21 Jun 2008

How to Make the Web Work for You – Part 2 of 2

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Web 2.0 Part 2
Last time we talked about some tools to help you get the most out of your browsing and web 2.0 experience. In this second part, we’ll talk about some other types of tools designed to help you share your experience with others and aggregate your favorite content.

Photos

Flickr

The first tool I’ll talk about is Flickr, which is more of a service than a utility, however when used with widgets and feeds you can really do some incredible things online. You can use it as an online archive for all of your photos for sharing purposes, or you can use it to browse other people’s photostreams. I use it to host my running/racing pictures but I also spend time browsing through other people’s streams. Flickr is tag oriented, but you can also browse by location or user name. If you find a stream you really enjoy, you can subscribe to it like any other RSS feed or you can select favorites. If you have installed the Flock Browser, then you will see that Flickr is integrated into Flock, which can be viewed through the media toolbar, making it very fun and easy to manage streams and subscriptions.

Lastly, by using tools that take advantage of Flickr’s API, you can make widgets for your own web pages or for sharing slideshows with others. Here are some examples:

FotoViewr, Flickrshow, and Widgetbox’s Flickr Widget.

PicLens is brand new to the scene, but already it is making a splash in the Web 2.0 scene. Piclens is used as a browser add-on that allows you to view web pages in a brand new way. The interface allows you to surf via image view/search instead of the traditional method. It works with the following websites/applications:

Here is a screenshot:

PicLens

RSS/Blogs

RSS Feeds have replaced newspapers and even news websites in some cases because of the ease in which they can aggregate interesting content into one application. My favorite RSS Reader is Google Reader, which I can use to view the latest US or World news, my favorite blogs, and any other type of feed I want on one page. I can mark favorites and even share content that I find interesting. There are fancier readers out there, but I love the simplicity and reliability of Google’s reader, not to mention it is synchronized with my other Google accounts.

Tumblr is a cool way to set up a mini-blog or showcase which you can use to share content or ideas while browsing the web. The great thing about tumblr is that you can add a link to your browser that allows you to add anything you find online, whether it is a photo, video, quote, link, or story. I use my Tumblr to share things I like that don’t match the content of my blog or are more personal, but you can use it anyway you like.

Music

I cannot tell you how much I love this site without sounding like I’m trying to sell something, but really I love this site! I have used Last.Fm to find new music I wouldn’t have otherwise found and love the way it recommends music for you based on your tastes. Basically, you can pick an artist in the toolbar and then it will play similar artists. You can chose favorites, add to playlist, skip, and ban songs. It is very similar to Pandora, but the difference is that you can download a tool (scrobbler) that tracks what you play so it can make recommendations when you run out of songs. To integrate it with web 2.0, Last.Fm has widgets where you can share your playlists with others. The best part is that it can be played outside of the web environment so you don’t have to have a browser up.

I hope you like the list. Really, I’d like to make this series about 7 or 8 parts, but there are so many useful web tools that I had to pick the best of the bunch. Coming soon, look for a set of some must-use blogging tools and a new series on Social Bookmarking.