spent a lot of time looking into various GTD and to-do list apps. During the school year, I used a full-featured… read more

73 Essential Social Media & Tech Resources for Small Businesses

As a small business owner, your time is limited. Each week we put together a roundup of essential social media resources to help you stay on top.

We wanted to give you even more of a leg up with this megalist of our top small business resources from… read more

3 Apps For Pleasure & Productivity This Weekend

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Each weekend, Mashable handpicks a few startups that we think are building interesting, unique… read more

The Future of Journalism, Apps, and the Web

The web has put traditional journalism into a tailspin, and newspapers of all sizes are scrambling to find a way to monetize their content. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and more have created paywalls that require readers to pay to read all of their content each month, either… read more

33 Essential Resources for Developers & Designers

For months now, web developers and designers have flocked to Mashable to learn from and share our how-to guides, analyses, videos, lists, videos and galleries.

Below, we’ve assembled 33 of our favorite resources since January and separated them into three easily digestible lists: inspiration, design and development.

To keep… read more

Getting Ahead Of The Curve: Branding On Mobile Devices And Desktop Browsers

According to Brandweek, “brands are the express checkout for people living their lives at ever increasing speed. This article shows you how, and why, to add “app”-like icons to your sites for several mobile and desktop browser displays, to clearly and elegantly identify your site with an icon that stands… read more

Creating Charts With Google Docs

Welcome to The Cloud. You’ll hear that just about everywhere these days. One of the biggest software categories to make the move to the Web is document-based productivity tools. The unquestioned leader in that realm is Google Docs, which lets you create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

But to truly qualify… read more

Prosite – fully customizable portfolios from the minds at Behance

Behance ProSite: Fully Customized Portfolio Websites, No Coding Required, Massive Exposure

Behance launched ProSite.com, a new service that allows creative people and teams to create fully customized portfolio websites through a revolutionary drag-and-drop interface.

How will ProSite revolutionize the online portfolio space in the creative industry?

Endless Customization, No Coding Required

In contrast to… read more

Embracing Creative Distractions to Benefit Your Vector Art

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Are distractions a negative issue when you’re freelancing from home or creating a new piece of art? In today’s article, I’m looking at justifying and refocusing the tasks that distract me to be of benefit to myself, my craft, and future work.

Whether you’re working from home or creating a… read more

A Guide to Better Freelance Health

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Credit: Yuri Arcurs on Photodune

Freelancing comes prepackaged with a lot of concerns (mostly over the next pay check). These concerns can have a negative effect on us. It’s all too easy to fall into a path of neglect and poor health habits. For our careers to… read more

The web designer’s guide to a happier life

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Two Web Apps We Love Are Up For Sale, Who’ll Buy Streak.ly & Facto.me?

A little bird just told us two interesting web apps from an admirable developer are up for grabs.

Creator Kyle Bragger, who also cranked out killer dev/design web app Forrst, is looking for a buyer for these applications.

Last year, we told you about two great consumer web apps…. read more

Ask the Web.AppStorm Editor #3

Over the past couple months, we’ve started a new Ask the Editor series across the AppStorm sites. As you may have heard, I’m the new editor of Web.AppStorm, and am excited to get to answer some of the questions you have sent in over the past several weeks.

In today’s edition… read more

Ask FreelanceSwitch: Dealing with Problematic Clients and Low Pay

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Credit: by Yuri Arcurs on Photodune

In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, we look at several questions from the same freelancer who is working with a tough employer. Ask FreelanceSwitch is a regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If… read more

The Past, Present & Future of Email [INFOGRAPHIC]

Our reliance on social media, instant messaging, texting and especially email is growing at a rapid rate, according to a new study.

Microsoft commissioned independent market research firm MarketTools to survey 1,268 professionals and students over the age of 18 to find out about their email and online… read more

Rapid Website Wireframing and Prototyping with ProtoShare

Wireframing and prototyping are two very vital aspects in web design. They take away ambiguity and guess work from the design equation. Moreover, with a detailed wireframe model lot of rework can be eliminated leading to increased productivity of web designers, which in turn leads to increased profitability.

