Crenk » Web Apps

Wipsace Ignites Online Collaboration

Luis Sandoval — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:45:12 +0000

There’s a lot of sites out there that offer collaboration tools. From the simplified office collaboration tools like Google Documents and Zoho Writer, to the more sophisticated like Basecamp. In the end each of them appeal to different markets, different segments of the industry and each of them function differently. So with those options we choose one that best fits our needs and we run with it. But what if there was a sexier option, something with real personality, but still maintaining all the same functionality?

Now there is. Introducing WIPspace, the creative collaboration tool that offers up multiple levels of engagement in a sleek, sexy, yet functional package. The image blow is a visual diagram of all the things WIPspace is capable of.

You feeling it yet? There’s real fire under this engine, and the multitude of offerings it has makes it a very robust package. Working on projects or movies, this space allows you to fully interact with off-site teams, and engage the client all at the same time.

Be sure to watch the videos and test drive it. Let us know what you think and how it compares with Basecamp or some of the other collaboration tools out there.

TubeRadio Redefines Online Music Listening

Luis Sandoval — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:58:20 +0000

It’s not uncommon for us here at Crenk to come across web applications that do the same thing, the only differences are that some might do it better or worse than another. In this case, the team has come across a very interesting music listening application called TubeRadio.

Once again for the music lover in all of us, this just astounds me. Now it does not have the capability to tap into your own stored music, but as powerful as this search engine is, this could very well replace my Pandora or Last.Fm efforts, even if only for a little while. TubeRadio calls itself the Youtube for music. After you see the video below, you’ll know what I mean.

So what do you think? They search is amazing and very thorough. I’m surprised at how music it can find, and even more so by how seamless the integration of listening and/or watching your music can be. During the video the speaker mentions it being like your personal MTV. Yeah, MTV, from when it used to actually play music.

My experience with TubeRadio has been a good one. I’ve found what I want to listen to, it streams everything smoothly with little problem. In my opinion the only thing really missing is the ability to tap into my own music, but I can overlook that for now since I’m lining up some great music of my own, and of other recommended playlists.

Go Squared Release Their New Live Stats Platform in Closed Beta

Steven Finch — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:44:29 +0000

Traffic analysis is one of the most important parts of understanding your sites and its readers. Im a firm believer that sites and blogs need to really get to know their audience and offer them whatever they want.

GoSquared has launched their new LiveStats product in which they are trying to combined with their exsiting SellAds and GetSeen products. LiveStats is a real-time traffic monitoring app for small and medium sized websites. If you head over to http://gosquared.com, you can signup and then add your site. Once accepted you will be able to see in real time users visiting your site and their basic information.

Information available includes:

Browser
Country
Operating System
URL
Enterance Source

There are a few additional options, but instead of running through everything I just thought I would add their introduction video:

Music Video Site Vevo To Launch on December 8th

Steven Finch — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:01:38 +0000

Vevo has to be one of the most anticipated launches of the year and it is all set to go live on December 8th. The source is the Vevo twitter account. The announcement comes a day after Hulu said it too would make a foray into the music video space, with a deal to put up some music videos from EMI on its site.

If you have been living under a rock for the past 6 months, then Vevo is a new music video joint venture between the major record labels and YouTube. At launch the site will include music from Sony and Universal. This is a big move because the most popular sites at the moment on YouTube are the music video channels. Vevo allows YouTube to make even larger revenues because its a lot easier to place advertising against a quality peice of content like a music video, instead of the user generated content on its normal site.

Team Vevo email:

Dear member of the VEVO VIP pre-launch mailing list (Note: that would be anyone who signed up at Vevo.com for updates),

We are excited to tell you that VEVO will launch the evening of Tuesday, December 8!!

We’ve been working night and day for months to bring you the best music video and entertainment experience we can dream up, and in just about 3 weeks you can see it online for yourself!

The VEVO service at VEVO.com and at YouTube.com will go live in coordination with our launch event in New York on December 8th. We’ll be sure to let you know as soon as it’s up and running so you can start having some fun

We can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on!

In the meantime, please keep in touch and let us know what you think about all things VEVO!

Safe Internet Downloads on Softonic

Luis Sandoval — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:04:08 +0000

There’s nothing like finding that application that helps get you through your day. Whether it’s a productivity application, or a business appliation, or a creative application, whether the need, it’s nice to know that there are alternatives to the costly pay versions. Sometimes freeware or shareware is just as good to get the job done and we turn to the internet for those downloads.

