A Geek just made the coolest Christmas tree for 2009. watch out..

]]> http://www.techwacky.com/2009/12/13/geek-style-christmas-2009-tree-nice/feed/ http://www.techwacky.com/2009/12/13/geek-style-christmas-2009-tree-nice/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techwacky/~3/K79znn-rBn0/ http://www.techwacky.com/2009/11/23/shh-world%e2%80%99s-largest-radio-telescope-network-goes-live/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:33:48 +0000 admin http://www.techwacky.com/?p=280

The world’s largest array of radio telescopes are joining together for 24 hours in order to observe some quasars.

In the next 24 hours, 35 telescopes on all seven continents will be linked to listen to 243 specific quasars. The point is to establish a baseline for further observations, since the quasars are stationary in the night sky, and provide a good basis for mapping.

The last time this attempted, the total number of 23 telescopes were used. These quasars are also used to set up the GPS system.

Adobe AIR was prototypal introduced on 19 March 2007 with the study of Phoebus and fashioned as a cross-operating grouping runtime that enables scheme developers to ingest their existing scheme utilization skills, cipher and tools to physique and deploy flush scheme applications and noesis to the desktop.

With Adobe AIR’s flush features, developers are healthy to physique covering using HTML, Ajax, JavaScript, Flex and Flash. Therefore, we strongly conceive that Adobe Air has unleashed the noesis to modify individual experiences beyond the browser. Here’s our assemblage of 60+ Adobe AIR Application you should know. Full itemize after jump.

Google

Collection of Google creation attendant AIR applications.

1. GMDesk

   GMDesk is an covering that lets you separate Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Maps as a stand-alone covering to do every your accumulation handling, calendar circumstance datum etc with.

   

2. ReadAir

   ReadAir is a screen machine for Google Reader.

   

3. Google Analytics Reporting Suite

   Google Analytics Reporting Suite brings Google Analytics to the desktop, with a patron of features that hold you wager how your website is performing and where you crapper improve.

   

Photo & Video

Adobe AIR applications that earmark you to search, edit, pay or upload picture and video.

1. Flickr Desktop Search

   Flickr
   Desktop Search is an Adobe AIR supported programme which helps you to wager Flickr images.

   

2. ImageDropr

   ImageDropr is a newborn agency for uploading your images to flickr. This covering takes a unequalled move towards preparing your content, titles, tags, etc. by creating tools that aid this process.

   

3. Flickr Flipper

   Flickr Flipper allows you to wager for Flickr photos and also wager for photos from limited Flickr users. It uses Papervision to pass the photos digit at a instance and modify allows you to download the picture to your computer.

   

4. Snoto

   Snoto Photo is a screen covering for feeding your past photos as substantially as the past photos of others. You crapper also do a slideshow of the photos.

   

5. FLVPlay HD

   FLVPlay HD plays your topical or far flv and mp4 videos, as substantially as the ones from the YouTube servers which are acquirable via the “Search” feature of the application.

   

6. AIRTube Video Downloader

   AIRTube Video Downloader allows you to download YouTube FLV videos by exclusive dragging or pasting in the video’s URL. After the recording downloads the covering module modify and exhibit you a advertisement of the video.

   

7. RichFLV

   RichFLV allows you to feature and modify FLV data. You crapper revilement FLVs, modify the good of the flv to mp3 and modify flv to swf.

   

8. uvLayer

   UvLayer is a ethnic recording covering where you crapper discover, watch, amass and deal recording media. Searching currently focuses on videos from YouTube and Truveo.

   

9. mooFlair

   A screen covering that helps you to control and analyse both online and offline FLVs videos. solon than a eventual flv player, physique your possess FLV accumulation and pay your compilations in playlists.

   

10. Adobe Media Player

    Adobe Media Player allows you to line up and download your selection cyberspace TV content, road and download newborn episodes automatically, and control your individualized recording accumulation for analyse at your convenience.

    

Design

Adoeb AIR tools that compound your organisation skill.

1. Websnapshot

   Websnapshot allows you identify a address then verify a photograph using digit of the threesome filler methods; Thumbnail, Browser or fullpage view.

   

2. Shrink-O-Matic

   Shrink O’Matic is an AIR covering to easily (batch) resize (shrink) images. It handles JPGs, GIFs and PNGs.

   

3. Colorpicker

   colorPicker is a widget-like AIR covering that lets you either opt a “web-safe” colouration from a colouration installation or organisation a colouration using sliders to change the red, green, and chromatic values of the color.

   

4. ColourLovers Desktop Color Finder

   Desktop Color Finder lets you wager our whole database of nearly 1 meg titled colours and more than 300,00 individual created colouration palettes.

   

5. Font Picker

   Font individual allows you to encounter the correct identify for the job.

   

6. Icon Generator

   Icon Generator is a lowercase covering that lets you create a CS3 or Web 2.0 call icon, exclusive 3 step. Pick color, identify characters, and pay it.

   

7. WebKut

   WebKut is an AIR covering that allows you to getting scheme pages, or parts of them in a rattling eventual way.

   

8. Color Browser

   Color Browser is a eventual artefact to create and care your selection colouration palettes. Sets of colours are easily viewable in a decent interface.

   

9. Photoshop Express Uploader

   Photoshop Express Uploader lets you inspire and modify photos from your screen to upload to Photoshop Express.

   

Microblogging

Adobe AIR applications that earmark you to transmit with microblogs easier and faster.

1. TweetDeck

   TweetDeck is an Adobe Air screen covering that aims to develop the existing functionality of Twitter by captivating an quantity of information.

   

2. Alert Thingy

   Alert Thingy allows users to wager the accumulation course from grouping they study on FriendFeed, and locate newborn messages direct to the service.

   

3. Feedalizr

   Life moving to your desktop. View, evaluate and interpret on what your friends are distribution online, using digit eventual and cushy to ingest screen tool.

   

4. MySocial AIR

   MySocial is the newest Twitter/FriendFeed screen app on the block, though MySocial has previously liberated a Firefox sidebar addon that offers kindred functionality.

   

5. Twhirl

   Twhirl connects to binary Twitter, laconi.ca, Friendfeed and seesmic accounts.

   

6. Posty

   Posty simplifies your microblogging. All you hit to do is composition the communication and clicking a button. Posty module automatically hit your communication to the services you selected.

   

7. Toro

   Toro is a rattling eventual Twitter machine that aims for a speedier Twitter.

   

8. Spaz

   Spaz is a Twitter machine for users who continuance free, open-source software, captivating design, and customizability

   

9. bTT

   bTT lets you obtain update from friendfee, locate to friendfeed, beam and obtain tweets with twirp conceive of digit covering on your desktop.