ProtoShare is an… read more

Useful Photoshop Tools and Techniques For Your Workflow

Productivity is a crucial asset of professional designers. Photoshop is an extremely powerful application for photo processing and image manipulation, and we can make it even more powerful by using handy tools, actions, plugins and templates to save time for solving mundane regular tasks. The better our professional tool set… read more

20 Essential Firefox 4 Addons/Extensions for Web Developers

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Firefox is a widely-used browser – not just by users but web developers. Simply put, Firefox and its addons can make developing for the web easier and simpler. And with the release of Firefox 4, it got even easier. This article features 20 essential Firefox 4… read more

Xobni Opens App Store for Outlook

Xobni for Outlook, an inbox plugin offering social intelligence and relationship management inside email messages, is opening an app store to users and developers Tuesday.

The Xobni Gadget Store allows users to pick and choose from nearly 20 free and paid applications to add to their Outlook experience.

At… read more

3 Handy OmniFocus Tips and Tricks

When it comes to apps in the getting things done (GTD) realm, OmniFocus stands head and shoulders above the rest. It’s powerful, it’s flexible and it can sync with the iPad and iPhone versions as well. But as great as it is — and we’ve already told you that it’s… read more

Evaluating the Benefits and Drawbacks of Coworking

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Credit: Ken Hawkins on Flickr

One of the great problems of being a freelancer is the solitude. It’s difficult at times to sit in front of your keyboard and do what you’ve got to do without any human interaction. There’s no water cooler to talk around, no… read more

BlackBerry Announces Latest OS, Thinnest Smartphones Yet

Research in Motion (RIM) unveiled two new BlackBerry Bold smartphones and BlackBerry 7 OS on Monday, in addition to announcing new Facebook and video chat apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook.

On paper, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones look like the most competitive offerings RIM has had… read more

CronSync: Awesome Invoicing and Time Management

Anyone who is self-employed or works a job that involves dealing with numerous clients and projects will tell you that one of the most annoying parts of the job is the administration. Planning, keeping track of your work, invoicing and analysing the project can be a pain in the… read more

Clips: More Than Just a Clipboard Organizer

I used to think of the Mac clipboard as a mysterious, magical place that held all my copied information in some unknown place that I could never access, but that sometimes gave me exactly what I needed.

When I got into web development, I realized that I needed to find this… read more

ISP Data Caps & the Shift to Cloud Apps

As a lover of web apps, I frequently rave about the advances they’re making and the benefits they offer over other forms of applications. I constantly look for new ways to “live in the cloud” or at least achieve redundancy by using web apps. Web apps are certainly advancing quickly,… read more

Ubuntu 11.04 Operating System Now Available for Free Download [PICS]

Version 11.04 of Ubuntu has hit the streets, and it’s packing new features that make it even easier to use. The free download was released to the public on Thursday.

This new version, affectionately known by its makers as “Natty Narwhal,” has a new Unity interface, where the… read more

7 Excellent Collaboration Tools You Might Now Know About But Should

There are many collaboration tools are out there, but getting by free and good ones is not that easy. That is why I am sharing 7 Excellent Collaboration Tools You Might Now Know About But Should. Read each entry in the list and see which tool suits your needs best.

You… read more

6 Ways a CRM Tool Can Help a Freelancer

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Credit: Yuri Arcurs on Photodune

As freelancers, we tend to want to keep the number of tools we’re using to a minimum. We’ll set up some sort of accounting tool, maybe something to help us handle project management and not much more. But there are reasons that… read more

MacLegion Launches Incredible Software Bundle

Albeit not entirely design related, I told my friends at MacLegion I’d help spread the word about their launch, and their spring bundle. It’s an incredible deal, and there are some productivity/workflow tools in the mix that would benefit anyone, including designers. If you’re in the market for saving a… read more

How Scooters Are Saving the Planet [INFOGRAPHIC]

Need to justify that gratuitous Vespa purchase? According to research from the Environmental Protection Agency, AAA and other sources, using scooters — even occasionally — can help reduce carbon emissions, save gasoline and increase worker productivity by stunning amounts.

