Webware’s Webapp year in review includes a list of 10 apps that have recently begun to move into the mainstream:

It’s a well-known fact that our readers are on the cutting – if not bleeding – edge of technology. But sometimes, it’s important to take a step back and realize that the apps to which we’ve grown so incredibly accustomed are just barely beginning to register with the general public.

With the Top 10 Consumer Web Apps of 2008, we’ve tried to select the apps that have burst onto the radar of the everyday user this year – or if not quite, then perhaps they will next year.

Many of them have been mentioned on this blog. Check them out here.

Gmail finally has a built in to-do list, a much needed and requested feature. It’s pretty bare-bones, but its there, which is certainly an improvement. You have to enable it through Gmail Labs. From Webware:

Since e-mail is where and how many of us get things done, both in our personal and professional life, why not add a list of things that we may not be able to get done via e-mail, such as a reminder to make dinner reservations?

To enable Tasks, go to Settings in the upper right of the Gmail window and click the Labs tab. Click Enable next to the Tasks selection, click Save Changes. After refreshing Gmail, a Tasks link will appear under the Contacts link. Just click that Tasks link and you are ready to be productive.

Personally, I’m a big fan of Remember the Milk for to-do lists in a getting-things-done fashion. RTM has a Thunderbird plugin, interfaces for iGoogle, netvibes, and twitter, and even a Ubiquity command set. It also integrates perfectly into Gmail, which I posted about here.

Use Ubiquity to Read the Bible

Use Ubiquity to Read the Bible

It is now even easier to search, read, and even listen to the Bible online.

A much improved upgrade to Ubiquity has been released, making this ground-breaking Firefox plugin prettier, more robust, and exceedingly versatile. More to the point, the ESV command for this plugin has also been updated, and the update allows you to listen to the Bible as you browse. You can watch the video at the end of this post for a full demonstration and how-to instructions.

If you are already familiar with Ubiquity, then download the latest version and install the ESV command. If not, read on for a short introduction.

What is Ubiguity?

Ubiquity is a plugin for the Firefox browser. You can read the full introduction, complete with an excellent video demonstration, here. In a nutshell: it gives your browser a basic understanding of language. You can use Ubiquity to type in simple commands in order to make Firefox do things that it would normally require several clicks and minutes to do.

Check the weather with Ubiquity

Check the weather with Ubiquity

Take checking the weather as an example. The old way: (1) open up a new tab, (2) type in the URL of the weather site, (3) type in your zip code, (4) scroll past adds and other useless information. The Ubiquity way: (1) Type in “Weather”, (2) Wait while ubiquity does everything for you (it uses your IP address to automatically determine your location, check the weather site, and output todays weather in the same window).

Ubiquity Commands

Ubiquity includes a number of built in commands, such as “wikipedia” to search the site with that title, “calculate” to crunch numbers, “add-to-calendar” to add an event to your Google calendar, or “twitter” to change your twitter status. You can see all available ubiquity commands by using the command “command-list.”

The true awesomeness of Ubiquity, however, lies in the fact that any web page or service can generate a set of commands that allow you to interact with its services. You can add these commands to Ubiquity by “subscribing” to the page in question. You can find a large list of commands here, but be warned that these should all be considered beta-at-best.

How to Set Up Ubiquity and the ESV Plugin

The good folks in charge of the ESV Bible have provided a ubiquity command that allows readers to search, read, and even listen to the ESV Bible. I have written a small screen cast that shows you how to set this up and also demonstrates some of Ubiquity’s best features.

You will need to go to the following sites in order to set things up.

  1. Download the latest version of Ubiquity here.
  2. Subscribe to the ESV site here.

Below is a brief screencast demonstrating how to get Ubiquity set up, how to install the ESV plugin, and how to use both to do a number of interesting things while you browse the Internet.

Update:

Don’t miss the official video from ubiquity! It’s truly amazing:


Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Awhile back I posted about a handy little Gmail feature that many of you enjoyed. If you use the word “attached,” or any number of related words, but fail to actually attach a file to the email, it alerts you to that affect. This prevents those embarrassing moments when you realize you are going to have to send the same email a second time because you forgot to attach the file.

This plugin does the same thing for Mozilla Thunderbird.

Awhile back I posted a four-part series on the advantages of Unicode for typing out Biblical Greek and Hebrew. I am linking these posts here so those interested have a one-stop shop for the whole series.

These posts provide a detailed but understandable explanation of what Unicode is, how to set up Greek and Hebrew Unicode keyboards, and what Fonts work best for each language. Enjoy.

  1. How to Type in Greek Part I: An Introduction to Unicode

  2. How to Type in Greek Part II: Setting Up the Microsoft Greek Polytonic Keyboard

  3. How to Type in Greek Part III: The Best Greek Fonts

  4. How to Type in Greek Part IV: Polytonic Greek, Linux Edition (Ubuntu)

Justin Taylor posts an argument to that effect here. Fiction should be an important part of any reader’s diet, and children’s fiction makes for great family time, as I argued here. For more recommendations, check out this post, which includes some lively discussion in the comments. And of course feel free to add your own recommended reading.

Here are some of the Children’s book recommendations from those previous posts.

I found this post interesting. It argues that in an age of Wikipedia and Google memorization is unimportant.

According to Tapscott, the existence of Google, Wikipedia, and other online libraries means that rote memorization is no longer a necessary part of education. “Teachers are no longer the fountain of knowledge; the internet is,” Tapscott told the Times. “Kids should learn about history to understand the world and why things are the way they are. But they don’t need to know all the dates. It is enough that they know about the Battle of Hastings, without having to memorize that it was in 1066. They can look that up and position it in history with a click on Google,” he said.

Even if we make an exception for language learning (vocabulary in particular), I think this perspective needs to be nuanced.

Also from the article:

Today’s students are growing up in a world where multi-tasking has
them completely immersed in digital experiences. They text and surf the
net while listening to music and updating their Facebook page. This “continuous partial attention” and its impacts on our brains is a much-discussed topic these days in educational circles. Are we driving distracted or have our brains adapted to the incoming stimuli?

A new book on the subject, “iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind,” states that our exposure to the net is impacting the way our brains form neural pathways. Wiring up our brains like this makes us adept at filtering information, making snap decisions, and fielding the incoming digital debris, but sustained concentration, reading body language, and making offline friends are skills that are fading away.

Your thoughts?

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