If you’ve ever bemoaned the need to have a different wishlist on each of your favorite shopping sites, then Wishpot is for you. This online service lets you use a toolbar button (which you get when you sign up for a free account) to add items from any site to your wishlist. Click the button when you are on a site, select the list you want to add it to, fill in any notes, click ‘add’ and carry on shopping. You can easily share your lists with friends and family taking the hassle out of gift shopping for all of you.

There are other great features, too. Once an item is included in your wishlist, you can use the Wishpot price comparison engine to find it at the cheapest price or to find coupon savings. Wishpot will also notify you when the item goes on sale, so you can save money. Recently added features include the ability to add items to your list by taking a photo from your mobile device or to do a price check if you have the barcode information.

Wishpot is an extremely useful service, both for those looking for a hassle-free way to maintain gift lists for weddings and other special occasions, and those looking for gift ideas. The ability to search lists by price, category and tags and to create more than one list within a single account make it even more valuable.

Practical Uses:

• Maintain a gift list for your wedding in a single place while choosing items from many online shops
• Collect contributions for that luxury item you have always dreamed of owning
• See what other people are buying to get great gift ideas
• Do a price comparison from your mobile device while in a retail outlet

Insider Tips:

• Get your friends and family to contribute to the cost of a high value item by enabling contributions when you add it
• You can also use the contributions feature to request cash
• Enable the price alert service when adding an item so you can get it at the best price
• Use the popular wish list items on the home page to get great gift ideas

What we liked:

• The Wishpot toolbar button collects the name, image and price of your item automatically
• It’s easy to add supplementary information to your wishlist
• You can maintain several wishlists within your account and easily share these with others
• Wishpot is also a social site, so you can connect with Wishpot users on Twitter and Facebook

What we didn’t like:

• The integration between Paypal and Wishpot for contributions is not ideal and there are no easy ways to embed contribution links on your own website
• It would have been great to import wishlists from international Amazon sites, not just the US

Alternatives:

• Kaboodle – kaboodle.com
• ShopWiki – shopwiki.com
• The Find – thefind.com
• Twenga – twenga.com

Company Info:

• Launched: January 2006
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Seattle, WA
• Founded by: Max Ciccotosto
• Web site: www.wishpot.com

Costs:

• Free

Rating:

• 4 out of 5 (great)

Toggl is a time tracking application. One of the features that makes it different from many others is the number of ways you can use it. You can use Toggl on its own website, which includes a small timer on the top left of the screen. You can use the desktop timer for Linux, Windows or Mac. You can use it on your Google home page or you can embed the Toggl code on virtually any website. Wherever you put it, all your data is collected and fed back to your online account.

It’s easy to get started with Toggl. When you first start using it, there is a sample task in your account. Just edit the description and the project name and indicate whether it’s billable to start timing your first task. To switch tasks, just add a new task by clicking on the link provided. With the desktop client, this did not always work seamlessly. Though the task was timed, it didn’t feed into the account.

One of the great features of Toggl is the wealth of stats provided, which you can filter by client, project, task and more. All reports can be exported to PDF or CSV, making your data portable. Toggl works well for both freelancers and those managing large teams. Extended features are available to those subscribing to paid versions of the service. Overall, Toggl is a useful tool and its portability makes it a good entrant into the time tracking sphere.

Practical Uses:

• Manage timings for large company projects
• Let clients see how much time you have spent on their freelance project
• Discover whether you are working hard or hardly working
• Collect performance reports for colleagues based on the work they have actually done
• Streamline client billing by having an accurate record of timings

Insider Tips:

• Keep track of tasks without hassle by subscribing to the tasks RSS feed
• Run Toggl on the desktop with the handy client for Windows, Mac and Linux
• Embed the timer on your company’s intranet by grabbing the code
• Track time from anywhere by embedding the Toggl gadget on your iGoogle page or using the web interface
• Use filtering to run reports on specific projects, clients or tasks

What we liked:

• Getting started with Toggl was very easy
• The taskbar icon makes it easy to see whether you are timing tasks or not
• The task stats are a great way to see how you spend your time
• There are excellent tools for filtering tasks in the team view

What we didn’t like:

• It was easy to accidentally change the name of a task/project
• The new task link is far too small
• Automatic task saving doesn’t always work

Alternatives:

• IDidWork – ididwork.com
• RescueTime – rescuetime.com
• Slife – slifelabs.com
• Wakoopa – wakoopa.com

Company Info:

• Launched: June 2006
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Talinn, Estonia
• Founded by: Alari Aho
• Web site: www.toggl.com

Costs:

• Free
• Various plans from $5 to $99 per month; 30 day free trial for paid accounts

Rating:

• 4 out of 5 (great)

One of the first things you notice when you login to Freckle is the clean, attractive interface. Freckle is a different kind of time tracking application. It is entirely web-based and there is nothing to download. That has pros and cons. The pros are that you can start using it immediately and there is nothing to download onto your desktop; the con is that there is no automatic time tracking as there is with many other web and desktop based clients.

