Latest News from ALOT

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR E-MAILS

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:48:26 +0000

Because the average person receives well over 300 e-mails every month, an inbox can rapidly get cluttered. Whether you are using an e-mail client (Outlook, Thunderbird, Pegasus…) or a free webmail (Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail…), keeping your e-mails organized so you can find the messages that mean the most to you when you need them, will help you save time and avoid headaches.

Don’t Get Swallowed Up By Your Inbox
From bank statements to personal messages from loved ones abroad, e-mails are both an easy way to keep in touch and to manage your daily tasks. However the fact that they’re so easy to use means that they can pile up to the point where you can lose site of the stuff you need. People tend to send and forward them for any reason. (Damn you chain letters and slideshow jokes!). This leads inboxes that look like industrial landfills. An organized inbox gives you faster and easier access to the e-mails you need and a better overview your entire inventory.

Create Folders
Creating folders is extremely easy and it is the first step towards a clean and organized mailbox. Folders make for easily identifiable subsections of your inbox. Use them to organize the emails you receive, much like the way file drawers keep your papers organized. Create a folder for any email from your bank, another one for e-mails from your cousin, another one for credit bills, and so on. The more folders you have, the easier you’ll navigate your inbox. In fact, a perfectly organized inbox doesn’t contain any emails as all the emails received would be redirected to the relevant folder or the trash. Both email software and webmail offer folder functionalities.

Set automatic rules
While creating folders will unclog your inbox and save you time when you’re looking for specific e-mails, automatic rules will save you more time by automatically accomplishing the tasks you created them for. E-mail rules are a very convenient tool that few people know about. Remember the new Bank folder you’ve just created? Well, now set a rule to automatically route emails from your bank to the Bank folder, the second the emails are received. Or because 80 percent of e-mails we receive are junk, why not create another rule to redirect to the trash any email which subject line contains explicit content. Now you get the idea, rules greatly facilitate the way you manage your mailbox. When it comes to defining rules, email programs are very flexible and sky is the limit, you can imagine any type of rule and create it in two clicks.

NOW…Define Your Priorities!
Now that you have created a whole series of rules, the time has come to organize the e-mails stored in your folders. Again, let’s take your Bank folder as an example. Your bank may have sent you an e-mail to remind you that your credit card payment is due next week, a mortgage offer for your new house, a presentation of their new interest rates, etc. Some of those emails require immediate attention while others can wait. Depending on the program you’re using, there are different tools available to you. But they are all based on the two main concepts: flags and colors. Colors will help you prioritize your tasks by highlighting the e-mail subject lines in a specific color (e.g. red for urgent, orange for medium priority, etc.). Meanwhile, flags may be used to remind you that those emails require that you take an action, such as a follow-up on a request, a task you need to be reminded of, and so forth.

Questions?
Ready to start organizing but still have questions? While the tools aforementioned are universal, the different email solutions have their own specificities. Instead of detailing the tutorials of all of them, we thought it would be easier for you to click on the name of your email program to access its tutorial: Outlook, Thunderbird, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail.

One more thing…Even the most perfectly organized mailbox will never prevent you from receiving email messages containing malicious code or viruses. Click here to download a free antivirus software and here for free malware removal software.

The ALOT email notifier
Now…what were we talking about again? Sorry…we need to get more organized. And so can you…by using our e-mail notifier. You can install it on your toolbar or on your customizable ALOT homepage to access all your incoming emails in one click. Click here to learn more!

KEEPING YOUR COMPUTER HEALTHY

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:47:14 +0000

How to keep your computer clean and healthy

Remember what your mom used to ask you when you brought stuff home? “Do you know if that’s clean? You have no idea where that’s been!” Well, the same applies to stuff you bring home from the virtual world—we’re talking about files that you download from the internet. The bad news is that they can infest your computer with all kinds of bugs, viruses and other nasty stuff.

And while your mom might not be able to help you…we can. You will be surprised how quick and smooth your computer will run if you follow these simple rules:

Run for Cover

Without you even noticing, there might be little programs and bugs on your computer that steal information from you. Some websites automatically download “Spyware” to your computer. Some others may show you a popup, asking you to download upgrades that you did not ask for. Even apparently harmless survey information – like which news channels you read or what websites you visit – is worth a ton of money for advertising data bases. Then there are viruses that might be introduced to your computer by “hackers.” The only way to stay clear of all these potential problems is by installing a good anti-malware program like Malwarebytes that automatically tests which downloads are safe and protects your machine from any evil interlopers. Download it for FREE right here.

