What it does
iexpenseonline.com is a free web-tool for managing your personal finances. It allows for custom tracking of your spending and saving habits. This money management program works much like other competitors in the field, allowing you to enter data such as your income and expenses, create up a budget, set goals and targets, and to track your success with those goals. iexpenseonline includes some pre-set budgets that you can use as-is or tweak to your personal preferences. You can also generate charts and graphs based on the information you provide, which may be a helpful way to better understand your finances. Lastly, there is a forum where users can post money-management tips, and these are user rated to help spotlight the most useful tips.
In their own words
“IExpenseOnline (or IEO) is an online budgeting solution that helps you manage your budget by assisting you in tracking your daily financial activity. The concept is inspired by a humble notebook, full of daily expenses and income, used by most of us to track and control our budget. IEO is totally FREE and can be used by anyone who wishes to manage budget without a pen and notebook. The data entered into different features offered by IEO is 100% secure, with all the latest technological and manual security parameters in place.”
Why it might be a killer
iexpenseonline makes it easy to track your daily budget and is very user-friendly. The charts and graphs you can generate will be particularly useful to people who are ‘visual learners.’ You can also see more than averages and trends with this tool – you can go back to any day in the past to see its particular details. The user tips section will also be helpful since the users contributing to it are probably other people like you, who are trying to manage their budget and always exploring new tricks and strategies.
Some questions
Do you have to log onto the website to add an expenditure, or could you do it from your mobile device to make it easier to remember what you spend during the day? Will potential users be hesitant to share their personal financial information with a relatively unknown startup website?
Updates
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What it does
Whether you are an Internet entrepreneur or investor, determining the profitability of a website will be much easier with Bizak.com, a site that computes the valuation and profitability of Internet startups. The data calculated for each startup includes revenues per visitor, costs per visitor, earnings (profit/loss), earnings per visitor, and valuation. Bizak is currently in Beta, and allowing startups to register for free in order to build up their database. Once enough data has been collected, they will establish “The Bizak Estimate” to use as the comparative benchmarks against which all sites are judged. Entrepreneurs can view data to see how their startup compares to others, and investors (who must pay to subscribe) can use the data to judge which startups might be the best investment.
In their own words
“Bizak is a business network which computes the profitability and valuation of internet startups… Entrepreneurs use Bizak to calculate the profitability, costs, and valuation of their startup… Investors use Bizak to discover new Web 2.0 investment opportunities.”
Why it might be a killer
Signing up for this service makes a lot of sense for entrepreneurs, who can use the data calculated to help improve their site and measure changes over time. They can also use Bizak to expose their startup to lots of potential investors. Meanwhile, investors who subscribe to Bizak will receive a valuable new way to compare and analyze startups for potential investment.
Some questions
After the beta period, will startups have to pay to receive the profitability analytics and to register in the database that investors see? Will Bizak stick to analyzing website profitability and valuation, or add any sort of consulting services for startups that want to improve their performance in that area?
Updates
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What it does
OntoWiki is a support tool for agile, distributed knowledge engineering scenarios. This tool facilitates the visual presentation of a knowledge base as an information map, with various views available for the selected data. It enables the user to intuitively author semantic content, and has an editing mode for RDF content that is similar to the What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWIG) of text editors. The site aims to encourage social collaboration over the Internet, so you can track changes, comment anywhere on the knowledge base, or measure the popularity of content. Users can always add value to the application as they use it. According to OntoWiki.net, the goal of the tool is “decreasing the entrance barrier for projects and domain experts to collaborate using semantic technologies.”
In their own words
“OntoWiki facilitates the visual presentation of a knowledge base as an information map, with different views on instance data. It enables intuitive authoring of semantic content, with an inline editing mode for editing RDF content, similar to WYSIWIG for text documents.”
Why it might be a killer
OntoWiki is free and claims to be fairly intuitive once downloaded. Social collaboration over the Internet is a growing trend, so a tool like this that facilitates such collaboration could be a welcome addition.
Some questions
How does this site plan to make a profit?
Updates
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What it does
Medibuntu, which stands for “Multimedia, Entertainment & Distractions In Ubuntu,” is a packaging product that distributes software that can’t be included in the regular Ubuntu package. Ubuntu is an open source operating system built around Linux, and is generally designed to be something that can be distributed in any country. Because freedom of speech, patent, copyright, license, or other laws vary in different countries, these laws can often preclude the inclusion of a certain software in the Ubuntu package. Medibuntu.com provides packages of software that was not included in Ubuntu for these types of reasons, and distributes them with professional quality packaging that integrates easily with Ubuntu.
In their own words
“Medibuntu is a packaging project dedicated to distributing software that cannot be included in Ubuntu for various reasons, related to geographical variations in legislation regarding intellectual property, security and other issues”
Why it might be a killer
Ubuntu users can add a lot to their operating system by downloading additional software from Medibuntu.com. As long as the particular software is legal in their country, they should have no problems.
Some questions
How commonly used is the Ubuntu operating system? Will there be widespread interest in the Medibuntu software packages? Will the site receive enough donations to maintain itself, since the software is free and the site is ad-free?
Updates
What it does
Australian wines are growing in popularity in the U.S. and elsewhere, and now there is a web site focused specifically on the wines of Australia and New Zealand. ProjectVino.com.au is an Australian website that aims to enhance and promote the experience of enjoying wines from the region. You can perform a search (basic or advanced), or browse wines by variety, winery, or region. You can share your wine experience with other users by commenting, tagging, and rating the wines you try or wineries you visit. Bases on the reviews you write, the site will automatically send you recommendations on new wines you might enjoy. You can also keep a running wish list of the wines you want to try. There’s also an online wine tasting notebook and wine education tools.
In their own words
“Project Vino is a website dedicated to enhancing your Australian and New Zealand wine experiences - both online and offline.”
Why it might be a killer
By focusing on a specific region, this site may attract a lot of users who live in Australia or are planning to visit. ProjectVino.com is obviously making an effort to be unique – for instance, it hosted a web-based wine tasting via Twitter recently. The efforts at setting itself apart may very well pay off.
Some questions
Do users need a wine site based solely on Australia and New Zealand when there are already lots of broader wine sites out there that offer similar features but cover a wider variety of wines?
Updates
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What it does
Panedia.com is a content creation and licensing company that specializes in high-quality, geo-referenced panoramic photography. Currently, the site offers photography of locations in Australia (where the company is based) and San Francisco, but it plans to cover more areas soon. The name “Panedia” is a compound of the words ‘panoramic’ and ‘encyclopedia,’ which the site says reflects its goal of creating “a professionally produced visual reference and archive of our changing world.” All imagery featured on Panedia.com are shot by professional photographers. The site offers 360-degree images of “amazing places,” as well as over 3,500 panoramic tours that you can navigate alongside the corresponding Google Map. For $25 per year, you can download any of the site’s images to use as desktop wallpapers.
In their own words
“While our content is created for all mediums from print to video, online street level mapping combined with beautiful immersive georeferenced panoramas, is a match made in heaven, and represents the bulk of our development at present.”
Why it might be a killer
The photo quality here is much higher than from other web sources like Google Street View. Some of the photography is truly breathtaking, and as the site expands to Europe and North America in the coming year, as planned, it will likely gain a lot more traffic.
Some questions
While the photos on this site are beautiful, are many people really going to pay $25 per year to use them as wallpaper? Could Panedia.com sell access to their panoramic tours or “amazing places” 360-degree photos to travel agents or other companies that might find them useful?
Updates
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What it does
Although government action like the creation of the Do-Not-Call List has helped to stem unsolicited telemarketing calls, the problem is far from solved. CallerComplaints.com is a site established to help consumers fight telemarketers, who can range from an annoyance to borderline harassment. Federal agencies where you can make complaints do exist, but Caller Complaints says their site will be a more effective way to take action. Anyone can sign on and search for the phone number of a telemarketing call they received. If the number is already in the database, they can add their complaint to the list, or start a new entry if the number hasn’t been registered yet. There is a CAPTCHA system in place to screen users. There is also a section on the site for ‘spoofed numbers’ - those telemarketers who trick Caller ID devices into displaying an incorrect phone number. All data collected by CallerComplaints.com is available to the public, and the data could be used in the future to file class-action complaints with the government.
In their own words
“We’re Building The Leading Telemarketer Database. By combining the data from users all over the world, CallerComplaints.com provides unique information about a phone number not available anywhere else. This data can be used to file joint-action complaints with government agencies, allow other users to learn more about a phone number, or any of a dozen other uses.”
Why it might be a killer
Unsolicited telemarketing calls are an annoyance that almost everyone deals with, so lots of people will probably appreciate having a website on which to vent, document their complaint, and hopefully discourage future telemarketing calls.
Some questions
If filing a complaint with a government agency or registering on the Do-Not-Call List isn’t a very effective way to combat telemarketers, how will making your complaint on a non-government website really make a difference? Can this site do anything to discourage those telemarketers who circumvent Caller ID’s with an “unknown number” message?
