Having an online invoice not only gives you a backup of the invoices but also prompts the receiver of the payment as soon as the payment is made or so.

1. Freshbooks

Freshbooks is one of the best online invoice management tools out there. The service allows you to add clients quickly to the dashboard, along with the necessary details and email them the invoices.

Creating an invoice is really easy and user-friendly. You can also add some great checks to the invoice such as “Average” etc to get the best result from the invoice. You can even save invoice templates for quick use later on.

2. Invoicera

Invoicera is an advanced invoicing web service great for businesses and people alike. It allows you to easily integrate your accounts with your e-Commerce stores and many other tools such as PayPal, cubecart, VirtueMart, etc.

The service can also be installed on a personal server to create unlimited invoices whenever a person needs one. Templates can be made allowing brand identity to be demonstrated every time an invoice is sent.

3. Invoicebubble

A very easy to use and free online invoice managing and creating tool. Create professional invoices within seconds for no cost at all. No need to buy expensive templates, or software to make invoices.

You can also setup an automated recurring invoice system to send out invoices timely. Ability to connect and pay through PayPal is also available.

4. Invoice Machine

The Invoice Machine is an online invoicing service which makes invoicing simple and makes it look more professional with clean looks and easy to understand concept.

The Invoice Machine is a great tool for freelancers and businesses who want to easily manage invoices and get free from the hassle of paper work.

You can also send invoices directly to the mailbox of your clients with a PDF file to an email. This way both you and your clients will be required to do the least amount of work.

5. Tradeshift

Tradeshift is a great tool for every business, both small and large businesses. Large businesses can easily integrate their invoicing system with ERP packages, like SAP and Oracle.

Not only can the user send and receive invoices, but you also have the ability to connect, communicate and exchange documents all in real time. The user-friendly design and simple theme of the website makes it very easy for anyone to make an invoice using this service.

6. Invoicedude

Invoicedude allows you to not only create and manage invoices, but also allows you to automate invoices if any invoice is recurring.

The invoice can be set at multiple currencies, so you can bill your clients according to their respective currency. The user also has the ability to accept payment through PayPal by easily linking email and PayPal account.

The dashboard makes it easy for you to know how much cash you are owed, or how much you owe. The clients have their very own panel.

7. Ronin

Ronin is yet another online invoice management service that allows users to manage and schedule invoices. Even though Ronin relies on a user-friendly, clean theme with a simple back-end, the powers it holds are powerful and rich on features.

One of the best feature of Ronin is the ability for it to allow teams to collaborate and share and access critical financial information with each other.

Conclusion

Using these services is helpful as they allow you to manage and create invoices more quickly than doing paperwork. It can also be considered to be “environmentally friendly” since you are saving paper, but that is if you love nature so much. Do you use any online invoicing service? If yes, please share with us using the comments section below and tell us why you prefer that service.

Image credit: Big Stock Photo

This latter part is what consumes the most time. Putting everything in the right format to be emailed with your superiors can consume a surprisingly large amount of time. But that time can be drastically reduced if you are using a web service called “MinuteIO”.

Introduction

MinutesIO is a wonderful and free web service that helps its users record meeting minutes. The site is designed such that you can carry your laptop directly into the meeting and start recording minutes. Without requiring your sign up for new accounts, MinutesIO lets you start entering a meeting’s details, record minutes, assign them categories, due dates, and topics. After the meeting has ended, your recorded minutes can be shared with your superiors via email. The entire process is extremely fast and effective.

Usage

When you visit MinutesIO, simply click on the big green button to get started. The site does not ask you create any new accounts – it stores information locally in your browser; this explains for the tool’s speedy responsiveness.

Clicking on the button opens up a new interface for recording meeting minutes. You can start recording the details of the meeting – title, location, time, project, etc. – by clicking on the text that appears on the webpage.

You can modify the text on the meeting page according to your requirements and to fit your meeting. In addition to entering your company’s name and the meeting’ location, you can enter your email address, the emails of the attendees or any people you will later be sharing the minutes with. You can also optionally add a description for the meeting.

