DemoGirl

Guzzle.it is a type of news feed dashboard that allows you to select specific topics that interest you, and create a page filled with articles and images about those topics.

You don’t need to sign up for anything in order to get started.  Just select a bunch of topics that you want to read about – I chose screencast, Camtasia, running, vegetarian, NIN, and Social Media.  Those topics aren’t really related, but that’s OK because you can create separators and drag and drop various topics underneath the appropriate section.  When you’re all through customizing your content you can create your page.

You can easily switch to an image view for each of the topics and remove them any time you need a change.  After you create your page, you have the option of saving it by creating an account.

To see Guzzle.it in action, watch the screencast below (best viewed in HD in full screen):

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[Thanks for the tip, Paisano!]

You know when you call certain businesses and you’re given the warning, “Your call may be recorded to ensure quality service” or something of that nature?  Well, the team at Fonolo is giving you that very same power.  Not only that, but you can completely bypass all of the annoying phone menus and access the point of customer care that you’re looking for.

The entire process is very simple: Create an account, search for the company you want to call, and select the menu in the phone tree that you wish to access.  If you’ve added your phone number to your account then Fonolo will call you once it’s connected and you can get straight to the point.  From there you can simply click on the “start recording” button and your call will be recorded.  You can also add notes and bookmark companies that you frequently call.  The recording can later be played online or you can download it.

There’s also a nice feature called “Quick Tones” that allows you to add longs strings of numbers, like your frequent flier number, and then you can have Fonolo enter them in for you with one click.  This isn’t recommended for things like credit cards, but if you’re always calling your cable company or car insurance carrier, then this could come in handy when asked for your account number.

To see Fonolo in action, watch the screencast below (best viewed in HD in full screen):

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[via Lifehacker]

ConvoTrack does one thing, and it does it well:  It tracks any conversations going on about whatever Webpage you’re viewing and displays them in a sidebar pop-out.  All you need to do is install the bookmarklet and you’ll be on your way to seeing what everyone is saying on Twitter, Friendfeed, digg, and on blogs.

If you don’t want to install the bookmarklet you can also simply append the Website URL you want to track to http://convotrack.com.  So, in order to track conversations on DemoGirl, I would simply use http://convotrack.com/http://demogirl.com.  No installation needed!  You can also share the link with friends or co-workers.  It’s a simple tool that will save you from using Google or Twitter search to find out who’s saying what, about your latest blog post.

To see ConvoTrack in action, watch the screencast below (best viewed in HD in full screen):

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[via TechCrunch]

I have a problem.  I’m addicted to real estate sites.  I’m constantly checking on what my home value is or searching to see if anyone has bought the house across the street.  If you are actually looking to buy a house or sell your house, though, Dwellicious may be a good tool for you.

Dwellicious  — like Delicious for real estate — is a real estate bookmarking site that helps you keep track of that house you saw on Craigslist or Zillow last week.  If you had an account with Dwellicious you would simply have bookmarked it –  it would have been added to your Dwellicious page which you could share with your mother who would criticize your taste.

Dwellicious is set up to work with many popular real estate sites, like Zillow, Yahoo, Craigslist, Trulia and many more. The cool thing about the site is that bookmark listings on your Dwellicious page are automatically updated whenever the property data changes — change in price, availability or the addition of photos.

Go ahead and check out the Dwellicious screencast below (best viewed fullscreen in HD):

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MixTape.me is a service that allows you to create playlists out of all of your favorite music as well as discover playlists that other MixTape.me users have created.  It’s completely Web-based and there’s no sign-up required in order to use it, although I recommend signing up to really get your hands dirty.

You can begin by creating a playlist, which is done with a simple mouse-click.  Name your playlist and then you can search for the songs you wish to add to the playlist.  You can drag and drop songs right into any playlist you like.  There is also a neat feature called a “quick playlist” which allows you to drag songs into sort of a temporary playlist.  This is useful if you don’t want to create a new playlist from scratch – and you have the option of saving it as a playlist later or clearing it and starting over.  You can also create links to songs, share the embed code and URL of playlists with friends, as well as email playlists for others to enjoy.

