IMified

IMified is a unique productivity-focused service that ‘integrates’ lots of cool applications into your IM client (Gtalk/Jabber, AIM, MSN Messenger). Simply add IMified as a buddy to your messenger contact list and you will able to access and use growing number of web applications (Google Calendar, Basecamp, IMified ToDo’s, IMified Reminder, etc., Wordpress, Twitter, etc.) right from the messenger window.

Plusmo

Plusmo is a feature-rich RSS reader for your mobile phone which automatically downloads content in advance. Subscribe to your favorite websites, and/or choose from 20.000 + widgets in Plusmo gallery (i.e. nearest Starbucks, cheap gas nearby, movie reviews, top iTunes tracks, and more). By downloading content in advance Plusmo lets you go through your daily read without any loading wait times and delays.

Statsaholic

Statsaholic (previously known as Alexaholic) lets you quickly compare and visualize traffic graphs and statistics for nearly all websites on the internet.

1. 8Hands
2. ClaimID
3. Correlate.us
4. Dandelife
5. Ex.plode.us
6. Fuser
7. HypeIt
8. iStalkr
9. Minggl
10. Mugshot
11. MyLifeBrand
12. My.Mashable
13. Naymz
14. OtherEgo
15. PeopleAggregator
16. Profilactic
17. Profileomat
18. Profilefly
19. Profilelinker
20. Readr
21. Snag
22. Second Brain
23. Socialnetwork.in
24. Socialstream
25. Socialurl
26. Spokeo
27. Tabber
28. Upscoop
29. Wink
30. Ziki
31. Zoolit

COMMENTERS! Please help choose the top 5 of the following Social Network Aggregator Sites by basing your votes on the following criteria:

• A) Actual Amount of Networks Supported - we’re looking for 1 of these to be the 1 we use, otherwise we’ll need a Social Network Aggregator Aggregator
• B) Actual Functionality of the Integrated Networks – I obviously just don’t want to see all my friends from all my networks and then that’s that, I want more!
• C) Ease of Use – Could the 12 year olds on Facebook and MySpace work it?
• D) Trustworthy Status -will the site accidentally lose all your usernames and passwords
• E) Aesthetics – Does it look sexy?

Originally posted as Guest Writer on MakeUseOf

I have been using Microsoft’s Live Writer (Beta) for over 2 months now and I love it. My main reason that I probably use it for is that it’s not web-based. This allows me to work whenever I want on it, without browsing from one site to the other and fears of losing any information (WLW saves drafts just like MS Word). My other main reason for using it is that it allows me to publish to 2 blogs at the same time, with minimal steps

My favorite aspects and features:

• So Easy to use and Setup
• Easily publish to any of my blogs from the same window
• Offline and on my Desktop
• Configures Automatically to your blogs settings (HTML and CSS)
• Plugins (like Insert Flickr pictures)
• Pinging Services included

Features Requests (or what I would want in the non-Beta version):

• Sync Over Computers (between work and home, my Drafts and recently posted aren’t the same)
• Publish to 2 blogs at the same time (right now I just switch, change category and publish, but I’m lazy).

Resources:

• Download the Live Writer Beta, links to forums
• Live Writer Blog and Tips
• Live Gallery Plugins for Live Writer

1. SimpleSpark – Well maintained and informative lists, also lists competitor options for each app
2. KillerStartups - Digg like features, thorough analysis, polls, screenshots and more 
3. Go2Web2.0 - Mass logo layout with brief descriptions, Search function and Tag Cloud
4. All Things Web 2.0 – Sorted by user ratings with short descriptions, well categorized
5. NeoBinaries – Massive lists with community ratings and reviews
6. FeedMyApp – Categorized thumbnail screenshots, with only minimal description
7. Listio’s Everything Web 2.0 – Sort by tags, votes, brief descriptions
8. ReflexZ’s Applications – Small list, voting, medium descriptions
9. The Web 2.0 Directory – Categorized, comprehensive, short descriptions
10. Web 2.0 List – Sort by tags, brief descriptions 

 Originally posted as Guest Writer on MakeUseOf

SO WHAT IS YOUTUBEDESKTOP?

