Web 2.0 « Doriano Carta

Less is More

January 10th, 2009 Posted in Social Media, social networks, Web 2.0

2009 will be the Less is More year as increasing numbers of startups become shutdowns and people start to focus on using less services. The waves of early adopters has already begun to settle down and even the most excited web 2.0 proponents (myself included) realize that there are only so many minutes in a day and only so many services one person can ever use in a lifetime.

So, look for the trend to include far fewer startups but more usable services that allow their functions to be accessed via mobile devices and even through other services. The web will become increasingly more mashable, allowing us to plug and play with services the way we want.

Open vs Closed Platforms

All this leads to the importance of open platforms such as Open Social for web apps and Android for mobile apps. Sure, proprietary platforms will continue to enjoy success in the short term such as Facebook apps and iPhone apps, but ultimately long-term success will be all about the openness and flexibility of development environments.

Keep in mind that being “Open” does NOT always mean “Free” and zero revenue. Yes, initially things will be free as in all things open source, but it can lead to profitable windfalls should the platform and applications gain traction and become successful.

Divide and Conquer

Personally, I’ve also begun to divide and conquer in my daily battle with the firehose of data and information. Yes, I will still dip my toe in new waters and test drive new startups and technologies, but my core every day services will continue to remain a manageable amount. For example, is there really any reason to jump on and use a dozen different social networks? That requires a lot of time and effort regarding login credentials and managing all related emails within each system. Twitter and Friendfeed provide more than sufficient access to what’s out there these days.

On the mobile side of things, I’m thrilled with being able to reduce the number of devices and gadgets that I used to carry around all the time. For example, I used to have a Blackberry for phone calls and emails, an HP Ipaq with pocket PC/windows mobile for more advanced PDA functions and an iPod for music, videos, podcasts, etc. Well, thanks to Apple’s iPhone and similar devices I no longer have to maintain and carry multiple devices. We’re able to reduce the number of gadgets to one multiple purpose mobile device which is an excellent example of the beauty of less is more.

The List Master

November 22nd, 2008 Posted in Web 2.0, Websites

4 Comments »

I did a post recently for Mashable called “40 Great Resources for Making Lists” where I covered a slew of services that bring smiles to the faces of anal retentive types like myself. As with any post on a big blog, there were a bunch of great links shared in the comments. I’ve combined my 40 links with the ones shared in the comments along with new ones that I’ve found since the post went to press. So, consider this List Master the ultimate list of list services.

We like to keep all kinds of lists; wish lists, checklists, lists of lists… you get the picture. In this roundup we will focus on services specializing in wish lists (things we want) and checklists (things we want to get done). Using these mobile and web-based tools you can keep track of daily tasks, build your reading list, organize your holiday gift giving, and more.

***Now in Alphabetical order!***

Wish lists

Amazon – The grandaddy wish list keeper of them all now supports all other sites thanks to their universal wish list button.

BoxedUP – Real time listing of new items added to wish lists is unique, but is it useful? The ability to show what you already bought and own is nice for youngsters who want to show off their stuff.

ComicScout – List maker for comic book collectors

GiftBox Home – Similar to boxed up and the easiest to use, but its interface is not as slick as the other newcomers.

Kaboodle – Fun shopping service with list management

MyFavz – One of the newest wish list sites. We recently covered it here on Mashable.

My IT Things – Not to be confused with MyThings.com. It offers some nice widgets to show off your lists.

MyThings – Its unique feature is the ability to get ratings and feedback from others for any gift ideas you have.

ReQall – Create shopping lists, wish lists and more. View them on your iPhone with free app too.

No More Notebooks – Add items form any shopping list and share it

Twizon – Where twitter meets Amazon

Wisheo – Specializes in group gifts, which sets the site apart from many of the others.

WishList – Cut from the original post by editors because it didn’t look like a web 2.0 service.

Wishli.st – Slick list site

Wishlistr – Slick list maker that you can share with others. Includes rss feed of lists.

WishPot – Has the most modern web 2.0 look and feel, as well as social networking features that let you share lists. Another strong feature is the ability to send ideas for gifts from your cell phone right to your wishpot account.

