./emilychang my data stream

Spot.us
An open source project to pioneer "community funded reporting" and a marketplace where independent reporters, community members and news organizations can come together and collaborate. Through Spot.Us the public can commission journalists to do investigations on important and perhaps overlooked stories. All donations are tax deductible and if a news organization buys exclusive rights to the content, your donation will be reimbursed. Otherwise, all content is made available to all through a Creative Commons license.

Notify.me
Lets you get real-time notifications about information you specify. Track items on craigslist, job postings, breaking news stories and much more. Choose to have notifications delivered to IM, SMS, email, or desktop application.

Backtype
Find, follow and share comments on the web. Whenever you write a comment on a blog or other website, BackType attributes it to you, giving your comments a home where they can be discovered, followed and shared. Receive updates whenever a search term is mentioned in a comment - delivered by e-mail (immediately, or in daily or weekly digests), RSS or your Dashboard. Identify and connect with the people whose thoughts and opinions you value by following their comments in your dashboard.

Addictionary
A site for word lovers and those who like to see the English language grow in serious or humorous ways. Built to empower word-play and to help lovers of word-play showcase and market their cleverness and creativity to the world. [Beta]

BarFlood
Create a BarFlood with friends or strangers with similar interests. Choose your bar, a time and theme for your "flood," make it public or invite friends.

tipjoy
A donating widget that makes it easy for people to leave tips for things they love online, and easy for content owners to be rewarded for making the stuff people love. With the Tipjoy platform members who host user-generated content can have their users earn tips while you (the member) gets a cut for being the host. The Tipjoy Platform Support is currently in private beta, but, Tipjoy itself is public.

SayTweet
Create a Twitter badge that shows your updates on a picture. Simply upload a picture, tag some Twitter users in that picture and voila.

PartyBeans
A custom candy tins maker where you can create custom tins filled with mints, gums, and Jelly Bellys.Choose a container, choose or upload an image, create your message, then fill it with goodies!

Backblaze
Backblaze backs up all your data - no questions asked. No picking files. No digging through folders. All your data is backed up. Your data is backed up online to BackBlaze data-centers, so nothing can touch it. Restore from the web or get a DVD or USB drive sent via FedEx. Using military-grade security, files are encrypted on your PC, then sent and stored encrypted. $5 per computer per month. Unlimited storage.

Winkbill
A web based invoicing service designed to provide effort-less and hassle-free billing solution. The application can be used for any product or service. You can easily create, send, and track all your invoices online.

Fasteagle
A web workspace presented as an editorial selection of websites and search tools in one convenient interface. Direct online content is fully browsable and displayed inside a frame. Unlike most start pages like myYahoo, Netvibes or iGoogle, Fasteagle does not aggregates RSS, feeds or widgets; instead, it directly links to actual content or conveniently displayed inside a frame.

Apple working on 3D Mac OS X user interface
Generally speaking, the filings depict a 3D interface by which side walls, a top, and a floor all protrude from a back surface that resembles today?s two-dimensional Mac OS X desktop. A few examples also suggest a radical departure from traditional interface design by which the Mac OS X menubar would be removed from the top of the screen and thrown into a stack or floating element. 

ShoutEm
A free platform where you can easily start a co-branded micro-blogging social networking service. Features range from simple Twitter-like text micro-blogging to more advanced features: posting attachments, photos, comments, or even a private network for your company.

Flowgram
Create interactive guided presentations by combining web pages, photos, Powerpoint and more with your voice, notes and highlights. Viewers can control pages, click the links, view videos and more.

Sparkbliss
This online dating matchmaker applies "six degrees of separation". They believe your social network is the key to bringing together individuals of similar interests, backgrounds and values. Each member develops a private network of trusted friends and families who can view his/her profile and make romantic introductions on their behalf. Members have complete control over who they invite into their private network. Some people add as many connections as possible, while others are more conservative. Adding "super connectors," those people that seem to know everybody maximizes your ability to discover your soul mate. [Beta]

You?re Leaving a Digital Trail. What About Privacy?
Mr. Brown and about 100 other students living in Random Hall at M.I.T. have agreed to swap their privacy for smartphones that generate digital trails to be beamed to a central computer. Beyond individual actions, the devices capture a moving picture of the dorm?s social network. The students? data is but a bubble in a vast sea of digital information being recorded by an ever thicker web of sensors, from phones to GPS units to the tags in office ID badges, that capture our movements and interactions. Coupled with information already gathered from sources like Web surfing and credit cards, the data is the basis for an emerging field called collective intelligence. 

Could VC be a Casualty of the Recession?
VC funding will probably dry up somewhat during the present recession, like it usually does in bad times. But this time the result may be different. This time the number of new startups may not decrease. And that could be dangerous for VCs.

The Shorty Awards
The Shorty Awards honor the world's top Twitterers. You can nominate as many people for as many categories as you'd like until midnight December 31st. (Vote for @cesarhcjr for #personal #brand and @emilychang for #ideas and #web2.0 or #design.)