Now I admit in the past I had been going to Download.com, and found what I needed on there. But recently I was introduced to Softonic, and it’s equally as impressive as Download.com, but I’m just not a fan of the interface. I found it confusing, kinda clunky, and Download.com seems to have gotten the site structure of its heirarchy better laid out.

Still there’s tons of great apps on the site, which also features apps you should have. Sometimes you find apps that you didn’t now you needed, and that’s when you know that a site is bringing value to you. That value comes in what Softonic covers; Windows, Mac, Phones, Palm OS and Pocket PC’s. Seems like a healthy library, and growing everyday.

Give it a try and let us know which one you like better.

Online Real Estate App

Luis Sandoval — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:55:23 +0000

Real estate, whether it’s hot or not, one this is true, it’s all about the location. With that in mind, for those of us that are seeking a place to hang our hat, to call our home, there’s lots of apps out there that can help us find that dwelling. Whether your single, married, roomates, there are apps out there that can help you find the right place for you. In the UK there is one specific app that we had a chance to play with, and that’s MousePrice.

MousePrice is an extremely web and mobile app that can share pricing of real estate, provide you quotes, and some basic information based on your needs. The web app is a very simple website that asks you three questions before you submit and move onto your information. In an effort to increase transparency in the industry MousePrice puts as few roadblocks between you and the results. Finding the properties available in the area you selected then makes it easy for you to find the place that best fits your budget.

Alternatively the mobile app for the iPhone works just as effectivly. After inserting some basic information on the location you want, or using your specific location at the moment, it will map out, using GPS, the entire area providing you drop pins to click on in order to get your information. Once the information is displayed, properties in green mean the value has gone up, property in pink means it’s gone down, and yellow properties simply mean that there is not enough information to accurately give you the most recent information.

Interested? Well if you’re in the UK looking for a bit of real estate, I’d be curious to hear if you’ve used this and if you like it. If you’re a real estate agent, do you find this effective for what you do? Leave a comment and let us know.

SnailMailr: Send Snail Mail Online

Dean Sherwin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:35:46 +0000

SnailMailr is a cool web app that basically allows you to send normal postage mail via the internet. It works by you filling out details such as your address, the address you want the letter posted to and writing your letter. You can send a letter with four pages for $1 anywhere in the United States. Each subsequent page costs you and extra $0.15. Also, for an extra $0.15 you can remove their logo which is printed on the envelope as show.

There is no need to register an you pay the balance via PayPal. It costs more to send letters internationally. You can send letters no matter where you’re located. In many cases, it’ll work out cheaper if you’re posting to the US and you live elsewhere!

Online Music Search with JukeFly

Luis Sandoval — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:51:07 +0000

If you’re a music junkie like I am, chances are you have multiple mp3 players lying around, probably a ton of music on your computer, external drives, and/or stored off-site in cloud storage somewhere. Music for me defines who I am and is attached to a lot of my memories. While some people tie their memories to sights, sounds, and smells, I’ve always tied my memories to music. Which is why when something new makes it easier for me access my music and listen to what I want to when I need to, then I’m all for it.

There’s a web application that I’ve just been introduced to called JukeFly. The concept of Juke Fly is simple, if not multifaceted. For starters it’s a great way to search music. The interface allows you to find your music, but not just the audio, it will pull video from YouTube and a variety of other sources to give you a complete look at the music you’re looking for. It also pulls album covers, lyrics, group information, and other extras that make for an interesting experience. So as a search I was able to find a lot of what I was looking for, and see extras that I have never seen before like live performances, behind the scenes extras, and yes, even other people covering the music. I found this to be an interesting extra to just searching and playing music.

Add on top of that layer the ability to play YOUR music from just about anywhere as long as the main computer you’re pulling from is one and has an online connection. So if you’re traveling and accessing another computer, or if you don’t want to carry your music with you on your laptop, you can simply install the small installer that comes with JukeFly, go through the settings, and that’s it. It will read your music folders, pull the necessary data and you can listen to your music library from wherever you are.

There are some other options out there that offer music search and remote access, so perhaps this is not something entirely new, but I found the interface easy to use, and had a fun enough time finding some old music I had not heard in awhile. Have you used Juke Fly? Maybe you know of another alternative, let me know!

