Update: Zimbio is now open to public. Enjoy!

Remember Zoozio? You know, the service that many have assumed to be yet another start page? Well, Zoozio is now called Zimbio and rather then being yet another start page like it has been thought to be, Zimbio is a feature packed, people powered, web portal of information on just about anything. Zimbio is all about helping people learn from others on the web. In other words, user submitted content plays a big role in their service and in turn the content will make Zimbio an excellent source of information for helping others learn and easily find what they are in search for.

I have had the pleasure to test Zimbio (private beta) and I am very impressed with what I have seen. In short, the service could be explained to be portals of information with a mix of user generated and syndicated content. More so, in appearance it could be related to many start pages with Wiki like functionality in that any member can contribute content to any portal. When visiting Zimbio, you will be presented with 24 main categories each with user created portals. Anyone can view, search, and subscribe to these portals and when signing up can contribute content or even create their own portal which other users can contribute to as well.

Each portal consists of a portal blog, photo albums, links, feeds, custom saved searches, syndicated content from news sites and blogs, notes, a forum for discussion, and more. Yes, that’s a lot of information and when receiving good user activity, they become very informative and content rich portals. You, being a user, is given the ability to add (bookmarklets available for links), edit, and rate content throughout any portal. On the other hand, Guru’s, as Zimbio calls them, are users with the highest access to a portal which can arrage, review, and manage content in the portals they are assigned. So, in a sense, it is like a Wiki, but in the format of a start page. There is even an activity log that lists all recent modifications to a portal.

Every content type can have its own panels on the start page of a portal. This is great, but sometimes you want more information then what the start page provides. This is why every content type also has their own seperate pages that contain all recent and archived content. For example, in the screenshot above, I am in the member photos page of the portal, Aviation and can view all photos submitted to this portal rather then the few visible on the start page. Every content type is given their own separate page full of user contributed information, although one feature I would love to see here is a way to subscribe to content in a portals page. One page of a portal that I have grown to love and would like to subscribe to is the Trackers page which consists of image, news, and blog search rolls. These rolls are groups of results for a set of saved keywords on any topic. So, for example, I could view the blog search roll in the Web 2.0 portal and view blog postings related to Web 2.0 from various blog search sources.

Zimbio has shown me it’s potential and I am overall impressed with the large amount of information that it already contains. There are many portals in 24 different categories each filled with content, and when user contributed content does note exists in a portal, there’s still at least some basic information, photos, and search trackers for you. I searched for programming, design, cars (Acura, specifically), and so on and all already had portals or were atleast contained in an existing portal. However, there are a few things here and there that I would like to see. For example, a method to save favorite portals to your profile so you can easily navigate to them and RSS feeds to individual sections of a portal allowing members to easily track portals. I also think it would be great to have a list of most active portals or recently modified portals to direct users to active portals. Other then that, if users contribute content as hoped, I’d imagine Zimbio being an amazing resource of information and that the Zimbio team will accomplish their mission of helping people learn from others. There are other related services, such as Boxxet and Squidoo, but I feel Zimbio contains much more functionality and it will be interesting to see how things play out.

Zimbio - The People’s Guide to the Web.

I admit, I do not use online file management or asset managers for my files. I’m quite comfortable the way I manage them on my computer’s file system. Although, after testing out Fluxiom, a new digital asset manager, I am starting to second think my methods of management and may hang onto Fluxiom. Fluxiom, to me, is basically a glorified online file manager with simple organization techniques, great effects, multiple users, and user and email file sharing. What I like about Fluxiom the most is the sure simplicity of the service. I’ve tried asset managers before and never ended up using them because there would be too many features, all these advanced options, and just things that I do not need. I feel Fluxiom see’s that less is more and gave what their service says it offers, digital asset management. I don’t need much more then that. However, there were a few things here and there that I felt could use some improvement, but lets go over the services offerings first.

Fluxiom’s interface is very pleasing to the eye and gets right to the point, your assets. Appearing much like a basic computer systems folder, you have icons for each file listed one by one in a multiple row fashion with thumnails of graphics shown depending on the file type. You can select multiple files at once with a drag of a box or by using keyboard shortcuts that you normally would use on a computer, easily sort through the files with the real-time search and tag filtering, and you can also use the slider bar on the top right to easily zoom in and out on your files.

