There's no place like a home page, by Elsa Wenzel, CNet (Oct 6)
Compares four services for creating a home page that has news and tools: news from mainstream or from RSS feeds (niche news) and even podcasts; and tools for weather, maps, search and a bevy of widgets.
These were the four that Wenzel reviewed. I've added comments from the perspective of a Canadian user.
MyYahoo - I find MyYahoo, at least the Canadian version, rather dowdy. It does have Canadian news and is good for weather. There are many tools and you can set up more than one page.
Windows Live is beautiful to look at but not very easy to figure out. It does have all the communication tools and is probably the best choice for people using Microsoft IM and email. However, for the time being, I'm sticking with My Sympatico.
Google Home (Canadian) is even plainer than MyYahoo. News, which includes Globe and Mail and The Star, has just the title line - no lead. Weather for major cities in Canada is available, but not for the smaller centres even those with weather stations. There isn't a way to add your own bookmarks. You can add tabs if you are using Google.com/ig - not if you have google.ca/ig - one of those many minor annoyances that afflict Canadian users of these portals.
NetVibes is new to me. It's very attractive and the choices are clear. You can even show email from your POP3 account. The Web Search gives you a choice of Google, Yahoo, Live, or Snap (pity Ask.com isn't on the list). There aren't any choices for Canadian content: if you want to Canadian news, you'll need to find the RSS feeds and add them manually. (CNet reviewers reported problems in adding feeds.) It does pick up small Canadian cites through the Weather Channel.
CNet gave Google the top pick with 8 out of 10, but I'd be tempted by NetVibes, and if I were a Microsoft person, I'd figure out how to make Live.com work for me.
Posted by Gwen at October 11, 2006 02:10 PM