New Media Picks Of The Week: Sharewood Picnic 69

Seal credit: Says-it

1. A complete set of web-based applications provided by Google that you can offer to the visitors of your web site
2. Send pictures, files or video clips to your contacts from your desktop through an avatar-based interface
3. Web-based browser that protects your privacy on multiple fronts
4. Online directory of web widgets for blogs and other web pages
5. Upload, share and buy user-generated content and hundreds of movies and TV shows
6. File hosting service that allows you to transfer, download and store data in an organized and secure manner
7. Online service that takes screenshots of any web site and enables you to embed them into web sites
8. Customizable start page that enables you to choose the all the content you like in one single page
9. Create your own free polls and contests and post them anywhere in the web
10. Generate, store and syndicate your own custom RSS feeds from anywhere

Sharewood Picnic is the weekly collection of the most interesting new media tools and resources selected and reviewed by Robin Good and Livia Iacolare.

1. Google Apps for Your Domain
   
   
   
   Google Apps for Your Domain is a service by Google, that allows you to offer Gmail to your website users with 2GB of storage per account, search tools to help them find information fast, and Google Talk instant messaging features built right into the browser. Your members can call or send instant messages to their contacts for free - anytime, anywhere in the world. Members can also organize their schedules and share events, meetings and entire calendars with others through Google Calendar. You can create and publish web pages for your domain quickly and easily with this what-you-see-is-what-you-get website design tool. Everything is hosted by Google, so you don't need to install or maintain anything. This service is free to use.
   
   https://www.google.com/a/





2. ComBOTS
   
   ComBOTS is a communication service that allows you to send pictures, files or video clips from your desktop through an avatar-based interface. Your contact are stored on the desktop and each one of them has a dynamic avatar: to share files with them you simply need to drag and drop files on their avatars. You can send all kind of files (up to 200MB per each) and if two ComBOTS friends are online at the same time, they can call each other for free or chat. You can buy animated characters at $0.99 in ComBOTS online store. You only need to subscribe if you like the product and start using it on a regular basis but at the moment the product is in private beta and the price has not been set yet. Free sign up.
   http://www.combots.com/





3. Palary
   
   Palary is a web-based browser that protects your privacy on multiple fronts. Palary prevents your internet provider, your government, or another body from visualizing the information you are accessing and the files you are downloading. Palary also prevents history files, cache files, and cookie files from being saved to your computer. Moreover, some governments place limits on the information their citizens can access over the internet. The Palary browser circumvents these restrictions by acting as a proxy server. The Palary browser lets you take your bookmarks and surfing preferences wherever you go, giving you a portable web browsing experience. Free to use.
   https://palary.org/





4. Widgetbox
   
   Widgetbox is an online directory of web widgets for blogs and other web pages. Once you have found the widgets you like, they are put on a panel and you can install the panel on your blog or web page by pasting some HTML code. If you have a TypePad blog, you can install it using the TypePad widget placer. You get a single place to manage and edit all your widgets and panels. When you edit your widget your blog is updated instantly, without you having to edit a single line of HTML. Many widgets on Widgetbox can be controlled by writing blog posts: just put a tag in your blog post, and the widget will use that information (example: if you tag your post with "computer" your image widget will display all the images you have stored that portrait a computer).
   Free to use.
   http://www.widgetbox.com/





5. Guba
   
   Guba is an web site that allows you to upload, share and buy user-generated content and hundreds of movies and TV shows. Guba enables rapid download to the PC, iPod, PSP, and other portable devices. Users can watch videos in Flash, QuickTime, Windows Media formats. You can watch movies for $0.99 and TV shows for €0.49. Guba also provides an archive of free videos, which are the ones produced by the community. Free sign up.
   http://www.guba.com/





6. GigaSize
   
   GigaSize is a file hosting service that allows you to transfer, download and store data in an organized and secure manner. You can use GigaSize to upload and share unlimited numbers of files with friends, family and colleagues. You can upload and download any type of file. With the free account the maximum upload per file is 1.5GB. If you get a premium account, at the cost of $4.95 per month, the maximum upload per file is 2.5 GB and you will be enabled to resume interrupted or suspended downloads. If you don't want to register, you can still upload files through the so called "Free Center"; in this case the maximum upload per file is 1GB. Free sign up.
   http://www.gigasize.com/





7. WebShotsPro
   
   WebShotsPro is an online service that takes screenshots of any web site. The service automatically generates thumbnails for every screenshot and allows you to display them anywhere in the web. You can include them in your blog postings, on a forum post, or next to your search engine results. Check out an example. WebShotsPro works better with Firefox and Internet Explorer 6.0. Free to use during beta period.
   http://www.webshotspro.com/





8. Webwag
   
   Webwag is a customizable start page that enables you to choose the content you want to visualize by selecting your favorite source sites. The interface is completely Ajax-based and you can drag the small windows in which the content appears and drop them the way you like. Webwag also allows you to create multiple pages based on the content you want to be displayed. Among Webwag features there are the possibility to access your mailbox directly from the startpage, multiple search engines and a weather widget. The Webwag homepage is available in English and French. Free to use.
   http://www.webwag.com/





9. PollPub
   
   PollPub is a service that allows you to create your own free polls and contests and post them anywhere in the web. PollPub also lets you add polls and run contests directly from your blog, MySpace page or website. Post free public polls and view opinions from anyone, or post a private poll and select who views and who votes. Free to use.
   http://www.pollpub.com/





10. LinkRSS
    
    LinkRSS is a web service that lets you generate, store and syndicate your own custom RSS feeds from anywhere. The editing interface is very simple to use and enables you to produce your feed in a matter of seconds. Nothing to install, nothing to download. LinkRSS is currently in beta and is completely free to use.
    http://www.linkrss.com/