Not long ago, I was watching Hulu when an intriguing ad came across the screen. In it, a child was using an Amazon Kindle Fire, and the announcer explained a key feature of the device: parental controls. They allowed parents to block access to certain content, set time limits, and more.

Surely such a thing exists for vanilla Android, I thought.

Indeed it does, in the form of KIDO'Z. I've used KIDO'Z in the past, as a browser on the kids' computers. Fast forward to today, and KIDO'Z has evolved into a full-fledged child-friendly environment for many platforms.

As far as the Android version, it was almost precisely what I was looking for. Once launched, it takes over the entire tablet experience.

Setup is pretty easy: choose a password, add an account for each of your kids, and choose which apps you want them to have access to by checking apps on or off from a simple list. Apps that you check will show up on the KIDO'Z homescreen; those you haven't, won't. These app lists are child-specific, too, which is very handy if you have kids who are a few years apart in age.

In addition to the apps you select, your kids will also have access to KIDOZ's bundled apps: a web browser, 'KIDO'Z TV,' and 'KIDO'Z Games.' Each app's content can be restricted as you see fit; by default, KIDO'Z provides a good selection of child-friendly channels, websites, and games for the TV, browser, and games apps, respectively.

If your child tries to exit the KIDO'Z environment by clicking the 'X' at the top of the screen, a password will be required to go to the tablet's homescreen. You can also set up a password to switch between accounts. Without the password, it's impossible for kids to leave the KIDOZ environment (trust me, my kids have tried).

You can also set up a time limit for, say, an hour a day between the hours of 8am and 7pm. If you have multiple accounts, time limits can differ for each child.

KIDO'Z is, somewhat unbelievably, free to download and use. I've only reviewed the Android apps here, but apps are also available for Windows, Mac, and Chrome.

Head on over to the homepage to try it out.

KIDOZ | @kidoz

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Flickr was once the app for photos, then Yahoo! came along and lost the internet. This week, Yahoo! brought Flickr back from the dead, among other things.

The result of the Flickr team's efforts is striking. Gone are the thumbnails and generous white space. Like many redesigns of late, Flickr now puts your content front and center, presenting images with as little chrome as possible. The Android app, too, is now a pretty stunning example of content-driven design.

I'm not profiling the web or Android app today, however. I'll let you judge them for yourself. The real Flickr news came not in the form of a redesign, but in terms of storage capacity. In case you hadn't heard, Flickr now offers an unprecedented 1 terabyte of storage, free to all users.

That fact alone makes Flickr the app to beat (once again) in the photo game.

No doubt you'll want to take advantage of all that storage (which equals well over 500,000 photos of 6 megabytes apiece). Here's how to automatically add every photo you take on your phone to Flickr.

First, make sure you have Dropbox installed on your phone (here are the iOS and the Android apps). Now, make sure you have instant upload enabled. If you're not familiar with how instant upload works, it's simple: once set up, every photo you take will now upload to a folder (/Camera Uploads) in your Dropbox folder automatically.

So how do you get those photos to Flickr? For this, we'll use the Swiss Army knife of the internet, IFTTT. Head over and use this recipe. The recipe is only triggered when a photo is added to the subfolder "Camera Uploads" in your public folder, so you'll need to head to the desktop version of Dropbox and drag the Camera Uploads folder into your public folder. If the folder isn't there, the recipe won't work.

Once you've set up the recipe, moved the folder, and set up instant upload on your phone, you're good to go. Every photo you take with your phone will be posted to your photostream. You may want to take the additional step of making your photostream private so that you can choose what to share proactively. To do that, just go to Flickr's settings page, click on the privacy tab, and scroll down to "Defaults for New Uploads." Click "edit," and under "Who can see your photostream?", choose "only you." Now no photos will be visible to the public unless you specifically share them. (Alternatively, if you're already logged in, just click here).

With 1TB of storage and a beautiful design, Flickr is the dominant photo app once more. With automatic backup for all your pictures, this recipe takes it a step further.

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Combine the concepts of the analog and the thank-you and you get Postable. Postable is a simple service that lets you create a quick thank-you card and send it via snail mail.

To start, sign up for an account and add some contacts (by manual entry, importing a spreadsheet, or by sending out a link to your contacts and letting them enter their info themselves), then choose a card.