With Freckle, you enter the amount of time you have spent on a project, the client or project name and tags in three boxes at the top of the page. These boxes are available in every page on Freckle. Once you enter that information, it is available for statistics and reporting. Freckle automatically understands the times you enter – put 2h or 2 to enter a two hour time block.

Once you have added projects and timings, you can use the reports feature, available by clicking on the green tab at the top of the page. With a single click, you can look at activity for the current day, week or month or the previous week or month. You can also use the on screen calendar to look at other dates or time periods. Any reports you run can be saved. One of the most interesting tools is the Pulse feature, which gives you an overview of who’s doing what on which project. Freckle has a variety of billing plans and is a great tool both for freelancers undertaking occasional client jobs and for those running multiple projects.

Practical Uses:

• See how much time you have spent on that freelance client project
• Set time limits for projects to ensure that they stay on track
• Track productivity for your team
• Ensure that you have a handle on which hours are billable

Insider Tips:

• If the default 15 minute time block doesn’t suit you, go into project settings to set a new one
• Use the Pulse feature to compare different people’s input into your project
• Use tags to describe projects to help with filtering and reporting
• Use the on-screen calendar to set date parameters for reports

What we liked:

• The Freckle interface is modern and beautiful
• It’s easy to enter projects
• Once you have entered a project or client, it is available for future use via autocomplete
• The reports are extensive and attractive

What we didn’t like:

• Freckle does not have an automatic timer, instead relying on you to input project and task timings

Alternatives:

• IDidWork – ididwork.com
• RescueTime – rescuetime.com
• Slife – slifelabs.com
• Toggl – toggl.com
• Wakoopa – wakoopa.com

Company Info:

• Launched: December 2008
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: New York, NY
• Founded by: Thomas Fuchs, Amy Hoy
• Web site: www.letsfreckle.com

Costs:

• Free (1 user and 1 project)
• Plans from $12 to $98 per month

Rating:

• 4 out of 5 (great)

EduFire is an online learning site where teachers can share their passion for the subjects they teach and students can explore new areas they want to learn about. Founded by Jon Bischke, the man behind 2000Tutor, Zaadz and LearnOutLoud, the site aims to form a worldwide community that is passionate about learning. It’s free to sign up as both a teacher and a student. As a teacher, you receive a profile page where you can highlight your qualifications and where others can see the classes you offer and the ratings you have had in the past.

Students can get started on the site by trying a free class – there are several available. With a reasonably fast internet connection, a webcam and Adobe Flash installed, you have all you need to start using EduFire. Online classrooms are equipped with a range of tools, including whiteboards, text chat, screen sharing, presentation tools and more. These make it easy to create a productive classroom environment online.

The great thing about EduFire for both teachers and students is that classes happen at a time that suits you, no matter where you are. You don’t have to drop everything to be in a classroom at a particular time. You can teach and learn from the comfort of your home. Classes vary in price, and EduFire takes 15% of anything a teacher makes. People who are interested in a wide range of of classes may find the monthly SuperPass a better way to sample the offerings, which cover languages, exam prep and a variety of other topics, including those related to business.

While it would be nice to see a full curriculum on offer, EduFire does a great job with the areas it covers. Members can contribuete suggestions through an ideas board and the forum, where suggestions that receive wide support stand the chance of being implemented when EduFire is upgraded. This online teaching and learning platform is easy to use and deserves its four star rating.

