Category:

Web Apps

New and Improved Skype is Rolling Out to Desktops Today

Earlier this year, Skype launched a new version of its mobile app, adding options to share media and react to conversations via emoji, likening it to less archaic communication services such as Messenger, Snapchat and Slack. After months of receiving feedback from mobile users, Skype is now ready to roll out a slightly different version to desktops including Mac, Linux, Windows 7 and 8 as well as Windows 10 (although Windows 10 users, such as myself, will have to wait for the November update to get the new version).

The new and improved Skype for desktop will allow users to personalize the theme, color code conversations so that each participant’s contribution appears in shades of blue, pink or orange; and users will be able to ‘react’ to messages using a range of emoji, much like in Facebook’s Messenger. A fun and youthful new function will also allow users to react in much the same way during video calls – the selected emoji will fill the recipient’s screen temporarily. Much of Skype’s icons are now more colorful, and the whole application looks much less clinical than the old one did, which suggests that Skype is targeting younger, more casual users and probably not focusing so much on professionals or businesses who use the service.

With the new Skype, you’ll be able to arrange your contacts any way you choose (instead of having them listed alphabetically all in one long list, you could group them by family members, friends, etc) and each chat will display a media gallery that will make it easier to access content that was shared in the chat. You’ll also be able to tag someone using the @ sign. Another useful feature is that Skype has added bots to make it easier to perform a variety of tasks from right inside the app, such as buy tickets, get the latest news updates and send money, to name a few.

All in all, it looks like the new version of Skype will be appealing and probably more enjoyable to use than the old version, and if you’ve been using Skype for a while, like I have, you’ll probably be happy to learn that you will once again be able to post status updates in the header – why Skype did away with that a while back, I have no clue, but I’m sure it’s back by popular demand. If you don’t already have Skype installed, you can do so here.

Nov 2, 2017 0 comment

Other Social Media Web Apps

Facebook Original Programming Makes Sense

written by Don Eminizer

Facebook has long been one of the more popular social media sites, where friends and families can connect, communicate and share pictures. Total strangers become friends and random kitten and cooking videos come together to offer us a diverse and interesting feed, one many of us can lose ourselves in for hours at a time. In April of last year, Facebook’s creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the social media platform’s new “live” feature was being rolled out to every user. In his introduction of the new feature, Zuckerberg said: “When you interact live, you feel connected in a more personal way. This is a big shift in how we communicate, and it’s going to create new opportunities for people to come together.”

And he was right. It is expected that regular and live videos across Facebook will collectively reach 64 billion views a day by next month. And why not? Like Zuckerberg said, it builds a sense of community to know that we are all watching live action and are able to comment and read other viewer’s reactions in real time. So it only makes sense that Facebook’s next step is to provide its users with original programming that will include, among other things, scripted shows. So we’d basically be watching television on Facebook.

This is, really, a logical step for the social media giant. Other companies such as Netflix have greatly expanded their followings when they turned to original, exclusive programming. Instead of only being able to watch old shows and movies, users now have access to new content, and shows like Orange is the New Black, that run for more than a season, have proven very popular. But that’s what Netflix does: it provides viewers with shows and movies. Will this feature work for Facebook? Short videos work on this platform because they’re short. As much time as I spend on Facebook, I spend it in different ways. Very rarely will I watch a video (live or otherwise) for more than a few minutes before moving on to replying to comments, reading posts and poking the odd friend (yes, poking people is still an option, and I still use it).

I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. Like I said, it’s a logical move, but whether it’s also a smart one remains to be seen.

Jul 14, 2017 1 comment

Social Media Web Apps

Facebook is Working On a New Feature That Could Protect Your Profile Picture From Abuse

written by Don Eminizer

A few months ago, some questionable individual saved my wife’s profile picture (which happened to be a picture of our 5 year old son) and used it to create a new account using her name. He (or she) went on to send friend requests to everyone on her friends list. I got one, as did all of her friends, and thanks to the fact that I knew I was already friends with her and a score of her Facebook friends sending her messages about being hacked, we were quickly able to report the fake page to Facebook and get it taken down. Facebook actually has a process for reporting an account for impersonation, so this obviously wasn’t an isolated incident.