For example, if U.S. cities were made more scooter… read more

Flow: Task Management With Mac Sex Appeal

I’ve never really been happy with the task management apps I’ve tried. There were always features missing, a less than ideal design, over complicated, too simple and so on. I’ve been jumping from app to app for as long as I can remember and somehow I always end up with… read more

Top 10 Firefox Add-Ons for Web Designers

The Web Designer Series is supported by Wix.com, a free Flash online builder that makes website creation a breeze. Click here to create your own website now.

There are plenty of Firefox add-ons at your disposal that can extend the browser’s core functionality. The types of add-ons you’ll… read more

25 Marvellous Mac Menu Bar Apps & Utilities

The humble menu bar is a fascinating part of the Mac OS X interface. It’s always visible, and holds a remarkably prominent position on your display – far more so than the Dock.

Some people love to keep it as empty as possible, while others have so many menu bar apps… read more

HOW TO: Better Communicate With Remote Startup Employees

The Digital Careers Series is supported by Elance, where smart businesses go to hire and manage online instead of onsite. Check out Startup Cloud for tips on hiring and managing in the human cloud.

When working with remote employees, managers often don’t have the luxury of relying on… read more

Firefox 4: Welcome Improvements & Helpful New Features

In the Mac browser wars, there are many contenders for the crown. But the big three are Chrome, Safari and Firefox. On my desktop, I found myself using Safari and Chrome more often than Firefox because Chrome looks better and I could ditch Flash on Safari easily.

But more importantly, Firefox… read more

25+ Best of, How to in Illustrator: Brush Tutorials

Need to amp up your Adobe Illustrator brush skills, then take a look at the best tutorials we have on Vectortuts+ for creating and using Illustrator brushes. Jump into one of these Illustrator tutorials that cover a range of workflows, such as using complex art brushes, pattern bushes, the Blob… read more

Cure Your Email Overload With Email Game

We do get a lot of email these days. I am not talking about spam – clean, legitimate emails from people we know and do business with. Leave it unattended for a couple of days, your email inbox will look like a war zone with the causalities being your productivity… read more

Win a Free Copy of ScreenFloat!

After reviewing ScreenFloat earlier last week, the developers have been kind enough to offer ten free licenses for us to distribute to a few lucky readers!

ScreenFloat is a simple piece of software that can help you take screenshots and keep them on top of any other window. It is good… read more

HOW TO: Explore Content on Mashable

Many readers tell us that their favorite part about Mashable is the abundance of helpful information. From how-tos and guides to comprehensive lists, many of our posts are written to provide useful tips for a variety of digital interests and professions. And with an archive of many… read more

11 Excellent iPad Apps for Meetings & Presentations

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Meetings and presentations are a way of life in the business world. That said, there’s nothing worse than dragging around a bunch of files… read more

HOW TO: Give Your Digital Life a Spring Cleaning

Mollie Vandor is the Associate Product Manager at Cooking.com. Prior to that, she helped launch Ranker.com, where she served as the Product Manager, amongst many other roles. You can reach her @mollierosev, on her blog, or on her latest addiction – Words With Friends, where she plays… read more

5 Simple Web Apps For Saving Time at Work

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Much has been made of some excellent mobile and tablet apps that let users stay productive on the go. But let’s face it —… read more

60 Useful iPhone Applications

Owning an iPhone is a dream for most people nowadays. And why not… it’s equipped with smart apps and softwares that leaves mouths wide open in astonishment. To continue this legacy of the iPhone, we’ve searched for even more applications to make your iPhone your best friend, navigator and adviser.<br… read more

Make Surrealist, Twitter-Fueled Comedy With This Web App

The Mashable staff has been a bit distracted today by a shiny little Internet bauble we stumbled upon, and it’s too good not to share.

