The Most Promising Web 2.0 Software of 2006 (web2.wsj2.com)

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The Most Promising Web 2.0 Software of 2006

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It's been almost three months since my last major roundup of Web 2.0 software and I thought it's about time to release another update. The pace of innovation in the next generation of online software has continued unabated and we've seen dozens upon dozens of new entries into the market since December. And while a few of the market niches are starting to fill up, almost as often as not these new software products are inventing completely new spaces in which to serve. It's been thrilling to watch TechCrunch and eHub continue to announce new product after new product. I personally get at least an e-mail a day asking me to take a look at new applications. This article will reward many of you who have waiting so patiently.

Ajax desktops alone are changing the public perception of the possibilities of online software. And with the yesterday's release of Office Live beta, businesses too will increasingly look at moving their operations to online software. Concerns about privacy, reliability, and lock-in with online software are going to continue to mount while at the same time we'll see attempts to address these issues.

Finally, the term Web 2.0 itself remains as unevenly accepted as ever but more and more people now know what it means: online, two-way, collaborative software that is interactive and easy to use, often creating a community around it. There is more however, much more to Web 2.0, and I encourage you to study it since it can help you find as well as create terrific online software experiences.

A couple of notes: This list is only new Web 2.0 software that was released or extensively overhauled since January 1st, 2006. And the usual disclaimer: This list is my personal list, is not official, and is completely subjective. I do hope you enjoy it however. Check out my last two lists (first, second), especially the comments, to get a good feel for everything else already out there.

Also, all readers are very soundly encouraged to contribute their own entries in the feedback/comments down below. Make sure you leave clickable hyperlink so users can see what you're created.

The Most Promising Web 2.0 Software of 2006

Category: Personal Productivity and Organization

Best Offering: Zoho Planner (overhaul)

Description: Zoho Planner is a very capable Ajax-powered online planner that can handle to do lists, appointments, notes, and more using a very elegant, clean interface. It's now my favorite online organizer and I use it every day. Zoho Planner supports tagging, collaboration, e-mail notification, and much more. There are lots of Web 2.0 online planning products and while some are more detailed or more feature rich, none so far have quite the right feel like this one does. For more details, read my review of Zoho Planner at the Web 2.0 Journal.

Runners-Up:

Category: Search

Best New Offering: Google Desktop Search 3.0

Description: Although privacy concerns abound, Google's latest version of its Desktop product is slicker and more powerful than ever. And it even offers the eyebrow-raising feature of keeping a copy of the search index of your local hard drive on Google's servers so it can be accessed from anywhere. While other search engines are increasingly moving to social capabilities, Google instead raises the bar on raw features.

Runners-Up:

Category: Video Storage, Sharing, and Search

Best New Offering: Stickam

Description: Video is finally maklng a splash on the Web and though big players like YouTube have virtual domination of the space, new players continue to enter and Stickam is one of the more interesting new entires. Billing itself as an easy to use multimedia tool that "does it all", Stickam allows users to host all sorts of media including podcasts and video on their blog or website. It even supports uploading of media from mobile phones.

Runners-Up:

Category: Real Estate

Best New Offering: Zillow

Description: The real estate business has been one of the very last traditional brick-and-mortar businesses to fall prey to customer self-service on the Web. Zillow is helping change that and despite criticism for certain quarters, it's actually a pretty compelling application. Zillow gives home buyers and sellers with tools to get estimates of home values and to compare it with similar offerings in the area. Loaded up with deep pockets, if Zillow canjust continue to improve the accuracy of its data, it'll be a huge hit.

Runners-Up:

Category: Music

Best Offering: Podbop

Description: One of the more innovative music applications to come out this year, Podbop has a visceral appeal that is immediate. A mashup of several underlying services including eventful, Podbop allows users to type in their city and state, listen to bands coming to the area and if they like them, then arrange to go actually attend a concert to listen to them. Sporting over 1,500 bands, Podbop works well, is fast, and seems to have a very appealing mix of music.