So this new feature Facebook is currently testing is of particular importance to me. Facebook is working on three specific aspects for their Profile Picture Guard:

Preventing any other Facebook user to save or download your profile picture and from sharing it with anyone else
Preventing any other Facebook user to tag other users in your profile picture
And (for the Facebook Android app only, for now) – preventing any other Facebook user to take a screenshot of your profile picture

The new feature was created following some research done in India, which concluded that some people chose not to upload profile pictures because they were concerned about what may be done to or with them. The feature is currently only being deployed in India, and research shows that hackers or ne’er do wells are 75 percent less likely to mess with a profile picture that is protected by the Profile Picture Guard option. How do they know it is? A blue border and shield appears around the profile picture. It clearly lets everyone know the picture is protected with a stylish and attractive design. Win win.

The feature has only been released to a select group of Facebook users and will initially be rolled out in India, but the company hopes to be able to make it available in other countries soon. I know I’ll rest easier when my wife can use it to prevent our son’s picture to be mishandled by individuals with bad intentions. It would be bad enough if it was her picture being used, but the idea that my innocent, not even yet on Facebook son’s picture is being used for bad deeds just makes my blood boil. You can hear more about Profile Picture Guard here.

Jun 22, 2017 0 comment

Android iPad iPhone Mobile Apps Services Social Media Web Apps

People in Pittsburgh Can Report Bad Smells Via App

written by Don Eminizer

CREATE Lab (which stands for Community Robotics Education And Technology Empowerment) came up with the app, Smell PGH, as a way to help Pittsburgh’s residents to help improve the quality of the air they breathe. Pittsburgh and surrounding areas have the 8th worse air quality in the United States by the American Lung Association, mainly because of the pollution caused by industrial plants and wood smoke. Residents of the area have a much higher chance of developing cancer. As CREATE Lab puts it, “If you smell it, you breathe it”. So, in an effort to make the air less stinky and more healthy, the company came up with Smell PGH.

It really is as simple as it sounds. If you’re walking around Pittsburgh and smell a foul odor, all you need to do is open the app, mark your location, wind direction and rate the stench on a scale of 1 (Just fine!) to 5 (About as bad as it gets!). The data is uploaded, and you can be on your way to wherever you were heading, hopefully a location with cleaner (and better smelling) oxygen. The app also lets you see other areas and smells that were reported by other people using the map, so you know to avoid areas with a questionable odor – and you’ll know which areas are in the green as opposed to the angry purple the 5 rating lights up on the map.

More importantly though, every report of ‘bad air’ is sent directly to the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), “…so they can better monitor and act on these incidents of bad smelling air.” The app is free for iOS and Android devices. Smell PGH is currently only available for the general Pittsburgh area, but that isn’t to say that it couldn’t be tweaked to be supported in other cities.

Pittsburghese certainly seem to be enjoying the app, as its 1,300 users have reported a combined 4,300 foul smells in and around the city. And that’s great, because the ACHD needs the help of the community to collect the data it needs to work on making Pittsburgh less smelly and more lung-friendly. And the reviews are raving – it’s obvious that residents of Pittsburgh are more than happy to do their part to help clean up the air they breathe.

Jun 22, 2017 0 comment

Reviews Technology Web Apps

Why Online Website Building Tools Are Helpful: A Look at ucraft

written by Deborah Anderson

With so much emphasis on the digital, it is clear that if someone has a business, they need a website. That said, one must consider quite a few things when going down the path of website creation. Many people and business owners have already made those decisions. However, that doesn’t mean that a person shouldn’t take a look at options that are available. This is especially the case if a website revamping is in order in the future.

Online Website Builder

Among the available options, is the online website builder. A website builder is a great tool that can help small business owners create their own website. However, like most things in life, there are both positives and negatives to using a tool like this.

Website Design

Content Management System (CMS)

Website builders usually follow a content management system principle. This means that there is a definite distinction between the content and design of the website. Before making the decision to use a website builder, it is a good idea to take a look at the resources available, which in this case include offline and online web creation tools.

