A blog exploring The Social Web – Learn. Explore. Profit.
The Information Architect (Creating Interactive Brand Identity) has a rather nice piece on The 50 loudest websites in 2006 and what made them successful. A very interesting read.
I also recommend having a read of their other pages too:
3. Web 2.0 unchains free market
4. Web 3.0: You say you’re on an infolution? Well, you know…
Have you ever wanted to convert files without the need to download software ?
Sheer Genius, Its amazing how useful this site can be, shame about the name….
Google’s acquistion of Writely last year was interesting. An online, word processor, that can do all things MS Word does and its FREE? Sounds great and indeed it was! Since then, Google Labs worked on an online spreadsheet application, Google Talk (Instant Messaging) and Google Calendar. Well today, Google finally announced what I’ve thought for ages – They are gunning for Microsoft Office’s share of the market.
Well, what does mean for you?
“With Google Apps, you can give your employees the next-generation communication and collaboration tools they need to manage electronic communications, share and publish information and stay connected while on the go. Whether you’re looking to transition from or complement your existing messaging infrastructure with more advanced collaboration tools, Google Apps gives you full control while requiring minimal investment. Google Apps can also make it easy to meet deskless employees’ email and calendaring needs. Best of all, it’s all hosted by Google, so there’s no hardware or software to download, install or maintain. With Google, you can afford to provide each and every employee with the tools they need to succeed.”
Google Apps Premier Edition is the promised offering for small businesses. It includes 10 gigabytes of mail storage, 99.9% uptime guarantee for email, APIs to integrate with the existing infrastructure of a business (single sign-on, user management, email gateway), 24/7 phone support. Everything for $50 a year per user (there’s a free trial until April 30th).
Google continues to offer two free editions of Google Apps:
* a edition for schools, that includes the APIs and 24/7 phone support
* a edition for families and groups that has all the features that were available until now.
All editions of Google Apps* include Google Docs & Spreadsheets and are compatible with the BlackBerry version of Gmail’s mobile application.
Google’s intention is to convince it can deliver “simple, powerful communication and collaboration tools for your organization without the usual hassle and cost” and the package can integrate into an existing environment. Google has learned a lot since last August, when it first introduced Google Apps, and has adapted to fit the needs of a corporate environment. Will businesses adapt to use Google’s web applications and trade some features for an always-available online interface?
If you are interested in this, also take a look at: Zoho.
Microsoft are due to launch their own versions of online based Office apps – Microsoft Office Live! later this year. This is going to be interesting to watch.
Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn) and I have had a tempestuous relationship over the past year during beta testing. For upgraders with computers older than 18-24 months, I suggest buying a new computer with Vista preinstalled. Alternatively, consider buying a Mac. If a Mac is too much for you, stick with Windows XP.
I am a big fan of Tim O’Reilly. O’Reilly publishing have published some of the best tech books in the world. Indeed, Tim and Co where the first people to coin the term “Web 2.0”. Though I am disappointed that he is charging so much money for the PDF entitled “Why Web 2.0 Matters and How You Can Make the Most of It – Insight and Practical Tools for Success”
The excerpt looks interesting. So if you happen to have a copy of this, please do not hesitate to send me a copy!
Pause for breath, discover where we are on the Web 2.0 rollercoaster. Okay, there is some techie stuff in the links below and lots on Ajax – heroin for the Web. Source: http://web2.wsj2.com
Top Web 2.0 Blog Entries for 2006
11. Thinking Beyond Web 2.0: Social Computing and the Internet Singularity
10. All We Got Was Web 1.0, When Tim Berners-Lee Actually Gave Us Web 2.0
9. Notes on Making Good Social Software
6. Seven Things Every Software Project Needs to Know About Ajax
4. Ten Ways To Take Advantage of Web 2.0
3. Ruby on Rails 1.1: Web 2.0 on Rocket Fuel
2. The Most Promising Web 2.0 Software of 2006
Waaaayyy off topic – Ze Frank, on procrastination
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is cool. As a user, I get to subscribe to content on the web that I am interested in. If Sony released a new product and I subscribed to their RSS feedback, I would know immediately as soon as they posted the link on the web. That’s nice, but frankly boring. Taking the concept of RSS and injecting some anabolic steroids into it, you arrive with something called a “Mashup” A mashup is simply an amalgamation of different Web 2.0 technologies that are “mashed up” together. So imagine connecting, RSS feeds from Sony Pictures, feeds from your local cinema, Google maps and finally a feed from your favourite Sushi bar. Connecting to all of these sites and pulling off information that is of interest to me, would certainly mean that my Thursday night is sorted. What I am really referring to is “Intelligent Aggregation”
Mashups are still in their infancy however. Connecting various bits of backend “stuff” (XML APIs), to all talk together is not easy. However, those folks over at Yahoo! have developed a new product called Yahoo Pipes. By piping various feeds from popular sites, you can create a real time, aggregation of information. Its sounds good in principle, though the UI needs work. MySpace loving Susan, might find it a little tricky and time consuming to get her perfect pipe working. Nevertheless, its nice to see Yahoo innovating again.
As with most 2.0 stuff, Pipes is still in beta. However, it will be interesting to see how the masses take to this technology.
e-petitioning is becoming popular. So much so that the UK government is actively encouranging it. See http://petitions.pm.gov.uk. I quite like the idea of petitioning Tony Blair, I wonder if Number 10 will take this petition seriously. There is a new petition posted against the rip off prices we have to pay for Microsoft’s new Windows Vista. Go sign the petition and lets see what happens!
“There is a huge difference in the price that people in the US and the UK are paying for Windows Vista the new Microsoft Operating System. As an example of this, in the UK a full copy of Vista Ultimate would cost you £350, in the US it would cost you £195. The US version of Vista is exactly the same as the UK version. There is no difference. Therefore I can see no reason for there to be such a huge difference in prices between the UK and the US other than Microsofts belief that the UK customers will pay more than their US counterparts. I ask people to sign this petition in the hope that the Prime Minister will bring pressure to bear on Microsoft over their pricing as it is my belief they are simply overcharging the people of the UK and therefore are ripping us off”.