I’m now on Facebook, yeah that’s right I’ve joined the masses with the networking gig… Oh and not to mention I’m also on Ning….

I don’t really have a good answer for why, I just decided that if I’m going to be in the business of Web2.0 I’d better have my hand in all the areas the web is offering right now. I really don’t have a huge opinion on FaceBook. I will say that of all the online apps I think FaceBook seems to have a good corner in the market. Just the fact that they allow third party apps to be added to their interface is huge. It gives the control back to the users and offers them the ability to make their network better or worse.

I am also in Ning. The only reason I’m in this online app is to have a hold on some of the existing apps out there. I don’t really know much about this one, but its your standard Networking tool and community portal. Honestly I’m only into Ning because I’ve heard that people consider it to be a blogging platform worth using for artists online presence.)

This week I’m going to talk about an Application that I started to use when I began in the Computer World, but gave up on too soon.

Flash is one of the Programs out there that I think can make or break a site. I remember when I first got started with web stuff I was really interested in Flash because I wanted to make cartoons. (I still want to)

After a while I started to make sites with flash, but quickly realized that I wasn’t good enough to make them updatable by anyone but me. People didn’t like that. None the less I still try and keep up with the basic layout. This way I can always open it up and at least use the time line for animations. It was the stupid action scripting from flash 4 and flash 5 that pissed me off.

With out a doubt I think Flash is one of the greatest things thats happened to the web, it’s right up there with Databases. (only in its own way)

White Gold is a good example of a Fun, Silly site that kinda creates its own world.

Director is another one I wish I would have kept pursuing.

What about you, is there a program that you look back on and think, “I could kick ass at that if I would have stuck with it.“

Side Note: FireFox3 is ready for download. If you are still using Internet Explorer you should seriously consider changing.

Why???

Because wether you know it or not there are literally millions of websites you are viewing on a daily basis that Internet Explorer can not read properly. Basically, you aren’t seeing what you’re supposed to be seeing. It’s that simple…

So this week I’ll be talking mostly about an RSS reader I’ve been using called Sage. There is also a quick review of: Things, Xyle Scope & Snitter.

Here is what they have to say.

“Sage is a lightweight RSS and Atom feed reader extension for Mozilla Firefox. It’s got a lot of what you need and not much of what you don’t.”

I’ve tried 3 different RSS readers.

1. Google Reader (its ok standard reader)
2. Mac Mail Reader (very nice, but I don’t like to see how many feed I haven’t read.)
3. Sage (so far so good, and I’ll tell you why)

Sage is a Firefox plugin, so if you’re not a foxy browser I’m sorry about this post. I like using Sage for a couple of different reasons.

1.) I don’t have to login to it. Option+Z and a side bar pops out with all my feeds. Select your feed and it comes up in the rest of the window. And not just the title of the posts or the titles on top and the selected post below. You get about 10 or so feeds (pending rss settings) all at once. Check it out ↓

2.) I don’t have to look at that mass of numbers telling me day in and day out how many feeds that I have failed to read. (again and again and again) Kinda like how I wish books didn’t have numbers on the pages. (not sure if thats a good idea though)

3.) It’s clean to look at, easy to add feeds and there is only one window to mess with. (Tabs people, learn them and use them)

Review

• Snitter is another Twitter App - Info: Adobe Air, Clean, A lot like Twhirl, No Adds
• Things: Culture Code - Recommended by: CJ - Info: Organization, Intuitive Clean Interface. I really liked this Program, but my subscription ran out really fast. I’m thinking about buying it. (its much better than having Stickies all over the place.)
• Xyle Scope: Culture Code - Info: HTML Breakdown. Check out the Code for your sites and other sites by browsing with Xyle Scope. It has sidebar windows that show the code as you select it with your mouse. (This one is hard to explain in short terms, you have to see it in action.) Very Cool.

Why?

I like Web Application that are easy and worth using, and I find myself blabbing about them all to often. So, in order to focus my ideas and keep myself from blabbing too much, I am going to do one post a week about Programs for Web use.

~ if you like short posts, forget about What I’m Thinking…

What I’m Thinking is…

There is a crapload of Programs out there being used for every different part of the web, and there are a million different Reviews for every product. I would like to know what the day to day bloggers use, not just the review guys.

I’ve always thought that I would suck at being a sales person, that was until I bought a Mac. Now I know that I could work in a Mac store and not feel like I’m ripping people off. Why, because I actually like Mac’s. Same goes for most products. You might use a product, but would you feel good about selling it?

Review↓

I’ll keep this simple and short…

• Woopra, Stats App A+
  Still in Beta testing, but it’s amazing. If you’re a stats person you should look. Requires Standard Membership w/approval, copy & past of code.
• Twitterrific, Twitter App A+
  Requires Adobe Air, Very Stable, Looks Good, Fun sounds of Birds to let you know of new Tweets, and an easy to use interface. how could twitter be hard, right…
• Here is what they say…
  Sage is a lightweight RSS and Atom feed reader extension for Mozilla Firefox. It’s got a lot of what you need and not much of what you don’t.

  I’ll save this one for next time…

That’s it for this week… If there’s any Program you use that you really like lets here it. Even if it’s as simple as a browser. (i like firefox, but it has its issues)