Seán Bulger
I’ve decided to try out a little experiment: I’m going to try switching off a lot of desktop applications that I normally use, and start using web applications that meet the same purpose. Why? I’m curious to see how far some web applications have developed, and how well some of them can actually replace desktop applications. Really, most of what I want to do connects via the Internet as is.
I’m not going to totally dive in head first with everything, though. For example: I’m not about to live with just Pandora and Last.FM when I have a perfectly good music collection. I’m also not going to be able to replace some applications like Photoshop, and many games. However, things like IM, Twitter (although I am counting browser-plugins!), IRC, productivity software, e-mail, etc… will get moved over to help make the browser the main focus of what I am doing online.
So, while I already use Gmail as my e-mail client, and Google Reader for my RSS feeds, I’m going to try out a few other services.
- Google Docs will take over my productivity software (although Zoho might be a better choice), and while I have used it in the past, I haven’t much.
- While technically a browser-plugin, I am counting it… Yoono will handle IM, Twitter, and other social networks.
- Mibbit will handle IRC – and it seems to be doing a much better job of it than I could have ever expected.
So, while this isn’t a huge list – granted it covers most of what I do online/on my computer – I am interested in other options. So, if you know a spiffy web application, or any other neat web services, post it up in the comments! I’d love to give it a shot.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
4 Responses to Experiment: Diving Into The Cloud
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hrm, sound interesting.
It wasn’t till I started working at google until I started realizing the full potential of some of this stuff. For instance, I’d be lost without gmail\calender\docs now, I can access them from anywhere (including my phone) at anytime and the way they all integrate is nice.
Recently I just started using reader and I have to say after trying several other rss readers, I don’t foresee myself using anything else. Especially when you throw in the fact that it runs amazingly well in the android browser.
Other then Gtalk I’ve never really used a cloud based IM client. Even for gtalk I still prefer my local clients. I think I gave meebo a shot once, it was ok but I couldn’t really find a case for me that put it into the must use category.
I recently heard of an online service that lets you upload your music, then it will stream it to you anywhere. Someone at work had been trying it out and seemed to like it pretty well. I can’t remember what it was exactly he was using, but after some googleing I found something that sounded like it. http://www.mp3tunes.com/ biggest downside I see is there is a 2GB limit on free accounts, but if you look around, you might be able to find something better. I’ve also seen a few services that let you setup a playlist and then they stream it too you. My roommates used to use something like that all the time for their music.
I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head that you might want to try out… but if I do I’ll let you know.
Hrm, sound interesting.
It wasn’t till I started working at google until I started realizing the full potential of some of this stuff. For instance, I’d be lost without gmail\calender\docs now, I can access them from anywhere (including my phone) at anytime and the way they all integrate is nice.
Recently I just started using reader and I have to say after trying several other rss readers, I don’t foresee myself using anything else. Especially when you throw in the fact that it runs amazingly well in the android browser.
Other then Gtalk I’ve never really used a cloud based IM client. Even for gtalk I still prefer my local clients. I think I gave meebo a shot once, it was ok but I couldn’t really find a case for me that put it into the must use category.
I recently heard of an online service that lets you upload your music, then it will stream it to you anywhere. Someone at work had been trying it out and seemed to like it pretty well. I can’t remember what it was exactly he was using, but after some googleing I found something that sounded like it. http://www.mp3tunes.com/ biggest downside I see is there is a 2GB limit on free accounts, but if you look around, you might be able to find something better. I’ve also seen a few services that let you setup a playlist and then they stream it too you. My roommates used to use something like that all the time for their music.
I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head that you might want to try out… but if I do I’ll let you know.
Actually, if you found out what that music service was, and verified it was legit… I’d love to use it.
As for IM, Yoono is just pretty convenient. My only problem is that I can’t log into multiple accounts on the same service – yet, but they seem to be looking into putting that in.
To be honest, what I’d like? Frickin’ make Chrome OS’s features integrate into Chrome itself… What I saw of the IM integration into Chrome in the Chrome OS vid was frickin’ cool – although, it would, of course, have to support more than Gtalk.
Actually, if you found out what that music service was, and verified it was legit… I’d love to use it.
As for IM, Yoono is just pretty convenient. My only problem is that I can’t log into multiple accounts on the same service – yet, but they seem to be looking into putting that in.
To be honest, what I’d like? Frickin’ make Chrome OS’s features integrate into Chrome itself… What I saw of the IM integration into Chrome in the Chrome OS vid was frickin’ cool – although, it would, of course, have to support more than Gtalk.