Runners-Up:

Category: Ajax Start Pages

Best Offering: Pageflakes

Description: I covered Pageflakes in a lengthier review recently based on the fact it was one of the best Ajax start pages I've seen yet. Sporting multiple pages, an open platform design that allow users to contribute new gadgets, and integration with Zoho Writer and much more, I encourage you to try it out. And I'm apparently not alone.

Runners-Up:

Other Promising Web 2.0 Software:

- Keep track of your conversations in blog comments from around the blogosphere in one central location.

- The first tag-based affiliate program that include geo-based targeting, customizable tag clouds, content filters and more.

- An Ajax-based newsreader with a reputation for speed and results, Newsalloy supports all the features you'd expect including river of news, tagging, integration with del.icio.us and digg, and much more.

- Talk your e-mails using your computer or phone and never type an e-mail again if you don't want to. Rumor has it that Springdoo will offer video e-mails soon.

- The very latest entry from Web 2.0 innovators 37signals. Not to be missed, a real-time group chat application with the 37signals twist. Via Michael Arrington.

- Tirelessly promoted by founder Chris Matthieu, this innovative Web 2.0 application helps track and protect intellectual property on the Web including blogs and even includes a new blog tracking mechanism. Extremely slick and getting lots of attention.

I'm off tomorrow morning to Silicon Valley and I still have one more slot on Saturday for interviews with Web 2.0 companies in the Bay area. I'll be on my Blackberry all day tomorrow, please let me know if you have an interesting Web 2.0 consumer, development, or enterprise product. I'd love to come by, get a demo, and even do an interview or podcast.

Web 2.0 Blog Chat Courtesy of 3bubbles:

posted Thursday, 16 February 2006

martin made this comment,

Also there is www.alesti.org, a simple, easy to use "Web 2.0" RSS reader, which has launched in January 2006.

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 02:17 GMT-05

Thierry Nivelet made this comment,

IntuiCat : an AJAX - Web 2.0 Catalogue Solution.

Same application works off-line and on-line.

http://www.abaqueinside.com/IntuiCatAjaxDemoVerif. asp

Th N (Sorry if I unadvertedly posted twice)

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 04:21 GMT-05 :: http://www.abaqueinside.com/IntuiCatAjaxDemoVerif.

Ben made this comment,

Yet to go public, but the video looks already promising: http://www.fluxiom.com

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 08:55 GMT-05 :: http://blog-wg.de/ben

Pat made this comment,

Near-Time became publicly available in January. Near-Time integrates a weblog, wiki, events, and shared files - personal, group, or published to the world.

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 10:00 GMT-05 :: http://public.near-time.net/news/

Nadir made this comment,

For category: Video Storage, Sharing, and Search, you forgot Dailymotion (http://www.dailymotion.com)

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 10:35 GMT-05 :: http://bestadsever.blogspot.com

david zotter made this comment,

Http://www.tempinbox.com is a nice rss tool...

Also, http://www.relevantview.com/ is a great way to test out the usability of these nee web2.0 apps....

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 18:24 GMT-05

Ying made this comment,

For people who want amazon like recommendations for their sites - customers who viewed/bought this item also viewed/bought those items, now there is an easy way to implement this behavior. http://EasyUtil.com provides a REST based web API. You feed the data of who viewed/bought what into EasyUtil, and you can query it later for recommendations.

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 18:50 GMT-05

Chris Larsen made this comment,

Daylo is a site for finding and offering services, locally and remotely.

So far, most Daylo users are photographers, journalists, designers, yoga instructors, programmers, chefs and musicians, but because tags are used to describe profiles and requests, Daylo can be used for any service imaginable.

Users create profiles to describe their trades and services and are matched with users in their area who have posted relevant requests.

Daylo utilizes AJAX to blend message-boards and chat into a real-time and asynchronous communication tool specifically designed for the needs of people offering and buying services.

