AfterTheDotNet

Ecards online

Sending ecards was a fad a few years back but for some reason it has slowed down in the last 2- 3 years. The reason for it seems to be monotony. Though there were many services but the variety in the cards was not there and the process of sending the ecards was monotonous as well.

Since it is that time of the year I was looking for a service that allows me to send free ecards and I came across Pingg. The primary focus of the website is sending out evites but it can be used to send ecards as well. The features of the website are

• Your individual style as you can customize the cards by choosing an image, format, font, font-size, color and layout of the card.
• you can choose to either send the card via email or snail mail. Additional charges apply if you want to send the card using SMS or snail mail.
• you can also choose to send the cards via social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook or your social network.
• if you use Pingg for a party then you can also manage RSVP’s and invites easily and
• lastly it is

I found pingg interesting because of the customization it allows and the process of sending the ecard is little more fun thing to do. Pingg has been able to get the attention of  people and also received funding from Martha Stewart.

Give it a spin for you will find something interesting in the service.

Wordpress version 2.7 release today

The much aniticipated Wordpress version 2.7 release date was perdicted by the blogosphere as December 10th 2008 (refer to Labnol and Wordpress websites). Though there are regular updates to Wordpress but the version 2.7 has some major changes and would change the way bloggers use Wordpress. Some of the advanced users have been testing the new version as it has been released as a beta.

The updates have been talk of the blogs. If you are interested in knowing the features that would be added these resources are helpful.

• 10 Things You Need To Know About WordPress 2.7
• Mashable: WordPress 2.7 - 20 Must See Features
• Stalking the Wild 2.7
• Wordpress Codex Wordpress 2.7 features

Being a keen Wordpress user I will keep a watch out at the home page of Wordpress.

Full length free music videos – MTV Music

MTV these days hardly broadcasts music videos. What one gets are realty shows with sprinkling of music. I miss those days when videos used to rule MTV.

It seems like MTV is making up for it on their website MTV Music. Here you can find full length high quality videos of songs. The most viewed song is “Never going to give you up”! Jokes apart there are a lot of top quality videos the ones I missed the most like “Money for nothing” by Dire Straits, “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie and the kings of videos (though I do not like his music) Michael Jackson.

Read the full post on MTV Music….

Best file recovery freeware for deleted files on Windows

Every now and then everyone deletes files which are not supposed to be deleted. Inexperienced users believe that once they delete a file it cannot be recovered. That is a myth.

If you have deleted a file inadvertently the first place to look for is the Recycle Bin. If you do not know how to recover files from the Recycle Bin get in touch and I will be glad to help (free of charge)!

If you are unlucky and do not find the file in the Recycle Bin (as you might have permanently deleted a file by pressing shift key when deleting the file) do not despair. There are solutions available that can help you recover the files you have deleted from your computer or the Recycle Bin. When you delete a file in a Windows based computer all the system does is mark that space on the hard disk as available for writing or storing new files. The deleted files are there on your hard disk till data is written on that part of the hard disk by newer files. Therefore there may be some files on your computer that have deleted a year back and are recoverable!

Some of the practices that assist in recovering files are

1. More empty space you have on your hard disk the better the chances of recovery as the file you have deleted would not be reused till other parts of the hard disk are used.
2. Smaller deleted files like MS Word or MS Excel documents, have a higher chance of recovery than bigger files like videos or music files.
3. Some of the TOOLS that you can use are

Read the full post containing the freewares that can be used….

Gmail for mobile 2.0 – use Gmail offline on your mobile

I’m sure a lot users use Gmail on their mobile like me. Gmail as such is one of the best email solutions one can use for personal mail and with Google for your domain the service is a viable one for small companies as well.

Gmail had an application for the java enabled mobiles but there was a demand for something faster, more robust and easier to use. Two days back the Gmail team released Gmail for mobile version 2.0 for J2ME-supported and BlackBerry phones. The new application can be downloaded from m.google.com/mail

Read more about Gmail for Mobile 2.0….

Convert PDF documents into word documents using PDFUNdo

Now you can convert PDF documents into word documents on the fly using the online service provided at PDFUNdo.net. Once you are on the website you can upload a PDF document and hit convert and the document is converted and you are presented with a link to download the MS Word file.

No registration or signup is required to use the website. When I tried the service there was an error on conversion of the document however, when I refreshed the page a link was provided to download the document.

A standalone software is also available for free which allows you to convert PDF documents into MS Word documents on your computer.

PDFUNdo has another service called PDF creator which allows you to create  professional PDF documents. There is a free download available but if you want to use the premium features you need to download the pro version of the software.

Another service that can be used to create PDF’s is PDF online.

Edit live web pages with CushyCMS

If you are a web developer I’m sure you have come across situations where the customer wants to edit content of the web pages you have developed.  Usually that is impossible to do considering that the customers have no knowledge of HTML and CSS.

A new tool called Cushy CMS allows you to give the ability to your customers to edit the pages you have designed. Cushy CMS uses style sheets to make the content editable. Some of the features are

• Allow clients to safely edit content easily.
• No software to install, no programming or programming knowledge required.
• Can be installed in a few minutes on any server (asp or php)

click here to read the full review of Cushy CMS….

YourMinis shutting of startpage services

YourMinis, a widget developer and a Webware award winner, which was bought by AOL earlier in this year has announced shutting down of their starpage service. It was decided to shut down the service so that the team can concentrate on developing widgets which can be used anywhere on the Internet. YourMinis believes that other companies like iGoogle and Netvibes are indirectly supporting YourMinis as they provide startpage service using widgets developed by YourMinis.

The users of the startpage service of YourMinis have been asked to export their feeds by October 27,2008 via email. The startpage was earlier available on the YourMinis home page but now it can be accessed at http://www.yourminis.com/start till October 27, 2008.

However YourMinis widget users do not need to panic as widgets part of the business will continue to function the way it has been. In fact it is expected it to get better so expect more as the developers would concentrate on developing widgets and making them better. For the uninitiated YourMinis was a startpage service provider. As a user you were allowed to pull content from the your favorite Internet websites using widgets to your YourMinis startpage. Therefore to know the latest on the Internet all you needed to do was go to the YourMinis startpage. You could customize the widgets used on your startpage. The service used flash as a platform making the service distinguishable from other similar services. Since the startup pages services vertical was crowded YourMinis have decided on concentrating on developing widgets which their members can use anywhere on the Internet – blog, social networking sites and websites.

Some of the features of the widgets that can be created on YourMinis are

• You can edit existing widgets or add them directly to your social networking sites like Facebook, blog, Hi5, MySpace, Yahoo widgets, igoogle, send it to a friend or copy the embedded code and use it anywhere on the Internet.
• Endless possibility of customization
• You can add RSS feeds, video feeds and podcasts to your widgets.
• Shell interface for widgets also available.
• You do not need to be a member to be able to do this. However, to make advanced changes to existing widgets (called remix) you need to be a member of YourMinis.

YourMinis believe that they can assist bigger companies can build and syndicate their widgets, while also providing them with comprehensive reporting.

The move to specialize in a particular area by YourMinis is going to be a trend in days to come as far as web 2.0 companies and startups specially small ones is concerned. The reason is the economic downturn and as I pointed out in my post yesterday the companies will have to specialize in niche areas and also look at monetizing otherwise it will be tough to survive in the future.