This past week we compared several tools for musicians and music professionals, but each of the applications we looked at provides a unique service, and music professionals, especially bands and musicians, should consider using more than one of the music applications to reap the most benefit from them. Read More »
Indaba is designed with the collaborative musician in mind, not only providing a community for musicians, but an outlet for them to share their wares. Read More »
Bands, scouts, and labels have long used social networks as a way to promote themselves or scout new talent, but what listeners and musicians may not be aware of are the applications designed specifically for new music. Anything from independent marketplaces to networks that combine social interaction with marketplaces (the Listio search music+business will give you a good sampling) are available - online and ready at any hour (yes, even after your gig). Read More »
Not all publishers take your book as is - there's a new kind of publishing - one that's very web 2.0. Social, interactive, and all online, WeBook brings your friends and the community together to publish. Read More »
If there's one thing that complements cocktails well, it's friends, which is why ExtraTasty's approach to a social drink database makes sense. Look up the recipes you want to try, share favorites with friends, and even send it along to your mobile with ExtraTasty. Read More »
When thinking of what you might want in a recipe application, you are likely to want more than what a cookbook offers; recipes, descriptions, and suggestions, all with the speed of a search engine. Recipe applications provide these, and as we see with this week's applications, a bit more. Read More »
The first thing you notice with OpenSourceFood is the clean and modern design, bringing a high contrast layout with large, full pictures. Navigation is easy - links are quickly found, and the tab layout (Overview, Recipes, Voted, Following, People) lets users get to the area they want quickly. Keyword search is on the main page and the recipe tab will show suggestions. Read More »
With the holidays fully upon us and the economy going through its fluctuations, more web 2.0 users are bringing their meal closer to the hearth. This week we'll be looking at one way that users are doing that, with recipe applications. Read More »
There was a time when publishing your own magazine, even online, was more the territory of magnates and media moguls, but as the web continues to develop, having your own magazine is accessible thanks to some innovative web 2.0 products. This week we looked at four such applications: MagCloud, doXtop, Issuu, Calameo. We paid particular attention to how easy they are to use, what features they offer, and how many networks they can reach. Read More »
Web 2.0 users looking to publish documents online - either to promote their ideas, or share information have found new outlets in online magazine publishing applications. DoXtop is one of these applications, giving users a chance to upload, combine, and find documents within its interface. Read More »
Online publications don't do well on their own. At least that's the thought behind Calameo, the international online magazine publishing application. Calameo offers web-based publishing for a wide variety of formats, each with their own directory heading, and a chance for users to express themselves or find new materials. Read More »
Individuals and businesses alike publish magazine format documents, but as publishing transfers increasingly online, applications such as Issuu, with its strong design sense and intuitive features, have become popular outlets for online magazine publishing. Read More »
MagCloud sets itself apart from many online publishers by acknowledging the world has not gone completely digital - its purpose is to offer digitally produced magazines to you, printed and shipped the way traditional magazines are. Unlike the large print houses that handle magazines, however, MagCloud is a print on demand service, which means that money (and trees) can be saved. Read More »
Internet users have long been used to the idea that they can publish themselves into blogs, but many may not realize the possibility that new publishing applications online offer, and how web 2.0 has given them new ways to express themselves and enjoy the work of others. Read More »
This week we took a look at online travel journals, a type of application that can be useful for anyone who travels. When comparing travel journal applications it is important to think of what the purpose of the application is; in this case the purpose is to share a virtual itinerary, complete with maps, photos, and experiences. Read More »
When thinking of how you want to remember your trip or how you might want to discover new destinations, a map is what you'll most likely visualize, and it's a map you'll get with the travel journal Driftr. Designed with a simple to understand and visually pleasing interface, Driftr uses a large world map as one its navigational tools. The map is everywhere in Driftr, even on your page, where it will show all the places you've been and are going to. Read More »
The most appealing part of GoAbroad may be seen when you first get to it - a pleasing and engaging interface with embracing colors. GoAbroad quickly sets apart two types of users: Travelers are the majority users, the people who want to discover new locations and share the ones they've been to, and Advisors are institutional or special interest users that want to create a group of travelers. Read More »
There will be times when travelers will want to do more than just browse for destinations - the may want to book lodging as well. For this there is myTripBook, a travel application that combines the details of your trip with a travel booking engine that covers not only hotels, but hostels. Read More »
Traveling is one of life's pleasures, but as we all know the following Monday, it's over too quickly. So how do you keep those memories alive? Share your memories, advice and tips for friends, family, and other travelers with Web 2.0 and a type of application we call the travel journal. Read More »
So here's the setup - you've got video that you would like to put online, but you don't want to just put into YouTube - you want it all over the web. Maybe you've created a promotional video or creative short film. Maybe you've found a producer you like and are looking to partner that content with advertising. However you reached this point, you need some help - some web 2.0 help - to promote and distribute video content. Read More »
Whether you've missed your show or the deadline for high definition TV coming in February is looming over your head, you may want to consider what web 2.0 has to offer. Watching online entertainment has never been as easy as it is with the applications we looked this week. With limited commercial breaks and a library of old and new titles, users with these online TV applications can see movies, TV programs, clips, and in some cases music videos, all for free. Read More »
With online TV, not everyone wants to just catch up with their shows - some viewers want to share their experience, and for the that Joost is well suited. In addition to the ability to watch shows and videos you like, you can mark your favorites, see who's watching what, and share what you find with your friends. Read More »
So you're looking to send an image to a friend, or do a little doodling without filling your wastebasket full of paper. So where can you go to draw online and show off what you did? Queeky is an online drawing application that lets you draw in two ways: one is to create your own drawing through QueekyPaint, and the other is to share your drawing in one of the virtual rooms where you can draw and chat with other artists. Read More »
With so much news and information out there, we all could use a little help to make it more accessible, but what if we want to share what we find? FeedEachOther is an application with this in mind; get the news you care about and provide a way to share information without pestering your friends with emails. Read More »
Twhirl calls itself a social software client, but don't let that fool you. It's a tool for microblogging and keeping up with all those social networks scattered across the net. Part aggregate, part toolbox, Twhirl lets you get the feeds from several of the popular social sites, including Twitter, Seesmic, Friendfeed, and Identi.ca. Each of these microblogging sites offers different content, but since Twhirl was built with Twitter in mind, let's talk about how Twhirl works with Twitter. Read More »
We have come to rely on the major search engines for our information, but as you have no doubt noticed, search results are ordered by the engines themselves, and no matter what the algorithm, the search results are always text, single lines of description supplied by the website themselves. Rely as we do upon the wisdom of the search engine to put the best on the front page, finding the right page among these one-liners can be difficult. SearchMe has developed another way to handle that information - visually.
