While searching around for some highly-rated Web 2.0 tools, I ran across two that caught my eye. They are completely unrelated to one another – unless you consider that one was bought by Intuit for $170M and the other was almost purchased by Google for $500M. The sites in question are Mint and Yelp.
Let’s start with Mint. Though I haven’t gotten brave enough to try it yet, Mint touts itself as the “best free way to manage your money.” Apparently, you plug in your banking account information (accessed via 128-bit SSL on the browser and encrypted credentials stored by 256-bit AES) and the software does the rest. It’s a read-only view into your finances, whereby the software creates charts, graphs and suggestions regarding money management. The concept is pretty interesting and it seems that Intuit saw some value there as well.
Yelp appears to be a clearinghouse for local business reviews. It has compatibility with most mobile phones and allows users to search for local restaurants, dentists, entertainment, etc in various cities. Yelp users write reviews and this gives the site a very ‘local’ feel to it. The site appears to search your IP address and change your default search city to one nearest the location of your registered IP address. Business owners can create Yelp accounts to offer discounts and can purchase ads from the site.
I’m new to these sites and thought I’d feature them – perhaps some of you are regular users of these tools… Take care!