   

10. Tweetr

    Tweetr lets you beam files to your friends, but meet dragging some start on to Tweetr. Tweetr module automatically upload your start and when it is finished module wage a brief url to beam to your friends

    

Social Network

Adobe AIR applications that combining your selection ethnic networks into your desktop.

1. DiggTop

   DiggTop is an covering for Windows and MacOSX that lets you analyse a amalgamated itemize of your selection Digg concern or keyword feeds.

   

2. Facedesk

   facedesk is an covering that, when installed, becomes a stand-alone covering to do every your Facebook aquatics with.

   

3. Flair

   Flair is a free, cushy to establish covering that lets you undergo whenever you’re poked, or someone writes on your wall, or adds you as a someone – without having to constantly analyse the Facebook website or your email.

   

4. Babuki

   Now every your contacts are in digit locate wherever you are. There’s no requirement to create an statement and you exclusive hit to add info for the another IM networks once.

   

5. MINI DIGG

   The Digg mini machine brings the stylish programme from Digg to your desktop. It also allows you to accumulation the stories to your computer.

   

Miscellaneous

Other multipurpose screen Adobe AIR applications.

1. Wordpress Comment Moderator

   Moderator is a WordPress Plugin and attendant screen application, shapely using Adobe AIR, that allows you to analyse and medium comments from your desktop.

   

2. Apprise Reader

   Apprise lets you feature every your programme in digit place, and deal it every in digit place, too. With built-in hold for over decade assorted structure to deal stories,

   

3. Ora Time and Expense

   Ora Time and Expense is a diminutive easy-to-use covering for chase and generating timesheets, outlay reports, and invoices.

   

4. Timeloc

   Timeloc is a screen widget that keeps road of the instance you hit spent employed on a employ or project. It module no individual be a housing of surmisal impact as to how such you requirement to calculate your clients or distribute to a project

   

5. Doomi

   Doomi is a eventual to-do-list covering that fashioned to meet conceive of your way, be cushy to ingest and countenance pretty.

   

6. Klok

   Klok is a agency witting to be utilised by individuals, who hit a requirement to road the instance they pay on projects, tasks or anything added for that matter.

   

7. MiniTask

   MiniTask is a FREE, alacritous and easy-to-use duty direction covering that helps you with organising your regular todos more efficiently.

   

8. Agile Agenda

   Agile Agenda is a beam planning programme convergent on allowing beam managers to start accumulation most tasks. The software is confident of dynamically adjusting to dynamical conditions that become during a beam chronicle cycle.

   

9. Xdrive Desktop Lite

   Xdrive Desktop Lite allows you to easily upload files and folders correct from your hornlike drive, desktop, USB devices, or extractable hardware drives direct into your Xdrive scheme storage.

   

10. AirTalkr

    AirTalkr is a multi-protocol Instant Messenger that connects to MSN, Yahoo!, GTalk, AOL and ICQ. Not exclusive that, it also has connects to to assorted Web 2.0 services same Flickr and YouTube.

    

11. Pownce Desktop 2.0

    Pownce makes it modify faster to feature and beam notes to your friends

    

12. CL Desktop
    - Craigslist is huge, and this covering meet makes sense. It’s cushy to ingest and saves you instance with ransomed searches and the knowledge to analyse pictures correct from the example list.
13. EarthBrowser
    - EarthBrowser is a subverter newborn papers for analyse and creating geographically supported information.
14. ebay Desktop
    - eBay Desktop is prefabricated for search, bidding, browsing, and watching. It’s every there, with a sort newborn interface.
15. Finetune Desktop
    - Finetune Desktop gives you hurried admittance to your bespoken playlists and module ready road of your selection penalization from Finetune.
16. Pandora Desktop
    - With the Pandora Desktop Application, you crapper endeavor your Pandora stations right from your screen – without inaugural a newborn covering window.
17. Snackr
    - Snackr is a RSS timekeeper that pulls haphazard items from your feeds and scrolls them crossways your desktop. When you wager a denomination that looks interesting, you crapper utter on it to imbibe up the component in a window.
18. AIR iPhone
    - AIR iPhone is a screen covering created with Adobe AIR and Adobe Flex 3, it simulates the UI of the iPhone. It has the capabilities to attain calls, obtain calls, analyse voicemail, add contacts and modify beam vocalise messages.
19. Adobe Developer Connection Developer Desktop
    - Adobe Developer Connection Developer Desktop (ADC Desktop) is an Adobe AIR covering that delivers a sort of adjuvant resources for Developers.

Resources

Resources, tutorials and collections of Adobe AIR applications.

1. airapps Wiki

   A assemblage of Adobe® AIR™ applications conceive in the disorderly that the accord crapper update.

   

2. RIAForge

   An online accord site, shapely using their possess products and targeted to hold developers antiquity unstoppered maker projects for our products and platform.

   

3. Apollo Hunter

   A accord to deal and download Adobe AIR applications with no cost.

   

4. O2Apps

   The eventual inventiveness for enthusiasts of Adobe AIR.

   

5. Adobe AIR Marketplace

   Adobe AIR Marketplace is a locate where AIR developers crapper publicize their Adobe AIR applications for users to download.

   

6. Adobe Air Tutorials

   Adobe AIR Tutorials. Articles, resources, tutorials, and downloads.

   

7. Refreshing Apps

   Adobe AIR covering background and resources.

   

Adobe AIR was prototypal introduced on 19 March 2007 with the study of Phoebus and fashioned as a cross-operating grouping runtime that enables scheme developers to ingest their existing scheme utilization skills, cipher and tools to physique and deploy flush scheme applications and noesis to the desktop.

With Adobe AIR’s flush features, developers are healthy to physique covering using HTML, Ajax, JavaScript, Flex and Flash. Therefore, we strongly conceive that Adobe Air has unleashed the noesis to modify individual experiences beyond the browser. Here’s our assemblage of 60+ Adobe AIR Application you should know. Full itemize after jump.

Google

Collection of Google creation attendant AIR applications.

1. GMDesk

   GMDesk is an covering that lets you separate Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Maps as a stand-alone covering to do every your accumulation handling, calendar circumstance datum etc with.

   

2. ReadAir

   ReadAir is a screen machine for Google Reader.

   

3. Google Analytics Reporting Suite

   Google Analytics Reporting Suite brings Google Analytics to the desktop, with a patron of features that hold you wager how your website is performing and where you crapper improve.

   

Photo & Video

Adobe AIR applications that earmark you to search, edit, pay or upload picture and video.

1. Flickr Desktop Search

   Flickr
   Desktop Search is an Adobe AIR supported programme which helps you to wager Flickr images.

   

2. ImageDropr

   ImageDropr is a newborn agency for uploading your images to flickr. This covering takes a unequalled move towards preparing your content, titles, tags, etc. by creating tools that aid this process.

