roundup

You might be using LinkedIn to stay connected with your business contacts, but there are alternatives on the Web that will help you network and enjoy some extra features while you're at it. Whether you want to hang out at some professional parties or you're more interested in sharing best practices, there are some really neat business-centric social networks on the Web you'll want to visit.

Focus If you're looking for answers to important business decisions, Focus is the social network for you.

After signing up for Focus, you can immediately start researching topics that have some relevance to your business. From finance to customer service, the site is filled with professionals both asking and answering questions on topics that impact business. To push its social element, Focus allows you to write a blog, connect with others in groups, or simply post comments to discussion boards. If you're looking to learn more about your industry and you want peers to help you do it, Focus is for you.

Netparty If you're a young professional, networking is one of the most important elements of your career. If you don't know colleagues, you might lose a competitive advantage over others vying for the same job. That's where Netparty comes in.

Netparty's goal is to connect young professionals in a party atmosphere. The site arranges networking events for young professionals in several cities across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and even South America. It sets up parties at different places around the city you live in, charges an admission fee, and even gives you directions on getting there. From the site, you can buy tickets and get on the V.I.P. list, so you don't need to wait in line. It's a great service. More young professionals should be using it.… Read more

Sharing content across the Internet isn't so simple. Usually, people upload the same content to multiple pages. But that doesn't mean you're required to do it that way. There are some great tools on the Web that will help you either keep all your social content in one place or syndicate it to all your social-networking profiles. Let's take a look.

FriendFeed FriendFeed is one of the best ways to share your social life on the Web. The service allows you to add a slew of social network profiles to your FriendFeed account. Whenever a person starts following your feed on the site, he or she will see all updates you make across those social networks.

From updates to your Netflix queue to a look at what you're up to on Facebook, FriendFeed will allow you to share anything with all your friends. FriendFeed is the site for you if you want keep people abreast of what's going on in your life. And since they can comment on your updates, you can have a real dialog about all sorts of interesting topics.

Genwi Genwi uses what it calls "newspapers" to help you stay connected with friends. You won't be able to send content to your social networks, but you can put all your social network information into one place, making it easier for folks to find what you're up to.

Genwi lists several social networks that you can get content from, including Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. You can also add content from your blog and YouTube. Overall, there are more than 20 ways to add content to your Genwi newspaper.… Read more

There are currently more than 10 billion photos on Facebook. With so many images, Facebook's own photo management tools just don't do the job you might expect. Realizing that, I've found some great apps that will help you get more out of your pictures. You won't be disappointed.

Photo Album Strip Photo Album Strip is a great app. After you install it on your profile, it will allow you to change the designations for your albums to anything you want. You can also change their colors, reduce the number of picture categories, or hide those that you don't want your friends to see. It's an extremely simple app, but it works well and it's one of the more convenient apps in this roundup. It's definitely worth trying out.

Photo Box Photo Box is similar to Flickr. It allows you to tag your photos and share those with friends. You can also arrange them based on the topic of the photos. But perhaps the most appealing aspect of Photo Box is that it tracks how many people have viewed your images. That should give you some insight into what your friends like. Overall, Photo Box is a pretty simple app, but it's worth trying out.… Read more

At their core, branded social networks are a marketing ploy by firms to keep you interested in their products. So, be aware that if you join one you will need to deal with some annoying advertisements. But if you want to join another community of people with similar interests, start with some of these services.

Disney Disney's social-networking efforts provide a unique experience by appealing more to children than adults.

After you sign up for the social network, you'll be given the opportunity to create your own "page." There, you can add videos, audio, games, widgets, and a variety of other elements to make your page your own. Think of it as a custom home page. As you might expect, most of the elements you can add to your page are Disney-branded. So, you can have a "101 Dalmatians" background or play a "Pirates of the Caribbean" game. Once complete, you can check out other users' pages, chat with friends, or join groups. It's a powerful service and it's well-designed.

eBay Neighborhoods eBay Neighborhoods is a collection of groups of eBay users who communicate, review products, upload content, or just discuss the topics of their choice.

After signing up for eBay, you can easily join one of the company's neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods range in size from a few members to thousands of members that center on topics ranging from coffee to sports. The members in each group engage in discussions on those subjects. They can also review products and post blog entries. Some of the bigger neighborhoods have a lot of activity, while others have little activity. Either way, eBay Neighborhoods isn't a bad place to communicate with people who share your interests.… Read more

Google Calendar has quickly become one of my favorite online tools. I can schedule meetings quickly and it integrates seamlessly into my workflow. It's a great service.

But I want more from it.

That's why I've been sifting through Mozilla's Firefox extension database trying to find some add-ons that take Google Calendar to the next level. Whether they enhance its usability or just improve its effectiveness, there are a handful of extensions that work quite well.

Better GCal After I installed Better GCal, I was extremely impressed by what it offered. From a new skin to little extras like week numbers and collapsible headers, it makes Google Calendar just a little better. The extension not only made me more organized, but the calendar became far more readable.

