As usual, a semi-weekly wrap up of links, tidbits, and other sites that came across my plate. Code, development, management, anything I found interesting since the last post. Feel free to suggest other links in the comments.

Web Tools
A lot of web tools this week. I suggest that even if you don’t check them all out, bookmark this page for future reference.

• scrum’d – I don’t use this tool, I use BaseCamp, but i am a big fan of project collaboration tools and of agile development. Their tag line is “Simplify project management for your agile team with scrum’d.” That seems like a perfect fit. I may open a free account to see.
• KnowEm – Great site to check the availability of a username across many if not all of the social sites. Great for anyone who wants to secure or build their brand name. I use it, and for a fee, they will secure the names for you, but I’m not sure that’s necessary.
• TypeTester – Simple site to setup and compare different font settings side by side.
• CometDocs – This site will let you upload and convert docs to different formats. Convert xls to csv, or pdf to txt, etc…
• Remember The Milk – Very popular and very powerful Todo list manager. I highly recommend it for keeping organized. If you haven’t heard of it, Google it, there are plenty of reviews.
• TweetDeck – Good AIR Desktop Twitter client. Has a good interface for search, and even lets you post simultaneously to FaceBook if desired. It’s free.
• Writeboard – Web based tool to allow you to create, share and collaborate web pages with others. I don’t use it, but its from the makers of BaseCamp (37Signals) which has a writeboard feature, and that works well.
• itpints – A search engine that searches what people are talking about. In other words, type in a string and they search twitter and other blogs and social media. So it bills itself as a timely search engine because it searches what’s being conversed about now. Haven’t used it much but I think it might be useful when looking for finding a timely answer to a code problem or error message.
• backboard – I am a fan of project collaboration. If you are not a fan yourself, or reluctant to try, this is a good start. You can upload a file and share with others to get feedback. I don’t use it, but with Remember the Milk, you could piece together a bit of a project management system if you wanted. I rather use true project collaboration software, but there are other options out there.
• feedmil – Search engine that searches blogs and blog feeds. Could be useful. I added my blog, so we’ll see.
• jing – Great tool to grab screenshots or web captures, and share with others. Simple, useful and effective. Everything I love.
• AlternativeTo – Site to search for alternatives to almost any windows based app.
• Linux App Finder – Similar site, but finds Linux apps that are equivalent to Windows/MacOS apps you may know.

Web Talk/Blogs

• Why Choosing Form Over Function Kills a Site – Interesting article about using functional, standard design elements on the web. Practical advise.
• Mapping the Current Web Transition – Simplified but interesting article about the history and a bit of the future of the web. Different trends, revenue models, etc… A quick read.

Web Tips/Resources

• Learn To Code At Any Level With Google Code University – Great guest post by David Pierce of “The 2.0 Life” tech blog about Google Code University. A site with a lot of code tutorials in many different programming languages. Good resource.
• Opera Web Standards Curriculum – Another tutorial, this one about web standards. Looks like a useful reference.

Misc. ‘Fun’ Stuff

• GE SmartGrid – Really interesting marketing site for GE. Uses some funky technology to make a ‘hologram’ appear from your monitor. Fun to try.
• Google News Timeline – Fun Labs site from Google for visualizing news headlines.

Enjoy, and have a good weekend.
Post any good resources or links you use in the comments.

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