Review: Update all your Web 2.0 Sites in a snap with Ping

If you're like me you probably have accounts with MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, Diigo, Delicious, Wordpress and more. With all the Web 2.0 sites popping up every where and all the accounts we have to keep up with different networks, friends, or family updating these sites are getting out of hand. Well I'm here to tell you that it has become easier thanks to Ping.fm who is here to relieve some of that pain.
Ping.fm is a service that allows you to update your status, blogs and micro-blogging of all your Web 2.0 sites from just one site. You can send your updates through your PC browser, phone, or e-mail.
Before Ping.fm I use to have to log in to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Hi5 and update my status in all sites. Now with Ping.fm, I just visit i.ping.fm from my iPhone and by updating my Status here, all these sites get updated automatically. How cool is that?
These are the Web 2.0 sites you can update with Ping.fm:


By clicking on the Add Network link next to the site name you can set up your log in for each web site and specify what information will be updated on that site. For example, if it's your Twitter account you're setting up, you would probably want Twitter to receive all micro-blogging and Status updates.

This service is very easy to use but just in case, you can find a quick tutorial at: http://ping.fm/blog/a-tutorial-for-you/

Oh for iPhone users, here is a tip. After visiting i.ping.fm on your phone press the + sign to Add an icon to your Home Screen.

Try it, you have nothing to lose - it's free. Let us know if you're using it already and how it's going.

Social Traffic Network Training Videos

The other day I received an offer that I couldn't pass, and I think you won't be able to pass yourself. As you know, Web 2.0 applications are taking over the internet and their life span is not short. They are here to stay and those of us that want to succeed on the Internet will need to get on board or else we will be left back.

The new opportunity I have for you is a collection of Social Traffic Network Training videos that will teach you how to use the top social networks which is what you really need to understand before you can incorporate them in your business. Not only will you be able to use them for yourself but they also include Private Label rights so you can brand them instantly and even resell them if you want.

These are just some of the videos you will find and every month 3 more videos are added:

• Del.icio.us
• Bebo
• MySpace
• Digg
• Google video
• Technorati
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Stumble Upon
• Reddit
• Ning
• Squidoo
• LinkedIn
• 43Things
• Fotolog
• Multiply
• Meet up

Membership includes, instant access to all of the videos, and 3 more brand new videos each month. Videos come in Flash and Windows Media Files for Private Label Rights members so hurry and claim your membership today.
Now if you still need help deciding which Web 2.0 services to use visit our Web 2.0 Applications Review Wiki in which I explain and review Web 2.0 applications that I've used. Stop by and join our wiki and even add your reviews, why not it's free.

Top List: My Top 10 Favorite Web 2.0 Services

For those of you that don't know me I'm a huge web 2.0 fan and spend most of my free time playing around with new tools. There are so many services out there and a lot of them do the same that sometimes you don't know which one you should use. So I've decided to share my can't live without sites with you, and give you at least one reason why I prefer these services to help you out.

Here I go by category:

Blogs
Blogger - To me this is by far the best blogging service and it's not because I have a free hosted blog. Other blogging services (like WP) restrict you from customizing the look and feel and also don't let you add a lot of cool things available through widgets or code.

Social Bookmarking
Delicious - I use to be a Favorite's fanatic until I discovered Delicious... no more browser favorites for me. This social bookmarking service is easy to use and very convenient. The only thing I didn't like was the site design and they just redesigned it. Looks great, kudos to the designers at Delicious. By the way, feel free to add me to your network.

Wikis
WetPaint - If you need a Wiki I highly recommend this service. They have several features that other wikis don't have. For example, when you create new pages they automatically appear in the navigation, you can create sub-pages from the start, they have a photo gallery, it looks very professional, and if it's an educational wiki they remove the ads for free. You can check out one of my wikis to see what I mine - Web 2.0 Applications review or Cynthia Medina.

Microblogging
Twitter - The first time I heard of microblogging I asked myself "why would I do that?" Well let me tell you that the best resources I've gotten have been through Twitter. This is the best way of keeping up with your network, news, friends and family. You can Twitter using your computer or phone which makes this service very addictive. You can follow me on Twitter.

Social Networks
Hum - It's hard for me to pick a favorite in this category. I'm in several social networks because the people I keep up with are completely different. I use Facebook to keep up with siblings and coworkers, MySpace for friends in the U.S, HI5 for childhood friends and cousins in the Dominican Republica, and Ning for work related communities. Now if I go by the features I would go with MySpace hands down because just like blogger they are not restrictive and I like to put my creativity to work. I also like Ning, they actually let you create your own social network for free, and it's very easy to set up.

Video Sharing
YouTube - Do I have to explain?

