The Google Effect

In case you haven't yet heard (and assuming you are even mildly interested), Jaiku announced today that it has been purchased by Google. Although unexpected, the news does not really come as a surprise. The interesting entertaining thing that came out of the news was picturing all the geeks rush over to Jaiku.com to see if that account they opened two months ago was still active (for the record: I was one of those geeks). Why do we have so much faith in Google? Since when was their stamp of approval required? Being Canadian, I totally understand the need for affirmation from a higher power but the service we abandoned months ago hasn't changed so why is it suddenly cool? I won't insult you by answering my own rhetorical question but come on!

Wicked Widgets

I'm completely obsessed with widgets right now. Not only are they super cool but they can help shave hours from your day if used appropriately. Here's a short list of my favs:

Google Toolbar for Firefox
Link to download
Best Features:
- Spell Check
- Quick links to all your favourite Google apps
- Highly customizable

LinkedIn Companion for Firefox
Link to download
Best Features:
- Integration into bookmarks toolbar
- Automatically searches LinkedIn for sender's profile in gmail and other web-based e-mail applications
- Option to include in Firefox search box

Facebook Toolbar for Firefox
Link to download
Best Features:
- Quick search and links embedded in toolbar
- Quick link to "share" web content with facebook friends
- Sidebar for friend's status updates
- Notification of friend/event/group requests
- Fairly customizable

Google Blog Comments for Firefox
Link to download
Best Features:
- Searches blogs for comments/posts related to any site you visit
- Unobtrusive alerts appear in bottom left corner of browser window (with option to turn off)
- Comment/Blog without having to leave the website

Twitteroo
Link to download
Best Features:
- Send twitter updates from your desktop
- Quick links to user profiles
- Stay up-to-date without having to go to website

Google Reader
Link to download
Best Features:
- This one is fairly obvious. Google is my personal favourite but there are lots of good RSS readers out there. Save yourself from visiting hundreds of different websites/blogs/etc.. by aggregating updates into one simple feed

There are hundreds of other widgets, toolbars, addons, and hacks out there. Please share your favourites in the comments section. Sorry Mac users, this is a PC-centric list.