Web 2.0

11 Blogging Years. 11 Blogging Lessons. 11 Blogging Tips.

by MAHESH MOHAN on August 13, 2018

Note: This blog post is an updated version of 7 Blogging Years. 7 Blogging Lessons. 7 Blogging Tips. (published 4 years and 100 blog posts ago).

Yes, that’s right! It’s the 11th Blogoversary of Minterest. I started Minterest (minterest.com) as a personal finance blog in 2006, and later in August 2007, I started blogging about “Money, Internet, Investing” (yes, that was the first tagline of Minterest and now it’s — tech. marketing. mashups.).

To be honest it was literally “Just another WordPress site” and I was simply rehashing topics that were of “My interest“. But there was one thing… I was learning. And the transition from Blogger.com to WordPress.org is simply amazing.

Don’t Miss: Blogger vs. WordPress: The Ultimate Comparison With Pros & Cons

I started creating blogs on Blogger.com back in 2004 and was treating it like a simple publishing tool. I guess the reason why it didn’t impress or motivate me much was its inability to customize things the way I wanted.

When I tried WordPress I liked almost all of its aspects and found out that I liked coding as well. Oh yeah, I’m a software engineer by education but it is not the coding that inspired me — it’s the magic in “technology”. Thanks to Microsoft.

Coming back…

I’m going to feature here 11 blogging lessons and tips that I have… learned, realized, or experienced in one way or the other over the past many, many years.

FreelanceMyWay Review: A Simple Freelance Marketplace To Hire & Find Jobs

by MAHESH MOHAN on May 28, 2018

FreelanceMyWay Review

Ever tried hiring a freelance writer? I have, and it’s tough. Really tough. And it’s tougher if you don’t know how to screen the writers or if you don’t know the industry well. For instance, I have recently started a trip planning company with my besties and finding a freelance writer for travel content was the biggest challenge in the whole process. The reason? I’m not that much of a traveller and I don’t follow the travel industry.

However, I do know good content when I see it — no matter what topic it is. So I had to try several freelance writers before finding one that matched my requirements and budget. It was actually the first time I worked with several freelance writers for a single project. It took a lot of time but in the end, I learned to hire.

That said, it’s not difficult to hire a freelancer (for any project) if you don’t care about the budget. If that’s the case, all you need to do is find the best in the industry and hire them. They will get your job done without much input from your end because they know what they are doing. On the flip side, when your budget is limited, it’s difficult to find someone who matches your requirement plus budget.

I have recently come across a new marketplace —FreelanceMyWay — that features only hand-picked freelancers. And from there, I found my latest freelance writer. [Read more…] about FreelanceMyWay Review: A Simple Freelance Marketplace To Hire & Find Jobs

Over 201 Google Products & Services You Probably Don’t Know

by MAHESH MOHAN on May 7, 2018

First Published: July 24, 2009; Last Updated: Monday, May 7, 2018.

Google may be a synonym for search, but it’s not restricted to that feature alone. If you are not a tech-savvy person then chances are that you are unaware about majority of Google’s products and services.

Anyway, how many Google products and services do you use? The common answers will be Gmail, Google+, Drive, Docs, or an Image Search. But Google is well beyond that.

Over 2.2 billion Google users. Over 1 billion YouTube users. Over 1 billion Gmail users. Over 1 billion Chrome users. Over 1 billion Maps users. Over 2 billion Android users. Over 1 billion Google Play Store users. That’s the stats of Google.

Don’t Miss: Over 61 Microsoft Products, Services, & Apps You Probably Don’t Know

Todoist vs. Wunderlist vs. Any.do: The Ultimate Comparison Of The Best To-do List Apps With Pros & Cons

by MAHESH MOHAN on March 18, 2018

Wunderlist vs. Any.do vs. Todoist

There are several to-do list apps on the web that helps you to get things done. However, the problem is finding the perfect task manager because there are so so many of them — both free and paid.

I have tried a bunch of them over the past several years and can definitely say that there is no such thing as a perfect to-do app. It’s all about your requirements as all of them offers a variety of features. It also means that if you are looking for a task manager with a particular feature then chances are it already exists.

Today, I have cherry-picked three of the best to-do apps, namely Todoist, Wunderlist, and Any.do, that are intuitive, feature-rich, powerful, and massively popular. And I have limited the list to just “3” as I believe they are the best of the best and is probably the only to-do list apps you’ll ever need to get things done.

Don’t Miss: The Fantastic Ten Tools (Free) To Skyrocket Your Productivity

Note: I have shortlisted, reviewed, and compared the free plans of Todoist, Wunderlist, and Any.do based on the criteria that I have set personally. But I believe it’s comprehensive enough and have highlighted almost all the aspects of the aforementioned apps (citing the web as well as the iOS platforms).