Improve Dropbox with Votebox

Augusto Alvarez — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:25:16 +0000

We’ve mentioned a few times back about DropBox being a very cool application, even the iPhone version; but the developer team it is already working on satisfying all your needs. That’s why they’ve created Votebox, where users can vote about incoming new features.

Here are some of the features that are the most popular right now:

Selective sync. Choose which files to sync and which you don’t want to sync.
Watch any folder. Sync folders outside the Dropbox folder.
Mac resource fork support. For a better integration with Mac users and OS.
Email files to Dropbox. Sending just one mail will upload the file to DropBox
DropBox for Android.
Sharing permissions. Define different sharing permissions to your folders.

Also they’ve mentioned some other options, not only as features but regarding about pricing and payment (PayPal support for example). Even though DropBox is a free application, you have 2GB as a free user; if you want more, there’s a fee associated.

If you are a DropBox addict, then don’t hesitate and vote!

Streaming Music Online Via Browser

Luis Sandoval — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:30:21 +0000

I’m a huge fan of music. I’ve got several versions of the iPod for a variety of occasions, I’ve got streaming music players all over my computer, I’ve got sites bookmarked that stream audio from overseas; for me, there’s just nothing better than paying music for inspiration, clarity, and nostalgia. To increase my music listening abilities I’ve used plugins such as FoxyTunes to give me access to my music straight from my browser, but what if I’m not home or on my laptop. There’s a good chance I’ve got my mobile on me and I can stream from there, but for those of us always changing computers, or using public computers, there’s now an interesting option that we can participate with.

Stereo8 is a new stream audio web app that streams straight from your browser. No downloading, no installing, no problems. Just about any browser should work (I tested on Safari, Firefox, IE6 and IE7, Opera, and Chrome). Simply select a genre of music you want to listen to, and let the music play. You can interact with the music by voting on what you like, and those votes determine what’s played. Stereo8 calls it self a true internet radio with a twist. That twist is that listeners can vote and share music with one another making it a social community of sorts.

As I write this article I’ve picked the video game category and have listened to some of the biggest games from my present and past. In some of the other categories I was listening to songs that perhaps I was not a fan of myself, and some more obscure songs that I never even knew existed, which is not always a good thing. But if you’re looking to be introduced to something new and unique, far from the beaten path you’re used to traveling, then perhaps Stereo8 is for you. A few stations I found really solid, and just now they started playing the Terran theme from Starcraft, so that’s just an idea of the kind of music you’ll be listening to (at least on the game channel).

Internet Search Expanded, Online Information Drilldown

Luis Sandoval — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:42:13 +0000

Search has become a hot topic for the past year. Bing, Google, Yahoo, and others have fought for dominance and in this battle, users have been introduced to a bevy of innovations in their searches. The concept of search is nice, type in a few words, or phrases and find content directly related to your query. Some searches are more successful than others all the while introducing users to content across hundreds of thousands of pages. Still, most users will not go past the first two or three pages at most.

SurfCanyon strives to change the user’s search experience and focus not just on getting content, but becoming a tool for discovery. Much like a tool we spoke about some time ago, Worio, SurfCanyon attaches itself to your browser of choice and adds a target tab that allows for further discover of related content right from your normal search. The reason behind such an app is the fact that sometimes your content is not where you expect it. I with users not typically going past page 3, SurfCanyon will pull related content together for you and place it right under all the links you see on the first page.

You don’t just get deeper results, but as seen below you can dig even deeper into your results. This provides a real drill down experience for search discovery. This immersive search experience might be something you’ve been longing for. There’s lots of results to search through and the concept is to provide you answers for even the most complicated of queries.

iPhone App for the Nuclear Apocalypse

Luis Sandoval — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:44:27 +0000

Nuclear apocalypse is inevitable, right? Okay, maybe not, but if it were true, wouldn’t it be beneficial to have an iPhone app that could detail your personal radiation exposure. Thanks to a concerned radiologist out of Canada, Dr Mark Baerlocher, and Tidal Pool Software, the reality of such an iPhone app is real.

