A quick post after having received an invite from TechCrunch to try out the Wix-experience beta.

I was a little skeptical, but for what its purpose is I am content and even a little excited. It provides some nifty widget creation options, and allows for a number of customizations.

Currently I have just scraped the surface. Though I can already conclude that its User Interface is friendly and simple for those non-geeks who just want to spice up their own profiles.

I have yet to try out integrating the widgets into public services offered. But they offer a wide range of custom embedding for myspace, facebook etc.

Information Architects have made a Subway map for: Web Trends of 2007. The most successful companies and websites, including a number of my favorite Web 2.0 solutions, are plotted, categorized with color-coding and rated by size and popularity with stars.
Personally I like the way that have portrayed the data, in a clear and familiar symbolic design.

For the interactive version of the map click here.

In addition the company has attempted to add Web generation numbers. Ie. Web 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and even Web 2.5. According to the company Web 2.5 can describe the route that Facebook is taking. (Then I am guessing that would entail Facebook’s Applications feature.)

(Via TechCrunch)

Choosing color (colour) schemes and palettes can be a challenge. Now a site called ColourLovers offers a Social Networking solution for different color combinations.

This above specific page is part of their blog and the post is titled: Color Inspiration from the Masters of Painting. It offers some color-combos from several famous historic paintings.

Previously I wrote about ColorJack for Comparing Complimentary Colors

(Via Drawn)

The word “Prosumer” is a combination of the words producer and consumer. According to Duncan Riley of TechCrunch; Prosumer “perfectly describes the millions of participants in the Web 2.0 revolution.” – The Rise Of The Prosumer.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Riley also links to the above YouTube video. This “Future of Media” video by Davide Casaleggio raises some very interesting ideas of what the created expects of the future. Personally I think that some of the ideas in the video could become a reality, though in general I shrug and hope that it will not turn out like this.

YouTube launched its own video-editing tool last week YouTube Remixer. It allows you to edit and “remix” your already uploaded YouTube videos. “Remixer allows you to edit your videos with text, audio, graphics, overlays, effects, and transitions” – YouTube Blog

YouTube Remixer, also dubbed Adobe Remixer, is obviously a Flash-application.

(Via LifeHacker)

This is apparently the first feature film to be uploaded on YouTube. Though according to their countdown on FourEyedMonsters.com it will only be on YouTube for the next 53 days (until August 15th).

The movie has already receievd a number of awards and is currently holding a 6.7/10 user-rating on IMDB. The Four Eyed Monsters movie is compiled and based on a video blog (series of video podcasts). I only had time to see the first couple minutes now at first, but hopefully I can eventually put off some time to see the whole movie online.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Via TechCrunch)

ScanScout is a new service that searches and analyzes the content of your user-submitted video. When the content is analyzed it determine which ads would be relevant to display for each of the displayed scenarios in your video.

According to TechCrunch ScanScout has some of the same concepts as what Google video is experimenting with. For more info check out the tour on ScanScout’s main page.

This morning I stumbled over this start-up named Octop.us. It’s goal, in a digg like manner, is to be a bank for “Tips on anything”. Although still very much in its birth stage, I think that this idea is a good one. Relying on simple user-submitted advice that people share and rate on and from everyday experiences.

Somewhat similar to SuTree, which I recently wrote about, Octop.us depends on textual tips, which may be easier to grasp and quickly search. I am looking forward to read the tips as the database grows.

(Via Alexander Kharlamov)

Cozmo is taking Web 2.0 concepts and adding them to allow users to create their own “TV channels”. These so-called channels can be created by choosing content from most popular video sites (YouTube, Google videos, etc) or can be a RSS feed, your own channel will eventually take shape as widgets.

I gave CozmoTV Beta  a quick try and easily created my own widget and channel: stepheno.net @ cozmo. Although I have only selected one show so far, the concept proves its potential. So if you are interested in sharing your latest YouTube findings cozmo.tv might just be a solution for you.

For more info about the concept TechCrunch has more, as well as CozmoTV’s about page.

Wayne Smallman the writer behind Blah! Blah! Technology passed his 300th article marker earlier this week and launched the new domain and site.

Smallman’s blog has been one of my early inspirations since my entry to the blogosphere several months ago. He has also been an active contributor with comments and advice here on stepheno.net. So if you are interested in the latest and coming technology trends and in-depth opinions and follow-ups of them, check out blahblahtech.com .