10 new search tools that complement Google
- — 06 May, 2009 13:49
Kutano: comment anywhere
It sometimes seems that the companies that most need to hear your gripes are the ones that don't have any system for commenting on their site. Kutano is a browser add-on that lets you comment anywhere, even if the site has no user forums.
Kutano's developers played up the idea that the company you're commenting on can't edit the posts, since they live in a small window to the side of the one you're looking at. But you can see comments by other Kutano users. And you don't have to limit your comments only to commercial sites. You can, as one Kutano rep pointed out, comment on your ex-boyfriend's Facebook page without him being able to do anything about the post.
So is Kutano the ultimate expression of free speech or a libel suit waiting to happen? It could be both, but unless the service can attract a critical mass of users, it may end up being more of a ghost town.
Jadoos: controlling all your social networks
Belonging to lots of social networks means managing lots of information, including logins and passwords, and keeping track of what you've posted where. A number of social network aggregators have popped up to try and solve those problems. Jadoos' approach is to create a browser widget that's modeled after a TV remote control. (The site is in a controlled beta.)
You click a button on the Jadoos widget, and it automatically opens up your Facebook or Twitter account. You don't have to remember the login information for the services.
You can also see activity in multiple IM accounts at once, and a ratings app will pull up other people's ratings of the product or service you're looking at in your browser. (In that way, it's similar to Kutano, which also brings up comments by other users on the subject of whatever page you're viewing.)
Jadoos is an open platform that the developers hope other coders will use to create new applications. But at base, it's yet another widget platform, and since there are already so many, it may have trouble catching the fancy of third-party developers.
