When the message comes back, you have the option to keep the message unread and even flag it for follow-up. That way, when the message comes back as the original receipt date, you’ll be sure not to miss it.

(I still wish there was an option to have the message come back to the top of your inbox but, unfortunately, you get into a tricky gray area when it comes to the ethical dilemma of modifying the original message.)

I’ve become absurdly-addicted to the 14-day trial I downloaded earlier this month and I’m sad to see the trial end. Still, the add-in is only $29.95 and that’s a pretty small price to pay for what could be a very effective tool for maintaining your always-ridiculous and always-overflowing inbox.

That’s Boomerang for Outlook in a nutshell.

Well, back in August (2010), Baydin launched a port of the Boomerang functionality for Gmail – via an extension/add-on for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, respectively. (Although, I did notice it’s not currently compatible with the most recent Firefox 4 beta. Sad, but true. – 2/22/2011) In my opinion, it’s even more powerful and intuitive than it’s Outlook-based big brother. (Kinda like how Gmail is more intuitive and powerful than Outlook. Go figure.)

Indeed, right within a message, you can utilize the Boomerang drop-down menu to have that message come back to you at a later date for follow-up. Alternatively, while composing a message, you can tell Boomerang to bounce that message back to you as an automatic reminder (again, in whatever kind of timeframe you wish) OR have the message come back to you if the message has no follow-up. That’s right, if someone doesn’t reply to you, Boomerang will remind you about it. Freaking awesome.

Boomerang for Gmail is in a free beta now but if you’re eager to reward the awesomeness that’s baking in the kitchen of Baydin HQ, you can donate a small chunk of change to ensure that development of the Gmail plugin is continued. I highly recommend it.

Have you tried Boomerang? What do you think? What are some of your favorite Outlook/Gmail-based productivity tools?

As many of you are already aware, sub-tasks can be a lifesaver when it comes to project management.

Unfortunately, ToodleDo – in this author’s humble opinion – has a terrible interface. The colors just plain don’t work together well and navigation is the complete opposite of intuitive – especially for a site that’s supposed to help you with GTD.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though… and that light goes by the name of "Stylish." Stylish is an extension for Google Chrome (and add-on for Firefox) that "lets you easily manage user styles. Add, delete, enable, disable, and organize with a few clicks of a mouse, no code to edit, no obscure configuration to find. Stylish’s companion website, userstyles.org, hosts tens of thousands of user styles made by other Stylish users that you can try."

In other words, Stylish lets you easily change the look of some of the world’s fugliest websites.

Among these "user styles" is one by the name of "ToodleDo – MacOSX." Below is a screenshot but, in essence, this style will simplify the overall ToodleDo interface and help you find what you need faster. This isn’t the only option though… just do a search for "toodledo" on the userstyles.org site and you’ll find plenty of options.

While you’re at it, find some alternative styles for Gmail, FoxNews, CNN, Craigslist and more.

If you missed our review of SimplyFile from way back when, the following is a snippet from that article as well as a brief overview of the software itself:

SimplyFile is designed to help you, well, simply file messages that are in your Outlook inbox into the appropriate folder. By using “an advanced algorithm to learn and adapt to your filing habits,” SimplyFile gives you a recommended folder destination as soon as you select a message in your inbox. By clicking on the SimplyFile button, the message immediately goes to that destination; thus saving you from dragging/scrolling through your folder structure and dropping it into the necessary folder once you’ve found it.

In addition to the all-powerful SimplyFile button mentioned above, the software also adds some much-needed Gmail-esque keyboard shortcuts for message management and for navigating complex folder structures – shortcuts that literally save me hours every single week. (Yeah, that’s no dramatization – it will literally save you hours of time every week if you’re an Outlook power user.)

Like I mentioned before, there’s a 30-day trial of SimplyFile available for download. If you download it, I’d be genuinely surprised if you didn’t purchase it.

The new release not only adds support for Outlook 2010 but also options to quickly file away all messages within a particular thread as well as messages from a particular sender – both great ways to achieve inbox:zero. Additional new features include batch filing and some interesting usage statistics.

SimplyFile runs $49 but, again, if you’re a serious Outlook user, it’s well worth it.