Custom RSS feeds with an intuitive API are available for profiles and requests allowing for integration in other applications.

Daylo streamlines the process of offering and finding services, helping employees become entrepreneurs while providing an affordable source of service providers.

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 19:17 GMT-05 :: http://daylo.com

Chris Larsen made this comment,

The last comment I made was intended for this post

Sorry about that.

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 19:38 GMT-05 :: http://daylo.com

Ralph Poole made this comment,

I think that meebo is one of the best new web 2.0 applications. It is a web-based IM client that allows you to sign into MSN, Google, Yahoo, AOL, and ICQ, all on one screen. It commingles all our IM buddies into the same list, with only the low overhead of a web page.

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 20:55 GMT-05 :: http://ralphpoole.typepad.com

jamie lawson made this comment,

good list.

i cant believe you missed meebo. its a really cool web-based messaging client.

also theres teleauth (teleauth.com), a cool web2.0 style telephone authentication system that i just read about.

all in all, good stuff. some new ones there i havent heard about.

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 22:00 GMT-05

Ty made this comment,

Is it just me or does the FireAnt link lead to a page about fire and cotrol?

comment added :: 17th February 2006, 23:51 GMT-05

taper made this comment,

Good list, but I cannot believe you've missed Listible - http ://www.listible.com/. This is a cool web2.0 app with a lot of potential.

comment added :: 18th February 2006, 01:36 GMT-05

Monk Mojo made this comment,

For Baseball geeks: http://fantasy.monkmojo.com

comment added :: 18th February 2006, 05:36 GMT-05 :: http://fantasy.monkmojo.com

Lobster made this comment,

I like flavoor.com - clean and simple - just like me (apart from the clean bit and I am not really that simple . . .) Anyway placed you on my resource list for Open Source Time Travel - the future before it happens . . . and now back to the records . . .

comment added :: 18th February 2006, 05:44 GMT-05 :: http://tmxxine.com/wiki/OnlineResources

Chad made this comment,

I would have liked to have seen you mention Netvibes.com. Its a fantastic startpage and so far is better and more cusomizable than Pageflakes.

comment added :: 18th February 2006, 08:46 GMT-05

Dion Hinchcliffe made this comment,

Don't forget folks, this list is software that has been released or recieved a major overhaul since the beginning of 2006.

Please keep the submission coming, what's been listed here so far is great.

Best,

Dion

comment added :: 18th February 2006, 11:40 GMT-05 :: http:/web2.wsj2.com

considerphi made this comment,

What's weird is that the link you provide that is supposed to prove you are "not alone" in your choice of PageFlakes as the best Ajax start page, actually lists Netvibes as the 50% favourite and PageFlakes as 3%. ??

comment added :: 18th February 2006, 17:56 GMT-05

Dia McLeod made this comment,

Qube websearch client seems to be releasing a feature-rich version 2 sometime in Feb-March. Surely a thing to watch for.

- Dia

comment added :: 18th February 2006, 23:33 GMT-05

Justin Davies made this comment,

Something a little bit different, but how about mobileGlu. A mobile aggregator for existing Web 2.0 API's. In the future it will also act as a hub between the mobile and the services allowing users to post to things like del.icio.us, upcoming and flickr from the mobile.

- J

comment added :: 19th February 2006, 06:00 GMT-05

Joe made this comment,

I hear Makidi.com are aming for 1st place under search category.

Does anyone know what exactly are these guys up to?

comment added :: 19th February 2006, 15:18 GMT-05 :: http://www.makidi.com

Dave made this comment,

Check out livelocker http://www.livelocker.com, looks like a great social media bookmarking tool.

comment added :: 19th February 2006, 19:34 GMT-05

Dave made this comment,

Joe,

Seems Makidi.com is the best kept secret in the internet. These people even don't have an email to make inquiries. fcs!!! (for christ sake..)