The area that lets you record minutes works in a similar way: you click on text and type to edit it. For each minute you can add a topic in the leftmost pane, then select the type of minute, add a note for it, select whom it was said by at the meeting, and optionally select a due date for tasks that will be completed later on.

When you are finished with the meeting and would like to finalize its minutes, you can click on the check mark (ü) that appears on the left.

After this, your minutes will be finalized and you will be able to view the sharing, printing, and editing panes in the same place you found the check mark.

The sending button lets you share the meeting’s minutes with whomever you want to share them with via email. Before you send the email, you are shown its preview.

You can modify the recipients of the email as well as the body. In the body you will find that your meeting minutes are actually published on a secret URL. You can copy the URL from here and directly share it with friends to let them view the minutes without sending them an email. To return to your minutes anytime, you can revisit MinuteIO and click on the top button on the left pane to view your dashboard. Here you can revisit your recorded minutes, edit them, and share them.

Conclusion

MinutesIO is an invaluable tool for anybody who wants to record minutes of meetings. By offering its users an intuitive interface to record minutes without having to sign up for anything, the site presents unprecedented convenience. For all secretaries or people whose task is to record meeting details, MinutesIO is a must-bookmark website.

Check out MinutesIO @ http://minutes.io/

There are many software, like Adobe Photoshop and GIMP, that can accomplish this task, but they may slow down your computer. These days, majority of people prefer to use online tools to perform these simple task rather then installing different softwares to edit images.

To solve this problem, we came across an excellent online tool called iPiccy.

Introduction

iPiccy is an excellent online photo editor which can be used to edit images online without installing any software. With iPiccy, you can easily edit your photos, add variety of photo effects, add text or even paint it using different brushes available in iPiccy. Unlike other web services, iPiccy is free and can be used by anyone without filling long registration forms. Just open iPiccy, upload your photo and start editing.

Usage

Using iPiccy is really simple and easy. Even a novice computer user can use and edit image online. Open iPiccy and click on Start Editing button on the home page.

It will ask you from where you want to upload the photo. You can either upload the picture directly from your computer, from web, take picture from your web camera or start with a blank sheet and paint.

After the image is uploaded, it will take you to the image editor with different tabs and effects. You can rotate the image, stabilize it, make color adjustments and much more.

You can even add different effects to your images by clicking on the effects tab on the top. You can add different artistic effects, textures and much more to your images online.

Using iPiccy you can also add text in different fonts and apply different blending options to your text.

Using iPiccy you can also apply different brush strokes and other basic adjustments like pencils, boxes etc to your images.

Once you are done with the editing, just click on Save and Share button on the top right corner and and select the format you want to save your image to.

Conclusion

iPiccy is an excellent, easy to use online photo editing suite which can be used to edit photos without installing any software or any registration. If you are looking for a simple tool to do basic adjustments and add effects to your images, iPiccy is definitely one of the best tools for you. There are many other tools available but they don’t have that many options and effects which can be applied to images.

If you know about any other tool which contain these options, please share with us.

iPiccy website

1. Dropdo

Dropdo allows you to upload any file using the large “Upload a file” button.

You can then send the newly created link to anyone and they can view the file without downloading it. For example, I can share the “http://dropdo.com/21b/how-to-build-pc” link with anyone and you can view the PDF document without having to download it.

It is possible to upload images, documents, videos, audio, pdf, and many other types of files. Dropdo uses different types of viewers to open the different files, for example Google Docs for the documents, and its own audio and video players.

Unfortunately, Dropdo has a few glaring limitations. Firstly, the maximum size of a file is only 25MB, which is basically the upper limit of most email attachments. Secondly, the files stay on the Dropdo server indefinitely and cannot be deleted manually. So, for the time being it is better not to use this service to transfer anything sensitive.

2. PipeBytes

PipeBytes uses an interesting method of file transfer. Instead of you having to select the file, wait while it uploads, and then send the download link, you can start uploading the file and immediately share the link with the recipient. The recipient will download the file directly from your computer, similar to how P2P technologies (such as BitTorrent) work. To start sending the file, select “Choose File” and select a file to send. Next you can add a message if you wish. Finally, either send the recipient the direct URL of the file or a code which the recipient will have to copy into the “Receive” box.