Well, I’m inclined to say that price would be the biggest difference. That’s right, SquareSpace will cost you $8/mo after its two-week trial whereas you’ll never have to open that wallet (or purse) after two weeks of hosting your site on WordPress.com.

I’ll more-than-willingly admit that I’m one of WordPress’ most fervent proponents. That said, SquareSpace is… well, it’s just plain slick. 

Now, both the free version of WordPress and the $8/mo SquareSpace plan offer any introductory blogger exactly what they need:

• site stats,
• a plethora of designs from which to choose (and subsequently customize),
• comment spam prevention,
• easy WYSIWYG post authoring capabilities,
• support for multiple authors/editors/users,
• import/export options,
• social integration (hey it’s all the rage these days),
• ability to post from your phone, email, etc.,
• RSS,
• very good built-in search functionality,
• and much, much (much) more.

So, what about the differences? Well, like I said, one of the main differences comes down to CHC. (That’s “cold hard cash” for those of you that aren’t as completely obsessed with abbreviations as I am.)

Right off the bat, for what any beginnier – or even intermediate – blogger needs, you’re shelling out $8/mo to SquareSpace when you could be paying nothing at all with WordPress. Even with the SS plan, you won’t have access to a custom domain name. So, at this point, you’re either going to be hosting your blog on something.wordpress.com or something.squarespace.com.

Custom domain names are extra with both providers.

From then on, it’s still all about cost differences. 

SQUARESPACE ADVANCED OPTIONS

SquareSpace offers FIVE different monthly plans ranging from that $8/mo plan all the way up to a $50/mo plan. Besides for the ability to have a custom domain name with the latter four plans, the main things for which you’ll be paying with each of the plans include the ability to handle more incoming traffic, handle more members, more editors and more storage space. 

A few other interesting features that start to pop up with the $20/mo and $30/mo plans include:

• DropBox modules,
• form builders,
• FAQ builders,
• email template control,
• SSL and a few others.

WORDPRESS ADVANCED OPTIONS (a.k.a., “Premium Features”)

WordPress offers a different perspective when it comes to advanced functionality – in the form of yearly add-ons. For instance, for $15/year you can have your own domain name. For “VideoPress” (an excellent video/podcast publishing option), tack on about $60/year. For additional storage space, count on at least $20/year, unlimited users: $30/year, the option to go ad-free (or have your own ads): another $30/year.

Yikes… those look like some scary costs. Well, yeah, but if you add ‘em up and calculuate them, instead, as monthly fees, you’ll find that $15 + $60 + $20 + $30 + $30 = $155 per year. So, if you were to divide that by 12 months, you’d be looking at a whopping $12.92 per month.

That’s not so bad in comparison to SquareSpace’s “Advanced” or “Business” plans at $20 and $30 per month, respectively.

Then again, SS throws in a couple of unique features like those FAQ & form builders… and even that DropBox module – features that are nowhere to be found on WordPress.com.

One other thing in SquareSpace’s corner: beautification. Seriously, SS has, in my humble opinion, much better templates/themes than the ones offered by my beloved WordPress. Just take a peek at the release of SquareSpace’s Social Widgets to get a feel for the crisp, clean look of the interface in which you’ll be working.

(The comparison of WordPress to SquareSpace makes me think of the the comparison of Mac vs. Windows. One looks nice and doesn’t give you many hassles but the other one just plain gets the job done at the end of the day. I’ll let you decipher which is which.)

THE CONCLUSION

In the arena of hosted blogs, I’m going to ever-so-carefully wrap things up by stating the following: if you don’t mind shelling the amount of money per month equivalent to that of 2.5 fast food meals, I might sign up for SquareSpace’s 2nd plan (the “Pro” plan at $14/mo.) and be on my merry way. 

Odds are, for most bloggers, you’ll appreciate the expansive flexibility and it’ll be a long way before you have to worry about “yearly add-ons” or upgrading.

If, however, you just want to hop on that thing we call the Information Superhighway and blog ’till your heart’s content, all without sacrificing this month’s groceries (or this month’s Starbucks Venti Soy Lattes), please, by all means, sign up on WordPress.com today. Don’t even hesitate. 

It’s ridiculously flexible and despite what I’ve said about SquareSpace being “slick,” the WordPress interface has been in development for over seven years now and certainly feels like it. It’s fine-tuned, to say the absolute least.

