The 10 Best Uses of Web Technology: So Far

Web Hosting Blogger Offers Best Uses of Web Technology

Paul S. Lalley

Of course everybody is going to have a different opinion on what constitutes “good” use of the web. “Good” is such a subjective word. So to clarify: by good I mean useful, important and even earth shaking. (Man, that gives me a lot of range.) So, in descending order from least to most important uses of web technology, your web hosting provider offers the following:

10. Take an ear test.

How likely are you to visit an audiologist this year for a hearing screen? Like zero? But the fact is, with the use of iPods, MP3 players and ear buds, we’re losing our hearing sooner. Hearing professionals see kids in their 20s coming in to be fitted for a hearing aid.

But what if you didn’t have to make an appointment? What if you have your hearing screened as you web surfed? Important note coming up: Sure, you can get a free hearing screen on line but don’t bet your future hearing on it. Consider it a tool that indicates just how quickly you need to see a hearing specialist.

Want a free hearing test? Here you go: Better  Hearing, (written test) Telecare Health and Freehearingtest.com.

9. Check that vision while you’re at it.

Same deal, here. These online tests are NOT a substitute for a trip to the eye doc, but they may indicate the need to make an appointment so use them as a tool and a means of gathering information. The Eye Digest, and for the kids preventBlindness.org.

8. Find your runaway puppy.

It’s a helpless feeling when your favorite family member, the family dog, goes missing. In the past, you could knock on doors, post flyers, put an ad in the classifieds and check in with community animal control. Those were pretty much your options but why not use the power of the web to get the word out. Use the web to tell the world your dog is missing; post pictures and identify a radius in which you think your beloved pet has roamed.

If you’re missing your Shi-Tzu, visit FindFido.com and get the whole world looking. Also, a great idea for a web site. This is the kind of horizon thinking that makes money on the web.

7. Wikipedia.

In theory, this is such a great idea and a noble experiment worthy of more than a passing reference.

Wikipedia was (is?) the opportunity to gather heaps of human knowledge, across disciplines, across borders and covering any topic under the sun. Wiki offers this potential.

Unfortunately, this great idea has been somewhat usurped by spammers, taggers, bigots, whack-jobs and web users with an axe to grind. There have also been reported cases of Wikipedia sabotage in which competitors go in, change data and make the original author’s thesis a pile of rubbish. What a surprise. People acting like idiots.

The potential is still there. These user-edited entries do have value and any Wikipedia contributor has to sign in, please. Of course, Dr. I. P. Daily can also do some editing, too.

The point? Wikipedia is one of those really great ideas and still could be. However, until the reliability of the information can be certified and the human lunacy stops, the uses of Wikipedia as a serious accumulation of world knowledge is suspect. Wikipedia.org.

6. The Open Directory Project

is open source information edited by volunteers. Companies, individuals, associations, game designers – anything with a pulse on the web wants a listing on the ODP. However, because the induction process is run by volunteers, and there’s a waiting line around the block, it might take a while to actually see you site listed.

Like Wikipedia, the quality of many of the listings within the ODP are suspect but that’s for the viewer to decide. You’ll find everything you want to know about toothaches to free shoot-‘em-up sites to pass the time waiting for the phone to ring.

Another reason to push your ODP submission along is that Google uses this as its default directory, unlike Yahoo that maintains its own, profitable directory. So, if your site is interesting enough, if it provides good quality, accurate information and it’s easy to navigate, your site just might make the cut and appear in the Open Directory Project, a tacit seal of approval. The Open Directory Project.

5. You Tube.

Yeah, first it was an idiot riding on the roof of a car or blowing smoke out of his ears, but today it’s become a major force in politics, news reportage, trends and turning ordinary people into worldwide superstars over night.

And this is just the beginning, folks. You Tube will expand its influence. No, Big Brother isn’t watching bit a lot of little brothers are. Assume you’re always being filmed. Comforting, ain’t it? You Tube.

4. Social Sites.

Another major change in the way the web is used. Everybody is a star. Everybody has a place in the world on the web – a place that represents them and everything about them.

You’ve got everybody from a gum-snapping teen-aged girl espousing the benefits of organic shampoos to business moguls speaking to company stockholders.

The two big social sites in the States are MySpace and FaceBook. If you’re looking for a European viewership, checkout bebo.com. FaceBook, MySpace and bebo.

3. Web MD.

With the cost of health care, it’s nice to log on, click through a bunch of symptoms and discover that you don’ have the Hanta Virus. This site has worked hard to maintain its integrity, though it does generate a bunch of ad revenues like you wouldn’t believe.

Even so, the advice is from professionals, not hacks cranking out words by the pound. It’s worth another mention, according to our legal department, that Web MD or any website is not a substitute for real-world medical treatment so go to a doctor if Web MD suggests you might be coming down with a bout of beriberi. It’s just one more (very good tool) in the dissemination of medical advice. WebMD.

2. Match making sites.

Okay, so I’m a romantic. It’s difficult to meet people in a world that moves at the speed of sound. In fact, much of our lives are spent in the matrix we call the web. Only occasionally do we venture into the real world of bills, kids and a case of beriberi you just can’t get rid of.

Yes, there’s a lot of cheese behind these mushy, kissy-kissy sites, but I don’t care. This is my list and I think finding ways to meet people and be happy counts for a lot. I think it’s called quality of life. So, I don’t know, maybe those happy couples you see on the TV are paid actors. With these sites the dream is always alive. eHarmony, Match, Chemistry.

1. Google.

There can be only one and it’s Google by a mile. Now, this search engine was the first. Yahoo introduced the first primitive search engine in 1994. It wasn’t much more than a list of categories with numbers in parenthesis to indicate that there were 64 links in the automotive folder. True, for you who don’t remember this first search engine.

But Google changed everything – the way sites are rated, ranked, banned, indexed – this search engine provided us with a road map and address book to equip us to find whatever we want in 1.5 seconds.

And this elephantine index is now, not only delivering the addresses of content, it’s become a content provider with the acquisition of You Tube and more content providers joining the Google team. The company knows that to survive, it has to provide content. Without, it will ultimately fragment and collapse. You just don’t use the yellow pages the way you used to. Same with Google. But worry not. This is one paradigm shift that’s here to stay. Google.

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