Now lets take a step back and discuss the uploading of files for Fluxiom. You can upload any type of file you may have and support is provided for over 100 image formats, including ESP and PSD (Photoshop) files, which will be shown as a thumbnail of the image itself in the manager. Also, when uploading documents like PDF’s and Microsoft Word files, Fluxiom will index the files and can perform full-text searching of their contents so you can easily find what you are looking for (pro and deluxe plans only). Now, the uploading of files is fairly basic allowing you to upload files individually or by uploading a Zip file of multiple files, also allowing you to assign tags to the files. Works great, though I personally feel the upload form needs some improvement. First, I would like to be able to upload multiple files at once without needing to create a zip file on my computer of them. Secondly, it would be nice if we can create tags as well as select tags when adding a file. It is a pain to go to the tags section and add a tag for one file and then upload when it could be as simple as typing in a tag when uploading the file.

Once you’ve got your files uploaded, you will then be able to view all the files in the assets area, which I talked about briefly above. You can sort through your files by tags, allowing you to select one tag or multiple tags at a time by simply clicking on a tag to filter and clicking it again to disable it’s filtering. You can filter files uploaded on the current day or during the last week as well as filter by file type (documents or images), files downloaded, and files shared. Also, as I have said earlier, your files are shown in an interface much like a basic folder on your computer with icons but you may also view the files in a detail list view for making it easier for you when dealing with a large amount of files.

Next, taking a look at the bottom of the Assets section of Fluxiom, you are given some options for managing your files: Edit, preview (if an image format), tag, download, share, delete, and details. What I like about it is that you can perform these options when selecting one or more files so you can easily make changes and view multiple files at once. The above screenshot shows the details option. You simply select a file and it will provide you with some basic information about the file, when it was added, how many times it’s been downloaded, and so on. The preview option will enable if the files that are selected are graphics and when clicking will open up a new window in that you can get a preview of the image. However, there is one thing I think would be a great addition to the preview option. When selecting an image, it will open in a new window at a set size, but I think it would be great if it uses the files dimensions to determine the size of the preview window because as of now it stretches the images. And last option I want to mention is tagging. You simply select the files and click the option and a box will slide up letting you select tags. But like the uploading of files, I would like to have the ability of adding tags while assigning them instead of going to the tags section and making them first.

You can also setup multiple user accounts with Fluxiom, each with set permissions and access priveledges (basic, pro, or deluxe plans only) so multiple users can add and manage files. This turns this asset manager into a great business solution where a coworker can upload files and other workers can easily find and download them, tag, and share. The users section is also nicely laid out and uses some nice effects which makes it very appealing, but at the same time put into good use when it comes to assigning access. To assign access to a member, you simply click on the bottom blocks and drag them on the users account and it will be assigned to them. Probably would be easier to add access while filling out the members information, but it’s nice and different.

Overall, I feel Fluxiom is a great product and is a great solution for companies, although not as much independent users. It is a little pricey, I’ll admit, but if you are are working with a lot of files and need a simple way to manage them, Fluxiom may be what you are looking for. When combined with multiple users and use of tagging, it turns into a very useful system. I am picturing it for Parallel where our work can all be uploaded and tagged by client name and project where our employees can simply login, find, and download all the files they need for a project. Employees can subscribe to an RSS feed to keep up to date on files, can upload and email files to clients, and can download multiple files at once in zip format instead of each file individually. Its storage for companies made simple and can really help keeping organized. I currently use a cluttered file system on Windows and I am definitely thinking about making a switch for work (Fluxiom supports SSL as well for pro and deluxe plans). If you are interested, you can signup to Fluxiom’s free trial, but get your credit card ready because you must have one to test it out. Don’t worry though, you wont get charged if you cancel your subscription by the time the 30 day trial is over. I’m thinking of sticking with it and giving it a try for the company and see how things go. It’s just a lot easier to use then other asset managers I have used to the point where anyone can get in and find value. Nice work to the Wollzelle and congratulations on the launch.

View Fluxiom Digital Assets Manager.