There’s also a social aspect to MixTape.me, and frankly, this is where I can see the service becoming quite addictive.  You can view profiles of other users, see their playlists, favor their playlists, follow them so you’ll know when they’ve added something new, and see the users they’re following.  You can drag and drop individual songs from other users playlists into one of your playlists.  Seriously, I could go on and on.

MixTape.me is a project of Adam Pash, Editor of one of my favorite blogs, Lifehacker.

To see MixTape.me in action, watch the screencast below (Best viewed in HD in full screen):

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PowerTwitter is a Firefox Add-on that provides you with some much needed features within your Twitter account.  It allows you to search Twitter right from your homepage, view media in-line, and expands links within Tweets so you know what you’re clicking on. I’ve been using PowerTwitter for a few months now (previously reviewed here), and so far I’ve been relatively happy with the feature list.  Last night I noticed that there was an updated version that had been released and after I installed it, I realized that even more features had been added.  Unfortunately, what I didn’t find was any sort of help or detailed list from PowerTwitter explaining just what I was looking at.  They do have a Get Satisfaction page where users can post questions and report any problems they might be having, but there is no real documentation of how to effectively use PowerTwitter.

Some of the notable new features are:

• Saved recent searches
• Post photos right from your Twitter account
• One-click ReTweet
• Shrink URLs quickly from your account
• PowerTwitter settings so you can choose what features of PowerTwitter you want to use

To see the updated PowerTwitter in action, watch the screencast below (best viewed in HD in full-screen):

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Juice is a Firefox Extension that delivers relevant videos, photos, and news right to your sidebar.  Juice also allows you to store videos and photos in your sidebar to view later.

After you install Juice, just highlight any bit of text that you want to find more content on and drag it and drop it to the right.  Almost instantly your sidebar will pop open with related Wikipedia articles, YouTube videos, and news stories.  You can watch videos right from the Juice sidebar and save them to view later.  You can also drag any images or videos into your sidebar to save for future reference.

To learn more, watch the screencast below:

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KwiClick is a Firefox Add-on that allows you to perform searches and look up information without having to leave the page you’re on.  It’s currently an experimental Add-on, so keep that in mind if you’re planning on testing it out.

After you install it, you’ll see the KwiClick favicon in the lower right corner of your browser window.  When you click on it, it will pop open a window where you can perform searches on Google, Google Maps, YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia, Technorati, Amazon, Delicious, and Friendfeed.

Besides doing searches, KwiClick will also come in handy when you’re on a site that contains Flickr photos or YouTube videos.  You’ll see a set of icons on top of the photo or video that allows you to view the contents in the KwiClick window.  You can also view related photos or video, view comments, and share the media via email or on various social networking sites.  All of this takes place in the pop out window so you never need to leave the site.

I would like to see some more features added like the ability to search for restaurant reviews on Yelp, listings on Craigslist, news stories, and the ability to do a Twitter search.  With that said, KwiClick is in the experimental stage and will most likely be releasing features I didn’t cover in this screencast.  To see KwiClick in action, watch the screencast below:

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[via Go2Web20 Blog]

Vanished allows you to browse Websites that may not be appropriate for work, underneath a more appropriate site.  There’s nothing to download and can be quickly shut off if a co-worker creeps up behind you to see what you’re viewing.  Currently, some features, such as watching flash videos, only work in Internet Explorer but the secret viewing window works in IE, Firefox, and Safari.  To see Vanishd in action, watch the screencast below:

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[via MoMB]

Ubiquity is a new experiment from Mozilla Labs that allows you to take bits and pieces of the Web and make them work together just by typing in basic text.  It’s an Extension for Firefox that allows you, as the user, to decide what Ubiquity should do.  This happens by giving Ubiquity commands.  On the developer end, it allows you to create commands that other people can subscribe to and use.

I installed Ubiquity this morning and have, and can not, stop using it.  I also recommend checking out new commands that are being developed.  To see Ubiquity in action, watch the screencast below:

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