A Delightful New Children's Browser

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My nephews (ages 6 & 7), are very much into computers so it is rather easy for me to get them involved with something fun and new to test.

Together we tested Zoodles.

Zoodles is a new kids browser based on Adobe's AIR platform that aims to give kids a safe place to play and learn online.

I built a profile for each of my nephews and Zoodles generated a playground for them based on their age. Visually, the interface looks cute and very cheerful - the kids LOVE it. But as they played along I noticed they were experiencing difficulties in understanding the functional flow. One simple button (an arrow) "Go Back" is missing. The navigation is easy at first, but the deeper in you go, the harder it is to go back. If the pages were numbered, it might be easier for the kids to jump to a certain page to find their favorite game.

When opening a video or a game - it should be very CLEAR to a kid where to click in order to go elsewhere. Not only is it not clear, I think Zoodles made it evne more difficult by allowing the ability to go back to the site where they've aggregated the content from.

Ads are also unnecessary:

Having said that, I have to admit the kids enjoyed browsing the site, I just needed to sit next to them and help them with the navigation from time to time.




The site is a whole different story. It simultaneously syncs with the desktop app to show a full stats about your child's activity. To be specific, it gives the most powerful analysis report that I've seen so far. With the Zoodles Parent Dashboard, you can view everything your child has been doing online, see reports on the things they are interested in, and really understand, and participate in your child’s learning journey. You can also see which educational skills your child has been developing.



My belief is that Zoodles will be adding the critical missing features soon based on the parent feedback. The service is still new and I give it credit for improving itself in such a short time.

I can't write a story about kids' browser and not mention Kidoz. I think they've done an amazing job so far and you most definitely need to check this service out as well. However, per Zoodles's site statistics, it is a winner.

Your Brand is on Twitter? Now, Bring Twitter to your Brand

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Having a Brand account in Twitter could actually be very useful. In fact, twitter has proven itself the best communication platform for brands as well as for individuals. If you don't understand why, you might be late to the party. If you do have a brand account on twitter, here's a thought: What about all your clients that don't use twitter, nor want to use it, or skeptical about it? I'd say, take Twitter on anyhow and also place it on your site. Let your clients enjoy the conversation without the need to actually sign up for the service (they might do it eventually, if they choose to - it's on them)

You won't be the first to have a Twitter brand page outside of twitter: Zappos, Bestbuy, Toyota, and Philips have already gone this route - now you can easily have your own custom-made twitter search page with the help of Twazzup. Which means that people will be able to see all the tweets about your company, search through them, and also see the additional content: Links, Pictures, Videos, etc. For people who's not using Twitter it's a great solution to see what other are saying about the company, and for people who do use it, it's a great place to track the conversation and actually jump right in to it from this very page. Either way, it offers people the ability to see the company's evolution on Twitter - at one glance.

The sources for a custom Twazzup page are configured by the brand itself (whoever own the twitter account associated with the page). By default it uses the Twitter stream, but the user can select to add their Youtube stream, Flickr stream, news from Google to their custom mashup page.

Twazzup kindly created a Twitter page for Go2web20 and you can explore the page here: http://www.twazzup.com/go2web20 I even have my own Twitter search page (@orli)

More examples:

1. 350.org - http://www.twazzup.com/350
2. 6rounds - http://www.twazzup.com/6rounds
   
3. Capgemini - http://www.twazzup.com/capgemini

Twazzup is planing to open this service to the public so that anyone can create and manage their own custom page. Right now, their focus is still on finding people with a cause, and they work closely with them to enhance the product. So the best way for anyone who wants their own Twazzup site is still to either contact them through twitter @twazzup, or email them at info@twazzup.com.

Introducing Funnel - A New Way to Tweet Songs & Save your Favorite Music

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If you use or have ever used Blip.fm before then you might as well give this one a try too. Funnel.fm is a new Japanese-based service that allows you to stream all of your favorite music in one place. You can listen to your own music or follow your friends and listen to their playlists. When you follow another user, you can see, explore, comment on, and as I mentioned before, listen to tracks from their archives.

There are two timelines in Funnel: Yours and your friends. Your friends' timeline will play all the music of the people you follow in one stream. You can choose to randomly change music on each timeline, within the shuffle feature.

One of the coolest tools is the Bookmarklet; you can quickly post music from Youtube & Myspace, directly to your Funnel without the need to actually be at the site. I found it extremely useful because you can save songs while browsing the web and they'll be saved for you in your Funnel for your later listening pleasure.

Last thing is the Twitter integration - You can post each song separately (without the need to log in), or set your Twitter account in a way that every song will go to your Twitter account automatically.

Will I use it instead of Blip.fm? No, but I will use it in addition :)

My account in Funnel is Funnel.fm/orli - Feel free to add me as friend, and listen to my music.

Prezi Is Testing an Embed Feature - It Looks GREAT!

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If you tried Prezi before, you must have noticed it is missing embed from the blog/site feature. Well, not any more. Prezi is currently testing a semi feature that allows you to embed your presentation in your blog. It is just a pre-release. At the moment, you have to go to this page, and use the generator form to get the code, but I'm sure after Prezi gathers all the feedback they need, the ability to embed a code will be on the app tool set itself.

It still not perfect, as you can tell, I had some problems with the code in my blog, but overall, it looks great and definitely will help people showcase their creations in an easier fashion than just a plain URL.

Why Storytlr is the Best Microblogging Platform Creator

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I've been following Storytlr for a long time now, and notices it got better and better over time - yet it doesn't get the publicity it should.
Anyway, I'm going to try and change that because I really think it's the most useful, thoughtful, and great-looking microblogging service there is today.

So what is it really?
Storytlr brings together life-streaming, blogging, and social interactions. It lets you create, aggregate and mashup web content into a highly personalized page. You can style it (design, widgets etc), use your own domain if you like, and literally take control of the whole platform. This is what I liked so much - Storytlr is so flexible, you can customize it in a really high level, something that you don't usually get from other site builders (and remember, the service is free and ads-free).

You might think: I have Twitter, why do I need another page? Well, it's not just about Twitter, though you have all your tweets organized for you based on dates & years. And it gets better than that: Storytlr saves all your tweets and lets you search through them!! AND you know you can't do that with Twitter. Moreover, all your Twitpic pictures will be organized for you separately, along with Flickr or Picasa pictures. In another tab you'll be able to see all your favorite videos from Youtube, and you can add more web activities from other social networks as well.

You can use Storytlr first as a personal content management. Everything is organized and archived, so it is very easy to track your content. But in a social perspective, this could be a great solution for people who don't own a blog, yet need a place for all of their short updates, and other web activities. But note that if you want to write longer posts, you can. Just like a blog.
Seriously, you can do just about anything with this platform, I'm still impressed with its flexibility.

One thing missing is the ability to see replies from friends. People can comment on each post, tweet or update, but Storytlr is not making the connection between your Tweets and your Tweet replies. It would have been nice to have that in order to track the whole conversation.

This is my Storytlr page, which I'm going to use from now on as my 'About me' page.

Some Screenshots: