Information Addicts

Image by jon gos

I use the below five Web 2.0 applications everyday, I can organise both my online and offline life with them. Some of them have helped me become more productive, orginised, and others are for pure pleasure. I use some of them to help me run and maintain this blog.
They allow me to keep up with my hobbies, interests, the news, and even help me achieve my goals, and keep up with daily tasks, without them I would be unhappy.
Could these Web 2.0 applications help you? Definitely, you may even be using some of them now.

What is Web 2.0?
Put simply Web 2.0 is a technology that allows you to use web based applications online without downloading any files to your PC.
If you want more information on Web 2.0 then click here.

Netvibes (now called Netvibes Ginger).
This has to be my most used and favourite Web 2.0 application at the moment.
Netvibes is a service that allows users to set up their own customized start page composed of “widgets” and “add-ons” which can contain a wide variety of information from dozens and dozens of other sites.

Not only can you add, organise and read all your best RSS feeds, (want to know more about RSS then click here), but you can use all your social networking accounts in this application, for example MySpace, Digg, YouTube, Gmail, Flickr, eBay, del.icio.us and twitter.
You can add to do lists, have various calendars, bookmark websites, have the weather display instantly.
You can add email accounts from Gmail, Yahoo, Pop, Imap, etc which means when you open Netvibes your can instantly read your emails.
You can have multiple search engines in one tab, view videos and play games all within Netvibes, and the list goes on.

One of the best things I like about Netvibes is you can organise all these add-ons and modules into tabs. For example I have 36 tabs which are named anything from Computing to Pocket PC.
With Netvibes you can organize both your online and offline life.
This is a very easy to use application, and once you start using it, you will wonder how you ever managed without it. Click here to go to Netvibes

Zoho.
Zoho gives you access to office type applications online for free.
Zohos applications include Zoho Writer which is what I use the most, and features auto save, email support, a spell checker, and you can save the document as a DOC, SXW, PDF, ODT, RTF, TXT and HTML. Zoho Sheet which is a spreadsheet, allows you to import data from existing Excel and OpenOffice documents. Zoho Notebook which allows you to take notes, Zoho Planner—an online organizer with todo, reminders, and notes. Zoho has many other applications that I use from time to time, and has a vast array of options.

Other online office type applications exist, but I find Zoho to be the best, I think it has more functionality and is quicker than other online office applications.
Give it a try, you will not be disappointed. Click here to go to Zoho.

Stumbleupon.

StumbleUpon is a collaborative surfing tool for browsing, reviewing and sharing great sites with like-minded people. This helps you find interesting Web pages you wouldn’t think to search for.
To get started you need to create an account and then download a small add-on for your browser, you are then asked to choose interests, hobbies, and topics of your choice by ticking the boxes provided. When you have choosen your interests etc, click the Stumble button and StumbleUpon will show you websites that it predicts you will like.
If you do like the webpage shown, then you can click on the ‘I like it’ icon, and StumbleUpon will show you more pages of similar content. You can also click this icon at anytime you see a website or blog you are reading, that you may think other StumbleUpon users might like, hint, hint.
If you don’t like a webpage that StumbleUpon displays, then just click on the ‘no more like this’ icon. The idea is that Stumbleupon learns what you like and dislike and only shows you relevant content.
Beware, this is one addictive application which can literally take over your life, well just about, try it and you will see what I mean. For more information click here.

Meebo.
Most of us use more than one instant messaging client to chat and keep in touch with our friends and loved ones.
What I find most annoying is having multiple windows open for each client program, and having to logon to each one of them.
If you travel or you are at work and use a PC, it is very difficult or impossible to access them, as most IM clients have to be installed on the PC.
This is were Meebo comes into its own, because it doesn’t have to be installed, meaning that you can access your chats on any PC, anywhere in the world with a compatible web browser, (the app works with IE 5x, 6x and 7x, Firefox and Safari).
It’s very easy to set up, all you have to do is create an account, don’t worry as your information will not be used for any other purposes, then logon with the username and password that you created. This then allows you to use AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ and Jabber all at once if you wish.

Meebo has become vey popular with users exchanging over 80 million instant messages daily. In addition, Meebo has been named to the following lists:
-Time’s Top 50 Coolest Websites for 2006
-PC World’s The 100 Best Products of 2006
-PC World’s The 100 Best Products of 2007
-Top 100 Webware sites for 2007
If you are wondering how secure Meebo is, then this Web 2.0 Ajax application encrypts log-in passwords using JavaScript, decrypting the server side with OpenSSL.
Head on over to Meebo and give it a try.
Happy chatting.

Twitter.

This is the latest addition to my Web 2.0 applications and I really enjoy using it.
I would describe Twitter as a chat client which enables you to chat to your friends, and also to find and chat to people with similar interests.
There is one catch, you only have up to 140 characters to say what you need to. Doesn’t sound a lot I know, but it works really well.
I also use Twitter to promote my articles, but I also like to promote other blogs or websites that I find interesting.
I found it took a while to get used to, and still don’t use it as much as I would like to, but the more I use it the more interesting it becomes. Click here to go to the twitter home page.

I have found a great resource website for twitter, take a look.
If you are interested, click here to go to my twitter account.

For a complete list of web 2.0 applications click on this excellent website directory.

Do you use any web 2.0 applications?
If you do, what are your favourite ones?

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 1:00 pm and is filed under PC Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.