Mmmm…The Google gods have given us another pot of gold. Another brick of platinum. Another…really sweet Web2.0 application.

GoogleDocs is a Google invention that allows many different internet users to upload, edit, and share documents with other users. It works much like a word document, where users can edit font, add break lines, images, embedded objects, and a lot of other different things.

The Babson Free Press (the online and print student newspaper of Babson College) has used a Google Document to manage many of their projects. They’ve benefited from the product because they’ve been able to eliminate most of their meetings, and increase productivity ten-fold.

Although, with every product there are their drawbacks. What can’t GoogleDocs do? Well, there are some limitations to Google Docs. At first, it is a bit frustrating to edit the document as it takes time to figure out the Google language of editing. If you do run into a point and scream “WHY IS IT DOING THIS!?” just have patience.

While you’re at GoogleDocs, check out Google’s other inventions in the Google lab. Many more “Googventions” will show up on this blog, but don’t wait for that. Check out the magic that is Google.

Behold, the best invention since the introduction of the amazingly distracting Web2.0: 8aweek. Those familiar with Mozilla’s Firefox extensions will have most likely seen this extension already. Here’s a breakdown of a few terms, and 8aweek:

Mozilla Firefox: The better version of Internet Explorer. Firefox allows the user a more secure and exciting online browsing experience. Why is it better than IE? Well, it was the first to allow for tabbed browsing, customizable browser interface, and extensions.

Extensions: Extensions are similar to Mac widgets. Essentially, extensions can perform neat tricks within your Mozilla Firefox browser. An example of an extension is the “IE tab browsing” widget. This extension transforms a tab in Firefox to Internet Explorer. Why is this helpful? Many web designers need to test their creations in both formats, as many users across the world are split between the two and Safari.

8aweek.com: 8aweek.com is one of these extensions for Mozilla Firefox. It’s main purpose? To save you time. Here’s how it operates:

When you browse the internet, it logs the time that you spend at each site. Spend an entire Saturday afternoon on Facebook? It logs that. Waste time browsing the ridiculous YouTube virals? It logs that. Where 8aweek is most helpful is what it can do with this log.

Essentially, with 8aweek, users can create a list of “Forbidden sites”. My top two are, you guessed it, Facebook and YouTube. With this list, 8aweek can forbid you from visiting these sites when you don’t want to be distracted. It allows the user to allot a specific amount of time each day that she/he wants to visit those sites.

Here’s an example: My restricted browsing time is set to 30 minutes each day. This means that I can only visit Facebook, YouTube, GoogleVideo, and Digg for a maximum of 30 minutes each day. After 30 minutes, a message pops up that tells me to NOT browse these sites anymore. It even blacks out the page so I can’t avoid it.

If you are in the middle of something very important, and are mad at 8aweek for cutting you off the site, you are allowed to hit snooze for a maximum of 10 minutes (the default).
What’s in store for next week? Another recommendation. Until then, check out www.babsonfreepress.com. There’s news, games, and babsonTV, all brought to you by the Babson Free Press Staff.

Also, I’d be happy to host your pick, if you find something cool. Send it over to dbarner@gmail.com and I’ll make sure you get credit for it. Until next time, enjoy this brand new, exciting web experience!

Your website you have to check out today is: DIGG! You can find Digg at www.digg.com. What is Digg? Digg is the site that will have every new viral video that your best friend’s cousin has been sending you. It will have every relevant news story that’s popular on the web. It will have those stupid remixes of nerdy videos.

What it won’t have? Well, it won’t have the viral content that’s been surfacing around YouTube for a while. You know the stuff. Videos that claim “SEX!” or “Britney’s Doing Something!” or “This title is in Japanese and You Can’t Read it!”

Anyway, Digg is a site that ranks websites based on user popularity. If you see something you like, anywhere on the internet, with a Digg button next to it, Digg it! It’s popularity rank will increase on Digg’s website, and will make it more accessible for readers of the site.

Then, when you visit Digg, you will see the best videos, images, and sites according to, well, the world.

It would be cliche to say it, but I’ll say it anyway: I digg it.