There is no need to register or any software to install. Further, there is no limit to the size of the files you can send and the file does not actually get uploaded to PipeBytes so there is no need to “delete” it. Once the transfer is complete the URL or code just becomes obsolete.

3. Dushare

Dushare is similar to PipeBytes in that it does not store your uploaded file, instead the recipient downloads the file directly from your computer after you have started uploading it. Simply click “Send a file” to upload and “Claim a file” to download.

Unlike PipeBytes, Dushare claims to offer 128-bit encryption and password protection. So, if security is an issue, I would recommend using this service. Another unique feature of this service is that it allows you to chat while the file is uploading/downloading.

4. xFiles

This service works the same way as Dushare: “Send file” to upload and “Claim file” to download.

However, it does not appear to offer any other features, such as enhanced security or the ability to chat with the recipient.

5. Sendoid

Even though we have previously covered Sendoid, it is still worth a mention here because it is the fastest of the lot. To transfer a file simply click on “Choose files to share…”.

You have the options to password protect your file and also to keep your link for future use.

Sendoid also offers an Adobe AIR app which makes sharing multiple files much easier.

Conclusion

Given a choice I would probably use Sendoid to transfer my files. Sendoid is the fastest, offers password protection and the Adobe AIR app is useful when I have lots of different things to share. However, if I wanted a better user-interface or wanted to chat with the recipient I would use Dushare.

What about you? Which file sharing services will you use?

Image credit: Threat to Democracy

1. Boomerang

Boomerang allows you to schedule your emails to be sent at a particular time. It is a great tool for busy people who like to plan ahead of their schedule. For example, if you have an email that need to be sent on Monday morning 6am, you can write the email on Friday night (just before you leave for the weekend) and schedule it with Boomerang to deliver on Monday morning.

2. CloudMagic

CloudMagic is a search extension that can search your mails faster than Gmail itself. On top of that, it allows you to preview and interact with the search results without requiring you to leave your current mail. While composing a mail, you can search for a file (with CloudMagic) in your Google docs and drag the documents from the preview window to the mail to attach it as an attachment. Of all the Gmail apps I have seen, this has to be the coolest.

3. OtherInbox

OtherInbox is an organizer for your Gmail account. Once installed, it will scan your Gmail inbox and sort your emails to various categories (via label). It also has an “unsubscribe” category where all mails placed in it will be automatically unsubscribed. Even if the unsubscribe link does not work, you can be sure that emails from this sender will not appear in your inbox again.

4. Find Big Mail

Find Big Mail helps you to identify the big mails that are taking up tons of storage space. It scans your inbox and sort the emails with file attachments into various folders. Attachment with file size less than 500KB are labelled as “My Big Mail” while bigger than 2MB are labelled as “My Ultra Big Mail”. You can then switch to those folders and delete those big emails to free up storage space.

5. ActiveInbox

ActiveInbox allows you to project manage right within your inbox. You can turn emails into prioritized tasks, set deadline for projects and set reminder for to-do list.

6. Taskforce

Taskforce is a simple app that allows you to convert your emails into tasks and manage them right within your Gmail.

7. AwayFind

AwayFind is an interesting app aimed to bring you away from your inbox without missing the important mails. Instead of checking your inbox all the time, when you receive an urgent message, AwayFind will notify you via your mobile device, a voice call, IM, or even delegate the message to someone you specify.

8. Greplin

Greplin allows you to search your emails without having to login to your Gmail. Other than Gmail, it also supports Google Docs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Evernote and many more applications. All you need to do is to link up all your accounts with Greplin and you will be able to search them all in one place.

9. SaneBox

SaneBox is functionally similar to OtherInbox, except that it is more aggressive in its approach to achieve zero inbox. It scans your inbox and leaves only the important emails in your inbox. The rest are then sent to the @SaneLater folder where you can read it when you are free. If you have a whole bunch of unread emails, it can instantly reduce that number by half.