That Can Be My Next Tweet is a microapp that parses a Twitter stream of your choosing and autogenerates an often incoherent, random… read more

What You Need to Know About Agile UX

User experience (UX) is about how a person feels about using a product, system or service. User experience is subjective in nature, because it is about an individual’s feelings and thoughts about the system. User experience is dynamic, because it changes over time as the circumstances change.

The IT industry has… read more

Doing a Photo Shoot Tethered

Chimping for photographers has become a pretty standard part of shooting.  Not familiar with the term?  It’s when you review the photos you just took, usually followed by an ooh ooh sound by yourself and whoever you’re showing.  There is a time when the screen on your camera… read more

Mobile App Development: 10 Tips for Small Business Owners

Scott Gerber is a serial entrepreneur, syndicated columnist, public speaker and author of Never Get a “Real” Job. The content of this post was sourced from the Young Entrepreneur Council, a non-profit led by the world’s top young entrepreneurs. You can submit your questions to this group… read more

Quick Look: SlingPlan.com

Quick Look posts are paid submissions offering only a brief overview of an app. Vote in the polls below if you think this app is worth an in-depth AppStorm review!

In this Quick Look, we’re highlighting SlingPlan.com. The developer describes SlingPlan as an all in one productivity tool designed to help… read more

Tired of Waiting On Hold? This Startup Will Do It For You

Automated operators, bad music and long wait times have never really screamed “excellent customer service,” but few companies have offered alternatives. Now a startup is offering one for them.

FastCustomer is a browser and iPhone app that allows customers to skip both the phone tree and the hold… read more

5 Tips for Training Remote Employees

Donna Wells is the CEO of Mindflash.com, software that provides the best online training for small businesses. It makes employee training easier, faster and more cost-effective than ever before.

Every year, I find myself working with more colleagues who work remotely — from home, from outside the office… read more

10 Tips for Staying Productive During Vacation Time

Credit: elenathewise on Photodune

Working from home, everyday is a vacation. Wrong! It’s equally important for freelancers working from home to take a vacation. You need a break as much as if you where working full-time on a factory floor, building houses, managing the cash register at your local mini-mart or… read more

12 Popular Mac Apps You Can Sync via Dropbox (& Instructions!)

Dropbox is one of those tools that spends most of its time sitting in the background, and yet has become an essential app for users on just about every platform. Dropbox as cloud storage, as a syncing solution, and even as a way to host a website is an incredibly… read more

Abstracting Yourself to Freelance Success

Credit: solaris_photo on Photodune

Perhaps one of the most important lessons to a budding programmer is the idea of abstraction. I still remember the words used to describe it to me, “If you find yourself copying code, don’t do it.” The idea is so dead simple; any time you find yourself… read more

Byword: A Beautifully Minimal Writing Environment

When you open up your computer to get to work, you open up a world of distractions. As a writer, you could just pick up pen and paper, and forgo the entire digital realm – until, that is, you have to type up what you’ve written and double your workload…. read more

Coworking: The Good and the Bad

One of the great problems of being a freelancer is the solitude. It’s difficult at times to sit in front of your keyboard and do what you’ve got to do without any human interaction. There’s no water cooler to talk around, no office gossip to catch up on and no… read more

Wunderlist: The to-Do List App to Beat

Most of us struggle with too many things to do. From projects you need to complete at work or school to the random things you need to fix at your house, there’s simply too much to do each day. There are dozens of to-do list and project management apps for… read more

The 24 Best Apps to Remember Everything You Discover Online

Today, there’s never a lack of new things to see and read online. In fact, the biggest problem is keeping up with the stuff you really want to remember. It’s so easy to read an article or discover a new webapp you like, only to forget it and never find… read more

ActiveInbox Turns Gmail Into a Task Manager

Maintaining an empty Gmail inbox should be classified as a superpower. It’s just not something that most humans can do.

But the day when mere mortals master the task might be getting closer. ActiveInbox, a Gmail plugin five years in the making, launched a product this week that… read more