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Miniclip was launched in 2000 by Robert Small and is reported to have about 50 million unique visitors per month. Miniclip has several games users can play online either using Flash or Shockwave technology. Miniclip is claimed to have one of the widest selections of games on the internet and they even offer games in every category possible such as brain training, political, retro and even current events like the US Election 2008. Apart from gaming, they also provide cartoons and e-cards. Users can create their own characters to play the games with. The website has a clean-looking interface and is available in more than 10 languages. Most games can be played without having to register, but their most popular game, Club Penguin, requires people to sign up due to strong parental controls (since the game is meant for children).

Meebo is a free online application which offers instant messaging service to its users through multiple instant messaging platforms. Launched in September 2005, Meebo can be accessed anywhere either from a public computer or on a mobile phone. Users can connect from Meebo.com to AOL’s AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, and MSN Messenger. One distinct feature of Meebo is that it automatically saves all your message history so that you can still check your previous conversations even logging after a week. Meebo has a sleek interface and uses separate pop-up windows for chats. Other cool touches include a typing indicator and a time stamp. Though Meebo doesn’t require registration, being a registered user will get you some added functionality such as having single sign-on for all of your IM accounts, saving chat logs, storing conversations and adding personalized touches such as icons and skins to the application.

Amie Street is a social network service and, at the same time, an indie online music store created by Elliott Breece, Elias Roman, and Joshua Boltuch in 2006. Artists can upload tracks on the site for other users to purchase (although many of the songs on the website are also for free). Popularity sets the price of the song. The price of a track starts at zero upon upload but then increases based on demand and popularity (the maximum price any song will rise to is 98¢ and artists get 70% of the revenue Amie Street makes). In terms of social networking, users can connect with fellow users through the “friend” feature wherein “friends” are categorized according to musical interests.

Having launched in 2003 and being one of the older social networking sites in cyberspace, Linkedin is designed to be a social networking site for professionals and business people. It lets people keep in contact with colleagues and former workmates while collaborating with other people who are in the same industry as they are. With over 8.5 million users, Linkedin lets users write their profiles and also help them search other people’s profiles. It is different from Facebook or Myspace since its service is targeted to the business and professional market. In short, Linkedin is purely business that is why people often use it to scout for possible jobs or to search for other suitable professionals.

Introduced by 37 Signals in February 2004, Basecamp is an online project management software which lets users create, manage and communicate tasks, files and other to-do lists. A project can include To-Dos, Messages, Files, Milestones and People. Basecamp users can easily create a new project within minutes and those users who are currently working on a project will get an email notification once a new post is added to a project. First-time users will have no problems working with Basecamp since it’s one of the easiest project management tools to use. Users can try out the introductory plan for free (one project; no file uploads) while those who would want to continue using Basecamp can avail of different plans ranging from $19-$59 per month.

Everyone loves a holiday vacation, but sometimes the hassle of planning a trip is already enough to make the giddy traveler back out. Good thing there’s TripIt, a free personal travel assistant web application that was created to make organizing hotel bookings, car rentals and restaurant reservations easy as abc. Launched on September 17, 2007, TripIt allows users to email their travel plans to its service and a master itinerary of their travel plans will be created regardless of where the bookings were made. Users can also share, print and access their travel details from anywhere they want. Other features include mobile access, online check-in, weather forecasts, and many more. With TripIt, arranging for a vacation or business travel will certainly be a smooth ride.