No more Cookies for you!

Cookies are little text files that interactive Internet sites may save to your hard drive. They tell the website when you come back later, that you’ve been there before. They remember passwords, addresses, shopping carts, etc. Usually they are not evil, but they can take up some of space on your disk and slow down your computer. It is a good habit to delete them from time to time.

But you can also choose what kind of cookies you allow to be saved to your machine in the first place. Here’s how: First select Tools > Internet Options from your Internet Explorer browser:

Select Internet Options

Then you choose the Privacy Tab and select your setting. We would recommend “Medium”.

Cookie settings

You can also delete Cookies from your hard drive. Just choose “Internet Options” again (see above), then you click on Delete… in the Browsing history:

Click on Delete...

Then you check “Cookies” and click on “Delete”

Check here to delete cookies

(Source http://www.ehow.com/how_5126625_keep-computer-healthy.html)

Beware of stinking phishers

We’re not talking seafood here. In case you’re wondering, this is what internet phishing is all about:

Online phishing is very much like fishing, except that you’re the fish and that enticing emails are the bait. If you bite on any, you run the very real risk of account or identity theft and all the hassle that entails.

Here’s how it works: The bad guys, or “phishers,” create an email that looks VERY much like an official email from some important entity, like eBay, MSN, Paypal, or maybe even a bank. The email asks you to visit some site that also looks very official. Once you’re there you’re prompted to enter all your personal information, typically in the guise of “verification”.

The problem is that you’ve just handed over all your personal information to a thief.
So just swim right past those nasty phishermen. If you’re not sure of the source…avoid it, or check with the company they purport to be before taking any action online. If it’s a company that you already have an account with, just go to you regular online account and log in as you usually do. If there is something you need to know, it should be right there.
For more information on how to avoid becoming the deadliest catch, check out:
http://ask-leo.com/phishing_whats_phishing.html:

Clean house!

So now that you know how to keep relatively safe, it’s time to clean up to speed up. Defragmenting is for your computer what cleaning up is for your home. Your machine needs a little help from you to put everything where it belongs:

As you retrieve, change and save files, your computer saves parts of that file onto your hard drive. Over time, the pieces of files are spread all over, becoming disorganized and causing your computer to have to work harder to put each file together when you request it.

Defragmenting your computer is the process of putting those “pieces of files” together or closer together, reorganizing the drive. This will enable your computer to run faster and more efficiently.

Click on your start button and choose “Control Panel”.
Under Administrative Tools, click on “Defragment your hard drive”. This process can take some time, so do it at the end of the day or schedule it to execute at a time you are not using your computer.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5126625_keep-computer-healthy.html

Back up, partner!

If worst comes to worst you don’t want to end up losing everything on your computer. The photos from your vacations? Your resume? That future best-selling novel you’re writing? Better have a backup plan:

Doing backups is kind of like eating healthier; everyone agrees we should and yet very few of us actually do. Much like the heart attack victim who no longer visits McDonald’s the most religious users of backup procedures are those who’ve been burned in their past.

Asking what backup program to use is very much like asking “what’s the best exercise program?” The best program for exercise or backup is whatever one you’ll actually do. (http://ask-leo.com/what_backup_program_should_i_use.html).
There are several ways to backup your files. Read this in depth article to figure out what is best for you: http://ask-leo.com/what_backup_program_should_i_use.htm

EMAIL NOTIFIER 2.0 – NEW AND IMPROVED!

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:04:19 +0000

In a previous post we introduced you to our Email Notifier app. We’ve had a load of positive feedback about it, but some of you have complained that it only works with the popular web based email clients.

Well not anymore…

We’ve updated the app so now it can work with any email provider. To make it even easier, we’re working overtime to pre-configure it with all the top providers from around the world. If we haven’t got to yours yet, don’t worry, you can configure it yourself by entering some basic technical details that your email provider will be able to let you have.

Enjoy!

HOW TO GET ORGANIZED ONLINE!

