Qlubb makes it easier for groups to connect

If you've got your own real world group or are a member of one, here's an elegant tool which makes it easy to create online groups so people can share information with each other (schedules, events, photos, messages etc).
Most people don't have the time to be learning new applications, but with Qlubb.com you can create a new group in 2 steps and someone else can join that group in a single step. They also provide live demos & information links throughout the site.
I imagine that Qlubb is more suited to people who don't already utilise any group apps in social networks. As it stands though it's simple and useful enough to use as to be worth checking out (amateur sports teams, scout troops, school clubs, religious groups etc).

Nota let's you grab it, mix it, and share it

The basic premise behind Nota is that you (or up to 50 people) start with a blank canvas and then add whatever photos, videos, maps (google), text and speech bubbles you want onto it. If you like your creations, you can then embed your them in your blog, facebook, or myspace page.
With Nota though you can get these photos and videos from other peoples Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, Facebook, your PC, even direct from webcams. You can easily create and collaborate with friends simultaneously on your creations.
The interface is simple yet still requires a little practise when playing about with effects and stuff. You don't even have to register an account to try it out, and if you don't feel like embedding your creations, you can just print them off, unfortunately the videos don't retain their streaming abilities on paper ;-)

PicArtia lets you create photo mosaics online

I love sites that let me do cool things with photos, I've previously posted about Razz and Comiqs. Now it's time to introduce another cool web application which lets you create a mosaic out of your photos :-)
The way PicArtia works is straight forward enough, just click 'start' and upload whatever photo you want to play with. Then it lets you select a Flickr gallery for what you want your mosaic to be made out of. There's a variety of resolutions you can choose from, the low resolutions are rubbish but the medium resolutions are pretty cool and free (unfortunately you've to pay for high resolutions - doh!). Still it's a fun and simple web app and once they introduce the planned feature which allows you to use your own Flickr gallery it should be really cool.

Create & share beautiful documents with Calameo

You know all those plain and static documents you have lying around, why not have some fun with them ? Calameo is a simple web application which allows anyone to create and share dynamic magazines, brochures, catalogs, guides etc.
The way it works is that you upload whatever document (word/pdf) you like, then you can insert links, video, music, forms, other multimedia into your documents. With a single click you can take your documents online/offline and the online viewer is pretty neat :-)
The only downside is that it currently lacks hosting for video & audio files to make things a little more seamless (as it is you'd need a service like box.net to host your multimedia content). It's still worth checking out though ;-)

April 2008 round up of cool web stuff

Well before we kick off with yet more cool web apps & stuff next month, it's time for a round-up of the most popular posts for the month of April :-

This is the most amazing web photo viewer ever
"...quite simply the most stunning web browser add-on I've ever seen... completely transforms your web viewing habits..."
Pando is just too darn cool, easy and superfast
"...high-res photos or home made movies... send huge files up to 1Gb... WAY faster than BitTorrent files..."
Clipmarks are so much better than bookmarks
"...save just the part of a webpage that you're interested in... easily share your findings with friends or embed them in your site..."
Presdo understands you the natural way
"...simply type in natural/casual language queries and it'll take care of the rest... it's so intuitive to use straight away"
Be Funky with real life cartoons
"...ever wonder what it would be like to star in your very own cartoon... turn your photos into cartoons... even make videos..."
Think of Fliiby as the YouTube for regular files
"...allows you to upload and share all your different types of files... easily describe, categorise & share your files publicly..."
Oosah is not just new and cool, it's useful too
"...standout feature is its interface... allows you to just drag-and-drop your photos, videos, music between your PC and different websites..."
Readbag is perfect for organising your web material
"...easily save articles which you want to read later... can subscribe to your own saved feed... nothing to install, just a simple drag & drop of the bookmarklet..."
Being sniitch is new cool thing to do
"...concept seems so blatantly obvious... enormous viral potential... expose sociopathic bosses, cheating spouses, dubious corporate practises..."

Presdo understands you the natural way

What makes Presdo so very cool, is that it's so intuitive to use straight away (reminded me of Google the first time I ever used it).
Being a meeting scheduler of sorts may not sound particularly exciting, but when done correctly it certainly is. With Presdo you simply type in natural/casual language queries and it'll take care of the rest (beautifully).
It comes up with the type of event, when (it can suggest full dates based on only partial info), where (can integrate with Google Maps), and with whom (easy to schedule or invite multiple people). If you already have a Google, Yahoo, Microsoft or iCal calendar it will save the event to those calendars. In fact you don't even have to register and it still saves your schedule on Presdo (good old cookies). If you already use a calendar / scheduler, you really should experience Presdo.com.

On the web you can BumpIn to anyone

The concept behind BumpIn is sound enough, while surfing the web you can see other people who are on the same website. Thus allowing you to discover other people with similar interests, chat live with them, make new friends etc.
It's only been up and running for a short while now so doesn't have a very large userbase [yet] so many websites you visit won't show anyone else there (bummer).
Realistically you'd really need a widescreen monitor to make the most of this (as the browser add-on reserves a portion of your window for chatting and showing a list of related websites). So that excludes about half the web surfing population (again, bummer). Hopefully it will take off as it's a really cool concept :-) Failing that I'd love to see a future version of StumbleUpon incorporate its feature set as they've already got the requisite userbase.