Swift.FM – Share a Music Station with Friends
Swift.FM lets users create a shared music list with friends to build an online radio station via Twitter. Users log into Twitter from the Swift.FM main page and start by building a Swiftlist of favourite music. This is done by filling in a link to an MP3 file on the net and adding a message to be posted to Twitter. To include the MP3 in a specific channel add hashtags, such as #hiphop or #techno. MP3 files of up to 10MB can also be uploaded, so users could add their own original music.
Swift.FM helps with links to music sites and music search engines, and aims to help promote musicians and events by spreading awareness of the music people are enjoying. Once MP3s are uploaded a message goes out to the user’s followers on Twitter. Friends and family can build a customised radio station together, making this a fun site and an extra way for original musicians to share their work and get noticed. This website is still in beta so difficulties are still being resolved, but it’s a well thought out and appealing use of Twitter. The tips and help pages are clearly presented and welcome at this stage of development.
StartPR – See What Social Networks Say About You
Businesses, organisations and individuals can find out what’s being said about them on social networks and blogs using StartPR. For businesses and organisations this provides the kind of information that would prove costly using standard market research methods. With StartPR you can type the name of your brand into search and find out all the mentions of it on the main social networks. As it searches all the Web 2.0 hotspots this also takes in blogs. It can also send alerts and daily digests, all the kinds of information press agencies used to be hired to provide.
I tested it out with brands I work with and also my own name, and the results were thorough and surprising. The problem with the main social networks is that there’s too much information to read through, but this kind of search highlights what the buzz is about a brand. For people who have a public presence it helps to see how they are being received, and if they are being written about and promoted.
Basic membership is free, and each search gives a title or whole tweet, together with links to the whole articles. Free accounts allow two projects, 2 users and 256MB of storage space. This could be enough to keep track of one or two activities. Professional accounts start at $19 per month.
QUIDCO – Aggregates Shopping Cashback Schemes
This is the type of service that makes you wonder why others haven’t thought of it. Quidco collects referral commissions from online merchants and passes this on to the customer as cashback. Members get money back from all their shopping as earnings, and Quidco passes this amount on in full. In return Quidco only takes the first £5 they earn as the total annual fee for participating. Merchants are pleased with it as they get more customers, buyers get money back on their purchases, and Quidco profits by getting a rapidly expanding number of members each paying their small annual fee.
The number of online merchants offering commission is enormous, and a benefit of this site is that it gathers them all together. Customers can easily see all the merchants selling the type of goods they’re after, and can compare the rates of commission. If there’s a delivery charge this is also clearly given. It would be possible to do most of your shopping from Quidco, from groceries, home goods and technology through to office, travel, entertainment, sports and leisure.
To use it members sign up then click on the retailer from thorough directories for goods and services. The retailer then passes the commission to Quidco, and this is then accumulated in the member’s account. A stack of pound coins adds up your total earnings. Extra community discussion areas let members communicate their own discoveries or offers. Quidco also invites charity fundraisers to use the service because commissions for shopping could be donated to their cause rather than to individuals. This is a website visitors are likely to sign up to on a first visit and is climbing up the ratings.
Kublax – Organises Your Finances
This is certainly the easiest method I’ve come across to keep track of your finances. Software to organise personal income and expenditure can be off-putting if it’s tricky to set up, but with Kublax there’s so little for the user to do. Sign in, fill in details of the bank accounts you want to include, and the website links to your bank to access the data. Transactions from all your accounts and credit cards are then accessed in a single place, and Kublax will sort this into reports and charts to help you stay aware of every detail of your financial situation.
In the present economic climate a money management system is essential to keep track of your budget so that you don’t overspend, and this one is much more effective than human effort. It issues alerts when payments are due so you can see if large amounts are about to go out of your account, and even breaks down the items into grocery shopping and other types of spending. As if this isn’t enough for the system to do automatically, it can then compare the percentages you spend on various types of goods and services and compare it with other Kublax users to indicate where you might be overspending.
The obvious worry of users has been whether or not it’s safe to supply bank details with pin numbers and passwords, but write-ups for Kublax in the press have been complimentary, and the FAQs reassure that the information is all encrypted and not accessed by Kublax staff. It looked like a pleasure to use and even tempted me, mostly because it does all the work and displays the results clearly and attractively, although I’ve tried and failed many times to get enthusiastic about a money management system in the past.
TWITTIMG – Share Photos on Twitter
This is a simple idea, but so necessary that it should catch on. TWITTIMG is a quick and easy way to add photos to Twitter messages. There’s no need to log into Twitter – users can log into TWITTIMG with their Twitter name and password to upload a photo. If they want to add a message this can all be done on the main TWITTIMG page. I tried it out and my message appeared on Twitter with a URL to display the photo.
Sharing images on social networks is on the increase, with photos added for humour, for promotional purposes, and to share personal experiences with friends and family. Twitter hasn’t been the easiest place to share other media and this is improving, with services like TWITTIMG helping. A look through recently shared pictures shows how it’s being used by authors to promote books, by companies for advertising, by broadcasters to provide a dynamic image from sports or the news, and by photographers to show their best shots.
Other social networks like plurk.com make it incredibly straightforward to add a video, photo or link to brief messages, but as Twitter has so many users this kind of application is essential. My only disappointment was that the image appears as a weblink rather than an image, unlike the attractive way plurk.com presents images and videos.
Open Source Living – Dynamic Archive of Open Source Software
This is an invaluable resource for open source software on all major platforms which aims to prove the validity of open source as an alternative to corporate funded, closed source software. The website is built by a community of OSS enthusiasts, ranging from newcomers to experts who offer advice and support along with information on cutting edge developments and ideas. Along with an archive of software available and expert advice, the website also encourages submission of articles by guest authors and regular contributors.
Visitors to the site are invited to participate if they have expertise to share: by contacting with ideas for articles, by submitting their own OSS project or one that they’ve found that could benefit others, or by taking part on the forum. There’s also the chance to donate to the project.
The archive provides details about open software for audio, business applications, content management, documents, e-commerce, entertainment, file transfer, games, graphics and photos, smart phones, video, web development and web. It’s an expertly put together and particularly comprehensive archive and community discussion website, and one users will return to again and again. Not surprisingly its traffic is steadily growing.