Actually, the discussion of a true CMS goes beyond the scope of this article and originally, what we consider a CMS was not really the case. However, we are not here to quibble over definitions and website design has come a long way in the past few years. It is a combination of CMS (which it needs to be, in this fast-paced digital world!) and design. Fortunately, the modern website builder tools help to integrate those two aspects so that you don’t have to worry about it.

Sidebar: Understanding Offline vs. Online Website Creation

As the name suggests, an online website builder becomes usable when an active online connection is in place. One major advantage is that it usually includes easy functionality. Another advantage over the offline is that it is available wherever there is an internet connection. It is also possible that it is usable on a myriad of devices that access the internet.

Since most of the platforms do not require skills in coding, users are able to design their website quickly. They can design in a usable way, instead of trying to think like a programmer. (That work has already been done for them!)

Although an online builder has a multitude of benefits, offline website creation should still be a possibility. The group of individuals who do well with the offline choices are generally those such as the experienced programmer.

What is an offline builder? Ok, to answer that question, let’s use an example of a particular popular software. Well, at the least, it was very popular a few years ago (that should give you an idea about the growth of popularity of online tools, as well). The software is Dreamweaver, by Adobe, which used to be available as a full-fledged offline software program. It is now available as a subscription, from the Adobe Creative Cloud. To go into an explanation of what it does and how cool it is beyond the scope of this article, but suffice it to say, it was/is an awesome tool for programmers and even those who simply understood how to code in HTML.

Making the Final Decision

There are a few things to consider when making a final decision. First, let’s talk about why choosing an online website builder is likely a better choice, overall, than a software choice. Hey, we are not here to tell you what to do, but we are distilling out the points that were discussed in the above section, to demonstrate what is left. In other words, those aspects that likely affect your final decision, which is, of course, YOUR final decision (not ours).

Cost Effectiveness

In comparing the two examples that we are using for this article, website builders are more cost effective than the standalone software application. The website builder, ucraft, is $8/month. The online Adobe Creative Cloud Dreamweaver application (not completely offline) is $19.99/month.

Ease of Use (vs. Need for Coding Skills)

As mentioned above, online creators do not require exceptional coding skills. Coding skills help, but are not generally required. This allows the online website builder tools to be a bit easier, especially for the novices and those new to the web (newbies). In comparison, coding skills (and exceptional coding skills) are generally helpful for software applications like the Dreamweaver software (generally offline, but available via the cloud).

Monitoring (Previewing) Changes

Users can also easily monitor any changes made to the site, right away, after (or as) the changes are made. In comparison, truly offline software applications present a bit of an issue in this area. At the least, there is either a less-than-exact preview of the site, or more steps to acquire the same preview. Disclaimer: This is a comparison to the offline Dreamweaver software application. Creative Cloud version of Dreamweaver may have some desirable online features (beyond the scope of this article).

That said, it still stands that the online website builder/creator tools over very acceptable preview options. This is often called WYSIWYG (“What You See is What You Get”). This is desirable. And, it is available to you in most website builders.

Detective Work

Next Step: A Little Detective Work

Ok, we have spent some time differentiating between online and offline (even if accessible via the internet) tools. Even if you have chosen to move forward with the online website builder, you still need to evaluate the options. Those options vary between website builders. This is true regardless of the fact that they all fit in the category of “online website builders.”

This is another way of saying that you might be wondering what to look for in a website builder. Before jumping in with both feet, it’s a good idea to do some detective work. This means finding a program that feels right. For example, ucraft (more on ucraft, below) offers templates customized to your specifications.

Geared towards both newbies and advanced users, the skill sets of all business owners are covered, in most website builders. They are able to create many different types of pages. Of course, that still requires that detective work we mentioned, to ensure that the tool that you have chosen provides what you need, when it comes to matching your skill set, and that of your team.