Various categories exist, like graduation and birthdays, but for the time being, the selection is mostly limited to thank-you cards. Postable promises to diversify the selection in the near future. The cards themselves are simple: just a decorated front with a simple message inside. Choose a font from an impressive selection of "handwritten" and typewriter-esque choices, enter your message, and click "mail card."

On the next screen, you'll enter your payment information. Each card is $2.00 plus the cost of a first-class stamp (currently $.46). Create, pay, send. It's that easy.

Postable can be a great way to let someone know you're thinking of them in a way that feels a little more sincere than a text or email, but it saves you the hassle of running to Hallmark. Once the selection improves, in fact, I may never visit that particular store again.

Postable can also be fairly invaluable when you need to send cards to a great many people. Imagine how simple: just create a card, add your recipients, pay, and send. This may be the future of wedding invitations.

Postable has a very hand-crafted feel, and the passion of the creators comes through. It's a dead-simple service that started as a simple way to collect friends' addresses. The next phase of Postable's evolution feels quite natural. The address book is as easy to use as ever, the card-making experience is nearly effortless, and the cards are very well-designed.

Head on over to sign up.

Postable | @postable

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It’s like Christmas morning for geeks.

More often than not, we’re not disappointed. This time around, we saw a fantastic Google+ redesign, an equally impressive redesign of Google Maps, an impressive music streaming service, a long-time-coming unified messaging service, and much more.

It’s enough to make you giddy.

Now, I’m as enamored of Google’s services as the next guy. I’m a Gmail, Docs, Voice, Chrome, Android, and (former) Reader user. I’m deeply embedded into the Google ecosystem. I was ecstatic about the introduction of Chrome and Android precisely because they married my apps and my platform so elegantly.

Lately, though, I’ve been rethinking my relationship with Google. I’m not going soft on them, mind you- I’m as fervent a believer as ever in the power of Google to make things better. Their mission to organize the world’s data is quite in-line with my desire to have all the world’s information at my fingertips.

Even I, however, am getting a bit apprehensive about the sheer pervasiveness of the search giant.

When Gmail was introduced, it was (and is) leaps and bounds ahead of any other email service. Same goes for Docs/ Drive. And Maps. And Voice. And Reader (and, of course, Search). The list goes on. These services left little option, really. If you wanted the best, you wanted Google.

Because of this dominance, privacy advocates started to worry. They have so much data on us. I didn’t bite. Sure they do- so what? All it really means is that I might see an ad for Cleveland Browns tickets and a smartphone instead of fiber pills and Maxi pads. I’m more than okay with that; I embrace it.

Things have changed a bit. Now, Google is not satisfied with making the best services - or, rather, that’s not all they’re concerned with. Now, they want to control the entire experience.

Pull your Google phone from your pocket, or fire up your Google-powered Chrome OS laptop, open your Google browser, log into your Google mail, your Google office, your Google calendar. Search for things through Google. Store your things on Google. Buy your things from Google.

You could, theoretically, make comprehensive and thorough use of the web for weeks on end without having used anything but Google products.

That worries me.

It worries me because no one company should know me quite that well, but it also worries me because of the implications for the technology sphere in general.

Gmail comes along and blows Hotmail out of the water. Fine. Calendar offers a vastly superior product. Okay. Search, Voice, and all the rest- if you’re the best, so be it.

What if you’re not the best, though? Google Play Music’s “All Access” came along yesterday to compete with the likes of Spotify and Rdio. Google+, while not necesssarily a social network still occupies the same space as Facebook and even competes with Twitter, or Path, or Tumblr. Google Drive directly competes with Dropbox. Google Keep competes with Evernote.

The similarities here are this: all of the companies Google is going after with similar, and not necessarily superior, products do only one thing. Rdio does music. Dropbox does file sync. Facebook and Twitter only do social, and Evernnote does notes.

These things are the identity of their respective companies. It’s what they do. That means something. I will give you my money, Rdio, because you do music, and only music. Dropbox, you do files better than anyone around; therefore, I am a loyal customer. Even Facebook, which, historically, I loathe, retains its place in my habits precisely because social is all they do.

Do one thing, and do it well. There’s a hand-crafted feel to that approach.

When Google comes along and occupies a space no one has yet occupied (Google Glass), or makes a superior product (Search, Gmail), we owe it to ourselves to utilize those products. When they occupy a space that already contains a champion, and make a merely comparable product, we, as users of the web, are better served to stick with the champ.

