Category: Web 2.0

Mashups made easy – Teqlo Promo

Teqlo is at the forefront of a new type of application, including Yahoo Pipes and others, where end users can put together their own applications and mashups without any knowledge of programming. Every organisation, no matter what size, has processes and ad hoc systems to track and do things in between the major operational systems that they use. In the past, these would have been manual, or maybe based on some sort of Excel spreadsheet with some macros. Anybody who can use Excel, will have absolutely no problem with Teqlo.

The product allows you to put together web deployed, light weight applications from a collection of components and widgets in a drag and drop environment. It’s very easy to drive. Eventually there will be an inventory of ready made application for you to use, or copy as the starting point for your own thing. This opens up a whole host of customer service or customer relationship type applications that a small business might use, but there is nothing to stop you using Teqlo for any part of the business process. As their business and installed base grows, so will their library of widgets and applications, and the product will become even more useful.

They have just moved to “open beta” status, which means you can create an account and try it out. They are taking a bit of a risk with this approach, so bear in mind you are seeing the product at an early stage. They are hoping they get constructive feedback from early users, and build up a useful library of user generated applications that will help the whole community.

To get a feel for how it works, take a look at the 2 minute Intro Teqlo promo.

The 50 loudest websites in 2006 and what made them successful

The Information Architect (Creating Interactive Brand Identity) has a rather nice piece on The 50 loudest websites in 2006 and what made them successful. A very interesting read.

I also recommend having a read of their other pages too:

1. How to compete with free

2. Web Trend Map 2007

3. Web 2.0 unchains free market

4. Web 3.0: You say you’re on an infolution? Well, you know…

Google Apps go mainstream

Google’s acquistion of Writely last year was interesting. An online, word processor, that can do all things MS Word does and its FREE? Sounds great and indeed it was! Since then, Google Labs worked on an online spreadsheet application, Google Talk (Instant Messaging) and Google Calendar. Well today, Google finally announced what I’ve thought for ages – They are gunning for Microsoft Office’s share of the market.

Well, what does mean for you?

“With Google Apps, you can give your employees the next-generation communication and collaboration tools they need to manage electronic communications, share and publish information and stay connected while on the go. Whether you’re looking to transition from or complement your existing messaging infrastructure with more advanced collaboration tools, Google Apps gives you full control while requiring minimal investment. Google Apps can also make it easy to meet deskless employees’ email and calendaring needs. Best of all, it’s all hosted by Google, so there’s no hardware or software to download, install or maintain. With Google, you can afford to provide each and every employee with the tools they need to succeed.”

Google Apps Premier Edition is the promised offering for small businesses. It includes 10 gigabytes of mail storage, 99.9% uptime guarantee for email, APIs to integrate with the existing infrastructure of a business (single sign-on, user management, email gateway), 24/7 phone support. Everything for $50 a year per user (there’s a free trial until April 30th).

Google continues to offer two free editions of Google Apps:

* a edition for schools, that includes the APIs and 24/7 phone support

* a edition for families and groups that has all the features that were available until now.

All editions of Google Apps* include Google Docs & Spreadsheets and are compatible with the BlackBerry version of Gmail’s mobile application.

Google’s intention is to convince it can deliver “simple, powerful communication and collaboration tools for your organization without the usual hassle and cost” and the package can integrate into an existing environment. Google has learned a lot since last August, when it first introduced Google Apps, and has adapted to fit the needs of a corporate environment. Will businesses adapt to use Google’s web applications and trade some features for an always-available online interface?

If you are interested in this, also take a look at: Zoho.

Microsoft are due to launch their own versions of online based Office apps – Microsoft Office Live! later this year. This is going to be interesting to watch.

Anyone have a spare $375?

I am a big fan of Tim O’Reilly. O’Reilly publishing have published some of the best tech books in the world. Indeed, Tim and Co where the first people to coin the term “Web 2.0”. Though I am disappointed that he is charging so much money for the PDF entitled “Why Web 2.0 Matters and How You Can Make the Most of It – Insight and Practical Tools for Success”

The excerpt looks interesting. So if you happen to have a copy of this, please do not hesitate to send me a copy!

http://www.oreilly.com/radar/web2report.csp

The Web 2.0 Zeitgeist, The Story So Far

Pause for breath, discover where we are on the Web 2.0 rollercoaster. Okay, there is some techie stuff in the links below and lots on Ajax – heroin for the Web. Source: http://web2.wsj2.com

Top Web 2.0 Blog Entries for 2006

11. Thinking Beyond Web 2.0: Social Computing and the Internet Singularity

10. All We Got Was Web 1.0, When Tim Berners-Lee Actually Gave Us Web 2.0

9. Notes on Making Good Social Software

8. The Ajax Spectrum

7. Why Ajax Is So Disruptive

6. Seven Things Every Software Project Needs to Know About Ajax

5. Web 2.0 Predictions

4. Ten Ways To Take Advantage of Web 2.0

3. Ruby on Rails 1.1: Web 2.0 on Rocket Fuel

2. The Most Promising Web 2.0 Software of 2006

1. The State of Web 2.0

Yahoo Pipes – Innovation and narcotics return at Yahoo!

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is cool. As a user, I get to subscribe to content on the web that I am interested in. If Sony released a new product and I subscribed to their RSS feedback, I would know immediately as soon as they posted the link on the web. That’s nice, but frankly boring. Taking the concept of RSS and injecting some anabolic steroids into it, you arrive with something called a “Mashup” A mashup is simply an amalgamation of different Web 2.0 technologies that are “mashed up” together. So imagine connecting, RSS feeds from Sony Pictures, feeds from your local cinema, Google maps and finally a feed from your favourite Sushi bar. Connecting to all of these sites and pulling off information that is of interest to me, would certainly mean that my Thursday night is sorted. What I am really referring to is “Intelligent Aggregation”

Mashups are still in their infancy however. Connecting various bits of backend “stuff” (XML APIs), to all talk together is not easy. However, those folks over at Yahoo! have developed a new product called Yahoo Pipes. By piping various feeds from popular sites, you can create a real time, aggregation of information. Its sounds good in principle, though the UI needs work. MySpace loving Susan, might find it a little tricky and time consuming to get her perfect pipe working. Nevertheless, its nice to see Yahoo innovating again.

As with most 2.0 stuff, Pipes is still in beta. However, it will be interesting to see how the masses take to this technology.

YouTube 2.0 ? Joost is coming soon!

YouTube pioneered the way for home made, short video clips to be uploaded to the web and shared with the Internet masses – a form of WebTV. Well, its great until someone decides to record your outlandish drunken behaviour on a camera phone and then posts it to YouTube, BE WARNED! Anyway, I digress…

Joost is currently in beta testing and will be a new way to watch TV, free of the schedules and restrictions that come with traditional television. Combining the best of TV with the best of the internet, Joost allows more control and freedom than ever before – control over what you watch, and freedom to watch it whenever you like.

Interestingly, Joost was formely known as “The Venice Project”, and is brought to us from the people behind Kazaa and Skype. This is seriously one to watch, its going to be huge. Signup for the beta today http://www.joost.com/apply.html. Currently Apple Mac support only, Windows support coming soon.

As long as the Joost guys don’t get sued, commercials between shows would be the obvious revenue earner. So in theory, I could create a short promo video clip advertising my product or service to be viewed by millions!