Okay, so, you’re on the road and you’re due to give a presentation shortly. Unfortunately, the presentation is on your PC’s desktop back at home or, perhaps, the version you have with you isn’t the most up-to-date and there you are without a laptop and/or PowerPoint. Or, let’s just say you’ve avoided purchasing bloated suites like Office 2007 or OpenOffice altogether and rely strictly on new online utilities to fill any and all word processing/spreadsheet/presentation needs of yours.

Have no fear, you can quickly create a new or updated presentation online with 280Slides. There are a number of different online PowerPoint alternatives out there (Google even has their own utilitie within Google Docs) but I found 280Slides to be remarkably clean, lightweight and easy-to-use… and it has, in my opinion, the perfect amount of features to not leave you wanting more.

Of course, you have the basics like importing existing presentations, creating/re-arranging/deleting slides, the ability to add text/shapes/images/videos and, as you would expect, the option to save your final product to either your online account or to a downloadable file – with which you can burn to a disc or toss on a flash drive.

Those are the basics but 280Slides takes you beyond the essentials in some areas. For instance, when adding images or videos, one can not only upload, and subsequently embed, files from their own desktop but can search for online content as well.

Upon completion, you can share your final product via SlideShare, e-mail it directly from the site or grab a link with which you can embed on your own blog/site. If, instead, you just want to download the finished piece, you can select from four different file types: Office 2007 (.pptx), Office 97-2004 (.ppt), Open Document (.odp) and PDF.

280Slides – The App
280Slides – The Official Blog

The concept behind ShareTabs is pretty simple: paste a few different URLs into a text box and then click the “Tabify ‘em” button.

What you’re given is a TinyURL-esque link (e.g., http://sharetabs.com/jq – this can be customized) to share with friends, family or readers. Upon clicking the link, the recipient will be taken to a special page on ShareTabs’ site featuring all of the URLs originally included in the list… all open within a tabbed page. Check out the image below for an example:

That same page, as you can see in the screenshot above, has a link that enables you to copy the URLs to your clipboard.

There are a few instances in which this site would be uniquely useful. For instance, a blog owner (such as yours truly) might be able to point his/her readers to a dozen or more different sites regarding a single subject. Or, perhaps, you can just quickly wrap up a browsing session on your work computer and send yourself a quick URL by email to save all of those sites you had pulled up.

[via Go2Web20.net]

If there’s one thing I truly loathe (although, trust me, there’s plenty more), it’s the everyday voicemail experience one might have with their cell phone provider. Why do I despise it so? Well, first off, there’s always a chance your call will drop right in the middle of retrieving a message. Second, there’s a variety of different numerical options you need to memorize in order to navigate through your messages (i.e., 3 to erase a message, 7 to save a message, etc.) Last, but not least, the messages are stored on your provider’s servers forcing you to dial a number and enter a pass code in order to retrieve them. Then, once you’ve retrieved them, they’re still on someone else’s servers and you have no way of hearing that message again without re-dialing voicemail, re-entering your pass code and re-navigating through your other messages. There’s nothing intuitive about the process at all.

The above reasons are precisely why I let a 3rd-party handle my cell phone voicemail service.

About 2 or 3 years ago, I began beta-testing a service from CallWave that not only allowed me to receive my voicemails through my email account (as an MP3 attachment) but the service also provided me with a (highly inaccurate) transcription of the message within the email so, if I were in a crowded place, I wouldn’t even have to open the attachment. (The premium version of the service offered a more accurate transcription of messages received.) Of course, all free things must come to an end and I was notified that my beta test would soon end. The regular service offering was $14.95 and that wasn’t something I was prepared to do… at least not with all of my other regular monthly charges.

So, while I wasn’t quite ready to replace my wife’s $15/mo TiVo subscription for a $15/mo voicemail service (that wouldn’t have been fair, now would it?), I also wasn’t quite ready to give up the ridiculously-convenient service of having those voicemails in my email inbox. That said, I went for a compromise: GotVoice.

GotVoice offered me the same options as CallWave but did so for $9.95/mo. It was still $10/mo on top of a Zune subscription, TiVo, Maghound*, Web hosting, etc. and so on and so forth. However, while the transcriptions were pretty accurate and the MP3 delivery was relatively timely, the online account management interface to manage current and saved voicemails was antiquated… to say the very least. The site looks as though it was birthed straight from 1997. I’m a bit of a design snob (despite what you may think by looking at this site) and I just couldn’t take the “Web 0.2” look.

I looked for alternatives as time permitted but never really found one that suited me… until a post on Lifehacker alerted me to an existing service by the name of YouMail.

There are a few different reasons why I chose YouMail and why it remains my service of choice. First, there’s a number of different pricing plans between $0.00/mo (a.k.a. “free, baby”) and $18/mo.

Second, if you choose to purchase the transcription option and elect to have them sent to you via text message (in addition to or in replacement of transcriptions sent by email), the messages are abbreviated in order to accommodate for the 160 text message character restrictions. (i.e., “your” is replaced with “yr” in the transcription; “for” is replaced by “4”, etc. Basically, your voicemail transcription resembles an instant message conversation with your 12-year-old niece.)

Third, the service goes beyond the traditional voicemail delivery options and allows you to create customized greetings or even select from a variety of existing ones and then apply unique greetings to one, some, or all of the contacts in your address book. (This also represents a supplemental source of revenue for the company as some of the greetings are labeled “premium” and require purchase. The vast majority, however, are free.) In addition, you can create your own greetings and upload them (WAV or MP3) to your online account.

Last, but certainly not least, MP3 attachments of incoming voicemails, visual voicemail management,  personal greetings and unwanted caller blocking are all available on the free account.