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:08:33 +0000

Sometimes, there is no more effective method for keeping organized than grabbing a pen and putting a list on a piece of paper…except possibly joining the army. But there are online solutions that are more efficient than the former, and less dangerous than the latter. We combed the net to find the best so you can avoid the embarrassment of admitting you lost your pen and paper!

Picasa

This downloadable tool makes it easy for you to share pictures with friends and family, and even do a little editing so you can hide the fact that you gained 30 pounds since the last reunion. And there’s an added bonus to Picasa which has nothing to do with salvaging your visual profile. You can tell the program to search your computer for snapshots and it will comb your hard drive, organizing all your pictures into folders…regardless of where they were saved…so no more fishing around trying to remember a file name. Picasa claims it can do it in seconds. We’re putting a reality check on that, and saying it takes minutes. Either way, you won’t be missing out on time you could be spending trying to work off your waistline and nowhere near how long it would take you to organize all those pictures yourself.

Instapaper

If you managed to find your pen and paper, write this down: An unwritten law of the internet is that the best sites always pop up when you’re browsing for something else. You could bookmark them but then you’d have to wade through all those other links you flagged can’t remember why.

Opening another tab or browser window clutters up your monitor and slows down all the other important stuff you’re doing. (Let’s face it nobody wants anything slowing down an intense game of solitaire.)

Instapaper is your answer. By installing the inobtrusive “Read this later” button that lives at the top of your browser, you have a one-click solution for storing pages to look at later. Then, when you actually have the time, you simply log in at instapaper.com and read a page populated with everything you have saved. Here’s all you need to do:

• Sign up for an account on Instapaper.com.
• As you browse, click the ‘Read This Later’ button when you see a page you want to save.
• Log into your account from any computer and you’ll see an menu of the pages you saved in reverse chronological order that you can now peruse at your leisure.

Isn’t that better than tying string on your finger or papering your wall with post-its?

Evernote

No matter where you live, every day you see stuff that makes you say, “That’s cool! I’ll have to remember that!” And if you’re like most people, that thought blows right out your ear, never to be found again. Evernote remembers everything you probably won’t. Just download their app which lets you do stuff your brain can’t seem to handle, like:

• Take a picture of plane tickets and receipts when traveling.
• Record audio notes or grocery lists.
• Take a picture of a book you want to buy so you don’t forget the title.

Then upload all this brain clutter to the Evernote account and you’ll see them when you log in. Think of it as a floating folder that’s way more reliable than your memory.

If you’re browsing at home, install the Evernote desktop application (yup, free again) and you can literally copy and save an image of a web page right into a note on the site. You can also take an existing document and save that as a note or create the document or note right in the program itself. It’s a picture folder and mini word processor all in one that allows you to add typed notes or save images from wherever you are.

Check out this link to see many more cool suggested uses for this tool: http://www.evernote.com/about/learn_more/

FutureMe.org

Let’s face it, apart from Lady Gaga’s inexplicable wardrobe choices, few things catch our eye better and more often than our email inbox. E-mails from other people keep us aware of what we need to do; and when we need to do it. Now FutureMe lets you send yourself an email in the future to keep you from letting things slip past you.

Delayed email delivery is nothing new, but it can be a tedious process and some email providers don’t offer it. Futureme.org strips away all the settings and confusion and completely outlines the simple process on their site. The gist? Write the e-mail, decide what day you want it to be sent to you in the future, click send. You won’t have to remember anything, because like your mother, FutureMe will do that for you.

How does this help? Let’s say you want to remember your nephew’s birthday that’s six months down the road, so that you don’t miss it again and have to spend another six months trying to get your sister to talk to you again. Send yourself an email to arrive a week before the big day to give you time to can buy something better than another pair of tube socks you picked up on the drive over to his party.
http://futureme.org/index.php

Know of a tool that we didn’t mention or a cool way of using an existing tool to keep organized? We won’t enter you in a draw but you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you helped us back. Tell us about it!

Organize your week’s activities with an interactive note taking tool that lives right above your web browser at all times, by adding ALOT’s helpful “To Do List” Button to your ALOT Toolbar. Download it now!