YouTube Desktop is incredibly cool with a modern design and terrific dynamic web application for searching, watching and downloading videos from the richest online video archive YouTube.

This is basically adding functionality and experience to what  ?should be? there. The possibilities of the site reach far beyond that. It gives you the chance to create your own environment for watching video clips, saving them and sharing them with friends.

WHAT MAKES YOUTUBEDESKTOP UNIQUE?

Designing YouTubeDesktop we followed one primary idea ? to bring normal desktop application experience to the browser ? windows that can be dragged, resized, minimized in a tray, drag?n?drop of videos between players and results, standard menus ? all with one goal ? to make the richest web application for viewing and managing video content! You will be amazed by the flexibility and fabulous design of the website. It is user friendly and easy to navigate but also has great functionality.

Features/Benefits

+ The REAL Web 2.0 Experience

+ Interface, designed to be used just like every other desktop application

+ Fast flexible searching, displaying the results with option to resize them, so you can use the site even when sitting in your sofa and watching on a plasma TV ? will look just as perfect!

+ Managing Playlist ? create and save any video to watch later or share them with friends!

+ Watching multiple videos at the same time – you can have more than one player open ? all made easy using standard functionality ? dragging and resizing the windows, minimizing them within the tray ? never been easier!

+ Download Videos as avi, mp4 (ipod), mov, 3gp (mobile), wmv, flv, exe (built in standalone player) – all converted on the fly. That gives you the chance to save all your favourite videos on your computer and watch them whenever you want.

+ Drag and Drop interaction ? Allows you to drag videos around to create a new player or playlist.

+ Change themes ? set the way the site looks according to your mood

+ Share videos with friends – send url’s and recommend videos to friends through e-mail

+ View your recently played videos.

+ View Adult Content

+ And there are many more features we are about to add soon!

All these options guarantee you a pleasant experience and a lot of fun with your favourite YouTube video clips.

Options are: Color

Morph

Scenes

SIGOST (.com)

Options are: Colors

Effects

Options are: Colors

Effects

Phozi is NOT really at all like Photobooth, mainly because it lacks the “effects” side of the application, however, there are THEMED backgrounds and “Stamps”:

That’s it, I’m sure there are more out there, but the first 2, Sigost and Cameroid seem to be the best FREE webcam applications like Photobooth. Anybody have any other suggestions?

Simple and alphabetical list of the Firefox Add-ons I use on a daily basis…

• Adsense Notifier – Displays your Google Adsense Statistics with easily configurable displays
• AI Roboform Toolbar – I Love and use Roboform, saves my passwords and syncs between Firefox and IE, saving me some hassle (only complaint is it’s not easily sync-able over the Internet)
• All-in-One Sidebar – Simple, easy interface for everything Firefox in Sidebar form…
• FasterFox – Does it really work? Perhaps, either way, it’s always up and active. Supposedly, through several “one click” options, you can speed up Firefox
• FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) - Quick and Easy Firefox backup for your extensions, user preferences, passwords, etcetera. All configurable and easily schedule the backups.
• Firebug – Development Tool for monitoring, editing and debugging CSS, HTML and JavaScript LIVE on any web page.
• Forecast Fox (Enhanced) – I’m a weather dork and radar is the best way to check if precipitation is coming. This updated version has great large radar maps.
• Google Toolbar – Not really an “add-on”, but it’s an essential…
• Minimize To Tray – I Love the ability to minimize any program and keep it running into my system tray. Simple configurable options too.
• ScreenGrab! – This tool has come in handy countless times, right click the screen and you can Save OR Copy “Complete Page”, “Viewable Portion” or “Selection” in PNG or JPEG format
• StumbleUpon Toolbar – Love it, Stumble It, Enjoy It

So, That’s it, I don’t use AdBlockers or GreaseMonkey, I like to keep it simple. If there is something so amazing out there, please do feel free to let me know…

So, there are at least over 50 Social Bookmarking Sites and well probably hundreds of Social Media Sites and definitely thousands of Social Networking Sites, unfortunately most of them suck (I’ve tried and signed up for many). Big Time. I suppose there’s a niche site for every niche out there, but here is what I (still) use:

Social Networking:

Friendster - My “original” Social Networking web site (although apparently classmates.com is debated as the first) Friendster was the first, best designed as we know it today. Still a classic.

