The Internet never ceases to amaze...

Having just moved to Canada, am just getting into the groove of things so still have a bit of time on my hands. And am still a bit jetlagged. Today I woke up at an ungodly hour (630am is ungodly for me... and for most people I know) so I got a glass of milk and a magazine to lull myself to sleep. However, the magazine I picked up (Business 2.0) kept me wide awake with it;s featured article on "The Next Disruptors". These were technological innovations that would obsolete current industries / technologies and would give rise to other new opportunities. I got so curious I've just adopted 2 of the internet-based gamechangers.

The first is www.jajah.com. It allows free phone calls over the Web with no down;loads, headsets or adapters. It could change the game for telecoms companies and Voice over IP services like Skype, which is what most of my friends use.

Calls are free from mobiles / landlines between US, Canada, China, Hongkong, and Singapore (yay for me!) and frm landlines of most European countries. You just put in your number, the number you wish to call, click on the site... and you get connected on your phone within minutes! I used it today to bum a free call to greet Ate Dits in Singapore (it's her birthday today!). For other places, there is a bit of a charge.

I hope the service lasts. They're depending on people to adopt a "fair use" policy - which is max usage of an hour a day and to use some of their paid services like scheduled calls and videoconferencing.

The second is www.netvibes.com. It allows you to create a highly customizable Web Start page - moreso than other personalized portal pages like My Yahoo. They have a HUGE variety of feeds you can put on your site depending on your interest and it is idiot-proof to use. Just click, drag and drop!

There were other sites which is really interesting like www.zopa.com - which is a peer to peer lending site that allows both lenders and borrowers to get good rates. Unfortunately, only UK residents can participate. Plus other innovations which are non-internet based like EESTOR, which is a ceramic power source for electric cars that can charge in 5 mins to drive 500 miles at a cost of $9 (vs. equivalent $60 cost for a regular car. And supposedly, unlike the current crop of electric cars, this one's power and driving capabilities are expected to be much better - just have to wait till 2008. =P