Wists – Another strong web 2.0 site with nice options to embed your wish lists on your blog or website.

Checklists, To Do Lists & More

These list makers can be used to track things you’d like to buy, but more often they’re used to keep track of places to visit, people to meet, things to do before kicking the bucket, etc.

22Books – Tracks books you’ve read or want to read or own.

43Things – Lets you lists your goals in life and connects you to others who have either already achieved those goals or who are also currently pursuing the same goals.

43People – A sibling site to 43things, only geared towards people you want to meet instead of things to do.

43Places – The natural sibling site to 43things, only for places you want to go instead of things to do.

MyAnimeList – lists for Anime and manga community

Blist – More an online database builder but great for lists

Blippr – List your favorite music, movies, books and more.

Checkvist – Quick way to create checklists

DoitDoitDone – really simple to do service

Doominow – Adobe Air desktop app that tracks your tasks.

EverNote – The ever popular EverNote that does it all. Great iPhone App too.

FlexLists – Looks and feels more like an online database than just a list maker.

Gubb – Track reminders and make lists

HipCal – Calendar and task management service

HiTask – Group task management system

IWantSandy – personal assistant that reminds you what to do

Jott – More of a note manager but it can work with lists online and on the cell phone.

LifeTango – A Bucket list manager

ListaGator – Offers unique ability to turn lists into RSS feeds. You can share any list as well.

Listingly – Lots to do with this to do list manager

Lino – Unique to do lists on sticky notes that you share online on a big corkboard.

ListPhile – Lists with database capabilities. Lots of possibilities with groups.

List After List – Includes unique wiki list creator that lets anyone edit/contribute to your list.

Monkey on Your Back – Why not get a hairy assistant to remind you about what to do?

Nozbe – Not just a task manager but a project management system as well (up to 5 projects for free).

NutShell – Manage notes and tasks while doing research online

onZiList – List your top 11 (not 10?) items.

PlanZone – Project manager type of service

Qlubb – Task management for groups (sorta like Ning)

Remember The Milk -The popular task manager that can snap into Gmail or work on its site. See below for the iPhone app.

Seekler – Mostly just displays lists of peopl
e’s favorite things.

Stickified – use sticky notes to get organized

Stuffable – Mostly a place to show off your, well, stuff. Gives people a good idea of what you’re into.

Task2gether – Interesting concept of tasks with groups

TaskBin – Sharable task lists for groups

Taskee – Great to do list for groups of developers working on websites

TaDa List – Very simple but powerful to do lists from 37Signals. ***Pai’s Pick***

Toodledo – Powerful task and project management service

Treedolist – Tree view of lists

Tweeto – twitter task manager

Utterli – More of a micro-blogging platform but it works great on cell phones to record to do lists and such.

Vitalist – Collaborate with others on tasks and projects.

Voo2Do – Does things differently than the rest in this group. Allow you to link tasks to projects and tracks tasks by due date, priority and time estimates. It has a good collaboration feature and a nice interface.

Worst3 – Mostly just for laughs, you can share lists of the best 3 and worst 3 things you can think of.

Wridea – Also offers RSS feeds and shareable lists.

Zirr.us – Brain dump capturing for notes and tasks

Zoho Creator – Create Web Apps for tracking lists and more

List Making Apps for the iPhone

Christmas List – Create your own Santa list and manage Christmas gifts.

EverNote: Free app that works with the web version in realtime

Holiday Gift List – Gift list manager for any holiday.

Remember The Milk – The popular online service now has an app for your iPhone. Read our previous coverage here.

ToDo List – Free app to track all your to do items.

To Do’s – Yet another free to do list tracker.

List Apps for Other Mobile Devices

ToDo List Matrix – BlackBerry app to track tasks.

QuickList – Free list maker for Google’s Android OS such as the T-Mobile G1 phone.

TooDo – Another free to do list app for Android.

ShopSavvy – Barcode app for the Android G1. See the video below to learn more:

The Modular Web

October 31st, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized, Web 2.0

172 Comments »

The current trend for web startups seems to be either the "everything but the kitchen sink" or the "aggregation or bust" approach. Sites either try to be your everything (and fail) or they try to manage and aggregate all of your data from other sites (and fail). So many startups have lofty ambitions and delusions of grandeur only to be awakened by the sobering reality that most people don’t want what they are offering.