The application taps into normal exposures to radiation to give you a detailed report of where you stand. Are you glowing green in the dark or have you not been radiated enough? The iPhone application takes measurements from X-rays and CT scans for example. With the simple input of personal information based on your own situation, the application will let you know where you stand and if you are at risk. While not free, this $3.00 application might be worth your money if you’re prone to getting medical tests and are exposed to high levels of radiation.

A bonus to this application is the graph it will create to inform you if you are at risk of cancer based on the amount of radiation you’ve been exposed to. So is this worth it? Entirely up to you. Suffice to say that if you’re consistently going in for procedures or exposed to radiation for any period of time, it would be wise to get the facts, and perhaps check with a doctor.

Paint your Room Online to See What it Looks Like

Dean Sherwin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:10:40 +0000

So you decide the living room needs a make over. The first task? A lick of paint. So it’s off down to the DIY store to fetch yourself some tins of lovely paint. Having spent $40 on paint and brushes, drank 9 cups of tea, kicked over two cans and fell off your ladder you stand back to admire the new paintjob.

Dang! Not looking to great is it?

This is a mistake made my all of us at some point. And yet it could have so easily been avoided if we have of known about ColorJive before now. Basically, you upload a picture of the room you would like to paint (it’s best if there’s good lighting and its of a high resolution). Then, simply select which colour you would like by using their custom colour selecting tools.

I think this is a really great app that saves a lot of time and effort. It also works really well. One would expect it to be buggy or require a lot of manual input, but no; within a few minutes I had great pictures of of painted rooms without any of the effort of actually painting!

Now you have a good idea of what you living room/ bedroom, bathroom or kitchen will look like before you waste your whole Saturday painting only to do it over on Sunday.

Remote Access Online More Cost Efficient

Luis Sandoval — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:17:56 +0000

The world of computing and IT has made some big jumps in the last decade. The once powerful Microsoft has started to take a backseat to other companies gaining a strong market share in a variety of industries such as Google, Apple, Yahoo, to name just a few. As the playing field changes, so do the technologies, and virtualization has become a way businesses are now doing business.

We’ve seen an increase in cloud computing, reducing the need for physical technology expenditures and manpower to maintain them. We’ve seen conferences, webinars, communication, all taking place online using online applications that help facilitate these needs.

Techinline Remote Desktop offers virtualization services that offer secure and trouble free connections between PC’s across the globe. While a powerful tool at the corporate level, Techinline is also useful for small businesses, saving on travel and other related expenses.

This instant connection to solve your customer’s technical needs is useful especially if you’ve got clients in multiple locations. Why hire someone for each location when the technical needs associated to software can be handled virtually from one location with Techinline.

There are a lot of remote pc apps out there, so add this one to the list and give it a try If you’ve used remote PC web applications, I’d like to hear your take on it. And if you used Techinline Remote Desktop, let us know your experience and if you’d recommend it.

Free Movies Theatre: Watch Movies Online Without Downloading

Steven Finch — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:12:54 +0000

Previously here on Crenk we have reviewed many sites that aim at providing users with a hub for being able to watch movies online without downloading anything. Today we have come across another site that claims to do this the best, FreeMoviesTheatre.

FreeMoviesTheatre pretty much does what it says on the tin and that is provide some great movies users can watch right within their browser. The site itself provides a great list of genres from Animated to Bollywood and Sci-Fi. All the latest movies are there too, plus they have a simple option to download the movies. I would like to see the site have a easier download function instead of using a third party, however if they did this them I’m sure their site would be illegal.

Currently, FreeMoviesTheatre has over 4500 movies online and they are growing fast. Im not entirely too sure how legal this site is, but make use of it before they get taken down!

5 Leading VOIP Services That Are Skype or Gizmo5 Alternatives

Steven Finch — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:26:30 +0000

There has been a lot of talk about Skype and now Gizmo5 this week, so we thought we would let everyone know about 5 new VOIP service that are on the rise.

Truphone (www.truphone.com), London, became the first true Internet calling application in Apple’s App Store when the company introduced Truphone for the iPhone a year ago; it’s now available for the iPod touch, BlackBerry, Nokia and Android devices. Truphone enables free to low-cost mobile calling over available Wi-Fi or local wireless networks for owners of iPhones and other smartphones who travel out of their home service areas. It’s especially advantageous for international travelers who want to make inexpensive calls from their mobile phones wherever in the world they may be. Further, Truphone eliminates the uncertainty of expensive roaming charges altogether, so people who call using Truphone know what they’re paying and what they’re getting. And calls between Truphone users are always free. The company’s Truphone Local Anywhere service, coming later this year, aims to eliminate the high cost of calling other countries by making all calls “local.” Truphone Local Anywhere will become the mobile service of choice — delivering cost savings and convenience — for anyone who travels, or lives abroad and needs to stay in touch with family, friends and business colleagues, wherever they may live.

