Create Forms easily with Google Docs

Now you can create forms easily with Google Docs.
In few clicks you’ll have your form up !
The Benefits :

• You’ll be able to send forms online by e-mail which is a great advantage for a customer service departement for example.
• You can customize the form by choosing the input types (text, paragraph, multiple choices, scale, checkboxes and list).
• You can mark a question as “Required Question” to get the info you need from the user.
• You’ll have a URL (or “link”) for the form so that you’ll be able to have access to it from anywhere on the web.

Google Docs
(No need to mention that the user needs to have a Google Account)

A quick look on Workrave

Workrave is a program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). It will alert the user to take a micro-pause, a rest break and prevent him from using the PC more than the daily limit set. During the micro-pauses, the user will be able to take a snack, walk a little bit … and rest eventually!
During the rest break which is takes normally around 10 minutes, the user will have a physical exercise session. In this session, the user will have exercices for the eyes, shoulders, arms …etc.
This program is free and available for Microsoft Windows and for Linux. It provides also a status information in the taskbar,  sound alerts, along with statistics. Workrave will freeze your window when the time for a micro-pause or a rest break come. You won’t be able to shut it down, not even lauching any other application, the only way to bring it down is to close the process in Microsoft Windows (Ctrl + Alt + Del  > End Process). Yep, you might get angry about this new work process, but think twice, you’ll find you’re productivity raising up again. You can also postpone a micro-pause or a rest break according to the number of attemps set, giving you some time to finish up your work or save any document.
There’s an alternative software called Workpace. It supports the same functions except the applet that provide you the alerts in the taskbar. Well, it’s a commercial software (39$) and I haven’t personaly used this product but I still recommend Workrave as a free/open-source software.
Download Link :
Workrave : http://www.workrave.org/

Workpace : http://www.workpace.com/

Need more organisation in your office ??

These will be your new office applications ! A set of “to do’s”, calendars, address book … and more over websites that manage your bank accounts, your meetings …

1- Task Manager and “To Do” :

One of the best online task manager is “Remember The Milk“. It lets you share your tasks and provide access to them through Google Calendar, iGoogle and even through your mobile, PDA or iPhone. You won’t forget anymore what you have to do during the day now that you can set e-mail reminders with your Gmail account.

2- Office Suite :

There’s 2 great office suites online : Google Docs and Zoho. With Google Docs you can easily create a document, a spreadsheet or a presentation. It provides also an upload feature, and moreover an easy-to-use user interface. Document sharing gets even better. In fact, you can design a “Collaborators group” and a “Viewer group”, and you can share your files by sending e-mails (not necessarily a Gmail user !).
The lack comes when you need a database application.
This problem should have been solved through 2008 (as mentioned in the post).

Now let’s talk about Zoho : A full free office suite !!
You’ve got all the application you need : a document writer,a spreadsheet tool, a presentation tool,a database creator,a note taker,a online planner,a web conferencing tool,a chatting application,a wiki encyclopedia, an inventory service, a marketing and sales planner … and much more !
The personal use of this online office suite is completely free and it’s great to check this out. Now when it comes to business use with many accounts, you can expect a fee around 12$/month.
You can use Skype to call or send notifiers for yours collaborators when creating a meeting. Also Zoho provide a great support service and you can access your account through your iPhone and Facebook account.

And the best thing ever is that it provides a support with Microsoft’s Office applications and with its known document formats.

3- Calendar :

As mentioned above, you can use Zoho Planner, or even Google Calendar to create to do’s lists, track your notes, or set e-mail reminders.
As a desktop calendar, I would choose Rainlendar. It’s a free open source desktop organiser docked on your window (like a widget). You can adjust his opacity and change the skin. Events and to do’s list can be easily set with reminders and visual icons to skim your tasks. You can import and export through the iCalendar format (for MAC users), and even backup, restore or print your data.

4- Bookmark organisation :

If you have a lot of pages saved on your PC and you want to reorganize them you’ve got 2 great solutions :

First, if you have Mozilla Firefox installed on your PC, you can use this powerful add-on named Foxmarks.
You may say that Firefox have already a bookmark organizer, but Foxmarks let you share your bookmarks between your PCs or even through the web by accessing your account at MyFoxmarks.
You can also use Google Notebook and download its extension here.

Second, for the people who use a lot of offline pages, I would suggest :
Evernote, which lets you clip whatever you want on a page (or even the page itself) and search for them later on with label support.
Local Web Archive

5- Address Book :

I’ve been searching for a great address book synchronizing application and I’ve found Plaxo, an online application. You can easily share everything through its large support for social bookmarking websites (like Digg, Del.icio.us, Webshots, Flickr …) and other great websites like YouTube, Last.FM …

Plaxo Mobile lets you share your address book with your PDA, your mobile phone (if you have Windows Mobile) or even your iPhone. Plaxo Toolbars can be downloaded and easily installed in Mozilla Thunderbird, MS Outlook or MS Outlook Express.

6- Financial Organization :

Most of us spend money online during the month and finish the month without a penny !!
So now with these 2 online money management websites (Mint and Geezeo) you could expect to invest more smartly you money !
I’ve tried both of them, but Geezeo’s user interface was more appealing to me, considering the fact that you can assign goals, check your visual budget, create groups with your friends, manage your bank accounts …
You can upload your OFX (MS Money) Data.

7- Now comes some great apps !

Flashnote, indispensable one ! It lets you write notes within a shortcut key and then disappear in the taskbar of your window. You can also create subnotes and one of its best feature is autosaving while you write.
Stickies lets you put notes on your desktop (like a widget) and got some great features :

• Many colors for your notes
• Reminders
• Icons
• Recurrence
• To Do’s and Events
• Categories …

Hob Comment let you write comments on a “File/Folder Comments” in Windows details view, and a right-click “Add Comment” extension in Windows Explorer.

You want to plan something ??

You want to plan an event, invite your friends or even manage your contacts ?
Running an association, an NGO or a small enterprise, you will need this program to manage your membership database, to get in touch with the members, to plan events …

Wild Apricot :

For 25$ per month (less than 1$ per day), as an NGO, you can accelerate your activity by contacting more people in few clicks, creating events frequently.
Features :
- Membership database
- Member-facing website customization
- Online event registration
- Donation and payments handler
- Automated membership renewal
- E-mail sender
… and much more