Hits and misses 2.0 (07)As 2007 closes its doors, Webware writers Rafe Needleman, Josh Lowensohn, and Caroline McCarthy look back on the best and the worst to come out of it...
2007: Hits Facebook's new open platform has proven to be a great way to give Facebook users more to do, while putting eyeballs on and dollars into developer's sites. While the usefulness of some of the apps is questionable (see the misses category below), Facebook has built a solid foundation for new social applications, something that did not exist previously.  Google Gears This platform lets developers write Web apps that can work offline. It is in its infancy, but it's an important step in the right direction for road warriors and anyone who wants to use Web 2.0 apps while away from a live connection. So far, it's limited to just a handful of apps, including Google Reader, Zoho Writer, and Remember The Milk, but with a developing API and support from Google, we think you'll be seeing Gears as a standard part of new Web apps in 2008.  Adobe AIR AIR lets Flash (and other) developers take their apps off the Web and put them onto people's desktops, and it's seen a lot of progress this year. From launching an alpha version in late March, AIR has been met with considerable interest from both developers and users. Many of the apps that have been created are slick and easy to install. AIR, like Google Gears, is a key technology in the development of "hybrid" apps--Web services that work for users whether they are connected or not. AIR's special power is that its apps work outside of a browser. AIR apps look and feel like real desktop programs.  Twitter was one of the first microblogging platforms to get it right. In addition to its open API, which has encouraged the development of dozens of ways to read and post Twitter messages on a variety of platforms, Twitter got the social angle right. It's simple, but not too simple, and it's fun. Twitter's brief messages tend toward the forgettable, but that's the platform's blessing: It doesn't ask too much of its writers or its readers.  Ning 2.0 The launch of Ning v2.0 in February gave anyone the chance to create their own social network with a series of highly focused and customizable modules. At CNET's HQ in San Francisco, a group uses it to track and discuss local lunch spots, but with a little know-how, anyone can use Ning to create simple and useful private social networks without having to know a lick of code.  Google Maps Google has been busy with its maps property this year. Since launching in early 2005, the service has seen a wealth of updates, but this year brought some of the most useful ones for day-to-day use. Our favorites include: MyMaps, which lets you create your own maps with easy-to-use icons; StreetView, which lets you get a 3D street level look at buildings and local features; a rerouting feature to let you tweak any side stops or road preferences, and aerial, terrain, and live traffic views.  Hulu Hulu serves up TV shows, movies, music videos, and many other pieces of video content in a simple Flash player. While still in private beta, those who have used Hulu (including us) are impressed with it. It brings all the goodness you'd find on the Web video players from TV networks' video sites, but puts them all in one spot with advertising that's both tolerable and far better than sitting through the four minute ad breaks you get when watching the show on regular TV. The service is beginning to add HD video to its repertoire, which might just be enough to get people to stop pirating content via P2P services.  Flock For a long time now Flock's been on the outskirts of the browser world. Who really wanted a social browser? With the popularity of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter making a splash in 2007, Flock's v1.0 offering finally had that value proposition of ditching the stock version of Firefox for something that would save us some time, and make it easier to keep tabs on our friends while continuing our browsing activities. The real hook of using Flock is the integration of social networking and publishing tools, which offer more right off the bat than a standard Firefox installation. Users don't have to muck with tracking down and installing plug-ins that might not be updated when the browser is. With Flock, you don't have to worry about that with the core components, and if you really want to add on, nearly all extensions that work with Firefox are Flock-compatible. If you're still on the fence, check our our Newbie's Guide to Flock.  Picnik There was a time when you really needed Photoshop, or some other installed software, to edit a photo. Nowadays there are dozens of Web-based photo-editing solutions out there to help you tweak and edit shots. Picnik was one of the real standouts from this year, not only for its slick look and feel, but because it gives fantastic results without requiring users to know much at all about editing. The launch of a premium service, and integration as Flickr's default photo-editing tool give it a leg up on the competition.  Netflix movies-on-demand Forget these expensive boxes you need to hook up to your living room TV for renting movies a la carte. The future is direct downloads, not optical discs. If you're already a Netflix subscriber with one of the supported plans, you can take advantage of their on-demand streaming service that gives members a multi-movie pass that's only limited by how much time (in hours) they're allotted each month. The only bummers are the reliance on Windows Media DRM, the lack of Mac support, and noticeably smaller video collection than you'd find on disc. Despite this, it's still better than waiting for the postal service when you need a movie fix. The service launched in late February--we've got a hands on here. This article was originally published on Webware. |
- Talkback
-
There are currently no comments for this story.
To post comments, you need to become a member. It's FREE.
