Well, I did like the bull logo with a star in between the horns. The service aims to make the process simpler and easier. The reason for their conclusion is the poll they conducted which had these results to give a piece of mind to. The poll said that,

Of those 600 people (across all ages and genders), only 14% understand how to get going in the generic start sites like Google,Yahoo, Netvibes etc.

Source: Profy

Over the course of an email interview, he elaborated on his beginnings in the arena of web and various intricacies of web technology very minutely, the conversation goes as...

1. Talking about your website, well, it’s really a cool networking site, now here I’d like to ask, when did the idea for launching such a site hit you? And how much traffic are you able to pull from it?

Livio: I started my career as a web designer back in October 1997. I wanted to create a web presence for our Adivasi Community from Assam (hailing from Jharkhand) but slowly it has changed to All Jharkhandi Adivasi Community Website.

I have started the site as a sub domain at a free hosting company. Since the free hosting company pushed lots of pop-up advertisements, I finally decided to purchase my own domain JOHARADIVASI.COM and launched it on 26 March, 2001. Now I have bought another domain and changed the website address to JOHARADIVASI.ORG as the site is of more of a non-profit nature.

Today Joharadivasi has become the most visited adivasi community website. This site provides Discussion Forum, Messages, News and Articles sent by our people and also Adivasi eFriends which is doing extremely well.

This is community service I am doing to bring our people under one umbrella to exchange views and share news, articles, messages etc.

2. What is innovation to you - design, technology or the creative processes itself?

Livio: I work as a web designer for an online directory Teleservices, and often I am asked to come up with innovative ideas for the website. Now how do we come out with innovative ideas... this is where creative process is used and then the technology which is followed by design according to the technology that is going to be implemented. That is what I understood of the question above.

3. How are new designs approaches, such as Rich Internet Applications and AJAX, changing, how we think about our sites’ visual design? Are there new challenges?

Livio: There are new challenges every day. Always when I design and develop website I do not forget ‘Never use technology for technology sake’. Before using any Internet application it is good to ask oneself, how is it going to help the site visitor? If Rich Internet Application and AJAX is a must for the website then we must use it with the explanation how the site functions.

A well designed website should be informative as well as a creative product without forgetting the common objective of the web - to provide universal accessibility.

4. Have we gotten any better at improving the usability of our sites for international users? And, is web 2.0 aiding or impeding site usability for international audiences?

Livio: User friendly is what every surfer look for. Though English is an International Business Language and if we are targeting the globe it is wise to provide with language tool to switch to different languages. The place where I work, people use the French language and always wish to have a website only in French and that’s how we lose 8/10 of the world population to visit the website. Or say for example if I visit a website which is only in Chinese language with important information, will it serve any value to me?

Web 2.0 is aiding site usability, as it has become open communication and freedom to share. Take for example blogs, where people share their views and receive comments from anyone, sharing pictures in Flickr uploading clips in Youtube etc.

5. You received Golden Web Award (2003- 2004), what was this for and how has this kind of recognition benefited your career?

Livio: Oh that was long back... I had received this award for my personal online profile which doesn’t exists today... am attaching an image to see it.

This award valued a lot. I got recognition at work as well for getting freelance web and graphic design work.

6. What would you prefer HTML or CSS? And why?

Livio: Today I prefer CSS as it’s the latest trend in web designing and it’s the Web Standard. Got freedom from writing those long code TABLE, TR, TD....If it’s not PHP or ASP and we need to change something, my gosh can you imagine if we have 100 pages to be changed... today CSS has made it easy just change at one place and there you go. Wow it’s done!

CSS has the power to minimize file size and makes it easy to download in greater speeds, we would never have imagined. CSS creates layout instead of table and the texts in the sites are designed in the way we want it and still we find our code file size so tiny. Moreover, all the latest browsers e.g. Firefox, Opera, Netscape and Internet Explorer support CSS.

