What was and lost about technology services in 2007

The year of 2007 is about to pass, the world of technology has witnessed many successful services but also many failures and misses from manufacturers.

Part 1: The ones that are

* Facebook platform

Facebook's new open platform underpins the right direction when it comes to giving users more authority and also generating higher income for developers. Although there are still unnecessary applications on Facebook, but this social network has created a relatively solid foundation for social applications, something that never existed before.

* Google Gears

This platform allows developers to write Web applications that work offline. Although still primitive, it is an important step in the right direction that allows users to use 2.0 applications whenever they need it. So far there are only a few really complete applications, such as Google Reader, Zoho Writer, and Remember The Milk.

According to the assessment, with the development of the API and the support from Google, Gears will become a standard part of new Web applications in 2008.

* Adobe AIR

AIR lets developers Flash separate applications from the Web and put them on the user's desktop. Since the release of the test version in late March 2007, AIR has attracted the attention of developers and users. Many interesting applications have been created. Like Google Gear, AIR is a key technology in developing "hybrid" applications - a type of Web service that can work at any time, even without an Internet connection. The special power of AIR is that it does not depend on the browser, and operates independently like a real desktop program.

* Twitter

As one of the first mini-blogging platforms, Twitter has moved in the right direction of a social application. It seems simple but not too simple and very interesting.

* Ning 2.0

Published in February 2007, Ning v2.0 gave users the opportunity to create their own social network with a series of highly focused and personalized modules. Anyone can use Ning to create a simple, useful virtual social network of their own without having knowledge of code.

* Google Maps

This year, Google proved to be quite busy with its map project. Since its launch in early 2005, the Google Maps service has been constantly updated, but the most prominent is still this year with a series of useful upgrades added. Useful features include: MyMaps - allows you to create your own maps with very easy to use icons; StreetView - create street maps and 3D buildings; Features direct traffic view .

* Hulu

Mainly for TV shows, movies, music and many other types of videos in a simple Flash format. Although still in beta form, users are still very impressed with Hulu. The service is adding the ability to support high-definition video (HD) to serve film transferers across peer-to-peer sharing networks.

* Flock

A long time Flock was excluded from the browser world. However, the popularity of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter has brought Flock a new value. Flock's strength is the integration of social networks and publishing tools. Users do not have to worry about missing plug-ins, because nearly all extensions that work with Firefox are compatible with Flock.

* Picnik

There are times when you really need Photoshop, or a program to edit photos. Today there are many solutions to edit photos on the Web platform, while helping bring convenience, not having to install software. And Picnik is one of these handy solutions.

Van Han