Updates
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What it does
When you purchase music from iTunes or many other digital music stores, you receive a highly-compressed mp3 file that’s a lower quality recording than you would get from a CD. HDtracks is a new site that sells only CD quality digital downloads, all of which are DRM-free (so they can be played on any machine) and come with a PDF file of the full liner notes and cover art. The albums available on HDtracks are all from independent labels, so you will not find many big names here, though Norah Jones, Nina Simone, Joan Baez, Tony Bennett, and Shania Twain are among those artists offered on the site. When you purchase music at HDtracks.com, you can choose from three file formats: AIFF, FLAC, or 320 kbps mp3. Because HDtracks are of better quality than iTunes, downloads are more expensive: complete albums cost $11.98, and individual songs go for $1.49. Both Mac and PC users can access this site, though it is currently available only in the U.S.
In their own words
We are an online music store offering high-definition digital music downloads from the world’s leading independent labels. We offer thousands of titles across a multitude of musical genres as well as in-depth information about the artists and albums.
Why it might be a killer
Since most digital-music stores only offer heavily compressed mp3 files, more refined audiophiles will appreciate the CD quality of HDtracks downloads. Since all HDtracks purchases are DRM-free, customers can play their downloads on an unlimited number of machines. A lot of digital music stores also don’t offer full cover art and liner notes with your download, so that is a nice bonus that comes with all HDtracks album purchases.
Some questions
Will this site’s success be limited by the fact that it does not include artists from any major labels? Will some potential customers be discouraged by the higher price and larger size of HDtracks downloads?
Updates
What it does
My Life of Travel is a free web-based travel blogging site that is also designed to be a useful travel research tool. On mylifeoftravel.com, users can keep a record of their trips, by integrating unlimited photos, an interactive Google map, YouTube videos, and of course text. Photo uploads are automatically compressed by the built-in upload too, to save time when traveling. The interactive map is also created automatically, based on a user’s journal entries. You can add contacts to your account and notify selected contacts when you update your travel journal, or specify what each contact can view. My Life of Travel can also be a useful research tool for travelers, and includes a private messaging system so you can contact someone for advice or to seek out a travel buddy. There is also a public travel calendar for those seeking travel companions. There is a powerful search engine that let’s you check the level of content in an entry before you bother clicking through to it.
In their own words
“www.mylifeoftravel.com is a user-friendly travel blogging website with many unique and easy-to-use features. Users can create multiple travel journals consisting of an unlimited number of journal entries, stories and photos, uploaded using an easy-upload tool which automatically compresses photos before uploading to save the user precious internet time. During the journal-entry creation process, the site automatically maps users’ travels onto an animated world map, displaying the route travelled. The website provides a great way of researching upcoming trips and finding interesting places to visit.”
Why it might be a killer
My Life of Travel is already hosting the travelogues of close to 20,000 members, without having done any active marketing or advertising for the site in the past. With its re-launch and official public offering today, mylifeoftravel.com will start to promote itself through more than the word-of-mouth that has already served it quite well.
Some questions
Is this site going to remain ad-free? If so, will they have to start charging members? Does mylifeoftravel.com have the capacity to handle the quick expansion that may come with its re-launch, given that photo uploads and journal entries are currently unlimited for every member?
Updates
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What it does
If you would like to live a greener life or help your friends to do the same, TheCarbonAccount.com is a new site you might find quite useful. On this site, you can go beyond simply reading information on how to minimize your environmental impact. When you register and create your “Carbon Account” you can enter personal and household data and start tracking your personal carbon footprint. Your carbon footprint is a common term used to describe the total amount of carbon emissions you are personally responsible for. You may be directly responsible (such as the fuel you burn in your car) or indirectly responsible (such as the carbon emissions resulting from production and transportation of the food you eat). TheCarbonAccount takes both types into account when calculating your footprint. This site goes a step further than most other carbon footprint calculators by asking you to keep entering information over time – such as gas meter readings, car mileage, or information about flights taken. TheCarbonAccount also has a Facebook App that was recently released.
In their own words
“The Carbon Account helps you reduce your footprint and share tips with friends. We can set up a special version for your community group or business.”
Why it might be a killer
Unlike a lot of sites that only provide information on how to live a greener life, TheCarbonAccount.com helps individuals to gauge their personal impact on the environment. This may help put things in a perspective that will increase the level of action individuals actually take towards minimizing their environmental impact on a personal level.
Some questions
Will the average, busy person remember to take the regular meter, mileage, etc. readings required and to then feed that information to TheCarbonAccount consistently enough to get accurate measurements of their carbon footprint over time? Could the site send reminders to take readings, if users wanted to turn that option on? Can you compare your carbon footprint to other users or national or global averages?
Updates
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