7. What are the most common areas of Web design that you think learners have trouble with?

Livio: Image sizes, functionality, using technology for technology sake, cross platform browsers, do not care for proper coding, user friendly etc.

8. What are a few of your favorite development tools and why?

Livio: As for the web I use tools like Photoshop for designing and HTML-KIT for coding. And for Print and Graphic I use Photoshop and Illustrator. I have changed coding tools like from HOMESITE to HTML-KIT. But I can never change my designing tool Photoshop; it’s an ultimate powerful tool to create powerful graphics.

9. You chose a very dark background for your blog. This calls for some extra care in choosing text, link, and heading colors. What thought went into your choices?

Livio: Well I had a very simple site with off-white and blue as side bar previously but then I do freelance as Graphic artist as well. So I wanted to portray both WEB+GRAPHIC and that’s how I came up with this concept. Moreover I am trying to write something though I am not good writer.. lol. Yah, choosing the color combination for text was difficult as to not to hurt people’s eyes while reading.

The first version of my site was in grayscale and then with white background with color on top then off-white and blue bar and the latest outcome is what you see.

It is my personal playground so I keep changing and experimenting its web and graphic design and usability as well.

Previously, I was using my own custom coding but now I have changed to Wordpress.

10. What is your philosophy about web and graphics designing and in general digital art as an artist?

Livio: I am not an artist in black and white but maybe I am born with it to be more into it. Designing with concept to deliver a message is better than to have a meaningless attractive design.

While designing for web, target audience has to be kept in mind. Often, I suggest the clients to design website not for them or their company but for the people who are going to visit it. Every site has different purpose and accordingly design has to be prosecuted. For example, designing web graphic for a night club should be with attractive color and effective design while for an institute it should be simple with more information.

Before signing off, I’d like to thank Livio for sparing out time for this wonderful interview and would like to wish him luck for all his future endeavors.

I guess there is no dictionary reference of the word ‘Blook’. Its pronunciation is same as Book. For an online user, Blook means Book (Read Wikipeida). Will a common man (forget about linguistic experts) accept ‘Blook’, as standard English?

Wiki, Cookie, Blog, Blook and to add Social Networking, all are the popular words, at least for a net-savvy like me. Ironically, they are now the most hated words, according to YouGov. Reason: Mockery of English language.

The recent YouGov survey of 2,091 people has come up with the top-ten hated words rapidly used in the Internet. They are (Rank wise) folksonomy, Blogosphere, Blog, Netiquette Blook, Webinar, Vlog, Social Networking, Cookie and Wiki.

Surprisingly, the survey has not provided any replaced words of these web words. I feel that it is better to add these words in English dictionary.

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The title says Sk*rt is “For Women. And for the men who want to get into their heads” and has all the usual categories women find appealing like - home, fashion, entertainment, food, parenting, arts and crafts, etc. Women submit the stories of their interest and they get voted by other readers. Ladies, if you are more into technology, business or sports, you’ll be disappointed to find that there are no such categories yet on the site. (Maybe digg is the place for people like you!)

It’s no competition for digg, but is an interesting storehouse which complements it. There are have been comments like it caters to the interests of traditional women and not for the modern woman. Like I said, it is niche site that caters exclusively to the topics that women would be interested in, though personally I would like to see technology and sports getting included in it.(Maybe more with women oriented stuff here too)

At the moment, it looks like it is for women in ‘skirts’and maybe they’ll add some more categories for women in ‘pants’too! This is one site which the women (men too!) will love it or hate it, but can’t ignore it!

Source

In an effort to strength its video search offerings, Ask.com has reached out an agreement with Blinkx, one of the leading search engines for video and audio content.

With this deal, Ask.com will access to Blinkx’s 12 million hours of audio and video content and incorporate them into its own search service. As per the joint agreement, Blinkx will get the fee for the Blinkx’s content search by the Ask.com users.

Unsurprisingly, Ask.com is not the first search engine to have association with Blinkx for video search. The search engine giants like MSN, AOL have already tied up with Blinkx to power up their video searches.

