September 30th, 2009
This is a comprehensive set of worldwide rankings for brands to let users see the position of their own brand or to check the ratings for brands in particular areas of interest, such as specific industries. Quick methods display the top 100 brands and historical information is available as far back as 2006 to make the data more meaningful. It’s interesting to click on each year and see the difference in the top 10 brands.
Brand rankings are available on other websites, but this one attempts to bring together information from all of these sources. It’s possible to submit rankings for brands and include rankings for brands that aren’t on the website if this has been published elsewhere and isn’t yet included on RankingTheBrands.
The information can then be sorted and displayed in different ways. Whereas Google, Microsoft and Starbucks are currently the top three brands, a separate ‘CoolBrands’ rating has iPhone, Aston Martin and Apple in prime position. Other ways of selecting are: Fastest-Growing Companies, Best Global Brands, and Top 10 World’s Most Valuable Mobile Telecoms Brands.
A simple top 10 doesn’t tell the full story so a search can be done according to a variety of factors such as advertising, customer satisfaction, brand performance, brand popularity and brand value. Branding is a key factor in the success of a company so this kind of data is invaluable to businesses, and also provides useful information to customers. There’s a full listing of brands available via Search which also links to the individual websites. Additional links to articles on successful branding could add to this well put together and researched resource.
Tags: Branding, Brands, Rankings
Posted in Web Apps | No Comments »
September 29th, 2009
This site not only allows users to upload and share their flash files, it also shows the potential of these animations. Flash files can be used for far more than amusement, as a look through the various categories soon proves, with the creators showing ingenuity at displaying business and educational information alongside popular card games and art design tools.
Even for those who don’t create Flash animations this is an entertaining site to browse through, and for those who do create their own it would be full of inspirational ideas and the chance to join a community of fellow enthusiasts. Animations are grouped together under Recently Watched, Recently Uploaded and Most Played tags. Be warned that the animations are so tempting to watch that you could while away some time enjoying the site. The interactive ones are particularly compulsive.
It’s neatly presented with the animations grouped into areas of interest on the front page so it’s possible to select a topic and see the full range. Games are popular, but you can also find a wide range of subjects including Fun and Humour, Sports and Leisure, Travel, Technology, Spiritual, Fashion and Lifestyle, Health, Entertainment, Designing, Book Reviews and Business Management. Anyone who underestimates the potential of Flash files will get a different impression after a visit.
Tags: animations, Flash
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September 27th, 2009
Organised in the UK, this is an international site that lets learners find courses close to them or online, and also lets teachers register for free in an impressive range of specialist subjects. The layout is simple, with quick registration for teachers, and a search field for learners to find the subject of their choice. It’s also possible to search by city to get ideas from the variety of courses in each area.
A search for courses of interest to me and within walking distance showed teachers in my vicinity, which suggests how comprehensive the site is. The tutors also show high level experience and qualifications, and for many subjects there are both distance learning and face-to-face options. For students unsure about what they’d like to learn the site is attractively presented with the opportunity to explore major cities and the variety of courses to be found in each one. Popular courses are also listed to whet the learners’ appetite for study.
This resource will be useful for teachers and learners alike, and already has teachers registered in the UK, US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Portugal and Spain. An additional benefit is that teachers will be able to see how much competition they have in their location for the courses they could offer, and this could help them fill gaps in the service by promoting their more sought after subjects.
Tags: courses, Education, teachers, teaching work
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September 25th, 2009
Vzaar is a finalist in the 2009 Streaming Media European Readers Choice Award in the category of Best Online Video Platform. It offers an easy to use method of adding video to your own website or to other sites such as eBay where it’s a certified application so it’s useful for ecommerce. Websites like vzaar are arriving on the scene in competition with YouTube, and need to have advantages in order to attract users.
The benefits of vzaar are that it’s unbranded, so it looks professional and completely part of the company’s own brand. Unlike YouTube, vzaar has no time limit on uploads. Advanced options include multi-sizes, high definition video, border options and colours, autoplay and the ability to add text, including brand text, and weblinks. The videos are also iPhone compatible.