Less is More
However, some startups hit homeruns every once in a while which keeps everyone’s hope alive. So what do these rare successful services all have in common that separates them from the majority of sites that fail? For one thing, they tend to have a laser-like focus on a particuler niche and service it extremely well. They subscribe to the less is more school of thought. It’s all part of what I call the Modular Web where services become customizable components that can be mashed up with other services. They can snap in to an existing service much like lego blocks.

The key is to provide the best possible service for the targeted niche and make it as easy as possible to implement it. So what are some good examples of this mashable modular web?

Google Maps is the ultimate example of a modular web app. Nothing has been used as much as this useful service. Countless mash-ups include Google Maps as one of its modules. The primary reason is because it does one thing and does it very well. However, because of its simplicity and ability to work with other services it continues to produce complex and very useful results.

Flickr has done very well as a service for people into photographer and hosting their pictures. Sure, they’ll add some new bells and whistles every now and then but by and large that’s what they do and nobody does it better. The ability to share images and collections has been the secret to their success.

The same is true with other niche services that have achieved mass acceptance such as YouTube which does the same thing as Flickr but for video instead. The formula for success is pretty much the same: Do what you do best and add some new little features every once in a while and change the interface a tad for good measure. No new coke formula, please!

If you consider universal group acceptance as a barometer of success then Twitter belongs in the mix. If your definition of success involves financial matters then we would not include Twitter in this discussion at this time (though few have any doubts that Twitter is headed towards a golden pay day). They serve the micro-blogging community and despite many scaling and performance issues they’ve managed to grow their membership base. They’ve also been able to spread throughout the web thanks to its open platform that allows countless third-parties to develop add-on tools that only helps Twitter in the eyes of its users. Their formula is to serve up their byte-sized (140 character messages) meals and let others add menu items a la carte style.

Divide and Conquer
When it comes to the big picture, it’s sometimes best to think small. Instead of trying to cover the vast casm that is the internet it makes more sense to narrow the scope and concentrate on a detailed zone or target area. Even if it’s a monolithic establishment, it serves them well to carve up their massive organization into smaller teams. They will find it to be more managable and more agile when it comes to productivity. They’ll be able to make decisions quicker and adapter to the ever changing terrain on the fly which is critical with technology. Their ability to remain focussed on their mission is also enhanced by this reduction in size. This nimbleness could very well mean the difference between success or failure.

Plug n’ Play

Plaxo is a service that understands what their bread and butter is: address book management. Yes, they’ve branched out and tried a few other things like the silly greeting card service and their excellent social networking aggregation service called Pulse, but by and large their main reason for being is contact management. At the heart of their service is the address book widget that many other services reply upon to allow its members to access their address books in order to add or invite contacts to the service. It’s a perfect example of what the modular web is all about. All of these other sites didn’t have to develop the component that would allow members to access and manage their address books because they knew that Plaxo had an excellent mechanism available. Plaxo has carved a nice niche in that respect.
Others should strive to emulate this type of service. Concentrate on the core audience that they’re serving and make their solution modular like Plaxo has done so that any other site can plug-in your service to accomplish their tasks and objectives. Make it easy to use and access.

Stop trying to reinvent the Wheel
Too many sites waste valuable time and resources trying to do things that have already been done extremely well. This is not meant to knock innovation, not at all. The point is that in most cases it would be best to focus more on a new way to accomplish something rather than try to fix something that ain’t broken. There are too many things that need improvement to Waste time working on those things that don’t need it. There are also many problems that need solutions which would be a much more productive use of time.

Small But Powerful

Iphone app developers are enjoying increasing success because they are creating simple solutions for focussed niches. The don’t try to solve the mysteries of life nor do they try to funnel your tidal wave of social networking information. They build a small app to solve a simple need or problem. Web Startups need to take a page from the Iphone app playbook and do the same thing.

