NotThatSteve

After careful consideration and the  weighing the pros and the cons we came the to conclusion that there are only two or three serious contenders in the Wiki market. Wikispaces and Wikidot appeared to us to be the only two possible choices due to budget limitations, required features and our impression of business viability.While many of the feature sets of both the Wiki’s were comparable Wikispaces had a slight advantage with the availability of free storage space. Wikidot seemed to excel at granular user permissions giving out the functionality for free. Wikispaces charged for a premium edition to get such functionality. Other wikis that were explored also offer similar feature sets but did not appear to the group to be hosted by stable or reputable  businesses. Ultimately after examining the top two choices, the decision was made for Wikispaces due to the fact that the appearance of the site gave a higher end impression and looked slightly more professional than its competitors. After some research it was apparent that Wikispaces is also the most mature of the two finalists starting in 2005 compared to Wikidot’s start in 2006.

 

1. iEtherpad
http://ietherpad.com/

iEtherpad got its humble beginnings as a grass root open source project and was purchased by Google for use in Google Wave in 2010. Etherpad allowed for the real-time collaborative editing of documents on the web. In other word as you type, your collaborators can see what you are doing, letter by letter. The original Etherpad has been discontinued as has Google Wave but due the the nature of open source the project lives on for use in the website iEtherpad.

2. Dropbox
http://www.dropbox.com

Dropbox is a different kind of collaboration tool allowing for the sharing of any files on your computer. By setting up shared folders, a person can edit a document then their collaborator will automatically synchronize with the most updated file. They can then make their changes and again, all of the collaborators will synchronize to the latest version throughout all of the Internet. This allows for all of the participants to remain on the same page of a project at all times.  As an added bonus, all saved versions of the documents are retained to revert to in the case that something goes horribly wrong.

3. MindMeister
http://mindmeister.com

There are many types of mind mapping software on the web today and all of them have their positive attributes. MindMeister is my tool of choice for collaborative brain storming over the internet. With this application, a group can share a mind map and each collaborator can add nodes and contribute to the collective. This in combination and the powerful history replaying functionality allows for interesting brain storming at a distance.

 

RSS readers (acronym for Really Simple Syndication) are one of the less known jewels of the World Wide Web. RSS readers are included in many email clients, web browsers and are available as web applications and stand-alone applications. RSS readers allow a user to create a collection of RSS feeds that is basically a list of providers or news sources that syndicate their news via the RSS standards established by Netscape in 1999. The RSS reader then uses this list of news sources to aggregate the news into a list of messages that are not unlike the individual emails in your favorite email client. The reader then tracks what has been read, what is new and allows you to organize the stories in ways that make since to you.

Google Reader
http://reader.google.com

Google Reader Screenshot

This web based RSS reader is one of my staple news aggregation tools. Established in 2005, this reader integrates well into the other free Google applications and allows the user to access their news feeds from wherever there is an Internet connection.

Your browser of choice.

All of the top web browsers in the wild include some form of RSS reading functionality. Internet Explorer allows you to click and subscribe to sites that have RSS feeds. Firefox calls it live bookmarks and Chrome allows the addition of extensions or add-ons that provide the RSS reading functionality.

Your Email Client

Many of the top email clients provide RSS reading capability. Outlook express, Outlook, Thunderbird and Apple’s Mail program all provide functionality to read and manage RSS feeds.

 

Wikispaces
http://www.wikispaces.com/content/wiki

One of the better looking free Wiki hosting sites, Wikispaces offers many of the creature comforts that modern internet users are accustom to. WYSIWYG editors, unlimited users, unlimited pages, and discussion forums are available for users to incorporate into their collaboration projects. Like many of the other available wiki sites, professional features are available for paying customers, allowing for enterprise features like user management and granular permissions for posting and editing wiki pages.

Wikidot
http://www.wikidot.com/

Wikidot is another free wiki hosting options available to users. Unlimited free use and pages are included in the free package. Unlike Wikispaces, Wikidot is community supported, which means that the users attempt to help other users solve technical issues instead of having a dedicated support staff.

Wikiwall
http://wikiwall.org/

Wikiwall is another available free hosting service. Unlike the other hosting services listed,  Wikiwall seems to be supported by a staff of one. Wikiwall seems to be a pet project of a Linux kernel programmer, and open source advocate, Rik van Riel. Information is sparse on this service. The site gives the impression that it is not well kept up and it does not appear to be a very professional or sustainable business.