10. Emailga.me

Do you need more motivation to clear your emails? The developers at Baydin (the same developers behind Boomerang) created a game for Gmail where you can play while clearing your email. The rule is simple. Clear your emails and you will receive points. The faster you clear, the higher point you will receive. The higher points you have, the higher is your ranking in the leaderboard.

11. Rapportive

Rapportive takes the sender’s email address and performs a search on various social networks. It then displays the sender’s info on the sidebar (the place where Google Ads are shown) so you know who you are dealing with.

What other apps do you use to enhance your Gmail experience?

Google recently launched the Chrome Web Store which stocks Chrome “webapps” as well as Chrome themes and extensions. These free and paid webapps allow you to extend the functionality of your Chrome browser by installing small third party programs within your browser. we have outlined the method of installing and uninstalling these webapps as well as making effective use of them. In this article, I will highlight some of my favourite webapps.

A number of the webapps in the Chrome web store are merely links to standard HTML websites, and these really aren’t worth installing. Instead, I have selected six of my favourite free webapps (so far) which use the latest and greatest browser technologies, such as HTML5, to provide specific functions in the Chrome browser.

Note: These apps all require a Chrome browser to run.

1. New York Times

Browsing the news on a dedicated website usually involves reading blocks of text and navigating a plethora of ads. The NY Times Chrome webapp is refreshing in that its design is focused on solely displaying the news story, complete with a large headline and thumbnail picture (where relevant). The more relevant stories are also in a larger font to make them stand-out. Additionally, there are no ads to distract from the text of the articles. Clicking on an article pops up a window which displays the complete text of the article with a large photo.

Finally, it is also possible to navigate through the various sections of the NY Times.

2. TweetDeck

TweetDeck is one of my most frequently used desktop applications. It is a simple tool that allows me to aggregate all my social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, Foursquare and LinkedIn) into one interface. The user-interface for TweetDeck webapp is very similar to the desktop application, but the backend has been completely redesigned to make use of new features like HTML 5 etc. One of the most notable feature is the unique way in which the social media streams are aggregated into a “Home” column, a “Me” column and an “Inbox“.

Additionally, the webapp also displays pop-up notifications on new events.

3. eBuddy Web Messenger

The biggest problem with using a browser is that it is difficult to communicate with your friends using instant messaging applications. The eBuddy Web Messenger webapp alleviates this problem by aggregating MSN, Yahoo!, Facebook, GTalk and a number of other instant messaging applications into one handy webapp.

The webapp is somewhat similar to the eBuddy website, and it displays notifications when contacts come online or go offline. Additionally, the webapp is also separate from a particular browser session, so it almost feels like a stand-alone application.

4. Write Space

Write Space is a very simple distraction-free writing webapp. The webapp allows you to input text straight into your browser. It is a great tool if you want to take some notes, or even writing a full-length article.

The webapp also comes with some basic customisability options, allowing you to change the size of the writing space, the font colour, size and typeface.

5. Read Later Fast

If you end up reading a lot of articles online, Read Later Fast is a useful tool to keep track of the ones you aren’t immediately able to read.

Right-clicking on the page of an article and selecting “Read Later” will bookmark the article and add it to the Read Later Fast Inbox. From here you are able to read the article at any time at your own leisure.

6. SparkChess

SparkChess is a beautifully designed premium chess webapp. If you are at all interested in playing chess, this webapp is a great way to fill up some free time. It comes with three levels of difficulty (in the free version) allowing you to practice and hone your chess playing skills.

The webapp has a paid version which unlocks certain features, however it is possible to use most of the features of the webapp without paying.

Bonus: Clock

Finally, if you need to know the current date/time, the “Clock” is an invaluable addition to your list of webapps. Aside from displaying the date/time, the app can also be used to set an alarm, start a countdown timer and a stopwatch.

Conclusion

Most of the webapps in the Chrome Web Store are merely links to HTML5 rich websites. These are fairly useless as it is easy enough to bookmark the website without actually “installing” the webapp. However, there are some webapps, such as TweetDeck, which provides incredible functionality, complete with notifications, which truly enhance the users experience in the Chrome browser.