   

3. Flickr Flipper

   Flickr Flipper allows you to wager for Flickr photos and also wager for photos from limited Flickr users. It uses Papervision to pass the photos digit at a instance and modify allows you to download the picture to your computer.

   

4. Snoto

   Snoto Photo is a screen covering for feeding your past photos as substantially as the past photos of others. You crapper also do a slideshow of the photos.

   

5. FLVPlay HD

   FLVPlay HD plays your topical or far flv and mp4 videos, as substantially as the ones from the YouTube servers which are acquirable via the “Search” feature of the application.

   

6. AIRTube Video Downloader

   AIRTube Video Downloader allows you to download YouTube FLV videos by exclusive dragging or pasting in the video’s URL. After the recording downloads the covering module modify and exhibit you a advertisement of the video.

   

7. RichFLV

   RichFLV allows you to feature and modify FLV data. You crapper revilement FLVs, modify the good of the flv to mp3 and modify flv to swf.

   

8. uvLayer

   UvLayer is a ethnic recording covering where you crapper discover, watch, amass and deal recording media. Searching currently focuses on videos from YouTube and Truveo.

   

9. mooFlair

   A screen covering that helps you to control and analyse both online and offline FLVs videos. solon than a eventual flv player, physique your possess FLV accumulation and pay your compilations in playlists.

   

10. Adobe Media Player

    Adobe Media Player allows you to line up and download your selection cyberspace TV content, road and download newborn episodes automatically, and control your individualized recording accumulation for analyse at your convenience.

    

Design

Adoeb AIR tools that compound your organisation skill.

1. Websnapshot

   Websnapshot allows you identify a address then verify a photograph using digit of the threesome filler methods; Thumbnail, Browser or fullpage view.

   

2. Shrink-O-Matic

   Shrink O’Matic is an AIR covering to easily (batch) resize (shrink) images. It handles JPGs, GIFs and PNGs.

   

3. Colorpicker

   colorPicker is a widget-like AIR covering that lets you either opt a “web-safe” colouration from a colouration installation or organisation a colouration using sliders to change the red, green, and chromatic values of the color.

   

4. ColourLovers Desktop Color Finder

   Desktop Color Finder lets you wager our whole database of nearly 1 meg titled colours and more than 300,00 individual created colouration palettes.

   

5. Font Picker

   Font individual allows you to encounter the correct identify for the job.

   

6. Icon Generator

   Icon Generator is a lowercase covering that lets you create a CS3 or Web 2.0 call icon, exclusive 3 step. Pick color, identify characters, and pay it.

   

7. WebKut

   WebKut is an AIR covering that allows you to getting scheme pages, or parts of them in a rattling eventual way.

   

8. Color Browser

   Color Browser is a eventual artefact to create and care your selection colouration palettes. Sets of colours are easily viewable in a decent interface.

   

9. Photoshop Express Uploader

   Photoshop Express Uploader lets you inspire and modify photos from your screen to upload to Photoshop Express.

   

Microblogging

Adobe AIR applications that earmark you to transmit with microblogs easier and faster.

1. TweetDeck

   TweetDeck is an Adobe Air screen covering that aims to develop the existing functionality of Twitter by captivating an quantity of information.

   

2. Alert Thingy

   Alert Thingy allows users to wager the accumulation course from grouping they study on FriendFeed, and locate newborn messages direct to the service.

   

3. Feedalizr

   Life moving to your desktop. View, evaluate and interpret on what your friends are distribution online, using digit eventual and cushy to ingest screen tool.

   

4. MySocial AIR

   MySocial is the newest Twitter/FriendFeed screen app on the block, though MySocial has previously liberated a Firefox sidebar addon that offers kindred functionality.

   

5. Twhirl

   Twhirl connects to binary Twitter, laconi.ca, Friendfeed and seesmic accounts.

   

6. Posty

   Posty simplifies your microblogging. All you hit to do is composition the communication and clicking a button. Posty module automatically hit your communication to the services you selected.

   

7. Toro

   Toro is a rattling eventual Twitter machine that aims for a speedier Twitter.

   

8. Spaz

   Spaz is a Twitter machine for users who continuance free, open-source software, captivating design, and customizability

   

9. bTT

   bTT lets you obtain update from friendfee, locate to friendfeed, beam and obtain tweets with twirp conceive of digit covering on your desktop.

   

10. Tweetr

    Tweetr lets you beam files to your friends, but meet dragging some start on to Tweetr. Tweetr module automatically upload your start and when it is finished module wage a brief url to beam to your friends

    

Social Network

Adobe AIR applications that combining your selection ethnic networks into your desktop.

1. DiggTop

   DiggTop is an covering for Windows and MacOSX that lets you analyse a amalgamated itemize of your selection Digg concern or keyword feeds.

   

2. Facedesk

   facedesk is an covering that, when installed, becomes a stand-alone covering to do every your Facebook aquatics with.

   

3. Flair

   Flair is a free, cushy to establish covering that lets you undergo whenever you’re poked, or someone writes on your wall, or adds you as a someone – without having to constantly analyse the Facebook website or your email.

   

4. Babuki

   Now every your contacts are in digit locate wherever you are. There’s no requirement to create an statement and you exclusive hit to add info for the another IM networks once.

   

5. MINI DIGG

   The Digg mini machine brings the stylish programme from Digg to your desktop. It also allows you to accumulation the stories to your computer.

   

Miscellaneous

Other multipurpose screen Adobe AIR applications.

1. Wordpress Comment Moderator

   Moderator is a WordPress Plugin and attendant screen application, shapely using Adobe AIR, that allows you to analyse and medium comments from your desktop.

   

2. Apprise Reader

   Apprise lets you feature every your programme in digit place, and deal it every in digit place, too. With built-in hold for over decade assorted structure to deal stories,

   

3. Ora Time and Expense

   Ora Time and Expense is a diminutive easy-to-use covering for chase and generating timesheets, outlay reports, and invoices.

   

4. Timeloc

   Timeloc is a screen widget that keeps road of the instance you hit spent employed on a employ or project. It module no individual be a housing of surmisal impact as to how such you requirement to calculate your clients or distribute to a project

   

5. Doomi

   Doomi is a eventual to-do-list covering that fashioned to meet conceive of your way, be cushy to ingest and countenance pretty.

   

6. Klok

   Klok is a agency witting to be utilised by individuals, who hit a requirement to road the instance they pay on projects, tasks or anything added for that matter.

   

7. MiniTask

   MiniTask is a FREE, alacritous and easy-to-use duty direction covering that helps you with organising your regular todos more efficiently.