 

Blogger

LiveJournal

WordPress

1. WordPress

Originally an open source project, WordPress.com has evolved into a full-fledged blog hosting service. WordPress offers free hosting for personal use. WordPress, originally intended to be a self-hosted solution, now profits from premium additional functionality. One of the most popular platforms, WordPress is my platform of choice due to the ease of customization and the option of self hosting.

2. Blogger

Originally created by Pyra Labs in 1999, Google bought this blogging platform in 2003, rescuing it from near failure. One of the most popular blogging sites, Blogger has grown and evolved since the purchase by Google. Previously known as Blogspot, Blogger has added functionality and integration into Google’s other services like Picassa, Google Docs, and Google Ad Sense.

3. LiveJournal

Arguably the most popular of the free hosted blogging sites, LiveJournal offers the most functionality of all of the other blogging sites. Like WordPress,  LiveJournal got its start from the open source project that shares its name. LiveJournal has distinguished itself by adding a social network aspect to blogging by adding friend lists and a social atmosphere. Although it has recently been under fire for security and privacy leaks, LiveJournal continues to be one of the top contenders in the blogging market.

 

Web application, Evernote, allows users to capture information, organize it, and retrieve it easily. Using a multi-vector approach, information called snippets, is captured through smart phones, web clippings, email, scanner, text message, and seemingly limitless third party applications.

Evernote can overwhelm new users.  The simple interface gives no direction. The user must chose an organization method; mine is based off of Paul Allen’s GTD.

figure 1: Evernote Screenshot

Evernote allows organization of snippets in two ways;  notebooks and tags. Notebooks allow grouping of common types of snippets. Tags assign keywords to snippets; allowing search, filter, and sort, for easier retrieval. You can assign one notebook for each snippet, but  multiple tags. That is where the magic happens.

I choose only a few notebooks to keep the organizational process to a minimum. An Inbox, To-Do, Ideas, Delegated, Reference, Someday, and Done are my only notebooks. Each notebook has a well defined propose and every snippet belongs in a notebook. The table below explains:

At first glace, this may seem like it would not allow for enough organization, but this is where tags enter. Unlike notebooks, I do not limit tags. If i have a To-Do that is for home, I can tag it ‘Home’. If it is also for my personal website, I can tag it ‘Home’ and ‘Website’. This allows me to search when I have thousands of snippets filed away that are tagged ‘Home’ in the ‘To-Do’ notebook. See figure 1 for examples of more tags. The combination of notebooks and tags allow for quick data filtering.

This only scratches the functionality surface of Evernote. With consistent use, Evernote is  a powerful organization tool.

Note: You may have noticed a discrepancy from the figure and my notebook definitions. I began the names of each of my notebooks with a number. Evernote alphabetizes the notebooks by name. Appending a number to the beginning to the name allows for me to order the notebooks in the way I want to see them.

 

1. Flickr

Primarily a photo sharing website, Flickr has built a social network based on the passion of photographers; amateur and professional, alike. Flickr allows the posting and sharing of photos, the building of friend groups, the viewing and commenting on photos of friends and the building of special interest groups. This personal social networking brings together participants who all share a common interest and allows them to learn about photography by interacting with other members or to simply share photos with privately with family members who can only view the personal photos by joining.

2. Twitter

Popular “micro-blogging” website Twitter, has made a name for itself by allowing users to “tweet” their blog posts via text message. This (at the time) revolutionary new method of sharing, combined with the social aspects of following (much like Facebooks friending) and retweeting (like Facebooks like) has allowed users and businesses to network out into a new text message connected generation of web users.

3. Myspace

Now in decline and most likely on its way out, Myspace was once the most popular social networking site. Created as a friendster clone, Myspace once focused on the online music scene. After gathering a large customer base,  Myspace seemed to have lost focus with many members being spammed daily.  The seeming unslaught of  unwanted advertisements and pop ups, sent users in droves to the (then) newly created Facebook. Now mostly the punchline of jokes, MySpace seems to be in a slow death mode despite recent redesigns and unsuccessful attempts to become relevant.

 

With the many available podcasts available on the web today recommend my favorite three technology related podcasts that I listen to in my commute to work everyday.

Buzz Out Loud – Daily Tech News
http://www.cnet.com/buzz-out-loud-podcast/

Tekzilla – Weekly Tech Help, News, Gadgets etc…
http://www.youtube.com/tekhd

This Week In Tech (TWIT) – Pundits pontificating weekly
http://twit.tv/twit