Ten Startups with Great Potential

From all the things we review on our blogs, how many are actually useful for something other than… our blogs? Let’s face it: we review widgets, web hosting companies, software, similar websites and other things that might help our “targeted readers” better understand a topic.

Sometimes we review fellow bloggers; sometimes we play a game and publish the results – not because we are showoffs but because… it’s trendy.

What about reviewing websites that had little to do with our corner of the online universe?

It’s my intention to make you aware of their existence and who knows; maybe you’ll find them useful?

Learn Languages Online With babbel

No one seems to know that this website exists. The Alexa ranking shows low traffic. Google didn’t dignify the site with a PageRank and I wonder how many users are actually registered. So I registered to see its capabilities. The site doesn’t give you too many choices. For example Romanian natives might browse away believing that this site is not for them. But if you are fluent in one of the languages supported by babbel and want to learn one of the others, you’ll find out that this is quite a cool tool. I signed up as “English native” to learn Spanish and started with the basics. Babbel allows you to create a profile online, connect with other users, invite your friends and so on. Personally I don’t plan using it as a networking tool, but to learn a new language without needing to buy special expensive software, now that’s what I call a deal!

Put a Contract on Yourself with stickK

If you need some help achieving your goals, stickK is the right place for you. Of course the “lose weight” and “quit smoking” are the stars of the show, but you can also create your own goals and put a contract on yourself to achieve those goals. stickK was developed by Yale University economists and is the result of extensive research in the field. A commitment contract you make with yourself should work don’t you think? So what do say? Ready to put your money on the game?

Free Business Card Designer

This one is fun, free and it does more than its name says. The perfect solution for the DIY designer: you don’t need special design software to create printer-ready business cards. Deyey is a web based application that even allows you to tag your business card and make it “findable” by possible clients. You’ll need to sign up and give it a try. Personally I prefer creating my business cards the old fashioned way (in Photoshop) but the tag feature tempts me.

Be a Star with Glogster

This one is at least entertaining. If you feel the need of creating a “glog” check it out. Online posters (glogsters) are fun. In addition to images they can even get music and videos. Glogster is a cool platform, probably aimed to the teenage market, but I don’t see how teenage fan could hurt. Every once in a while you can relax and unleash your creativity on this site. It’s free, it doesn’t even require registration, but if you do register now, you could win one of 100 tempting iPods.

Plan Events with Planaganza

I’m always amazed by the names and the brand of the Web 2.0. When I hear planaganza I am certainly not inspired to “click.” But that’s probably just me. If you are not a skilled event planner this site probably has the tools you need to become one. At least this is what its creators state. The site will help you plan everything you could think about, from weddings to corporate events. New vendors register every day, trying to send their party products to the planners, but I would recommend the place just for ideas. If you must buy something search first at your local stores. Sometimes the best bargains are right under our noses.

Alphabetizer – the Solution for Lazy List Makers

OK, maybe you are not lazy. Maybe you just want to save some time or you are in a hurry to finish a project. Alphabetizing a list alone will take time. Copy paste is easy, but it’s also a stress factor especially when the data you need to copy and paste comes in large amounts. So let Alphabetizer do at least half of your job. Neat tool, isn’t it?

Modern Medicine – Your Online Resource for Healthy Living

From the “About” page:

ModernMedicine™ is an innovative online clinical decision-support resource that provides healthcare professionals with instant answers to clinical and practice management questions from highly credible and trusted sources.

I took my time and browsed the site for a while and I can already tell you that the quality of the articles is quite impressive. The site is not very young but it already proves its quality and authenticity. Spend some time on it. It’s definitely worth it, if not for the “medical advice” at least for what good online resources should look like.

Got Something To Say? Shout Out!

Outshouts is podcasting with a twist. The catch is that you record your own voice on your favorite audio track, then you click send and voila: you sent a shout to your friends. Here’s a sample:

So what are you waiting for? If you think it’s fun, become a DJ with outshouts. Or… just record your message for your readers and embed it onto your blog. It works.

Redesign Your Appliances

If there’s something you hate about appliances you own – if it’s a matter of design – you can return the bad object to the seller and ask for a refund, throw it into the garbage if the warranty expired, get used to it or complain about it at Redesignme. If you don’t have any complains at all just get it for a good laugh.

Free Favicon Generator

I know designers who still charge up to 40 USD to create a little piece of graphic that ads a cosmetic boost to a URL. These people are acting as if designing a favicon is rocket science or something. Well, it is not and to prove the point, although in the beginning of the entry I said this list will not be related to website development, I give you a free favicon generator. To implement the favicon you create into your WordPress site all you need to do is to upload the .ico image on the main folder on your server and then edit your WordPress theme header and include between the <head> and the </head> the following piece of code: <link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”favicon.ico”>