What is your list of favorite Chrome webapps?

Services like Dropbox, iDriveSync offer a decent amount of online storage while Windows live skydrive aims to create an online hard drive with 25 GB of free online storage space.

But in reality, it’s more than the storage which you need for everyday computing jobs. If you are a heavyweight web worker, you need the following applications at your disposal:

• A Word processor – Google Docs, Docs.com and good alternatives.
• Image editor – Picnick, Aviary Image editor.
• Blogging client.
• FTP access.
• Spreadsheet and presentations.
• File sync
• Social networking – Yoono, Tweetdeck etc.
• Email, Meetings or Project management.

The list depends from one user to another. Hence, getting all of these applications under one hood is really a challenge and Glide OS is one of the comprehensive solutions to a web based Operating system

About Glide OS

Glide OS 4.0 is a free cloud computing solution, which offers a wide range of web based applications under one umbrella. Glide provides cross platform compatibility for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, Android, BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Palm Pre, Symbian and Windows Mobile Users based on Automated Device Identification and file transcoding.

The best part about Glide is that it is completely Ad free, hence you don’t have to see a lot of banner advertisements floating in the sidebars in order to use a free online operating system. You can set up multiple user accounts (maximum 6) and associate them with your GLIDE OS account, much the same way you create user accounts in windows.

The free plan of Glide OS lets you use 30 GB of online storage while the premium plans offers a hefty 250 GB of online storage for $50 a year.

Setting Up Glide OS

1. Getting a free Glide OS account is fairly easy, just go to the sign up page and enter your email address which you want to associate with your Glide OS account. While signing up, you can choose or ignore the option of getting a free email account at you@glidefree.com, as shown below:

Once you have successfully entered all the details, you will receive an email from the Glide team with a user name and password.

2. Go to the GLIDE OS login page and login to your Glide OS account with the username and password received in your email account.

3. After signing in, you will see an online desktop with a lot of applications and settings that needs to be configured. We will discuss the most important ones, step by step.

Configuring the Settings of Glide OS and Setting up User accounts

Click the Settings link in your Glide OS taskbar to open the preferences panel, where you can set up different user accounts for your friends or family members, create profiles or make your Glide OS profile public.

From the storage tab under “Settings -> General“, you will be able to see the amount of online space available in your Glide OS account. The user information tab allows you to enter your basic identification details such as Name, address, country and the email address associated with your Glide account. The “Change Password” panel allows you to change the password of your Glide account – all very basic stuff.

Next go to the “Profile settings” panel and here you can upload an image to associate with your profile and choose to make your Glide OS profile “public” or “private”

Changing your profile to “Public” does not mean that your operating system is open to be used by everyone. What this means is that other Glide users would be able to find you by searching for your username. If you want to keep everything private, ignore this step.

Adding More User Accounts

To associate more users in your Glide OS account, go to “Settings -> Users” and enter the credentials in the sign up form, as shown below:

The users will get an email invitation to join glide, after which they can login to the same GLIDE OS account using their own username and password.

You can choose different access rights for different user accounts e.g grant permission to log in or manage other users of the OS. A user account can also be chosen as a “Child” account with limited access.

Why Not Setup a New Glide Account for Other Users ?

True, you can set up a new Glide OS account for each of your family members instead of creating user accounts in the same Glide OS account. But think from the operating system perspective – do you install multiple versions of OS in the same computer for different users ?

Using a single Glide OS account will ensure that all users can access the files, folders or applications in the same Glide OS, while different Glide accounts will create a different Operating system which will be unmanageable at a later point of time. Your users won’t be able to access files, movies, photos stored in your Glide OS account, which defeats the entire purpose of using an online operating system.

This is the first part of using Glide OS – an online operating system. The next part includes a lot more functions e.g

• Syncing files from your desktop to Glide OS
• Managing files and folders
• Using Glide Applications – photo editing, word processing, email, meetings and more
• Customizing your Glide desktop

Stay tuned for the next part of using Glide OS and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Google Docs

Since Microsoft Office 2003, add-ins have been a great way to extend the functionality of Ms Office. OffiSync is one such add-in that you can use to sync your Ms Office document to Google Docs.