In a press release, Blinkx CEO, Suranga Chandratillake has expressed,

Ask.com’s momentum is impressive and we’re very proud to be powering their new video search offering. This relationship further demonstrates our technology leadership in the video search space and is an exciting development for our 130 or so media partners whose content can now be accessed through Ask.com.

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WebTribesInc operates four MYSpace-type sites for depression, anxiety and addiction. A survey was conducted by this company and the participants were asked the place where they would feel more comfortable expressing and sharing their problems.

It was found that 68% of the participants said they were comfortable discussing their problems on “online community”, while 23% said they would see a therapist and 9% said they would share their problems with family and friends.

Although a number of celebrities including Brooke Shields and Tipper Gore have shared their stories of coping with depression, there is still a very large stigma attached to seeking formal treatment for mental health conditions,

said Ryan FitzGerald, president of WebTribesInc.com.

There is a stigma associated with being diagnosed with psychological disorders and people who are suffering from depression and anxiety are worried that it might hamper their career in case the information is shared with their employer.

That explains why more people are turning towards ‘online communities’ to share their worries and anxieties. People feel comfortable as their identities are protected and may feel better when they see that there are people going through similar situations are not alone.

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Source

And that the most striking part of the blog is one of the posts that displays Greensburg Kansas, the small town that was devastated by an F5 tornado, with before and after side-by-side satellite images. The results like this are really surprising. Check out a couple of the pictures, before and after at the Google LatLong blog.

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We contacted the people behind Comeeko to know more about the innovation. Neil Pentland, the CEO, Golden-Orb Technologies, told us that the servers are located in the USA, while the research and development is done on the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia.

Comeeko is more about just fun though. Neil said the service can play a vital role for the community and Golden-Orb Technologies are already talking with Governments about the practical and educational benefits Comeeko can offer.

Also, Comeeko and Golden-Orb Technologies have recently been rewarded for their success with a nomination as an iAwards finalist.

Neil said he was excited at the prospect of becoming an iAwards winner, and it would be a huge boost for Comeeko in Australia and overseas.

We also asked few other questions like:

Q. What kind of response are you getting from masses at large? How far have you reached in growing your community?

Neil: This has been beyond our expectations.

Q. What is the difference between Pikipimp.com and Comeeko.com, as both create photo comics?

Neil: The Pikipimp service takes only a couple of minutes to create. The Comeeko is about story telling - the average person spends about 14 minutes creating their comic.

Q. Do you vie anybody, I mean any archrivals who you want to out-do?

Neil: The internet is a huge place. There are clones already entering our space.

Q. Neil, the whole Internet, of course, as a media, is moving towards Web 2.0. How far do you think the phenomenon has emerged successfully? And where do you find Comeeko.com in this wide gambit?

Neil: Web2.0 is about delivering interactive services. At this time, the translation of this to a real business has been an issue. We believe we have solved this problem. Comeeko is one of a number of novel services that attracts interest and will drive revenues to allow us to continue to provide these services.

Q. What is the future of this networking? Any predictions on growth pattern?

Neil: Our growth is expected to continue to be in the triple figures for the next few months, then grow at perhaps a 50% rate after that.

Q. Finally, we would like to have your thoughts on the Instablogs News Network and all its related sites. Which one is your favorite?

Neil: I have had a read of the articles and think the concept is great. I find all the elements of the blog to be enticing and I use it on a daily basis - I like cricket and enjoyed that report under the sport banner.

Last but not the least, we’d like to thank Neil Pentland for sparing time for an email interview and would like to wish him luck for his future endeavors.

Recently, we contacted them and had an email interview, which we now present before you, so here it goes,

1. What prompted the idea of boo.com? How many people are working behind the site? What sort of response are you getting?