I am constantly writing notes. Whether it be for my blog, work, meeting, new ideas, or just basic notes, I am always jotting something down. So I started thinking about all the services I’ve used for taking notes and thought it would be a good idea to share them with you and while I’m at it, to make a list of any others that I find. Now, when it comes to note taking, I personally look for quick and simple. If I have something on my mind, I don’t want to go through some advanced system and climb a mountain just to save a note for myself. There won’t be all the note taking tools out there on my list, but ones that I feel get the job done well.

Quick Public Pages
Using a quick public page service, as I call it, is my favorite method of saving notes on the go. Some are simply a text field on a page that you fill and in click save, others allow you to record notes to a service directly through Instant Messaging with AIM, and some are full planners for creating well outlined documents.

• ShortText - Fill in your text, click save, and you’ve got yourself a permanent url to a text note. Includes private pages as well.
• YourDraft - Create and share content using a rich text editor (WYSIWYG) instantly without registration.
• Cl1p.net - The Internet Clipboard. Copy and paste between computers.
• Sabifoo - (Personal favorite) Simply use an Instant Message client (ie: AIM), message “sabifoo”, and your message is recorded online to a permanent link and RSS feed.
• Deusto - A new service for the creation of small web pages (digital books) in a simple and fast manner.
• Backpack - Organize to do lists, notes, images, photos and share.
• BareWiki - Build your own website and easily allow others to edit it.
• Infogami - Build good-looking, easily-editable web sites.
• Zoho Planner - An online organizer to Plan & Organize yourself.
• Change To Link - Easily create a page of information to bookmark or share with friends.
• PasteHere - Make pastes from screenshots of your desktop, code from your clipboard, or any other image/text. Pages last for 15 days unregistered user / 30 days registered user.

Basic Note Taking
Quick public pages aren’t really made for note-taking, although they work really well for it. Here are a few services and applications that are meant for note taking.

• Pianist - Simple memo manager helping you save your ideas.
• JotCloud - Jot down notes in a cloud of sticky notes online.
• Web Note - Quickly takes notes with an online post-it like interface.
• Performancing Firefox - Meant for blogging, although it has a section for saving notes and drafts that works rather well.
• Forty Internet Notebook - (Note: Service sadly may not be live much longer) Simple and categorized place for you to keep notes saved hierarchically.
• Backpack - Organize to do lists, notes, images, photos and share.
• JotSpot Live - JotSpot Live allows you, your colleagues or clients to take notes together on the same web page at the same time.
• TaskToy - More for to-do lists, but also features searchable notes and memos.
• Zoho Planner - An online organizer to Plan & Organize yourself.
• Campfire - Although meant for chatting, Campfire also works great for taking notes! Read this How-To.
• SyncNotes - “Your notes. Anywhere. Anyhow.”
• Yahoo! Notepad - Yahoo! Notepad is very simple, especially when using this handy Notepad Bookmarklet.
• Google Desktop Scratch Pad - Although Scratch Pad requires the Google Desktop software, I find myself using this little plugin all the time. Just type and it saves automatically.

Development
I’m a programmer and when I’ve got an idea on my mind for a script or code snippet, I want to get it down ASAP. I find that collaborative programming services, like Pastebin, or just a service that lets you save a script and share works perfectly. These are like quick public pages, but for programmers.

• Pastebin - Collaborate on debugging code snippets and receive permanent links to code snippets.
• TNX - “Simple web service for temporary text storage. A unique URL is generated, that can be easily pasted in a message, but is hard to guess.”
• TextSnippets - Public source code repository in that you can tag and categorize code. You may also set snippets as private.
• PasteHere - Make pastes from screenshots of your desktop, code from your clipboard, or any other image/text. Pages last for 15 days unregistered user / 30 days registered user.
• Nopaste - Pastebin with Syntax Highlighting for PHP Programming.

Online Documents
I found that there are times that simple text notes just don’t always fit my needs. There may be a note or part of a document that I need to save with text formatting, colors, and headings, but most note-taking services are text-only. In time, I started using services like Writeboard more and more because I can just down notes with it during a conference adding headings and lists making reading my notes a lot more organized. Makes sense, so I decided to make a list of a few.