For one thing, there are actual people behind these companies. Dropbox and Rdio, to keep with those examples, started with a simple dream, a simple purpose. They made great things, and people noticed. If we all switched to a competing Google product as soon as they decide to throw their hat in the ring, what becomes of the existing services? More importantly, what becomes of future services? Imagine that, five years from now, Google is so successful with its music and storage offerings that no one else dares to enter that space, or any space, for that matter, for fear that, once the product becomes successful enough, Google will simply build a competitor and crush it.

Google is still the most exciting company in tech, perhaps in any field, to watch. They build amazing things, and when they do things right, they deserve to be rewarded with users. When they infringe on someone else’s territory with a lukewarm offering, it’s up to us to send them back to the drawing board.

When I first sat down at my computer this morning, I, as many do, opened my email.

For many, the act of opening their email in the morning brings with it apprehension. For me, it's a pleasure. That's largely due to the many mechanisms I've implemented over the years to tame the email beast. I use a lot of filters, and OtherInbox and Unroll.me help ensure that only the messages I want to see get maximum visibility, while the rest, the extraneous, fade into the background until I go looking for them.

I reserve my attention (as far as my inbox goes) for things that provide exceptional value: the New York Times newsletter catches me up with the day's news, and Caesura Letters gives my brain a swift kick in the arse.

I subscribe to very, very few newsletters- or, rather, I subscribe to a lot, and quickly unsubscribe from most. Some weather the storm, though, and hold my attention.

One such newsletter is WithLinks, a simple newsletter from With Associates, a digital consultancy based in London.

The newsletter is a simple collection of links: five, to be exact. Some are design-related, some are simply internet-related, but each one has handcrafted feel. They even throw in a jam of the week at the top of the newsletter, ranging from podcast snippets to Geto Boys songs.

Somehow, this simple email conveys the fact that the people behind it love the web.

It's a small, hidden gem in a usually hasty, noisy web.

Head over to the With Associates page to sign up.

That's because, frankly, I've never encountered anything quite like the subject of today's post. Nautil.us is a new web magazine which takes a novel approach to nearly aspect of its existence.

At its core, Nautil.us is a magazine about science. Dig a little bit deeper, though, and you'll see undertones of poetry and a shadow of philosophy.

Throw in a brilliant design and a unique approach to the publishing model itself, and you've got something the likes of which the web has never seen before.

Open the magazine in your browser, and the first thing you'll notice is the striking design. In most cases, good design is invisible. Consequently, the more you notice a design, the poorer that design is.

Nautil.us, on the other hand, sets a distinct mood with its design. It creates an atmosphere of awe and wonder... and you haven't even delved into the content yet.

That's where things get interesting: the content. As I said, Nautil.us is a science magazine, but it's not your typical ho-hum scientific facts, tidbits, or articles. Take this piece in the preview issue, which uses an Oliver Wendell Homles, Sr. poem and a beautifully-animated video to convey the idea behind Nautil.us itself. Or this piece, a video exposé on Buddha and human uniqueness.

Nautil.us is not so much about science as it is about science's connection to the way we, as humans, live. It's about the intextricable link between what we call "science" and the fundamental truths of existence.

Editions are published in monthly issues, which focus on a single topic. That topic is then expanded upon in chapters, which are released every Thursday. Issue 001, for example, is entitled "What Makes You So Special," and contains three chapters: "Less Than You Think," "More Than You Imagine," and "Beyond Measure."

Each chapter contains numerous pieces which explore the given topic, so content is linked together by a common thread, telling a cohesive story. This, of course, is a departure from typical web content, which simply lists unrelated articles in reverse chronological order (the hallmark of the blog format).

Because of this approach, Nautil.us feels like the first web entity which brings a true magazine feel to the web.

As I said, Nautil.us is a science magazine, but calling it so is also a bit reductionist. In their own words:

We are here to tell you about science and its endless connections to our lives. Each month we choose a single topic. And each Thursday we publish a new chapter on that topic online. Each issue combines the sciences, culture and philosophy into a single story told by the world’s leading thinkers and writers. We follow the story wherever it leads us. Read our essays, investigative reports, and blogs. Fiction, too. Take in our games, videos, and graphic stories. Stop in for a minute, or an hour. Nautilus lets science spill over its usual borders. We are science, connected.

Along with an impressive staff, Nautilus also boasts an intriguing Board of Advisors, which includes notables like Caleb Scharf, Director of Astrobiology at Columbia University, and Peter Galison, Pellegrino University Professor in History of Science and Physics at Harvard University.