Niamh Ni Mhir: Boo.com was born out of our frustration with online travel, you previously had to jump through too many hoops to get what you were looking for. Boo.com combines the best of travel search, social networking and reviews in an innovative new interface. You no longer have to engage in what we call “The Circle of Gloom” where you started off with a search engine, then compared prices and facilities on a travel aggregator site, then visited a reviews website and often ended up searching for a hotels own website to complete your booking.

The site was completed internally by a core team of about 20 people across development, design, content and marketing. WRI currently has 100 employees in WRI, based in Dublin (head office), Sydney, Shang Hai and San Mateo.

It is early days at the moment but so far the response has been very positive from the press, the public, hoteliers and the blog community. We are scheduled to kick off a substantial PPC campaign with Google and Yahoo next week and we expect traffic to grow considerably then.

2. As the web title of the page goes ‘boo.com - say what you like love what you find’, what exactly boo.com wants to achieve by this?

Niamh Ni Mhir: ‘Say what you like, love what you find’ is the basis of boo.
Essentially, boo is a site that’s “all about you”, what we mean by this is that boo harnesses the “collective wisdom” of all of it’s users. In a nutshell it combines the user reviews of thousands of people to help you to make the right travel decision. For example, if you say you want a hotel with wifi and a pool you can narrow down your search to only show those results and then you have the option to book with boo or click out and book direct with the hotel.

3. How is your site different than other travel affiliate programs?

Niamh Ni Mhir: Boo is the only site that combines all the elements you need to book your trip in one place. On one site you can find the right hotel, view prices and facilities, look at your friends reviews (or the views of the boo crew) and then book via boo or with the hotel directly.

4. Is there any such networking site which you want to outdo?

Niamh Ni Mhir: Boo is setting out to provide an alternative way to book and research a trip. It helps you through all the stages of organizing a trip - researching, planning, booking and then sharing your tips, photos, reviews and blogs when you get back. As such we are not competing directly with any of the social networking sites, but instead we are offering an alternative to the current process of booking travel online.

5. What modifications did you make from the previously designed boo.com?

Niamh Ni Mhir: The original boo was a completely separate company and was of it’s time. We just bought the domain name and the connection ends there. The reason we like the domain name is because it’s short, snappy and memorable and works across languages and borders.

6. How would you define the present day advancements in technology - just a bubble or a real boom?

Niamh Ni Mhir: It’s hard to say, like previously there are companies that will survive and companies that won’t. We have always operated from a very strong foundation and our other businesses are established and highly profitable. The proliferation of broadband means that there are new opportunities for companies to utilise more advanced technologies, however, common business sense must prevail and if something doesn’t have a solid business model behind it, it’s unlikely to last.

7. The whole Internet, of course, as a media, is moving towards Web 2.0. How far do you think the phenomenon has emerged successfully? And where do you find boo.com in this wide gambit?

Niamh Ni Mhir: A lot of companies say they are Web 2.0 - boo really is based on the principles of Web 2.0, where the user is empowered. We do not use the term Web 2.0 for the sake of it, we use it’s technology advances in terms of ajax and mash-ups to enhance the user experience where it makes sense to do so and we use the principles of collaboration and user generated content because they make sense for our customer experience.

8. What is the future of this networking? Any predictions on growth pattern?

Niamh Ni Mhir: Networking is here to stay as long as there is value in it for consumers. boo.com utilises social networking from a travel perspective, so the idea is that users will create a group of “trustees” as well as “friends” whose advice will be invaluable in planning their holidays. It’s really an extension of the offline world, where people consulted travel agents, friends and colleagues to help them make their holiday decisions. As long as there is a purpose to it, we believe it will continue to grow and develop. One of the important things we stress at boo is that you can build different levels in your network, you can have your real “friends” (people you know and trust), your trustees (people from the boo crew who you trust based on their previous reviews and experiences) and the boo crew at large (who are made up of anyone who has left a review on boo.com).

I feel, this time, the site is without flaw and will really soar to the expected heights. Before signing off, I’d like to thank Niamh Ni Mhir CMO of Boo.com and Aisling White for proving us with the answers.

