Web Technologies, Sites to Check Out over Thanksgiving Break (
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Those looking for something to do during their Thanksgiving break from work can check out these new Web services: Glue, Plista, Zenbe, Hulu, Blist, EtherPad, DotSpots, Mobspin, Socialcast and Searchme. These social services, search, and productivity tools have a little something for everyone living on the Web.Admit it. You aren't going to be with family or Christmas shopping for your entire Thanksgiving week break.
Some of you will have downtime, so why not check out some cool Web
technologies you've been mulling but haven't had time to download or
test?
It's time to branch out beyond Facebook and Twitter. Here are 10
technology suggestions from eWEEK, including social services, search,
productivity tools and a content site you may not be familiar with.
They are (in absolutely no order of preference): Glue, Plista,
Zenbe, Hulu, Blist, EtherPad, DotSpots, Mobspin, Socialcast and
Searchmme. Enjoy and happy holidays!
To view slides of these products, click here.
Glue
From software maker Adaptive Blue, Glue
is a contextual network that uses semantic technology to connect people
around everyday thingsbooks, music, movies, stars, artists, stocks,
wine, restaurants and more. Glue appears on popular sites such as
Amazon, Last.fm, Netflix, Yahoo Finance, Wine.com and Citysearch,
revealing friends and other Glue users who visited the same
destination. Glue filters out junk by showing users relevant
information from friends about things they visit.
Plista
Do you ever feel inundated by content on some of your RSS feeds? Perhaps you'd like an editor or filter of some sort. Plista
is a social recommendation service that can help. The free Firefox
browser plug-in overlays directly onto any Web page you're viewing.
Users rate content on the site. Plista responds with recommendations
based on the tastes of similar consumers for other things they'd be
likely to enjoy, on the same site or elsewhere. Plista also lets users
share their recommendations and find others with similar tastes. The
tool is free. Here is a list of sites Plista supports.
Zenbe
Zenbe is a free
e-mail service that invites your other e-mail content to the party.
Users import contacts and calendars from Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL
Mail, as well as content from Facebook and Twitter, and organizes it in
one console. Users then view messages by conversation or by person, in
more of a lifestream view than a read-it-as-it-comes-in view. Two new
features: conversation view, which lets users see all e-mail
related to a particular conversation with a single click, and favorites
view, which lets users choose contacts as favorites.
Hulu
Let's take a break from social network-type services for something that
lets you be a little lazier. YouTube may be old hat to millions of
people, so try Hulu.com,
an online video venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. Unlike the
user-generated content of YouTube, Hulu offers hit TV shows, movies and
clips for free on-demand in the United States. This is a perfect site
to check out for the holidays, and bookmark for when you go back to
work (don't tell your boss).
Blist
Still a darling of eWEEK, Blist
is the ultimate list organizational tool. The user interface resembles
a spreadsheet, which is tied to a relational database on the back end
to make list creation and sharing on the Web simple. Here Blist CEO Kevin Merritt shares tips
on how to use Blist to create a Christmas list. Blist is currently
geared for consumers, but Merritt said the company is moving to cater
to the enterprise in 2009.