Tech analysis

A rundown of tech trends and what they mean for you.
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Tech analysis

Recent posts

You'll be done reading this post in 3 minutes or less!
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March 28, 2012
Let's talk about an interesting phenomenon in SaaS companies’ web design. Ever noticed that everybody wants to tell you just how just how totally freaking quickly you’re going to be able to sign up for their product?
Easier full text RSS feeds with FiveFilters.org
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February 8, 2011
Last week I talked about how to use Unsum.com to convert partial RSS feeds into full text feeds. While the Unsum method is very general and customizable, it also takes a little effort to identify the content that you care about (determined by looking at the source HTML of the page).
How can designers and developers create great software if they don't know what it looks like?
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February 4, 2011
If there's one thing we like to talk about on this blog, it's great software. But unfortunately most software isn't great.
Customize RSS feeds with filters and full articles
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February 1, 2011
We've talked a few times in the past about how RSS feeds are a great way to keep track of a bunch of different online content in one consistent interface. While a number of sites provide excellent RSS feeds of their content, there are a few common problems that can get annoying after a while.
Gmail gets desktop notifications - HTML5 finally showing up in the wild
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January 27, 2011
If you use a web-based email client, you've probably received an email before that you didn't notice because there's not any kind of notification.
Transfer an existing Google AdWords or Analytics account to Google Apps for your domain
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January 25, 2011
Near the end of last year Google finally opened up the full slate of Google services to Google Apps for your domain users. If you had previously set up dedicated accounts for dealing with AdWords or Google Analytics (as many business users have), you may want to transfer those accounts to your domain account.
Updates to Mac Chrome application shortcuts and the iOS fullscreen webapp generator
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January 18, 2011
Today I just wanted to mention updates to two utilities we've posted previously.
How to save any file as a PDF with CutePDF
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January 13, 2011
In this post, I'll demonstrate how to use CutePDF to generate a pdf our of any file you can print.
Visualize your Google Analytics data in Google Docs with a motion chart
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January 11, 2011
One of the coolest features of Google Spreadsheets is the motion chart which helps visualization of multi-dimensional data
Test, run, and share code online with Codepad.org
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December 21, 2010
While it is by no means a full solution (or even a partial one, really), Codepad.org can be an occasionally useful tool for development in a number of popular languages.
Optimize the "conversion rate" of the website for your bricks and mortar store
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December 16, 2010
When designing and optimizing just about any website, the conversion rate is one of the most important statistics to focus on
How to submit a great bug report
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December 15, 2010
Yesterday Bracken wrote about how a Dropbox user was rewarded for submitting a detailed bug report to the company.
Good web service; bad web service
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December 14, 2010
Unless you've been hiding under an Internet rock for the past few days, you've probably heard by now about the massive security breach of the similarly large blog network Gawker.com.
Chrome Web Store Review - Browse tons of great web apps from one place
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December 13, 2010
If you are using Chrome, then you have a brand new way to find awesome web apps. Google just released a new online store called the Chrome Web Store.
What can't you do in a web browser (yet)?
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December 10, 2010
As you may have heard, Google has been building a new operating system called Chrome OS. It's not finished yet, but they just sent out a number of test laptops so that early adopters can start trying it out.
Google Message Continuity brings the benefits of Gmail to existing Exchange systems
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December 9, 2010
Earlier this week, Google announced announced a new service for enterprise users that syncs an existing Exchange account with Google Apps.
Is Social Networking Killing Intelligent Discussion on the Web?
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December 8, 2010
Social media is often credited with revolutionizing communication. You can use Facebook to reconnect with old friends, or Twitter to follow your favorite celebrities. You're always in touch with the entire world. That's a good thing for online communication, right?
Design Tip: Mockup every single screen, even the ones that don't matter
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December 2, 2010
For the past month or so, We've been working on a project that we're calling "LAS 2.0". It's basically a complete re-thinking of our entire CRM product.
Google Affiliate Network connects you with online advertisers
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November 29, 2010
A while back I talked about how you can use the Amazon Affiliate Program to earn a commission from referring customers to Amazon.
Google Apps accounts now have access to the full Google catalog
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November 26, 2010
One of the frustrations of Google Apps accounts in the past has been that many of the great offerings available on individual accounts weren't available through Google Apps.
Microsoft Security Essentials - Free PC Antivirus Software
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November 22, 2010
Until recently, I didn't even bother with antivirus software. About once per year I'd get a virus, and then I'd just re-install Windows. It worked out well because most PCs need a fresh install every year or two anyway to maintain performance, so the viruses weren't really that inconvenient.
Microsoft adCenter works as advertised (as long as you have a Windows machine)
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November 18, 2010
Earlier this week, I discussed (or, more accurately, ranted about) Microsoft adCenter's incompatibility with non-Windows systems.
Microsoft adCenter only wants your business if you use Windows
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November 16, 2010
Search-based advertising, in which short text ads are displayed alongside search results in major search engines such as Google, are one of the biggest revenue generators anywhere on the Internet.
Testing vs using in software development and evaluation
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November 11, 2010
Over on the software side of the Less Annoying world, Tyler and I have recently been working on a pretty substantial redesign of the interface for LAS.
Workflowy Review - Online workflow and to-do list
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November 10, 2010
There are a number of decent software tools to help you stay organized, but I was never able to find anything that seemed to really do the trick. Until now.

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