Written on 30th June 2009
23 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
When I first took steps into this industry, conferences, networking, panels and speeches were something which I knew I would have to get involved with. If I’m honest, its not an area I particularly enjoy but it comes with the territory – much like celebrities and the paparazzi I suppose :P .
Anyhow, I dug and dug and couldn’t find a decent list of tech events that I should be making an effort to attend – so I decided to create one myself – and now I’m sharing it with you. I have undoubtedly (more…)
Written on 21st May 2009
31 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
If there’s one type of web application we continue to see various takes on, it’s the Project Management tool. Each company has their own idea of exactly what works, but often the individuals have their own opinions and it can often lead to project turbulence and occasionally failure.
I am personally a big fan of outliner based project management tools. Unfortunately, there aren’t many or any that include the functionality I’m looking for – think OmniOutliner with sharing functionality. Anyhow, that’s for a separate discussion – what we’d like to know is what your favorite project management app is? What’s been proven to work project after project, day in, day out? What are you major considerations? Is there anything, like me, you’re still waiting to see?
Written on 21st March 2009
1 COMMENT Srikanth AD, Web Designer, Search Engine Optimizer and Google Devotee
If you missed out previously, we call this segment the Interestingness!. Where in, we’ll cover intriguing articles from across the web which are ‘Hot wire’ and ‘Eye Catchers’.
Let us know your views about this segment and feel free to share links to interesting articles you have come across in the comments. Just make sure it has interestingness!
Sadly, the mam himself has not been immune to the darker elements of the web. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he describes his first encounter with online crime:
“The worst thing that has happened to me was when I tried to buy a Christmas present from a company that looked like a bona fide company on the internet and then actually they were a completely fake company. I think I am yet to get the money back, but it wasn’t a lot.
The moment I called the 0800 number listed on the website, there was a very polite message saying this number is available if you would like to use it, so a little bit of due diligence on my part would have revealed it wasn’t what it was set up to be.”
The pioneer maintains a level head regarding the matter:
There have been many positive things about the web, but there are also some nasty things out there too. You can find out how to cure diseases, but you can also find out how to make bombs.
Sometimes we need new laws, but in other cases we need to realise that old laws can still be applied to the web.
We need to tackle issues of enforcement instead, as the laws on fraud, for example, already exist but is hard to find and catch the people responsible.
Despite the crime the internet has brought – which seems to still be actively growing despite the economic downturn – we are unquestionably fortunate to have the internet at our finger tips today. In time, like in any other new environment, I’m certain we will learn to control and manage better than ever before.
Written on 6th March 2009
2 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
I’ve been meaning to write about this site for a good while now and for whatever reason it hasn’t happened. Today however, I urge you to give the site a visit and subscribe, particularly if you’re involved in the European tech industry.
Written in English by four leading Turkish entrepreneurs and analysts, StartupsinTurkey gives a great overview of the Turkish startup industry and the technology behind it. The site also makes attempts to try and translate the best stories from other Turkish language tech blogs , so you can be sure you’ll receive the best of the best.
Written on 5th March 2009
3 COMMENTS Srikanth AD, Web Designer, Search Engine Optimizer and Google Devotee
There are so many Add-ons that are currently available for Firefox for easing your way through social networking, web development, media management, alerts and security that the mind boggles.
Here we present a couple of Firefox Add-ons, which we believe are key to making your browsing experience better.
All-in-One Sidebar
It opens dialog windows such as Downloads, History, Extensions and Bookmarks in the sidebar. You can even view source or websites in the sidebar. Each sidebar panel is also accessible by a shortcut key so that you can quickly pop out the sidebar with the right key combination.
For instance,
F4 – To open or close the sidebar.
Ctrl+Shift+F4 – To open or close the options dialog.
You can set its orientation to left or right, set the minimum, default and maximum width based on your needs with ease. It also includes a slide-out button and a toolbar which can be extensively customized.
The All-In-One Sidebar Firefox extension is available for download from the Firefox Add-ons site.
UrlbarExt
It extends the Location Bar in your browser with set of icons to:
Navigate through sequential URLs. This function / icon appears only when the add-on recognizes sequential URL’s. You need to hold the icon to navigate the next URL in the sequence.
Tag current pages and browse them later using the ‘Recent Tags’ menu.
Go up one level or directly to the root of the current site (double click).
Search the current site using Google.