But enough chatter. I'll leave you to discover the wonder yourself (and don't forget to sign up for their superb newsletter).

Nautil.us | @nautilusmag

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Hot on its heels is What Should I Watch Now?. As the name suggests, WSIWN is a simple service that helps you find your next film.

When I say the service is simple, I mean it. What Should I Read Next? allows logins and list-building. What Should I Watch Now? requires (rather, allows) no login, no list-building, no frills whatsoever.

Instead, there's just a search box. Type the name of your favorite movie, and a small list of thumbnails is returned with a few (in my testing, 6-9) results.

The recommendation parameters seem fairly straightforward, too: a search for Pulp Fiction, like I did above, returns other Tarantino films with some Stanley Kubrick thrown in.

In fact, the service doesn't feel simple, exactly, but downright sparse. You'll find no links to Amazon or Netflix, for example, so you'll have to figure out where to watch these movies yourself. Hopefully, that will change in the future.

If you just need a simple and extremely fast way to find your next movie title, head on over to check it out, and be sure to let the creators (listed below) know what you think.

What Should I Watch Now? | @bglio | @gatubit

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Browse your Amazon and you'll find some recommendations, but they'll be based on all of your past purchase and viewing history, with your personal ratings factored in. It sounds great — and often is — but what if you want to get more specific?

Goodreads is an excellent place for recommendations from fellow book lovers, but it can take time to build a network of people with similar taste.

What if you just want a quick way to find your next sci-fi fix? Or maybe you want something in the historical fiction realm, somewhere between, say, Matthew Pearl and Ken Follett?

That's where What Should I Read Next? comes in.

WSIRN is a simple service that recommends books based on specific user input, not past ratings or browsing history. Start by entering the name of a book or author, or multiple books and authors, and click the button. Results are served up quickly, in a seemingly endless stream of titles. Each list item contains a link to the book's Amazon site.

You don't need to sign up to use the service, but if you do (using only your email address- no password), you can save lists. You might save that historical fiction list, and start another one for good biographies, for example.

So how does WSIRN make its recommendations? It's all based on "mass opinion." The recommendations depend solely on user lists. When a title is added to a list, that title becomes affiliated with the other titles in said list. The more often two books appear in a list together, the stronger the correlation, and the resulting recommendations.

It should be noted that the current service only utilizes physical books; ebooks are very few and far between. I point this out because it highlights a glaring hole in the books ecosystem: currently, there is no centralized database of ebooks from which WSIRN can extract data. It's something the owners of WSIRN, Thoughtplay are looking into.

All in all, this is a dead-simple service that does what it says on the tin. If Amazon's algorithms aren't doing it for you, head on over and try it out.

What Should I Read Next? | @wsirn

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One of Firefox's greatest strengths has always been customization, and on that front, Firefox still reigns supreme. For those willing to tinker, it's easy to get into the the browser's nuts and bolts to tweak it to your liking. This is largely done through addons, and it was the addon ecosystem that catapulted Firefox to its revered status among power users in its infancy. In this respect, too, Chrome has surpassed Mozilla's Firefox.

Not on mobile, though. Extensions aren't available for the Chrome browser on the Android platform- which brings me to my first killer feature for Firefox on Android.

Gestures

Quick gestures for Firefox is an addon that allows using one-finger gestures to manipulate the browser. You can navigate to the previous or next tab, go back or forward in your history, close a tab, open a new tab, and quite a bit more. Each gesture is customizable, too, so you can change the gesture patterns. For example, if you want "up, right" to move to the next tab, you can do that.

The built-in fullscreen mode is, truth be told, my personal favorite feature. On mobile, every pixel counts, and true fullscreen mode allows you to take advantage of every last one. Combine that with the ability to navigate the browser with gestures, and you never really need to see any of the browser's interface to browse the web.

Apps

Mozilla recently announced Marketplace, Mozilla's answer to Google's Web Store. The Marketplace is still in "Aurora" phase, meaning it's a step beyond beta, and therefore a bit unstable. In my testing, though, it's ready for action.

Apps on the Marketplace are pure web apps, meaning they're built solely on web technologies like HTML5 and javascript. Installing an app on your Android device puts a shortcut to the app on your homescreen.

Tapping on the icon, of course, pulls up the app, which looks, feels, and acts like a native app, complete with its own settings.

