Well I like it so far; having spent very little time on the system I’ve already configured it to pull in my favourite blog feeds, integrated my social media profiles and setup my email through a POP3 configuration. Easy as pie.

A good user interface aides the usability of the site, and the easy way to re-skin it and add your own background gives it a nice personal touch as well.

Have a look at some of the screens available in LifeIO:

I’ve not yet mucked about with the calendar or to-do notes functionality, but I know you can sync your existing Outlook calendar to LifeIO. You can also link your chat profiles to lifeIO, but so far my attempts to integrate MSN chat has failed, it is still a public beta after all.

The aim of the app is to collate your online life to one area, and so far it looks as though they are succeeding. It’s free too, so far anyway, and their main revenue stream seems to be the online shopping sites integrated in the app. They’ve got deals with Amazon.com, eBay, Yahoo Shopping, iTunes, Craigslist and Fandango which gives LifeIO an affiliate kick back every time someone buys an item through the app. For the end user this is preferable to an add based revenue scheme, as it won’t clutter up the screen with adverts you’re not interested in. Lets just hope enough people use the shopping part of LifeIO so that it can stay free for the end user and contain a minimum amount of advertising.

Check it out at www.lifeio.com.

Related posts:

1. Beta Watch: LifeIO

…In order to spread their brand and the ability to rate everything between heaven and earth anywhere on the web, rateitall.com urge their users to add the “rate it” feature as a widget on their own websites and blogs. Well “hey” I thought, I’ll add it to this website. The process of setting up the widget is very simple and allows you to set the width and colour among other things. It then gives you a string of HTML code to add anywhere on your website and viola! …There’s your very own rate it widget.

So after setting it up I plugged it in and left it…..not testing it properly turned out to be a big mistake on my part: In Internet Explorer the site was fine, in Firefox however, the only thing that was displayed from the entire website, on any page, was the rate it widget. Not great really when you go to a website, see the site load for a split second, then all you’re left with is a little widget asking you to rate a website you can’t see.

So all in all the rateitall.com website looks fine and dandy, but the ability to add a widget to your own site, certainly for Wordpress users, needs a little bit more work.

I still like the idea though, and may add a separate “rate it” page to this website eventually.

Check out rateitall.com and let me know what you think. If you look hard enough; you may even find this very website listed in the blog section

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3. New Website Design

This first Beta Watch post will be dedicated to a product called LifeIO.

LifeIO is a startup that aims to collate your regular online tasks into one easy to manage system. From LifeIO you will be able to manage your emails, calendars and all your social media profiles. A lofty goal to say the least. There are a few companies out there who have tried to merge people’s social media profiles into one system, with various degrees of success. But LifeIO is taking it to another level with integration of email and calendars.

LifeIO has just launched in private beta, so most of us will have to wait a while longer to test out the system. You can however sign up for an invite on their website and they’ll let you know when they’re ready for you.

I will be very impressed if they succeed in building a robust system that can manage all the areas of the web I currently need to manage in different locations.

LifeIO … one to watch.

Have a look at Cnet and Techcrunch who have further reviews of LifeIO.

Related posts:

1. Watch This if You Are Starting Up Your Own Business
2. LifeIO – Public Beta
3. What Has Social Media Done For You?