GCal Popup GCal Popup is a really neat idea. Instead of forcing you to open a new tab to add an event to your Google Calendar, you'll only need to open the extension and it will display your Google Calendar over your current Web page. Input the event you want to add to your calendar and once you're done, you can close the extension and go back to work.

GCal Popup is designed to make it convenient to add events to your Calendar and it succeeds. But beware that it's an "experimental" extension, so it might cause some instability issues. That said, I haven't experienced any such problems.… Read more

If you're podcasting, you're probably looking for ways to make it both more entertaining and easier to produce.

That's where the Web-based apps and tools come in.

Archive.org's NetLabels collection of freely available MP3 and OGG files is fantastic. The site allows you to choose from thousands of songs, which you can download and add to your podcast. Those tracks can be your intro, outro, or bumpers for the middle of your show. It's a great way to add value to your podcast.

Enablr provides a really great service. Instead of … Read more

Yahoo widgets are designed to bridge the gap between the Web and your desktop. After you search through the company's listing of widgets and find what you like, you can download them onto your desktop.

But what if you're a social-networking fanatic? Certainly, being on the Web works fine for you, but Yahoo widgets might make it just a little easier to satisfy your desire to stay connected. Here are some Yahoo widgets that help you network with your friends right on your desktop.

Facebook Notifier Facebook Notifier tells you what's going on with your friends so you don't have to keep checking the social network to find out.

After you install Facebook Notifier, you'll need to authenticate your profile. From there, you can see status updates from all your friends. You'll also get real-time updates when messages filter in, you're poked, or you have some wall posts to check out. Whenever you click on one of those options, you'll be brought to the appropriate Facebook page in your browser to perform the desired action. Facebook Notifier won't give you as much control as other services in this roundup, but if all you want to do is see what's up with your friends, it's a good place to start.

Facebook(er) Facebook(er) is a neat app. After you install it on your computer, the widget allows you to change your Facebook status, check your messages, update your friends with events, and more. You can also view pokes, requests, and group invites. It's like having Facebook on your desktop. Plus, thanks to a nice design, you should be relatively happy with how easy it is to perform those basic tasks.… Read more

Summer road trips are in full swing. But before you set out for your vacation, you'll need to remember to keep your car in good shape. If you're mechanically inclined, you might be able to do that yourself. If not, check out some of these services that can help you out.

2CarPros 2CarPros might look like a simple question-and-answer site at first glance, but with some digging, you'll find it to be one of the most informative sites in this roundup.

Once you get to 2CarPros, you can immediately start sifting through the site's huge database of car repair information. Everything from an oil change to refurbishing an engine is included in its database. If you want to ask the Pros questions, you'll need to sign up for the site. But if you want to the most value, 2CarPros has a videos section, providing several clips on how to repair your vehicle. It's a really informative site.

DriverSide If you're looking to find out when you should be performing routine repairs on your car, DriverSide is the place to go.

Once you get to the site, you'll need to input the kind of car you own. From there, the service will estimate its value, tell you when you'll need to get its oil changed, and list all the other service you need to have done at certain times throughout the car's lifespan. If you can't do the work yourself, DriverSide even tells you where to find a mechanic near you. It's a neat site.

FuelClinic FuelClinic determines how well your car is managing its fuel consumption. After you sign up for the site, you need only to input your car's information, tell the service how much you spent the last couple times you filled up, and the site will return calculations on your miles per gallon and how much you will be spending on gas going forward. It's not the most advanced fuel-monitoring service in this roundup, but it's simple, which might make it attractive to some.… Read more

Social networking is fun. You can communicate with friends. You can share experiences with them. And you can even plan get-togethers. But finding where they are isn't possible with most social networks. You'll need to keep sending messages back and forth to figure out where to meet up.

With the help of location-based social networks, you won't have that problem any longer. All of the following services will allow you to see where friends are at all times. The guessing game is over.

Brightkite Brightkite is a great location-based service. After you download the free app onto your mobile phone, you can start finding friends.

When you become friends with someone, you can see their location as they travel away from home. You can also find folks who are in close proximity to you to get to know them a little better. Brightkite even lets you take pictures. That picture will then be geo-tagged, so your friends can see where it was taken. Brightkite is a really nice location-based social network. And since it works on any mobile phone, the Web, and an app is available for free in the Apple App Store, it's definitely worth trying out.

Loopt Loopt is designed specifically for GPS-enabled mobile phones. When you sign up, you need to input your mobile phone number. From there, Loopt will determine your location. You can then share your location with those who request to see where you are. You can even take pictures with your mobile phone and geo-tag them.

If you don't want someone to know where you are, Loopt lets you block access to your location. It's a great privacy feature. Loopt works with practically any mobile phone. It also has an app available for the iPhone. Both versions are free.… Read more