Web 2.0 Tools and Methods You Can Use Now!
Web 2.0 or Cloud Computing let’s you use web applications instead of locally installed apps for daily computing needs such as e-mail, document creation, photo editing, music playing, etc. It’s an evolving ecosystem, a work in progress. The big players pushing this forward are Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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What’s in it for you?
You get to sync your e-mail, browsing bookmarks, photo storage and social networking between your mobile smartphone (or iPad), your home laptop and how desktop PC and your work computer. It opens up document, meeting and project collaboration with co-workers, friends and family – one big happy connected world. The host sites auto update their own software, no storage is required on your connected device.
What are the downsides?
If your Internet connection lags or goes down, there will be disruptions. For sensitive docs, there are security concerns. For services like Facebook and G-mail, there are privacy concerns. There can be issues with limiting adult content on the Internet, if your children use these services.
This blog is a modest collection of links for the best current website implementations of Web 2.0.
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General Web 2.0 Link Lists to Watch:
All Things Web 2.0 – Directory of emerging web 2.o websites
gotoweb20 – Web application index for web 2.0 sites
feedmyapp – Web 2.0 Directory with the best and latest web 2.0 sites
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Browsing:
Google Chrome – Has nice synced bookmarks via the built in sync feature, but the personal bar installed plug-ins such as Chromey Calc and Handy Notes do not sync the data in them between computers
Firefox – Can sync bookmarks with a plug-in called Xmarks (free) – syncs IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome!
Opera has Opera Link – Syncs bookmarks, notes, browser history, personal bar
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E-Mail:
G-Mail – (free) – Includes calendar, task list, Google docs, chat client, no time limit on storage, will load other pop mail accounts
Windows Live HotMail – (free) – Accepts other pop mail accounts to and links to Microsoft Office Live
Yahoo! Mail – (free) – Has a calendar, IM and photo album built in
AOL Mail – (free) – Has a calendar and IM built in
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Office:
Google Docs (free) – Integrates with iGoogle, Chrome
Zoho (free) – An online app suite with an app for almost everything
ThinkFree (free) – Highest rated by ComputerWorld, has word processor, spreadsheet and powerpoint office apps
Microsoft Office Live – Microsoft’s answer to Google Docs, still in Beta but previewable if you have a Windows Live account (free)
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Web Research:
Feature set to target: Microsoft One Note – The highly loved student and researcher notebook
Google Notebook – (free) Development stopped Jan 2009, not accepting new users but the original online notebook that all reviewers reference
Springnote (free) – Word processor like interface with web clippings section, calendar, e-mail, to-do list, meeting notes and a bookshelf
Evernote (free) – Save word processor like docs with embedded images, audio files, video files. Has mobile widgets for iPad
UberNote (free) – Has a notepad, calendar, web clipping area, e-mail, bookmarking, support for mobile devices
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Online calcs:
Chromey Calculator – Add on to Google Chrome, front end for WolframAlpha
Web2.0calc – Most elegant looking online calculator, even works in iPad
WolframAlpha – Unique web 2.0 math evaluation idea
Online Calc Comparison – Infinitespectra blog post with more info
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Online OS desktops:
There are too few currently, to create a useful category.
glideos (free to 30G storage) – Has no ads, is flash-based, works on IE, Firefox, Safari and Chrome and has GlideWriter (proprietary). This one works well enough to try it and see what an on-line OS desktop is like.
icloud (free 3G storage) – Has mobile and desktop version, ajax based, zoho, proprietary e-mail, it hangs repeatedly at log-in for me
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Social and Collaboration Sites:
Linkedin (free) – Professional contact networking with mail and a profile area
Facebook (free) – Share photos and comments with those on your friend list
MySpace (free) – Same as Facebook but with looser security
Twitter (free) – BBS-style message system with good mobile and blog integration
Delicious (free) – Share your favorite browser bookmarks – owned by Yahoo!
YouTube (free) – Share your homemade videos and watch some television shows here too
Flickr (free) – Share photos with friends and family – owned by Yahoo!
Photobucket (free) – Another photo-sharing site
Picasa Web (free) – Google-owned photo sharing site – note that Blogspot stores your blog photos here also
Mashable – Share links and vote to create pop favorites directory of popular sites
Stumble Upon – Similar to Mashable, widget buttons available for your browser and blog
Digg – Social Link list of most popular sites and images on the web. Users vote (Digg) to raise popularity rank, includes Digg user comment section
Technorati – Link repository of most popular blogs on the Internet, voted and ranked by users
Wikipedia – On-line encyclopedia made entirely of user input
Logmein – Free remote computer access across the net (limited to one other computer and no direct file sharing in free version)
Gotomeeting – Sync notes, docs, chat in online group meetings. Companies pay a fee to use it, invitees do not.
Blogger (free) – Google owned blog hosting service, guest blogging and comments allow collaboration
WordPress (free) – Two versions, hosted WordPress.com is similar to Blogger, second version is from WordPress.org and is the installable application that you can put on your own website
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Online music:
Pandora (free to 40 hrs/mo, then $3/m0) – Create your own music channel from artist input and Pandora will stream songs from that artists and similar ones to a browser-based music player from it’s website
Slacker (free but with some ads, limited skips of songs) – Channelized content of genre channels. If you have their hardware player, you can download and play on the go (needs monthly re-connect to refresh the music and validate subscription)
AOL Radio (free) – Has an ad in-line but good choice of music channels, plays through a browser window
Live365 (free) – Another browser-based music player site with genre based channels
Last.fm (free) – Another music recommendation system that streams music to your browser – owned by CBS
Sirius ($13/mo) – Pay service, mainly for a hardware satellite receiver but can stream to your browser too. XM Radio is merged with Sirius now.
Zune Pass ($16/mo) – Microsoft experiment in an on-line music store, necessary to support the Zune hardware player. Using the PC app, the best mode is the all-you-can-eat plan for $16/month. The interface is futuristic and is great for exploring the artist’s other works and similar artists (IMDB of music). Sadly, it’s only for Windows.
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Online television & Movies:
Hulu (free) – Rumored to soon be subscription-based, this site offers many classic television shows to watch in a browser window.
You Tube (free) – Mainly used for home videos, there are some commercial music videos and television shows mixed in, too
wwiTV (free) – Watch 2800 worldwide tv channels on-line in your browser
freetubetv (free) – Another on-line Internet TV directory that plays TV shows in your browser
NBC online TV – Watch NBC network most popular TV shows on-line in a browser window
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Online Book Reading:
Wattpad (free) – upload your books for you and others to share on the go
World Public Library Association (free) – Read books online here, donated from world libraries.
Written August 7, 2010 by Vic Richardson