NonSociety – Live Differently. Meghan Asha Tech Addict

Hot Potato is one of the websites I’ll be watching closely this year. It allows for users to help friends collaborate and share their experiences over live events. Though it’s still quite new, I think the need for such an engaging tool will be the next wave in how we use the web socially. Imagine gathering your friends from around the country (or even the globe!) together to watch the State of the Union address, all while being able to get their reactions in real time. Hot Potato is a simple well executed idea that I look forward to seeing evolve.

CHATTY SNAPSHOTS

Create narrated photos using Fotobabble, a website that allows you to create talking photos in just two clicks. All you need to do is upload your favorite photo and record your voice through a computer. Easily share the chatty picture via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, you can even embed it onto a website. 

Here’s a couple of example people are using Fotobabble:

• To tell stories with your photos 
• Send talking greetings
• Narrate and describe your favorite pictures
• Send talking postcards from a recent vacation
• Add voice to a birthday or anniversary card

I’d love to see how my readers use this site, so please email me (Meghan@NonSociety.com) a link to an entertaining Fotobabble photo you’ve created. Best submission, wins my favorite chocolate!

Pay by Text!

I came across Venmo at a dinner in San Francisco last week with my very astute friends in tech (Dave & Britt). Though this company is in private beta, I already am encouraged to ditch my frequent trips to the ATM and start transferring funds to friends via text.

Founded by two brilliant guys from Penn who helped develop the infrastructure for bit.ly and TicketLeap, Venmo takes your trusted financial relationships to the next level using a swift mobile text messaging system. Registered users can make payments by simply texting two items to Venmo’s local number:

1. The transaction amount
2. The recipient’s cell phone number (or profile if they’re already a Venmo customer)

This then pulls funds from the giver’s linked-up, encrypted bank account/credit card and shifts them to the receiver’s account securely.

For more information check out Venmo.com and request an invite here.

Skype is about to launch a speed-dating site called Skyecandy live on Valentine’s Day. The way it works is it lets people take part in speed dating sessions that start every 6 minutes (5 minute for the dating itself and intervals of one minute to rate your dates). Your successful dates are  logged in on the “Results” page that you can see in your profile.

Unlike many other online dating sites (eHarmony, Match, etc.), creating a profile and using the Skyecandy software is absolutely free. Please note that some paid feature are on their way, including an SMS messaging system that will let you get in touch with any successful past date. I’m interested in viewing the launch to see what kind of skypetastic  blokes I can meet using Skyecandy. Oh Internet dating, how you scare me!

SLACKER SITES

Are you having one of those bleak days in the cubical in need of an escape?  Look no further than FMyLife, a place that houses everyday stories of people just like you. Users are able to unwind and alleviate their frustrations by submitting experiences that screw with their day. I absolutely adore this website, it’s a great way not feel so alone when you’re having a tough day. Since it’s my birthday this week, I thought I’d post particularly striking birthday passage:

“Today, it’s my birthday. I have gotten three calls all day. The first one was my fiancee, saying he wanted his ring back. The second one was my best friend, confessing to me that she had been sleeping with my fiancee for the past three months. The third was the dentist’s office singing me a happy birthday. FML”

Don’t you feel better already??? Yikes!

SLACKER SITES

Are you one of those people (like me) fascinated by the classifieds? I know it’s nerdy, but I absolutely love looking through the various categories (wanted, lost, found, etc). If you’re looking for yet another portal into the wide web world of classifieds, why not check out the Best-of-Craigslist? These postings are nominated by Craigslist readers hoping to highlight the best, weirdest, funniest, and strangest submissions. ENJOY!

SLACKER SITES

I’ll admit it, I’m a very casual gamer. But, sometimes I find myself using Pogo.com to take a quick break before tackling the rest of my “To Do” list. Pogo has a vast selection of simple online games you can play against others or by yourself. My top two favorite games I play when procrastinating: Monopoly and NASCAR Web Racing!

SLACKER SITES

We all know about Etsy, an online marketplace that allows users to buy and sell handmade items. But, have you heard about Regretsy? If you haven’t (and you have some time to kill), I suggest you check out Regretsy.com a hilarious site that makes fun of some of the most ridiculous items listed on Etsy.

What’s my favorite category? Pet Humiliation! Who knew that so many creative costumes existed for every animal (including goats)? Truly entertaining – there’s nothing to regret about Regretsy.com.

SLACKER SITES

With the plethora of distractions on the web, I thought it time to highlight some of my favorite online diversions. Someecards is a site I just can’t get enough of because of it’s diverse (and sometimes crude) library of free online greeting cards. Where else can you send a card that says “I threw up a little today and I thought of you, then I threw up a little more.” or “I look forward to seeing you put on all the weight you lost in the last year.”? Procrastinate and make a friend’s day by sending them one of these very witty cards.

BEST WEBSITES 2009

I chose Bit.ly as one of the top websites of 2009 primarily because of Twitter’s surge into mainstream popularity. Bit.ly (which used to be TinyURL) is a URL shortner that tracks the statistics of a link you post. Most of the links on Twitter are shortened by bit.ly. It’s absolutely incredible how quickly this company has grown in such a short time period (to 8 million uniques per month). I think the main reason for Bit.ly’s growth is because ultimately (like Twitter) it’s simple and useful.

BEST WEBSITES OF 2009

My next new favorite website is SuperCook. It’s a recipe search site that has you enter the ingredients you already have in the kitchen (in my case, that would be cheese and chocolate) and gives you ideas from its database of 300,000-plus recipes. Forget about letting that food go bad because you don’t know what to cook. I dare you to visit SuperCook and test it out for yourself. You’ll love how painless it is to plan a meal using the SuperCook search engine.

BEST WEBSITES OF 2009

I decided to include HotPads.com on my list because of my ongoing fascination with New York real estate. HotPads offers a unique map-based search engine that features rentals, homes for sale, vacation rentals, and hotels. The key element is its “Buy vs. Rent” search portal, which allows users to look for both houses for sale and to rent. This helps users to make more informed housing deciscions on whether they can buy or rent. In short, HotPads has a vast array of real estate data in a very easy to view site.

BEST WEBSITES OF 2009

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to take a class at one of the top universities? Well, look no further than AcademicEarth.org; a new site built by web revolutionaries whose aim is to break down those Ivy gates, so that everyone has the same opportunity to learn. Academic Earth posts online course material (syllabi, course notes, and videotaped lectures) from colleges like MIT, Yale, Stanford, and Harvard for anyone to audit from their own computer. The access to information on Academic Earth is absolutely mind blowing. I highly encourage everyone to check it out.

BEST WEBSITES OF 2009

Want to know what the first version of Facebook looked like? How about the hearing the first geek podcast? All this and more can be found on the Internet Archive at archive.org. It’s basically an online digital library open 24/7 to the public with one mission - to back up the entire Internet!

BEST WEBSITES OF 2009 

With the constant stream of news on the web and beyond it’s often hard to find all the most popular information in one organized area. That’s why I decided to include Popurls as one of my picks of best websites for 2009. Popurls does an incredible job at aggregating the content from the web’s most visited portals (Twitter, Digg, etc.) by linking to the headlines from its sources in real-time. One of my favorite functions is that you can adjust and customize the site to fit all your news gathering needs.