The basic vzaar service is free for up to 1GB for videos of unlimited duration, and for high definition subscription is $5 per month, rising to $10 for an unbranded version and advanced player settings. Certain YouTube limitations mean these services are in demand and vzaar is gaining popularity quickly. For comparisons with video services springing up it’s worth looking at vimeo.com and livestream.com
Posted in Video | No Comments »
September 25th, 2009
This site not only provides answers to your questions in a comprehensive everything-you-need-to-know way, it also does it with videos so that you can sit back and get a demonstration. With more than 60,000 professionally made videos and article guides, along with thousands more contributed by the Videojug community, this is a good place to learn how to do the simple things in life like tie a tie, or how to deal with complicated problems including finance and technology.
Why read the complicated instructions that come with gadgets when it’s possible to watch somebody show how to do it in easy steps? The Q & A page lets you type in your question and up pop all the relevant videos. I asked how to de-clutter my house and how to make a pizza, and I appreciated the clear steps in the recipe along with subtitles which would make the site useful for the hard of hearing.
The videos are divided into topics on the main page menu, including Beauty and Style, Creative and Culture, Family and Education, Food and Drink, Health and Wellbeing, Lifestyle and Home, Love and Dating, Money and Careers, Sports and Outdoors, and Technology and Cars. The Videojug videos are certainly professionally made, and anyone who tries this site is likely to keep coming back for answers and for fun. The serious questions in life are answered, but the most viewed videos also solve those tricky problems like what to do about the trapped arm dilemma when you cuddle in bed, and how to get a date if you’re a nerd.
Members of the Videojug community can post their own videos or articles on their areas of expertise – and everyone will have a skill somebody else needs to learn. The Videojug motto is ‘Get good at life.’
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September 23rd, 2009
Songkick claims to be the biggest concert database in the world with information on more than a million past and future events. It combines a simple method of finding where your favourite musicians are playing with an invitation to join the Songkick community and share your experience of music with other fans. Wherever your favourite musicians are playing live you can find them by typing in their name for a list of international gigs.
There’s no need to be a member to get information on upcoming concerts, but those who join can also fill in details of gigs they’ve been to in the past. Other members can click ‘I was there’ and the database turns into a social network where participants can share photos, videos and reviews of each event. For future concerts members can click ‘I’m going’ and see how many other Songkickers will be there, so they could find a group of friends to go with.
Songkick’s extra features help members to track the music they like with calendar alerts for artists, venues and festivals. They can also see which of their friends are going to a concert and get together. There’s a Songkick plug-in to import up to 50 favourite artists, and once members choose a concert it’s possible to find the best value tickets via a ticket aggregator using the inventory from 29 different ticket vendors.
This is an attractive and easy-to-use site that also provides networking for members and seems to be attempting to provide all the features its target audience would require. Not much wonder it’s already proving one of the most successful London startups. I couldn’t fault it and teenagers using it should already be aware of the caution needed in meeting up with online friends at events like this.
Tags: concerts, Music, tickets
Posted in Music | No Comments »
September 22nd, 2009
Leftos stands for LEssons For The Opposite Sex and describes itself as a free service to open up communication between men and women. Although there are many dating and relationship advice websites, this one does seem as if it could help men and women gain an understanding of each other by letting members ask the questions most on their mind and get responses from men and women. The participants stay anonymous so the questions and answers are particularly open and revealing. Anything that helps men and women understand each other better has got to be a good thing as we never quite manage it!
Leftos also provides advice on a range of topics under the tags Single, Dating, Sex, Relationships, Marriage, and Divorce. On each of these pages the expert advice is combined with the opportunity to ask any question and get the opinions and tips of other members. Looking through the questions asked it’s hard to imagine a subject that isn’t covered.
Are men put off by weight on women? How do you approach the most attractive person at an event? Would you date an obese person? Should you talk during sex? What do you do about adultery and do you mind if your partner has friends of the opposite sex? Is a trial separation worthwhile before going for a divorce? These are some of the questions, and I think I came up with one of my own that wasn’t on there. I get the feeling that whatever it is you’d like to know about how the other half thinks about relationships you could get the answer here. I found the answers sensitive and often surprising. My question is why this is about heterosexual relationships only – perhaps a missed opportunity, or is the idea that it’s to help users understand how the opposite sex thinks?