Summation
The Modular Web is all about collaboration and integration of services. It’s not wise anymore to be the be-all, end-all entity as in years past. Instead, the mindset should be to focus on a niche and specialize. The goals should be to strive for excellence in a specified area of expertise with great emphasis on making it as simple as possible to work with other systems and services. Ultimately, it’s about giving people options and choices. We will all be able to pick and choose which module or service to plug into our internet experience. It’ll become increasingly easier to create mashups on the fly because of the vast library of web modules that we will have some day.

FriendFeed Karma

July 18th, 2008 Posted in Friendfeed, Web 2.0

6 Comments »

If you want to make sure you are following everyone that’s following you on FriendFeed then you need to use this cool service called FriendVenn that’s just like the excellent Twitter Karma service that does the same thing for Twitter members.

Just enter your login ID and password for FriendFeed and you will see the following information:
People you are subscribed to but do not follow you back (Shame on them!)
People you follow that follow you back (Karmariffic!)
People who follow you but you don’t follow back for some reason (Shame on you!)

Here’s my FF results which shocked me! I didn’t realize so many didn’t follow Pai back (Most of them friends elsewhere!) and I didn’t realize that I didn’t follow back so many that I thought I was.

29 people you are subscribed to.	29 people who both sub to you and you sub to.	12 people who only subscribe to you.
Alana Taylor Amit Cheryl Smith Chris Heuer Chris Johnston Chris Messina Christina Warren Christine Lu Dayngr Jason Calacanis Jeff Pulver Julia Roy Kevin Rose Leo Laporte Loic Le Meur Marshall Kirkpatrick Meg Canada Merlene Neha Narula Nik Butler Robert Scoble Susan Reynolds Trish Veronica l0ckergn0me laura fitton loren feldman mashable michael arrington	Ben Borges Chris Christine Cavalier Eric Hao Chen Jay Martinez L.P. NEENZ FALEAFINE Linda Mills Lucretia Pruitt Mari Adkins Molly Mykl Roventine Nathaniel Payne Nicole Randome Orli Yakuel R. Staehlin Rachel Rubin Robert Kuhlmann SharnAtlanta Stacee Schmidt-Cottrell Stefan Hayden Stevi Deter Todd Jordan Veronica Giggey Whitney Hoffman justine lisarokusek phil baumann robert holiday	Charlie Anzman Chris Rodgers Cyvros/fyc Dan Covington Dave Evans Jeff Turner Jim Jannotti NinjaKai Rick Mahn delphie ingo ju the constant skeptic

Note: I want to thank Hao Chen for sharing this with me. He has created some excellent grasemonkey scripts for FriendFeed on FireFox so I asked if he had plans for doing this type of thing and he sent me the link to FriendVenn! I would checkout his very cool scripts too!
Oh, my FF is http://friendfeed.com/paisano

Friendfeed

Groups 2.0

June 17th, 2008 Posted in Google, Web 2.0, Yahoo

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Grouply strives to become the Friendfeed of online groups by aggregating all of the different groups you belong to on sites such Yahoo Groups and Google Groups. The concept is excellent because it saves a great deal of time and effort by allowing you to keep up with all of your messages and groups from a single centralized place. See image below.

The Grouply Smart Digest^tm delivers a daily personalized email summarizing new messages across all your groups. It highlights messages of interest and intelligently summarizes message conversations

Centralized Group Calendar

One of the best features is the way Grouply manages all of the different calendars and appointments that you have spread out across your different groups and services.

Global Search

Grouply provides fast, easy-to-use search of messages across all your groups. Quickly refine your results by group, message type, tags (topics), and rating. And you can save your search to create your own custom lists and trigger alerts. You can quickly search, browse, and bookmark messages across all your groups.

Final Thoughts

In our ever-increasing volume of data in the information age, an aggregator for groups is an excellent tool to have available to us. Hopefully Grouply will provide support for other group services out there and perhaps for message forums as well.

Aggregators, Google Groups, Grouply, Groups, Yahoo Groups

Secrets of the Startup Sages

March 31st, 2008 Posted in Education, Web 2.0

62 Comments »

What better way to learn how to launch a startup than to get advice from those who’ve proven to be successful with their own startups? Here is a collection of excellent wisdom and advice from some of the best startup sages in web history. Also included are links to their blogs and twitter profiles. Both resources are still alive and offer valuable information that only adds to their impressive body of work.

