webware

The Web is full of great online shops. eBay is the garage sale of the universe. Amazon is a giant department store. And there are tons of focused shopping sites selling everything from underwear to auto parts. But for the most part, they're all old-school. If you want a more contemporary shopping experience, try Etsy, a marketplace for handmade goods.

Like many of the items that Etsy artists sell on the site, Etsy itself has been crafted with care, love, and a whacked-out aesthetic. Heavily Flash-based, it has unique and fun views into the goods available. For example, there'… Read more

Eventbrite is a Web-based application for managing event registration. The site covers all aspects related to promoting and putting on an event, from setting details such as event descriptions and ticket prices to creating a Web page that your attendees visit to purchase tickets and register. The service also offers tools for publicizing the event, such as integrated affiliate programs and a Web ad builder.

Eventbrite is most obviously aimed at businesses and organizations, charging a fee of 2.5 percent of ticket prices for any paid events, and allowing for easy online purchasing. It can also come in handy … Read more

Several years ago, retail giant Amazon expanded its business in order to offer digital content and services along with the physical goods that made it so popular. Along with music in MP3 format, Amazon now offers video streaming and downloads via its Video on Demand service (formerly Amazon Unbox). The service is accessible through the main site and can be used on any platform, making it both easy to browse and simple to use.

Users can preview a variety of content online, from network television shows to major studio movies, and then decide whether they want to purchase them. Most … Read more

ZocDoc is a new service for finding local dentists and booking appointments for times that work with your schedule. Its aim is to replace the often aggravating process of trying to find a local dentist through the overwhelming, and often not-easy-to-use directories provided by insurance companies.

Just plug in your city or ZIP code, and ZocDoc will pull up a list of local dentists, along with their daily appointment openings and insurance options. You can sort open appointment times by the type of service you're looking for--cleanings, Invisalign, or the hallowed root canal. If you find an appointment that … Read more

PayPal was one of the first services to let people exchange money online. It was popularized--and later purchased--by eBay, and is one of the most widely recognized payment systems on the Internet. It's used in online auctions and stores as a way to control and manage payments.

PayPal has survived throughout the years by charging fees to its sellers. Buyers in online auctions and those making donations via the service aren't charged these fees, which are generally based on the amount of the transaction.

One of the reasons people choose to use PayPal over other services is its … Read more

Amazon.com was one of the first online retailers in the world. It started out with books and now sells nearly every consumer good, including groceries and over-the-counter medicines. The service is well known as one of the best places to find new or used books at prices below what you'd pay in most retail stores. It also features free shipping on many of its items.

One of the things that makes Amazon.com dynamic as an online retailer is its community of users who write reviews and rate nearly every product on the service. Amazon.com is also … Read more

ZipRealty is an online real estate agency that's practically ancient in terms of Internet history. A survivor of the late 1990s dot-com bust, ZipRealty gives users home listings and values across more than 1 million homes. Home owners can also list their home right on the site, and have ZipRealty help sell it. The benefit to sellers is that there's usually a lower commission charge than they'd get from local real estate agencies.

The site also features a price-tracking tool to search homes with reduced prices, and a tool that tells you what your home should be … Read more

Photobucket, which is owned by News Corp, is one of many Internet image-hosting and photo-sharing sites, many of which offer both free and pay versions. Its direct competitors include sites such as Flickr, Picasa, and Snapfish, and it operates in much the same way as these sites. Photobucket lets you upload, organize, tag, share, edit, and print digital photos. In addition, the service now allows users to upload video clips, which can be edited with an integrated video remixing tool designed by Adobe.

The site provides an array of services that any photography novice, intermediate user, or professional photographer could … Read more

Picasa Web Albums is Google's Web photo-hosting service. Users get 1GB of free hosting, and images can be uploaded and manipulated using Picasa, Google's free desktop photo management application. Users who want additional storage can shell out up to $500 a year to bump up the hosted space to 400 times the size of the free hosting service.

Much like everything else Google, Picasa is exceptionally straightforward to use, with a tabbed interface offering three options--My Photos, Favorites, and Explore--the last of which lets you browse the public photo library. Next to the tabs, you'll find a … Read more