Emily Chang - My Data Stream

Wedding Planning Made Easier
Weddings can be a stressful time for the bride and groom (mostly the bride), and the entire project can seem overwhelming, especially when trying to balance expectations, ambitions, and limited budgets. Luckily for them, the web is here to help, with many useful tools that engaged couples (and occasionally, their families and friends) can rely on to make the process much smoother. Unluckily for them, the wedding industry is also a minefield of advertising gimmicks, with as many ploys to get couples to spend as much as possible in as little time as possible. I've tried to keep this list focused on less commercial sites, and where necessary, inform if a paid investment is worth the money.

Wedding Planning Made Easier
(By Kim Lau) Weddings can be a stressful time for the bride and groom (mostly the bride), and the entire project can seem overwhelming, especially when trying to balance expectations, ambitions, and limited budgets. Luckily for them, the web is here to help, with many useful tools that engaged couples (and occasionally, their families and friends) can rely on to make the process much smoother. Unluckily for them, the wedding industry is also a minefield of advertising gimmicks, with as many ploys to get couples to spend as much as possible in as little time as possible. I've tried to keep this list focused on less commercial sites, and where necessary, inform if a paid investment is worth the money.

Structure 08

iWidgets
Create custom widgets for your website or your brand with iWidget. Using their online wizard, you can easily create widgets that your website visitors or customers can add to their iGoogle start page, Facebook profile, or their own blog. Your widget is customizable by your users so that it fits right in with their design. iWidgets only charges for promotion. Other services are free.

WorldWideScience.org
Search 44 different science portals from different 32 countries. Works to speed access to current science research from many sources and is aimed at both citizens and scientists alike. Users get the most current findings in fields such as energy, medicine, agriculture, environment, and basic sciences, published by contributing nations.

MagCloud
Web 2.0 just made it easier to publish your own magazine. With MagCloud, you upload a pdf file and set the subscription price, and the rest is taken care of for you. That means no worrying about printing, mailing, or managing subscriptions. MagCloud is currently in beta. Anyone can create an account to view and purchase magazines. Publishers must apply via the MagCloud website.

EmailtoID
A simple mapping service that enables the use of email addresses as OpenID identifiers.

Top Twitter Users Over Time
Using data from The StatBot again I?ve built some graphs detailing usage of the top twitter users over the May 2006- May 2008 period. 

ScrnShots
A community to upload, tag and share your screenshots.

Telling stories using data: An interview with Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris calls himself a storyteller. But he?s also equal parts visual artist, computer scientist, anthropologist, data voyeur, photographer, digital anthropologist, interviewer, and designer. What might be more appropriate is ?story revealer? or even ?story enabler,? for Harris has the ability to uncover the complexity of human stories by starting with a simple question. 

Shiptool
A free tool that shows pricing and timing information from different carriers, such as USPS, UPS, FedEX, and DHL. It allows the shipper to see and compare different shipment pricing and delivery options from the same page and then guides them to the carrier page to process their shipments.

Great Numbers, Not So Great Design
Let me admit a real prejudice that I have, and maybe you can try to convince me that I?m wrong: it?s my belief that you just can?t get great design out of a design agency with a staff larger than a dozen or two. Design doesn?t scale well, in my opinion, or at least it doesn?t do so easily.