• Writeboard - (I find I use this often because of Basecamp integration for work) Collaborative writing software online. Write, share, revise, compare. You can share by email invitation only.
• Writely - Writely allows you to edit documents online with whomever you choose, and then publish and blog them online.
• Rallypoint - (I use this for project notes often) Rallypoint combines the powerful features of your favorite desktop word processor with the collaborative abilities of a secure hosted wiki, giving you the best of both worlds.
• Zoho Writer - Online tool to create a document, edit in your way, and share with anyone.
• WideWord - Write and share documents easily, quickly and privately!
• YourDraft - Create and share content instantly without registration. The WYSIWYG editor allows fast and flexible drafting.
• gOffice Word Processing - gOffice has a nice Word Processor that I’ve only used once before, but worked well then. (Update: Just tested again and it seemed to have made an error when exporting, but works for saving still. Seems to work fine now)

Voice Recording
Don’t think your stuck with typing all your notes on a computer when it comes to note taking. Sometimes it’s just simpler to speak something out loud rather then writing and although the following services aren’t meant for taking notes specifically, they seem to work quite well. Sure, they are for emailing and podcasting, but that’s not stopping me!

• Evoca - Evoca is excellent for recording podcasts, but it also seems to work for notes as well because when you record, it simply saves it to a list in that you can listen to at any time. They are private until published.
• Odeo - For podcasting as well, but as does Evoca, Odeo’s podcast recorder also works well and saves your recordings as podcasts which you can easily listen to at any time. They are also private until published.
• Springdoo - Springdoo allows you to send voice email, as does Slawesome. When you make a recording with Springdoo, it will allow you to preview the recording and send the address to others. Simple bookmark the address or send it to yourself.
• Slawesome - Meant for emailing voice recordings, but I simply email myself and mark it in my email client as an important note in my memo folder. (Update: Voice recording does not appear to be working as of now, although the emails still send along with your note. It will save, but won’t play it seems.)

Start Pages
What better place to write notes then a start page that opens every time you open your web browser? As I mentioned the other day, I now have Netvibes as my homepage for my browser and I found that I use the Webnote module quite often. Most start pages include note functionality, but I’ll list a few favorites with note modules.

• Netvibes - My start page of choice which has a simple Webnote module with auto-saving and multi-color selection.
• PageFlakes - Personalized start page with notes and many “flakes” bringing the web to your fingertips.
• Protopage - A very neat start page allowing for notes and drag and drop containers for just about anything. Also allows for making multiple pages and setting pages public.
• Fold - Allows for adding of multiple Notepad Containers which you can drag and drop any where in your Fold Start Page.
• Google Personalized - Google’s Personalized start page works great for notes when using the Google Notes Module that saves your notes automatically.

Online Databases
Online database services can also be used for managing notes. I’ve made a system in Dabble DB and Zoho Creator for notes which I have made to my liking because I choose what is recorded. Any of the following will allow you to create your own database application for recording your notes.

• Dabble DB - (Private Beta) Dabble DB is the most powerful service of the bunch with large customization options and application flexibility. Can’t wait for it to go public so everyone can experience it’s power.
• TracksLife - “Your Friendly, Personal, Online Spread-abase.” Very simple system that works very well. Also allows for public tracks and rss feeds.
• Zoho Creator - Free online service to create and share web applications with just a few mouse clicks. Very customizable.
• FlexLists - Create your own online sharable lists with this database like service allowing for custom fields and values.
• Lazybase - Lazybase allows anyone to design, create and share a database of whatever they like.

That about wraps it up! I hope this list was of help for anyone looking for simple solutions on taking notes. As always when I make a list, if you know of any other services, feel free to share with us in the comments. And for those of you curious as to what solutions I use most often, I tend to use Google Scratch Pad, Netvibes, and Writeboard the most and have recently become addicted to Sabifoo. What ones do you use?

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Google Calendar is now up and running (thanks, Mike, for the announcement) and my first impression is definitely a good one. I have been playing around with it for a while now and I am very impressed with its functionality. Calendar is very fast, simple, and has an excellent interface that anyone can quickly get the hang of.

