Litmus is a quick way to test how your site content or email communications appear in different browsers and email clients. Although the signup form is longer than many sites, it only takes a minute or so to complete it and you can move straight into the testing phase. Two types of tests are available, with the number of clients you can test on dependent on your level of service. With the free level, which we tested, we were able to check compatibility on recent versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer, as well as Outlook 2003 and Gmail. The list of clients and browsers supported in a paid version is much longer. Continue reading this article —>

Geni provides an easy way for you to create and build your family tree. It’s an online application that is ideally suited for anyone interested in their family history. You start by entering your own name, which appears in a little box (pink for girls, blue for boys). Click on arrows on three sides to add people who are related (siblings or spouses, parents or children). You can do the same with every box you add, making it easy to build your immediate family tree within a few minutes. Continue reading this article —>

Aardvark describes itself as a social search engine. It taps into a network of users to provide you with answers to specific questions. Getting started is easy. Aardvark integrates with Facebook, so it’s painless to connect the two accounts and add anyone in your social circle who is also using Aardvark. Asking your first question is as simple as typing it in a box and waiting for the answer. During our testing, the response process seemed to take quite a while to come in. However, straightforward questions about restaurants or shows in a particular geographic area will likely receive much faster answers. To get the best from Aardvark, integrate it with your IM accounts, and use Twitter and email to ask and receive answers to questions. Continue reading this article —>

Multitasking often seems the name of the game in today’s always-connected world, but Kukoo takes the opposite view. This email management tool is all about single-tasking: concentrating on one thing at a time and answering your email only at predefined times. To get started, type in your email address. Kukoo gives you a Kukoo.com suffix to this where people can email you. The key to managing your email is to set up rules for when you are going to check email (we set three time bands per weekday) and when you are going to ignore it and get on with your other tasks. Continue reading this article —>

Mad Mimi is a quick way to create email promotions that actually look good. One of its main advantages is its speed. You can create an attractive campaign and send it within minutes of sign up. The two key areas are the text and image areas. Upload images to the image area to be able to drag and drop into the appropriate area of your composition window. Mad Mimi makes a number of text and image combination layouts available, with a menu bar across the top for quick text formatting and adding links. You can also amend the background and the styles for your email promotion, though modifying styles did not seem quite as intuitive. Continue reading this article —>

SharesPost aims to bring liquidity to the private equity market by connecting buyers and sellers directly. The problem identified and addressed by SharesPost is an important one—that is, buyer access to growing companies has been severely limited and many successful private companies have been unable to secure funding to succeed. Continue reading this article —>