readwriteweb.com — "The difference from old-style web portals are: the user can personalize them much more (with RSS, inline email, etc), the content is more interactive and potentially much more useful (i.e. gadgets, widgets), they can be collaborative, and there is Ajax pixie dust to make it more of a desktop-like experience."
Jun 5, 2006 View in Crawl 4
atomic1fireJun 5, 2006
i use netvibes becuase one its the first w2.0 start page i ever used that and it has tabs and that eco thing is nice too
peterlisantiJun 5, 2006
You can pull a google calendar into Netvibes using ical feed...
phlagJun 5, 2006
@masonreloadedI can't speak for all of Digg, but I don't like signatures for a couple of reasons. Firstly, usually on Digg, comments are relatively short, sometimes making the signature AS long as the content of the post, or at least composing of a large portion of it. Moreover, if you're so in love with someone's post, you can just go to their user profile and find any links they have there. But the desire to do that happens rarely - so why should you force everyone to read it in every post you make?Another annoying factor is that most signature-using people here seem to try to trick readers into thinking that their blog (or whatever the link goes to) is actually related to the meat of their post. Digg is essentially nothing BUT links. If the link in your signature is worth anything, then go ahead and try to submit it. Otherwise, leave that little guy out, because 99% of the time, no one wants to see it.
byteguerillaJun 5, 2006
We don't like signatures because Digg does not have a facility for signatures. This is a commenting system we're using, not a messageboard. Personally I think signatures are out of place on Slashdot, but I'm willing to forgive that for its better moderation system, since I never see an annoying signature on there. Here it is different; virtually every signature here is just taking advantage of high-traffic on digg to get visitor numbers to their site up. This isn't a dual carriageway where you can just erect your own billboard, it's a social news site that allows us to comment on the stories - don't abuse its popularity.
Closed AccountJun 5, 2006
Google IG is what it's normally shortened to..I've tried a bunch of other things (Netvibes, Protopages and a few others), but I find Google IG far easier to read/click links from RSS feeds, only thing it's kinda missing is a notepad type thing, but I only really use the IG page on my desktop PC, other places I don't really have a need for it, textfiles on a USB drive are more convienentBut thats just me, different people prefer different ways of doing thigns..- Ben
mrbladMay 28, 2007
You might also be interested in a brand new start page available called Funky Homepage (www.FunkyHomepage.com). It's comprised mainly of Google gadgets (as well as Gadgets from other sources), live news feeds (with your choice of news provider), daily Bushisms, daily jokes, horoscopes, videos, weather (up to 5 locations), interactive calendar, Google calendar viewer (for up to 5 Google calendars), comic strips and lots more besides. It also lets you choose your own search engine, colour scheme, etc. Unlike many of the other personalised start pages available, there's no need to create an account and it's all already set up for you, with the most popular gadgets organised by category and sub-category. So there's virtually no setting-up work required by the user, making it ideal for the mainstream audience and those (like me) who can't be bothered to do all the work of setting up their own page. More adventurous (and less lazy) users can choose to add their own Google gadgets and RSS feeds, but most people just use the gadgets and tools provided. Unlike Netvibes, PageFlakes and all the other AJAX powered home pages, Funky Homepage does not use a drag and drop interface. Instead it allows you to select from a drop-down list of the most "popular" gadgets and feeds - "popular" according to the Google gadgets most popular list, that is. As such, it's not really intended to compete with the flexibility of Netvibes and PageFlakes, but instead is intended to address a gap in the market for those who want something a bit more funky than Google or Yahoo, but without all the setting up required of Netvibes and Pageflakes. So only the most popular gadgets are offered. Although it still maintains a large degree of flexibility for the more adventurous users, allowing them to enter their own feeds and gadgets, should they wish. Whether you like it or hate it, at least it offers an alternative from the plethora of AJAX-powered homepages that are now available.It's free to use and you can check it out at <a class="user" href="http://www.funkyhomepage.com">http://www.funkyhomepage.com</a>