Site Spotting: Top 5 sites this month

Welcome to my second installment of site spotting. I hope you enjoyed the first, if you missed it you can view it here. I normally post my finds on twitter but this month I’m sharing my top 5 sites i found in April with you.

1. Namechk
   
   
   
   
   namechk
   check to see if your desired username or vanity url is still available at dozens of popular social networking and social bookmarking websites.
   http://www.namechk.com/
   


2. Doodlewall
   
   
   
   
   a virtual wall
   where everybody can draw.
   http://www.doodlewall.com/
   


3. Quick.tv
   
   
   
   
   make video interactive
   with advanced interactive tools, professional web video publishers can inject interactivity into videos with a quick click, drag, and drop.
   http://www.quick.tv/
   


4. Tipjoy
   
   
   
   
   simple social payments for great people
   makes it easy for people to earn money from and give money to people, causes and content.
   http://tipjoy.com/
   


5. Deep Zoom Pix
   
   
   
   
   explore photos like never before
   enables you to explore and share photos in a new and interactive way.
   http://www.deepzoompix.com/

I hope you enjoy my top 5, lookout for next months top 5. If you want to keep track of sites I find follow me on twitter @kunji.

Kunji

Surf's Up: Shopping and networking? Social shopping here I come!

'Social shopping' - what is it? Well it tries to combine two of our favourite online activities: shopping and social networking. Social shopping sites are gathering consumers in one place to swap shopping ideas, prices, deals and product information. Some sites also allow you to create custom shopping lists that you can share with friends.

I'm a fan of shopping and networking, and sites that combine both of these elements have great potential. I really like the variety of products and ideas you can find by looking at what other people have found, not to mention the value that large volumes of customer reviews can provide when researching a specific item.

Well I’ve searched and here are some interesting websites I’ve come across and some I have used, enjoy a bit of retail therapy:



http://www.kaboodle.com/
"Shopping is more fun with friends. Share recommendations and discover new things from our community."



http://www.thisnext.com/
"ThisNext is a social shopping network where members discover products based on recommendations."



http://www.wists.com/
"Using Wists is not like going to Walmart or searching a price comparison shopping site - we try to encourage the discovery and promotion of products from small retailers and manufacturers and young designers."



http://www.wishpot.com/
"Wishpot makes it easy for you to shop anywhere, keep all your finds in one place, connect with friends, and discover the hottest deals."



http://www.stylehive.com/
"Stylehive.com is an online style club for people who live for fashion, design and shopping. It's where you meet your style muses and follow them as they discover and share their latest finds."



http://www.nomorenotebooks.com/
"No More Notebooks is a social shopping experience that allows members all over the world to create an unlimited number of lists containing an unlimited number of items from any webpage."



http://www.boxedup.com/
"It's all about people listing the things that they want, and using their lists as wish lists, gift lists and shopping lists."



http://www.blippr.com/
"It's all about the blips. Blips are 160 character reviews with smiley icons that represent your rating. Simple really."



http://www.viewscore.com/
"ViewScore provides online shoppers with a comprehensive shopping decision-making tool. ViewScore's product search-engine provides shoppers with aggregated product reviews and simple and easy-to-follow product recommendations, aiming at helping potential shoppers answer the essential question of "what to buy".


I hope you've enjoyed looking through these great sites. Look out for future Surf's Up features where I'll be looking at other areas of the internet and what it has to offer. If you want to keep track of sites I find follow me on twitter @kunji.

Kunji

The Basics of Web 2.0 - Don't Fight the Internet

Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as "a second generation of services available on the web that lets people collaborate and share information online".

It is my opinion the Web 2.0 is not a new version of the World Wide Web but an improvement of existing methodologies by utilising the strengths of the web as a platform. The expansion of Web technologies has made it easier for people to interact by uploading and downloading content, with sites such as YouTube, eBay and Google.




Over the last 5+ years we have gradually seen the introduction of several web based technologies such as social bookmarking, social software, podcasts, wikis and RSS feeds. Each of these technologies has sought to improve the users experience and what it means to use the web, thus allowing the user to take more control.

The original perception of the "web" was as a one way information superhighway with little or no interaction with the user and only served to interlink documents. Web 2.0 sites allow the user to do more than simply retrieve information. The user becomes the architect for that site by participating and generating content.

Improvements in web technologies have seen the introduction of Rich Internet Applications. It is possible that you have heard phrases such as "Ajax" and "Silverlight" thrown around. These are techniques that have evolved and have the potential to improve the user experience on a browser based application... More on this to come in my next blog entry!

By improving the user experience of a site you can drive in more traffic. The introduction of Web 2.0 applications has seen the birth of a whole new economy. The obvious example here would be eBay but with huge amounts of traffic being directed towards commercially driven sites, many more companies are reaping the rewards of the revenue generated by users wanting to share their lives with the web!

Mark Grassick