Online collaboration tools are sprouting like mushrooms and it has become difficult for even the most tech savvy bloggers to keep up with all the new tools and new releases. If you don't already know it, one site where I and my team keep you posted with all the relevant news and resources about online collaboration is Kolabora, and thanks to great work that Nico Canali and Giova Panasiti are doing there, you can always great pointers to the latest collaboration issues and tools.

Photo credit: Stephen Coburn and Olivier Le Queinec - Mashed up by Robin Good

In this newly revamped Monday edition of the classic Sharewood Picnic, I have selected for you eight great real-time collaboration tools, I and the Kolabora editors have picked up in the last couple of months.

There are a lot more indeed, and I will showcase some of the best here on Master New Media, as I alternate each Monday visual communication tools with online collaboration technologies. For now, get a kick with this ready-to-use set of new live collaboration services:

• Tokbox: Web-based application lets you have video conferences with your friends
• SeeToo: Select a video on your PC, and watch it simultaneously with your friends
• SnapYap: One-to-one free video conferencing room allows you to have free video-audio calls with your friends
• TeamViewer: Free downloadable application allows you to share your screen and control anyone else's PC
• FlickIM: Web-based instant messenger allows you to connect to all major IM services
• Loudtalks: Walkie talkie-like application lets you talk with your friends online
• AirTalkr: Connect to multiple IM networks and access all major Web 2.0 services from one place
• Global IP Video: Free Flash-based video conferencing tool allows you to have video conferences with people

Here the details:

• SeeToo
  
  SeeToo is a web-based application that allows individuals to invite friends and family to watch home videos with them in real time. After you select a video from your computer, without any upload process you can invite someone to watch the video with you, and simply click play to start watching it together. It is free to use and it can handle files of any size. Registration required.
  http://www.seetoo.com/





• SnapYap
  
  SnapYap is a free online voice conferencing tool, that anyone can use to have free one-to-one video-audio calls. Filling up a simple registration form, enables you to create your personal video conference room, in which you can invite anyone to join you: if the have a SnapYap account, you just need to insert their username, else just provide their email address and they will be sent an email with instructions to enter the room. Free to use.
  http://www.snapyap.com/





• TeamViewer
  
  TeamViewer is a free small downloadable application that allows you to share your screen and control anyone else's PC. After you download the small program, you just start it without any installation: you can then give a code and password to your friends to see and control your PC, or they can give you their code. You can also chat, transfer files, and use it to remote control your computer from anywhere in the world. Free.
  http://www.teamviewer.com/





• FlickIM
  
  FlickIM is a web-based instant messenger that you can use to connect to all major IM services(MSN, Yahoo, AIM, Google Talk, Jabber and ICQ) at once, with many add-ons to let you communicate more effectively with your friends through video, audio, and more. You can also create a FlickIM account that will remember all your account credentials for you. Free to use.
  http://flick.im/





• Loudtalks
  
  Loudtalks is a little application which allows you to talk to your friends or collegues instantly with a single touch of a button(F7). It's just like a walkie talkie: faster than text chat and more convenient than calls. Just add your friends, and press F7 to talk with them. Loudtalks work on Windows platforms only, but other versions are being developed, including a mobile phone one. Free to download and use.
  http://loudtalks.com/





• AirTalkr
  
  AirTalkr is both a downloadable and web-based application that allows you to connect to multiple instant messaging networks such as MSN, Yahoo!, GTalk, AOL and ICQ, and also to access various Web 2.0 services like Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Myspace and more. Just sign up to AirTalkr with a free and simple registration, and then you will be able to add all of your services' logins so that you have to remember just one of them. Free.
  http://airtalkr.com/





• Global IP Video
  
  Global IP Video is an easy-to-use Flash-based video conferencing tool that you can use to have video calls with people without having to install anything on your machine. To start a video conference, you just have to type a name for your room, share it with your friends, and click connect. It is completely web-based and free to use with no registration needed.
  http://www.globalipvideo.com/





• Tokbox
  
  Tokbox is a web-based video conferencing application that anyone can use to have one-to-one video meetings online. After a simple registration, you are able to create your video room where you can invite a friend and have a video conference with him. You can either embed your conference room on your site, or simply login in your Toxbox page and provide your friend's email to start the conference. Free.
  http://www.tokbox.com/

Originally written by Robin Good and Nico Canali De Rossi for Master New Media and first published as "Online Collaboration Technologies - New Tools And Web Services" on Monday December 24th 2007