Look for a Trial Period (While Continuing to Match Your Skill Set)

Some website builders offer a trial period, to allow you the opportunity to do the detective work. Again, using ucraft as our example, they offer a 14-day trial period. This allows users the ability to explore everything the tool has to offer. Taking time to explore the ins and outs of each website builder can help to ward off problems down the road. This is especially the case if someone is just starting out on that road. Easy functionality should sit high on the list of must-haves when deciding which website builder to choose.

Another feature to look for is a builder that offers several different themes and color scheme templates. If the interface seems complicated from the start, it is probably better to continue searching for another website builder. You want a builder that is navigated in a straightforward, easy-to-follow manner that suits your skill set. So, again, we have options, navigation, and a good fit for your skill set.

Final Words on the Selection Process

Ultimately, whether ones uses a website creator or not comes down to what you are looking to accomplish. Fortunately, creating a website has never been easier. Thanks to all of the builders online, creating a solid website is only a click away.

ucraft

A Deeper Look into ucraft

Using our process from above, let’s list the options and features that we need (or want) in an online website builder. First, let’s start with the features that ucraft lists, right on their website:

“professionally design templates;
focus on user experience;
customizable to your needs;
absolutely no coding;
responsive design;
free subdomain and hosting;
unlimited pages;
SEO [search engine optimization] app;
No ucraft brand[ing on your pages];
24/7 support;”
free hosting on Google Cloud.

These features are all listed on the same page that is linked above, for ucraft.

Discussion About the ucraft Features

Now, as you can see, many of these listed items are actually on your list for your detective work. That means that that work has been done for you! Makes it a bit simpler, eh?

There are also several additional items on the list that we did not cover explicitly, but which are definitely helpful. The hosting and the 24/7 support are two of those. When was the last time you were working on something in the middle of the night and needed help? Well, in this case, ucraft has you covered! Also, if you are in another country, different time zone, ucraft has you covered with the 24/7 support.

And, we didn’t even have a discussion about SEO, but ucraft has you covered on that one. Confused by SEO? Fortunately, ucraft has the SEO app built into the website builder. The step-by-step process provides what you need for your SEO-ready site.

Many times website builders (especially the free ones) require their branding to appear on the website, as advertising for their own website. That actually makes sense if you are not paying anything for the builder, but fortunately, you will not have that with ucraft. It is all about you, in this case.

Great place to leave it, eh? Now, go ahead and move forward on your dreams and goals and succeed. You have the tool(s) that will help you do just that!

Oct 11, 2016 0 comment

Mobile Apps Web Apps

Run Your Online Meetings From Your Fav Mobile Gadget

written by GrowMap

When you’re on the road, the solutions that run your online meetings have to play nice with your mobile devices. That includes being able to not just attend, but also run meetings. Unfortunately, many meeting solutions are not mobile responsive and some of those that are only allow attending – not managing.

Three free solutions are Skype, Facetime and Google Hangouts. Facetime only works with Apple iOS based devices such as iPhones and iPads. Not all of your attendees would be able to use Facetime.

Both Skype and Google Hangouts can be accessed from mobile devices, laptops and desktops. Both offer apps for smart phones. But attendees have to create an account and login.

If you plan to do presentations regularly, you may want to choose a solution that does not require downloading an app or creating an account. For example, ClickMeeting.com allows you to run a meeting from any device including your type of tablet, smart phone or blackberry. They have an app center to integrate your meetings with social networks and your calendar.

Most importantly, meetings can be run from your mobile device – not only attended on one. To see how easy it is to run a meeting from a smartphone, this video shows how it is done from an Android device:

Video Highlights:

Login
Start or prepare a meeting
Invite attendees and / or presenters
Live video
Share files and videos

Why Use an App For Online Meetings?

Sure, you could just phone people. But designing a meeting place has many advantages – especially if you do a lot of similar meetings such as presentations to prospective clients, employee meetings, or training.

Brand your meeting room with your company logo and colors. Add an agenda to keep meetings on track. Create an attractive waiting room to encourage attendees to log in early.

