Some interesting Web 2.0 Tools reviewed
1) Slide.com - I came across this great piece of software quite by accident ( which is often the case!). I have recently joined a couple of E-Twinning Projects , and the main administrator, a teacher from Italy uses slide.com to showcase photographs of her pupils at work.
I completed the simple registration process and began, the upload process is a little slow ( perhaps my impatience!!). Once you have uploaded your images, there are a variety of different slide show combinations to choose from, with some extras to add that bit of bling to your show!
Once you save your slide show it generates the code which you can then copy and paste into your blog post ( there is a short guide to help with this process should you need it.
All in all I personally found this an easy and rewarding piece of software to use.

2) The link to FON came via Ewan McIntosh's blog report. FON is social web based community ( many thanks for note Ewan) . When you join FON €29.95 you will be sent their 'social router', this is a 54Mbps router which receives 2 network signals ( 1 public and 1 private encoded)
*** However as Ewan's Comment states - at present they have ***2500 FREE*** which can be received when a friend (FONero) invites you to join the community.

"Starting December 21st Foneros in Europe and the USA can invite their friends to join FON and receive a free La Fonera! If you have an active Access Point you are eligible to participate in our “Fonero Gets Fonero” campaign.

Martin Varsavsky, founder and CEO of FON, regards the "Fonero gets Fonero" campaign as a gift to the Community:

"It is Christmas time and we want to thank our loyal FONeros and reward their trust and commitment by offering them the opportunity to give new community members a Christmas present. At the same time, it is they who decide which friends they most want to surf with. In this way, they enlarge the community with FONspots in sought-after locations."

It’s easy and your friends get a La Fonera mailed to them free!
Click here for details!

Update: In Europe you will receive 1 invite at a time. When your friend activates La Fonera your next invite will appear!" from the FONera blog December 2006

The whole idea is that the socially aware owner will agree to share his open signal with other members of the FON community, there are 3 categories of FONero.
a)Linuses - FON router sharers who can make free use of any other FON router they come within range of
b) Aliens - FONero's who choose not to share and as a result pay €3per day access to any other FON router.
c) Bills - these are business users whose aim is to make money from their FON access points ( they receive 50% of the money that 'Aliens' spend at their access point. They are also able to advertise on their access point homepage.
The idea is that as the FONero network grows free wireless access will be available to users. This will be very useful in major urban centres. I am not sure how it will go in rural areas, I checked on the FONero Map of my local area- there is a FONero in Abergavenny, but only one.
Another problem which I know they have plans to sort out is that it is at present for windows users only ( not mac compatible yet!!- oh YES they are!!!.
** alterations just go to show that the web2.0 community is alive and on the case apologies for inaccuracies - they also mean that it is something that I will now certainly consider - as I am such a fan of FREE!!!



The field of Web 2.0 software grows weekly, but if you keep your ear to the ground and are willing to try a tool out there are still nuggets to be found.