Dion - Do you know something about it?

comment added :: 20th February 2006, 12:42 GMT-05

Richard Waldvogel made this comment,

Uses the Amazon API to provide non profit organizations the ability to create their own customized Amazon front end to allow supporters to make purchases that are credited back to the NPO.

comment added :: 20th February 2006, 14:57 GMT-05 :: http://www.givezilla.com

zeevveez made this comment,

Check out QT/Mobile, a Micro-Content search engine for the mobile phone. http://i-newswire.com/pr55766.html www.qtsaver.com/wap

comment added :: 21st February 2006, 05:04 GMT-05 :: http://qtsaver.blogspot.com/

Michael Tippett made this comment,

And don't forget... The News is NowPublic

http://www.nowpublic.com

comment added :: 21st February 2006, 14:03 GMT-05 :: http://corp.nowpublic.com/?q=blog/2

james payne made this comment,

check out jimmys.tv, a social video catalog.

comment added :: 21st February 2006, 17:01 GMT-05

v01and04 made this comment,

http://extratasty.com - new social alcohol drink library

comment added :: 21st February 2006, 17:43 GMT-05

Jeff made this comment,

Life altering (web 2.0) streaming music. I have stopped using iTunes. Spend 10 minutes with this thing and be amazed.

www.pandora.com

Certainly has web 2.0 traits: Send-to-friend, "station sharing", 1 click to purchase, and other community creating / two way bells & wistles. enjoy!

comment added :: 21st February 2006, 22:46 GMT-05

dave made this comment,

Self-development + web 2.0 = You 2.0 :)

http://www.mecanbe.com Beta launching soon.

info@mecanbe.com

comment added :: 22nd February 2006, 07:09 GMT-05 :: http://www.mecanbe.com

mayumi made this comment,

This is Mayumi Recker and I work for Stickam. We greatly appreciate your valuable opinion. We are currently working on many new features.

Please feel free to contact me for any feedbacks or suggestions you may have.

Best Regards,

Mayumi

comment added :: 22nd February 2006, 12:26 GMT-05

David made this comment,

Hello,

In the travel space there's TravBuddy, we use AJAX and Google Maps throughout the site, it's changed a lot since 2005.

If you haven't been to the site yet, I encourage you to check out some of the travelogues.

comment added :: 23rd February 2006, 15:30 GMT-05 :: http://www.travbuddy.com/

Denis Krukovsky made this comment,

Please take a look on ideas and participate in new kind of online forum I'm developing. Welcome to http://talkinghub.co m/ , and here is a topic on how we can have a better forum .

Denis Krukovsky

comment added :: 24th February 2006, 09:03 GMT-05 :: http://talkinghub.com/

Aytekin made this comment,

JotForm is first web based WYSIWYG Form Build. It is completely written in JavaScript and features drag&drop;, instant edit and AJAX.

comment added :: 25th February 2006, 16:31 GMT-05 :: http://atank.interlogy.com/blog

zing zing made this comment,

So, Web Office is on its edge leading the marathon for WEB2.0. Go check out www.zoho.com for a bunch of those.

Zoho Sheet has been their new offering which does enable to play with spread sheets. http://www.zoho.com/sheet

comment added :: 27th February 2006, 03:30 GMT-05

million-dollar-artwork made this comment,

one of my favorite web2.0 apps is the 43things.com website

comment added :: 27th February 2006, 07:07 GMT-05 :: http://www.milliondollarartwork.com

TheMonkeyKing made this comment,

Check out http://www.blogbuzzmachine.com

We're doing blog search and RSS 2 Email.

comment added :: 28th February 2006, 23:49 GMT-05 :: http://www.blogbuzzmachine.com

mortgage made this comment,

<a href="http://www.mortgage-z.com">mortgage </a> <a href="http://www.mortgages-z.com" >mortgages</a> <a href="http://www.deb tconsolidationdebts.com">debt consolidation</a> <a href="http://www.deb tconsolidation-site.com">debt consolidation</a>

comment added :: 3rd March 2006, 11:26 GMT-05 :: http://www.mortgage-z.com

steve made this comment,

check out attensa at www.attensa.com really a fast rss reader

comment added :: 11th March 2006, 23:31 GMT-05

Chris made this comment,

I would add my little project - Touchstone:

