Yet Another Google Timesaver

At long last Google has integrated Google Docs, their web-based word processor, with Gmail, their web-based mail client. Now, when my students send me their Word documents as an attachment, I can choose to open them directly in Google Docs, comment on them, and return them to directly to students without leaving my browser. While it may not seem like a big deal, I know that the time it takes me to open/comment/close documents, switch to my email program, write a message, attach the document and send for all 120 students adds up to a healthy chunk of time by the end of a week.

Cashing in my Nigerian Investments to Stock Up on Viagra and Date Sexy Russian Women

Not to mention certain "enhancements" I am offered on a regular basis. I have been puzzling over how to stop the avalanche of spam (ew, bad visual) I receive at home and work. At home, I am under assault from unwanted emails that come from an ever changing cast, so it is useless to blacklist them. I found the following free spam killers:

Spamato
Mailwasher
xTerminator
POPfile

I have been using Mailwasher--the main value of this free version seems to be the ability to check your mail before it is downloaded to your computer, useful for viral mail, but a waste of time in my situation. The University does a good job of filtering spam, I think, but displaying all of our email addresses on the web directory is an open invitation to unwanted solicitations. I know I need to check my home internet provider and see if they can offer any assistance. Any other suggestions?

Broken Links

Librarian Jessica Marshall shared a cool tool today -- Link Evaluator. This little plug-in works with Firefox and will quickly check the links on any given web page and color code them according to the response. If you are responsible for maintaining any long lists of links, this tool is fast!

Web Stuff

The "hugest" list of web builder resources I've ever seen all in one place... including something called the CSS Love Child and the Jello Generator.

Giant Files

This post from Lifehacker points out some online file storage sites like Divshare.




Looks like they might come in handy for transporting giant PowerPoint files or creating image galleries.