Video Highlights:

Host meeting
Prepare in advance if desired
Customize branding and layout
Add an agenda
Open registration if you wish so others may spread the word and join
Personalize your room: header, logo, color scheme, layout, change skins
Invite participants and presenters

Most important is that many popular meeting solutions do not support running a meeting from a mobile device. Some haven’t even made it possible to attend meetings without bringing up a laptop or desktop. Even if you plan to run all your meetings from your office, life has a way of surprising you.

By choosing wisely, even if you get caught away from the office you can still run your regular meetings. Getting stuck in traffic or an airport is such a common occurrence.

Never pass up a last minute surprise opportunity to meet with a valuable potential client. Project just the image to close that sale by keeping your meeting solution in your pocket or purse.

Available Apps

Integrate your email and calendar with your meeting apps. Plug in your favorite browser. Add media from YouTube, Adobe, Flickr, Apple iWorks and Microsoft Office. Automatically share your upcoming meetings to Twitter. You can even create a learning platform to organize your meeting presentations using Moodle.

Run your meetings from anywhere using your iPhone, iPad, Android or Blackberry. Stream audio and video or use a whiteboard. Enable text chat to answer questions. And record it all to re-use or for your attendees to replay at their convenience.

Whether you decide to use Skype, Facetime, Google Hangouts, Clickmeeting or something else, be sure to run some test meetings to see what works and learn to use the advanced functions.

You’re mobile, so all of your business apps must be, too. Don’t assume they are. Verify with the vendor which devices they support. And then test to make sure they actually work. Waiting until the actual meeting could leave you embarrassed!

Featured image via: shutterstock.com

Apr 3, 2015 0 comment

Web Apps

10 WordPress E-commerce Themes and Plugins

written by Jared Bovard

With the advent of social media and blogging being used as a promotional tool, many e-commerce merchants want to integrate their online store with their blog sites and/or utilize the WordPress software they’re most familiar with to design and run their online store.

The following are five plugins and five themes that allow merchants to use WordPress to set up and manage a wordpress ecommerce store.

5 WordPress E-commerce Plugins

Here are five plugins that allow a merchant to add e-commerce store functionality to their existing themes. These offer a convenient way to convert a site without a complete redesign.

1. WP E-commerce

WP E-commerce is an e-commerce store plugin that works with many standard WordPress themes. It supports popular payment methods such as PayPal and Google Checkout along with more traditional forms such as recording checks and money orders. Features such as multi-tier pricing, cross-sells, and quantity discounts are also included along with many other features necessary for selling products online.

Price: Free | Learn more.

2. WooCommerce

The WooCommerce plugin can integrate with standard WordPress themes, or easily go with one of Woothemes’ themes. It features a robust set of reporting tools, flexible tax calculations, integrations with popular payment methods such as PayPal and Google, and many order management and inventory management features.

Price: Free (with premium extensions available) | Learn more.

3. Jigoshop

Jigoshop features many basic e-commerce features, such as order and inventory management and goes further by offering even more integrations and features through additional, purchasable extensions.

Price: Free (with premium extensions available) | Learn more.

4. Cart66

Cart66 has both free and premium versions. The free version has basic order management features, with the premium versions adding essential functions such as inventory tracking, live shipping rates, and sales reports.

Price: Free – $299 | Learn more.

5. Shopp

Shopp is a full-featured shopping cart that includes many order and inventory management features along with SEO features, a WordPress integration, and integrations with popular payment gateways.

Price: $55 – $299 | Learn more.

5 WordPress E-commerce Themes

The following are five themes designed specifically for e-commerce sites to make it easier to have an online store and blog on the same site. Some of these themes require one of the plugins listed above for full functionality.

1. Lorem & Ipsum

Lorem And Ipsum WordPress E-commerce Theme Lorem & Ipsum is one of the newest e-commerce themes available through the ThemeForest.net marketplace. It offers unlimited color customization to make the theme fit with your existing brand, and you can choose from multiple slider options depending on how you want to feature your products. This is a WooCommerce theme, so you’ll need that plugin to take full advantage of the e-commerce features.

Price: $55 | Learn more.