Practical Uses:

• Prepare for your SATs
• Learn Japanese before your next business trip
• Discover how to improve your business performance with an online course
• Share your passion for Photoshop with people eager to learn

Insider Tips:

• Invest in a webcam to get the best from both teaching and learning. Though it is optional, being able to see each other will enhance the EduFire experience
• Use the idea board to suggest improvements to EduFire. The more support your idea gets, the more likely it is to be included in a future upgrade
• Use the SuperPass program to get access to all EduFire classes for a reasonable monthly rate
• The forums are a great way to connect with other learners and potential teachers

What we liked:

• There are lots of free classes which you can use to test EduFire
• You don’t need any fancy equipment to use it, just a reliable internet connection, webcam and Flash
• Edufire provides a great opportunity for anyone to become a teacher
• The ratings system makes it easy to determine which teachers are best for students

What we didn’t like:

• EduFire does not cover all topics; it specialises in languages and exam prep, so some topics of interest may not be taught
• The need for Flash could make it difficult for people with slow connections to get the best from EduFire

Alternatives:

• Learnhub – learnhub.com
• Live Mocha – livemocha.com
• Myngle – myngle.com
• Palabea – palabea.net
• Sclipo – sclipo.com

Company Info:

• Launched: February 2008
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA
• Founded by: Jon Bischke
• Web site: www.edufire.com

Costs:

• Some classes free; free to sign up as a teacher
• EduFire takes 15% of teaching earnings
• SuperPass gives access to all classes at $29 per month
• Fees for individual classes vary

Rating:

• 4 out of 5 (great)

If you want to find out what your DNA really says about you, then Google-funded 23andme is the place to start. The name is based on the number of paired chromosomes in human DNA. To get started finding more about your genetic makeup, all you have to do is hand over $399 for a testing kit, spit into a tube a few times and wait for the results. In two to four weeks, you will receive a claim code that allows you to look at your genetic profile online.

This is where the fun starts. 23andme provides a wide range of information on your health and genetic traits. This includes a page listing your predisposition to certain traits, as well as more information about each of them. It’s a good way to find out whether you need to be tested for certain diseases. You can get an overview of your heritage and maternal or paternal lineages. You can help with research and you can compare your traits with others. All of this is possible through a secure, web-based interface.

Practical Uses:

• Find out your genetic predisposition for certain diseases, even if you don’t know your biological parents
• Discover whether certain forms of cancer are genetic by testing multiple family members
• Participate in potentially life-saving research
• For scientists, find a pool of interested subjects to help advance knowledge of disease

Insider Tips:

• Use the “Tell a Friend” feature to share specific pages online
• Be selective about using the genome sharing feature; if you share information with one user, that user may share it with other people
• Increase the accuracy of your profile by entering the geographical location where your maternal and paternal ancestors originated
• Make your profile searchable to allow other users of the service to find you

What we liked:

• The price of the test compares well with other services
• 23andme provides ratings so you can assess the reliability of research data
• The gene journal shows how the latest research applies to your genome
• The disease information page has a wealth of information, including the odds of your contracting the disease

What we didn’t like:

• Privacy concerns are a real concern with services such as this and there is the possibility that health and life insurance disclosure issues that could arise

Alternatives:

• DeCODEme – decodeme.com
• DNA Traits – dnatraits.com
• Navigenics – navigenics.com

Company Info:

• Launched: April 2006
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Mountain View, CA
• Founded by: Linda Avey, Anne Wojcicki
• Web site: www.23andme.com

Costs:

• $399 per DNA text; there is also a free demo account which uses sample data

Rating:

• 4 out of 5 (great)

TSheets gives a much needed upgrade to the time clocking system by allowing employees to clock in from anywhere in the world. The web based system is simple to set up and uses job codes and time sheets just like a standard offline system. Just input a job code and click on the play button to start tracking time. Click on the stop button to stop tracking it. It’s effective, as long as you remember to press the buttons at the right time.

Once inside the system, users can keep track of how long they have been working and what they have been working on. One way is through a status box on the top right of the screen. Another is by clicking on the daily or weekly time card to see what hours you have worked. There is also an option to add paid time off, which makes this really useful for small businesses.

To get even more from TSheets, enable the available add-ons which add a range of functionality, including mobile timesheet updates, invoicing through a range of systems, integration with QuickBooks and more. There are several levels of Tsheets membership, making it ideal both for individuals working on freelance projects and business owners running a medium-sized team.

Practical Uses:

• Keep track of the time spent on freelance jobs
• Replace your ancient timeclock system with a modern version that your employees can use from anywhere
• Gain control of your employee’s vacation days as part of overall time management
• Generate reports that show how productive your employees are

Insider Tips:

• Enable “allow employees to submit paid time off” in the advanced options to let employees manage this feature themselves
• Use the available add-ons to allow invoicing (including integration with FreshBooks)
• Integrate TSheets with your Toodledo task list for even greater productivity
• Enable mobile access to update your time sheets and job codes from anywhere in the US
• Send direct messages from Twitter to update your time sheets and job codes from anywhere (international)

What we liked:

• It took just seconds to get started with TSheets
• Entering job codes and tracking them is very simple
• The daily and weekly reports are good
• Businesses can get an at-a-glance view of who has actually clocked in