Todoist vs. Wunderlist vs. Any.do: Quick Comparison

Todoist

Platforms:
- Desktop: Web, Windows, macOS, Chromebook
- Mobile: iOS (iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch), Android (Phone, Tablet, Wear), Windows Mobile, Apple Watch
- Add-ons: Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Outlook, Gmail
Third-party Integrations: IFTTT, Zapier, Google Calendar, Slack, Alexa, Google Assistant, Gmail, Dropbox, and a lot more.
Free Plan Features: Sub-tasks, Sub-projects, Task Priorities (4 levels), Due Dates, Recurring Tasks, Collaborate, Keyboard Shortcuts, 10 Themes
Premium Plan Features: Labels, Filters, Comments, Attachments (up to 20 MB per file), Voice Recording, Reminders (Email, Push, SMS), Location-based Alerts, Project Templates, Automatic Backups, Calendar Feed, Add Tasks via Email
Price: Free / Premium ($28.99/year)
Visit: Todoist
Download:
- Desktop: Windows | Mac OS X | Chromebook
- Mobile: iOS | Android | Windows Mobile
- Browser Add-ons: Google Chrome | Firefox | Safari

AdBlock vs. Adblock Plus: The Ultimate Comparison With Pros & Cons

by MAHESH MOHAN on March 18, 2018

AdBlock vs Adblock Plus

It’s no secret that ad blocking extensions like AdBlock, Adblock Plus, and AdBlock Pro are becoming increasingly popular today with over 200 million active users and it’s costing publishers billions of dollars.

In fact, as I write this blog post, both AdBlock and Adblock Plus have over 50 million users. I was actually not using an adblocker until few months ago as I rarely click ads. So, I argued with myself why should I install an adblocker when it doesn’t make any difference.

However, I tried AdBlock few months back — when YouTube ads became increasingly annoying — and immediately realized that it’s a must-have for me. The only thing is… it’s NOT the extension’s ad blocking capability that I find interesting. But it’s something else — which I will explain below.

Adblock & Adblock Plus: A Brief History

As you probably know, the two most popular ad blockers for Google Chrome are AdBlock and Adblock Plus. What’s the difference? Well, it sounds similar but they are two different extensions developed independently.

Apparently, AdBlock was inspired by Adblock Plus itself when it was just a Firefox only add-on. Now ‘AdBlock Plus’ is also available for Google Chrome, Android, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer, etc. and ‘AdBlock’ is available for Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, and iOS.

Adblock Plus is the most popular Firefox add-on with over 21 million users (it’s got the first-mover advantage on Mozilla Firefox) and AdBlock is the most popular Chrome extension (it’s got the first-mover advantage on Google Chrome).

By the way, both AdBlock and Adblock Plus claims that it’s the most popular ad blocker and both have over 40 million users. However, AdBlock has almost 2x more ratings than Adblock Plus on Chrome Web Store, so I guess it’s safe to assume that it’s the most popular ad blocker on Google Chrome. [Read more…] about AdBlock vs. Adblock Plus: The Ultimate Comparison With Pros & Cons

How To Create Custom Search Engines In Google Chrome To Boost Productivity

by MAHESH MOHAN on March 15, 2018

Google Chrome’s Omnibox (or the address bar) is not something new to you and me.It allows us to navigate to a webpage or search the web from the address bar. And yeah, it even acts as a search engine to browse your own search and Chrome browsing history.

But did you know that it’s much more than just an address bar? That it can easily boost your productivity by helping you create and add your own custom search engines?

If you’re a Web 2.0 fanatic then I’m pretty sure that you often use the search engines by the popular (and biggest) web 2.0 sites like Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube, etc. But the problem is, every time you want to use its search feature, you have to actually visit those websites and then use its search function.

Of course, Google Chrome automatically adds all those custom search engines when you visit those websites (even if you don’t want to). That is, when you visit Amazon.com and uses its search engine, Chrome automatically adds a custom Amazon search to its list of search engines.

Like this:

Google Chrome Custom Search Engines (Auto Generated)

It’s a nice feature, right? Well, not necessarily. The problem arises when you need tailored search results and a custom shortcut key (or known as the keyword in Google Chrome’s custom search engines).

3 Best Of The Best Remote Desktop Access Software That Are Free

by MAHESH MOHAN on March 14, 2018

The Best Remote Desktop Access Software

There was a time when I (and probably you) struggled with Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop software on a Windows PC to remotely access someone else’s computer. It was a terrible experience and never worked for me as it involved quite a few network settings and protocols — which I still don’t understand much.

And there were few free and premium remote desktop connection managers like LogMeIn, GoToMyPC, etc. at that time. But I was least interested in trying those remote desktop connection managers as it was of no use to me.

Then, with the advent of the smartphone era, I tried remote desktop apps for mobile like Splashtop, PocketCloud, LogMeIn, Join.me, and TeamViewer, etc. and almost all of them failed to impress me. It was simply not the kind of productivity apps that I wanted or even care about.

My impression completely changed when Microsoft and Google introduced their own Remote Desktop apps for web and mobile a few years back. The good thing is… both works perfect and is free without any restriction.

So here is a quick review (plus comparison) of the 3 (and only 3) best remote desktop access software that are free.

1. Chrome Remote Desktop

Chrome Remote Desktop is a Google Chrome app that lets you access all your computer(s) from another computer or from your mobile device(s). It can be used for a variety of purposes like to access your own computer from a remote location or to provide (or get) remote support or to securely access your files or software applications on your computer from a mobile device, and so on.

What I really like about Chrome Remote Desktop is that it’s linked to your Google account. So there’s no such thing as an extra user id or special codes to access your computer from another device of yours. And the installation and setup is pretty simple. All you need to do is install the Chrome Remote Desktop app on all your devices (computers, tablets, mobiles) and you’re good to go. [Read more…] about 3 Best Of The Best Remote Desktop Access Software That Are Free