Here at Enquiring Mimes we have a set of Web apps that we use every single day. We’re always happy to see them improved, so here’s a summary of what’s new around our world of working online.
Oh yeah, it’s also a good time to give them a try if you haven’t yet.
Gmail – Our always favorite web mail has made it easier to perform Google searches while you’re reading your email. Through the Labs technology, you can place a Web Search widget into your sidebar that when searched, does not disrupt emails you might be reading or writing. Also, new today, Google has made it much easier to import email from older web email services (read Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL). Now you have no excuse not to move to Google, Jim.
Google Calendar – The Google To-do list function called Tasks which had previously been integrated into Gmail is now also available in Google Calendar. It’s a good way to create tasks with due dates and be able to see the To-Do items created in Gmail in your calendar.
Zoho – The Zoho office suite continues to develop and evolve, some of the more recent updates include being able to gadgetize (a word?) your Zoho documents and apps and put them in blogs, websites and Facebook. Zoho is an excellent alternative to Google Docs for a free web office suite plus extras. It is now spiffily accessible from mobile devices such as the iPhone.
Evernote – The best note-taking, information sharing uber-app around continues to update their product. Recently they’ve added support for Blackberry mobile devices, the ability to direct your Twitter messages to Evernote account and localization into Russian. We’re still waiting for Evernote for the Android G1.
MindMeister – This web-based mind mapping tool continues to be spruced up and enhanced. What’s new includes localizations for German and Japanese, inline images, new formatting and a new widget for embedding your mind maps externally. Since mind mapping is not a skill that’s in everyone’s repertoire, playing with Mindmeister is well worth the time. If you are of us who find it easier to visualize your world rather than just see it as lists, you’ll be surprised to find how intuitive it can be to create a mind map of exactly what’s on your mind.
VLC – While not a web app, VLC, the open source video do-everything is approaching their production 1.0 release with a release candidate. The RC sports a spiffy new user interface and, as always, VLC is the best and easiest way to view your digital videos.