   

8. Agile Agenda

   Agile Agenda is a beam planning programme convergent on allowing beam managers to start accumulation most tasks. The software is confident of dynamically adjusting to dynamical conditions that become during a beam chronicle cycle.

   

9. Xdrive Desktop Lite

   Xdrive Desktop Lite allows you to easily upload files and folders correct from your hornlike drive, desktop, USB devices, or extractable hardware drives direct into your Xdrive scheme storage.

   

10. AirTalkr

    AirTalkr is a multi-protocol Instant Messenger that connects to MSN, Yahoo!, GTalk, AOL and ICQ. Not exclusive that, it also has connects to to assorted Web 2.0 services same Flickr and YouTube.

    

11. Pownce Desktop 2.0

    Pownce makes it modify faster to feature and beam notes to your friends

    

12. CL Desktop
    - Craigslist is huge, and this covering meet makes sense. It’s cushy to ingest and saves you instance with ransomed searches and the knowledge to analyse pictures correct from the example list.
13. EarthBrowser
    - EarthBrowser is a subverter newborn papers for analyse and creating geographically supported information.
14. ebay Desktop
    - eBay Desktop is prefabricated for search, bidding, browsing, and watching. It’s every there, with a sort newborn interface.
15. Finetune Desktop
    - Finetune Desktop gives you hurried admittance to your bespoken playlists and module ready road of your selection penalization from Finetune.
16. Pandora Desktop
    - With the Pandora Desktop Application, you crapper endeavor your Pandora stations right from your screen – without inaugural a newborn covering window.
17. Snackr
    - Snackr is a RSS timekeeper that pulls haphazard items from your feeds and scrolls them crossways your desktop. When you wager a denomination that looks interesting, you crapper utter on it to imbibe up the component in a window.
18. AIR iPhone
    - AIR iPhone is a screen covering created with Adobe AIR and Adobe Flex 3, it simulates the UI of the iPhone. It has the capabilities to attain calls, obtain calls, analyse voicemail, add contacts and modify beam vocalise messages.
19. Adobe Developer Connection Developer Desktop
    - Adobe Developer Connection Developer Desktop (ADC Desktop) is an Adobe AIR covering that delivers a sort of adjuvant resources for Developers.

Resources

Resources, tutorials and collections of Adobe AIR applications.

1. airapps Wiki

   A assemblage of Adobe® AIR™ applications conceive in the disorderly that the accord crapper update.

   

2. RIAForge

   An online accord site, shapely using their possess products and targeted to hold developers antiquity unstoppered maker projects for our products and platform.

   

3. Apollo Hunter

   A accord to deal and download Adobe AIR applications with no cost.

   

4. O2Apps

   The eventual inventiveness for enthusiasts of Adobe AIR.

   

5. Adobe AIR Marketplace

   Adobe AIR Marketplace is a locate where AIR developers crapper publicize their Adobe AIR applications for users to download.

   

6. Adobe Air Tutorials

   Adobe AIR Tutorials. Articles, resources, tutorials, and downloads.

   

7. Refreshing Apps

   Adobe AIR covering background and resources.

   

As a web designer/developer you must continue to find ways to reduce the time it takes to design/develop websites. There are lots of online web design tools available out there. Sorting through them to find the ones that truly stand out can seem to take more time than you might ever expect to save by using them. But with so many tools out there, how do you ever determine which ones are really useful and which ones are just going to waste your time?

In this article, Tech Wacky rounded up a list of 100+ Most Useful & Handy Web Design Tools that hopefully will be useful for most designers. These are tools that will save you time, make you a more effective designer, speed up your design process, or otherwise make your life easier. Enjoy!

Color Tools
Choosing the right colors for your website designs can be one of the most important decisions you make in the entire design process. Below are some of the best tools available for managing color schemes.

Color Wizard
The Color Wizard is a color matching application for anyone who wants to create designs with great looking colors. The color wizard also has a randomize function that lets you generate color schemes you might not have thought of on your own.

Kuler
Adobe Kuler is an internet application from Adobe Systems that lets individuals try out, create and save various color schemes. No matter what you’re creating, with Kuler you can experiment quickly with color variations and browse thousands of themes from the Kuler community.

Color Palette Generator
This tool can create a color palette from any image you choose. You just need to enter the URL of an image to get a color palette that matches the image. The goal is to provide free, high-quality, web-based tools that are easy to use for all users.

COLOURlovers
COLOURlovers is a resource that monitors and influences color trends. One of the most useful features is it’s pattern creation tool.

ColorZilla
ColorZilla is an advanced Eyedropper, Color Picker, Palette Viewer and other colorful goodies for Firefox. With ColorZilla you can get a color reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust the color and paste it into another program.

100 Random Colors 2.0
It is primarily a random color generator that’s intended to help designers truly get out of the “creative block.” Just hit the “Refresh Pallette” and will be given a whole new set if you don’t find anything in the first 100.

Color Scheme Designer
Color Scheme Designer is an easy to use color scheme creator. It let’s you export your selection into Photoshop palette (.ACO) and GIMP palette (.GPL).

Color Hunter
Color Hunter is a place to find and make color palettes created from images. If you have an image, you can upload it and get a color palette based on the colors in the image.

4096 Color Wheel
4096 Color Wheel is a color scheme generator that shows you Web-safe, Web-smart and unsafe colors. You just need to hover over the wheel to view the colors.

Color Gradient Table Generator
The Color Table Generator is a tool designed to create a color table based on various input parameters by the designer. It’s allows the designer to view the color table with specific color index values displayed on colored tiles.

CSS and Typography Tools
CSS is almost as important in web design as HTML. There are many online CSS tools to help web designers produce code easier and quicker. Some of the useful web typography tools include apps for converting pixel sizes to em units and a variety of Lorem Ipsum and other dummy text generators.

Flipping Typical
Flipping Typical is a way to explore the popular typefaces you have on your computer in a grid format. It’s very useful if you don’t want to wade through a few hundred fonts that installed on your computer and just want to see the more popular ones.

Typetester
The Typetester is an online application for comparison of the fonts for the screen. It also allows you to change the color, leading, tracking, size, and other style options. It’s primary role is to make web designer’s life easier.

HTML-Ipsum
Most standard Lorem Ipsum generators online give you a block of text and nothing more. And that’s great if you’re just trying to fill up some space.

WhatTheFont
Seen a font in use and want to know what it is? Submit an image to WhatTheFont to find the closest matches in the database. Or, let cloak-draped font enthusiasts lend a hand in the WhatTheFont Forum.

Text Generator
Tired of using Lorem Ipsum for dummy text in your latest masterpiece? This text generator has been developed based on years of careful research and is guaranteed to improve even the most lacklustre of designs.

