Tech Essentials

File management

Dropbox.  Sync your files across all of your devices (home computer, work computer, laptop, smartphone).  Share folders with others, like you would with a shared drive.  Let others upload to or download files from your Dropbox.  (See this blog post for more info.)

News management

RSS feed reader.  Feedly and TheOldReader are two that I like.  Decide what news you’d like to know about, and let it come to you.  (See this blog post for more info.)

Scheduling

YouCanBook.Me. If your students need to make appointments with you, this is the way to go.  (See this blog post of for more info.)

Doodle.  Need to schedule a bunch of people for a meeting? Need to get a bunch of people to make a decision?  This is the way to go.  (See this blog post for more info.)

Video downloader

Zamzar.  If there are web-based videos that you count on for class, download them.  Don’t trust that they’ll always be available online.  (See this blog post for more info.)

Bookmark management

Delicious. (or other social bookmarking service).  Save your bookmarks where you can access them from all of your devices, including your smartphone.  Share some or all of your bookmarks.  Tag them so they’re easy to find.  (See this blog post for more info.) [A note of caution: The future of Delicious is unknown as of January 2011.  Yahoo bought Delicious in 2004, but then never did much with it.  Yahoo has let their Delicious staff go.  Now the question is whether Yahoo will sell off Delicious, if they'll even find a buyer.  I've used other bookmarking services, but Delicious is the one I continue to prefer.  It does exactly what I want without layering on a lot of other functions that clutter things up.  If you'd like try a different service, take a look at Diigo, my second choice.]

Shortmarks. Get to your bookmarked pages, even search them, just by putting shortened code in your browser’s address bar.  See this blog post to see what I mean.

Task management

Followup.cc. I’ve tried many different task management tools.  They all require me to go someplace to get my task list.  Followup.cc puts my tasks where I live, in my email and in my calendar.  (See this blog post.)

Sandglaz. While this task manager requires me to go to a website, I’ve found that pinning the tab in my web browser works well.  If you tend toward making lists on pieces of paper, Sandglaz might just be the tool you’re looking for. (See this blog post.)

Share your desktop

Join.me. Handy during a conference call or for just showing students something on your computer.  Give them a link, and they can see your desktop in their web browser. (See this blog post.)

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