kSolo is an online karaoke service that was recently acquired by Fox, along with the previously mentioned memetracker NewRoo. I think it's a smart idea, but a quick glance at the site reveals plenty of easily-fixed problems. So what's good about it? ...
I'm mildly whelmed by Yahoo Tech. Taking a more than a little inspiration from existing social software and Web 2.0 design, it's a fairly attractive site (although admittedly a little cluttered - changing the screen width makes it far more managable)...
Newly-launched SpotBack is an impressive service. Like Findory, SpotBack provides personalized recommendations based on your reading habits and ratings you provide. There are already plenty of great reviews out there, so I thought I'd delve a bit dee...
This should be fun. Let's take two competitive web startups, weigh up their pros and cons and decide which one (if any) will succeed. First up, two relative newbies in the online slideshow space. FilmLoop just raised $7 million in second round fundin...
Itzle is a new tool that lets you chat about a webpage in real time, complete with your own customizable avatar. You access it by hitting a browser bookmarklet, which redirects you to the site's URL on Itzle (if you've seen Gabbly, you'll know what I...
More media remixing. Collectik allows you to create your own playlists for others to download to their iPods. From the site: Collectik.net is a website that helps you manage, mix and share media (audio and video) on the net. It's like mixtapes for po...
Abazab is another service that aims to feed the MySpace beast - the tool allows MySpace users, Tagworlders and bloggers to send video straight from their cellphones to a web widget. Think of it as Stickam for your phone. I haven't been able to test t...
oDesk has been on my radar for a long while now, but it finally launched this week (after a 2 year beta!). The service allows you to hire coders from around the world in a Rent-a-Coder style marketplace. One difference is that oDesk allows you to mai...
That's what I'm talkin' 'bout! YourSpins is a music remixing service - mix your own version of your favorite track and instantly post it to your blog or MySpace page. There are also a bunch of social tools that let you share your mixes, browse by tag...
PiXPO is a new video sharing application that runs on your desktop. PiXPO supposedly makes it easier for you to share your video online, but I'm not convinced. From the site: PiXPO makes it easy to get all your videos online. Sure, it's not too hard ...
Fungow is yet another social bookmarking site that's in private Alpha right now. Its claim to fame is that it makes organizing your bookmarks easier and less labor-intensive: Fungow offers all of the conveniences and benefits of most other social boo...
Frappr may be a basic Google Maps mashup with a none-too-attractive interface, but it's driving good amounts of traffic (Alexa). Frappr has also become a big part of Branding 2.0 efforts - AskaNinja, CuteOverload, TWiT, Digg, Firefox, The Dawn and Dr...
MySpace isn't the only site riding the social networking trend: rival Bebo is growing like a weed. Bebo even looks set to overtake MySpace in the UK market, according to the Guardian. (Nonetheless, the Guardian published a similar article last month ...
Gabe Rivera writes that he's renamed tech.memeorandum. From now on, the tech industry's most popular memetracker will be called TechMeme. I just checked, and it looks like all the old permalinks redirect to TechMeme - smart. Maybe we'll also be able ...
SiteAdvisor is a rare thing: a new service that's actually kinda useful. The product, which launched in December 2005, was acquired by McAfee in April (for some reason the acquisition didn't get much coverage). So what does it do? Well, the idea is t...
IndieKarma is a new way to get paid for blogging. The idea is that IndieKarma members can automatically pay 1 cent to the blog owner whenever they visit (a "visit" lasts for an hour). From the site: Each time you visit a website or blog on the indieK...
While multiple people emailed me to say the project was a non-starter, I'm glad to say that the MySpace IM client I hyped up in March has soft-launched today. You can download it here. It will be officially called "MySpaceIM" and the slogan is "IM fo...
Mike Arrington picks up on the fact that Squidoo isn't performing all that well. Some might say "failing". I had a nagging suspicion this might happen, but I probably didn't express my view as clearly as I could have. My concern (as expressed on my o...
The social shopping space is hotting up, but that's no bad thing - unlike generalized social bookmarking sites, these things actually have a business model. The start-up costs are low, there's a tried and tested path to profitability and there's enou...
My inbox is overflowing this week with questions about Ether.com, the paid calling service that I got excited about in March. The idea is that a client or blog reader can hit a button on your site, enter her credit card details and get a phone call f...
There are plenty of interesting stories popping up today (check out Google Trends if you haven't already), but I think the launch of AOL's new MySpace rival AIMPages (formerly AIMspace) is the most significant. Richard MacManus really nails it when h...
Scores of companies have contacted me over the last few weeks to tell me how they're feeding the MySpace beast. Among them is BuddyPing, a relatively new service that allows you to track the location of your friends via text message. Wisely, BuddyPin...
There's plenty of Google news today - some screenshots just appeared of Google Notebook (looks like a lightweight Writely crossed with del.icio.us), while Steve Rubel is having lots of fun with Google Trends. But the most relevant release from a soci...
At the risk of milking the meme, another compelling service just launched with the aim of feeding the MySpace beast. It's called NooZ, and can be summed up as "Digg for MySpacers". From the site: NooZ is news FOR MySpace members, BY MySpace members. ...
Skype Journal delivered an interesting little tidbit this week: screenshots showing the ability to send and receive Paypal payments via Skype. There's no word on when the feature will be implemented, but it's already long overdue. What next? How abou...
I just spotted a new RSS search engine called RSS Micro. It seems that they're still adding features, but the result set isn't too bad. However, there's one problem here that I've seen a lot recently - ajax and permalinks. Since RSS Micro is using aj...
OurStockWorks is a stock photography site slated for launch in August (yeah, these betas are getting longer and longer). It has an Apple-inspired interface (like Fluxiom), tagging, boatloads of ajax and RSS feeds for everything. In addition, each use...
Newly-launched Posticky provides web-based post-it notes in your browser. You can use the sticky notes as mini do-to lists, and have reminders sent via email or text message to your cellphone. The blurb: Posticky offers web based sticky notes availab...
Whatsbuzzing - which launched at the end of last week - is throwing its weight behind social shopping. Wisely, Whatsbuzzing have gone with an aggregation model, allowing users to browse hundreds of shopping sites from a single location. In future, th...
UK-based shopping startup Crowdstorm launches in the next few weeks - I took a sneak peek earlier today and found the execution particularly impressive. From the site: Crowdstorm is a new innovation in online social shopping that works out the buzz a...