TOP FIVE TWITTER TIPS

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:42:34 +0000

Want to join the rest of the world on the Twitter fun, but not sure how? We’ll help you learn how to navigate this addictive social networking site and give you tips about how to get the most out of your experience.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing sites of its kind on the Web, with over 105 million users that send around 55 million tweets per day, according to stats from an April Twitter conference. The reason so many people are getting hooked is because it’s one of the fastest and easiest way to share information online, with access from your home computer and your phone. With Twitter, you can share blog posts, websites, news stories, photos, and videos with your friends and family, and even make new friends who share your interests. An added plus: celebrities and businesses are now on Twitter, so you can send a message to your favorite star or issue a complaint about a product or service. Your only limitation is that each tweet, or message, must be less than 140 characters.

Before you start, it’s important to learn some Twitter lingo. A follower is a person who subscribes to your tweets – that means they can see all of the messages you write. You are “following” someone if you can see all of the tweets that person writes. A hashtag, or a tag, is a keyword you can use to sum up the topic of your tweet. A retweet is when you simply copy someone else’s tweet, showing that person’s message to your followers. A direct message is when you send a private tweet to someone that no one else can see. The trending topics are the most popular topics on Twitter – the things that most people are writing about.

Let’s take a look about how to get the most out of Twitter.

1. Learn how to shorten links

Since you only have 140 characters, you’ll want to leave as much room as possible for what you want to say. This means you may have to shorten the link you want to share, since many links are lengthy and take up lots of characters. Let’s say you want to link to a CNN video. While the link normally looks like this: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/06/01/central.america.storm.deaths/index.html?hpt=T3
…you can easily shorten it to look like this: http://bit.ly/cApX29

Links are also known as URLs (Uniform Resource Locator, in technology speak), and it’s really easy to cut down their size with sites like bit.ly.

2. Tag your posts

A tag is a keyword that sums up the topic of a tweet. You’ll get more followers quicker if you add tags to your posts, since users can search tags and add people who are tweeting about things that interest them. It’s just a matter of adding one or two words related to your tweet using the numbers symbol. Here are some examples:

Blog reveals new iPhone design http://bit.ly/ghakld #apple #technology

Love the recipes on this site! http://bit.ly/eriupd #cooking #food

3. Retweet interesting posts

It’s easy to share tweets from other people, like celebrities and reporters. This way, you can share cool or interesting information without having to retype it, and you can share the information straight from the source. Your followers will be able to see the tweet and where it originally came from. If they think it’s interesting, they can retweet it, too!

When you see a tweet that you think will be interesting to your followers, hover your mouse over the tweet, and then click on “Retweet.” This is also known as “RT” in Twitter slang. This will allow your followers to see the tweet and allows you to share cool content without having to create it yourself.

Here’s where to find the Retweet button…

And here’s what it looks like when you retweet:

4. Tweet other people using the “@” symbol

When you want to connect with someone on Twitter, use the @ symbol and their user name to direct a tweet to them. This tweet will be visible to all of your followers. So, if you find something you know that person will enjoy, you can add them to that tweet. Also, you can tweet other people who aren’t your followers with info you think they might like. If they are interested, they may respond or they may even start following you. You could even get the attention of a celebrity! See examples below:
@seattleflower Did you watch Lost last night? Can you believe that?
@jaimeoliver I love your recipes! I’d love to see more dessert recipes though!
@cesarmillan Do you have any tips for boxers? I need some help housetraining mine.

5. Use the Trending Topics as a guide

If you can’t find anything interesting to tweet about, check the trending topics. These are stories, themes, or ideas that people are talking about at the moment. You can organize the most popular topics by country, city, or worldwide.

In the trending topics part of the page, you’ll see the Top 10 most tweeted topics, though they can change quickly. That way, you can find interesting things to retweet, or comment on current events or topics popular with other users.

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Want to get more useful tips about the Web? Follow us on Twitter at @alotapps.

Plus: Want instant access to Twitter? Get the ALOT Social Networking Toolbar.

GET THE EBAY AUCTION EDGE

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:03:43 +0000

Online auctions are the hottest way to make a steal…without threat of prosecution. Sites like eBid.net and onlineauction.com are popular digital destinations, but they are each dwarfed by eBay where more than $52 billion bucks are ponied up each year.

A big user-base, meaning more offers, is definitely a plus for the online bidder. But in this competitive and crowded environment you’ll need some strategic ammo when the auction begins. There are a lot of seasoned eBay All Stars out there, with all kinds of tricks and special bidding software up their sleeves, so it may sometimes seem impossible to seal a good deal. That’s why we’re here with some cyber-shopping tactics that will help you bring home the prize.

