June 26, 2009, Vol. 3, Issue 10

Innovation in communication continues to soar. The more that we build and maintain our relationships and manage our lives online, the more we expect from our tools. (I know I do!) Thank goodness those smart developers continue to deliver… This week, we’re sharing three new, particularly innovative tools that we think you’ll be interested in trying. Now, to the tools:

Eu não entendo.

Just the other day, a colleague asked me if I knew a good translator. Seems she needs to collaborate on an ongoing basis with someone who speaks Portuguese. She found someone and all is well. But wouldn’t it be cool if there was a service where you could chat in your language and it translated to their language and vice versa? You could have a direct conversation with no go-between.

There is! BabelWith.me is a simple, free group chat tool that lets you communicate in one language or multiple languages (up to 45). It automatically translates each message as you type. It has some other groovy features – go look. Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me.

I’d follow you anywhere.

Wouldn’t it be nice if people could get a better idea of who you are as they decide whether to reciprocate a follow on Twitter? Here’s a fun way…BubbleTweet. And aside from the obvious acceptance in the (ahem) adult industries, we’ve seen some really creative uses. Though Janine has few followers, I really love hers – you surely see her personality here!

The company also offers a low-cost video solution for websites, Bubble Guru.

Book ‘em, Danno

We’d be surprised if most of you don’t use OpenTable to make restaurant reservations. We certainly do – on the computer and on the iPhone. But don’t you just wish you could make all your appointments online? Seriously, I remember at midnight that I need to make a haircut appointment for my sons and then forget again by the morning. I would LOVE to just go online and make it happen! If BookFresh takes off (and I think it just might) it’d be nice for those of us who hang out online…

And if I ran a business that takes appointments, I’d be all over this service. I’m just sayin’…

Chill.

We hope your Summer is starting off with a Bomb Pop and smile. We’ll be dropping into your email stream a bit less until Fall – we’ll see you in 3 weeks. Ciao!