Lifehack has posted a list of their favorite new Web Apps of 2007. I’ve been playing around with a few of them and they are brilliant and most are either totally free or have a free version. Bubbl.us is an online mindmapping tool that is too cool for words and Buzzword is a thing of beauty and an incredibly powerful word processing application. For the whole list visit the Lifehacks post…

If you’re interested in the evolution of the web — and really; who isn’t? — check out the YouTube video posted by Layla on her Thread Bare Gypsy Soul blog.

If Web 2.0 can be characterized by the use of AJAX (the software architecture that lets you drag google maps around) and larger fonts then Web 3.0 is going to be the application as widget – not purchased but downloaded or obtained through your social network. Kind of like WordPress plugins, Yahoo Widgets or Google Gadgets – it’s the process of adding functionality not with full blown, store bought code but by assembling snippets of code to carry out very specific tasks. Functionality on demand, kinda cool.

Take a look at Eric’s video for his explanation… 

I love these guys, don’t you?

You can watch Mac and PC and their gentle sparring on TV and the Web. Apple’s Get a Mac campaign ads are funny and biting at the same time. PC’s so clueless and Mac is so cool. PC is the nerd and Mac is the cool guy that all nerd’s aspire to be (unless you’re Bill Gates himself who’s so rich that cool is irrelevant!).

The beauty of these ads is that they play up the strengths of the Mac while displaying the flaws in the PC but in a humorous, not a mocking manner. They don’t rile up us PC owners; getting us all righteous – and defensive - with indignation. Instead we just shake our heads and laugh along, somewhat abashedly and deep in our heart-of-hearts we kinda wish that we had a cool Mac instead of this screen freezing, blue screening, error spewing, pile of plastic and silicon (sorry, lost what little cool I had for a sec!).

Anyway, kudos to Apple for a great campaign, and thanks for being nice to PC – he needs friends like Mac who accept him for who he is, flaws and all!

Time magazine (October 23, 2006), on the heels of the $1.65 billion buyout of YouTube.com by Google, identified the web sites they felt stood a good chance of being the next big things. Here’s their list although if you want to know why Time thinks their the NEXT BIG THING you’ll have to buy the mag or hit their site.
Farecast.com – trends airline ticket prices to advise you whether or not to buy that ticket home to Grandma’s for X-mas now or if you should wait. Kayak.com has something similar (and simpler). Don’t know if it’s theirs’ or they’re licensing it. Turns out that I should have bought my daughter’s X-mas ticket 2 months ago. Oh well!

Zillow.com – I think this site is cool. Enter your address and it will not only map it but overlay what it believes to be the current market price for not only your place but all of your neighbors as well. Don’t know if it’s accurate or not but nice to know that – at least according to Zillow – I’m not upside down on my mortgage … yet!

Yelp.com – here’s another great idea that I actually thought of and never did anything about. Yelp makes it easy for local folks to write reviews on local businesses. Seems to do a good job with restaurants but my search for orthodontists (my son needs one, ouch) while turning up several yielded none with reviews. Once these guys hit critical mass — and they’ve built enough viral sharing features into the site to make this a real possibility — they might really have something.

30Boxes.com – a web calendar for Generation Y is the focus of 30Boxes. Live life transparently. Invite your buddies to tie their calendars to yours so you always know who actually has a life while you’re home voting for tonight’s Dancing with the Stars contestants. hokey
Other Cool Sites:

• pinger.com – send voice mail from your cell to email…
• doostang.com – use who knows who you know to reach that next rung on your career ladder
• 37signals.com – project collaboration
• pandora.com – instant radio station
• blurb.com – create a book from multiple media streams