Wiggio - group work made simple

"We started Wiggio out of our own frustrations with endless email chains, using five different websites for five different functions, and all the other hassles associated with working in groups. We were tired of sending eleven emails back and forth to set a meeting time. We were tired of "that guy" who just never knows where and when to be there. We were tired of multiple mailing lists, contact books, phone-chains and incompatibilities. We wanted everything to be in one place, and we wanted it simple. Working in groups is inherently frustrating. We designed Wiggio to be easy and straightforward - it provides everything you need to work productively in your groups, without bogging you down with complexities, help menus and unnecessary features. Everyone will be able to use Wiggio, regardless of how tech-savvy your group members are."

Dabbleboard - online whiteboard

"Dabbleboard is an online collaboration application that’s centered around the whiteboard. With a new type of drawing interface that's actually easy and fun to use, Dabbleboard gets out of your way and just lets you draw. Finally the whiteboard enters the digital age"

AlmostMeet - web conferencing

"With all the web conferencing features you expect, and our many innovative ones, remote group meetings can now be truly collaborative. Almost as good as meeting in person, but without the unnecessary travel."

BuyMyTronics - don't throw away old electronic gadgets

About BuyMyTronics: "BuyMyTronics.com started with an idea to keep broken and used iPods out of landfills. When founder Brett Mosley's much-used, much-loved iPod broke, it dawned on him that there weren't many eco-friendly or economically gainful things do with it. After little research, Mosley discovered that there were a lot of people out there who had the same problem; broken iPods, few options. Why throw away electronic devices when you can get paid cash for them? BuyMyTronics.com was created to offer a quick, simple and friendly solution for people looking to unload unwanted (broken, used, and new) Cell Phones, iPods, Mp3 Players, iPhones and game consoles. Whether it's an old Blackberry, broken iPod, a used Wii or a brand new Zune, BuyMyTronics.com offers an easier, faster, and higher paying option than eBay, Craigslist or other sites out there, guaranteed. Our site is expanding to include laptop computers, digital cameras, camcorders, GPS Devices, and other electronics with the same green-minded focus of paying for used and broken merchandise that would otherwise end up as waste."

MyGreatWorld - for photogs, travellers, and friends

About MyGreatWorld: "MyGreat is a family of alternative internet-sites for photographers, travellers, dwellers and friends - worldwide. The idea behind all MyGreat-Pages traces back to a fundamental belief in open and free service, easy accessibility and a fast and simple structure. Today we started a complete new service for everyone interested in sharing information about his/her favourite towns. If you have something to tell about a place, something to depict and to portray to others, don't hesitate: write it down here, share your feelings, information and your recommendations and become a member of the fast growing international community of travel- and homeland-enthusiasts who care about their village, city or country. Visit one of our new country-pages. The following pages are up and running, more to come... "

Springnote - your online notebook based on wiki

"Springnote allows you to create pages, to work on them together with your friends, and to share files. Springnote is also a great tool for group projects as it allows group members to easily collaborate. Advanced search, numerous templates, and 2GB of FREE File Storage are only few examples of how Springnote can help you. Of course, you already know that Springnote is an Internet service, meaning you can access it from anywhere anytime."

VidQue - save and share videos

"VidQue enables users to save and share videos to their own custom pages with a single click, while helping them follow what their friends and peers are watching. Video discovery is simplified by allowing users to watch videos using their personal "Video Feed", a listing of the latest videos saved by the users they follow. VidQue analyzes trends and peer reviews to showcase the most popular videos on its main category listings. Rather then simply analyzing a popularity of each video, we treat each user as a unique individual allowing for a successful and rewarding video discovery experience over time."

KoolIM - web messenger aggregator

"KoolIM.com is a web messenger application that allows you to stay connected with your favorite Instant Messenger almost anywhere. You need a computer with just a browser only. There is no need to download and install any software or Java plug-ins into your computer to use KoolIM.com Web Instant Messenger. KoolIM.com provides friendly, light and very easy to use web-based interface with almost all core features from the original Instant Messenger. Another great benefit of our Web Messenger - it works behind a firewall or proxy servers. Use our Web Instant Messenger to chat with your friends everywhere! We support AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, IRC, Jabber and others on the consumer side. We also support Sametime, Simple, SIP, LCS, and Jabber on the enterprise side. We plan on soon launching SMS and ringtone support."

