I figure I’d compile a list of websites / services that have caught my attention recently.  These are sites that cover a variety of topics and uses.  Hopefully I can introduce you to something of interest…

…and don’t worry…there is nothing in here that starts with the letters “T-W-I-T”

Screentoaster | www.screentoaster.com
record your screen activity

Have you ever wanted to record your screen activity?  Well, even if you haven’t, take a look at Screentoaster and you might just find a reason.  With a super-simple, virtually download-free setup, you will be producing online screencasts in no time.  You can even make a quick vid for your mom showing her how to check her email.  Screentoaster is still in beta, so go fetch yourself an invite, and start “toasting”.

Favtape | www.favtape.com
create online “mix tapes”

Straight outta San Diego comes an online mecca for creating online “mix tapes”.  A perfect place to listen to your own unique brand of music.  Favtape even gives you the option of importing your Last.fm and/or Pandora playlists, putting you in charge of your virtual turntable (aka mouse and keyboard).  With the ability to “tweet-out” what you’re listening to over your social networks, it adds a nice touch of sociability to your tuneage consumption.  Highly recommend checking out.

Grader.com | www.grader.com
what is your internet grade?

The guys at Hubspot have developed an extremely useful marketing tool for your website, press releases, and twitter profile.  Most famous for its Twitter Grader (www.twitter.grader.com), Hubspot allows you to explore your Twitter ranking, those with similar interests, and who’s who in your neck of the woods.  Using their website grader (www.website.grader.com) is extremely useful for those of us who are looking to increase its traffic and effectiveness to our website(s) (and who isn’t?).  Check it out, these guys are out to help you.

Posterous | www.posterous.com
post blogs/tweets through email

A must for all bloggers.  Posterous is a clever service that allows you to blog from anywhere that you have email access.  Simply email post@posterous.com and it will instantly create a blog post, where the email’s subject becomes the post’s title and the body of the email becomes the body of the blog post.  Set it up to your Twitter account and your smartphone becomes a tweet machine.  Very cool and I guarantee you will use it from time to time.

Dropbox | www.getdropbox.com
sync files, stay ‘live’

Receiving a bunch of press and recently nominated for the 2008 ‘Crunchies’, comes Dropbox,  a tool for syncing files across multiple computers.  Dropbox wants to ensure that your files remain syced up despite any editing or mistaken deletions.  Very cool and seamless product.  Check out the their video, and you will realize why something like this is so useful.  “It just works.”

Animoto | www.animoto.com
create sweet slideshows

Do you have a bunch of photos?  Do you want to do something cool with them?  Enter Animoto.  A pain free way to produce a cool slideshow of your digital memories.  Created by tv and film producers, Animoto gives you the professional and stylish look that you wouldn’t be able to achieve by yourself.  Leave it to the pros, upload your images, and create a masterpiece.

Isn’t it frustrating to see a particular domain name being literally wasted?  The scenario is all too familiar, and it goes something like this…

You set out to register a domain name and  eagerly check its availability.  “Status: ALREADY TAKEN”.  You may try another variation.  Again, “Status: ALREADY TAKEN”.  Out of curiosity / frustration you may visit the particular site(s) in question only to find out that it is either:
a) an untouched “parked” site
b) under construction (no content)
c) a promotional landing page linking to hundreds of websites
d) a website that hasn’t been updated since 2001
e) absolute bullshit

Well, (e) is completely subjective, so we can scratch that from the list.

The point of this post is to raise the question of regulation on the web, with regards to the registration and maintenance of domain names.  This “regulation” (and I hate to use the word regulation) has nothing to do with the actual content on the website, but has everything to do with how the owner maintains, updates, and most importantly, adds value with their website.  In other words, we must look at how a particular domain name assists in distributing information and contributes to the betterment of the World Wide Web.  I am a huge proponent of the web and what it stands for.  Trust me, I believe that the web should be kept as open as possible, be accessible to anyone, and continue to operate in this fashion.

But I do believe we are at a time where the web can make small strides in gaining a bit of legitimacy and/or efficiency.  Obviously, the nature of the web excludes itself from ever being completely legitimate, and quite frankly, I think we are all fine with that.  But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least get closer.  The internet is maturing before our eyes, and we must follow suite with more mature guidelines.  We are past the days of the late 90’s dot-com boom; the internet users today expect more than ever, and rightfully so.  Let’s attempt to create a platform of more value.

I suggest we start by enforcing simple guidelines and parameters that domain name owners must fulfill in order to keep ownership of their domain name.  A few standards would include:

• Each domain name must be hosted and online within 6 months of purchase.
• Website content cannot remain stagnant for more than 1 month.

whereas,

Faulting on these parameters would result in the loss of the domain name, making it open to the public.

These straightforward guidelines would accomplish a number of things.  It would remove a large majority of internet clutter.  It would prevent impulsive domain name shopping/hoarding.  And best of all, it would give internet traffic confidence that the websites they visit are being maintained and updated regularly.

I’ll be the first to admit that I have a few domain names right now that aren’t doing anything.  At the same time, I can honestly say that if these guidelines were to be enforced tomorrow, I would happily surrender my shopping cart of URLs.