groups

HiTask is a(really simple collaborative task management tool for small groups. Members can create tasks, meetings, reminders, notes, and birthdays to add to their own schedule or assign to others. The entire interface is drag-and-drop, and any actions by team members will instantly be reflected on your tasks page. It's a mix of a scheduling app and to-do list tool that's dead simple to use. In testing, we were making and managing several projects in less than five minutes without reading any documentation, which bodes well if you're collaborating with non-tech-savvy people.

Assigning tasks to other users is really simple. Once you've created a task, you can just drag it over to the group member's name. You'll get a note on the task letting you know who you've assigned it to, and as soon as they're done with it you'll be notified in real time. Likewise, when a group member assigns something to you, it will show up on your schedule, along with a note of who it's from. The one thing missing from HiTask is the option to view other members' schedules, which would be helpful--especially for gauging how much is on someone's plate.

If you do need to talk, there's a built-in chat module, which is limited to one-on-one. There's no way to group chat, or share files like you get with some more advanced group collaboration tools like BaseCamp, and activeCollab, but HiTask is pretty early in development.

HiTask has both a free and premium service. The free service reaches its limit at 10 tasks, making it little more than a demo. The $15 a year service provides unlimited tasks, group members, and projects. See the screenshots after the jump.

Related: Under the Radar Office 2.0 coverage of group collaboration tools.

[via SolutionWatch]

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YackPack, the group Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) chat and messaging service we covered last month, has launched a new zero-configuration widget to complement its chatting service. The new widget can be placed in blogs, Web sites, social networking profiles, and forums--practically anywhere embeds are allowed. It's dead simple with a single button you push to talk with others. There's no registration, and no need to install any software--it just works.

The widget has three flavors: one that starts live (meaning you hear others chatting whether you want to or not), an opt-in that requires user input to begin, and a custom URL version that will work across your entire site, no matter how many different pages you embed it in. In all the versions, there's a small number in the bottom right-hand corner that will let you know how many other people are using the widget. If you've had enough of their chatter, there's an X button on the top right to put the widget to sleep.

The Walkie-talkie widget joins YackPack's YackPlayer widget, which lets users embed and share audio messages in a way similar to Jaxtr's VoiceBlast, which we wrote about earlier this week. See also Snapvine.

We've embedded the widget after the break to speed up our page load, so just click "Read More" to begin chatting with other Webware readers. … Read more

CircleUp, the RSVP-like service that launched at Demo 2007 a few months ago, has announced a partnership with e7 Sports, a management service for small sports teams. CircleUp will be added to the list of tools coaches can use to elicit responses from a bevy of parents and players about things such as uniform sizing and carpools. It's the mailing list re-done, this time with a centralized way to see other people's responses.

If you find yourself trudging through massive e-mail threads and having to hit reply-all, CircleUp would likely be more helpful. The service provides some simple … Read more

Shelfari is a social network and recommendation service that lets you flaunt your book collection to others, and discover new titles worth reading. Yesterday Shelfari announced a round of funding, with Amazon.com being the top contributor.

If you've ever seen Delicious Monster, Shelfari is visually similar, with virtual bookshelves that house your collection as long as you're willing to manually input all your titles. The result is a slick-looking listing to share with others on your blog or Web site (see below), and make friends with people who have similar tastes to swap recommendations.

Each Shelfari book … Read more

A lot of chefs will say that you're not a real cook if you have to have to work from a recipe, which I'm going to go ahead and dispute right now. Some of us with sophisticated palates just require a little more structure than others.

Since discovering new recipes online is my favorite pastime, I'm usually an Epicurious kind of gal--great content, easy to use--but GroupRecipes.com has taken recipe sites to a cool social/interactive level. It's got a lot of the standard Web 2.0 features: users can create a foodie profile, add … Read more

There have been several communication tools on Webware in the last few days. Joining the party is Yackpack, a messaging tool that lets you chat live as a group or swap recorded messages to group members, all within your Web browser.

Yackpack creates a visual chat room for you, with floating faces representing users. Playing and recording messages is handled through a slick and simple player that sits in the top right of the interface. Handling who you are and aren't talking to is as simple as clicking icons. Toggling all group members is managed with a single select … Read more

Pitched as "MySpace for groups" at Demo 07 last week, Nexo is a new Web publishing service that makes it gratifyingly easy to create a site for a club, team, or group of any sort.

There are a lot of easy ways to get a free site on to the Web right now, from MySpace (not a bad solution if you want to advertise your group to 40 trillion teenagers) to Wiki services like Wetpaint, but Nexo's focus on group dynamics pays off. The site is a good option if what you need is to keep a … Read more

Jyngle from Brevient Technologies says it's "real-world, real-time" voice mail and SMS messaging.

It's a social network--set up groups online and make them public or private. From a phone, dial in, submit a PIN, record a message. The voice or text message is then sent to the mobile phones of the predetermined members of that group.

Brevient says the ideal application is event reminders or meeting changes. At first glance it seems a bit complicated, but probably useful for messages that need to be heard ASAP.

After extensive therapy, we've been able to admit publicly that we have issues with exposed wires, cords and cables. And we're happy to say that, with the help of some sympathetic manufacturers, we hope to make significant progress in the new year.

Belkin may be one of those companies, if the "cable-free USB hub" it's about to ship is worthwhile. Not only does the $200 hub work without a cable to the computer but, according to Engadget, Belkin also claims connection speeds of up to 480 mbps as far as 30 feet away. That might … Read more