Here are some sites and services I started using in 2008 that I highly recommend:

• Jott – a great Voice to Text web app that handles short voice mails reminders, and much more.
• YouMail – a great (web enabled) replacement for your cell phone voice mail.

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I have a domain that I rather like — http://www.artbotica.com — but do not have the time to dedicate to doing anything substantial with it… so I decided to test out Google’s (new?) AdSense for Domains.

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Every once in a while, I get a very positive e-mail from what I am guessing is a real, genuine human… a visitor of High Vibe It, a site that runs on the pligg platform. But most of action seems to come from spammers. In fact, I am guessing they must be using automated tools… otherwise, I fail to understand how the time it takes to submit a story is really worth the link — especially now that I am discarding them so quickly.

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While fighting the good fight against spammers at High Vibe It – a site that runs on Pligg, I have found myself looking for more features and flexibility. It seems nothing will ever quite match the simplicity and flexibility of WordPress, but I feel compelled to get hands on with some other systems.

At first, I was tempted to work with Drupal, and still might. From a quick look around, it seemed I might even be able to use it as a Pligg replacement, and even import my Pligg content??? That would be great, if it works that way. Another great plus in my book is that it looks like it integrates with OpenID out of the box.

But since I am looking at DotNetNuke for a work related project already, I decided to dive in and work with it first.

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Even in difficult times, companies still have to advertise their products and services. The real question becomes how.

If this article from Bloomberg is any sign, there is a strong indication that companies are increasingly looking at the benefits of marketing along side search results, which benefits Google tremendously:

Advertisers are shifting budgets away from TV and print media toward ads that run alongside search listings, targeting online shoppers. The Internet will account for 8.7 percent of the $284 billion in U.S. ad spending this year, up from 7.2 percent in 2007, according to Barclays Capital.

As the article goes on to state the now familiar refrain – we are indeed in “Uncharted Territory”.

It’s safe to say that this not only applies to the economy directly, but to each and every one of our lives as well.

This has me thinking in a back-to-basics state of mind both personally and professionally.

The interesting question for me is whether or not the Internet has penetrated enough households and lifestyles that it will remain as one of the “basics” of life?

When the Internet bubble burst 7 years ago, I remember people telling me to get out of my line of work… there were those who suggested that the world wide web – as we know it – is going away.

And yet, here I am, like so many of you – still making a living in technology.

Although I would not be surprised to see all sorts of lay offs and cost cutting measures, I cannot yet imagine ever going back to life before the web. It’s funny, because sometimes I find myself trying to explain it to my son, who is now 13, you know… what life was like “way back when”… year by year, it’s getting much harder to do.

Of course, there was Internet before Google, but it’s still good to see that even in this tight economy, Google can prove their value and still make money.

This is especially so for those of us using Google for our own incomes as well!