Overall, YouMail represents the best voicemail delivery/transcription service I’ve tested thus far. If you’re not convinced, give the free version of YouMail a try and at least get started with customized greetings, voicemail by email (MP3) and online management of your new and saved messages (“visual voicemail”). Then, if you decide you want the transcription option, you can select add-on packages ranging from $3.99 to $17.99.

*In case you’re curious: I opt for the $4.95/mo Maghound plan and get FastCompany and Men’s Health for myself; Self for my wife. (I wasn’t being greedy… she already gets People and Us Weekly through an alternative source.)

Digsby, the desktop instant messaging application that’s more than just a desktop-IM app, updated their primary installer last week. Following the update, Download Squad hastily tossed up an overly negative review of the new installation process. Many other users followed suit and began complaining as if someone had just thrust a shiv in their collective side.

So, what exactly changed to warrant such negativity? Well, first off, Digsby opted to move from the roughly 15mb download from their own site to an Internet-based installer If you’re not exactly sure what I’m referring to, think about the Windows Live installer – download one installer weighing in at less than 5mb and that installer then pulls updated content from the Web for the rest of the installation process. In general, I tend to loathe these types of installers and the InstallQ-based Digsby installer is as annoying as they come and certainly isn’t going to change my opinion on these types of installers.

Secondly, the new installation process presents the end-user with a handful of advertisements and installation offers. This is where the bulk of the complaints came from and, in my opinion, ninety-nine percent of those complaining just don’t have any logical ground on which to stand. Before I continue, let’s take a look at a series of screenshots detailing the installation process:

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine what exactly people are complaining about. Since their launch earlier this year, Digsby has yet to reveal itself as a company that’s just doing what everybody else is (the software is extremely polished to be as young as it is and their dedication to updates and user requests is refreshing) and I think it’s safe to say that they’re not doing anything different when it comes to this installer. By that, I mean that I don’t know that I’ve ever seen quite so many ads for one installation package before… and I’ve downloaded and installed what must be thousands of different applications since I began my voyage on the InterWebs in 1994.

So, why the change? Why integrate advertisements into the installer? Well, why would any company do that to the software they offer to the public-at-large for no cost? <cough> $$$ </ahem>

As the founder of Digsby, Steve Shapiro, states within the comments to one of the company’s blog postings:

We’re testing this installer with a portion of downloads and the offers are 100% optional. At the end of the day, we need to generate revenue to keep the lights on and keep making Digsby better. We’d rather show you ads once during the installation process than plaster Digsby with banner ads like other IM clients do (ie: AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ).

I have a couple of complaints about the whole process overall, one of which I’ve already detailed, but I’m certainly not seeing how this new installer will result in the end of the world. Take a closer look at those screenshots if you haven’t already done so. For each offer, you have two abundantly-clear options: "Accept" and "Decline." If you don’t want to install WeatherBug (and, honest to God, Steve… who would?), click "Decline." It’s as simple as that.

In addition, the area over to the left of the installer even provides you with a running tally of what exactly will be installed when everything is said and done. Plus, as it states in the terms, everything can be easily uninstalled using your OS’ control panel.

Overall, the software is brilliantly simplistic and I can’t even begin to tell you how much time it’s saved me. To have all of my IM accounts, all of my email accounts and my frequently-used social networking accounts in one place has proven to be invaluable. That said, I don’t have an issue with seeing ads one single, solitary time. (Yes, once – Digsby automatically checks for updates and, if there are any, subsequently processes them when you launch the application every day. That continued process, my friends, is ad-free.)

That aforementioned second complaint of mine, you ask? Well, as somebody astutely pointed out within the comments to that Download Squad article, the process could get sticky for the friends and relatives (oh, won’t someone please think of the elderly!?) to whom we’ve all recommended Digsby. I’m not exactly sure how the company could improve upon the level of clarity in regards to ensuring people don’t get stuck with software they don’t want but I do think it needs to be ever-so-slightly simplified. Again, I’m not exactly sure how but I do think it’s necessary. (Note to Steve: compile a survey, put out a poll, have your users test a few different installers… whatever. Just make sure you’re taking advantage of the knowledge and experience of those willing to share it. I.E., the community of Digsbies. You can start with me.)

A modification, even slight, in the way your site or your blog uses typography can go a long way to increasing its aesthetic appeal. Fortunately, there are a few tools out there that can easily allow you to do just that.

Typeface.js, the open-source javascript library, accomplishes the above task by allowing you to embed custom fonts in your design. This basically means that you’ll no longer be limited to Arial, Times New Roman, or other boring fonts for your site’s headings or titles.

"Instead of creating images or using flash just to show your site’s graphic text in the font you want, you can use typeface.js and write in plain HTML and CSS, just as if your visitors had the font installed locally. This is a work in progress, but functional enough at least to render the the graphic text on this site."

There have been other tools to accomplish this overall functionality. Two examples of which are sIFR and Facelift Image Replacement. The former seems to require, as best as I can recall from my own personal experience, various levels of tweaking in order to get it to work perfectly. The latter, FLIR, doesn’t actually display the custom font as text. Instead, the dynamic solution uses PHP to replace your headers or titles with images on-the-fly.

For some examples of how Typeface.js looks, some sample fonts to try out on your own or for an online font conversion tool (for use with your existing TrueType fonts), check out the Typeface.js official site at typeface.neocracy.org.

(If your existing font of preference isn’t TrueType, you can use the open-source tool "FontForge" to convert it.)

Have you had good/bad experiences with Typeface.js? Let us and other readers know by dropping a comment below.