Webcosmo is a craigslist competitor developed by a single person using ASP .NET. Posting classifieds is 100% free and features just about any country or state in the United States you could think about, with tons of areas to post in. If you’ve been looking for a site other than craigslist to post classifieds, Web Cosmo may be an interesting alternative to try out, given most other classified sites usually have some cost attached.
What is it about digg that makes me want to stay? It has to be that it’s the first site of its kind (you can’t consider del.icio.us like it) that has me stuck on it. Or maybe it’s the Kevin Rose effect. Who doesn’t like Kevin? Especially after the whole TechTV thing that some people won’t let go, not that it’s a bad thing.
Thoof is a digg-clone that makes me scratch my head. It’s a site where, get this, people submit stories but it’s better than digg because it avoids the whole “angry mob” effect controlling what gets on the front page. So, I’m guessing that’s a spin on “users vote for what they want” and instead they have no real say, or maybe anything that is submitted goes to the front page. Whatever their whole shtick is - the bottom line is the site doesn’t make me want to leave digg. Why?
1. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of content. Chalk it up as a “clean” interface or a clear indication that nobody uses this site.
2. No categories, just tags. Wait, so how do I just get entertainment stories? What about world news? This is one time when tags to way more harm than good. If digg had tags instead of categories it would be chaotic. Digg, even without tags, allows you to really get news on the topics you care about, customizing your experience to show just what you want. No categories categorically blows.
3. Stories constantly loading. What is it that when I go to the site and scroll down it’s still loading more stories? Pretty annoying “feature” of the Web 2.0 generation.
There is no real incentive to use the site. I have no real thought provoking analysis to add, it pretty much is uninspiring.
Global Grind is a “custom web 2.0 home page solution for the hip hop generation.” What it really is, is taking one feature out of Netvibes, namely, making a customized page and turning it into a full-fledged website. We’ve seen the same sort of thing with Wevent - making a full website out of something someone else does. For some reason I also want to say it’s done better.
Maybe their target audience are those people who want to use something but netvibes, but rather the words “global” and/or “grind” be in the URL they have to go to, to get to the site. Long story short, it’s a Netvibes clone and considering you have the Netvibes Universe, you’re probably better off going with Netvibes.
Revision3 has pulled the plug on InDigital, their gadget review show by Hahn Choi, known for his work on G4 and TechTV for Fresh Gear. In the final episode, a sad looking Choi stated that he was given an ultimatum: move to L.A or contribute to the network in another capacity. While says he’s still weighing his options, fans are speculating that he may go on to continue the show on his own. Regardless, based on the responses on the InDigital forum so far fans are less than pleased.InDigital will be replaced by Tekzilla which premieres Friday, September 28th and will have Jessica Corbin, former InDigital co-host as well as contribution by former co-host Wil Wheaton. We’ll be looking forward to seeing what Tekzilla is offering and all signs point to good things.
We’ve looked at Contrastream in the past, a site helping people find better independent music, and liked it. News coming in is that the site now has updates worth taking note of.
Audio Previews - Now when looking at albums to vote on, you can get a preview of the music, something the site should have launched with.
Updated profiles - Users can now message each other. A standard feature of any social network now.
Revamped New Release Section.
To see all the new features, check out the site’s blog which has the rundown on all the changes.
Sure, digg has been trodden upon by some and there may even be a general consensus that digg comments leave something to be desired when compared to comments on Slashdot, but if it’s one thing I have to hand over to the digg commenters, they know when something is not their own as was the case with this story on FeedHub which we’ll take a look on this blog most likely. It didn’t really occur to me, but the story seemed to have been gamed. Gaming is essentially when you get a lot of people to digg a story, making it reach to the front page through some sort of compensation to the people or because the same people have some vested interest in the story. While it’s uncertain if the story really has really been gamed, there is certainly a difference in the way the comments are put across that makes you suspicious.
Of course, we have to think about gaming in general. There really isn’t a problem with asking your friends to digg a story now, is there? But when money isinvolved there is a definite difference. It’s an issue I am sure the digg team has to deal with and look at seriously.
iMedix is a simple site for people who want to know more about medical conditions. If you want to know about anything from ADHD to Vertigo, you’re bound to find someone who can help you with what you want to know. The site seems to be very much along the lines of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” in that, there isn’t exactly any “knowledge base” - you make a profile and privately contact people based on what you are trying to get information on.
