FEWL.NET

Yes I just think it’s a marketing buzzword trying to redefine already created technologies. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been eating it up like it left and right. Here are my top favorite Web 2.0 sites. I’m sure you’ve heard of them, but eh.

Moola.com - This is definitely the most entertaining of all the Web 2.0 services I’ve tried. The idea of Moola is pretty ingenious. You’re given one penny when you sign up. There are thirty levels, each one for a specific amount of money. You start by playing a simple 2 person game against someone who is on your same level of one penny. If you win, you double your penny to two pennies. Do this 30 times, and you can win $10.7 million. If you’re more of the cautious type, you can cash out at any level at any time for real money. Best of all, it’s free. Moola makes its money by making you watch an ad prior to the game, and then asking your a question about the ad to prove you watched it. I recently got an invite to beta test this, and it has been a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I don’t see this lasting all too long. Like most other offers of easy riches, I’m sure they’ll be bankrupt in a year or so, after some math-savvy Russians figure a way to game the system.

PonyFish.com - PonyFish is the greatest Web 2.0 idea yet. I use it quite often and it’s purely genius. PonyFish allows you to create RSS feeds for sites that don’t offer a feed of their own. Say there is a manually updated site that you’d like to have regular updates on. Enter the URL into PonyFish, click on a couple relevant links to help the script figure which content to look for, generate the feed and add it to your favorite feed reader. This thing works like a charm and is by far my favorite.

Furl.net - This is like de.licio.us on steroids. Not only does it have a much better interface, but you can arrange links by category instead of just tags. The best feature is the “scrapbooking” function, in which it saves a copy of the Furl’d site on their server. Almost like the ScrapBook extension for Firefox, but it can be accessed from anywhere using the web. Tags are still an option for those who feel they need to micromanage their interests.

Meebo.com - This ajaxy rich site allows you to connect to various popular Instant Messaging (IM) programs via a web page. Currently it supports AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, Jabber/GTalk. I use this most often at work, where IM programs aren’t allowed.

Pageflakes.com - This is an ajax desktop. If you’ve ever asked the question, why does every damn Web 2.0 site require me to sign up?, then pageflakes might be a godsend. Using official and user-created “flakes” or modules, you can access many of the most popular Web 2.0 services right from one page. It also has the option to create different workspaces to match your specific tasks/needs. If you end up liking it, be sure to check out the API and tutorials on how to build your own flakes.