1: Bid with odd numbers

This is the Gospel according to the online bidding Bible, eBay for Dummies:

“Many hopeful eBay buyers tend to round off their bids to the nearest dollar figure. Some choose nice, familiar coin increments like 25, 50, or 75 cents. But the most successful bidders at eBay have found that adding two or three cents to a routine bid can mean the difference between winning and losing. Get in the habit of making your bids in oddish figures, like $15.02 or $45.57, as an inexpensive way to edge out your competition. For the first time ever, your two cents may actually pay off!”

2: Become a Sniper

Don’t worry folks, we’re only shooting our mouths off about this nearly, can’t-miss tactic of well-timed bids:

Sniping is bidding on an auction in the last few seconds. The strategy is to make it impossible for anyone else to outbid you because time has run out.

3: Know the rules

Ebay actually has a very good Help-site that provides tons of information to help you with your auction…even if you already are a frequent user, this will probably give you the most reliable answers to any of your auction questions.

4: Don’t get ripped off

There are a few key points to avoid getting ripped off:

- Don’t be fooled by low starting offers and don’t get carried away while bidding. Most sellers will have a second identity or a friend bidding on their item in order to inflate the price (This is called “Shilling”).

- Set a spending limit and stick to it. It’s better to ditch if it get’s too pricey and set your sites on something else. Newbies often end up saying, “I can’t believe I just spend this much.”

- Pay close attention to detail. First read the description of your article very carefully. There can be a huge difference between “new” and “like new.” Then take the time to check the rating of your seller. And finally, pay close attention to the pictures. If your desired item looks very clean and has a pure white background or has blurred areas, you’re seeing signs it’s probably too good to be true. These are indicators that this is either not the actual item or somebody tampered with the picture. For more in-depth information on how to avoid rip-offs, check out these articles:

‘Evaluating eBay item listings’
‘Understanding online auctions’
‘Online auction tips’

5: Take the Easy Way

If you find that bidding is just too bloodthirsty for your buying habits, you can still score good purchase deals on eBay. You can find great bargains at seriously reduced rates. Just browse items bearing the “Buy it now”-label.

Get A LOT more!

Take the direct route to great bargains by adding the “eBay Deal of the Day”button to your ALOT Homepage or Toolbar and get first looks at the best daily deals. Add it now!

HOW TO BE A STAR OF ONLINE VIDEO CINEMA

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:38:54 +0000

Whether you’re the next Steven Spielberg looking to make the world a more magical place, or just a proud parent looking for the best platform to bore your friends and family with your child’s first steps, here is a selection of free video websites that will provide the perfect theatre for your cinematic aspirations.

The Big Boys On The Block

Obviously, YouTube and DailyMotion are the go-to destinations for anyone looking for free and easy video platforms to strut your stuff. You can upload video and create your own video channels in seconds on either site. You can also make your content private (accessible only by invitation) or public (for anyone to watch). Both allow you to spread the word about your video through social media (email, Facebook, Myspace, etc). And now, Flickr, the online photo giant, also offers video-uploading features. BUT…the site features a 90-second limit…so don’t count on uploading your version of Lord of the Rings. But without any in-house moderators, these sites feature the best and worst of user-generated video content, making it difficult to stand out in the crowd. If you’re looking for a video platform more suited to your own sensibilities, try these specialized sites:

Break News!
Aspiring reporters and citizen journalists will find iReport the perfect platform to break into the biz. Exclusively news-oriented, this CNN site gives you a shot at scoring an Emmy by uploading videos of breaking news stories. Think it sounds too good to be true? CNN’s Anderson Cooper, frequently broadcasts iReport videos during his program as do many other TV news outlets. The videos of the 2005 London bombings and the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings were each first showcased on iReport and helped solidify its newsbreaking reputation.

Digital Cinema

Aspiring Scorceses are making Metacafe the most popular showcase for new films. Metacafe’s community rigorously reviews content submissions to ensure quality, so don’t try throwing up footage of your hilarious chicken dance-off at last summer’s family picnic. Another film-centered site, Will Ferrell’s gut-busting FunnyOrDie, is geared towards aspiring comedy writers and directors. An instant hit, it’s an appointment destination for humor fans, and its viral content has spread faster than the BP oil spill. So if you think you’re the next Judd Apatow, this is where you want your video to live…or die.