Readers
Google Reader - The application looks like an e-mail inbox which makes it easier to use, and most of the RSS widgets have their one step icon for subscribing.

Online Photo Sharing
Here I have to admit I've been using Shutterfly way before all these other sites were launched and I still use it. They just finally added a community feature to it so I'm a little excited. It's hard to change photo sites after you've been saving your pictures for years some where else. Now from the newest sites, I like Photobucket and Flickr. These two sites just make sharing so easy, they have lots a cool features, and you can embed your pictures in other web 2.0 sites in a few clicks.

Photo Editing
Picnik - Why pay so much money for Photoshop when you can do a lot of photo editing online, for free and without having to download anything. You can also edit pictures that you have saved on other online photo sharing sites.

Creating movies
Animoto - You can create free movies using up to 10 pictures, and you can add music and credits to it. They also have a paying option for larger movies which you can also download and save on your computer. What I like is that your pictures appear to the beat of the music and they look very professional. They also have their own music selection but you can also add your own which is a great feature as well.

For more services and reviews you can visit my Web 2.0 Applications Review wiki.

OK, these are my can't live without sites, what are yours?

App Top List: Top 20 Favorite iPhone Apps

I have the first generation iPhone and now with the v2.0 software us oldies can download iTunes and synchronize your phone.
applications to our phones to make them snazzy. A new icon "App store" appears on your phone that gives you access to lots of applications or you can download them on

I just upgraded my iPhone last week, and I haven't been able to pull myself away from the app store. The good thing is that a lot of them are free because if not, I would be bankrupt by now. Some of them just add little cute things to your phone but some really are useful.

I've downloaded over 30 of them but have also deleted almost half because they weren't what I expected but again most of them were free. If you're going to pay for some I would recommend you really read the reviews specially if you're paying a lot and some of these applications are worth the same as PC applications. Now, to help some of you out, I'm listing my favorites that I think are worth every penny even though most of these are free.

These five applications let you access your accounts on the corresponding websites and perform the same functions you can online. They work very well and they are free.

Twitterlator (Twitter)
MySpace
Facebook
WordPress
Google (for all Google apps)

Shazam - have you ever heard a song on the radio that you can't remember the song title or the artist? Well now all you have to do is play the music and this little nifty application tells you the artist, title, genre,album,and it will show you links to iTunes and YouTube if the song is available in these locations. Even songs that are sung by different artist are spot on by this application. Price? It's free.

Audio Recorder - This one cost $2.99 but it's worth it. It's like having a hand held audio recorder. Imagine creating your Podcast right from your iPhone. You record yourself and the file can be e-mailed to yourself or some one in your contacts list. Now, if you're going to use this one, you need to have a player that reads .caf files like QuickTime.

Tipulator - Ever been at a group dinner party and have to split the bill and no one has a calculator? This nifty application will add the bill amount plus tip, and then split it between the number of people you choose. You can change the bill amount, percentage of the tip and number in party of course by just touching the screen. Price - $0.99

CheckPlease - This one is even better than Tipulator. It does all the above plus it also adds taxes and you can also set a default tip and tax percentage so you don't have be adding it every time you need to calculate the bill. Price - free.

ReQall - Did you ever forget to buy a birthday present before going to a birthday party? With this application you can set up to do's, reminders, shopping list, and even photos that will recall your memory. You can set up your reminders to be sent to you in several ways. I have it to remind me via my iPhone default e-mail but you can set it for text as well. It's free.

Eventful - You can search and buy tickets for upcoming events without having to enter an address because it reads your address on the phone. You can search by event name, performer, venues and even by users. It's free.

Where - This application also reads the address on your phone and gives you the nearest Starbucks, restaurants, gas stations (using gasbuddy.com), events, mountains, and more. By touching the location the address is displayed and by touching it again you see more information on the location including in some cases reviews. It's free.

BoxOffice - Want to see a movie and you don't have a computer or a newspaper close to you? This application displays what's playing at the box office with a touch of the screen. You can set your default zip code and radius and what's better, you can buy your tickets as well and it's free.

vSNAX Videos - Do you like celebrity gossip? If you're like me then I would recommend this one. You can keep up not only with celebrity gossip but also breaking news, models, funny snippets and more and it's free.

My favorite games:

iPint - The goal is to slide a pint of beer to the person at the end of the bar. You're probably saying what is so fun about that? Well it has three levels so it can get a little tricky but the best part is when the person catches the pint. Your phone turns into a glass of beer and if you tilt your phone the beer disappears as if you had drank it. Hey, it's free.

