Are you an employee looking to keep track of your employees time? Are you trying to work out how to best optimise the time of your employees, because they are your largest overhead? Well introducing Timecamp. Timecamp is a new tracking tool that seems to be very similar to Basecamp but for employee tracking. It’s like history book or google analytics, but works with people’s time. Increase team productivity, eliminate “time killers”, get more done and stay focused.
The service seems very straight forward and also seems to be a relatively new startup. Im not so keen on it being so closely based to Basecamp, but it is a simply idea with a simple solution. Currently the have a free pricing for individual users, but also a $8 per month pricing for any other additional users you want to add to the system.
If you have used Timecamp it would be great to hear your feedback.
If you constantly have 2, 3, or 16 windows open on your computer, WinSplit Revolution can help you organize your space. This little Windows utility automatically resizes and relocates windows making it easy to stack your programs vertically, horizontally, or in little boxes.
The program isn’t really that useful if you’ve got an 800 x 600 pixel display, but if you’ve got a high resolution widescreen monitor, WinSplit Revolution can help you make the most of your space. You can assign keyboard shortcuts to various positions. For instance, one hotkey can maximize the current window, while another can unmaximize it and drag it to the left side of the screen.
I have been wondering for a long time now “what makes a good startup page”? How does an internet user determine what will be their start page and what just doesn’t do it for them? In this article I’m going to run through some of the basic types of startup pages out there today and see what characteristics are good for me and what aren’t.
The first type of startup pages are the ‘add your own modules‘ type of startup pages. About a year and a half ago these types of pages were being developed left right and center, but lately they seem be going into liquidation very fast.
Netvibes - Netvibes is a module based startup page that has been growing from strength to strength recently. They are based in France but have been able to build up traffic worldwide. All modules can be customised in whatever style the user sees fit. Netvibes is the leader in this type of startup page and I every time I head back to their site they seem to have made improvements.
Pageflakes - Pageflakes is a startup page very similar to Netvibes except they don’t have the adoption levels of Netvibes. Pageflakes was acquired by Live Universe about either months ago because they were struggling and running out of liquid funds.
iGoogle - iGoogle is basically the Google version of Netvibes but with the Google search option at the top of the page. iGoogle has very limited themes, but it is simple to integrate with everything Google of course.
These types of startup pages are good for the user because they allow you to place whatever modules you want onto the page, but there is such a thing as information overload. Personally, Im not so sure about these types of sites as startup pages, because they are simply just ugly to look at because everything is a base size module and they just take too long to setup!
The next type of startup pages are the ‘one page aggregators‘. This type of startup page brings together some of the most popular rss feeds from around the internet and puts them all onto one page. Basically it is a rss reader for the lazy.
Popurls - Popurls is the original startup aggregator which brings together some of the best sites in the tech industry. Sites include Digg, Reddit, Delicious, Yahoo Buzz, Metafilter and more. The site has a very simple layout showing the top 10 from each site. Additionally, they have added videos from Youtube and photos from Flickr.
Alltop - Alltop is a new site from Guy Kawasaki (evangelist at Apple), in which he takes the idea of popurls and spreads it to pretty much every time of market. This is basically an rss reader for every type of industry for the most basic of internet users.
Original Signal – Original Signal used to be one of the leaders in this space, but recently they have been losing market share fast. Original Signal covers mainly tech and business topics, but they have seemed to update the service in many years.
These startup pages are great if you just want to have a quick look at one site in the morning and see what is happening around the world on a specific topic. However, they don’t allow users to choose the rss feeds you want to read, this can be done easily by using an rss reader.
Finally the other type of startup page is the simple search engine and 99% of the time its Google. Personally Google is my startup page but mainly because I find it easier to click the home button at the top and then type in my search, instead of typing it into the top of Firefox. Google as a page is so simplistic and it provide immense functionality behind that basic exterior.
Overall, what makes a good startup page? This is probably a different answer for every single person. However, I do think that startup pages need to be simple, have a good search option and allow the user to customise if they wish. As always simplicity and functionality are the keys.
Some of you have already noticed that we have added a new advertising option into the sidebar. The services is provided by BuySellAds, and we are currently offering this direct advertising options (300 x 100px) for only $10 per month. There are currently 6 places on offer so be fast. We are hoping that this ad slot will allow startups get some extra promotion for a very cheap price. The stats for the site havent been updated yet, but as a startup you can expect a minimum of 40k ad impressions per month for only $10, bargain!
Today, Amsterdam based Twones launches in private beta. Twones is a new Music service that tracks the music you’re playing on your computer (iTunes, WMP, Winamp) AND on 18 web services (Youtube, Last.fm, Myspace, Muxtape etc.).
Twones is funded by concert giant Live Nation (source: hypebot ), with TheNextWeb having a minor stake in the company as well. Additionally, Twones shares office space with TheNextWeb.
Twones’ goal is to make playing music on the web more organized and enjoyable. “Let real people, relevant to you, collectively filter and recommend music and music services”, says Tim Heineke who with Diederik Martens and Johannes La Poutre founded Twones. “Our goal is letting users find great music and sites and services through relevant people on cool music sites. We work together with the other services, we don’t compete.”
The only thing that Twones is missing is the music. Other than embedded YouTube videos, to actually play a song you have to click through to the original music service where it was streamed from in the first place. Twones is more about trying to capture the musical meta-data of the Web, socializing around music, and organizing it.
The service itself really needs to have the ability to play songs from within the site and create playlists. Until this happens I cant really see the service having a real reason to use it.
Netvibes 
Pageflakes 
iGoogle 
Popurls 
Alltop 