The interface is an event planning type calendar, much like iCal for Mac users, which allows you to add events to a specific date or range of dates. There is heavy use of Ajax making navigating and using the calendar very fast along with simple drag and drop functionality so the user can easily drag and drop an event and change the length of time for an event. On the left on the interface will be a list of your calendars and calendars that you have been given access to or added from the public calendar selection. Along the top is a menu allowing you to select the viewing format of your calendar with Day, Week, Month, Next 4 Days, and my favorite, agenda.

Monthly View of Google Calendar

Agenda View of Google Calendar

Lets take a look at your calendars workspace. You simply click on any date on the calendar and fill in the “What” value and the event gets assigned. You can then click and drag the bottom of the event to lengthen the amount of time or click or drag the whole block to reposition it. If you would like to modify an events details, click on the event and select “edit event details.” Although, If you prefer, you can add an event even faster by clicking on the “Quick Add” link on the left hand side and filling in information like the example, “Dinner with Michael 7pm tomorrow.” Google Calendar will automatically fill in the correct details for you.

The edit event area allows you to modify your basic even information, but what stood out the most for me was the extra functionality for each event. First, to modify your event information, hover over each field and you will see that it highlights. Clicking on the field will then allow you to modify its value. Clicking the date field will split up the date into seperate fields which all will return a dynamic list of times or miniture calendar when clicking on them. Fairly basic, but what I found different were the areas around your event information. You can add guests to your event allowing them to not only view the event details, but to give them access for commenting on the event and responding to an invitation to an event.

The settings area of Google Calendar allows you to create and manage multiple calendars, set access privileges, and more. You can set notifications for events under the notifications tab allowing you to receive an email or even have Google send you a text message to your phone before an event. You will also find an import section in the settings that allows you to import Yahoo, Microsoft Outlook, and iCal calendar files to easily append dates to your Google Calendar. You may also share your calendar by inviting your friends individually, setting the entire calendar public, or by subscribing to the supplied XML and iCal files for each calendar (make sure calendar access is set public before subscribing).

Lastly, it is said that Google Calendar has Gmail integration, although I have not seen it function yet. According to the help center, Gmail will allow you to easily create an event in Google Calendar when an event has been detected (Google says it is pretty good at detecting, although there may be times it has trouble) by selecting “Create Event” in the More Options drop-down. It is also said that you can respond to RSVP’s through Gmail when receiving one which on responding will direct you to the event page in Google Calendar.

As I have said before, I am very impressed with the functionality offered with Google Calendar. It has event planning, import and export options, quick adding of events, sharing, Gmail integration, and more. Looks like 30boxes has quite the competition.

View Google Calendar. - TechCrunch and CNet has more on the story.

Update: Official Google Blog Announcement.

NEO Binaries is a new community review site with a focus on web applications. Similar to the recent Web 2.0 review site, BuzzShout (TechCrunch Review), users can submit reviews on applications and rate them. Although, NEO Binaries takes it a step further by providing high detailed reviews with editorial reviews, pros and cons, publisher description, user submitted reviews, rating, related links, pricing, and even screenshots! Think Download.com style reviews, but for Web 2.0 Applications. Although, only reviews that state, “Full Review!” next to the ratings include all information while others may only include a few details and user reviews.

(Directs to External Site: NEO Binaries)

NEO Binaries also maintains a blog on the main page with talks of Web 2.0 news and web applications. I have also read in the contribute section that they accept press releases actings as a “launch pad for your web applications” which will be published on the main page and news page.

Registering will give you access to submit user reviews and rate web applications as well as access to the NEO Binaries discussion board with topics on web applications, web 2.0, and tutorials. Anyone can submit an application to NEO Binaries for review and just requires one to fill out a basic submission form.

I really like what I see and the amount of content provided with the full reviews are excellent including basic information to full walk-through’s. But, where’s the tagging? I like BuzzShout’s tagging functionality because it makes it very easy to find what you are looking for, but tagging does not exist in NEO Binaries as of now. In result, I was forced to use the basic search form, but this appears to need some work as well because every results title and description returned is the same! You have to look at the URL of the result to understand what you are looking at. Other then those two drawbacks, I am liking NEO Binaries, subscribed to the RSS Feed, and hope to start seeing more reviews!

View NEO Binaries Web 2.0 Review Community (via del.icio.us)