Evan Williams (Blogger, Odeo, Twitter)

Twitter: @Ev

Blog: http://evhead.com

Advice for Startups (1995 long before Twitter)

10 Rules for Web Startups

Several video interviews during Odeo days

Loic Lemeur (seesmic)

Twitter: @LoicLemeur

Blog: http://www.loiclemeur.com

Top 10 Things for Startups

Think Global Not Local

Jason Calacanis (Mahalo)

Twitter: @JasonCalacanisBlog: http://www.calacanis.com

How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips)

Startup Handbook: How to identify and deal with the slow masses, knowledgeable skeptics, and savvy dreamers.

Guy Kawasaki (Truemors, AllTop, Garage)

Twitter: @GuyKawasaki

Blog: http://www.GuyKawasaki.com

The Art of Innovation (Speech with Slides)

The Art of the Start (Speech)

Michael Arrington (Techcrunch)

Twitter: @TechCrunch

Blog: http://www.techcrunch.com

Startups Must Hire The Right People And Watch Every Penny or Fail

Michael Arrington and 13 Startup CEOs at Web 2.0 (Video)

Gary Vaynerchuk (Winelibrary.TV)

Twitter: @GaryVee

Blog: http://garyvaynerchuk.com

Legacy is Greater than Currency

The DNA Game

Final Thoughts on Startups:

This was just a sampling of the vast amount of excellent information available today about startups from the masterminds who’ve been successful with their own startups.

I selected the cream of the crop here and included many video presentations as well. Does following all of this advice ensure successful for your startup? I doubt it.

However, it will only help you avoid many of the mistakes that others have experienced the hard way. Perhaps you can become of these startup sages someday sharing the lessons you’ve learned!

Garyvee, Startups, Techcrunch, twitter, Web 2.0

Writing 2.0

March 28th, 2008 Posted in Web 2.0, Writing

16 Comments »

Writers have always been resistent to change when it comes to accepting new technology as useful tools. It probably started with writing instrument replacements such as the quill, pen, pencil and later the typewriter which most writers resisted in the beginning. Ultimately, these new gadgets all became common writing instruments. The same thing happened with computers and word processor programs. Most writers didn’t make the switch at first, but in time the majority of them did. The same pattern has repeated with the Internet and web 2.0 services that have been launched for writers. Fortunately, there has always been maverick writers who enjoy testing new things and experimenting with new technology and inventions. Eventually, others follow their lead until it becomes an accepted tool. While many writers are still resistent to these new online tools and services, the new age of writing technology has indeed begun. History will continue to repeat itself as the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Here are some of the best writing websites that I’ve seen thus far.

***NEW***

Invent-a-Story is another collaborative story writing site but this one does it just one line at a time! It’s silly but fun stuff.

Glypho is a story-by-committee type of service where everyone works together on a story and vote on the best chapter contribution. This all leads to many twists and turns in the direction of a story but it can be fun for those who are into this type of thing. It appears to be a good way to exercise your writing chops or breaking any writer’s block you might have.

Ficlets is a unique service. They describe themselves are literary legos and here’s why. Everyone can contribute their own ficlet which has a maximum character (not word!) count of 1,024 (as in one megabyte) and a minumum 64 character count. Others can contribute a prequel or a sequel to your ficlet and you can do the same with other ficlets. I told you they were different.

Novlet is similar to ficlets in that you are writing a story with others online, but the limits are not as low. Each Novlet story is divided into passages or sections of texts (usually 2-3 paragraphs long). Each passage can have one or more different continuations: it’s up to you, the reader, to decide how the story you’re reading should go on. And if you don’t like any of the potential continuations that have been already written, you can always write your own one, and start a new storyline.

NovelMaker is an interactive community for fiction writers, readers, critics, literary agents, editors, and publishers. Authors can upload completed works, or works-in-progress, and receive editorial suggestions, comments, reviews, and ratings. Those reviews and ratings may take new and unpublished writers into a realm never before accessible to them – a large, interactive community participating with them in the creation, and potential commercial success, of new works of fiction.