After you have downloaded and installed OffiSync, you will find a new toolbar in the ribbon.

Features include Open/Save from/to Google Docs, import web content such as images and templates right from within MS Office, collaborate with others in real time, letting users see each other’s edits as they work with Office files and share their final documents with others inside or outside the firewall.

OffiSync works with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and compatible with Ms Office, from 2003 to 2010.

Zoho

Zoho is another popular online office suite that people used for mass-editing and collaborating. To access Zoho from Ms Office, you can use the add-in developed by Zoho themselves.

Download and install Zoho Ms Office plugin

Similarly, after the installation, you will find a toolbar at your ribbon menu.

To initiate a upload to Zoho server, you will need to login to the Zoho account everytime you start Word/Excel.

One thing that bothers me is that to save to Zoho server, you need to save the document as a local copy on your desktop first.

Furthermore, it only supports doc and xls extension. So if your document is of the docx and xlsx format, Zoho upload won’t work.

Features of Zoho plugin

• Option to keep a local copy
• Switch between the local copy or the server copy
• Offline editing of documents/workbooks
• Allow other users to edit the document in Ms Office too

Unlike OffiSync, Zoho plugin only works with Ms Word and Excel. It does not work with Powerpoint.

Office Live

Office Live is Microsoft’s proprietary product, and is also a great competitor to Google Docs. Office Live is integrated with Skydrive, which means you get a whopping 25GB of storage space alongside the useful online office apps.

In Microsoft Office 2010 (I am not sure about previous version), it is deeply integrated with Skydrive so that you can quickly publish/sync your documents online.

To save to your Skydrive, go to File -> Save and Send -> Save for Web -> Save As.

From your Skydrive, you will be able to view your document in the browser. You can then select if you want to edit it in your Word/Excel/Power Point or in the browser.

Which online office app do you use to sync your Ms Office documents?

Really Useful Web Apps has put together a really great combination pack for bloggers. It packs together 5 different applications that every person making a living online needs. You can grow this offering with both free and paid add-on apps.

What is included with the bundled applications are:

• an account locker (password keeper)
• code editor
• project manager
• task manager and
• a dashboard to get a bird’s eye view of everything.

Dashboard

When you start the application, the dashboard will be your command center. It shows a snapshot and gives easy access to everything you typically use. This saves a ton of time jumping from your analytics site to email to calendar and so on.

With add-ons for commonly used sites such as Mailchimp, Facebook and even your Xbox friends accounts, you can easily spot what may need your attention with a quick glance.

Integrated Code Editor

The code editor is a handy thing to have on board. When you are working on a project which requires you to create or modify Javascript, CSS, HTML, or a few others, you can import or start a new file right from the Project Explorer.

Project Explorer

The Project Explorer is a spot where you keep everything you are working on in one spot. Each time you create a new project, a new folder is created. All of the files are saved to this folder.

Create projects to manage files relating to whatever you’re working on. Project Explorer keeps files organized and adds useful features like website browsing to your files & folders.

You can create a numerous file types including a database, keyword lists, tasks, CSS and many more. These files will be kept together in the same folder for easy access.

Account Locker

The account locker is a built in password keeper. When you sign into an application or site, you are given the chance to save your credentials for later logins. According to the creators, your credentials are securely encrypted to your computer and only used when you are using Really Useful Web Apps.

Task Manager

The task manager lets you create a task list within each project. I like this feature a lot, because with many other applications you have categories and tags. While those are helpful, there is a chance you will get projects mixed up or tasks crossed. With an individual project list, you can work on and check off tasks as you are doing them.

Applets

The add-ons, or applets as they are called, are a big part of what makes Really Useful Web Apps so handy. You have several to choose from including different Google tools and one from Mailchimp. Some require an API from the original app or site.

