Friedbeef’s Tech

Web 2.0 private betas seem to be the ‘in-thing’ nowadays.  GMail and Joost were incredibly successful examples of services which built up so much hype due to its endless demand and (at the time) extremely short supply, and now everyone wants to have the same model.

While this tactic generates lots of attention due to word of mouth, and capitalizes on the fact that we all want what we can’t have…the problem was that you have to know someone who:

1. is already using the service you want
2. has invites to spare

This is easier said than done - especially with more obscure (but good) web services. 

The usual method is to scour forums, search engines, and blogs just for a chance to ask for an invite.  Well now,  InviteShare has come up with a community where people gather and help each other get invites to exclusive private betas for free!

The concept is simple.  If you need an invite to a particular service, just add yourself to the waiting list, someone from the community will pass you any spare invites they have. 

If you have invites of your own, you can also help others out.  The more invites you hand out to the community, the higher priority you get when it comes to new invites which you are seeking.  In short - share more, gain more.

It currently covers 48 different private betas ranging from the more popular ones like Joost and Pownce, to lesser known ones like Grooveshark and Bubbletop.

With a robust community which has so far recruited more than 46,000 users and sent out 54,000 invites since July 2007, it’s a model that certainly works, and is worth signing up for.

(Inviteshare.com)

Which Web 2.0 private betas have you been wanting to try?  Tell us in the comments!

[tags] web 2.0, invites, inviteshare [/tags]

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Many people consider all PDF files as unbreakable documents set in stone.  They couldn’t be more wrong.  

PDF Tools is a free piece of software that can make all kinds of modifications to a PDF file.  My top 10 favourite key features include the ability to:

1. Merge two or more PDF files into a single PDF file.
2. Extract, split, from a PDF file into a new file
3. Reorder pages in a PDF file
4. Encrypt or Decrypt PDF documents to prevent PDF files from being printed, copied, or changed.
5. Rotate a PDF page by 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees
6. Put multiple pages into one page to save paper and inks when printing hard copies, and add note lines for handouts 
7. Add Headers and Footers to the PDF file, such as date, time, page numbers, or the title of the document, in the top or bottom margins of a document
8. Add image or text watermarks
9. Convert Images and Text to PDF 
10. Save PDF pages into images

PDF Tools is free, and also comes with PDF Editor - a shareware tool used for more advanced PDF editing.

[tags] pdf, adobe, pdf editor, pdf converter [/tags]

What other PDF tips and tools do you know about? Tell us in the comments!

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Too many people who have 3G phones - don’t use 3G. 

It’s disappointing that too few carriers worldwide have bothered to expose free services to their subscribers - that actually drive interest in the service, preferring instead for consumers to move about in their Internet Walled Garden. 

I’m starting a series of posts that will take you through some of the best mobile web applications out there so you can give your phone a fair shake.

WidSets - The Best Slices of the Internet on Your Phone

Widgets have expanded from your desktop (Macs/Konfabulator), to the web (Pageflakes/iGoogle), and now they can be found on your phone!  

Widsets is a service which serves up widgets specifically designed for a phone.  It currently has thousands of widgets up for selection ranging from traffic alerts, news, blogs, gossip, restaurant reviews, weather reports, and if you don’t find what you’re looking for -  it has a studio for you to create you own widget!

My favourites - a Flickr widget which enables quick access to photos, a Wikipedia widget for looking things really quickly, and the TechCrunch widget - which allows me to get my tech news fix daily. 

One thing I can appreciate about surfing via WidSets, is that all the content is formatted for mobile - which means quick loading, intuitive interaction, and no horizontal scrolling needed. 

Kyte.tv - Broadcast Live Streams From Your Phone

Kyte.tv lets you create your own live TV shows and broadcast to your blog, website, or any medium which supports it.  You can either choose to upload a video or do some live streaming from your mobile phone.

You don’t need fancy hosting, bandwidth, or audio/video equipment to have your own live show, or even a lot of technical knowledge.  I managed to start my own TV station on Kyte.tv in a matter of clicks, and trust me - it is really simple.

If you’re not the kind of person who’s into creating your own TV show, Kyte.tv also offers access to a whole library of featured and user generated content.  Everything streams directly to your device without having to download the media file.  At this point, the content offerings aren’t very extensive  yet offering mainly video podcasts, but it has a few big names like Robert Scobble onboard which makes for some good viewing.

You also don’t need to be broadcasting video.  You can push out photos, audio, text, or anything else you want to share with the world from your mobile to your website.

Join us soon for the next installment of ‘On-The-Go - the best mobile web apps reviewed’

Special thanks to David Lian, for loaning me a Nokia N93i (this phone rocks) for a couple of months to do this writeup.  No - this post is not sponsored by Nokia.

[tags] mobile, kyte, widsets, widgets, phone [/tags]

What are your favourite mobile applications?  Let us know in the comments!

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