Pageflakes

About 7 internet years and 1 bubble ago, I had an idea - why not create a completely user centric browsing experience. A really correctly named "MyPortal.com". The idea would be to use web services to create little windows which you could build without knowing any HTML, but just by using drag and drop tools. So you could say - in this box on top, I want a link to my bank. Here I want to link to all my utilities - phone, gas, water etc. Here's a link to my council tax, local library and gym, and on the other side, a window for all my favourite blogs. Right at the bottom, a link to my yahoo, and other personalized pages, my news papers... you get the idea.

I knew at the time, that a good idea like this lasts about 6 months (which is about 5 internet years, or 3 internet years and 1 bubble - bubbles initially speed up and then dilate internet time).

So its wasn't a surprise when I discovered pageflakes in the sign off line from a friend who works at Benchmark. Although largely US Centric and not absolutely user focused as was in my mind, the site pretty much delivers the experience I had thought about and no doubt, they'll add the rest. The key difference is that this is all server centric - which means any data you share will reside at their end.

It would be nice to have a local version as well, but of course, that means you're tied to a device. Can't win them all! But here's to pageflakes - long may the idea thrive.