Web 2.0 Wars: Round 15

It’s time for Round 15 in Newsome.Org’s Web 2.0 Wars. The contestants and rules are here.

This is the final heat of the first Round. The playoffs will be next.

Other Rounds:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20

Here are the contestants for Round 15:

Chatsum
Pandora
LookLater
30 Boxes
Webjay
Plazes
Noodly
Wondir
Diigo
Squishr
Jots
Xdrive
Blummy

Chatsum is a free add-on for your web browser that lets you chat with all the other Chatsum users that are looking at the same website as you, sort of like Yakalike.

Pandora is an online music service that helps you discover other great music. I wrote about it here.

LookLater is a private on-line bookmark and information archive.

30 Boxes is…is…is…another online calendar. A lot of people whose opinions I respect really like it, so it must be good. My hunch is that it will own the non-integrated (meaning not part of Outlook, Yahoo, etc.) calendar space.

Webjay is a tool that helps you listen to and publish web playlists of songs you like. It looks like you can browse for and stream playlists created by other people. Cool idea, but I’m sure the RIAA will object.

Plazes is a social navigation system that lets you find people and places near you. You can search for wi-fi networks and other stuff.

Noodly says it’s a “new service harnessing the power of user-generated content.” It’s not live yet.

Wondir is a place where you can ask questions, sort of like the now-retired Ask Jeeves. It didn’t know “how cool is Kent Newsome?” (which may be an answer in and of itself), but it did know where Cheraw, SC is. Pretty cool, but couldn’t this be found via Google just as fast?

Diigo is a social bookmarking service that focuses on “social annotation.” It’s an invitation only beta, and I don’t have an invite, so that’s all I can tell you about it.

Squishr has no information about itself on its page. It’s not live. Someone tell me why these sites are tossed up there before there’s anything to see or read? These logo only sites are the new “Under Construction.”

Jots is a collaborative bookmarking system. Users can store links and choose whether to make them private, share them with with a select group of people or share them with the world.

Xdrive is a popular online file storage and backup service. 5G of storage costs $10 a month.

Blummy is a bookmarklet manager. If I used a ton of bookmarklets, I’d give it a try. Neat idea.

Before Today I’d Heard of:

5 out of 13.

And the Winner of Round 15 is:

Pandora, because both the theory and the execution really amaze me.

Technorati Tags:
,