Typechart
Typechart  lets you flip through, preview and compare web typography while retrieving the CSS. You can find fonts based on size, whether they’re serif or sans-serif, or emphasis.

CSS Type Set
CSS Type Set is a hands-on typography tool allowing designers and developers to interactively test and learn how to style their web content. It is a quick and easy way to format any text and then let’s you copy the generated CSS.

PXtoEM.com
PXtoEM.com is px to em conversion made simple. Choose your body font size in pixels (px)and out comes a complete pixel (px) to em conversion table, making elastic web design with CSS a snap. The options it gives you are what make it a really impressive and flexible tool, though.

CleanCSS
CleanCSS is a powerful CSS optimizer and formatter. Basically, it takes your CSS code and makes it cleaner and more concise.

CSS Property Index
Clicking on any of the included properties brings you to a definition and information about the default value, allowed values, and whether it inherits from a parent property.

CSS Frame Generator
This tool returns corresponding CSS in a line-by-line way indented with spaces to reflect XHTML structure - each selector and all of its properties and values in one line.

Postable
I absolutely hate having to switch all the “< ” and “>” signs in my code to “&lt;” and “&gt;”, respectively. I also hate having to write “&amp;” anytime I want to include an ampersand. This makes including code snippets on my blog and whatnot extremely annoying, and today I finally got fed up. Created by Elliot Swan.

Individual Element Tools
There are a lot of generators out there that make it quick and easy to create buttons, backgrounds, forms, and other design elements for your sites.

Wufoo
Wufoo is a HTML form builder helps you create contact forms, online surveys, and invitations so you can collect the data, registrations and online payments you need without writing a single line of code.

Jotform
JotForm is an interestig web based WYSIWYG form builder. Its intuitive drag and drop user interface makes form building a breeze. Using JotForm, you can create forms, integrate them to your site and collect submissions from your visitors.

RoundedCornr
This generates a basic box with rounded corners. It will Generate HTML/CSS code and images for rounded corners.

BgPatterns
BgPatterns is a web based tiled backgrounds designer. You can create any pattern your site needs just in few minutes. It let’s you adjust the size, pictures, colors and texture.

Tartan Maker
Tartan Maker offers you to set three colors (by picking from color picker or direct entry of color hex code) of tartan cubes which create the base of image. Then you can control dimensions of these cubes by sliders to adjust the look of tartan pattern.

Stripe Generator 2.0
The Stripe Generator 2.0 offers stripes at a variety of angles, in just about any width you choose, with or without shadows and gradients, and using any hex colors you want.

Pixelknete’s Background Dotter
This background generator creates a modern dotted background with progressively smaller dots as they move down the page. It let’s you select the dot colors, background colors and adjust the pattern’s height.

CSS Menu Maker
This tool generates vertical, horizontal and drop-down menus online. Various color schemes are available, and you can also customize the menus online. The menu generator makes it easy to create custom CSS menus without having to know all the complicated HTML and CSS.

IzzyMenu
IzzyMenu it’s an easy to use Menu Builder, which allows you to build your CSS & DHTML menu in minutes.

Icon Finder
Iconfinder provides high quality icons for web designers and developers in an easy and efficient way.

Favicon
A favicon (short for “favorites icon” and also known as a page icon), is an icon associated with a particular website or webpage that is displayed in the browser address bar next to a site’s URL.

Blogflux Button Maker
You see those 80×15 buttons everywhere. Our Button Maker lets you make some yourself. Fiddling around with Photoshop or any other graphics editor can be a pain. Make 80×15 or 88×13 buttons with a few clicks.

As Button Generator
As Button Generator is a very nice button generator service. You can allocate the image you chosen and the text you typed, they are movable by mouse drag.

Face Your Manga
Create your Avatar with Face Your Manga! Express yourself through your image and share it whoever you want.

Testing Site Layout and Structure
Different browsers render sites in slightly different ways. This can be a huge headache, especially if your clients are using one browser and you’re using a completely different one.

Browsershots
Browsershots makes screen-shots of your web design in different browsers. It is a free open-source online service created by Johann C. Rocholl.

Browsercam
See your web design on any browser on any operating system. Check javascripts, DHTML, forms and other dynamic functionality on any platform. Use the bank of testing machines remotely to test your website.

Markup Validation Service
Markup that is not well formed may give your site serious presentation issues in some Browsers while they are barely visible on others. It is always recommended to validate your site with the W3C Markup Validator and fix all the errors it reports.

AJAX and JavaScript Tools
Ajax, sometimes written as AJAX (shorthand for asynchronous JavaScript and XML), is a group of interrelated web development techniques used on the client-side to create interactive web applications or rich Internet applications.

Load Info
AJAX loading animated GIFs that are free to use which have a collection of ajax preloader images that are ready for download.

MooTools
MooTools is a compact, modular, Object-Oriented JavaScript framework designed for the intermediate to advanced JavaScript developer.

jQuery
jQuery is a fast and concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development.

Script Aculo US
script.aculo.us provides you with easy-to-use, cross-browser user interface JavaScript libraries to make your web sites and web applications fly.

MISC - More of the Web Tools

Browsershots - Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different browsers. It is a free open-source online service created by Johann C. Rocholl.

CSS Sprite Generator - CSS sprites are a way to reduce the number of HTTP requests made for image resources referenced by your site.

CSS Tidy Online - It is an online CSS Tidy tool that allows you to keep your code clean by compressing the code.

Markup Generator - Markup Generator is a simple tool created for xhtml/css coders that are tired of writing boring frame code at the very beginning of slicing work.

CSS SuperScrub - This tool can significantly reduce the size and complexity of your CSS by programmatically stripping unneeded content, stripping redundant calls, and intelligently grouping the remaining element names.

JavaScript Beautifier
This beautifier can process your messy or compacted javascript, making it all neatly and consistently formatted and readable.

CSS Text Wrapper - The CSS Text Wrapper allows you to easily make HTML text wrap in shapes other than just a rectangle.

Grid Designer 2.4 - This tool enables you to create a grid by specifying the number of columns and the widths of the columns, gutters and margins.

Blue Print CSS - Blueprint is a CSS framework, which aims to cut down on your development time. It gives you a solid foundation to build your project on top of, with an easy-to-use grid, sensible typography, useful plugins, and even a stylesheet for printing.

Em Calculator - Em Calculator is a small JavaScript tool which helps making scalable and accessible CSS design. It converts size in pixels to relative em units, which are based on a text size.

Button Browser - It’s a button gallery and button maker.

FormSpring - FormSpring gives businesses and organizations an easy way to build any type of online form, integrate it with their website and begin collecting data. With FormSpring anyone can build all types of web forms, collect data online and do it simply and efficiently.

Mikons - An online drawing tool to make your own. A Mikon is a symbol about you.

