Many creative sites are using two or more sites to create new services. These services have been dubbed “mashups”. Some of these mashups use services such as Google Maps, Twitter, Last.fm, but can be any two web applications to create something new.

Sites often release their API or even their source code to build upon. Because of this, sites like Google Maps are frequently used in mashups.

Below are some of the interesting mashup sites that you may not even know they exist.

It’s a competitive world out there, and in the world of web browsers the phrase would be “extermely competitive”. Remember the good ol’ days of browser war back in the 90s? While there’s no more IE in the Mac universe, the competition is still very stiff. The not-so-famous names try so hard to get their brands out to the masses.

Most Mac users I know use either Safari or Firefox. But there are other good browsers out there that deserve a decent attention. Even though at the end you’ll get back to your old love, there’s nothing wrong on giving these alternative a try.

The Internet is like a coin with the good on one side and the bad on the other. It makes our life easier by providing us with tons of information and acts as the medium to connect to the world, but at the same time it often distract us from the immediate task at hand.

How many of you who never peek at your chat windows, check your mail inbox or keep your Facebook page open while you work? I’m sure the number is low – if any.

I personally think it’s OK to refresh your mind once in a while. The problem is sometimes we don’t have the luxury of spare time due to the deadlines, and yet most of the time our will power is not strong enough to resist the temptation.

We could use some help.

Mindmapping is a great way to present your ideas/brainstorming in an easy to follow manner. Previously, we has discussed how the free desktop mindmapping software – FreeMind can make this task much easier. Today, we are going to discuss another excellent mindmapping software that you can access to as long as you have an Internet connection.

Mindmeister is an elegant and easy to use web application that allows you to create mindmaps easily and quickly. In this article I am going to demonstrate how to use Mindmeister to create Mindmaps and share with your friends and colleagues.

If you own a self-hosted WordPress account, chances are you are using FTP to transfer all your files online. Here’s the problem: connecting and transferring files via FTP is not secured. All your login credential (including username and password) and data are transmitted over the network in plain text. Any hacker who is sniffing your network can easily obtain your password and gain access to your account.

If you are really concerned about the security of your site, this is something that you really need to avoid.

Awasu, a free desktop RSS reader application which is currently available for all versions of Windows and gives you the option to stay connected to your favorite sites directly from the desktop.

This Windows-based news-reader will run in the background of your PC and continually monitor websites RSS feeds for you. When it senses that something new has appeared or changed on your preferred sites, it will immediately let you know.

Awasu, your new eyes and ears will watch what’s happening around the globe and let you know about events almost as soon as they happen, eliminating the wasting of time while surfing the web.

It is not surprising to see that most browsers come with their own password manager to allow you to save all your login passwords. The only problem is, they are not cross-browser compatible. What you stored in your Firefox browser can’t be used in Internet Explorer or Safari. In addition, if you are out travelling and need to use an Internet cafe to check your mail (or any other sites), you won’t have access to your passwords since that is only available in your local machine. With LastPass, you won’t have to face such problems anymore.

A wise man once said that we are not living in the “information” era anymore. We are living in the “filtering the information” era. We are bombarded by the over bloated information available out there that it becomes annoyingly difficult for us to sort the good from the bad.

That’s why community-based review sites like Digg and del.icio.us become very popular. The logic is simple: the best judge to pick worth knowing information out there is opinion from the mass. Our opinion.

So, if you are the kind of person who loves to share your opinion to the world, maybe this one site can be one of your favorites. It’s called Ciao and it specialize on product review.

Even though Adobe Photoshop is the standard for creating professional image, not everyone can afford or want to pay the high pay for it. If you are looking for a free online alternative to Photoshop, then SUMO Paint is the best that you can get.

Initially I thought that Web apps are just applications on the Web and they should not replace the desktop apps. How wrong am I. As I spent more and more time online and started to collaborate projects with other bloggers, it is then that I discover the true mobility and flexibility of the Web apps. When I formatted my hard disk last month, other than Firefox, I have really no urge to install any of the desktop apps, especially the OpenOffice which I like it a lot in the past.