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Filed under: Utilities, Features, Social Software, web 2.0, Web

10 Facebook apps you might actually want to install



Facebook apps are pretty controversial, as far as developments in the world of social networking. When they first arrived on the scene, some people rejected them as ugly and useless, while others loaded their profiles with as many apps as they could find. I admit, I was in that first camp for quite a while. But, while I'm still disappointed with Facebook apps in general, I also have to admit that we've come a long way since the days of pirates versus zombies and throwing virtual sheep at one another. Here are 10 Facebook apps that I think represent the best of Facebook:

Integration With Other Social Sites


1) Dopplr: Where Next?

What It Does: Displays your upcoming trips from the excellent travel-centric social network Dopplr on your Facebook profile.

Why You Need It: Because telling people where you are by manually changing your "current town" on Facebook is passé and a waste of time when you have Dopplr. With this app, friends can easily see when you're leaving town and when you're getting back.

2) Upcoming

What It Does: Integrates your Facebook events with local events from Upcoming. Lets you add events and view events from either site.

Why You Need It: You're using Facebook to create, browse and confirm events anyway. You might as well make sure you don't miss anything because you forgot to check both sites. Upcoming also suggests events in your area, so you might find out about a cool opportunity that would have otherwise passed you by.

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Filed under: Blogging, Freeware

The best minimalist WordPress themes

Best Minimalist WordPress Themes
Is your WordPress blog too cluttered? Too dark? Too boxy? Take a look at plaintxt.org's list of the Best Minimalist WordPress Themes. Minimalism isn't quite so in vogue as it was last year, but it's definitely still going strong, so if you're looking for something clean, airy, and uncluttered, these 10 themes, with names like Barecity, Way Too Clean, Zen Minimalist are for you. I'm particularly a fan of Simpla and The Simple Life, both of which have a bit more color than the others.

The Greatest Software Ever

The Greatest Software Ever WrittenWhat would you say is the greatest software ever written? Snood would probably top my list, but I must admit InformationWeek's list is a bit more.. practical. Charles Babcock's What's the Greatest Software Ever Written? is a great mini-survey of the history of software, terminating in a list of 12 of the world's most historic software developments. I won't ruin the final 3 for you, but here are items 4-12.

12. The Morris worm
11. Google search rank
10. Apollo guidance system
9. Excel spreadsheet
8. Macintosh OS
7. Sabre system
6. Mosaic browser
5. Java language
4. IBM System 360 OS

Number 1 will not surprise you, but 2 and 3 are interesting choices. So, if you had Babcock's job, what would top your list of the Greatest Software Ever?

[Via Lifehacker]

Filed under: Adobe, Apple, Google, Microsoft

PC World's 100 Best Products of the Year

Google EarthNow that we've got the worst products ever out of the way, how about the best? PC World is running an article with the past year's 100 best tech products, and I'm tempted to copy-and-paste the whole thing into my wishlist. It's an even mix of hardware, software, and web sites, but since this is a software blog I'll give you a sampling of the latter two (spoiler warning): Adobe Premiere Elements 2, Apple's Boot Camp, Craigslist, Google Earth, and YouTube make up the software half of the top 10, with Firefox and Google following not far behind. The heavy hitters Adobe, Mozilla, Google, Apple, and even Microsoft make a few more appearances, but there's also plenty of one-off products from small vendors holding their own. Oh, and I should mention that Download Squad's sister site Engadget makes the list at #13, right between Firefox and Toshiba's HD-A1 HD DVD player. Congrats!

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Freeware, Open Source

Download.com freeware staff picks

Holding Pattern screensaverThere are a lot of best-free-software lists out there, but probably nobody's hands pass over more freeware than the folks at Download.com, so I thought their staff-picked Best Free Software collection from a couple weeks back was worth noting. They split the free apps up into ten categories--Audio & Video, Business, Developer, etc--and their picks are very solid. The obvious is there, of course, but so are a few surprising picks. I especially recommend the Desktop Enhancements section that has quite a few gems like this brilliant Holding Pattern screensaver pictured at right.

[Via Digg]

Filed under: Design, Developer

Top 20 web development links of 2005

Web-GraphicsAlessandro Fulciniti at Web-Graphics has collected his top 20 bookmarks of 2005. They're all, of course, web development links with a focus on CSS and JavaScript with some design, typography, AJAX, and search engine optimization thrown in. Every one is a must-read for anyone doing web development in 2006.

Filed under: Internet, Mozilla

List of 50 best Firefox extensions

As I've been warming up more and more to Firefox, it's hard for me to resist giant lists of summarized Firefox extensions, and this one looks pretty comprehensive. I've never seen this "Quick Online Tips" blog before, but I found their list of "50 Best Firefox Extensions for Power Surfing" linked from Fark, which in my book means it has to be worth a gander.

One thing that catches my eye is that some of the extensions, like ScrapBook, make me say "hey, browsers should do that on their own already." The extensions are also categorized which helps with finding stuff you're actually interested in. A lot of the extensions are not hosted at Mozilla's site and/or seem pretty unique, such as the Gmail Delete Button, which (you guessed it) adds an actual delete button to Gmail's interface. Definitely worth a look.

Filed under: Internet, Freeware

Five best freeware games of 2005

GunZ The DuelGiven that it's 2005, I'm surprised we're not seeing more Top 5 lists, but here's one: Five Best Freeware Games of 2005, from gHacks. I won't spoil #1 for you, but I will spoil the rest: Advanced Strategic Command is at #5, retro-style adventure Zak McKracken 2 is #4, Battlefield-alike Warrock is at #3, and intriguing Korean MMO shooter GunZ The Duel takes #2. To see their favorite freeware game of the year you'll have to click through to gHacks.

Filed under: Blogging

BlogPulse's 2005 Year in Review

BlogPulse Year in ReviewLike Google's Year-End Zeitgeist but for blogs, BlogPulse has published a Year in Review that lists 2005's biggest blogs, news stories, images, videos, and more. Boing Boing, unsurprisingly, crowns the Top Blogs list, followed by our sister blog Engadget. The Top Blog Posts category is an interesting potpourri with an odd LiveJournal bent, and the Top Wikipedia References category (Podcasting, Hurricane Katrina, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster) is pretty eclectic, too.  And if you like charts, be sure to check out the Featured Trends of 2005.
 

Filed under: Podcasting

Top 10 podcasts episodes of 2005

PodcastWho listens to enough podcasts to name the top ten episodes of the year? The folks at LearnOutLoud, apparently. To be fair, they only chose among podcasts that are listed in their hand-picked directory, but it makes for a pretty good sample. Topping the list of LearnOutLoud's Top 10 Podcast Episodes of 2005 is the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders podcast featuring the CEO of Trilogy Software, Diggnation's "Clip Show" episode, and Malcolm Gladwell's appearance on IT Conversations. Also on the list, at #8, is our own Jason Calacanis on the Web 2.0 Show. Head over to LearnOutLoud to see the full list, with links.

Most underrated apps of 2005

Lifehacker awardThe parade of best-of-'05 lists continues: As a companion to her Best apps of 2005 list, Lifehacker's Gina Trepani has posted her Top underrated apps of 2005 list, and it's a good one. A couple of my favorites, notably Picasa and MyBlogLog make the list, and she's included a couple dark horse picks like Yahoo! Calendar and ShoZu. Head over to Lifehacker to check out the rest.

Filed under: Design

Best fonts of 2005 according to Typographica

Garamond Premier Pro

There's a little design geek inside me and inside him is an even littler typography geek, and that geek loves Typographica's Favorite Fonts of 2005. With fanciful names like Lisboa, Deréon, and Zingha, these are some truly beautiful fonts, but I think my favorite of the bunch may be Robert Slimbach's Garamond Premier Pro, and gorgeous update to the old serifed standby. There's also several dozen runners-up for your perusal, and this is only Part 1, comprising the first six months of the year. The article's writer, Stephen Coles, also notes the expanding role of the OpenType format and the fact that many type designers have completely abandoned PostScript and TrueType fonts in favor of OpenType.

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


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