ShoZu (www.shozu.com), London, is an intelligent social media hub currently used by people worldwide to enrich connections with the people in their lives by effortlessly exchanging video, pictures and commentary between mobile devices and favorite social networks, photo sharing sites and information resources. The company’s patented technology provides fast, easy, one-click uploads of photos and video clips from the mobile to the Web, full-resolution photo and video delivery without compression, an emerging suite of services that push content to the phone, the ability to work in the background even if a connection is dropped, and other unique features that simplify and enhance the user experience. The company was founded in 2000 and has formed partnerships with some of the leading players in the mobile ecosystem, including Motorola and Samsung.

Boingo Wireless (www.boingo.com), Los Angeles, is the global market leader in Wi-Fi. Boingo makes it easy for consumers to enjoy Wi-Fi access on their laptops or mobile devices at more than 100,000 hotspots worldwide — including airports, hotels, cafes and metropolitan hot zones — with a single account. Through its Concourse Communications Group, LLC subsidiary, Boingo operates wired and wireless networks at 20 of the top 100 North American airports.

Hi Def Conferencing (www.hidefconferencing.com), Hoboken, N.J., from Citrix Online is a multi-party communication service that delivers crystal-clear quality and realism in audio get-togethers. The service uses advanced audio processing of up to 5 times the bandwidth of legacy telephone systems, making it easy to hear the subtleties of participants’ speech, accents and inflection – dramatically improving comprehension. Hi Def Conferencing also brings clarity to what users pay. As a predictable, fixed-fee service, it eliminates the billing surprises typically associated with other conferencing services. For a flat monthly fee, high quality conferencing is within the reach of everyone – encouraging ad hoc group collaboration with family members around the world. Participants access Hi Def Conferencing easily over traditional landlines, mobile carriers or broadband VoIP services, such as Skype.

iotum (www.calliflower.com), Ottawa, is a Voice 2.0 company that aims to reinvent business conversations and shape a world of relevant communications where devices, social networks and Web services work seamlessly together to let people communicate with whom they want, when they want and on the device they want. iotum’s business is to design and provide a simple, supportive and intuitive environment to enrich business conversations. iotum’s products and services bring greater meaning and productivity to typically stale and static multiparty communications and meet the growing teleconferencing needs of a broad range of customers across many industries. Iotum’s flagship service, Calliflower, makes it easy for people to plan and participate in engaging and meaningful conference calls that bridge business and social networks.

Online Collaborative Workspaces with OfficeMedium

Luis Sandoval — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:00:36 +0000

I’m not quite sure when things in the office changed, and why all of a sudden there’s been such a rush to do online collaborative tools for offices. While for some it screams efficiency, for others it screams TRAINING!!! Sadly no matter how much you “train” people to learn the new ways, someone always fumbles and things fall apart.

Nevertheless, this drive for online tools has driven companies like Google, Zoho, Microsoft, and many others to create online office tools that go where you go, and are accessible from anywhere in the world…provided you have an internet connection. So heavily used are these tools that even while on the go, your mobile devices are capable of accessing these tools which allows you to never miss a step.

While the above mentioned are great, and provide a level of collaboration that standard desktop office software does not, there is one that offers an all inclusive internet office for online work, OfficeMedium.

Nope, I’m not talking the crazy office worker who claims to see dead people, not that type of medium. I’m talking about the actual suite of online collaborative office tools that give you more than the standard faire. Aside from the typical presentation, word, and spreadsheet portions, you’re also given access to content management tools, events/tasks/calendar tools, social networking tools for your intranet, file sharing and storage, along with enhanced security to keep what’s happening within the company private.

This online web application is not free, there are minimal costs attached, and from I see, the cost is extremely affordable. But it still begs the question, what companies truly need this type of depth? I think it will come down to the size of your company and the needs it needs to serve. Google and Zoho seem appropriate for what I do, but perhaps a more enterprise level company would turn to OfficeMedium to help keep communication a little tighter within a company.