So, as I log into the site and want to find out about Vertigo, I’ll see a list of people who are interested in that particular topic and are willing to take your questions. You’ll see if they are online or not. If the user you want to speak with is not online, you can send them a message, but if they are you can do a chat with them right there and then. Very nice and useful.
My one issue with the site is that going from one person to the other may become tedious. If there was an option to talk to multiple people on at the same time it would be much more helpful. Overall it’s actually a pretty useful site, though it could be even more useful if there was a knowledge base on medical conditions as other sites like wrongdiagnosis have.
I was overall impressed with the site. The functionality and design as well as the aim of the site are great. Anyone wanting invites can leave a comment.
I wanted to give a nice long, detailed look at Wevent but truth be told, I don’t think it’s worth your time. I wanted to like it, as I would anything I take a look at, but logging into my Beta account I couldn’t really tell where I had to go or what to do. Not a good sign. Luckily there’s a movie on the main page anyone can look at that will show you exactly what the site is about, how to use it, etc. While reading what the site is for, basically a social network for friends to share info and pictures on parties, etc, I couldn’t help but think that Facebook would be a much better use of one’s time considering what you can do with events, pictures, communicating with friends and so much more outside of parties/events.
That feeling was justified when I saw their implementation of the tagging feature that Facebook has.
Save yourself the time and get yourself a Facebook account if you really want to share pictures and other info with friends on events.
This week Matt and I continue our discussion from Web 2.0 into what has been coined Web 3.0. We discuss what it means, what it really means and why you should or shouldn’t care.
The two of us share very different feelings about what Web 3.0 really is and what it means for the future. What we really want to know is what you think about Web 3.0 and the promises it brings. Let us know and we’ll talk about it on the next show!
The Xbox 360 Spring Update earlier this year added MSN Messenger integration to Xbox Live and to be honest, it seemed like a pretty useless service until last week when Microsoft released the highly anticipated Messenger Kit for the Xbox 360 on the 4th of September… Unfortunately for me, I had to wait until the 7th (the UK release date) before I could get my hands on one.
After I spent half an hour trying to open the annoyingly secure package…I finally got a chance to try out the Chatpad itself. At first I thought it might be a little clunky and that it might weigh the controller down slightly, but after several hours of gaming I barely noticed a difference at all. I was skeptical of it’s design, but you soon get used to it and it becomes easy to forget that it’s even there.
The way the Chatpad plugs in is simply genius. It fits tightly in to the bottom of the controller and stays well in place whilst playing, so it doesn’t wriggle out and cause you to lose concentration. Now, because the Chatpad is using the conventional headset port, the Messenger Kit ships with a brand new headset that plugs directly in to the Chatpad. The new headset features in-line volume controls which is rather annoying when you wish to mute your mic or turn the volume down while playing a game.
Typing with the Chatpad can be a little tricky at first, it’s easy enough to get a good typing speed but whether or not your typing is efficient is a different story. I often found that the tiny little backlit buttons were sometimes difficult to push as I typed faster, and therefore caused spelling errors and plenty of annoyance as I tried to reach for my beloved mute button… only to find that it requires more physical movement than a flick of the thumb.
Microsoft did a great job of integrating MSN Messenger in to Xbox Live. It’s obviously not suited for long chats in the evening with your friends but it’s great for a quick message or two back and forth in between games. However, this was the downside I found with the service as I felt constant notifications of my MSN contacts signing online and leaving messages was rather distracting. Luckily, you’re only notified of the initial message you receive from a particular contact. Other messages from the same contact won’t interrupt your play as the Messenger button on the Chatpad flashes when you’ve received a new message from anyone you’re currently talking to.
At first I was doubtful about how useful the Messenger Kit would actually be, but it’s turned out to be a great tool that really makes the whole system much more efficient as it can be used for more than just Instant Messaging on your Xbox. At just $29.99 USD (£25 GBP) the Xbox 360 Messenger Kit proves to be the most useful accessory for your 360 to date. It really is worth checking out.
