Here’s a family safe social networking site called Famster. The whole thing is in flash. I think the interface actually looks pretty cool.
Pilgrim Notes
Reflections along the way.
Tag: Web 2.0 (page 4 of 4)
This is a cool tool that works in your browser window and lets you preview web pages without actually leaving the page you’re on.
Springwise tells about a Dutch bank that is helping children try their hand at business.
Children who open an Easy Blue account receive a briefcase containing materials for printing their own t-shirts (aka bizznizz attire), stickers, letterhead, flyers, and business cards. To get started, the young business person logs on to bizznizz.postbank.nl and decides what type of business he or she would like to run. Postbank suggests washing cars, walking dogs, household chores and mowing lawns, as well as an intriguing ‘entertainment’ category…..Once a client has been secured and the first job completed, the kidpreneur can log back on to the website to print an invoice, and have the client transfer the carwashing fee to their bank account.
This programs companies real world activity (opening bank account, starting business) with online activity (creating online presence, billing, transferring funds). I this combination of real world and online activity represents the a key element in the future of the web (activities or clubs that bring together both physical interaction and physical activity with online interaction and activity).
Whereas MySpace focuses on the youth culture, now there multiple layers of social networking sites focusing on various niches. E-fluentials pointed me to a group of sites now emerging directed at connecting families and giving families a place to tell their story (OurStory, Families, Jotspot). I think this could take off. My dad wanted to write a memoir and then said he rather create an interactive website about his life. Something like these could facilitate that.
After I posted info on the various applications available online, Jeremy posted another downloadable suite called Open Office. So, I had to try it as well. Interesting, when you register the product, they ask if the reason you are using it is because you hate Microsoft. Then Boing Boing ran piece today about OpenOffice advertising on buses that go to Microsoft. That’s funny!
Anyway, I’ve tested the various apps and here’s my opinion. Open Office is pretty robust and a great downloadable option. I opened one of my Access databases in it and everything worked great. So it stays on the hard drive for when I don’t have WiFi access. But I also like the online apps because it makes it easy switching between computers.
I mainly tested the word processing and of all the apps, I liked ThinkFree. It has editing options I use like zoom, header/footer editing, etc. It runs on Java, which is a problem for some folks, and that means it runs a little slower, but the features are worth it to me. It also has a quick edit and power edit option, so for fasting editing, you can avoid the longer loading java window.
ZohoWriter and the Ajaxwriter were similar and I like them for quick edits. They run fast. I may prefer Zoho simply because it opens in another tab whereas Ajax opens a pop-up window for the document.
gOffice has a nice site but it is still a little too limited in editing options. I couldn’t figure how to change fonts.
If you haven’t tried any of these yet, you should. Open source is changing the rules and hopefully making the web what it was supposed to be. Not a place to make a few guys rich, but a place where us blokes could share our thoughts, ideas and solutions without always commodifying everything.
If you haven’t been keeping up with the developments in online software, there are multiple options now available for writing documents, creating spreadsheets and even developing presentations that rival PowerPoint. I’ve played with some of these and find them pretty cool and nice alternatives to spending an enormous chunk of cash of productivity tools that come with a bunch of bells and whistles most of us don’t even need.
Here are some of the ones I came across from a simple search and checking folks like TechCrunch.
Zoho offers a whole suite of productivity tools from word processing to spreadsheets to presentation tools and more. Most are free; some have a nominal cost. I played around with the word processing and may start using it myself. It exports as a .doc and other files and has the features I use most.
gOffice offers word processing, desktop publishing, presentations, and spreadsheets.
Writely was recently purchased by Google. They’re not offering new accounts yet, so I haven’t tried it. But you can sign up for an invitation.
ThinkFree comes with a gig of free online space and offers word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. ThinkFree takes a little longer to load but appears to have a bunch of editing tools. Both the icons and toolbar emulate MS Office.
Ajaxlaunch is offering a variety of web world tools including word processing, a sketch program, a video editing program, a soon to come ajax operating system, and more. Plus it has an online forum, so it appears to be creating a little community around these developments. Looks very interesting.
Google Labs is always introducing interesting applications including spreadsheets. One tool that I’ve added to my toolbar that could be helpful for those doing research on the Internet is the Google Notebook. This allows you to capture clips of web pages with links to the page and store them in a folder that is always accessible from your toolbar.
Thumbstacks is an easy tool for building online presentations.
Empressr is also an interesting presentation tool.
If anybody has found other online office tools they like, I’d love to hear about them. Moving between several computers at different locations, I find the online apps makes it very easy for me to work on projects.
Forget putting bookmarks in your web browser anymore. If you're like me, you'll probably rarely use those bookmarks. I have so many and I am too lazy to create folders, so I have so many booksmarks it overwhelms me and I immediately jump to a search engine instead. Now you post all your bookmarks to del.icio.us. Another great example of Web 2.0, del.icio.us allows you to tag all your bookmarks with categories, so you don't have the hassle of creating folders. Plus you can access your del.icio.us bookmarks from any computer and you can create a network of users with similar bookmarks as a way to find other interesting sites.
One of my favorites experiences is seeing a package of books sitting on the front porch. I love reading and collecting books. Recently I found a great example Web 2.0 developments for book lovers. LibraryThing allows users to psot their collections online with the ease of entering book title and sometimes author. You also have the option of writing reviews or adding other details including any unique publishing information that may differ than the publishing information generated through Amazon. What's the point? Well, you can tag your book entries and create a great card catalog that allows you to research your own library (especially when it is rather extensive). It also connects you to other people who have similar reading interests and provides book recomendations based on your specific books. LibraryThing does not sell books, but they will point to other book vendors. You can enter 200 books for free. After that you can pay $10 per year or $25 for life to add unlimited books (these are personal accounts). I think this service offers an amazing form of book cataloging that will be of great help for book lovers as myself.
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