To get the different applets on your dashboard, you simply go to the Add content link on your Really Useful Web Apps dashboard. You will be brought to a page showing all of the available free applets. If you choose to, there are also other free and paid applets in the app store. Access the store from the link at the bottom of the window.

Conclusion

As more applets become available, you will be more likely to use this Really Useful Web Apps as your everyday work destination. The integrated SEO and website comparison tools deserve a look.

Here is a video from their blog talking about their website database tool.

The integrated browser is an older version of IE. I think it would be great to have Firefox, Chrome or even a newer version of IE as the browser. When you go to Google Docs, you have a header that says Google doesn’t support older versions of the browser.

Overall, the application shows a lot of promise. The packaging of very useful apps can make this a strong tool for people making a living on the web.

1. Google Docs

Google Docs is a great place to design, store, and collaborate with other people on your resume. Your resume can be exported as a PDF, RTF or a Word document for easy viewing by your potential employer. With hundreds of easily customizable templates for both resumes and cover letters, this is a easy choice.

It is a good idea to keep your resume up dated. If you set a reminder in the calendar of your choice to update your resume quarterly, you will have less work if a lay off strikes. Another benefit to updating your information often is you are less likely to omit important details about your accomplishments.

2. Ingboo

Ingboo is a service that gives you a way to aggregate search results from a huge number of sites. In the job tab; Simply Hired, Craigslist and Hotjobs are 3 of the 11 sites from which you can be notified of newly posted job opportunities. The updates can be emailed in a daily digest, as soon as new results appear or at a selectable time of the day. Ingboo also can send updates right to your Twitter account. If none of these methods to view the results are appealing to you, going to Ingboo.com to see the results is always an option too. Ingboo is working on a Blackberry app which will help you keep up with your searches while mobile.

3. RSS

If you are using an RSS feed reader for viewing new posts on blogs and websites, using it for your job search will be a piece of cake. If you are not using any kind of RSS feed reader, Google Reader and iGoogle are good options to those who have a Google/ Gmail account. If not, other services for Mac, Windows and mobile devices are available.

The way to use RSS for a job search is simple. Create a search the same way you are accustomed to on a site like Monster.com. Instead of saving the search, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click on the RSS feed button.

You will be prompted to choose what reader you want to use. Once subscribed, all of the new jobs will arrive in this feed within moments of being posted. Here is what a feed would look like on your iGoogle hompage.

4. Google Alerts

If you are looking at a specific company’s career page, the odds of them having an RSS feed with job updates are pretty slim. In this case, you can set up a Google alert for when a page changes (if a job is added). The results can be emailed to you weekly, daily or as soon as a change happens. This is done with some advanced Google search formulas like these:

if you were looking for a job at Apple

(inurl:job OR inurl:jobs) site:apple.com

if you were looking for a job anywhere in Denver, Colorado.

(inurl:job OR inurl:jobs) denver

(inurl:career OR inurl:careers)

These alerts work well because most companies post job openings on a page with [job] or [career] in the URL. By adding in a site:operator or a location, the search is narrowed and becomes more useful to you.

5. InSide Job

Usually apps on Facebook aren’t thought to be very useful in the search for a job. Granted Facebook can be a good way to network (when you aren’t distracted by Farmville or Mafia Wars); this is one application however, is making a good argument to be on Facebook.

Here is how their webpage describes the app:

Inside Job lets you contact people who have interviewed, worked, or are currently employed at the places you want to work at next!
InSide Job users can also:
-Get the inside scoop on their prospective employer before the interview;
-Network with people in similar fields; and
-Find the right people to hire as service providers.

6. A Blog

A personal blog is a good thing to keep up on whether you are working or not. Many free blogging platforms (WordPress.com, Blogger, Typepad…) give you an avenue to let people and potential employers get to know you. You can choose to display work accomplishments, personal stories, your thought on your industry news or anything you would like others to know about you.

The more positive information is on the web about you when a client or potential employer is looking you up on the web, the better. Job hunting is a full time job. You need to market yourself and control your online profile/ information in a way no other generation has before.

Leave any job searching tips and tools in the comments below.

Image credit bjmccray