How often have you wasted time searching through page after page of e-mail messages, Web sites, notes, news feeds, and YouTube videos on your computer, trying to find an important item?

Although I am pretty organized, sometimes even my organization skills need a little help. A company in San Francisco, Radar Networks, is testing a free, Web-based application, called Twine, which may provide some robotic secretarial help in organizing and retrieving documents. How?

Twine can scan almost any electronic document for the names of people, places, businesses and many other entities that its algorithms recognize. Then it does something remarkable: it automatically tags or marks all of these items in orange and transfers them to an index on the right side of the screen. This index grows with every document you view, as the program adds subjects that it can recognize or infer from their context.

They can make their collections, or “twines,” private, share them in groups with other members having common interests like politics or Technology, or even make the twines public. For instance, people planning a trip to Japan (something I would like to do) could send all the Google maps, articles, and travel guide Web pages they are collecting to Twine. As each document is added, Twine automatically tags items and adds them to the database for the trip, compiling an index with references.

Twine’s organizational abilities have enthused excitement among some early users, and quite a few people are on the waiting list to try it out, I am sure. Unfortunately, it is still in private beta, but they are gradually opening up invitations accordingly. The site will be free to regular users, although there may be premium content as well, to keep finances high. Additional features and services will most likely be for a cost and supported through advertisements in the meantime.

Although Twine is focusing on teams and professionals, Twin does not deny individuals the ability to have a little fun too. With the help of Taskbin combined with Twine, I think you may have the ultimate organization tools regardless whether or not you are a professional or part of a team.

In 2007, there was a giant war between personalized homepage services– Who’s the biggest baddest startup homepage that offers something unique that makes a person want to keep them as their main destination. Near the end of ’07 there was a newcomer pushing through the bunch with shotguns in hand.

Symbaloo is the start page flaunting its stuff. Most noticeably, the layout is designed for utmost customization, letting you arrange links to searches, RSS feeds, and external sites any was you’d like. Like iGoogle and others, you can create multiple desktop spaces, and each default box gives you a non-biased choice among search providers. In addition, while not entirely efficient, the “news” desktop’s photo-based spread of top stories is a site to behold.

Powered by Ajax and Web 2.0 Symbaloo could be a busy persons web startup page. Those who do not like the concept of leading Web 2.0 startup pages like PageFlakes.com or Netvibes, they most probably love the concept of Symbaloo. It is slick, easy, and fun to use.

The problem with Symabloo that I have is that there is no way to save your settings except on your home computer, so if you are using a different computer you are out of luck. You just might like it though. With its streamlined interface and its pleasant interface that is easy on the eyes, it definitely doesn’t hurt to check it out.

What is your current startup page?

Claiming to be the largest online people search with more than 200 million people profiles from across the Web, including social networks and other online communities, I thought I would test out their claim. Needless to say, they scored high on the test.

Like I sometimes do on Google, I started simple, and I searched my name. The page was instantly filled with pictures of myself, and other various web pages, blogs, and social networks I have been in or wrote for. I searched my boss, I searched my friends, and I searched my neighbors. Trying to see whom it would not find…It found everyone. You would be thunderstruck at the people you will find. Those that I thought had nothing to do with the internet were on there.

Wink.com searches the public profiles on MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, LinkedIn, Live Spaces, and other sources. They are adding more and more networks all the time and are developing new technology to find even more people in a variety of cool ways. Wink People Search lets you find people by name, location, school, work, and interest anywhere on the web.

If you ask me, I find it kind of creepy. Of course I realized, being an active internet user, I will have things littered all over the internet about me, but it just makes me feel strange to think that companies out there specialize in bringing people altogether in services like this one, and PeopleFinder, and the others that are out there. I digress.

If you want, you can ask to be found:

“You can also use Wink to enable you to be found on the Wink search engine and other traditional search engines. By creating a profile on Wink, you can manage your web presence. Wink allows you to claim and add various places where you are online, and provides you an interface to manage all of them in one place. This gives you the power to determine what people know about you and where you are on the web.”

So there you have it folks – Wink.com, the largest online people search that is improving constantly. I must say, it has taken a bit of time out of my day doing all the searches. Not only is it fun searching for people you know, but it is helpful and free.

I have to admit, I am a major pack rat. I have old computers, screens, lamps, desks, fans, etc… You name it, I probably have it. I went to my closet to retrieve a simple Ethernet cord, and I guess my closet could not take the stress anymore and everything fell out onto the floor. With that, I went on a search to see what I could do about all this junk I have. I thought about a yard sale, and I thought about simply setting it all outside by the dumpster in frustration, but I stumbled across something even better!

Instead of collecting dust, (or falling on top of you in my case), rent it out to others! Zilok gives you an online place where you can rent out or easily find items you will only need for a short time. The creators hope to make their site the one-stop online shop for locating anything you need on a temporary basis. They are definitely on the right track.

The site is like a Craigslist for rentals, showing available items in your area, but it also assists in the rental process, giving you the tools needed to set up terms and facilitate the transaction online. It is as simple as using Zilok search to find someone in your area offering a particular product for a daily rate for a certain amount of days. If that meets your needs and budget, all you have to do is send in a rent request, wait for an acceptance from the lender, and then set up a time and place to meet and pay for the item.

Want to rent an iPhone? Try it out for a few days and see how you like it? No problem! Why someone would rent out their iPhone is beyond me, but more power to them. Zilok provides the rental agreement, so all you have to do is arrange the exchange of the item being rented, pay any sort of potential deposit, then return the item, and pay for the rental. You could potentially create your own version of Netflix by renting out your DVD collection. There are endless possibilities.

Honestly, I like the idea, but I think, as this site gets more popular, misuses will be inevitable. This new startup will change the habits of consumers. Now everyone can put their stuff up for rent, and rent anything they want to anyone around them. You already buy and sell your belongings on the internet. Why not rent them out if you really do not want to sell it, but at a risk of course.  

The service is free. I am sure you have some items lying around you probably don’t use. I am going to start gathering up some items from my closet…

Spoke is a type of social networking site designed for business people who want to find previous co-workers and/or prospective clients, and for companies who want to find quality associates. Spoke contains over 40 million professionals, searchable by name, business and several other contact criteria. What is interesting about Spoke is that is has compiled much of its information by publicly viewable files on the internet. Therefore, it is possible that there is company information in Spoke that wasn’t directly entered in specifically by that company. The same might be said about individuals as well, but that is a case by case situation. I attempted searching for myself and there are ten people who appear with my name in Spoke. None of them was me, so I can see how this may be a bit overwhelming when searching for a previous co-worker. I did run across a nice profile on a specific company that I looked up. The site is designed well and pages offer relevant and interesting information such as people recently added to the company, companies similar to…, address to the HQ, Web address, industry, number of employees and much more. You can bookmark companies and post comments on the page. I would say the most valuable portion of Spoke is being able to research companies – very useful if you are in the market for a new job.

You can update your information once you become a member. This enables you to ensure that if someone does look for you (granted that you want to be found,) they will be provided with accurate information. This is a typical Spoke bio:

The general Spoke membership is free, which allows you to find business people and perform networking among peers. The Spoke Pro membership offers lead generation, sales prospecting, candidate sourcing and other options. There is also a Spoke Premium Corporate Solution membership for companies who want Spoke to handle prospects completely. Pricing for these memberships can be found only by calling Spoke. Check out Spoke