Monday, November 17, 2008

The Round-Up Volume 1, Issue 16: Thanks for Sharing Your Stuff and Services with Everyone

This week it’s a potluck, in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays!

Thanksgiving is a time to sit back and acknowledge the great things in your illustrious life and recognize all who do what they do for you! In that theme, I want to point out that all the highlights in this edition were submitted from readers of this column on Jack Myers’ website and in our Digital Influentials Facebook group. We value your submissions and we really do check them all out, so please be sure to keep ‘em coming. Let us know what you think are some of the most interesting new innovations online by sending them to me in the Facebook group at “The Digital Influentials” or emailing me at cory@catalystsf.com.

Let’s jump right into it shall we?

Have you ever wished you could cut and paste a web page to send to a friend? Then you should check out SNIPD (http://www.snipd.com/). Snipd is a tool that does exactly what it sounds like; it allows you to “grab and save pieces of pages”. Take snippets of ads you saw online or articles you read on a topic and share it with your friends. I started using it and found a bunch of bugs initially, but the site is still in beta and hopefully they’ll work out those bugs very soon. The promise of the site is very exciting and they can already count me as a fan!

Another cool tool is KALLOUT (http://www.kallout.com/). KallOut creates a search engine using your mouse. You highlight a set of words in any program like Outlook or Powerpoint, as well as in your browser, and KallOut brings recommended search results to you immediately. I love the idea of bringing search into all of your computer functions; check out the tutorial video on their site and see what I mean!

Speaking of cool tools, check out JAJAH (http://www.jajah.com). Jajah is a beautiful marriage between Skype and your home or cell phone. Using Jajah you can create an IP-based call that is funneled through your home or cell phone to another person on the other end. All incoming calls to your cell are typically free and the outgoing call can be as low as $0.01 per minute. My issue with internet telephony has always been that it tied you to a computer, but now Jajah frees you up!

If you’re calling your friends or family using Jajah, why not also share some pictures of your kids online and expand the connection! That’s where WEE WEB (http://wee-web.com/) comes in. For those of you with kids, you know that everyone wants to see the updates. It can be overwhelming, unless you use Wee Web! It’s a centralized hub for sharing with your friends and family. Simple. Easy. Brilliant! The Thanksgiving holidays are all about family and friends, so share your family!

The last service we found for this week was MYTHINGS (http://www.mythings.com/). I admit this is a strange one, but for those of you who live by the immortal words of the late George Carlin (it’s all about having “stuff”), this is a service for you! Keep track of your stuff. Find out the value of your stuff. Organize your stuff. I started playing with the site and being an organization junkie, I started to find value. Check it out – you may too!

As for our iPhone Apps update! I love the new WEBMD app for finding what ails me. I also dig the FIELDRUNNERS game for a fun and interesting way to waste time at the airport. If you’re having a baby, the EXPECTING app is a fun one to keep track of where you are in the pregnancy. Download these now and see what you think!

Have a great week and enjoy the world of digital media!

Oh – and Thanks for reading!!

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