Yola - Yola lets you make great-looking sites with webpages that work beautifully together. The website builder lets you easily take what’s in your head and turn it into webpages in front of your eyes.

Background Image Maker - An application to create the simple background images.

Fontifier - Fontifier lets you use your own handwriting for the text you write on your computer. It turns a scanned sample of your handwriting into a handwriting font that you can use in your word processor or graphics program, just like regular fonts such as Helvetica.

Font Tester - Font Tester is a free online font comparison tool. It allows you to easily preview and compare different fonts side by side with various CSS font styles applied to them.

CSStxt - Csstxt is a webtool that propose to illustrate the many ways you got to add a style to a text with a p or div tag.

Designer Plaything - Designer Plaything lets you experiment with different web typography and color combinations. It also allows you to check color accessibility. There’s a web-based version and a downloadable version which you can grab on this page.

Dummy Text Generator - Dummy text is also known as ‘fill text’. This handy tool helps you create dummy text for all your layout needs.

GoldenRatioCalculator - If you want to dramatically improve composition of your website design, you might need to consider applying the divine proportion to your design. This tools calculates the golden ratio for your designs.

TypeNavigator - TypeNavigator is a very clever web tool that can help designers identify typefaces.

Templatr - This is a handy web application for  creating web page templates. It has a very simple user interface, making itself an excellent tool for quick-and-dirty mockups of web layouts.

Phpform - This is an online HTML form builder.

Dabbleboard - Dabbleboard is a convenient web-based collaborative drawing tool that’s designer-friendly. Create web layouts, design user interfaces, or draw freehand with other fellow designers.

ThemePress - ThemesPress is a service that allows you to automatically convert your HTML and CSS based design into a WordPress blog theme, allowing you to take full control of the look of your blog without having to know or bother with PHP.

My Cool Button - Make your button in only 4 steps.

StyleIgnite - StyleIgnite is useful for designers as a source of inspiration to help you design new layouts, graphics and techniques.

ColorSchemer - ColorSchemer Studio 2 is a professional color matching application for anyone from hobbyists to advanced professionals.

ColorJack - A color scheme gallery that explores color theory.

GrayBit - GrayBit is an online accessibility testing tool designed to visually convert a full-color web page into a grayscale rendition for the purpose of visually testing the page’s perceived contrast.

CSSRound - Cssround creates a text page with round corner in 10 seconds.

Bradicon - Bradicon takes your image file and converts it into an icon resource that can be used for a shortcut, a program, or as a favicon.

TabCreatr - TabCreatr.com is an application that allows you to create your own tabs and Css menus.

Text2PNG - text2PNG.com provide webmasters with the ability to convert their website headlines and navigations to PNG images automaticlly.

Glassy Buttons - This is a free online glass button generator that let you create custom glassy style buttons.

ColorCombos - This site was built to help web developers quickly select and test website color combinations. Surely you will find the perfect color combination for your project.

Artypapers Buttons - Artypapers Buttons are small buttons you can collect for display on your website. So far there are 19 buttons.

Gradient Image Maker - This is an online tool that allow you to painlessly generate a gradient image of 3 types, with instant previewing so you get exactly what you had in mind.

EmChart - EmChart is very useful for calculating bottom margins, line-heights (which are unitless, but the formula still applies), top margins, and top/bottom padding among other things.

HTM2PDF - This site is a service to convert webpages or raw html code into PDF documents.

ConvertIcon - Converticon is a simple icon utility.  It can import ICO, PNG, GIF, and JPEG formats and export to high-quality PNG or ICO files.

FontStruct - Is a free font-building tool that lets you quickly and easily create fonts constructed out of geometrical shapes, which are arranged in a grid pattern, like tiles or bricks.

Vector Magic - Convert bitmap images to vector images with a few simple clicks. Just upload your image and Vector Magic will vectorize it for you.

Form Style Generator – Create your own CSS-styled Web forms in only 3 steps.

Wordoff - Wordoff is simple and useful web tool that lets you remove unnecessary tags and styles from HTML code.

AjaxLoad - This site will help you generate AJAX load icon for your project.

Splashup - Splashup is a powerful editing tool and photo manager. With the features professionals use and novices want, it’s easy to use, works in real-time and allows you to edit many images at once.

Resize Image - This free service will help you to re-size your images with basic and advanced options.

Lorem 2 - This tool provides you with an “all around better Lorem experience.” It contains short paragraphs, long paragraphs, short list items and long list items to use in your wireframes.

CSS Drop-Down Menu Framework - A cross-browser, modular framework that contains 14 customizable templates for designing drop-down-menus.

Validation Hint - Validation Hints is a simple script that aides in form validation. It makes sure that password and username fields are the specified length, and can even validate against regular expressions. Small and handy

Graph Paper - This graph paper is made for visual designers, interactive designers and information architects. You’ll find styles for wireframing user interfaces, storyboarding interaction and plotting values on a two-by-two grid.

Fixed-Width CSS Layouts - There are a total of 53 fixed-width CSS layouts for downloading. All markup has been validated against a strict Doctype.

Dojo - Ajax, events, packaging, CSS-based querying, animations, JSON, language utilities, and a lot more.

Mini Ajax - Mini Ajax is a showroom of nice looking simple downloadable DHTML and AJAX scripts.

Firebug - Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of web development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.

There is no official standard for what makes something “Web 2.0”, but there certainly are a few tell-​tale signs. These new sites usually feature modern web technologies like Ajax and often have something to do with building online commu­nities. But even more charac­ter­istic among these brands is their appearance. Web 2.0 sites nearly always feel open and friendly and often use small chunks of large type. The colors are bright and cheery — lots of blue, orange, and what we jokingly call the Official Color of Web 2.0: lime green.

You can see some of these striking common­al­ities in Ludwig Gatzke’s compi­lation of nearly 400 Web 2.0 logos. Read on for a breakdown of the fonts used in a few of our favorite brands.

The Softies

A clear trend in new identities is the use of soft, rounded sans serifs dominated by VAG Rounded (AKA Rundschrift), but also including Helvetica Rounded, Arial Rounded, Bryant, and FF Cocon. All of these lend a modern friend­liness to what might otherwise be a cold trademark.

Oct. 2008 Update — New and underused fonts in this category: Foco, Tondo, FF Netto, Estilo Text, and FF Unit Rounded.