[Disclosure: OfficeMedium is a sponsor for Crenk]

WebPageTest.org: Test Your Website for Speed

Dean Sherwin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:18:26 +0000

I recently developed my own blog and it went live the other day following some trouble with the host. Following said trouble I decided to run a speed test for my site to make sure everything was performing as they promised it would. So after a little digging around I discovered webpagetest.org. This website gives you the chance to test you website for performance by entering the few details as seen below in the screenshot.

After hitting the submit button it takes a minute or two to finish testing your website. After this you get some great results such as showing you which type of content is causing delays (ie. Images, Java) so you can remove or compress them. And things like SEO and server response time.

This is a great websites for webmasters to make sure things are running as they should. Check it out at www.webpagetest.org .

Huge URLs and Crazy E-Mail Addresses

Dean Sherwin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:53:52 +0000

We’ve all heard or Bit.ly, TinyURL and the rest. All of them shorten URLs so they can be discreet and fit places (like in the restrictive Twitter posting area). But what about the opposite end of the scale. What about huge URLs? And I mean HUGE.

HugeUrl.com is a website that takes you average sized link and makes it really big. I’m still yet to come up with a good use for it other than to annoy friends and for your own individuality.

I was planning on posting a link here to the Crenk Twitter account or something but when I got the link lengthened at hugeURL.com it was over forty lines long which I though was a bit much to have on the homepage.

Another similar service which I found was http://www.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com/ who offer the worlds longest e-mail addresses. Apparently they’re so long that some software and online forms won’t accept them and “people have a hard time typing in your e-mail address” – obviously.

So long story short (pun intended) – go to HugeURL.com if you want ridiculously long URLs which are useful for nothing and go to http://www.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com/ for the worlds longest e-mail address.

ElfYourself: Make Your Own Custom Christmas Cards

Dean Sherwin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:00:42 +0000

So Christmas is coming – or so the advertisers would have us believe. Still, it can’t be a bad time to get the office e-cards out of the way I suppose. For the past few years a popular services has ruled the internet Christmas card market – and this year it’s back again.

ElfYourself lets you embed the head of yourself, a friend, family member or co-worker on the tiny body of and elf in scenes such as Crazy Dancing and Hip-Hop Elfs.

However, it has also linked up with Twitter and Facebook so you can share your creations online with your buddies and even distribute hilarious ones among your network via connecting with friends on Facebook or simply tweeting your card.

So what are you waiting for – get over there and Elf Yourself.

Free Downloadable Add-Ons Make for Speedy Browsing

Steven Finch — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:08:20 +0000

Mozillas Firefox Bookmarking Add-Ons make browsing on-line faster, more organized, and more convenient. While there are hundreds of free Bookmarks Add-ons to choose from through Mozillas AMO website, only a handful of them have received a coveted Recommended rating. Features vary wildly, and though some are a slight improvement over Internet Explorers Favorites, others succeed at being both simple and sophisticated.

If you just want to take the bookmarks names off the Bookmarks Toolbar to allow for more bookmarks to appear, Smart Bookmarks Bar 1.4.3 is an okay option. Its straightforward, but doesn’t give you much in the way additional functionality. Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar 4.0 does just what it says. As you get too many Bookmarks for one row, additional rows will appear. Of course as you add more and more bookmarks, you wont have much space left on your screen.

Xmarks 3.3.2 is popular because it synchronizes your bookmarks and passwords and allows you to access and update them on each computer you keep. Plus it supports Firefox, as well as Internet Explorer and Safari. One slightly worrisome feature of Xmarks is that it captures all of your Google searches (and other search engines) so it can interject websites into your Search results (they call this their “discovery service”). Just like Google, it keeps a history of websites that you visit, so security is a concern. Although Xmarks says its encrypted, it doesn’t seem impossible for its server to get hacked and all of a sudden have all of your passwords for sale to the highest bidder on the net.

The best feature of samfind Bookmarks Bar 2.0.3 is how fast it gets you to the sites you visit most often. Its totally customizable, and starts you off with some of the most popular websites already configured. Bookmarks are organized by Topics and its easy to add websites, even letting you drop and drag sites you want to add right from the address bar. You can position the samfind Toolbar where you want it, and you can select the look of websites on the Bar as icons, icons and text, or text. You can also change samfind’s layout to fit several times as many websites as you normally could, saving valuable screen space.