2. BLANCO

Blanco WordPress E-commerce Theme BLANCO is a clean and elegant WordPress e-commerce theme. It offers compatibility with two different e-commerce plugins including the WooCommerce plugin and the WP E-commerce plugin from GetShopped.org. The great thing about a simple, clean e-commerce theme like this is that all of your visual emphasis goes toward your products.

Price: $55 | Learn more.

3. Opulence

Opulence WordPress E-commerce Theme This WordPress e-commerce theme is another pretty clean option. It’s promoted as a theme for fashion retailers, but the simple design means you could use it for just about anything. The design is responsive, and it is currently compatible with three different e-commerce plugins — WP e-commerce, Jigoshop, and WooCommerce.

Price: $59 | Learn more.

4. Organic Shop

Organic Shop is another WooCommerce theme. While the default version is designed with organic, beauty, and spa products in mind, it offers greater flexibility than that. The design is still on the simple side, and it gives you the opportunity to choose from unlimited color schemes. That means you can tailor the look of this e-commerce theme to any product type you can imagine.

Price: $55 | Learn more.

5. Handmade

Handmade WordPress E-commerce Theme Handmade is different than the other designs we’ve featured here because it doesn’t use a minimalist design scheme. It’s more for crafty or feminine e-commerce shops. But that’s why it stands out. You’ll need the WooCommerce plugin for this theme. The included OCMX framework makes it easy to incorporate ads into your shop if you need an additional income stream.

Price: $55 | Learn more.

More WordPress E-commerce Themes

The e-commerce themes above were some of my favorite designs. There are quite a few more options though. Here are some “runners-up” that you might want to consider:

Share your thoughts. What WordPress e-commerce carts do you use? Do you have a favorite WordPress e-commerce theme that we haven’t mentioned here? Tell us about it in the comments.

Dec 19, 2012 1 comment

Web Apps

How to Deal with Hacked Email

written by Meryl

Image from sxc.hu user enimal

The downside of having a web-based or cloud-based email account is that it could be hacked. Accessing email online has many advantages that outweigh the possibility of hacking. Besides, those using computer-based email can still become victims of hacking by opening suspicious attachments or clicking phishing links.

May 18, 2012 0 comment

Web Apps

5 Best Real Estate Search Tools

written by Kate

Given the huge population of not only the world but also any given major metropolitan area, matching houses, condos and properties with the people they’re best suited to can be a major challenge for real estate professionals. While the market slows down and speeds up on a whim, the fact is that many thousands of newly listed properties can be found each day in a single big city alone.

When connecting your clients to the property of their dreams is a must, real estate agents who are in-the-know turn to the many invaluable search tools available across the internet. Whether you’ve got a favorite search tool or are venturing into online real estate tools for the first time, use our list of these five top-notch real estate search tools to help your business focus on what matters – making sales!

1. New York Times Real Estate Listings

If you’re buying or selling property in the New York City area, there is no resource more efficient and information rich than the New York Times real estate listings. Still gracing the black and white pages of the newspaper itself, the listings are also offered on the New York Times website, featuring a slew of quick search and alerts features to keep you in the loop regarding new listings in your favorite neighborhoods.

2. Trulia

For a full-featured experience aimed at property buyers and sellers in the United States, there is no online tool more suitable than Trulia. The service covers a wide range of areas including New York, San Diego, Los Angeles, Dallas real estate, etc. An entirely realty-focused website, Trulia offers features like integrated Google Maps with satellite view, seemingly endless search field possibilities, search saving and alerts, a full-fledged community to gain insight from and an extensive collection of real estate selling and purchasing guides – all with a membership that is absolutely free!

3. MLS

The king of real estate listings in North America, independently owned MLS offers search-centric websites for both Americans and Canadians with a database of listed properties larger than other any in the world! Offering deep search capabilities alongside an interface aimed solely at real estate listings, MLS allows you to gather detailed information about any property at a glance, providing easy-to-use photo galleries, all aimed at eliminating the need to make first contact with a buyer or seller simply to gather basic information.

Membership to MLS does come at a price given its completeness and real estate agents and avid flippers may find the added benefits worth the price; for the rest of us, searching, viewing and contacting is entirely free of charge and without limitations.

