Webware 100: Best Web 2.0 Apps
There’s still two weeks left to vote for the Webware 100 for this year, celebrating the 100 best Web 2.0 sites as decided by you, the user. What the folks at Webware have done is come up with a list of 25 nominees in ten different categories — Browsing, Communications, Community, Data, Entertainment, Media, Mobile, Productivity, Publishing, Reference — and you can vote for one nominee per category. The top ten vote-getters in each category make up the Webware 100.
What you vote for is up to you, but here are a few of my thoughts about some of the nominees on the list:
- Greasemonkey (Browsing): Want to know why I carry my Macbook with me everywhere? Because I can’t stand using the internet without my twenty-seven Greasemonkey scripts: the web just isn’t as hospitable without it.
- OpenID (Browsing): It may not have reached ubiquity just yet, but OpenID is going to revolutionize identity management on the web. As soon as Facebook introduces OpenID logins, we’re set.
- Twitter (Communications): Need to get in touch with me quickly? Forget the phone, and definitely forget about email: Twitter me. My favorite presence indicator on the web, by far.
- del.icio.us (Community): I might have abandoned del.icio.us (for now), but that doesn’t mean it’s still the best social bookmarking site on the web. Just browing random del.icio.us profiles can provide enough links for days of entertainment.
- Facebook (Community): With the addition of external applications, I think Facebook may soon become not only a MySpace-killer, but the premium destination for web users. Google, watch out.
- Line Rider (Entertainment): I usually hate gaming, I have no manual dexterity, and am clueless when it comes to physics. All that aside, Line Rider is so simple that I have (literally) spent hours drawing lines on my screen.
- Upcoming (Entertainment): While most of my event planning happens through Facebook, all the cool kids still use Upcoming, and with good reason. The interface is clean, it’s extensible, and just works well.
- Flickr (Media): Flickr is the darling child of social applications on the web, and though it is now a senior citizen in the domain of Web 2.0, the popular photo-sharing site continues to innovate.
- Pandora (Media): Blocking Pandora in Canada was a blow to music aficionados across the country. The leader in internet radio, Pandora has revolutionized the way we experience music.
- Google Docs (Productivity): Who needs Microsoft Office? Once Google comes out with Spreadsheets, the document set will be complete. Then Facebook will duplicate it and kill Google.
- Blinksale (Productivity): I don’t write many invoices, but when I do, it needs to be an easy, painless process. Blinksale is easy and painless. And pretty.
- Google Analytics (Publishing): Once, it was robust but clunky. Now, with the new Veen & Co. design, it not only looks pretty, but it blows other stat applications away when it comes to features.
- Tumblr (Publishing): My new favorite application on the web, after Twitter. Blogging has never (and I do mean never) been this easy and this fun.
- Wordpress (Publishing): Tumblelogging isn’t for everyone, so for those of you who can’t just settle for a bare-bones Tumblr blog, there really isn’t any better hosted tool than Wordpress. That’s why I use it for this blog.
- Yahoo! Maps (Browsing): Say all you want about Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps just looks nicer and works better, once you get used to the interface. I’m serious.
Okay, that’s enough from me. Now go vote. Better yet, go use stuff.