Hangman (MobilityWare) - I don't think I need to explain Hangman, right? You either figure out the word or get hung. It has different levels of difficult and it's just $1.99

Solitaire (MobilityWare) - The is the standard Solitaire game that you play with a deck of cards... not that fancy kind. It's $1.99.

Tap Tap Revenge - This one gets a little challenging. You have to tap the fire balls to the beat of the music. It has four levels, the easy level can get hard so I don't want to imagine the extreme level. You can also have one or two players. It's free.

UEIpong - WOW, remember back in the day when you played pong on the original Atari? well this is it. The only thing is that you don't see two paddles, you see one and you play against a wall. It's $0.99.

JirboMatch - Don't laugh at this one. This is like playing matching with a deck of cards like you use to play when you were a kid. The only thing is that you're matching animals, it's pretty entertaining and it's my niece's favorite. This one is also free.

Now, there is another application called ShoZu which gives you access to a bunch of Web 2.0 applications. Just to mention a few, you can access Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, Photobucket, Flickr, Picasa, WordPress, and the list goes on. This one is also free but I don't think it works very well. I've tried several things and they don't seem to work plus it loads pretty slow but again it's free, so download it and try it out. The worst that can happen is that you delete it later.

So now go on and download some and come back and share your favorites but beware it's ADDICTIVE.

The Good of MySpace

For those that are not familiar with MySpace, this is a Social network website that allows it's users to create their own page, and interactive with other members through either video, music, blogs, pictures, groups, and forums.
A lot of negative articles have been published on the news about MySpace and I'm here to tell you what the good is. Yes, there is good.

Kids today are becoming something that most of us had to go to school for, that's right. They are becoming website developers, graphic designers, video producers, and writers and they don't even know it. And even worst, parents are not noticing.

These kids at a young age are learning how to customize the look of a website through the use of cascading style sheets which in the MySpace language it's called "code". They change the look and style of their page with the same ease they change their cloths... And more and more kids are creating websites that offer hundreds of free codes (layouts) for other members to use and customize their page. That's a lot of programming.

Kids today take digital pictures and learn how to enhance them to the point of being worthy of a gallery exhibition. They record reality videos that appear to be produced by a professional video producer. They write articles about themselves and their life's that are so deep that your hairs stand up.

And they do it all for what? They do it all to collaborate with their friends, which is the core of Web 2.0.

So yes, even though MySpace has attracted a lot of sex offenders and negative press, we should all recognize that it has also brought a lot of good with it.

Anyways, what ever happened to teaching the kids not to talk to strangers? There are bad people every where therefore the same principles apply online. We need to teach our kids how to survive out in the real world and not isolate them from the truth. Give them the freedom to be and at the same time being there to watch them and guide them, and that's not MySpace's responsibility.

Going Web 2.0 or not?

My organization is ready to embrace the addition of Web 2.0 tools in our training programs. Will we take that leap? I sure hope so.

Currently our Training department is the one that owns the development and maintenance of our Corporate University, and of all classroom and virtual training programs so the shift to Web 2.0 will bring new and exciting changes that I think we can all embrace.

Last year we attended the Learning Conference 2006 which is all about using Web 2.0 tools that enable learning. We came back with so many ideas, and we put together a team that was in charge of researching blogs, wikis, social networks, videos, podcasting, avatars, and audio. The result of this research lead to incorporating audio in our eLearning courses and to beta test an mLearning module which we had great results with but I think not too much chance was given to blogs, wikis, and other tools.

We just came back from the Learning 2007 Conference and this year the speakers focused more on actually examples of how to use Web 2.0 tools in your training programs so can you feel the excitement? After presenting all our ideas to Management, it looks like we will try to implement some of these tools. So I’m very excited, I’m a loyal advocate of these new tools. I've used them with my kids, siblings, friends, and for my professional development. I've learned more through blogging, wikis, communities then by reading books and attending seminars. And of course, thanks to Google I have found great resources.

Going by my experience and what I’ve heard from teachers, trainers, and other educators it seems that this technology is working. So why not give it a try? The concerns we have I know are the same that other corporations and educators have. We are very concerned about wrong information being posted on our wikis and bad comments being left on blogs. We don’t have too many resources that can continuously monitor these tools so it’s a little scary.

The fear is there and they only way it will go away is if we leap into this new world and we don't fall flat on our backs. I think we just need to let go of the ownership of the content, and let others contribute to our success. Like Brad Anderson from Best Buy said “Getting other points of view and other pieces of knowledge into our learning system that might otherwise have escaped is key to our success as an organization." And I think we understand this now.

From my research and experience with some of these tools, I’ve compiled a list of concerns and solutions that I think will help us deal with these issues. These will be posted in other articles so check back with us soon.

What has been your experience with Web 2.0 tools in the classroom? What tools work best for you? Any one?