What it does

The HealthWorldWeb.com is a health-focused social networking site with personalized search and information aggregation services powered by the decision making algorithms. In the current release, the HealthWorldWeb.com enables users to communicate with other patients, provide and receive emotional support within relevant communities, as well as facilitate the exchange of individual and community-based recommendations for local doctors, dentists and chiropractors. The HealthWorldWeb.com facilitates the social connections between users, thus enabling the natural and adaptive formation of data-rich social networks. Consecutively, the members of the network can share their experiences and provide recommendations about local doctors, dentists, physical therapists and chiropractors. When compared to other health care portals, the HealthWorldWeb.com has the ability to form local communities that are created by members and arranged by cities and towns across the United States. There are plans to extend geographical coverage to the countries around the world. Moreover, the HealthWorldWeb.com offers some of the best tools available in the field of patient-to-patient community-based knowledge transfer. For example, when rating providers or services, members can post simple numeric ratings, full text reviews, or detailed surveys under their own name or on behalf of the respective patient community, allowing other people to represent less vocal members. Communal reviews carry more weight as they often require the acceptance of the community and tend to be more helpful, honest and less bashing.

In their own words

“Health World Web is a Social Network Of Patient Communities, offering Help, Emotional Support, Non-Medical Advice as well as Ratings, Reviews and Recommendations for Local Doctors, Dentists and Chiropractors.”

Why it might be a killer

The HealthWorldWeb.com strives to redefine the traditional user-generated experience and broaden the scope of patient-community interactions. Their goal is to turn the Social Communications into the intelligent and individually tailored recommendations about social communities, medical providers and resources, educational materials, discussions groups, bulletin boards and health news both local and global using proprietary analytics. The use of social networks has proven to be so successful in the health care field that it has given rise to a new trend coined "Health2.0", which still remains in its infancy. The HealthWorldWeb.com was created at the dawn of the Health2.0 movement and positioned as the nexus of information technology and personalized medical care.

Some questions

Will people in some occasions change the traditional way of seeing a doctor by using this site?

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What it does

Libsite.org is an online resource for the recommendation of, and discussion about, library-related websites. The goal of this not-for-profit site is to promote librarians and libraries across the country. This site relies on user-generated opinion to fuel its database and users can contribute by recommending a specific website or by rating the opinions of other users. Libsite offers a variety of ways for searching through their preexisting database of sites including by list of names, Google map, RSS feeds and e-mail alerts. Think of this site as an ideal place to visit the next time you need a good recommendation for a library to go to in your area and as a way for library users to give a little bit back by helping to promote the libraries that they love.

In their own words

“LibSite is a recommendation service for library-related websites. The goal is to show-case and otherwise promote what librarians and libraries are doing online. The goal also is to offer an environment where this information can be engaged, arranged and rearranged in any number of ways. For that reason, we offer ratings and favorites and listings whether by tag, title or feed.”

Why it might be a killer

In many ways, the internet has wounded traditional libraries as it has made many of the resources previously offered exclusively at the library in a digital format. This site helps to increase library awareness, encourage libraries to think outside the box, and allows users to find the best library in their area.

Some questions

Have they considered future improvements to the service that could perhaps include the capability to reserve books from any library online and have them delivered in the post or in digital format? Would a subsection where users can review their favorite books help to increase traffic and overall interest in the site?

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What it does

Looking to stave off the infamous Blue Screen of Death? Is your PC in need of a little pick-me-up? PC’s seemingly have a shelf life of ten minutes before something bigger and better comes along, but the average user holds onto their PC like a member of the family--that is to say, year on end until it dies, or suffers virtual memory loss, hard drive implosion, Vista or some other catastrophic event. Luckily, those same technologies that are making your computer obsolete, may also help it stay alive a bit longer. Take PCTuneUpTools, for example. PCTuneUpTools is the place to go if you want a quick fix to your PC problems. It’s got helpful advice for curing and cleaning. It even has tips about those pesky Vista problems. And as its name suggests, PCTuneUpTools has tools to help you clean your registry, and keep your PC away from the brink of the blue screen. You can try the tools for free.

In their own words

“Every day that your computer is in use is one more day that it is open to viruses, spyware, malware, and all sorts of other malicious software programs hell bent on impairing the performance of your PC. Generally speaking, almost every PC performance issue circles back to viruses and spyware. So, knowing that, where do you think is best place to begin when trying to restore a computer? Security, of course!”