Shareaholic 1.9 supports over 60 social sites, allowing you to choose your favorite social services and access them from a single drop down menu. This add-on is tightly focused on bookmarking/sharing, blogging/publishing, as well as emailing, and link shortening. You can have instant access to shared web pages with the websites in these categories. In this respect it is similar to some of the other add-ons mentioned, although with fewer numbers of websites to interact with.

Mozillas Recommended Bookmarks Toolbars are all free downloads, and they offer a variety of features that will appeal to virtually any level of web browser. Once installed, they can all make repeated visits to the Internet a whole lot quicker and a lot less cluttered. Now if we could only find our car keys

Make your Own Cereal with MojaMix

Dean Sherwin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:02:46 +0000

This is quite a weird app I must say – make your own cereal. Interesting. Mojamix are a company that allow you to make your own cereal or trail mix from cereal flakes, dried fruits, nuts and seeds. Basically, you go to www.mojamix.com and click ‘Mix-It’. Customize your cereal and place and order for a bag which should be delivered to you within a few days.

Another thing I liked about this is that when you’re actually mixing your cereal the list of ingredients and the price are listed to the right of the screen so you don’t go overboard. They also offer nutrition facts about each ingredient (best to steer clear of ‘Chocolate Chomp’ I guess).

I think this is a really cool service especially those who like their cereal a certain way and are always trying to get some more dried fruit or nuts out of the box.

You can also buy gift certificates for other people who you know to be cereal maniacs. Imagine Christmas morning when they open a gift certificate for 50 pounds of cereal. Who wouldn’t be dead pleased?

Online Tribes Can Avoid GigaTribe

Luis Sandoval — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:03:32 +0000

Online communities have since been known as tribes. Thanks to Seth Godin’s famous book of the same title, it’s forced us to think of our online networks and communities in a unique light. Much like primitive tribes of earlier times, we’ve now formed digital tribes where we’ve found comfort in connections with people of similar interests, habits, hobbies, and histories. The tribes we belong to have a simple connectivity of communication that we long to maintain, enter Gigatribes.

The concept of communicating with your tribe is easy to see in networks such as Twitter, Facebook, or even LinkedIn. What if you wanted to share files in a local depository where all of your tribe can have access to? Or what if you only wanted to share with certain members of the tribe? Gigatribes allows you to build your community, much like any other social network, but now you’re able to share large files seamlessly and with out problems.

But there is a problem. How is this different from DropBox? Or maybe ZumoBox? Or any other of the hundreds of file sharing sites. In looking at the application itself I didn’t see anything that really stood out to make this the go to community file sharing network out there.

What it’ll come down to is comfort level and ease of use for your needs. DropBox and Zumobox both have mobile apps that give you access to your files on the go. No such app was found for Gigatribes which already puts this network at a disadvantage.

gdgt.com: User Generated Gadget Reviews

Dean Sherwin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:18:32 +0000

Gdgt.com is a user generated site, which is kind of like Wikipedia in many regards, that caters for gadgets and electronics reviews. Basically, users log in and add reviews for tech items they own. Other users can then update or edit that review with their own opinion and thoughts.

There is also a questions section normally on the homepage called the ‘Big Debate’ where users ask questions related to tech products. The community is also alive and kicking. When you ask a question you needn’t bother logging off to check back later – just wait five minutes.

Most of the comments made there about products are sensible and well thought out. I didn’t find one comment from some idiot complaining that Blackberries are better than iPhones (nut jobs).

Connection with fellow enthusiasts is also a good feature that I liked as you can follow their own reviews and edits.

Signing up is easy and of course free. So if you fancy venting about your new purchase or want some solid advice about what to buy – and when, head on over to gdgt.com.

BlockPosters: Make Huge Posters for your Wall

Dean Sherwin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:48:02 +0000

This is without a doubt the best art website I’ve seen in ages. What you can create with just an hours work (most of which is you betting up close and personal with some double-sided tape)is fantastic. Take a look at the image below. Cool right?

To make one of your own follow these steps.

Go to blockposters.com
Upload and image that you ant as a poster (1Mb max)
Download the resulting file
Print it out
Get sticking

There are slight gaps at the edges of the page which could be sliced off to provide an uninterrupted image but I think the gaps add a certain charm.