(Very Suitable for Work!) Surf anonymously using online proxy servers and Unblock filtered websites.
You can always show/hide any icon you don’t need using the settings dialog. UrlbarExt Firefox Add-on is available for download here.
Do let us know about your favorite Add-on(s) in the comments.
Written on 13th February 2009
5 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
With the advent of computers and the web, I adore making the use of desktop applications, scanners, web services and basically anything tech orientated for gifts. Not only is it more fun, but it’s easier, you learn quite a bit about a particular piece of software and on top of all that – it will often make you look pretty good!
So what gifts have you given which have made the use of technology?
I’m happy to go first as long as you follow!
1. A Timeline of her life.
Using AOL’s CircaVie, which has recently shut dow, I made a timeline of my partners life from birth until now including all the “love-dovey” stuff we did together in between. The beauty of it is that we then spend time every few weeks, adding to it which was a date in itself.
We did end up moving the timeline over to Capzles who offer a similar service.
2. A PhotoMosaic into a Poster
The other gift which went down a storm was a photomosaic poster I made which had about a hundred different photos of us and our families – all fitted together perfectly to form one large poster of us. We still have the poster in one of the rooms of our home and it still looks good.
For a wonderful review of various photomosaic applications, click here.
(note. that is not my girlfriend on the right – that is Bob Marley)
Written on 13th February 2009
11 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Nowadays there really is very little that we have been able to do on our desktop, that we aren’t able to do online. One area which has yet to have enjoyed that level of portability however is coding – that looks set to change.
Today, Mozilla have introduced probably the worlds first quality web based code editing tool and it goes by the name of Bespin.
Bespin was designed to help make coding easier, slick, accessible from anywhere and collaborative, with this first release it appears they have taken great strides to achieving those goals.
The tool is fast, cleanly designed and what’s more – it’s ready to play with immediately. Some of the most impressive features include the following:
Integrated command-line
Fast
Collaborative editing
Syntax highlighting
Open source code base
A very nice dark color scheme
Innovative and productive file browser
All of the source code behind Bespin is being released as open source which should lead to some pretty dramatic improvements and changes in the short to medium term.
For now however, have a watch of the video below introducing Bespin or head over to Mozilla Labs and try it out for yourself – if you code, you’ll be impressed. There is also a Google Groups discussion group available for all your queries and issues.
Written on 10th February 2009
6 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
“…We are developing tools to make “any app, any site, any friends” a reality.”
The Social Web Blog is focused on readers who “interested or involved” in making the web more social. It is Google’s 80th official blog and with it, they aim to capture the interest of individuals, founders, website owners and anyone who is interested in developing a community online.
They aim to keep readers better informed about Google’s social initiatives such as Google Friend Connect as well as keep their eyes open to readers ideas of how to make the web a more social place.
Visit the blog here to have a nosy round and join Google Friend Connect for the blog or simply subscribe to their RSS feed here.
Many have heard about KillerStartups.com, a place where startup companies are reviewed and listed.
According to Compete.com (which measures only US traffic) they had almost 600,000 unique visitors last month. If you double that you kinda have an idea of how much traffic receives overall. Alexa ranks the website on 8,599 position in the world (2,784 in USA). Not to mention there are over 13,000 RSS subscribers.
So, it’s a pretty well established website.
Now, the question is: How to get listed there? And fast?
Well, Ernst, here’s how you can do it :) (you can also let those new startups know how they can do it by showing them this post).
I am showing my experience here. Others may have different experience (better or worst).
Yes, they have a form which you can fill in and submit. Chances are that they won’t react immediately or at all to that (that was my case).
So, I looked from where they get their news or tips, their source of information.
If you look in the image below you will see the “Source” of the news. Among other sources there is Techcrunch, Readwriteweb, Mashable, Webware. I’m not focusing on these because it’s quite hard to attract their attention (I’m sure they are pounded with many daily requests so they won’t publish them all). I’m talking about the other sources, less obvious.
In my case it was Launchfeed.com (although I don’t have a startup but a blog).
I listed my blog there and voila! In 2 days (if I remember well) Killerstartups picked it up.
But there are other sources there where you can get your startup listed quite easily and thus getting KillerStartups attention right away.
Those sources are presented below.
