If you are a Tag Cloud fan then Wordle is your Nirvana. Paste in a block of text, Blog URL, or a del.icio.us user name and the service will create a random word cloud based on the contents. You can change the look and feel yourself or just hit random to have Wordle determine the look and feel for you. Once you find the tag cloud that suits your personality, print it, save it, or share it in their public gallery.
Feedly has made reading my RSS feeds more enjoyable. If you are a Google Reader and Firefox user, this Firefox extension converts your RSS reader into an online magazine. Not only does it include a slick interface but it also makes scanning through the mountain of information you receive easier by allowing you to group and view your content how you want to see it. Getting to the stuff you want to read and clearing out the stuff you want to ignore makes living in this content driven world just a bit easier to manage.
The Richard Solo was one of the first iPhone battery backups on the market. At around $60, this little gadget was a no brainer for me. Before I go to sleep at night I simply plug my battery backup into my iPhone and then plug the battery into the wall adapter. When I wake up in the morning I have a fully charged iPhone and a fully charged back up. If I am on the go and start running out of juice, I just plug in my Richard Solo and continue using my iPhone without skipping a beat. It is great for the those long coast to coast flights.
Follow me long enough on Twitter and you will know that I am a supporter of the Hype Machine. Anthony, the founder of the machine, has built a site that has gone beyond being just a MP3 blog aggregator and has morphed into a engine of music exploration. Follow your favorite MP3 blogs, listen to new music as it is released, and find new artists that you would never have known existed. The Hype Machine’s set of tools make it easier and fun to do all of these things. Check out the 2008 Zeitgeist for an introduction to the power of the Hype Machine.
If you own an Apple TV or Airport Express, you know how nice it is to listen to your iTunes music over your stereo. But what happens if you are on a website (i.e. The Hype Machine, MySpace, Blip.fm) that has a built in flash music player and you want to listen to those tracks over your stereo? Airfoil comes to the rescue. This little $25 application, which is available for Mac and Windows, lets you stream any sound that your PC makes through your Apple TV and/or Airport Express. Go ahead and try it out. Everything sounds better through a real stereo system.
Enjoy.
