2007: Web 2.0 Companies I Couldn’t Live Without

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1. Duncan
   

   January 2nd, 2007 at 12:51 am

   You included Ask City, but try using it outside of the United States, then you’ll think twice

2. David
   

   January 2nd, 2007 at 1:04 am

   Why you put pandora.com and didn’t include last.fm?

3. John M
   

   January 2nd, 2007 at 1:05 am

   Great list! I work in the design industry and I use Skype and Wordpress on a daily basis. I’d also have to add http://www.mediafire.com to that list too as I’m constantly moving large psd’s and images to and from work as well as clients.

4. anon
   

   January 2nd, 2007 at 1:19 am

   OMG

   Please Please PLEASE give an option to turn off those fucking Snap popups. Most annoying thing ever.

5. Ouriel Ohayon
   

   January 2nd, 2007 at 1:26 am

   Great list Mike, although some of those can’t be used in Europe yet.

   John i would agree on mediafire except it looks like they decided to block certain countries….DivShare.com is a killer too

   Not sure about Flock. I prefer Maxthon.com

6. P Kumar
   

   January 2nd, 2007 at 1:37 am

   The snap popups are very annoying.
   I do believe you can turn them off though the snap site.

   http://real.snap.com/about/spa.....able_spa=1

   It does not work with Opera … you could try it out for other browsers.

7. anon
   

   January 2nd, 2007 at 1:40 am

   Great list but i agree with the comments about some of them (ask city esp) which are very us-centric.

   I personally would have added swamii.com. I use it instead of a news reader (it found this article for me)

8. eelco
   

   January 2nd, 2007 at 1:40 am

   You’ve got a typo in techmeme’s url. (http://www.techmeme.coms/ => http://www.techmeme.com/)

   (feel free to remove this comment)

9. AndrewB
   

   January 2nd, 2007 at 1:47 am

   P Kumar, thanks for the link to set a cookie to disable those snap popups. While indeed a preview is handy - what annoyed me was the popup often got in the way when you were wanting to click the actual link.

   The disable cookie seems to have worked for me (Mac/Firefox 2.0).

10. MSCRM Freak
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 1:49 am

    Great list. Make it even better when you correct the link to techmeme.com Currently you are linking to http://www.techmeme.coms/

11. Michael Arrington
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 1:50 am

    thanks for pointing out the typo. fixed it.

12. Don Wilson
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 2:09 am

    Definitely agree with Gmail, Flickr, Digg and YouTube; not so much the others.

13. Yohay Elam
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 2:12 am

    All in all, its a great list. My favorites are Pandora and Wordpress.
    Two notes:

    1. Yahoo mail has dramatically improved. Its functionality is also similar to that of a desktop application. I think its a fine competitor to Gmail.

    2. Youtube is the most popular video sharing site, and I’ve already heard some people using Youtube as a verb. But Google (not always not evil) owned Youtube has some good competitors who pay more respect to their users. Some of them also pay their users for original content: Metacafe, Revver, Brightcove, and maybe others. Verizon charges $15 per month for Youtube content, without paying users…

14. Osman
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 2:14 am

    YouTube, Wordpress, Netvibes, Gmail are in my list. I can’t think web 2.0 without them. I am wondering what will happen on net in 2007… thinking it makes me excited!

15. Jacob Wyke
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 2:57 am

    Totally agree with that list except i’ve recently swapped both netvibes and NetNewsWire for Google Reader which has blown me away - I love it.

16. Blaze
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 3:10 am

    Yeah I’d say that list is on the money. Nice one. Be interested to see what 2007 holds for us.

17. Ian
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 3:39 am

    Congrats for not choosing MySpace

    Still, David is right. I strongly recommend last.fm

18. Kevin
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 3:39 am

    So Michael, are there any predictions or wants for 2007?

19. Skizmo
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 3:44 am

    Web 2.0 . . the biggest hype since jesus christ

20. Ronald
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 3:57 am

    Interesting to note the lack of business apps and that online one app is outside the browser - Skype. Except Flock of course which IS a browser

21. Eric Anderson
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 3:58 am

    I find it interesting that you use the phrase “couldn’t live without” despite the fact that you dropped almost half your list in less than a year.

    Perhaps this is a lesson to investors. Despite something being “hot” right now most of these companies will be forgotten by next year so unless the company is brining in boatloads of money *right now* the investors will most likely loose their shirts while the company execs will be laughing all the way to the bank.

22. miguel
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 4:18 am

    What about stumbleupon.com

23. agentbleu
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 4:25 am

    Mikee how could you forget Filmator.net

24. Rick
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 4:26 am

    Yeah, I wish you added some instant messaging applications such as Interaction Chat (www.interactionchat.com) or MeeboMe (www.meebome.com). Also you could have put these online office suites such as Google Docs (docs.google.com) which has marked 2006.

25. Bill
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 4:30 am

    I still find YouTube and all of the other video sites useless. The quality of the videos is just too low for my taste.

    I like Netvibes a lot, so much I have a home grown version - http://www.myownsite.us

    Flickr I would easily replace with http://www.fotki.com which also has the geotagging, 10 methods of uploading, private, public, and password protected albums, journals, and much, much more.

26. chistani
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 4:35 am

    you forgot about http://Snoozester.com the web 2.0 wake up calls

27. Mehmet Ecevit
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 4:38 am

    I suggest you to take a look at the following addres for a real web 2.0 framework.

    http://www.benbuldum.com

28. Bryan Murley
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 4:58 am

    I’ve found several of the 37signals apps to be very useful, although not “I couldn’t live without” level, particularly campfire.

29. R0cketrabbit
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 5:09 am

    If you use flickr and you like youtube, and if you believe in high quality content, then watch http://www.sevenload.com this year!

30. Alex
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 5:13 am

    Three sites I don’t go through any day without.

    http://www.goowy.com for email along with bloglines and flickr

31. wayne
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 5:15 am

    Hey great list, I just started using 1800-411-search last week and I also made the switch from netnewswire to google reader.

32. Brent
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 5:19 am

    Replace digg w/ reddit. Digg is full of bad posts, an awkward ranking system, mediocre design, and obnoxious users. Reddit has a fantastic recommendation engine, clean design, slighly less obnoxious users, and a transparent ranking system.

33. Rodrigo Castello Branco
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 5:20 am

    If I am not mistaken Wordpress link is broken. It is taking me to another website. Instead of http://www.wordpress.org you should point to wordpress.org

    Regards

34. Nathan
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 5:22 am

    That’s a really utilitarian list. I suppose that’s alright, but it’s a little underwhelming. Perhaps a list of what’s on the Web that would change life in general would be more impressive…
    If the Times ran a feature on 2007 products that we couldn’t live without, and focusing on productivity boosters and ignored clean-water purifiers, micro-loans, etc wouldn’t it be a little disappointing? Not saying you’re the Times, but can’t find you find a slightly big-picture view of the Web to report on? (Or is this an indictment of the Web?)

35. Colin Henderson
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 5:34 am

    Good list, although I echo the US centric view.
    My can’t live withouts are:
    - Gmail, including Blackberry Gmail app
    - Google reader
    - Backpackit
    - Google calendar
    - gcalsync (syncs Google calendar to my Blackberry calendar)
    - Wordpress
    - Windows Live Writer beta

36. Search Engines WEB
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 5:41 am

    Here are a few other notables:

    MyBlogLog, Gizmo, JaJah, Compete, LogMeIn, SoonR, Mail2Web, Sitemeter (not Web 2.0 but used by them so much)

37. The Year of the Big Bang
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 5:49 am

    In the beginning there was resistance, lots of resistance. Then after a couple of high profile sellouts their was panic, every speculator was going to be rich, quickly followed by the big bang. What a ride.

    What caused the last big bang is about to cause the next even the mainstream press can feel it. But this time the big balled investors are a little more cautious than before, yet it seems just as stupid.

    I recall one of the first bangers Lastminute.com in a high profile sellout got 850 million UKP, valuing Lastminute on a par with W.H.SMITHs. This was for a little domain name that they picked up for 10 dollars, a couple of PHP coders, and a double page spread in the Daily Mail singing their praises. What a scam.

    After that everyone was hooked and they were all going to be rich. Overnight the internet changed from being a bit geeky, very innovative, and strictly non-commercial to one big supermarket with every vender spamming you with their latest rubbish.

    Of course it went pop, and when it did it was great. For all the commercial interests that were polluting cyberspace with their get rich quick spam, had had their balls crushed and in the aftermath we were left with a much quieter terrain where the speculators had been burnt and innovation could once again flourish.