With Indaba Music, you can create sessions online, where you collaborate with a bass player in Los Angeles, a singer in Canada, a drummer in Florida, and a guitar player in London, then have it mixed by someone in New York and produced by someone else in Australia. Now, ain’t that cool?

I find the entire set-up quite appealing, hence we, contacted them and had an email interview, which goes as follows,

1. How do you ensure ‘an environment for artists to harness the trend’ and nourish new ways in creating music. I mean how do you make this offshore model as effective as a face to face approach?

Indaba: We don’t believe the experience of making music with someone in person will ever be fully recreated through online, remote collaboration. Instead, we create new opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise exist (due to geographic barriers). We make the collaborative process as effective as possible by looking at every piece in the chain of musical collaboration, from concept and composition to post production and payment, and we try to incorporate as many of these pieces as possible into an easy platform that helps musicians manage projects and take advantage of new opportunities.

2. What kind of response are you getting from masses at large? How far have you reached in growing your community?

Indaba: From our first alpha launch, through a private beta, and now in our public beta, we have been building a core group of serious musicians (both amateur and professional) who believe in online collaboration and are making it happen with others from all around the world. So far the initial response from the larger music community has been very positive. We’re excited to see people coming from such diverse places and musical backgrounds and we’re even more excited to see where things go in the coming months.

3. The whole Internet, of course, as a media, is moving towards Web 2.0. How far do you think the phenomenon has emerged successfully?

Indaba: We certainly see a lot of exciting things going on as people from all ages and backgrounds turn increasingly to the internet to get things done and work with each other. The emergence of clean and easy to use web applications, increasing trust in internet payment systems and niche market services certainly seems to indicate that internet based businesses can succeed. But whether online or offline, emerging businesses still have to have a sound business plan.

4. Do you vie anybody, I mean any archrivals who you want to out-do?

Indaba: There aren’t any companies in our space that we view as arch-rivals, nor do we see any companies doing what we do, the way we think it should be done. We are focused on our product and on building our community. Unlike some of the other companies in this space we facilitate both professional and amateur collaborations. We take no ownership rights to artists’ music, nor do we dictate that content must be licensed under any specific license. Furthermore, there are no sites that currently allow musicians to work publicly or privately, pay others for their work, or review and give feedback to other musicians. So we feel confident in our approach and are just focused on how to serve our community as effectively as possible.

5. What will Indabamusic.com morph into after, say, five years, any plans?

Indaba: We’re always thinking about ways that we can empower musicians, and the feature-set of the current site is only a part of our larger vision. We have a number of new exciting features coming out in the coming months and we think that as we continue to grow a large international community of musicians and give them a comfortable and reputable place to exist online then the possibilities for incorporating other products and services are wide open. We are interested in any part of the music value chain where we can do something innovative that will add value to artists and passionate music fans. We’ll see where it goes but right now our focus is on online collaboration and networking.

Last, but not the least, we would like to thank Katherine Pokorny for her precious time spent in arranging responses from the people behind Indaba. Also, we would like to wish them luck for their future endeavor.

So, I pinged the GotZapp team a few questions. Here are they with their answers.

How did the idea of launching this site crop up?

Basically, we saw that there was a need. GotZapp is the only global social network that provides users with the opportunity to actually create and share media-rich content to mobile handsets. The real power of GotZapp is in the ability to create highly interactive, rich multimedia expressions quickly and send them to your friends and colleagues mobile phones.

How do you think your mobile service site is better compared to others?

GotZapp is the only Web site that allows the transmission of integrated audio, text, graphics, photos and animations in a single file from a PC to a web-enabled mobile phone. GotZapp uses java-based technology, which simply means, almost everyone already has everything they’ll need to use www.gotzapp.com. GotZapp will revolutionize pc-to-mobile communications bringing genuine self-expression, robust social networking and a rich multi-media experience to the mobile handset. GotZapp is different from any other mobile social networking platform on the market. Three elements define this cutting-edge technology:

Create - Once users complete the free registration, they have unlimited access to Zirada™ mobile content creator - the engine behind the GotZapp vehicle. They can use QuickZapp™ to build a simple announcement or profile or delve into of Zirada to construct a rich, detailed conception.

