web2.0

[www.quarkbase.com via Makeuseof]

Quarkbase is a new web app which claims to find everything about a website. And when you actually try it out, it certainly displays enough information to live up to your expectations. The homepage of Quarkbase is a Google like plain white page which has a box where you can put in the website name or url you want to lookup.

Contrary to the homepage, the results page is really comprehensive. It shows the entire description of site, domain owner, date when the site was created, traffic ranks like Alexa and Technorati ranks, Alexa traffic stats, social media reach of the site like in Digg, Delicious and others, similar sites, RSS feeds and much more. The results may not be dead accurate but are comprehensive nonetheless.

[vuclip.com via Makeuseof]

Ever wanted to stream online videos (i.e. Youtube) on your mobile? Want to download and save videos favorite to your phone in MP4 format. Try VuClip. It allows you to watch web videos on your mobile phone and optionally save them in mp4 format.

VuClip simultaneously transcodes and optimizes videos to deliver optimum viewing experience on your mobile device. Works with almost any mobile phone.

Features:

• Watch videos from video sharing sites on almost any video-enabled phone.
• Search videos or browse by category.
• Download and save videos in mp4 format.
• Supports over 2,000 mobile devices.
• Share favorite videos with friends using SMS feature.
• Setup daily SMS video alerts.
• Nothing to install or download.

Note: VuClip is a free service, though you might be still charged by mobile provider for the internet usage. So make sure to check your contract before downloading videos to your phone.

[www.abbreviations.com via Makeuseof]

Not sure what HTTP, RSVP, KGB, PHP, CSS or any other abbreviation stands for? Check out Abbreviations.com. It is a search engine where you can easily search, browse a and finds meanings for almost any acronym and abbreviation.

From the Page:  Abbreviations.com is the world’s largest and most comprehensive directory and search engine for acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms on the Internet. Abbreviations.com holds hundreds of thousands of entries organized by a large variety of categories from computing and the Web to governmental, medicine and business and it is expanding daily.

Additionally to searching and browsing you can create and keep you own list of abbreviations and acronyms.
Features:

• Lookup  what acronyms, abbreviations stand for.
• Search, browse  alphabetically, filter by category  such as Computing ,Governmental, Medical, International etc.
• Create and keep your own list of acronyms.
• Become an editor and contribute by adding new definitions.
• Supported Tools : Widget for Mac, Custom button for Google Toolbar, Firefox search plugin, IE addon.
• No sign up or registration required.
• Also check out similar website AcronymFinder.

[tjoos via Makeuseof]

Added: 22 Aug, 2008 (158 Views)

Tjoos is another website to get free discount coupons for online stores. In case you have never used online coupons before then basically these are codes or links that give you instant discount on certain products. It can be on Dell.com, Best Buy, GAP site and so on.

You can search or browse coupons by product name or brand, by category (and sub-category), or by store name. Coupons are also frequently checked to ensure they work.

As mentioned above, users have an option to view all available coupons from specific online retailer (Dell, Best Buy etc.). This can come in quite handy for those who freqently shop at one web retailer.

Another great feature is something called “Demand a coupon”. When you can’t find the coupon you need you can “demand” it. When the number of requests reaches 50, Tjoos will contact the retailer and request an exclusive deal on the product.

[FontPark via Makeuseof]

Cool and creative web application that lets  you create  an art  from letters of Japanese and Latin alphabet. Works simple,  just drag, drop and  rotate letters from the pallet and arrange them to create an art of your own. Once an art is created you can easily share it with your friends . Additionally, you can also browse and rate  Most popular and  Recent arts created by other users.

Features:

• Create Art from Japanese and Latin alphabet letters .
• Create as many art works  as you like .
• Share your arts with others by forwarding  link URL.
• Check out arts  created by other users and watch replays on how they were created.
• Check out  most popular and recent arts.
• No sign up or registration needed.
• For more similar tools go Here

[via Makeuseof]

These days virtually everyone is in touch with Cloud Computing. In fact, most of us are relying on it to some degree. The internet, metaphorically referred to as “the cloud”, produces ever more Web 2.0 applications that enable us to take our lives online. We don’t write diaries - we blog.  We don’t call to share news - we twitter.  We meet friends through social networks, and our busy calendars are readily available online.

Ultimately, the cloud will be able to replace a majority of everyday programs on local desktop computers. This brings freedom and convenience in that we don’t have to buy expensive software, we can access our data wherever we go, and we don’t have to worry about updates or security, since it’s all taken care of by the providers. The danger of course is loss of control over your privacy and data, and potential consequences are data piracy or identity theft. What if the service fails and data cannot be accessed? Imagine the internet went down, all hell would break loose.  These are just some of the scenarios to be considered.

While at this point it may not be advisable to transfer your whole life to a cloud, detaching from a desktop computer may actually have great advantages, such as retaining a great deal of independence. So after starting with a somewhat lengthy introduction, let me provide you with a short list of online software alternatives to popular desktop applications.

Writeboard makes it easy to...

Write without fear of losing or overwriting a good idea
Compare different versions of a document
Collaborate with colleagues on copy, proposals, memos, etc.
Subscribe to documents via RSS and be notified of changes
Keep your writings organized with Backpack integration

Writeboard is perfect for...

Authors, journalists, PR folks, editors, and publishers
Bloggers or freelance/independent writers
Letter writers, songwriters, poets, comedians, creatives
Students, professors, and groups collaborating on a paper

[via Makeuseof]

Want to watch  popular TV shows or TV series but not fluent with language or  for  some other reason have trouble following the dialog . Check out TvSubtitles. It is a website where you can search and  find subtitles for  popular TV Shows and TV series. Most of the subtitles available in multiple languages and  completely free. Just find episode  or series you looking for, chose the language and download WinZip compressed file to your computer.

Features:

• Find and download subtitles for your favorite TV shows or series.
• Search or browse by Tv Shows, Latest, Most Downloaded.
• There are around 30000 subtitles in database.
• Contribute by  uploading  subtitles of your own.
• TvSubtitles is  available English, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Greek languages.
• No sign up or registration needed.

[via Makeuseof]

The rise of blogs and easily publishable content created a need for the ability to track it, hence the creation of Really Simple Syndicate Feeds or RSS for short.

“RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts in a standardized format. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with web sites in an automated manner that can be piped into special programs or filtered displays.”

These ’special programs’ and ‘filtered displays’ consist of either:

• Browser feeds
  using a web browser to keep track of website updates (all modern browsers contain this functionality such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari)
• A dedicated reader
  These include Google Reader, FeedDemon and a host of others where you can read blog feeds as you do email. Some readers are online, others are desktop based.
• An online aggregator
  Such as AllTop or TechMeme. This lets an algorithm find out the most popular stories for the day and saves you the trouble of scouring countless blogs.

Whether you’re already a feed addict or just interested in the whole thing, deciding upon who you’re going to use may take some thought.

Online Reader? Desktop reader?

[via Lifehacker australia]

As millions of Australians waste time at work checking out everywhere they've lived on the newly launched Australia implementation of Google Maps' Street View, community rating site StreetAdvisor has wasted no time in adding the feature to its service. It's not immediately obvious, but if you locate a neighbourhood that StreetAdvisor has already rated and click on 'Browse Map', you'll get access to the Street View rendition alongside user comments on that area's pluses or minuses. [StreetAdvisor]