Real-Time Product Launch Recap

A variety of companies launched (or updated) services today that are all attempting to become leaders in the "real-time" space. Here's a recap of some of the services.Echo - comment replacement service JS-Kit has completely changed their platform by combining local site comments with reactions from across the Web. The idea is to allow your readers to watch a real-time stream from across the web about your piece of content.

Sobees - Swiss-based Sobees has launched a web client today that combines Twitter and soon Facebook accounts together. I wrote a full Sobees review on my blog today regarding the launch. Sobees also allows users to create real-time searches from Twitter, OneRiot and Friendfeed. The idea is to create a management console that allows you to see your networks and searches from one place versus loading all of the services in different web browsers.

Seesmic - similar to Sobees, desktop Twitter and Facebook client Seesmic has announced a Web client today. Frederic Lardinois from Readwriteweb notes regarding the web client launch, "The web-based version of Seesmic basically recreates most of the features that are currently available in the desktop application. A few features like groups and support for multiple accounts are currently missing (though they will be added soon), but the web app also includes a number of features the desktop client doesn't currently have, including a specialized view for direct messages and syncing persistent searches with a user's Twitter profile."

The nice thing about both the Sobees and Seesmic web clients is that they can be used from anywhere - a coffee shop, a library, etc.

Pubsubhubbub - This one comes from Google and is very technical but the basic idea is any RSS feed using FeedBurner will now be updated nearly instantly whereas previously there was a delay in feed updating. It's built on the "pubsub" protocol and a variety of open-source clients have been created to allow applications that need feed data to receive it in a near real-time capacity. Google has created a wiki to discuss the Pubsubhubbub release.

Lazyfeed - the idea behind Lazyfeed is to combine blog search with topics and friends. Louis Gray notes, "Lazyfeed, true to its name, tries to bring the best news to you, by topic, rather than by source, or by friends, as other social networks do. And the result is an extremely compelling way to find new stories that are relevant to your personal interests."

As the "real-time" web continues to heat up, we will see more service offerings in this area.