Thursday, August 30, 2007

SO MANY WEB-BASED SERVICES, SO LITTLE TIME!

OK, I'm feeling overwhelmed now. Every since my last big temp gig ended I've been killing the odd-5-minute-interval with checking out various new web-based services in the hopes they'll help advertise ThePete.Com. Here are a few that I've been messing with:

Natuba.com - The coolest so far--they're a one stop shop for all of your various online content streams. Check mine out at Natuba.Com/thepete and you'll see that I've got content from Flickr, my main blog, LiveJournal.com, Blogger.com, and a WHOLE lot more. The only thing they're missing is ads. I can't make money off of them and I'm not sure how they'll make money off of me. Though, they're still in beta and not open to the public.

GrandCentral.Com - Just acquired by Google (yes, we should start calling them the Borggle), GC is about providing a single phone number to reach you at all of your various phone-like devices. For me, I have a mobile, a handheld web phone, Skype and a voicemail for ThePete.Com so it makes sense to have one unifying number. They're also in beta still, so don't get too excited. Like Natuba, it's still invite-only. I've been trying it for about a week and while I'm generally happy with it, I think it's got a bit more to go. I'm also hoping they'll provide a single place for Instant Messaging and email, too.

Pownce.com - This is another social networking/community site that specializes in you and your friends passing notes and files between each other. I'm not sure how the notes are interesting, but the files-idea is good, I think. However, Box.net is open to the public and I'm pretty happy with them.

Box.net - I signed up for these guys last year, I think, and was so unimpressed with them I kind of forgot that I even had an account. Then, the other day, I got an email that they had some new features. I checked them out and was very impressed. They're like Pownce on steroids and they're open to everyone right now. Pownce has a cool-factor that Box.net doesn't, but Box has the superior features in my mind. They even have a flash-based interface for sharing your uploaded files. Check out the bottom of ThePete.Com to test it out.

InviteShare.Com - This site is for people looking to give and get invites to sites that are only accessible via invitation--like GrandCentral, Natuba and Pownce. In fact, it's through this site that I got invited to every invite-only site I'm registered at right now.

Ning.com - This site is the new godfather of social networking/community sites--it lets you create your own with things like forums, groups, blogs, photo slideshows, videos and a LOT more. Check out ThePete.Community at ThePeteCom.Ning.Com and feel free to join! Feel free to post, too!

There are STACKS more of these new service-sites I've been exploring. I plan on writing reviews of them in the coming weeks, money-allowing. So if you feel like giving me some encouragement Paypal me a buck or two at thepetecomATgmailDOTcom, OK? :)

Or just stick around ThePete.Com in the hopes I'll have the time to write 'em.

Still, it seems like the Internet is heading toward a bit of a renaissance with services that just might be capable of changing your world.

Who'd have thunk it?

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