Treats RSS as an alert/update rather than news in a news reader. Provides a client-side alerts/updates dashboard for Web 2.0 applications - for when the browser is closed.

http://www.touchstonegadget.com

comment added :: 16th March 2006, 20:01 GMT-05

Jimmy Gambier made this comment,

Goowy is also really cool. Adding IM support later, I'll start using it as a full on app when that happens.

comment added :: 20th March 2006, 02:56 GMT-05 :: http://twentysomething.blogs.com

bertrand made this comment,

You can also check out Podesk, www.podesk.com/demo. It's a video blog server software with a fast client publisher (Mac OS and Windows XP). It takes less that 1 minutes to publish a 30 seconds video, ready for iPod, with a Flash preview for the browsers.

Category: Video Storage, Sharing, and Search

comment added :: 21st March 2006, 04:40 GMT-05 :: http://www.podesk.com

ivoices made this comment,

InteractiveVoices is the global leader in connecting clients with professional voice actors and voice-over talent. Over 37,000 people have already discovered the faster, easier way to complete their voice-over projects online.

What's a voice-over? It's the art of using the voice to sell, inform or entertain on radio and TV commercials, non-broadcast narrations for corporate audio or phone lines, and animation or cartoons. ( Thanks Susan )

comment added :: 3rd April 2006, 21:00 GMT-05 :: http://www.interactivevoices.com

evenamonkey.com made this comment,

A social community site to collect and rate "ideas". registered users can submit ideas under any folksnomy (free-tagging)and rate ideas.The overall top 8 are listed on the home page

comment added :: 7th April 2006, 00:07 GMT-05

Tony Sung made this comment,

A collaborative Web Spreadsheet:

EditGrid - Spreadsheets on-the-web http://www.editgrid.com/home

Users can work together and see updates in real-time, import/export in common spreadsheet formats, html, csv, and very good permalink support.

comment added :: 26th April 2006, 11:18 GMT-05 :: http://www.editgrid.com/home

fred made this comment,

Vyew.com - free, browser-based conferencing / collaboration platform that provides a feature-rich meeting room with real-time, whiteboard functionality. Supports up to 20 with nothing to download or install. Includes 1-click desktop snapshots,

comment added :: 27th April 2006, 18:34 GMT-05

Niklas made this comment,

Wishlistr.com - a free service that helps you organize and keep track of the things you want.

comment added :: 12th May 2006, 05:42 GMT-05 :: http://www.wishlistr.se

GRex made this comment,

<a HREF="http://onelurv.com" TARGET="_blank">onelurv.com</a>

Online password manager, log into websites with one click

comment added :: 30th May 2006, 04:37 GMT-05 :: http://onelurv.com

smith made this comment,

An affodable Web desiginig and web promotion place , our also speciality are "link exchange , search engines submission , guaranteed back links. just check it out our promotion packages starting from only $39/- http://www.evision.com.pk

comment added :: 31st May 2006, 01:46 GMT-05 :: http://www.evision.com.pk

Bianca made this comment,

It is a very interesting site!

comment added :: 5th June 2006, 12:11 GMT-05 :: http://www.nosingle.de

Vihar Shah made this comment,

Came across this site called "Yoosi" (www.yoosi.com, pretty interesting name though!). It's something like Live.com. You can check emails, read RSS/Atom feeds and other do other stuff...

~Vihar

comment added :: 9th June 2006, 04:50 GMT-05

Adrian made this comment,

Check out The Best Stuff in the World - http://www.thebeststuffintheworld.com/

comment added :: 11th June 2006, 07:43 GMT-05 :: http://www.thebeststuffintheworld.com/

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