Build Your Reputation!
Bob Vila video wannabes upload their stuff on Howcast, the internet’s most popular DIY video destination. If you are the biggest toolhead in the neighborhood, you can construct a following there. Beyond the usual house-makeover field, Howcast features a variety of DIY videos from how to treat a mosquito bite to instructions to make your own oil paints.

Drum Up Digital Dollars!

Not content with being a showoff…and want some payoff? More sites like Blip TV and Revver are offering revenue opportunities for the best user-submitted content. To give yourself an edge you’d be advised to shine it up by spending time editing. So before you submit, sop off at Motionbox where you’ll find FREE video editing features. Its quality user-friendly interface and functionalities won’t require any advanced knowledge.

The ALOT video toolbar
Online videos have quickly become the favorite online past time of most Americans. In fact, our FREE video toolbar is one of our most popular and downloaded products. It features a variety of sports, news, music, humor and most watched videos of the week….and much more. Download it now!

ALOT COMMUNITY CONTINUES TO GROW

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:21:00 +0000

Not to be outdone by the U.S. Census that’s going on right now, we decided to do our own count of the number of people who are part of the ALOT community. And the number continues to be on the up and up.

As of the end of March this year we had more than 6.1 million toolbar users. And in the first three months of the year, an average of 5.5 million people used ALOT Home each month.

You’re in good company!

HIDE CAPTIONS AND DISPLAY MORE BUTTONS

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:26:54 +0000

If you have trouble fitting all of your favorite buttons on your toolbar, here’s a tip you might want to check out. All you need to do is right click on your toolbar and select ‘Hide all Captions’.

Hey Presto, now you’ve got loads more space to fill! If you want to show the captions again, just right click on your toolbar and select ‘Show all Captions’.

You can also hide / show captions for individual buttons. To do this, just right click on the individual button and select either ‘Hide Caption’ or ‘Show Caption’.

COMPUTER TALK

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:25:10 +0000

Now this one is highly addictive…! Our ‘Say It’ button is a new favorite with the ALOT team. As its rather imaginative name suggests, with ‘Say It’ you can make your computer talk. Just add the button to your toolbar, type a word into the search box, click ‘Say It’ and, hey presto, you’ve got yourself a talking computer!

Now, I suppose we should talk about how great this button is for helping you out with the correct pronunciation of complex words, but frankly we much prefer to use it to surreptitiously blurt out inappropriate comments when people walk past our desks. Hours of fun we think you’ll agree…

TO DO OR NOT TO DO

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:45:58 +0000

If, like us, you find things cropping up during the day that you have to remember, but by the time you’re ready to do them you’ve completely forgotten what they are, then our ‘To Do’ button could be just the ticket.

Add the button to your toolbar or homepage and then when you remember you’ve got to do something, simply type it in your To Do list and it’ll be automatically saved.

Now all you’ve got to do is remember that you’ve got things to remember….if you know what we mean.

For help adding buttons to your toolbar or homepage, click here

ALOT OF SEARCHING

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:22:26 +0000

In the last three months of 2009, users of our toolbar, homepage and desktop products carried out over 231 million searches. That’s more than 2.5 million searches a day or, put another way, over 29 searches every second. However you look at it, that’s ALOT of searching!

We’re continually working on ways to improve the search experience we offer. We’ve recently added new search channels including image, news, shopping and video search, and we’re focused on exploring more over the course of 2010.

If you think we’re missing something, or there’s some way we could further improve the search experience for you, we’d love to hear from you. You can get in touch here.

GREAT EBAY DEALS!

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:58:04 +0000

We’ve teamed up with our friends over at eBay to create a ‘Deal of the Day’ button. Add the button to your toolbar or homepage and get instant access to eBay’s latest and greatest deals. There are four new deals served up daily through the button, all offering big savings off regular retail prices.

As well as getting access to hot daily deals, you can also use the button to search the whole of eBay. To add the button to you toolbar or homepage, simply visit the button store and search for ‘Deals of the Day’. For help with using the button store, check out this post.

CHECK OUT THE NEW ALOT RADIO PLAYER

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:53:21 +0000

If you’re a radio fan, you’re going to love this! We’ve just released a new and improved radio button. Through this new button you can listen to all your favorite online radio stations, from talk shows and classical music through to hip-hop and metal. There are hundreds of stations available for you to choose from and, as with all our buttons, our new radio player is 100% free and safe to use.