MySpace -  MySpace came after Friendster for me and this was the place for “Freaks”,”Geeks” and the horny people of the Internet. Now it’s EVERBODY expressing their individuality (which means lots of crappy/annoying pages). MySpace lost me a bit about 2 years ago when the SPAM started, that was/is really annoying

Facebook - Oh Facebook, you were so clean and perfect before the applications, now you are an open sore like MySpace letting in everybody. However, oddly enough this is where EVERYBODY I know is. Plus it’s a lot more tame and friendly than anywhere else. So, this is my #1

MyBlogLog - The Social Network for Bloggers and it does a good job of it. Clean atmosphere, little Spam and very friendly people.

LinkedIn – Supposedly the Social Network for Business Professionals, it leaves much room to be desired. I can’t see many of my friends joining, because there is no real pull to it unless you are into Networking. I use it for Business Purposes and the Outlook Integration.

Social Media Sharing:

 Flickr – Pro version keeps my pictures nice and backed up (with easy upload tools), not sure why so many people are obsessed, but it’s nice to browse other pictures every once in awhile.

Google PicasaWeb – Not really a “social site” yet, but I liked the look and feel of this compared to Flickr for just storing and viewing my photos. I also liked the Wordpress and Website Integration

YouTube - Definitely the original king of Video Sharing and the first place I discovered several years ago to upload videos. Now it’s Mecca of Videos. I still think Google should work on cleaning the YouTube interface into a Facebook feature like Social Network.

Social Bookmarking:

StumbleUpon – I love being able to approve or disapprove of a web page. Facebook integration is great. More importantly I have Stumbled Upon MANY (probably thousands of) Amazing web sites, media and games. I also love it for the IE and Firefox clean interface integration.

Digg - I can’t believe how Digg exploded into the Phenomena that it is today and I can’t believe Google hasn’t purchase it yet. The social aspects are also greatly missing and people probably spend too much time trying to “Digg” something, but THANK YOU to the people who Digg the truly great stuff

That’s it. There were more that I was going to put on, but seriously this is pretty much what I use on a Daily and Weekly basis. I’m sure everyone will have comments regarding my choices and their choices, but I’m firm with what’s above… So Bring IT ON!!!

Hello everybody! I would love to thank MakeUseOf for allowing me to be a guest writer. My goal is to start simple and work my way up from the Web 1.0 to the Web 2.0 world with my posts. Thus, here is my first “I Make Use Of” post. Enjoy…

Webmaster Edition

As a Webmaster, maintaining and observing my pages, is fundamental. My core web sites that I use on a Daily and Weekly basis are as follows…

Google Analytics – The free and ultimate Webmaster tool for all types of site analytics, including: visitor information, traffic sources, pages and everything in between

Feedburner  – This is the ultimate user tool for Bloggers to optimize and analyze the blog’s feed. Feedburner Medic included free (thanks to Google’s Purchase) maintains a daily report of your feed’s status. Note: Should use a Feedburner plugin (Like Feedburner FeedSmith) to make sure the Feedburner Feed is the main feed

Wordpress.com Stats – Using this plugin in conjunction with a Wordpress.com API Key (you’ll need a Wordpress.com account), you will be able to monitor visitors and site statistics from within your WordPress installation.

Google Webmaster Tools – Includes diagnostics, abilities to include your feed and sitemap, monitors Google Page Rank and lists all external links

Yahoo Site Explorer - Not the best, but monitors your sitemap, Pages, Links and Subdomains

So, nothing tricky or complicated above, just the basics. Why use anything else? Is there some ultimate tool I should be using?