My Web Daily

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Action Movie FX

You know what it's like - you're standing at the train station minding your own business when a family saloon car falls out of the sky on you... This is the work of an amazing free iphone app, Action Movie FX, that lets you destroy your surroundings with just a few simple steps, then share with your social networks to delight and amaze them. Make sure you share your creations here!!

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Summify

UPDATE: this review is now defunct! (see comments below)

Catching up with your social networks is much more than a lunch hour distraction these days – unless you use Summify to help filter out the noise. Connect with your Twitter, Facebook & Google accounts and you can set the app to compile an update between 1 & 4 times a day, applying certain content filters if you want. Sharing through Facebook & Twitter can be automated, but be careful you don’t upset your followers with excessive spam. 

Summify looks at what your friends are sharing and also keeps a note of what you choose to read in order to make judgements about the content you’ll enjoy, and returns a neat little package of information in a web page that’s easy on the mouse pointer as well as the eye. The ranking process isn’t as sophisticated as Newswhip but for a neat little lunchtime digest of what your friends are currently talking about, this is a friendly & flexible service that shouldn’t be overlooked.

.@MyWebDaily reviews: TV Ark Interactive

@Andy34 on Twitter reminded me of this site the other week so I thought I'd post it here for all to enjoy: TV Ark Interactive is a trip through time to enjoy (or cringe at) the way TV has developed over the decades. That is all... 

.@MyWebDaily reviews: QR Pal

How many of you have ever used a QR code?… I’m willing to bet it’s a fairly small number, which is kind of a shame as they really are an excellent way to tag & access digital content on the go. QR Pal hopes to fill this gaping chasm by bringing a fun social twist to the technology, as well as providing a rather handy cloud-based storage locker for anything you may have scanned on your travels. Creating your own QR codes on this site requires no prior knowledge as it’s just a few simple drop down menus.. You can create one for a number of purposes, such as the guest wifi login details at your offices. Scanned codes are auto categorised for convenience, but you can tweak those settings through the browser dashboard for more control. The app is free for android & iPhone, with blackberry & windows phone 7 apps in development.

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Brandon Generator

Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead Director Edgar Wright and Lucas film and Marvel Comic book artist Tommy Lee Edwards have got together to create an interactive comic book in 4 parts, The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator. The story is about a struggling writer who passes out in a caffeine high & when he wakes up all sorts of notes & ideas have been left for him to find.

So far there is a trailer & episode one online, where Brandon loses consciousness and (you) the mysterious spirits infest his communications devices to fill them with random thoughts, characters & ideas. Leave voice messages on his Dictaphone, type into his laptop or scribble on his legal pad & who knows, when episode 2 comes out later this month you might find your ideas have been woven into the new storyline? I should also mention the site has been built to showcase html5 in IE9 - and whatever you think of Microsoft's browser, it does a pretty damn fine job of it.

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Google Translate

Google translate works in real time on 57 different languages and will speak the translation back to you – or the person you’re trying to communicate with. The free mobile apps for android & iphone use voice recognition so you can use them anywhere as long as it’s quiet. As an essential travel tool & in this world of cross-border social relationships, this free service should be on everyone's essential kit list.

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Housebites

If you have a busy life you might have to resort to eating take-away food from time to time - but how about having an experienced chef cook your meal & deliver it to your door instead? That's the premis behind HouseBites.com. Just enter your postcode to see who's cooking up a storm in your area. At the moment the service is limited to a few UK postcodes - mainly in London, but with expansion plans across the rest of England rolling out all the time.

UPDATE: @Housebites just informed me they have rolled out the service in Brighton too.

 

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Transact Socially

If you want to give something that you’ve made away on the Internet why not sell it for a bit of publicity instead? Transactsocially.com is an intriguing new service that lets you build a button offering whatever it is you’re prepared to give away in exchange for a Tweet or a Facebook comment. I see this being a great way for up and coming musicians to spread the word – or if you’re running a small retail business you could use it to drive traffic to your website with a free download or coupon. Setting up the button with a link to your download page is super easy, then just embed it on the website where you’re advertising your wares and watch the crowd spring into action making sure their networks know all about it.

.@MyWebDaily reviews: MyFolia

Take advantage of the spring weather and get outside to do some gardening. MyFolia is a social gardening tool that helps you get organised by tracking what you’ve planted and what jobs need doing to keep your flowers flourishing, and share your progress with the green-fingered community.

 

.@MyWebDaily NEWS: This week on the web #9

OK, it's confession time... it's Easter weekend & I am so insanely busy right now I have already worked all of Good Friday & half of today (smallest violin in the world - I know...). So basically what it boils down to is I am not making a podcast this week! You'll just have to look back through the posts. There has been some great sites though, including ifttt.com & App Inventor, which are 2 of my all time favourites. As a consolation prize, have this hilarious compendium of cats & water: