A discussion of some of my most used cloud-based services.

1. Web 2.0 & Online Communities, Summer School 2011
Day 13: Virtual worlds / Good shit

2. This week (Week 5!)
Tuesday (day 13):
– Virtual worlds (with Melanie)
– Some of my favourite services
Wednesday (day 14):
– SecondLife community investigation
Thursday (day 15):
– The mobile social internet
Miscellany:
– Blog assignment 3 marks (shortly)
– We have our judges (dragons)
– Project: Pretty much finished!
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3. Next week (Week 6–OMG!)
Tuesday (day 16):
– Internet as religious recruiting ground
– Copyright & creative commons
Wednesday (day 17):
– Pitches to dragons
Thursday (day 18):
– Summary of everything
– Exam prep & goodbyes
Miscellany:
– Project: Present & submit
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4. Part 2: Cool shit
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5. What is a CMS?
Actually a “WCMS”
Enables online content submission with no
technical knowledge
Makes website administration far simpler:
– Offers access control options, journalling, etc.
– Social media options bundled in by default
– Includes design templates
Typically a scripting language (e.g., PHP) & a
database (e.g., MySQL)
Examples: Joomla, Drupal, Silverstripe, ...
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6. Weebly.com
Simple content management system (CMS)
Remotely hosted (US)
Drag ‘n’ drop interface (elements, themes)
It is Free
Access to HTML & CSS
Commerce options
Competitors: Wix.com, Yola.com
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8. IWantMyName.com
NZ‐based domain registrar
Set “A” DNS record to point to service (e.g.,
Weebly, Tumblr, ...)
Simple, elegant (cf. GoDaddy.com )
Friendly & responsive support (e.g., Twitter)
Setup to connect with social media
Domain prices compare favourably
... & iPhone app
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12. Dropbox.com
Cloud‐based data storage:
– 2GB (free)
– Up to 100GB ($9.99/$19.99 per month)
Automatic change detection & backups
Allows for collaboration & sharing
Sync files of any size or type (Win/Mac/Linux)
Range of mobile apps
Competitors: box.net, mozy.com
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13. Twitterfeed.com
Automatically generate tweets from RSS feeds
Free or donation
Advanced editing features:
– Prefix/suffix
– Filtering
– Limiting
Set & forget <‐ problem any here?
Example feeds: Google news, news media,
topical sites, Yahoo pipes, ...
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18. pixlr.com & screenr.com
Cloud‐based image editor & screen caster
What’s the advantage?
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19. Some others
Pocketsmith.com
– Calendar based financial planning app
Mailchimp.com
– Publish and manage email newsletters
Bandcamp.com
– Free music distribution for artists
Invoicemachine.com
– Create and manage invoices for freelancers
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20. Any recommendations?
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21. The End
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