The new button is an update to our old radio player and comes packed with cool new features. You can browse stations in loads of different ways, create your own favorites and get one click access to all the stations you’ve previously listened to.

The button is only currently available for ALOT Toolbar – we hope to release versions for ALOT Home and ALOT Desktop soon. You can find the new button by searching for ‘Radio Player’ in the ‘Add new Buttons’ interface. For help with adding buttons to your toolbar, check out this post.

Enjoy and let us know what you think!

JOIN THE ALOT CLUB!

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:48:37 +0000

OK, so it may not be the sort of club where you get free drinks and can hang out with celebrities, but we still think the ALOT Club is well worth joining! Becoming a member simply involves registering your ALOT product. Once you’ve registered, you can take advantage of a number of different benefits.

If you’re an ALOT Toolbar user, registering enables you to create and save multiple, personalized toolbars. You can then easily swap back and forth between them. So, you may want to see your football toolbar one day, but your celebrity gossip toolbar the next. For registered users, it’s easily done! There’s no limit to the number of toolbars you can create and save.

If you’re an ALOT Home user, registering enables you to save your homepage and then access it from any computer, anytime! So now you can create your ALOT page at home and then easily access it from work, college or wherever; all you need is a computer with Internet access.

Our newly revamped registration process couldn’t be easier – just pick a username and password and then enter your email address. When you register, you can also sign up for our monthly newsletter. This newsletter will keep you up to date with cool new buttons and all the latest ALOT product news.

Join the ALOT Club today by clicking here.

GET RECIPE INSPIRATION FOR YOUR HOLIDAY PARTY

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:53:23 +0000

Are you hosting a holiday party and not quite sure what you’re going to cook yet? Well don’t worry, help is at hand thanks to our recipe search button. This invaluable little button gives you direct access to thousands of different recipes, courtesy of our friends over at Better Homes and Gardens. So now there’s absolutely no excuse for not impressing your friends and family with your culinary skills.

Oh, and if your ‘Duck a l’orange’ turns into a ‘Was once a duck and is now very burnt’, you can always use our Zagat button to help you find a good restaurant. Don’t ever say we don’t look out for you guys…!

NEW ‘EMAIL NOTIFIER’ BUTTON

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:23:12 +0000

We’ve just released a very cool new button called ‘Email Notifier’. With Email Notifier you can keep up to date with emails coming in to your Gmail, Hotmail or AOL accounts directly from your toolbar, homepage or desktop. So now you can use ALOT to keep all your favorite content and your latest emails all in one place.

Email Notifier couldn’t be easier to use – just add it to your ALOT product, enter in the details of your email account and you’re done.

This is a button that you’ve been asking us to produce for a while now, so we’re excited to have got it finished. Let us know what you think!

NEED A BREAK FROM HOLIDAY SHOPPING?

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:37:03 +0000

If reports in the press are to be believed, this year’s ‘Cyber Monday’ was something of a success, with loads of us cashing in on the online bargains that were there to be had. Well, if you’re all shopped out this week (or just a bit bored at work), then how about a bit of light relief courtesy of ALOT!

We’ve got heaps of games available for you to add to your toolbar, homepage or desktop. They’re all free to play and, be warned, highly addictive! Take a moment to check out the selection we’ve got; the retro games are firm favorites of the team here. Bit of Space Invaders anyone…?!

HAVE YOU MET ALOT DESKTOP YET?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:07:07 +0000

Since we launched ALOT in 2007, we’ve become known for our toolbar and homepage products. Millions of you around the world use these products to help ‘Make the Internet Easy’. Well now there’s another addition to the ALOT family that we think you should check out if you haven’t already – ALOT Desktop.

With ALOT Desktop you can do all the stuff you can with ALOT Home and ALOT Toolbar, but directly from your computer desktop. With ALOT Desktop installed you can check the weather, listen to the radio, catch up on the latest news and much more without even having a browser window open!

ALOT Desktop also includes a Google powered search box, so you can type in a search query and your browser will automatically open displaying the results. Searching the web directly from your desktop – now that’s what we call Making the Internet Easy!

As with our toolbars and homepages, ALOT Desktop is fully customizable and 100% free to install and use. You can find out more here.