If you've ever used Read It Later, you'll probably like a new service called "I Need to Read This." It does the same thing, letting you bookmark stories that you want to read, but not right away.
What's nice about I Need to Read This is that you can use all of its services through bookmarklets instead of having to install anything in your browser. There's simply "I Need to Read This" and "Read an Article" bookmarklets, which you drag up to your browser's toolbar, and on any story you want to bookmark you just hit the former bookmarklet to save it. Then, to read what you have saved you click the latter "Read an Article" button, which takes you to the latest story. Clicking it again takes you to the second most recent, and so on.
Along with skipping to stories directly, the service maintains a complete list of stories you've saved, which is presented in reverse-chronological order. Like Read It Later, this is all saved in the cloud so you can access it from any computer, and because it's bookmarklet-based you could use it even from public computers without needing special permission to install anything.
There's not much more to it than that, which is what I like about it as a bookmarking tool. For power users, though, there is a Firefox Extension that gives you the bookmarking and quick reading buttons, right in your browser, although it's currently listed in the experimental section of Mozilla's add-ons.
Saved articles can be found in your source list, where all the ones that you've already read are greyed out, with the new ones showing up on top.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Liquid Mongoose, the purveyors of the do-it-yourself DVD and music CD sleeves has put out a new version of its bookmarklet that supports Picasa Web albums. Now, if you're planning to burn a compilation photo CD or DVD, you'll be able to sleeve it in paper packaging that features thumbnail previews of what's on the disc.
I just gave it a spin on one of my recently uploaded albums and it worked flawlessly. Users with the existing bookmarklet won't have to upgrade since the JavaScript has stayed the same. The only confusing part is that the tool still requires you to first click the bookmarklet, then manually print out the page. I'd like to see an option where it automatically skips to the print dialogue.
If you're looking for a cheap and easy stocking stuffer, this beats the heck out of shelling out for a new DVD or jewel case. Not to mention that if you already have one, you can simply cut out the paper and slip it in.
If you've got an old burned CD or DVD hanging around and want to give it a more attractive home than a 100-disc spindle where it currently resides, you should check out Liquid Mongoose. It's a simple bookmarklet you can save to your browser and call up any time you want to print out a protective (and attractive) cover.
It works for both audio albums and movies as long as you're accessing their information from either Netflix or AOL Music. Once on the album or movie's page you simply click the bookmarklet, then print out the page (while making sure to keep the page scaling to 100 percent).
There is a little bit of elbow grease involved to make your printout actually useful. You can either take the easy way and cut out the square to put into a standard CD jewel case, or you can take this origami approach, which gives you a very slick envelope-like enclosure:
Paper CD Case - video powered by Metacafe
If you're trying to do this with a few dozen albums or movies it's clearly not the easiest way to go about it, but assuming you have a printer, some paper, and a lack of jewel cases--this is the next best thing. Coming in future versions is support for Picasa Web albums.
I've been a long-time Windows user, and one of the many remaining traces of the old days lies deep within the accessories menu. I speak, of course, of the character map, something I rarely pull up except to find things like © and the occasional £. Apparently one of the hot trends on Twitter is adding some of these barely-used symbols to your Tweets, or it's at least enough of a trend for two guys over at The Next Web blog to create their own bookmarklet to avoid having to open up the character map, or learn the keyboard shortcuts that spawn them.
Since it's a bookmarklet, it will work on any browser, so you don't have to worry about any of the compatibility or slowdown issues usually associated with plug-ins. When you click it, it's simply a pop-up with 60 different Web-friendly symbols that should display no matter what browser or operating system you're on. You just copy and paste the one you want and you're done.
There are actually some benefits to using these symbols as opposed to text. Considering the short-form nature of the service, you can save a character or two with the proper symbol. However, the vast majority, including ☭, ☃ and ☄ will be useless for most people.
[via DownloadSquad]
TwitterKeys replaces some of the core functionality of the Windows character map with a bookmarklet you can stick in your browser. It's been designed for Twitter, but will work anywhere text is used. (click to enlarge)
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Social bookmarking can be a tiring ordeal. Submitting links to services one at a time might be a little overwhelming if you're using more than two or three at a time. What if there was a way to post that link to 34 services from one place? Wonder no more--Social Poster gives you a relatively quick way to accomplish that.
Social Poster provides users with a bookmarklet they can click from any site that will grab the link, title, description, and any tags it finds. Users can put a check by any services they want to post to, which will create a listing of customized links that users can click to go straight to the submission form for each site. Alternately, if you're logged in to one of these sites already, you can click the "post" button which will post the link instantly on several of the services. Assuming you're registered with the site, you might save a click or two.
Ideally I'd like to see a service like this store your logins and do the submitting without having to jump you off to the parent site. My real question is how valuable this is going to be for most people. The real hardcore bookmarkers out there probably already have a bookmarklet or two, and nearly all sites these days already have submission links built right into their stories, like we do below. Incidentally, the service also provides one of these links that can be integrated into sites, allowing users to automatically jump to the service to submit on the site of their choosing. I've embedded an example button below.
[via Download Squad]
Users can pick from 34 different social bookmarking services to share a link from. Social Poster will grab all the important information such as the URL, title, and text, too.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
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