What we didn’t like:

• You have to squint to read what’s on screen (a bit nit-pickey but worth mentioning in hope of some design improvements)

Alternatives:

• FourteenDayz – 14dayz.com
• Harvest – getharvest.com
• Intervals – myintervals.com
• Mite – mite.yo.lk/en
• RescueTime – rescuetime.com

Company Info:

• Launched: 2006
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Meridian, ID
• Founded by: Matt Rissell
• Web site: www.tsheets.com

Costs:

• Free
• Account levels at $10, $20 or $100 per month

Rating:

• 4 out of 5 (great)

In spite of its name, Ronin has little to do with wandering samurai. Instead it keeps everything you need to run your business in one place. The Ronin dashboard is a hub that allows you to manage clients, projects and invoices online. To get started, signup for an account and fill in some basic information about your company. Then you can add projects or clients and begin keeping track.

One of the application’s good features is the live time tracker, which you can enable once you have created a project. This will log the hours you spend on a particular project and link them to your hourly rate so your billing is kept on target. Sending your first invoice is equally easy, as all the information you need can be entered on a single screen. The ability to create estimates is also useful.

While the free version may be too limiting for most people, the other packages make this a useful application for business. With Ronin, you can manage clients (including allowing them to login to the system and see outstanding invoices), recurring invoices and employees. The integration of Paypal and Authorize.net payments seals the deal in making this a worthwhile online invoicing application.

Practical Uses:

• Track your clients and invoices on the web
• Understand business income and expenses at a glance
• Manage and log activity on projects
• Integrate web based payments for your business

Insider Tips:

• Use the estimates button to create a bid for a new project
• Create invoices for repeat jobs with the recurring button
• Input an hourly rate when creating a new project and you can track time and billing within Ronin
• Enter additional client information to create an in-depth client profile in a single user-friendly location
• You can allow clients to login and see their own invoices, which could speed up payment

What we liked:

• The dashboard provides a great way to keep track of all aspects of your business
• It’s easy to create recurring invoices
• Project tracking is simple
• Integration of online payments makes this really useful

What we didn’t like:

• The free account is extremely limited

Alternatives:

• Blinksale – blinksale.com
• Curdbee – curdbee.com
• FreshBooks – freshbooks.com
• FastDue – fastdue.com
• Harvest – getharvest.com

Company Info:

• Launched: 2008
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Mountain View, CA
• Founded by: Lu Wang
• Web site: www.roninapp.com

Costs:

• Free
• Plans range from $15 to $48 a month

Rating:

• 4 out of 5 (great)

Businesses which are looking for an all-in-one solution for interacting with customers should strongly consider Ratepoint. The site has an impressive suite of online tools for collecting customer feedback, including product or service reviews and testimonials; resolving disputes; creating surveys and sending out email marketing campaigns.

To get started, import your customer contacts from your existing system. It’s a good idea to group them, as this will make it easier to manage campaigns. For our testers, contact import worked smoothly, though it’s a shame there’s only CSV rather than native import for Outlook, Google Address Book, or Mac Address Book users. Once your contacts are imported, you can send attractive email marketing campaigns to select groups. Ratepoint has a template system, which makes campaign creation easy, though you can also utilize your own pre-existing templates.

Ratepoint integrates well with your site, so you can collect feedback simply by displaying a button on a web page. There are also tools for creating surveys and collecting product and survey reviews. Finally, you can create widgets to display that feedback on your site, making it truly interactive. This is a useful online application for virtually any consumer-oriented business.

Practical Uses:

• Get feedback on your latest deals for customers
• Send out an email marketing campaign to help with customer retention
• Resolve potential conflicts before they become lawsuits
• Collect customer testimonials to use in company PR initiatives

Insider Tips:

• Group contacts imported from different sources to make it easy to manage communication with them
• Track contacts who have unsubscribed so you can get feedback from them
• If you are migrating from an existing system, you can import your e-newsletter template by pasting code or typing in the URL
• Use the built in tools to collect and display feedback on your company website

What we liked:

• Contact import was quick
• The interface is attractive
• The survey templates make it easy to create a feedback survey quickly
• Ratepoint’s site is overwhelmingly easy to use, with many built in tools that speed up feedback collection

What we didn’t like:

• There wasn’t enough online help for getting started
• You cannot import contacts directly from many common address book formats

Alternatives:

It’s difficult to find one application with all the same features as Ratepoint, but here are some which offer partial functionality