Authors can get instantaneous feedback, cover art, factual information, maps, pictures, and all manner of useful information to advance their literary endeavors to new levels. Readers can participate in an author’s creative process, rate and review an author’s work, create a user group to discuss the author’s work, or buy the author’s completed novel – in paper format or one of several e-book reader formats.

Literary agents can seek talent and worthy works of fiction online instead of just the old methods of over-the-transom submissions, query letters, and word-of-mouth. They can now read new works of fiction online, see the results of ratings and reviews by users on the site and see whose works may be commercially viable – because of the voting by the online community.

Editors and publishers have the opportunity to review new works of fiction, provide comments, and, most importantly, see what will sell based on our community response to new works. It can become a “testing ground” for an editor looking for the next best-seller.

StoryLink is an online networking and educational site for the creative community. They were conceived with both professional and aspiring writers and filmmakers in mind. Here’s what they offer:

StoryLink allows you to connect with peers with similar aspirations and experiences. Store, share and swap stories with other writers. Make invaluable contacts that will help launch your writing or filmmaking career.
Communicate with professional writers and filmmakers.
Up-to-the-minute events calendar featuring workshops, seminars, retreats and lectures. Be informed of the thousands of grant, fellowship and contest opportunities.
Articles and educational lectures hosted by professionals.

BookSpoke claims to be a dual-purpose site. One for readers and one for writers. It allows you to setup a blog of sorts so you as the writer can keep your legions of readers informed on your every move.

PlotBot is an excellent service for screenwriters that was previously covered on here in “Your Ticket to Hollywood“. You can work on your screenplays privately online or collaborate with others.

Final Thoughts:
I am still looking for that killer social network for writers, a sort of MySpace for literary types or a facebook for authors. I know it will happen some day very soon. In the mean time, I will keep an eye on this space and maintain a list of the best writing tools and services in a public spreadsheet called Writers Tools.

Sideways 2.0

March 26th, 2008 Posted in Web 2.0

10 Comments »

When Gary Vaynerchuk met Robert Scoble recently I had an idea for a sequel to the popular movie “SIDEWAYS“. Imagine GaryVee and Scoble in the lead roles as two web-savvy guys whose mission is to turn the usually stuffy wine industry upside down! It would be semi-auto-biographical as Gary has done just that with his incredible “Thunder Show” on WineLibrary.TV. His “little” web show has made his business a massive success and now everyone is following him on Twitter and everywhere else online.

Here’s a mock poster for SIDEWAYS 2.0!

Gary Vaynerchuk, Garyvee, Scoble, thunder show, wine, winelibrary

Web 2.0 vs Web 3.0

March 8th, 2008 Posted in Web 2.0

5 Comments »

Web 2.0 is still alive & kicking but everyone is already focussing on Web 3.0. What is Web 3.0? Well, the old adage is true: a picture is worth a thousand words. With that said, I will let the following images and videos explain the differences between web 2.0 and web 3.0 otherwise known as the Semantic Web.

In the Beginning there was Frontpage
Before comparing Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, it might be helpful to compare Web 1.0 with Web 2.0 first. Here’s an excellent image that does a great job showing the differences:

Here’s a visual comparison of all three: web 1.0, web 2.0 and web 3.0

Here’s a really ambitious image that shows web 1.0 thru web 4.0!

Here are some videos that do a great job covering web 2.0 & web 3.0.

The Machine is Us/ing Us
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g&feature=related]

Here’s a straight forward explanation
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsa5ZTRJQ5w&feature=related]

Tim O’Reilly’s definition
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQibri7gpLM&feature=related]

Tim Berners Lee on Web 3.0/Semantic Web
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVFY52CH6Bc&feature=related]

Digital bazar’s explanation of the Semantic Web
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGg8A2zfWKg&feature=related]

Here’s a video showing the history of web 1.0 to present and beyond to web 4.0!

Final Thoughts:
No matter what the terms or how things are explained, one thing is certain: the future of the Internet and technology is extremely exciting! Things will only continue to evolve into more collaborative and personal ways which is great for everyone on a personal and professional level.
By the way, this isn’t the first time that Web 2.0 was given its last rites! Nicholas Carr called Web 2.0′s time of death on 11/11/06!

Semantic Web, Web 2.0, Web 3.0

Doriano Carta

Renaissance 2.0