THE THIRD AND INFINITELY BETTER OPTION

“What? A third option? You didn’t tell me you were gonna have a third option! I’m outta here, man!”

Hey, guess what. WordPress has something else you might be interested in. It’s a “self-hosted,” open-source version that you can install on your own space out there on the Interwebz. A version in which you have complete control over ads, design, accessibility, search engine optimization, statistics, backups, images/videos/pictures and just about anything else you could possibly want from your blog. 

If you do happen to find a certain type of functionality missing from your version of WordPress, just check out the Extend section of WordPress.org for thousands of themes and plugins – all free.

Speaking of free, what exactly does this magical version of WordPress cost? 

Nada.

That’s right, you can download every wonderful element of WordPress in a ridiculously easy-to-install .zip file (at http://wordpress.org) for the low cost of zero dollars and zero cents. Then, just find a host on which to install it. 

As a freelance web designer, I manage each and every one of my clients’ WordPress sites throughMediaTemple (which I HIGHLY recommend) but you can find plenty of other companies that offer hosting and 1-click installations of WordPress sites. Even GoDaddy does a pretty good job at WP hosting.

Overall, the self-hosted version of WordPress is, by far, the best option out there if you plan on taking your participation in the blogosphere seriously.

Let your fellow readers know what you think is the better service. Post in the comments below.

There are a great number of sophisticated VOIP solutions out there. You can go the Microsoft route and implement a “unified communications” suite like Microsoft Office Communications Server. Similarly, you can go with a richly-complex Windows Server-based solution like ShoreTel. If you’re a true rogue, you can alternatively go the open-source route and opt for a Linux-based phone system like Asterisk.

Of course, there’s always an online solution that’ll save you from investing in either hardware or software. (For the most part, at least.) Enter Zaplee. Zaplee integrates with your existing Skype account(s) to provide you with an easy way to manage departments, extensions, greetings, forwarding, complex routing, etc.

Getting everything setup, at least according to the site, is a pretty straight-forward, 4 or 5-step process: download the software, setup the extensions, setup departments, record greetings and then, well, go live. Check out the Zaplee feature tour to get an overview of how the system looks and works.

As a side note, there are two flavors of Zaplee: the $5-a-month (for unlimited users) solution that you can manage from your desktop, alongside the Skype software. The other option, Zaplee On-Demand, at $10-a-month (also for unlimited users) is entirely Web-based.

Overall, it’s a pretty impressive, quick and easy way to get a phone system setup in your office. Sure, you might very well outgrow it eventually and you might decide that you’re better off with one of the aforementioned paths I mentioned above (OCS/ShoreTel/Asterisk) but, then again, Zaplee might just do everything you need… and at a ridiculously-low price.

What say you? What voice system have you decided upon/deployed for your office?

Well, it turns out that add-on synchronization isn’t isn’t here yet and keeps getting bumped from the official Weave roadmap. So, our plans for a completely synchronized Firefox experience among our PCs were somewhat dashed… until now.

(Still, Weave will synchronize just about everything else: browsing history, passwords, bookmarks, open tabs, etc. For those of you not wearing tin-foil hats, I highly recommend you check it out.)

Like I said, my hopes for that Holy Grail of browser synchronization, add-on sync, were unfilfilled until I discovered an entirely separate Firefox add-on designed to fulfill that purpose: Siphon.

Siphon’s purpose as of right now is to fill that missing link and ensure that your favorite browser add-ons are available on whatever computer you’re on: at home, at work, on-the-go, etc.

Simply install Siphon through the Firefox add-ons interface (go to Tools > Add-Ons and search for Siphon) and create an account through siphon-fx.com. Then, specify what add-ons you want to synchronize. Once you’re done, set Siphon up on your other computers running Firefox and let the beautiful act of synchronization occur.

The developer of Siphon, Ian Halpern, has big plans and doesn’t intend on stopping at add-on synchronization. Future features of Siphon include the following:

• Support for syncing themes and enabled/disabled properties
• Automatic Add-on download and install
• Configurable user specified server support
• Easier Add-on management
• Different user profiles
• Support for syncing extension settings
• Support for other mozilla applications

So, g’head and give Siphon a try… and then let us know what you think in the comments. If you like it, make use of the Mozilla Add-Ons “Contribute” function and donate a whopping $3 USD to assist with further development of what could potentially be a VERY useful add-on.