Textbook Revolution - free textbooks

"Textbook Revolution is a student-run site dedicated to increasing the use of free educational materials by teachers and professors. We want to get these materials into classrooms. Our approach is to bring all of the free textbooks we can find together in one place, review them, and let the best rise to the top and find their way into the hands of students in classrooms around the world. At Textbook Revolution, you’ll find links to textbooks and select educational resources of all kinds. Some of the books are PDF files, others are viewable online as e-books. Most books are aimed at undergraduates, but there are at least a few resources at every level, from kindergarten to post-doc. All of the books are offered for no-cost (gratis) by their respective copyright holders. Beyond that, each book is as individual as the author behind it."

Free Christmas sticker icons

"Here we are happy to introduce you a set of Xmas Sticker icons which includes 16 free icons. This icon set is designed by me and published on Web Designer Depot which supports Double-J Design a lot. Please feel free to use them to decorate your websites and blogs and bring the holiday spirit to the web."

NORAD Santa Tracker

WorldCat - the world's largest library catalog

"Your library's content and services can be discovered by millions of people where they work every day—on the Web. Use the WorldCat Registry to keep your library's service links and other important data about your library, library consortium or cultural heritage institution current."

GrammaText - improve writing and critical thinking

About GrammaText: "Train your brain, improve writing and critical thinking skills, and have some fun in the process. Learn how to write smart sentences: how to play the Game of GrammaText — and how to win it! Train your brain, improve writing and critical thinking skills, and have some fun in the process. Learn how to write smart sentences: how to play the Game of GrammaText — and how to win it!"

Vectorish - vector graphics gallery

About Vectorish: "Vectorish.com is a gallery that features the best free vector graphics from artists around the globe. Vectorish.com is part of a network of sites created from artists by artists. Our goal is to help you become a better designer. Our main focus is to showcase vectors with the best quality possible in our gallery. We believe great things should be shared."

CoSketch - multi-user online whiteboard

About CoSketch: "CoSketch is a multi-user online whiteboard designed to give you the ability to quickly visualize and share your ideas as images. Simple sharing. Anything you paint will show up for all other users in the room in real time. One click to save a sketch as an image for embedding on forums, blogs, etc. Zero hassle. Runs in all common browsers without plugins or installation. No registration. Tips and tricks. Bookmark the following link to to create a sketch without entering this startpage: Create sketch using CoSketch (rightclick->add bookmark or drag to your bookmark field) Images can be uploaded and inserted into sketches. Many shapes that are used frequently are already availible and can easily be added to your sketch. The titlebar of your browser will indicate when there is activity on the sketch so you don't have to keep focus on the window all the time."

Spam commenters

Hi all-

There have been a number of comments lately from users who say nothing more than "Great blog! I'll be watching." Their usernames link to commercial sites unrelated to the post. Nice trick. Now go away. I don't want that on my blog.

For the rest of you nice readers, if you'd like to ask a question or make a comment on a post, send it to @akipta on Twitter.

Not on Twitter? Give it a try!

FlickrEdit - display and edit photos

About FlickrEdit: "FlickrEdit is a Java Desktop application that allows you to display and edit your photos in a variety of ways. It also allows you to download/backup or upload your photos to and from Flickr. FlickrEdit is written in Java and it uses flickrj framework to access Flickr."

WizeHive - a collaboration platform

About WizeHive: "WizeHive is a collaboration platform which allows groups to share conversations, notes, tasks, calendars, files, and other information in secure, private, workspaces. Information can be entered from within WizeHive or via email, Twitter, and mobile devices. Our form builder, data utilities, and workflow tools enable collaboration around business process such as managing projects, processing resumes, evaluating funding requests, scheduling development, and more."

Learning in Hand - iPod Touch tips and tricks

About Learning in Hand: "If you're new to using an iPod touch, watch Apple's Guided Tour videos. Within 15 minutes, you'll know all of the basics. Then, learn more about the features by clicking through Apple's iPod touch Features Page. Furthermore, visit Apple's help guide on your iPod touch at help.apple.com/ipodtouch/. The guide is a web app (a site specifically formatted for iPod touch's screen). A help guide for iPhone is also available."

Hipero - your own website in 5 minutes

About Hipero: "Hipero.com is powered by WebsiteBuildex software. You can own a website like Hipero.com with WebsiteBuildex's PHP script, visit WebsiteBuildex for more details. Over 240 templates and counting! With our easy template system you can edit or add your own templates easily, you can remove any templates if you don't want them! No special hosting is required. You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars monthly for dedicated server - WebsiteBuildex will work on 'Shared Server' like Dreamhost."