Why it might be a killer

PCTuneUpTools is a good place to go if your PC is acting slow or finicky or just won’t cooperate anymore. It offers plenty of advice for a slow computer and for Vista problems. It also provides tools and reviews of tools you can download to clean up your PC.

Some questions

PCTuneUPTools doesn’t have a lot of content. Many of the links don’t work and the tools seem to be there to profit rather than help? What’s the motive here? Why make such a shoddy site? How do they plan on engaging viewers?

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What it does

The creator of Temporary Inbox, Pascal Beyeler, is on a personal mission to destroy spam. It was his utter dislike of the junk mail that spurred him to build the site, which is an email inbox and web address, to be used in forums, publicity sign-ups, or any other situation in which you might be sent spam. All messages in the inbox are automatically deleted after six hours. The email accounts are not secure; there are no passwords, and anyone that knows the address can access the email. The account is totally free and does not require any registration. The service is currently available in eleven different languages.

In their own words

“A temporary inbox is a disposable email address, which doesn't require registration and can be used to avoid spam.”

Why it might be a killer

Temporary Inbox is perfect for those instances where email is required, but you don’t want to give out personal information. Moreover, it is free and easy to use (and an instance where you don’t have to remember yet another password)!

Some questions

Can the addresses be a little easier to remember? vmysgjk80z2dbqw@temporaryinbox.com is going to be hard to check.

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What it does

YouTube is a wonderful site that has spearheaded the live streaming video movement online. One complaint that people often have about YouTube is that while you can stream to your hearts content, there is no easy way of downloading your favorites for viewing at another time. Downloadyoutubevideos.com is one of the better options for those looking at downloading YouTube videos to their desktop because it is very easy to use. Simply type in the URL of the video link that you’d like to download and Downloadyoutubevideos takes care of the rest. Along with providing you with the ability to download, they also provide the option of browsing through your most recent downloads and those of other users, or of checking out the most viewed videos in any given week.

In their own words

“Download Youtube Videos--Simply enter the youtube link below to download your favorite youtube videos... Even get around those pesky mature content blocks!”

Why it might be a killer

Streaming is a nice way of previewing videos without downloading them but whenever anyone finds a video that they like, obviously they want to download it. For this reason, downloadyoutubevideos.com is a currently popular site that will continue to increase in popularity. The name of the site alone should allow them to increase traffic.

Some questions

Have they thought about opening this site up further to facilitate the downloading of videos from other major sites as well? This additional functionality would allow them to keep pace with the offerings of their competitors.

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What it does

If you can’t turn to your friends for travel advice on your newest destination, and if you do not fully trust travel books, Travel Dodo will tell you what to do(do). The site lists travel destinations all over the world, and users submit advice on places to see (or eat, or stay) and which places ought to be avoided. The website also mashes all the information into an interactive Google map of the city. The layout of each destination is great- it includes a large photo of the site, hotel, or restaurant, a map with a pinpointed location and address, and side-by-side reviews (if available) of people who liked the destination, and those who did not.

In their own words

“Your travel do's and don'ts

- Check out the do's & don'ts before you leave

- Share your do's & don'ts when you return

- Join our travel community now and start

your vacation online!”

Why it might be a killer

Conceptually, Travel Dodo is a great idea, and I can see it taking off. What is lacking at this point is information and reviews- enough reviews to balance a travel “do” with a “don’t,” so that travelers can make an information decision on whether they would enjoy the site. (For instance, many people claim tourist sites are too “touristy”; this is ultimately a matter of personal preference, but a tourist site with just one review- a “don’t” review- may dissuade a majority from visiting). Once this is in place, Travel Dodo will be an excellent site to weigh all the prior visitors’ opinions and judge if a destination is right for you (something that neither a guidebook nor friends can provide for you).

Some questions

It would be great if you could hover over a review to read the rest of the information, instead of doing repeat click-throughs.

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What it does

With new Twitter applications more common these days than white bread, it would take an army just to keep up with them all. The fact of the matter is that Twitter is highly popular and that more and more people are making connections and communicating using this service. TweetWheel is an application for Twitter that provides you with a visual representation of these connections, allowing you to see which of your friends know each other. Simply type in the Twitter username you are interested in and TweetWheel quickly generates a wheel-like map that shows how that person’s followers are connected. Simply hover the mouse over each of the users and you will be told how many friends each of the followers have in common with the original username you entered.

