A while back, the Finnish government announced that it was making high-speed internet access a legal right for all of its citizens. They have a point in making such legislation.
Because the Internet is playing a bigger part in work, education and society everyday it’s essential that everyone has access to it. Now the Swedes are adopting the same approach by promising their citizens 100 MB broadband in just over ten years. Imaging how many movies you could download with that!
In all seriousness though, I think this is great news. When the web grows more complex and starts to broadcast SuperHD videos (due in the next few years) we’ll need a seriously fast connection to keep up. At them moment, the base connection in Sweden is 20kb/s which is extremely slow. You’d have to go back to 1998 to get an internet connection that slow by using dial-up. I don’t even want to imagine loading a web page with that – let alone download a movie.
So come 2010 all the Swedes will be downloading ABBA at lightening speed!
Looking for a new free dating site that is growing at a rapid pace, then head over to Smooch. Smooch is completely 100% free and guarantees that all its members are real people.
Smooch includes an efficient, fast search facility, fully detailed personals, free emails and free private chat, a photo gallery, a picture rating feature, a contact filter, and your very own hotlist to compile. Smooch has thousands of new members joining every day so if you are looking to possibly find someone in this way, then check it out.
The opening page looks exactly the same as many other dating sites including Match.com. Smooch competes directly with Okcupid and PlentyofFish which has a lead in the free online dating seen, so it needs to raise its game if it is going to compete.
At the start of March I thought it would be a pretty cool competition to see if someone could predict more of the webware top 100 than I could. Today is decision day and here are the results.
My competitor: Mike (Blogging-ads)
Winners: Webware 100
Results:
Audio: Me (5), Mike (9)
Browsing: Me (4), Mike (5)
Commerce: Me (6), Mike (5)
Communication: Me (6), Mike (5)
Productivity: Me (5), Mike (3)
Publishing: Me (6), Mike (7)
Search: Me (9), Mike (4)
Social: Me (5), Mike (3)
Utility: Me (5), Mike (7)
Video: Me (4), Mike (6)
Overall: Me (55), Mike (54)
Therefore, out of the webware 100 I correctly selected 55 of the winners before the competition even started. Now, Mike what do I actually get for my win? I think we will definitely have to add some more players next year to get the prizes a bit more interesting!
I was lucky enough to get a chance to look at Netvibes and their new Ginger offering. As most of us already know Netvibes has to be the most popular start page on the internet at present, and with this new offering it is going to continue. Ginger is the name for the next generation start page that Netvibes is offering in February. This start page has a lot more features then their previous version and more the point is a lot more aesthetically appealing. 
The Interface
The interface in Ginger is a great deal better then what is offered on Netvibes at the present. You have a lot more options to customise your start page exactly like you want it. The theming and coding just seems to be a lot more professional than before.
More Of A Social Network
In Ginger there is a new contact section that is making Netvibes to become much more than just a start page. Slowly the site is growing into a type of social network, in which you will be able to see what your friends are looking at and ever people can follow your site. This feature reminds me a lot of Twitter, follow or being followed. Im also a fan of the activities section, kind of a mix between Facebook news feeds and Twitter.
Overall
Everyone will get there hands on the new Netvibes in February and it will be worth the wait. I have never been a person to use a start page, but because Ginger has just got a really sexy interface, I might even make the switch. Netvibes has also worked out their business model to be based around providing widgets for outside clients, but I would to see them monetize in unique ways, such as offering a sponsored section in which you can pay to be placed in a predominant spot when adding a widget. I can see they already offer a featured section, but this seems to be limited to only 6 slots. However, its always good to see a service not filled with shitty display ads!
A while back, the Finnish government announced that it was making high-speed internet access a legal right for all of its citizens. They have a point in making such legislation.