	ClipShack — video sharing Font: VAG Rounded and Light obliqued
	Zimbra — collab­o­rative calendar Font: VAG Rounded Light
	Wayfaring — custom Google Maps Font: VAG Rounded (fattened with added stroke)
	Kajeet — mobile phone service Font: VAG Rounded (custom ‘j’)
	Zopa — lending exchange Font: similar to Frank­furter Medium or Bryant Bold Alt
	Pando — file sharing Font: similar to Bryant Medium Alt
	MySpace — social networking Font: Arial Rounded Bold and Bell Gothic Black
	Track­sLife — personal database Font: Arial Rounded Bold
	Eventful — collab­o­rative calendar Font: Arial Rounded Bold (slightly smooshed)
	Spongecell — collab­o­rative calendar Font: Arial Rounded Extra Bold
	Skype — internet telephony Font: Helvetica Rounded Bold
	ShoZu — photo sharing Font: FF Cocon Bold
	Tabblo and Tabblog — photo sharing Font: FF Cocon Bold

The Futurists

Some sites are reflecting the techno­logical break­throughs of Web 2.0 with a look that says “tomorrow’s techno”. Pixel faces, hard edges, and ultra simplified forms are not as common as the cozy shapes from the group above, but they represent a good portion of the latest internet startups.

Oct. 2008 Update — New and underused fonts in this category: FS Sinclair, FS Alvar, FF Cube, FF Netto, Sys, Notes Style, Purista, Stratum, Neutraliser, ITC Tetra, Stainless, Atrament

	Last.fm — musical social network Font: ITC Ronda (customized) Alternate: Avernus
	Photo­bucket — photo hosting Font: Digital Sans Medium
	Plazes — geographical networking Font: Base 9 Regular SC
	NewsGator — RSS aggre­gator Font: ITC Bauhaus Medium
	ReminderFeed — reminders via RSS Font: FF Dot Matrix Two Regular
	Technorati — weblog search tool Font: Neo Sans Medium
	TagWorld — social networking Font: Handel Gothic Bold
	Shoutwire — news sharing Font: Agency Bold

The Classics

Safe standbys like Trade and News Gothic, Frutiger, Avenir, Inter­state, FF Meta, FF DIN, and the always ubiquitous Helvetica continue to see use in new web logos.

Oct. 2008 Update — Using uncommon alter­na­tives to classic typefaces can ensure a logo is unique. Here are a few new or underused alts to the standards:

• Trade Gothic → Spiegel, Benton Sans, Brown Gothic
• Frutiger → Locator, FF Transit, Vialog
• Futura → FF Super Grotesk, Neuzeit Grotesk, Nobel
• FF DIN → Malmö Sans, Magion, Sophisto, Antago­metrica, FF Good
• Helvetica → see Alter­na­tives to Helvetica

	Xanga — weblog community Font: Trade Gothic No. 2 Bold and Light
	FeedBurner — RSS optimization and tracking Font: Trade Gothic Bold
	Newsvine — news sharing Font: FF Meta Bold and Book
	Stand­Point — belief sharing Font: FF DIN Medium
	DropSend — file sharing Font: Frutiger Bold
	Flickr — photo sharing Font: Frutiger Black
	PureV­olume — music promotion Font: Avenir Book and Medium
	Shutterfly — photo service Font: Avenir Heavy (customized)
	9rules — web design network Font: Helvetica Bold
	PODZINGER — podcast search Font: Inter­state Black
	Campfire — group chat Font: Inter­state Regular
	YouTube — video sharing Font: Alternate Gothic No. Two
	Bloglines — news aggre­gator Font: ITC Officina Bold
	Weblogs, Inc. — blog network Font: Syntax Bold
	Wikipedia — collab­o­rative reference Font: Hoefler Text

New Classics

Just as there will always be trends, there will also be those designers who break from them. The following logotypes eschew the popular styles mentioned above and use new typefaces that have the potential to become timeless classics. The typeface is then used throughout the site in headers and graphics. It’s a great way to reinforce a brand and set it apart:

	Socialtext — enter­prise wiki Font: Lisboa Sans
	Facebook — social networking Font: Klavika (customized) Also: cards with Vista Sans
	Joyent — small business server Font: Proxima Nova (alt ‘a’) Not a logo, but we love Joyent’s use of Proxima — a new face that feels familiar but has its own character.

Ad spot is very important, better to place your ad on a single billboard instead of sharing with other ads. Sometime other ads do affect your ad. Check out more after the break..

More at Oddee.

[via Neatorama]

The 50 startup presentations are over, the judges votes are in, Michael and Jason chewed over the top contenders, and the winner of this year’s TechCrunch50 is RedBeacon. The startup aims to help consumers find local service providers such as plumbers, bakers, and contractors. As we described in our initial write-up:

RedBeacon is a new service making its public debut today at TechCrunch50 that further streamlines this process by bringing the OpenTable model of online transactions to much broader spectrum of services.

Using the site will be easy for anyone who has used a local review service like Yelp. Simply type whatever service you’re looking for (be it plumber, gardener, or hair stylist), and the site will present a list of recommended service providers in your area. RedBeacon also employees natural language processing so it can figure out exactly what you’re looking for (for example, “Cupcake maker” would search for any bakers in the area). The site will then present a list of profiles for each match, featuring reviews and comments from other users, basic information like their hours, and star reviews imported from Yelp.

The founders of RedBeacon—Ethan Anderson, Yaron Binur, and Aaron Lee—are former Google product managers and engineers.

This year’s TechCrunch50 was much closer than in previous years, with the quality level of the companies being high across the board. The three runners up for the top TechCrunch50 prize are Threadsy, AnyClip, and CitySourced.

The best presentation goes to iMo, and the best international goes to Trollim

Email. Twitter. Instant Messaging. Facebook. Those are just four of the most popular ways to communicate online. And actually, the average 23-year-old has 6 different accounts that they check for messages each day. Maintaining and keeping up with that is either basically impossible, or flat-out impossible. That’s where Threadsy comes in.

Launching its large beta today at TechCrunch50 as a free web app, Threadsy wants to take all of your online communication and shove it into a single service. All of the messages directed at you (email and Twitter @replies, for exmaple) will be put into a single stream of message, called the “inbound” column. Meanwhile, all of the activity streams that you simply follow (Twitter, Facebook, etc), will be put into a single activity stream, the “unbound” stream. The result is one service to rule them all.

The great thing about this is that you no longer have to sign into multiple accounts while remembering who is trying to communicate with you. Everyone also has a profile on Threadsy which shows all the social networks you reside on.

While the thought of putting all of your communication in one place is nice, quantity will obviously be an issue. But Threadsy is more than just communication aggregation, it also promises to provide deep context about the people you are communicating with, so you can filter and manage the stream. You can also filter by the type of service (for example, only seeing tweets or Facebook messages).

In terms of monetization, like a lot of other communication platforms, Threadsy will show contextual advertisements. But the service says that unlike something like Gmail, it won’t always show them, and instead will only do so when it could actually help the user.