1) Launchfeed (www.launchfeed.com)
Go to “Submit,” then fill out the form in order to announce your launch. You need to have an English-language site, otherwise they won’t approve your submission. I used Launchfeed to announce my site (although my site is older than 1 month) and Killerstartups.com picked it up in the next two days.
2) SimpleSpark (www.simplespark.com)
Simple Spark is the place to find and share a new world of web applications. Your website/service/application can be listed here, too. Click on “Add Apps to Spark,” then open an account.
3) Listio (www.listio.com)
Listio is a user-driven directory that allows you to submit any web 2.0 application for others to discover, rank and comment on. When you submit a new application, it will be placed in a “pending” area until an editor reviews and publishes it. Looks like a Digg for web applications. Click on “Submit a web 2.0 app link” to create an account.
4) Go2web20 (www.go2web20.net)
This is a Flash directory of Web 2.0 applications. You can send them an email by clicking on “Suggest.”
5) Lo-Fi librarian (www.lo-fi-librarian.co.uk)
This is a blog created by a Master Degree student in Library and Information Studies from UK. You can contact him/her by email and try to have your website listed on his/her site.
6) FeedMyApp (www.feedmyapp.com)
This is another web applications listing site but without a voting system. Click on “Suggest a Site” link and fill out the form (no account needs to be created).
7) Emily Chang eHub (www.emilychang.com/go/ehub)
eHub is a personal initiative of Emily Chang (a well know web designer) where she lists web startups. You can submit a site, service, or news on her “Submit a Site” page.
8) MOMB (http://momb.socio-kybernetics.net)
The MoMB (Museum of Modern Betas) is a site dedicated to listing web-based applications on a beta trip. This site is in an alpha version, but you can contact them by email (see About).
9) SociableBlog (www.sociableblog.com)
SociableBlog is a social networking and social media blog which offers the latest news, articles, and video on social networking, social media, social community, and social software worldwide. You can let them know about your service/website by clicking on the “Submit News” link (but you have to register first to use this form).
10) DemoGirl (www.demogirl.com)
Molly McDonald is the editor-in-chief of this blog (which belongs to VPOP Technologies INC www.vpop.net ). If she thinks your service is good enough, she will build a screencast of it and feature it free of charge on her DemoGirl website. You can drop her a note (see “About DG”).
11) Rev2 (www.rev2.org)
Rev2.org is a weblog dedicated to profiling new Web 2.0 startups and technologies, as well as providing in-depth analysis on the state of this industry. Send an email with your announcement to one of the editors (see the About page).
12) WebDev 2.0 (www.webdevtwopointzero.com)
They present a variety of sites which they think are useful for their readers. Go to “Submit a site” to submit your site to them for review.
13) Dzine blog (www.dzineblog.com)
Dzine blog is all about designs. Here you will find inspirational designs and some good tips in logo, graphics and web designing. Contact the owner (Contact page) and tell him about your website (especially if you have a great looking website).
14) Ziipa (www.ziipa.com)
Ziipa is a visual search engine which accepts website submissions. Just go to “Suggest” and fill out the form. They will review your submission and approve/reject it.
Note: I have chosen only those that accept English-language sites, but there are many others (Spanish, German).
After being listed in KillerStartups I had a spike in number of visitors during 2-3 days. Another advantage is that your URL may get bookmarked on social media websites like Delicious and others like that which can also drive traffic to your website.
Let us know if you have the same success getting listed on KillerStartups!
And if you want startups to know about this then bookmark and share this article.
Written on 30th June 2009
23 COMMENTS 
When I first took steps into this industry, conferences, networking, panels and speeches were something which I knew I would have to get involved with. If I’m honest, its not an area I particularly enjoy but it comes with the territory – much like celebrities and the paparazzi I suppose :P .
If there’s one type of web application we continue to see various takes on, it’s the Project Management tool. Each company has their own idea of exactly what works, but often the individuals have their own opinions and it can often lead to project turbulence and occasionally failure.
Written on 21st March 2009
Just last week, we let you know of the 
I’ve been meaning to write about this site for a good while now and for whatever reason it hasn’t happened. Today however, I urge you to give the site a visit and subscribe, particularly if you’re involved in the European tech industry.
2. A PhotoMosaic into a Poster
Bespin was designed to help make coding easier, slick, accessible from anywhere and collaborative, with this first release it appears they have taken great strides to achieving those goals.
The 
Written on 27th January 2009
Many have heard about 
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