VideoSpin - free video editing software

About VideoSpin: "VideoSpin is amazingly easy and fun for all consumers, especially users who don’t want to spend much time creating movies. The application has already been successfully downloaded by many consumers attracted by the simplicity of being able to quickly create entertaining videos and post them on the Web or email them to friends and family. Produced by a trusted name in the consumer video editing industry, VideoSpin offers the complete package, not just a trial version, absolutely free. Designed for Windows XP with SP2, or Vista™ systems, VideoSpin is available for immediate download at no charge from www.videospin.com. Consumers of all ages and all walks of life can benefit from the VideoSpin editor, including fans of online video-sharing sites, teachers, seniors and students as well as the millions of people with digital videos and photos accumulating on their PCs."

Word Spectrum - visualizations that explore word associations

About Word Spectrum: "Using Google's enormous bigram dataset, I produced a series of visualizations that explore word associations. Each visualization pits two primary terms against each other. Then, the use frequency of words that follow these two terms are analyzed. For example, "war memorial" occurs 531,205 times, while "peace memorial" occurs only 25,699. A position for each word is generated by looking at the ratio of the two frequencies. If they are equal, the word is placed in the middle of the scale. However, if there is a imbalance in the uses, the word is drawn towards the more frequently related term. This process is repeated for thousands of other word combinations, creating a spectrum of word associations. Font size is based on a inverse power function (uniquely set for each visualization, so you can't compare across pieces). Vertical positioning is random. To better achieve a even distribution, I normalized the frequencies of bigrams based on total primary term frequency. So, for example, in the case of war vs. peace, there are 81,839,381 bigrams starting with war and 31,263,375 bigrams starting with peace. If I render the spectrum without normalization, it ends up lopsided toward war (since the usage totals are so much higher). To compensate, I scale down all of war's bigrams so that the overall frequencies are even."

Someecards - when you care enough to hit send

About Someecards: "Someecards may or may not be the greatest thing since ecards. It was created by Brook Lundy and Duncan Mitchell and a dollar and a half-assed dream. New cards, categories, and features will be frequently added until everyone involved with the site dies."

Calaméo - instantly creates interactive web publications

About Calaméo: "Calaméo is a program that instantly creates interactive web publications. We offer you a new publishing method that has an incredibly wide variety of options and is simple to use. From a PDF file, you create magazines, brochures, sales catalogs, annual reports, presentation brochures... What is an interactive publication? It's an interactive electronic document, accessible from a computer and capable of reproducing the feeling of reading a paper document: turn the pages, mark the pages, zoom ... magazines, brochures, sales catalogs, annual reports, presentation brochures. Who is Calaméo for? For any person, business, association, agency, etc. who is seeking to offer a dynamic and innovative medium that meets the new communication standards."

Free Printable Certificates - download and print

About Free Printable Certificates: "These certificate pages are easy to download and print. Each page is available in two versions: a free, ready-to-use version and a $5.00 version that you can customize. The free versions are available in Acrobat (.PDF) format: just download one, open it in Acrobat (or another program that can display the .PDF file format,) and print. The $5 versions are available in Microsoft Word (.DOC) format: Just download one, open it in Word (or another word processor that's compatible with the .DOC file format), and customize it before printing."

Free Educational Software And Games

About Free Educational Software and Games: "Welcome to our educational freeware site! We have specialized in finding and reviewing high-quality free learning software and websites from the Internet - mostly for kids, but also for grown-ups. We have a large selection of web-based software (check the Online tab), as well as Windows software to download (under the Downloads tab)."

Biological Animations - cool visualizations of biology

About Biological Animations: "Contains: Water/Buffers, Proteins, Lipids, Carbohydrates, Enzymes, Membrane Transport, Cell Structures, Metabolism, Molecular Genetics, Cell Division."

The Phrase Finder

About The Phrase Finder: "The meanings and origins of over 1,200 English sayings, phrases and idioms. Whether you want to resolve a friendly argument over how a saying or phrase originated or whether you just enjoy words, you'll probably find something here to interest you."

Embedit.in - embed documents on your site

About Embedit.in: "Documents on your website should be more than an afterthought. Make it convenient for your viewers to see and interact with your content right in their browser with no need to prompt for any software download or account for variability in user experience. Try Sitewide, one line of code that converts every document link your site to an embed, or the embedit.in API, which lets you create embeds on the fly. Experience never-before-possible control over the documents and files on your website. Backboard, by the makers of embedit.in, is the easiest way to collect feedback on your documents from your workgroup. It works with any of the file types you can use on embedit.in."

