Back from the dead (and 3 nifty tools)

I know, I know. If I’m not going to post regularly, I might as well shut this thing down, right? Yeah, well, that’s exactly what I did several months ago.

Convinced that blogging, in most cases, could be the biggest waste of time since Solitaire came standard on PCs (to borrow an illustration from Rob Eagar of WildFire Marketing), I’d decided to let this blog die a slow death. Eagar and my friend Sue Swayze pose strong arguments on the merits of blogging (you can read about those rants here).

But you know what? I miss sharing thoughts, lessons and updates with all of you between issues of Christian Professional — even if Ben McCann, one of the biggest fans of online media I know, is the only one who’ll read it. Plus, I need something to do with the growing file on my desktop I’ve labeled “Bloggables:” a collection of online tools, videos, ideas and other groovy stuff I want to tell someone about.

So to kickstart this sucker, here are three nifty services I wrote about in the latest issue of Christian Professional (you’ll also find them, along with a slew of other tools, in our ToolBox):

Jott
Trying to take notes while driving or hoping you won’t forget an idea or to-do-item that popped in your head in the middle of traffic? With Jott, a free service, you call a toll-free number, dictate your thought or to-do item, and hang up. Jott then converts your voice message to text and sends you an e-mail. [jott.com]

DumbFiles
You no longer have to spend time and money burning CDs when files are too large to be e-mailed to clients, vendors, or your home computer. Dumbfiles allows you to upload large files, then provides a link for you (or the intended recipient) to download them instantly. It’s a fast, no-cost alternative for sharing “bulky” files like graphics, audio and more. [dumbfiles.com]

WhoLinksToMe
Curious about your Web popularity? WhoLinksToMe lets you know how many (and which) Web sites currently link to yours. [wholinkstome.com]