• AskItOnline – askitonline.com
• GetSatisfaction – getsatisfaction.com
• MadMimi – madmimi.com
• Rypple – rypple.com
• SurveyMonkey – surveymonkey.com

Company Info:

• Launched: September 2006
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Needham, MA
• Founded by: Neal Creighton, Christopher Bailey
• Web site: www.ratepoint.com

Costs:

• Free to use for 30 days
• Membership levels range from $17.95 to $119.95 per month

Rating:

• 4 out of 5 (great)

Kickstarter bills itself as a way to fund ideas, events, and endeavors. It’s a way to fund anything from a school trip to a small business, just by listing your project and asking for money. And if you enjoy supporting creativity or just helping out, it’s a great place to find new projects to donate to. As a project creator, you can do almost anything to get the word out about your project, such as offering rewards for certain pledges. Those who pledge money get project updates so they can track the progress of the project.

On Kickstarter, people pledge money through Amazon, but they don’t have to pay a thing unless all of the money is raised by the target date. While it’s true that raising $2,000 when you need $10,000 won’t help your project, it seems hard to lose out if you raise $9,999. Kickstarter is currently free, though you will need an invite to start your creative or inventive project. In the meantime, it’s fun to browse the projects already listed and see how much money has been raised.

Practical Uses:

• Get sponsorship to buy costumes for your high school play
• Fund a church mission trip
• Raise money for your next short film
• Find a community project to support

Insider Tips:

• You can only start projects if you sign up for the site (currently invite-only)
• Marketing is key to making sure you raise the money you need; if you don’t, you get nothing
• Use the ‘Manage Your Pledge’ button to adjust or cancel the amount pledged to a project
• Use the on screen status bar to get an at a glance view of how project funding is going

What we liked:

• Payments are processed through Amazon, which most people know and trust
• The size of the project you need funded doesn’t matter
• If you pledge money, you can change the amount at any time before the project ends
• Communication is handled through Kickstarter, so your email address is kept private

What we didn’t like:

• It’s not easy to know for sure if project creators will/are using the money as communicated
• You cannot pledges anonymously
• A goal that is “almost there” doesn’t count; if your project is $1 short of the funding total requested, project creators get nothing

Alternatives:

• GoBig Network – gobignetwork.com
• Kiva – kiva.org

Company Info:

• Launched: April 2009
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Brooklyn, NY
• Founded by: Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, Charles Adler, Lance Ivy, Andy Baio
• Web site: www.kickstarter.com

Costs:

• Free (in beta)

Rating:

• 3 out of 5 (good)

Flixster is a social network for movie lovers. Now in its fourth year, the site has millions of users and offers a good marriage of a movie reviews and a social networking elements. The social networking features include profile creation, friending, and comment walls.

It takes only a few seconds to start using Flixster. Once your profile is setup, you can start by rating a few films you’ve seen recently. This will improve the recommendations that are made for you. Rating is as simple as clicking on a title and selecting the number of stars you want to give a film. You can also include a review if you wish.

Soon your profile will automatically feature your recent reviews, films you want to see, and more. If there’s anything to criticize, it’s that the profile page is a bit too busy. However, apart from that the site works well. The ability to embed a Flixster slideshow of your top picks on other social sites is quite useful.

Practical Uses:

• Browse or create guides to your favorite movies
• Discuss films with your friends
• Get movie recommendations based on the types of films you enjoy
• Research movie information for a school research paper

Insider Tips:

• Use the skin gallery to create a unique profile page
• Communicate with your friends via Flixster IM, which is run through Meebo
• Check out the privacy settings in your account; you can opt out of most email updates
• Build an instant friends network by importing your email contacts
• Integrate Flixster with your Facebook account through the Movies app
• If you use an iPhone, check out the mobile Flixter app which includes many of the desktop features

What we liked:

• Rating movies was easy, as there’s a list of current films on the front page
• There are RSS feeds for your own reviews and those of the super reviewers
• The never-ending movie quiz is fantastic
• Customizing the design of our profiles

What we didn’t like:

• Using MySpace ID to register didn’t work well, as not all profile details were pulled in
• You can’t find friends if you have a Google Apps email account

Alternatives:

• Criticker – criticker.com
• FilmCrave – filmcrave.com
• FlickChart – flickchart.com
• I Heart Movies – iheartmovies.com
• Spout – spout.com

Company Info:

• Launched: January 2006
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
• Founded by: Joe Greenstein, Saran Chari
• Web site: www.flixster.com

Costs:

• Free; ad supported

Rating:

• 4 out of 5 (great)