Time Saving Tuesday
I used to be a user of Google Personalized Homepage quite religiously because of the extensive list of modules that they have available but I recently decided to make the switch to Netvibes. I didn’t think it would be that easy because there were some “Google only” modules that I thought I would miss, such as the one for Google Reader and the one for Google Calendar.
I made the switch about a month ago when Google released the tabs feature for the Personalized Homepage. Yeah, it is a little ironic that Google releases a cool new feature and that is what made me switch to Netvibes. Primarily I changed because I heard so often that Netvibes was better, but I had not given it a fair shot yet. On top of that Netvibes released some stats that said they have over 5 million users…which definitely shows that they are doing something right.
Like most people who start using Netvibes you will find a majority of the best modules located in the “Add Content” sidebar. Besides for modules they also have some of the most popular feeds in the Feed Directory, and CyberNet happens to be located in the Internet – Web 2.0 -> Web 2.0 directory. 
Here is a quick overview of the actual modules that I chose from the sidebar:
- Weather
- Webnote
- To Do List
- Calendar (I use the iCal address from my Google Calendars)
- Blog Search
- Web Search
- Video Search
- GMail
- Meebo
One of the most useful features in Netvibes is probably the built-in feed reader. After you add a feed it will look just like the one that your Google Homepage has except when you click on a title you will receive a full-screen view of the articles from that site:
The last thing that I wanted to cover was making your own modules. Maybe you won’t be able to find something that does exactly what you are looking for but if you have a little programming skill then you can probably make your own module without any troubles. Even I created a module that will retrieve your FeedBurner feed subscriber numbers for the current day and the previous day. It utilizes a feature that FeedBurner offers and as long as a site makes their numbers publicly available you can track them, there are no usernames or passwords needed:
Note: My Feedburner module is now available at Netvibes.
I think you would probably be surprised at how may sites use FeedBurner. Slashdot and Gizmodo both use FeedBurner but they pay extra in order to have “their own” feed URL instead of one that obviously points to FeedBurner. Unfortunately they have blocked people from viewing the number of subscribers but there are several sites that it still works for such as GigaOm. They don’t publish the number of subscribers on their site but using this method you can see that they have around 35,000.
Overall, I have to admit that I am much more impressed with Netvibes than I was with Google Personalized Homepage. It has a lot more to offer and they are consistent about adding new and useful things. Netvibes is going to be a keeper for me and I would like to thank to everyone who recommended that I try it!
Welcome to the wonder called Netvibes. I read all my blogs with Netvibes, all neatly organized into multiple tabs
Yes, that is definitely nice. I do wish that there was a “Refresh All” button though.
After a few days with Netvibes I Began to wonder how I used anything else.
In other news, Google have purchased Netvibes
I wonder how long it will take
I don’t think Google will be doing that because they already have started to create their own competing service…however I guess that’s what happened with YouTube. Maybe if other companies like Yahoo or Microsoft go after them then Google will too.
Ryan this Netvibes site rocks! I’ve been using Google Reader ever since I discovered it in the Google Lab but now I’m totally switched to Netvibes and I love it.
BTW, I KNEW you lived in Ames! I’m from Iowa City (Hawkeyes
) but I have family that went to Iowa State. 
Hawkeyes, hmmm…. *user account deleted*
Hey now, I love your site and I get on every single day multiple times! You NEED me!
Hi, I do not succeed to visualize more feed than one whith your beautiful module, I insert my three different URI and i separate them with a comma but the first is the only visualized. Can you help me please?
The feed will need to be setup to allow the numbers to be displayed. This is a setting in Feedburner.
You might also be interested in a brand new start page available called Funky Homepage ([FunkyHomepage.com]). It’s comprised mainly of Google gadgets (as well as Gadgets from other sources), live news feeds (with your choice of news provider), daily Bushisms, daily jokes, horoscopes, videos, weather (up to 5 locations), interactive calendar, Google calendar viewer (for up to 5 Google calendars), comic strips and lots more besides. It also lets you choose your own search engine, colour scheme, etc.
Unlike many of the other personalised start pages available, there’s no need to create an account and it’s all already set up for you, with the most popular gadgets organised by category and sub-category. So there’s virtually no setting-up work required by the user, making it ideal for the mainstream audience and those (like me) who can’t be bothered to do all the work of setting up their own page. More adventurous (and less lazy) users can choose to add their own Google gadgets and RSS feeds, but most people just use the gadgets and tools provided.
Unlike Netvibes, PageFlakes and all the other AJAX powered home pages, Funky Homepage does not use a drag and drop interface. Instead it allows you to select from a drop-down list of the most “popular” gadgets and feeds – “popular” according to the Google gadgets most popular list, that is. As such, it’s not really intended to compete with the flexibility of Netvibes and PageFlakes, but instead is intended to address a gap in the market for those who want something a bit more funky than Google or Yahoo, but without all the setting up required of Netvibes and Pageflakes. So only the most popular gadgets are offered. Although it still maintains a large degree of flexibility for the more adventurous users, allowing them to enter their own feeds and gadgets, should they wish. Whether you like it or hate it, at least it offers an alternative from the plethora of AJAX-powered homepages that are now available.
It’s free to use and you can check it out at [funkyhomepage.com]
That just seems too cluttered for me. Sorry.