Who needs iLife?

Remember when the Internet bubble burst? Well, it’s back and better than ever. The new hot trend is called as a Web 2.0 that is a mixture of dhtml, CSS and Ajax. They are well-designed, functional and useful, well, for most of the time anyway.

Gone are the days of walking to a Best Buy store, taking a stroll in the software aisle, and getting your greasy hands on a plastic box that wraps the software inside and then you carry it under your arm to a checkout. Oh wait, that’s prehistoric, during the Windows 3.xx/95 time. I mean get a broadband connection, find files to be downloaded, install them, only to find that you have successfully infected your computer with thousands of viruses or malware. Now you’re clueless because you’ve thrown away your $99 Windows Setup CD in the trash with that annoying AOL promotional CD (remember them?). Either you will have to walk back to Best Buy and buy another Windows CD or be stuck with a $2,000 computer that runs slower than Altair 8800.

Well, I’ve got good news for you. You don’t have to set foot in Best Buy or download malware files. There are applications that are web-based and all it requires is a web browser—I highly recommend Firefox–and you’re all set.

For calendaring, I use 30boxes.com.

For social bookmarking, I use del.icio.us.

For photo storing/sharing, I use flickr.com.

For planning or organizing trips/events, I use basecamp.com.

For online banking, I use bankofamerica.com.

For to-do lists, I use rememberthemilk.com.

For TV listings since I don’t have a tivo yet, I use evoketv.com.

For reading newspapers, I use news.google.com.

For emails, I use gmail.com, the world’s best email.

These are good to keep your life organized and to touch bases. Best of all, they are FREE. If you need a more specialized software like Adobe Photoshop or a decent HTML editor, well, you’ll need to install them.

Now, who needs iLife?