Issuu: put it on-line!

Have you always wanted a way to put documents on-line in a way that looks like a book or magazine? There are a number of pay sites that will convert and host documents for you, but what about "free"? I stumbled across Issuu while I was looking for a solution to post student-made storybooks on a blog or other site. Issuu seems to be the answer to my search.

It is very easy to use. You create an account, upload the PDF version, mark it private, and then generate the embed code needed to past it into a blog or class website. You can even email a link to friends and family so they can view it apart from the blog.

So, just to show off, I've created a "Flower" album using iPhoto, saved it as a PDF, uploaded it to Issuu and embedded the link. (You can view it as full page if you like!) I think this has lots of potential. (Click on the "Open Publication" link or on the book itself below to view in larger format.)

- Open publication

Apture: Add more context to your sites

Do you sometimes wish there was a way to add more content and context to your blog or website? You've probably seen the extremely cool hotlinks that pop up (when you mouse over them) with additional info, quotes, videos or PDFs. "Apture" is exactly what you are looking for. If you go to their site, you can easily create an account and add "Apture" functionality to your blog. Take the tour and see what it can do for you.

Drop.io: File sharing is so easy!

Drop.io is a great solution to the problem we all sometimes have: file-sharing in an easy, no fuss way. Imagine you have a class where you want to distribute a file or files to your students. Perhaps it's a photo that they will be modifying, a set of short clips to play with or documents to review. You could email them, but then you'd need everyone's address and depending on the file size, your email client may not be happy. This is where Drop.io comes in. Using their easy interface, create an account, add a password (if you want), upload your files and tell your class the address. Students can easily download the files: no fuss, no muss.

Check out the following post for a more detailed description: arstechnica