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One of the major elements in web 2.0 has been the application of social networking, and we've seen it integrated into anything from blogging to politics. iLike, the web 2.0 application for music discovery, uses the favorite tracks of the community - specifically friends - to bring you music recommendations. Read More »
As one might gather from his first visit to Carbonmade's colorful site, Carbonmade has been designed with ease and simplicity in mind. For the user that wants to manage their portfolio this translates to a quick, no frills setup. Read More »
Designed for presentations, Viewbook is a portfolio manager with tools to customize the look of your graphic portfolios. With streamlined features, a unique url, and embeddable Flash, Viewbook is a professional alternative to more community-based portfolio managers. It begins with signing into Viewbook, then an upload - a batch upload if you like - of the files you would like to show. Viewbook's simple interface lets you create the presentation as you like with simple editing and descriptors. Read More »
As the web has developed, so have some of the functions that initially drew us into the virtual community. Case in point is portfolio management, which has made the transition from a simple "hey, look at this," to source of information to be enjoyed, managed, and processed. Take, for example, the photo gallery Flickr. Once just a posting site for photos, Flickr has developed with web 2.0, becoming much more. Now it offers portfolio management tools, tagging, and new ways of exploring. Read More »
We've written up some of the desktop file synchronization applications available, and today we'd like to share what we've discovered. We chose these applications for their versatility and integration of web 2.0 features, and though we did not choose these applications for their file sharing ability, it quickly became apparent that the developers valued that ability. As you can see from the chart, we judged the applications on usability as well as function, always with a mind to reliability. Measured for security, sync, and which applications have unique functions for photos or sharing, we'll be taking a look at the applications that connect you. Read More »
The first thing to know about the beta file sharing, sync'ing, and backup utility Syncplicity is that at the moment, it only supports the Windows platform. According to Syncplicity, support for Apple will come, but for the moment this review applies to users running XP or Vista. With the Syncplicity experience, sharing, sync'ing, and backup are all simple processes with Syncplicity. Secure, up to date files are maintained with frequent synchronization, available at any time through remote access on the web. Integration into productivity tools and social networks extend the function of Syncplicity, making it versatile for the PC user. Read More »
File management is genuinely sweet with SugarSync, the cross-platform application that can sync multiple computers, share files, and backup files. Access your files from any location, including your mobile, and have them backed up as you go with SugarSync. Read More »
FolderShare has been in one incarnation or another since the end of 2005, offering a platform for file synchronization, sharing, and remote access. A pragmatic approach to synchronization, Foldershare offers sync without the 3rd party upload in a simple interface. Read More »
At a glance, there's not much to Dropbox. Download the program, install, then put files you'd like to share into one of the two folders Dropbox creates for you on your computer. One for files, the other for photos. When you're ready to sync or share, you sign in to Dropbox.com. That's it. Share away. Yet beyond the simplicity of Dropbox there is a lot of capability, ranging from synchronizing files to cross platform compatibility. Dropbox allows you to upload online for the purpose of sharing or syncing, but the original files stay in your folders, giving you the best of both worlds. Share, sync, and even restore versions while maintaining local control over the information. Read More »
Maybe you love languages, like to meet people, want a refresher, or are ready to admit that our globalized world demands unique cultural skills, but whatever the reason you seek out language exchange, web 2.0 has the tongue of your choosing. Language lesson marketplace Linkua has an impressive range of languages, and, since there are a finite number of places to pick up Basque, Cebuano, and Zapotec, an excellent place to look for less common languages.
The benefit of paid lessons are that you can guide your education as you like, but if the bill seems too much or you want a more social experience, head over to iTalki, where the learning can be done in 97 languages, by group or individual. Read More »
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