Online Tools to Increase Productivity

Most of us use the internet to kill time but it can also provide a range of tools which can help you increase your or your company’s productivity. All these tools are free or have free options available.

Evernote:

URL: http://www.evernote.com

Evernote is a massively useful tool for saving everything you do on the web. With so much content available it can be hard to keep track of the important stuff and that’s exactly what Evernote is for.

On the mobile, you can snap pictures and they uploaded on the Evernote servers. So it’s useful for keeping a record of documents, maps, and stuff on whiteboards etc. While you’re browsing on your PC, you can save entire web pages as well so even if the site goes down you still have a record.

Evernote syncs all your data so no matter where you are or which device you are on, it’s available.

Tungle:

URL: http://www.tungle.me/Home/

Tungle is a very helpful tool for scheduling meetings. Others can see which times you are available at and if multiple people are involved – each selects times that work for them and Tungle chooses the most appropriate time. It can also sync with any calendar clients/apps you are using so you can take full advantage from the word go.

BB Flashback express:

URL: http://www.bbsoftware.co.uk/BBFlashBack_FreePlayer.aspx

Ever felt the need for making a tutorial or a demo or just something you need to share with the web? BB Flashback is the answer. It’s an easy to use tool that can record sound, your screen and webcam.

One of the reasons one might choose it over similar tools is that it can record at a high frame rate as well as the level of control it provides when exporting the file. It also features the ability to share all of your created movies on sites like YouTube etc.

Rapportive:

URL: http://rapportive.com/

Rapportive is a very useful plugin for Gmail. It shows all information about your contacts inside the email inbox. It lets you see all contact details and social network profiles for the people you are talking to. Wherever possible, it displays information form the contacts Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networking profiles. You can mention shared interests and leave notes for later too.

Remember the Milk:

URL: http://www.rememberthemilk.com

Remember the milk is a free task manager. The best thing about it is its simplicity. It simply does what it says and doesn’t overload the users with features. It can be accessed from anywhere and it sends SMS alerts as well when a task is due.

Quick thumbnail:

• URL: http://quickthumbnail.com/
• URL: http://www.fotosizer.com/

Ever wanted to resize your images and pictures without any hassle? Quick thumbnail is the perfect tool for that.

Simply upload your images or pictures, select a few options for resizing and the resized images appear in a single convenient view. For an offline tool that does the same thing, check out Fotosizer.

Mindomo:

URL: http://www.mindmeister.com/

Mindomo is a mind mapping application enables you to easily visualize projects through mind maps, embedded sounds and videos, links, and attachments, and begin planning projects by assigning things like priorities, resources and status of completion. Features include real time collaboration and export in different formats among others.

Gliffy:

URL: http://www.gliffy.com/

Gliffy is an online application which to make designing floor plans, technical as well as general diagrams, and flowcharts as easy as possible.

Possible users range from people in the industry to small business owners. Advantages over other diagramming tools like Visio are that it’s free and since its web based it doesn’t matter what OS you’re using.