Tags: dating, relationships
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September 21st, 2009
This is a fun site which lets you use up to seven bullet points to get your thoughts across. The idea is that these days it’s hard to get anybody to concentrate hard enough to read a longer article, so it’s best to concentrate the main points into a piece of Shortology. Odd though it sounds it actually works, and the site makes compulsive reading. It makes you want to add a bit of Shortology of your own, working out which rant or bit of wisdom you want to impart and then deciding how to concentrate it into key points.
Although some of the Shortology is light-hearted, other Shortologists have given their views on weighty topics such as Obama’s healthcare policy, and well considered arguments sit next to rants and heartfelt opinions. The main page shows a selection from all the subjects covered and it’s enjoyable to read the lighter views next to the serious ones on such a selection of topics.
Additional pages divide the Shortology into Fun, Politics, Entertainment, Sport and Technology, with reviews as well as opinions. Concentrating a book review into bullet points isn’t easy but really cuts to the essentials, and the same is true for entertainment and a look into the pros and cons of the latest gadgets, software and websites. This site has the feeling of one of the booths broadcasters put up so passers-by can air their views on television by speaking for one minute. The site looks good and could be addictive, and my only criticism is that it’s let down by the need for some proofreading, including some of the main subtitles.
Tags: comedy, Opinions, reviews, views
Posted in Social Networks | No Comments »
September 20th, 2009
Socialgo claims you can make your own social network in 2 minutes, and as I created my own using the similar ning.com service I know this is simple and possible. On the main Socialgo page the user chooses a name for their social network and a URL, presses the Create My Network button, chooses a design from the templates and it’s done. Time to invite members. Deciding on the best name for the social network and building membership are the only two parts that need time and effort.
These platforms make it incredibly simple to set up a social network quickly by using the design as it is, and it doesn’t take techie skill to customize the appearance and the features needed on each page. The management options look as comprehensive and easy to use as the ones I’m familiar with on ning.com, although I couldn’t test them out without creating a social network.
Creating the social network can be free, and for a more bespoke approach there’s a scale of charges depending on how much the user needs. These charges are made clear on the Socialgo main pages, which is welcome, and also highlights the cost-effectiveness of this type of site. The free service has 1GB storage and 10 GB bandwidth, which is plenty to get started and could be enough for some special interest groups. This can be increased to 5GB storage and 50GB bandwidth for $4.99 per month. The top level service costs $24.99 and allows live video chat, the user’s own URL and advertising and advanced management and developer features along with 5GB storage and 50GB bandwidth. Socialgo also offer a concierge service to manage the social network.
SocialGo and other platforms like ning.com are sure to take off dramatically as people are finding the major social networks aren’t satisfactory for special interest groups. They also make it difficult to find and friend people with shared interests unless you know them already. Unlike the major competitors, platforms like Socialgo offer the ability to meet people easily as there are general chat and discussion pages where all members can get to know each other. Events on the calendar are all related to members’ interests, as are the groups, so it’s an effective way to communicate and promote to the right target membership.
Posted in Social Networks | 1 Comment »
September 19th, 2009
This website will not only prove attractive to people who want to find free downloadable e-books to read, it will also help authors and publishers discover whether their books are being offered illegally. I regularly use search engines to locate free copies of books, short stories, nonfiction and poetry for reading groups and performance, and this definitely provides an easier method and a much more comprehensive list of finds.
Searches are handled on the main page where users answer the question ‘I want a free book about’. They type their answer into a single field, whether it’s the author, title, subject, publisher, or a combination of these. It would be better to have more advanced search options, but I found that by using a combination of author and title I achieved far better results from this than I have using other approaches. I tested it by searching for Martin Amis and found free books I couldn’t find using other methods, and searching for other books that shouldn’t be offered free brought up unauthorised offerings.
It’s also possible to type in more general queries, such as ‘learn to speak mandarin’ and a comprehensive list appears. It’s not hard to imagine the many ways this could be used by students, researchers and businesses as well as readers. Publishers and authors will be heading straight for it to see if pirate copies are circulating, and with ebooks gaining popularity the site is sure to appeal. The menu also offers PDF books and the ability to look at Last Searches and Top Searches, with Top Searches showing some amusing choices.
Tags: books, ebooks, Publishing
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