    Don get me wrong I have nothing against making money but the nature of these speculators have a very negative impact on the general terrain of the internet and heres why.

    Firstly the vast majority of the venture capital investment that is injected into startups is used to not only prop up donkeys but more importantly is distorting the general playing field.

    This manifests in some very destructive ways. Noticeably, most of the real innovation that is at the core of the new functions that emerge online, is created by small groups of programmers / designers who tackle problems and create ingenues solutions which enrich our everyday lives. These are largely small groups of underfunded (if at all) individuals.

    Coupled with this parody is the power of the press, and I’m not talking about the mainstream press I am referring to the new breed of Power-Ranger blogers who just like in the days of the specific industry related ‘trade magazines’ are the current imbeciles of their time.

    So you have a small group of technology related Blogers who have managed to harness a captive audience but who are ignorant to programming, design, and largely technology for that matter but who have found themselves with the ‘important’ title of chef bloger, and who make it their business to blog about what they consider is newsworthy or important.

    Just as with the old trade press journals you are left with a corporatised view on the world where the dinner table talk ranges from who’s been fired to who’s just managed to get VC to the tune of 568 million.

    Clearly this is the scope of the general table chatter and a brief look at Michael Arrington Techcrunch you will see the same old traditional trade journal style of so-called news (hysteria) being covered.

    But burred by these trade like journals is the real startup discussion. The real news is not in who’s about to loose 586 Million because they have invested it into a pile of donkey shit but rather what’s happening on the ground.

    The innovative ground floor is once again being crushed by an ambitious bunch of ignorant money grabbing speculators who in their hysteria do not know the value of a domain name let alone an online travel agent.

    This is not to say that innovation will stop or the current wave of Web2.0 startups won’t flourish as some will, but the survivors of the next big bang wont be the those empty black holes who are being jacked up by VC, instead they will be the the low profile (unfunded) innovators who continue at their own pace despite the noise of what’s supposed to be hot, in the race to be a me-too copycat company.

38. Andrew
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 6:04 am

    Try adding techcrunch2skype as Skype contact, then chat ‘hi’ to it, is this a useful blend of 2 on your list (ie skype and the newsreader ?).

39. francine hardaway
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 6:22 am

    My favorites are gmail, google reader, and google calendar. For a browser, I use Flock on the Mac and Maxthon on the PC. I love the connection to my blog and to Flickr from Flock, but the tabbed browing on Maxthon is better.

40. Diego
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 6:40 am

    I would’ve loved seen you put them in order.

    My very favorite: Flock.

41. Vijay
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 6:46 am

    U missed the del.icio.us….

42. Manoj
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 6:51 am

    HI Mike,
    Nice list. Two that would be on my list are.
    a) Farecast.com. I use it to book flights. its got a better inteface than kayak and it is tells you if a fare will increase or decrease. While I dont use it everyday, I do use it whenever I want to travel.
    b) Windows Live Mobile Search -great for checking out trafffic conditions while commuting as well as for directions on the road.

43. Manoj
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 6:54 am

    HI Mike,
    Nice list. Three that would be on my list are.
    a) Farecast.com. I use it to book flights. its got a better inteface than kayak and it is tells you if a fare will increase or decrease. While I dont use it everyday, I do use it whenever I want to travel.
    b) Windows Live Mobile Search -great for checking out trafffic conditions while commuting as well as for directions on the road.
    c) Picassa . A great photo storage/managment site gets better with the ability to seamlessly sync pictures with the web.I used to use Sharpcast but Picassa overall has better features.

44. fredo
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 7:00 am

    Good work! But I really prefer Last.fm to Pandora, o think it is more socially oriented and better in musical suggestion.
    fredo

45. Tonya
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 7:02 am

    My 2007 list (that you have missed):

    MS Live Messenger (better than skype?)
    Maxthon (browser)
    http://www.swamii.com
    http://www.stumbleupon.com

46. Michael Johnstone
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 7:02 am

    FYI: There’s a typo in the Wordpress link. It should be wordpress.org but the “p” is left out.

47. abba-daddy
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 7:07 am

    I use daily and addictivly http://www.remeberthemilk.com
    and simply because the ease of use, and the possibilities of reminders (I use it as a gtalk friend).

    Thank you for the list

48. eric
    

    January 2nd, 2007 at 7:10 am