Back & Forward
What indispensable discoveries in technology kept you alive in 2007?
Let us know!
Discoveries from 2007 I will be keeping in 2008:
Netvibes.com
[Personal Start Pages]
Netvibes is a multi-lingual AJAX -based personalized start page with user-defined modules that can be bookmarks, calendars, multiple search modules (including image and blog search), local weather, podcasts, RSS & Atom feeds, Twitter updates, Facebook & MySpace integration, just to name a few.
I have worked my way through countless start pages and my Netvibes start page has been the most flexible and productive one by far… and without annoying ads!
VIRB°
[Social Networking]
VIRB° is a more tasteful answer to MySpace. The VIRB° profiles are easy on the eyes and give you the option to remove customization if you prefer a more simple view.
Profiles are easy to customize with predefined modules and if you are skilled in CSS you can create your own fully custom layout.
A few great examples of creative profiles over at VIRB°:
Freelance Switch
[Freelance Resource Website]
Advice, Jobs and Resources for Freelancing Web Designers, Illustrators, Photographers, Writers & Programmers. Excellent resource site for freelancers with a fantastic RSS job board to stay on top of freelance and contract work that is currently available.
Web Developer Toolbar & Firebug
[Developer Tools]
2 great Firefox Add-ons.The Web developer Toolbar and Firebug are a must for web developers, loaded with a wealth of tools for testing, optimizing, validating and debugging.
FlashDen
[Royalty Free Flash]
Purchase royalty free stock Flash, audio, video and pixel fonts or join the author program which allows anyone with the skills necessary to make Flash, audio, video or pixel fonts, to sell their files and profit through the site.
Twitter
[Social Networking]
What are you doing? Twitter is a portable application that allows you to post your ‘What are you doing?’ updates in 140 characters or less. I find this necessary to let others know that I am still alive.
New discoveries I will be trying in 2008:
Skinit
[Custom Skins]
For a reasonable price you can upload your custom designs (or use the Skinit online design tools) and create skins for just about any device you can think of. Can’t wait to custom skin my laptop, ipod, PSP and mobile phone!
Eye-Fi
[Wireless Memory Card]
The Eye-Fi Card is a wireless memory card. It automatically uploads pictures from your digital camera to your PC or Mac and to your favorite photo sharing, printing, blogging or social networking site.
Google Notebook
[Web Management Tools]
Google Notebook is a handy tool for gathering information for blogging or for simply taking notes about the websites you visit. It can also be integrated with your Google Bookmarks or exported into Google Docs for easy editing.
FeedBurner
[RSS Management]
Provides custom RSS feeds and management tools to bloggers. A great way to manage feeds and track usage of your blog subscribers.
Blender
[GPL 3D rendering Software]
Blender is a solid and respected 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems and distributed under GPL licensing. Create models, shade, animate and make interactive 3D.
Inkscape
[GPL Graphics Software]
An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.
OpenOffice
[GPL Office Suite Software]
OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute.
FlashDevelop 2.0.2
[Open Source ActionScript]
FlashDevelop is a .NET open source script editor designed mostly for Actionscript 2/3 development. FlashDevelop is very quick to setup and easy to use as an external editor for the Flash IDE or as a complete open source development environment.
The best part… All but 3 of the above mentioned are free to use and share.
Special thanks to those who put such great time and effort into GPL projects. Please visit Open Source Initiative or GNU to learn more.
In conclusion, technology continues to amaze and inspire me. I can’t imagine life without it and I look forward to new discoveries in the coming year, particularly Android the first complete, open, and free mobile platform, which should be available in a number of handsets later this year.