4. Craigslist

Reaching every corner of the world and drawing millions of real estate patrons each month, the long-popular Craiglist is a great spot to find deals and steals from owner-listed properties. Its inherent freeness does make Craigslist a draw for those looking to take advantage but a bit of awareness and a willingness to search promises you gems that cannot be found anywhere else in many cases.

5. Kijiji

Not terribly popular in the United States, eBay’s Craigslist alternative has proven to be a hotbed of real estate listings in many other parts of the world, most notably Canada. The ability to list for free means that many self-sellers utilize the platform and the ability to easily include galleries gives Kijiji a leg up on Craiglists where details and photos are concerned. Like Craiglist, Kijiji is broken down by city so zoning in on a particular area of interest is a breeze!

Apr 14, 2012 0 comment

Web Apps

4 Sites to Troubleshoot Your Car

written by Kate

Are you of the widespread opinion that anything and everything can be found on the internet, at the touch of a button, and for free?

If so, you’re far from alone. In fact, the internet has evolved into such an incredible hub of instantaneous information that some scientists believe it’s affecting our memory.

However, while everything from how to cook the perfect steak through to the answers to life’s big questions are all available at our fingertips, there’s one thing that remains exceedingly difficult to find online: step-by-step advice on how to troubleshoot your car.

Yet don’t fret: here are four great sites that will help you on the quest to troubleshooting your car the Google way.

How Stuff Works

Arguably the web’s number one educational resource (after Wikipedia of course); How Stuff Works has grown through the years into an unbelievable learning tool.

With everything from historical lessons through to an insight into the inner workings of the great Einstein’s brain, How Stuff Works is the encyclopedia for the 21st Century.

Best of all, head over to the site’s highly comprehensive ‘autos‘ section to get instant access to information of a quality and volume unavailable even in most books.

AutoZone

AutoZone is a dedicated motoring site that, while its primary purpose is to sell, the site still offers a vast library of high-quality and best of all, free, information.

Simply register with the site (for free) to get access to AutoZone’s comprehensive vehicle repair section.

This section includes a fantastic feature that enables motorists to pinpoint precisely what is wrong with their vehicle according to characteristics including sounds and smells.

Also available is a huge selection of ‘vehicle repair guides’ that are again, completely free, and yet contain information of a quality akin to that which you’d get from a paid equivalent.

2CarPros

2CarPros is, as the name would suggest, a site owned and operated by two highly knowledgeable motor professionals.

The site is essentially based around questions and answers. Ask a question such as ‘why aren’t my brake lights working?’ and wait for a kind and helpful expert to offer you an answer.

In addition, visitors can ask their question directly to a team of car electronic technicians, by typing it into the central text box on the homepage.

In addition, the site contains countless detailed and illustrated articles that are also available to browse completely free.

Yahoo Autos

Finally we have a resource brought to you by one of the web’s longest-standing search engines; Yahoo.

A large portion of the site is dedicated to information on car manufacturers and warranties. Valuable information no doubt, but not much help when it comes to troubleshooting.

However, Yahoo Autos also boasts an impressive selection of vehicle repair tips and advice all, of course, for free.

The section is based around ‘frequently asked questions’ which although named as ‘frequently asked’ is actually one of the most comprehensive car question and answer libraries available online. Pretty much any imaginable problem can be answered by the copywriting team behind Yahoo Autos.

As well as the fact that all the answers are incredibly detailed, Yahoo Autos also benefits from a near absence of advertisements and underlying attempts to get you to purchase something. The site is let down however, by a lack of videos, photos and other illustrations that help to take a troubleshooting advice piece from good to great.

Lastly, if none of the above worked, try car insurance estimator to never have troubles like that in the future…

And finally:

Remember that no amount of pictures, videos and detailed descriptions is a substitute for hands on experience in troubleshooting problems with your car.

Taking the matter into your own hands is great, but remember that cars are dangerous machines, so if you’re unsure about your ability to find or fix a problem yourself, take the problem to a professional.

Apr 11, 2012 1 comment