If it has happened, save yourself some trouble in the future by installing the Lazarus add-on for your browser. (Lazarus for Mozilla Firefox | Lazarus for Google Chrome – sorry IE users)

Lazarus works on ordinary web forms, WYSIWYG editors, and even AJAXified comment boxes, and will save you from pretty much any given server, browser, or connection problems that might otherwise cause you to lose your work, or that really pithy blog comment you struggled on for over an hour.

Lazarus now comes with 2048-bit RSA and 256-bit AES hybrid encryption, so your form history is more private and secure than ever! Lazarus also includes search functionality so you can recover text even if you can no longer find the original form you entered it into.

Firefox users can also check out Textarea Cache for similar functionality.

As if these weren’t enough, the open-source/freeware product Snarl exists solely to double your notification pleasure.

While providing you with some of the same notifications you already receive (battery is low, audio is muted, etc.), Snarl also enables even more notifications for those that either have OCD or just need to always be “in-the-know.”  Examples include notifications for: hourly time updates, timer countdowns, more-specific power/battery notifications and more. Plus, like any truly-great application, Snarl supports extendability. For those that like the concept of this application, this is where it really gets interesting. Developers (or even you) can even write their own Snarl applications so that you can be visually notified for every event imaginable.

Want to be notified of a recent Tweet? New emails (even Exchange emails)? New Google Wave messages? New weather alerts? Snarl has you covered.

Plus, if you’re a true nerd, you’ll certainly appreciate how much granular control over what you’re notified about and how exactly you’re notified.

G’head and check it out: http://www.fullphat.net.

[Source: downloadsquad.com]

Enter 7Stacks and Jumplist Launcher. Both apps enable you to add shortcuts to folders/applications anywhere on your system… shortcuts that will be accessible via a right-click on the app icon in your taskbar. It’s something that I wish was built into Win7 natively but a 3rd-party app will do just nicely.

[Source: FreewareGenius.com]

That said, we typically opt for installer-free apps that we can just drop in a single directory to be synced on all of our machines. (I personally currently use SugarSync now.)

A standalone app to burn CDs or DVDs is just one example of what I’m talking about. No clunky installs of Nero (which I think weighs in at about 400mb now) or Sonic or anything similar… just double-click the portable app’s EXE and start burnin’. There are more than a few portable burning suites that we’ve encountered in the past but the following titles are some of the more solid entries.

First up is daBurner. Sure, it’s the youngest of the bunch but you shouldn’t let that fool ya… as it does exactly what you need it to do: burn stuff. Here’s the official description: “No advanced burning options and complicated configuration. No integrated backup-mediacenter-slideshow-virtual drive stuff. It’s just a stupid burner. For smart people.” This one is aces in my book if not only for that beautiful description but also for the fact that the software is genuinely insanely-easy to use… unlike many burning apps.

Next up is Infrarecorder. It’s definitely more feature-packed than DaBurner and offers up dual-layer DVD recording, CD/DVD-RW erasing, ISO & BIN/CUE burning, disc copying, audio track burning and more. Infrarecorder’s been around for a while so there’s definitely something to be gained from its experience.

Finally, we come to DeepBurner. This one isn’t as feature-packed as Infrarecorder but it’s got a pretty polished interface and it provides you with the basic functionality you need: burn audio discs, data discs, ISOs and bootable discs. The premium version of DeepBurner adds a few more options but there’s no portable version available for it.

There are some more (potentially more powerful) standalone burning apps listed on PortableFreeware.com but some of these require a little bit of manipulation to make them “portable.”

If, however, you do prefer the old-school method of running apps like these, i.e., by installing them, you’ll want to check out CDBurnerXP: a great, lightweight burning suite from the makers of Ketarin. In addition, the latest release of IMGBurn added a plethora of new features (no, seriously, go look at the changelog for ImgBurn 2.5) and it could potentially take my title for best free burning app available… period. It is, without a doubt, definitely worth the measly $2 donation that the author is kindly asking for on the app’s homepage. Do it. Be a hero. Donate that $2.

Did we miss any? (I can guarantee we did.) Let us know what your favorite portable burning app is in the comments below.