In their own words

“Find out which or your Twitter friends know each other!”

Why it might be a killer

TweetWheel is a quick, easy, and well-designed way of gaining a visual understanding of how friends are related on Twitter. A handy application indeed for this highly popular social-networking problem.

Some questions

As with many other Twitter applications, perhaps the biggest challenge facing TweetWheel is how to differentiate itself from all of the other Twitter applications. Do they have any plans in place to market this application or is it just a fun project?

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What it does

Priceadvance, which has been online since last December, claims to have already saved its users more than $100,000. Priceadvance is a downloadable browser plug-in available for Internet Explorer or FireFox which searches for the lowest price whenever a user searches for a certain product on one of the participating sites. Some of the participating merchants include: Amazon, CircuitCity, Best Buy, Sears, Wal Mart, TigerDirect, and a number of others. Basically, whenever you search for a specific product on one of these sites, Priceadvance will give you a listing of the prices of that same product on each of the other participating sits, allowing you to always get the best price. Also of note, is that Priceadvance will only give you the results for identical products so you don’t have to worry about receiving multiple prices for different products that you aren’t even looking for.

In their own words

“PriceAdvance™ is the easiest way to compare prices while you shop, with the most accurate product matches. If a product doesn't match exactly, we won't display it. This means you won't find an Angel costume if you're trying to compare prices on Halo 3.”

Why it might be a killer

This is an innovative product that appears ready to explode. The idea is unique and the list of participating merchants is impressive. The real question is, who wouldn’t want to use it?

Some questions

Will other companies follow Priceadvance’s lead and develop similar tools? Could they negotiate a discount with participating merchants to further encourage early adoption of this great plug-in?

Updates


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What it does

As most U.S. taxpayers are (hopefully) aware, Congress passed a bill earlier this year to provide “economic stimulus” payments to most taxpayers. HowISpentMyStimulus.com is a site that asks everyone the question: “How are you spending your stimulus?” Users can write about how they are using the extra money, and are encouraged to post photos or videos to illustrate their purchase. There is no registration required in order to share on the site, and you can add your content under categories like Apparel, Credit Card Debt, Education, Sports, Pets, Travel, Weird, and Other. Some people post about pretty standard uses like paying off bills or necessary car repairs. Other users have posted about spending the money on marijuana, a Harry Potter costume, or a trip to Europe (therefore stimulating the European, not the U.S., economy).

In their own words

"In January, Congress approved $152 billion in economic stimulus checks for millions of American households, intended to boost the economy and avert a recession. Just how this money will be spent remains to be seen. We hope this website helps shed some light on where the stimulus money is going."

Why it might be a killer

The stories and visual content shared on this site are generally interesting and some quite humorous, and since you don’t have to register, anyone who visits this site could easily add to the content. The majority of U.S. taxpayers received an economic stimulus payment, so the topic of the site relates to millions of people.

Some questions

Will this site be adding ad content or in any other way looking to make a profit?

Updates


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What it does

Social networks are huge—that’s nothing new. Given the numbers, businesses can’t afford to be left out. That’s where the recently released app Bizzlr comes in. Bizzler leverages the most popular social networks to drive customers to your business. They utilize a propriety recommendation engine which targets customers based on their tastes and preferences. They also make it easy for customers to recommend products/services to their friends. Bizzlr makes your business’s presence known—adding your biz to a network’s news feeds and recommendations. They offer coupons for building customer loyalty and ensure that your products generate buzz. Currently they work with Facebook, Myspace, and soon to come are Bebo, Hi5, LinkedIn and Ning. They will also expand their focus from restaurants and food to clothes, lifestyle, nightlife and more.

In their own words

“More than 70% of 15-to-34 year-olds are

involved in social networking communities. What does this mean for your business? How do you participate? Nobody knows the answer to these questions better than Bizzlr.



At Bizzlr, our concept is simple; we leverage social networks to increase your customers.”

Why it might be a killer

Social networking does offer a extensive opportunity for businesses. Customized recommendations and recs from friends are key to consumer’s shopping habits. Bizzlr lets small and large businesses take advantage of the most popular social networks to boost sales and reputation.

Some questions

How much does Bizzlr charge for the service? How is it integrated? Do they share profile information?

Updates


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