Share - After creating their personal Zapp, users can publish their Zapp to the website and send to web-enabled mobile handsets. Recipients of Zapps don’t have to worry about endless downloads eating up their handset memory; the Zirada technology ensures that a single download gives them access. Nationally or internationally, Zapps can go anywhere.

Express - GotZapp brings genuine self-expression, robust social networking and rich multi-media creations to the mobile handset. If the pre-made Zapps on the website don’t express the perfect sentiment, users can produce their own to say just the right thing. Their friends don’t have to wait to get home to their computers to see it, either.

Finally, whom do you think as your main competitors?

The mobile social networking space is so new that we really haven’t found many companies that do exactly what we do.
Well, they seem to be very confident of their success but the time will better tell whether the concept will take off or not.

Is Izimi really a YouTube competitor?

But, the biggest loophole with Izimi is that it requires a download and moreover, you computer must be turned on for the users to have access to the files. Do they think they could ever battle YouTube while they suffer from this downside? I don’t think so.

Anyway, the company is targeting to get its users first and they will look for some advertising revenue sooner or later. One of the things that I liked about the site is that it can share tons of file types and there are no limits to the size of files and above all, there is no loss of quality.

Despite being having some sound applications, I can never think of Izimi to outrun the video-sharing giant YouTube.

GirlSense offers one free ad-based web environment for tween and young teen girls (8-14) and caters to nearly 1M unique monthly visitors and have over 10 million registered members.

GirlSense encourages a spirit of creativity, collaboration and community in its members. At the heart of GirlSense is an active virtual fashion community that offers users a genuine web 2.0 experience that is truly safe. Girls can design trendy fashions, display them in original boutiques and “sell” them to their peers.

The site not only allows tweens to explore a passion for fashion but it also gives them an opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial skills by creating banners and purchasing ad-space for their boutiques.

The e-boutique is a place where girls can design and own a boutique and even sell their creations. Girls also get their personalized space where they can design their own website. They can visit the salon and get a make-over or a pedicure for themselves. Connect is the place where they get to meet and make new friends and of course play online games. The list of things the girls can do is just endless.

Via : Girlsense

This unique website increases the likelihood of successful weight loss and maintenance by providing access to a community of people who share a common goal: to lose weight. Extrapounds.com is here to give members access to a user-friendly, convenient and personal space or web log that charts progress and stores relevant information concerning weight loss and diet.

Extrapounds.com has been built with the objective to create blogs specifically for people who want to record their weight loss. Therefore these weight loss blogs include exclusive tools, for example weight loss graphs and trackers, food logs that and activity logs are UNIQUE on the Internet. It is more focused than other communities such as MySpace, meaning you’re more likely to find people experiencing the same thing as you.

Extrapounds does not recommend a specific diet program. Instead it focuses on Motivation, Support and Tracking what you really do. This makes a big difference. After all, losing weight is easy: eat less, exercise more and you lose weight! Guaranteed! However, sticking to these basic principles is not easy, and this is where Extrapounds.com comes to the rescue.

Via: Extrapounds.com

Flowerstomail.com is a site where you create your own bouquet by choosing your vase, flowers, colours. Pick a vase of your choice, just drag and drop the flowers you like into the vase and create a virtual bouqet according to your taste. You can then decorate your card with a personalized message in it. Mail it to your loved ones.

The options for flowers are few and don’t look all that realistic like the picture but you can use it as fun tool. What’s nice about this site is that you don’t have to register here to send the flowers.

Don’t wait for an occasion. Send flowers to your loved ones where ever they are, anytime you feel like....so what, if the flowers are virtual, they’ll remain fresh forever.

Via: Flowerstomail