Scratching the surface of Web 2.0

NOTE: This article appears in today's paper edition of Legalese.

From recent stories in Time Magazine and on NPR , you may be familiar with the term "Web 2.0" as used to describe the wave of new Internet start-ups rushing to share in the success Myspace and YouTube. Myspace, purchased by Fox for $580 million, and YouTube, acquired last month by Google for $1.6 billion, made their founders very, very rich. But the two sites are also the face of a second dot-com boom -- an explosion that is quickly transforming the Internet before our very browsers.

There are disagreements over exactly what Web 2.0 means (some argue whether the term should be used at all), but essentially Web 2.0 describes the upgraded, new-and-improved Web sites that have lately begun taking over the Net. Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and Fox are buying startups like crazy, and internet entrepreneurs are scrambling to build the next Flickr or Facebook. Web 2.0 is the sequel the dot-com boom of the 90s. The gold rush is on again.

With this excitement in mind, I thought I'd discuss a few of my favorite Web 2.0 sites. There are plenty of good ideas out there searching for money and fame. Here are a some that truly deserve your attention.

Meebo.com
Almost everyone has an instant messaging account. Many people use more than one service. But who wants to install two or three separate programs just so you can chat with all your pals? With Meebo, there's no software to install and you can talk to anyone and everyone, no matter what chat service they use. Just go to meebo, log in using your existing AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Google, or Livejournal account, and start chatting. You don't have to register with Meebo, but if you do, you'll be able to log in to all your chat accounts at once using a single sign on. Perhaps the best feature is the new "meebo me" widget. Cut and paste the code into your Myspace page, or another web page, and your friends can see whether you're online and even send you a message, without ever leaving the page. Meebo is messaging that is truly instant.

Zoho.com
Imagine if Microsoft Office was completely free and you didn't need software or a hard drive to use it. Well, that's the idea behind Zoho, a suite of productivity software that lives entirely on the Web and doesn't charge individuals (corporations can pay for a more powerful version). Zoho offers a word processor, spreadsheet, and Powerpoint-style presentation program. It also offers email, calendar, and planning software. None of these programs are as powerful as Office, but that's not really the point. Zoho gives you the essentials, and quite a bit more, for free. And because it's Web based, you can access your documents from any computer (Mac, Linux, or PC) and even share them with your friends. Also, you can import and export documents for use in Office or another program. You can even print to PDF. Google's Docs and Spreadsheets service is simlar to Zoho, but not quite as full-featured. Microsoft will eventually offer its own version. But for now, nobody does Web Office better than Zoho.

Yourminis.com , Pageflakes.com , Netvibes.com
Yahoo remains the most popular home page on the planet, but a number of Web sites are rethinking the start page. Like Yahoo and MSN, they try to bring you the best of the Web on one page, but the upstarts have added some powerful features you can't find on Yahoo or MSN. Pageflakes, Yourminis, and Netvibes each allow you to easily add "widgets" that import content from Myspace, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook and a ton of other sites. You can personalize each widget to give you only the content you want. Other widgets include digital clocks, calendars, and local weather. You can even check your email or play games. The key advantage is flexibility. Yahoo only gives you access to Yahoo's mail and calendar programs; these new start pages don't tie you down. Add your Google calendar, check your Hotmail account, monitor your Ebay auctions. My favorite of these is Yourminis.com because it does a great job with Web games. But all three options are swell. You might also try out similar sites offered by Microsoft and Google.

Last.fm
Last.fm brings the social networking features of Myspace and Facebook to the world of music. But instead of telling other people what you're listening to, Last.fm actually monitors the songs you play in iTunes, Winamp or Windows Media Player and uploads that information to your profile in real time. You can also upload track info from your iPod. For example, say you're jamming the new "Weird" Al Yankovic on your laptop. A small program uploads the track information for each song as it's played, and your pals will see what you're listening to while you're listening to it. Last.fm also keeps weekly charts of your most played tracks, and a list of your all-time faves. It's your own personal Top 40. You can share these lists on your blog or Myspace profile. Oh, and if you don't want anyone to know you like "Weird" Al, you can edit your track history retroactively, so that no one will ever know.