Reading List

I've saved what I believe to be the best for last: Firefox's built-in decluttering machine. Apple included this functionality for Safari on the Mac awhile back, but, to my knowledge, Firefox is the first to put it in a mobile browser.

So what is it? Essentially, it's a built-in Instapaper, Readability, Pocket, et al. When you get to a web page that's a bit too cluttered to read, just click on the book symbol in Firefox's address bar. Firefox will strip all the clutter, and present the article in a clean, readable view:

Tap once anywhere on the page to bring up the options, where you can add the article to your reading list, change font options and background, share the article, or view your reading list.

Firefox has quite a few more things going for it, like theming and sync, but these are, in my opinion, the three that make it stand out from the crowd.

Chrome is dominant on Android for a reason- it's a solid, fast mobile browser. If you're looking for some change, though, or just want more control over your mobile browsing experience, check out Firefox on the Play Store.

It should be noted that Firefox Beta is pictured in all the screenshots above.

Firefox for Android | Firefox Beta for Android

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Last year, the team released an automatic upload feature, allowing users to upload their mobile photos with, literally, no effort.

Now, you can actually do something with all those photos. When you go to the Dropbox website and log in, you'll see a "photos" section in the left sidebar. Clicking on it takes you to a mosaic of all photos contained within Dropbox, including, of course, those automatically uploaded from your phone.

The service is simple right now, but, as with the main service, that's probably the point.

Single-clicking on a photo selects it, allowing you to select multiple photos to organize them. A double-click brings up a built-in photo viewer.

Sharing is baked right in, allowing you to share a photo by email or via Twitter or Facebook.

And, last but not least, you can easily organize your photos into albums with drag-and-drop, and easily share the entire album.

This is a simple addition to Dropbox's arsenal, but one which could lure many users. The setup feels similar to Google+ Instant Upload, and no doubt the goal is the same: make the process of snapping and sharing photos as seamless as possible. With Google+, however, users can only share photos with other Google+ members. Dropbox gives users the same capability, but users can share to the same social networks they already use (provided they're already on Facebook and/or Twitter).

If you're a Dropbox user, you should have the new photo functionality already baked in. If you're not a Dropbox user, there's never been a better time to check it out.

Dropbox | @dropbox

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Now, Twitter is killing the mobile and desktop versions of Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck has long been a go-to app for power users on the desktop, but many hesitate to use it, largely because of its uncertain future. Some (myself included) use it reluctantly while secretly wishing for something simpler and more streamlined with the afore-mentioned features baked in.

Thankfully, someone has created just that.

Craig Mod created Twitter for Minimalists, a set of CSS rules that stripped Twitter down to its essentials. Being pure CSS, though, some assembly was required. From Mod's own page, here are the instructions (for Safari):

To use it:

• download Fluid
• make a twitter.com instance
• go to window > user styles
• add a new style, pattern: twitter.com
• paste in the CSS from above
• Icon

To give your Fluid instance an 'official' Twitter icon, simply do the following:

• grab Twitter's logo
• open it in Preview
• CMD-A to select all, CMD-C to copy it
• highlight your Twitter instance in Finder
• CMD-I to see the application's info panel
• click the top-left icon in the info panel, CMD-V to paste the logo

Of course, if you wanted to use it directly in your browser, you could use Stylish or Stylebot, then copy and paste the CSS, but what if you wanted to make it even easier?

Enter Brent Jackson and Twipster.

Brent took Mod's CSS and turned it into an extension for Chrome or Safari. Now, all you have to do is install the extension and experience what a seriously relaxed version of Twitter's web interface feels like.

Note that I've added a bit of my own CSS, adding rounded avatars, a narrower timeline, and a custom font.

Now, you get all the functionality of an official Twitter app without the bloat (except for the 'Discover' tab, which was intentionally removed. I've yet to find a hack to restore it).

If you want to make a desktop app out of Twipster, and you use Chrome, it couldn't be simpler. Just head to Chrome's options menu and go to Tools > Create Application Shortcuts.

This is especially helpful if, like me, you're using Ubuntu and the web apps functionality.

Twipster has made Twitter a pleasure to use on the desktop again.

Twipster

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Blogging has gone through the first two of these three changes. It has not gone through the third, and consequently, has yet to mature (some would argue this point, but, for the sake of argument, let's assume that simplification is required for maturation).