EdWeb.net - social networking for the ed community

The edWeb is a social networking website that makes is easy for anyone in the education community to connect with peers, share information and best practices, spread innovative ideas, and provide professional development. The edWeb provides an easy and intuitive Web 2.0 platform that includes blogs, discussions, file-sharing, shared calendars, wikis, live chat, messaging, polling, and shared links. Communities (groups) can be created and linked for closer collaboration. * Teachers and administrators can share best practices, information on what's working, and support each other across schools, districts, states, the country, and even around the world. * Schools and districts can create professional learning communities and practice groups, improve teacher and principal quality and technology skills, and provide mentoring and support. * Colleges can use the edWeb to support their teacher education programs and to stay connected to cohorts of new teachers as they move on to their teaching positions and begin their careers. Faculty in any department can use the edWeb to connect with peers anywhere in the world. * Associations, legislators, and community leaders can discuss research, policies, regulations, and guidelines to break down the silos that exist at all levels of education, and to draw in a wider group of stakeholders. * Education companies can connect with educators to get feedback on products and services, to discuss the educational materials that are needed to improve education, and to provide continuous, online professional development. The edWeb welcomes all professionals in education and creates a new communication channel for educators, associations, legislators, community leaders, and companies to break down traditional barriers to communication and promote broader collaboration. The edWeb is free for professionals in education and for educational institutions. Education companies are invited to join the edWeb as sponsors.

Hobnox Audiotool - realistic electronic kit in your browser

About Hobnox Audiotool: "Produce your own electronic music with the Hobnox Audiotool. All in your browser. Live recording of your tracks is finally possible. Choose your set-up, add, remove and arrange the devices you need and record your track to the ‚myFiles’ section of your Hobnox account. From there, publish and share. The first step towards timeline & sequencer, saving arrangments & remixing tracks is done!"

Electronic musicians, this is a must try. Go play!

Webon - easy free webpage and hosting

About Webon: "Choose from a library of attractive website templates, and switch between them easily without affecting your content. You can also customize any template, or even design one from scratch. PICTURES: Upload pictures and place them in your site or use our handy Photo Album. VIDEO: Upload and display your videos in a custom, re-sizable player. You can also embed videos from YouTube and other popular sites. AUDIO: Upload and embed MP3 and WAV audio files. DOCUMENTS: upload a variety of popular file types and link to them for users to download (PDFs, Word Docs, Spreadsheets, and more). Drag and drop images, video, and add-ons wherever you like on a page, and edit text the way you would in a word processor: just click to type, or highlight to edit or delete. Webon’s add-on library includes popular widgets such as a photo album, a guestbook, a Google map, a customizable RSS feed, a grid tool, and many more—use as many as you’d like."

MailCatch.com - temporary email addresses

About MailCatch: "MailCatch is an email service that allows you to create temporary disposable mailboxes, in a completly anonymous way. When you are asked for an email by a website and you do not want to give your (for fear of spam), you can simply give whatever mailbox name you want on the mailcatch.com domain (like whatever@mailcatch.com). Then you come here, type in the mailbox name and check your mail. We get the spam, not you! The ultimate anti-spam serviceYou do not need to register with us or give any information. We do not want to know about you, that is what "anonymous" really means! ou do not need to register with us or give any information. We do not want to know about you, that is what "anonymous" really means! You do not need to sign-in to check your email, just enter the email account name in the field and see it! We just accept all mails on all email accounts, just send us a mail and then check it. Hassle free."

Clipmarks - clip and share text, images, or video

About Clipmarks: "On Clipmarks.com, you can see clips of text, images or video about all sorts of topics that other people find while surfing the web. The idea is that through each other, we can learn more, know more and enjoy more than we could possibly do alone. As you find people who post clips that interest you, make them a Guide. Think of your Guides as a team of web editors you choose to consistently deliver you clips of things they find on the web.We created Clipmarks because we're fascinated by the moments that snap people out of a day dream. Lets face it, when we read articles in newspapers, magazines, or on the web, we often drift in and out of space. But then there are those moments that smack us in the face and make us take notice. Offline, they're the moments when you reach for a highlighter or pair of scissors. But online, what do we do when something within a web page jumps out at us? Bookmarking the whole page is not an adequate solution because it doesn't let us shine the spotlight on the parts that matter the most to us. And copy/paste, forget about it."