Threadsy currently looks at over 40 social sites on the web to get this information. CEO Rob Goldman and VP of Engineering Udi Nir demoed the app today at the event.

Expert Panel Q&A (paraphrased)

The experts: Robert Scoble, Sean Parker, Dick Costolo, Reid Hoffman, Mike Schroepfer, Chamillionaire

RS: I think this is great for me. But are there enough people who will care about this? But I want it right now!

RG: That’s a great point, we followed FriendFeed closely, but we’re trying to pull all the information that’s required.

DC: This is the PIMP problem (personal information management). I like that this tackles that aspect of day to day problems.

RH: It’s a good communications platform but Google has tried this before. It’s a tough challenge.

SP: It’s beautifully built, but this is a huge challenge. But this looks very good and clean. I’m not a user of something like this, because this is more for power-users, and I don’t think all inboxes are created equal. A Facebook message is lighter than a regular email, and Twitter even less.

RS: How do you make money off the stream?

RG: We think current webmail misses the mark by focusing on low value ads across all message. We only want to focus on 2, 3, or 4 percent of your messages.

RS: What about hooking up with Tumblr or Posterous for curation?

RG: It’s exciting to see what people do with this.

MA: So FriendFeed is dead to your Robert, is this it?

RS: Maybe.

C: It definitely depends on how it feels when you try it out. I feel like I’m cheating on my MySpace, so I think this is brilliant. How safe is this though? Everyone could get everything if they got into your account.

A lot of people use Twitter to have conversations with others, but that’s not really what it was built for. Initially, Twitter was just supposed to be a place to update what you are doing; the @reply only came around because people started using it to direct a conversation at another user. Now conversations are one of the most interesting things about Twitter, and a new startup launching in private beta today at TechCrunch50, Lissn, wants to build a new platform from the ground up with conversations in mind.

If you’ve seen the video demos or had a chance to use Google Wave at all, Lissn may seem familiar — it has the same type of real-time conversation aspect. The difference, of course, is that this is the main function of Lissn, while Wave is trying to be a lot of different things wrapped into one. Lissn is all about having conversations with people, and allows others to watch, and join in as they’d like.

And because anyone can join in on these conversation threads, Lissn can tell what the most popular topics being talked about are. And it highlights those for other users to see, and lets them get involved in the conversations too. You also have friends on the service, and you can see what conversations your friends are engaged in, and can decide whether or not you want to join them too.

Lissn also automatically translates conversations in your native language, using Google Translate.

There is also a location-based element to the service. Using your IP address (or manually putting in a city) you can see the conversations happening around that area.

Another service that has similar conversation capabilities is FriendFeed. Of course, the future outlook for that service is murky since Facebook recently acquired them. And FriendFeed also had many more features such as aggregation of social data, Lissn is just about conversations, keeping it simple.

As for a business model, Lissn will show ads based on keywords within conversations, just like Google does in Gmail.

Expert Panel Q&A (paraphrased)

The experts: Robert Scoble, Sean Parker, Dick Costolo, Reid Hoffman, Mike Schroepfer, Chamillionaire

Q: Dick, you’re working for Twitter now, what do you think?

DC: I like it but on the business side, Google Ads isn’t going to work. Random conversations are hard to monetize. But I like the idea of sponsored conversations. This is kind of like Twitter meets Get Satisfaction.

RS: Conversations are interesting, but I’m not sure I see enough that pulls me in here. Why would I leave Twitter to come here.

MA: Twitter is all about short conversations, this takes that idea and extends it to longer conversations.

RS: So why is this different from FriendFeed and soon Facebook?

DC: I’ll answer this, and I want shares in the company (kidding). The answer there is the local conversation. People looking for a good pizza place in Noe Valley, etc. This is an interesting vehicle, for I want to ask questions in a local context.

MS: I think there is a big separation between big conversations and the local conversations. You need to think about how to separate those out. The local conversation has to be colored by your social network, I think. It’s about your friends.

RS: That was a huge problem with FriendFeed too. With too many people participating, there’s just too much.

C: Right, how many people can have a conversation? Like a trending conversation on Twitter, you can go back so far, to so many message.

MA: Yeah, it’s mostly about live conversations. But it’s also interesting to just listen, especially what celebrities have to say.

Myke Armstrong showed off the demo of listen today at the conference.

It’s a sad fact of life that many of the most insightful and helpful people on the web (and in real life, for that matter) aren’t financially rewarded for their efforts — they may well be satisfied with the good they’ve done, but that doesn’t help to pay the rent. The Whuffie Bank, a new non-profit organization that’s launching today at TechCrunch50, wants to fix this by launching a new currency that rewards people for their positive contributions on the web.

The startup is hoping to promote change in the web by rewarding users with a positive impact on the web with this karma-like digital currency. The service will monitor your activity across various websites, including things like comments, posts, and more. When you complete positive actions, you gain Whuffies, and you lose them when you do something that the organization deems to be detrimental. The company hopes that as we use the web more and more in our day-to-day life this positivity will extend beyond the web.

To get started you enter your username on Twitter (Facebook support will be coming). The site displays how many Whuffies you have, along with a graph of your progress over time. The site ranks its users by Whuffies, in the hopes of helping surface the top users in different fields.

The algorithm takes into account ‘public endorsements’, or the number of times a user’s tweets are retweeted, or a Facebook post is Liked. It also takes into account who is making the endorsement, and the content in the messages that are being posted. You can make offers to other users using Whuffies as payment (for example, I could ask someone to help me draw a logo, offering 100 Whuffies as payment).

The company says it was inspired by the Creative Common nonprofit model. The name comes from Cory Doctorow’s book Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.

Q&A with panelists Dick Costolo, Reid Hoffman, Sean Parker, Mike Schroepfer, Chamillionaire, and Robert Scoble:
RH: The problem with this kind of currency is you need banking system… There are people on the web whose political views mean nothing to me. This will be very difficult, but as a concept I think it’s cool.
DC: I was thinking about Reid’s comment and the interesting thing about virtual currencies is that even when they’re not scarce, you can make people think they’re scarce. In Zynga, chips cost a certain amount of money. It’s a challenge to incite scarcity, but you can do it. We’ve seen things like this before.
Chamillionaire: I want to hear in one line, what do I get? Seems like a lot of work..
A: We try to have ways to detect people who are trying to exploit the system. This project isn’t sustained on accumulation of work or capital. In order to be wealthy, you have to be respected by other people that are important.
Calacanis: Mike, doesn’t Facebook have a social currency going on that’s unspoken?
MS: I think the devil is in the details. It depends on context. I could say they have lots of likes and comments. It means they post interesting things, but what does that mean.
A: Purpose of making this non-profit. Guaranteed that it would make this independent of any social platform out there, ensures transparency.

Images