Ghost wants to simplify blogging, and, by doing so, realize its potential.

Ghost is not yet a product. It's a Kickstarter campaign started by John O'Nolan, Former Deputy Head of The WordPress UI Group. If £25,000 ($38,795) is raised by May 18, Ghost will be built.

So what exactly does the future of blogging look like?

First, it's open-source, meaning anyone will have access to the underlying code on which Ghost is built. Open technologies tend to make for a robust ecosystem (that is, if it becomes popular, drawing talented developers who want to build on top of the project). It's also crucial in transparency.

Second, ease of use becomes the primary focus. When writing a post, for example, twos screens are presented side-by-side: one, a Markdown editor, and the other, the result of that Markdown. So, you can write in the easiest web writing language there is, and see the actual layout as you type. Easy.

Then, there's the dashboard, which presents all pertinent information like social media info, traffic, and news feeds on one beautiful, easy-to-read page.

Then there's the content, otherwise known as the reason we blog. Again, all of your stuff is on one page, allowing you to browse and preview all posts easily and seamlessly.

All the prerequisites are here: social, search, responsiveness. The team is also thinking of scalability. This is a product for bloggers, but with scalability in mind, the team wants to make sure that, if Ghost catches on, it can be used by the big players, too.

Theme and plug-in support will be there, so developers and designers can customize to their heart's content.

Of course, one looming question remains: why do we need another blogging platform? Isn't WordPress enough?

Yes and no. WordPress powers 22% of all new websites (as of November 2012), but it has grown to be so much more than a blogging platform, becoming a sort of operating system for the web. Ghost wants to take blogging back to its roots.

One of the more intriguing aspects of Ghost is the fact that it will be a not-for-profit organization. The team wants to focus on users, not shareholders. They seemingly have no desire to build something great and gather a loyal user base only to sell to the first company that waves a sufficiently-sized check in front of them. In an age in which so many companies are being gobbled up by the likes of Facebook, Google, Amazon, et al, that means something, and will go a long way in earning trust among the web community.

There's more, of course, and you can read all about it on the Kickstarter page. If you're intrigued, head over and back the project to make it a reality. I already have.

Ghost on Kickstarter

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That includes the creators of MultiPLX, a very new RSS reader reimagined in the style of Pinterest.

When I say the app is new, I mean it. It was released less than week ago by Kosmaz Technologies, LLC. The creators are quick to point out that the app is very young, and has a long way to go. Already, though, it's a very interesting Google Reader RSS reader.

Once you sign up, just choose the categories you're interested in, which range from women's fashion to philosophy. You can also import an OPML file. That means that you can import your Google Reader subscriptions by utilizing Google Takeout.

Your subscriptions are all presented in a very visual and, as I said, very Pinterest-like fashion. It's clean, simple, and puts the content front and center.

Click on an article to bring up a clutter-free reading experience, where you can easily share it to multiple social networks or via email.

You can also take the reading experience fullscreen with one click:

Why was MultiPLX built? In founder Emre Kosmaz's own words:

Although there are many variants that are trying to imitate Google Reader at the moment, most of them are desktop clients or mobile apps that depend on Google Reader engine. MultiPLX is a full web based service with a back-end that can scale-up to serve millions of users, and billions of feed posts each day with a speed that is unmatched even in desktop clients.

All in all, there aren't many features, but that's the beauty of the app. Get in, get out... but enjoy yourself while you're here. As young as it is, MultiPLX is definitely an app worth keeping an eye on. It's still in beta, but the team is giving priority access to Google Reader users. Use the code "GOOGLEREADER" (without quotes) to jump to the front of the line.

MultiPLX | @multiplx

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MailRubber aims to aleviate the pain of email through a very simple web app. Enter your email address and MailRubber will give you a link. Give out this link, instead of your email address, and when someone clicks it, they'll be required to prove they're human by getting past a CAPTCHA before they can email you. It also helps to "stop greedy little bots farming your email address." You can also permanently delete said link.

That's it. MailRubber acts as a middleman between you and bots, providing a buffer zone of security- not to mention seriously decreased email-related stress levels.

Bigger plans are in the works for MailRubber, so it's worth keeping an eye on. It's worth noting that, according to the MailRubber site, the app cannot "prevent evil human beings passing the anti-robot tests."

MailRubber | via onethingwell

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On the other hand, there's some anxiety. Will it catch on well enough to stick around? Even the anxiety, though, speaks to the quality of the app: if you didn't love it, you wouldn't care about its future.

Blookist wants to tell your story. The problem, as I see it, is that most already do this with apps they already use. Facebook is a prime example. If you travel, or go to a particular event, and you want to share that experience, you just upload some photos to Facebook.

There are better ways, though, and Blookist is definitely one of them. Instead of surrounding your story with the clutter of other news stories, status updates, ads, games, and all the other things you're inundated with when you open Facebook, Blookist gives you a place to let your stories stand on their own. It gives them room to breathe. The result is refreshing, beautiful, simple.

The premise is simple, too: to create a 'blook,' start by adding a cover photo, some tags, and give your story a name. That will be your story's cover page. Next, move onto the next page, choosing either to add a photo or an article. If it's a photo, the drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to upload them. If an article, the writing prompt is a simple, all-white, fullscreen editor with no frills. Just enter a title and start writing.

Keep going until you've told your story with as many articles and photos as you'd' like.

When you're finished, publish the story. Each blook, when viewed, shows photos in fullscreen (or sometimes side-by-side), with the caption you entered. The articles, too, are given the same respect. Scroll through each page with your keyboard's arrow keys or with your mouse, swiping from left to right.

Of course, exploration must also be front and center. You can browse blooks from the homepage, either by most recent or in the (I'm assuming) editor-picked "interesting" section. In a pleasantly surprising twist to the exploration aspect of the service, you can subscribe to blooks you find interesting. If a story you're subscribed to is updated, you'll be notified, giving the service an immersive, real-time feel.

Again, whether Blookist takes off remains to be seen. Is there a market for it? The experience falls somewhere between Medium and Cowbird. Many apps of this ilk have fallen by the wayside. Some, though, take a very simple premise, find that it catches on, and it becomes a standard way of creating a particular type of narrative. Storify fits that mold perfectly.

So, will Blookist fall into the former or the latter category? Only time will tell, of course, but it certainly wouldn't hurt if you all signed up for Blookist, and, if you find it worthy, sing its praises.

Blookist | @blookist

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But the web is so much more than apps. It’s a framework for people to build amazing things. It’s a medium for expression- the most powerful the world has ever seen.

Sssimpli’s tagline is “a conscious approach to geekery.” That said, a couple of things have come up recently which reminded me, not only of the power of the web, but of the underlying philosophy that so many of those who create for the web hold dear. One is simple — an idea in its purest form — and the other, at least in its underlying technology, is quite complex. Both exemplify what the web is capable of.

The fine folks at Fictive Kin have proposed an idea. The idea rests on the concept of purpose: what moves us, what gets us out of bed in the morning. Thus slashpurpose was born.

The concept is simple. If you have a website, you add a /purpose page (so, for Sssimpli, you could, and soon will, find a purpose page at www.sssimpli.com/purpose).

That’s it. It’s a small, simple, powerful idea. After all, we’re more than our work, more than our updates, more than our tweets. It reminds me of my aversion to small talk. When I meet someone, I’m not interested in the weather, or even what the kids have been up to. I’d prefer to get to what matters.

What drives you?

What’s your dream?

What makes you smile?

The /purpose page, I hope, is an idea that will spread. If it does, it will be the first page I visit when I come to a new site, or an old one, for that matter.

The next example of the power of the web carries a bit more weight. In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon tragedy, a simple spreadsheet was created on Google Docs. It’s a simple form which allowed Bostonians to offer their homes to those in need of a place to stay for the night. Within a few hours, over 1,200 people had opened their doors. All anyone had to do was pull the smartphone out of their pocket, check the spreadsheet, and contact the homeowners.

Think about how remarkable that is. Imagine being in the midst of this horrific event, your mind reeling, and from a simple spreadsheet comes the promise of a warm bed, helping hands, and a little normalcy for a night.

A one-page idea and a simple spreadsheet. Two very different ideas which epitomize what the web, and those who power it, are capable of.

This isn’t just a place for cat videos, pictures of dinner, and streaming music. This is a place of humanity, of potential, of dreams.

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Not long after the arrival of Google Drive, Google began to allow directly inserting Drive files into Gmail. Not everyone uses Drive, though, and even if you do, chances are you've got many files sprinkled over many other services.

Cloudy is a Google Chrome extension that, once installed, allows you to attach files from nearly any cloud service to a Gmail message.

Once you install the extension, click the toolbar icon to tell Cloudy which services you'd like to use. The list of supported services is pretty impressive: Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, Flickr, even Facebook and Instagram. All are enabled by default, but if there are any you don't want to use, drag them over to the right column to disable them.

Now, when you compose a Gmail message, a new icon appears in the bottom bar of the email. It works very similarly to the afore-mentioned Drive feature. Just click the icon, select the service, and (once you've connected the account in question to Cloudy), browse for your file.

You can attach multiple files, and Gmail will treat them in the same way as traditional attachments: you'll see a list of every attachment in the compose window.

It's all pretty straightforward. The recipient (in my tests) will not notice much of a difference from a standard attached file. For those who use many other services, Cloudy makes sending files to others — without the need to download, then upload the files — a breeze.

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Then I used Dragdis, and I couldn't not write up this post. Why? Dragdis is just so simple to use. In fact, it may be the simplest, most elegant way to save things you find on the web.

Once you've created an account, you'll head to the homepage. There, you'll be asked to install the browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, or Safari). Once the extension is installed, you simply drag and drop anything you find that you want to save, from anywhere on the web. Start dragging an image, and the Dragdis sidebar will automagically appear. Highlight some text, start dragging, and you'll see the sidebar. Drag it into the relevant Dragdis folder, and you're done.

You can even drag videos: when a capturable video appears on the page you're viewing, you'll see a small Dragdis icon in the top left corner. Drag the video by that icon to save it. By default, Dragdis even creates a "Watch Later" folder for your videos, along with an "Ideas" and an "Inspiration" folder.

Go back to your Dragdis homepage to see and interact with your collection. The site itself, while I wouldn't call it striking, is clean and uncluttered. It has a very Windows 8 feel to it (Modern, Metro, whatever you'd like to call it). There's not much here; your content is front and center. You can rearrange your collections as you'd like, rename, redrag.

The search feature is quite handy, as it searches through the text snippets you've saved. Image search can be a bit trickier. That's because, to make the saving process as seamless as possible, entries aren't given a name (or any other identifying feature, for that matter). This is the sacrifice for frictionless capture of the things you want to save. You can, however, add identifying notes or tags later.

Click on an existing item to view it. From there, you can add your notes and tags. You can also share directly with Twitter, Facebook, or Google+, or copy a unique short url.

I'm not sure what the future holds for Dragdis. Frankly, I don't know if it can compete in such a crowded market. I, for one, am rooting for this underdog, though. They've made a product that almost completely eliminates the friction between thought and action. The result is an web app that is quite a pleasure to use. There's no news of a mobile option just yet; hopefully, it's somewhere on the horizon.

Head over to the homepage to sign up for the beta. I've got a few invites left, so if you want one, send me an email from the address with which you'd like to sign up.

Dragdis | @dragdiscoveries

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Correction: an earlier version of this article stated that only a Chrome extension was available for Dragdis. Thanks to @malcevicius for the heads up.

Last year, though, Google nixed that option, taking everyone back to the all-white version of Google.

Enter Google Custom Background. a Chrome extension which does what it says on the tin. Download the extension from the Chrome Web Store, and the options page will automatically open.

You'll see that there are a few more options here than just changing your background. You can hide elements of the page, like the footer and the logo, and, of course, you can change the background.

You can upload your own wallpaper, or use an image URL from the web, or find a background from 500px. You can even rotate multiple images periodically.

That's it. A simple app to fix a stubborn problem. The only downside? Since this is a browser extension, it wont' work across different devices (unless, of course, you install the extension on multiple devices). Head on over to the Chrome Web Store to download.

Custom Google Background

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That said, a Sssimpli-approved weather app would have to be simple, beautiful, unobtrusive- and that's a pretty accurate description of Stormcloud.

Stormcloud puts an icon in your toolbar, complete with the current temperature. A click brings up a minimalist snapshot of the current weather and a four-day forecast.

The app's background color can change according to the temperature or the weather, configurable in the options panel.

Options are sparse — because, really, what more do you need? — but can be added to by buying the Pro version for $1.99. Pro options include greater customization like custom background colors or fonts. According to the pro version site, multiple locations are a pro feature, but I was able to add multiple locations before upgrading.

Stormcloud does what it says on the tin. If you don't need all the bells and whistles of a bloated weather app, Stormcloud's for you. The tagline, I think, says it all: "Easier than looking outside."

Stormcloud

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