So today we review Google Page Creator. The application is great, very simple to use, very fast, and its all Web 2.0. Here are some features we liked:

• 100MB of Storage
• An ‘undo’ feature
• The ability to add images, pages, and links very easily
• Testing and previewing while in edit mode.
• Copy and Paste from any HTML Source
• Auto saving your work - like Gmail
• An easy to remember URL

The list could go on, but lets stop right there for a second. Check out the page we put together for this review at kazoomer.googlepages.com.

Google states: â€?”The pages you create can be crawled by Google within a few hours of publication.â€?Â? This is great for people who want to increase inbound links to their site.

Is this service for you? The serviceÂ? was said to compete with the MySpace giant, however it lacks any sort of social features. Google Page Creator is pefect for the Geocities crowd or people who used their ISP’s included storage space.Â? Google PageÂ? Creator isÂ? a little late in the game. The market is very crowded with new image hosting and video hosting players. In order to get the most out of the service you actually need to put up more then just your wedding pictures. It’s not for the Professional web developer or small business owner as you don’t have any control over the domain name with just ‘username.googlepages.com’. This brings me to my next point, Google just puts your email address out there, yikes! Thats all I need is more spam.

We feel the product is relatively good, but again, is it too late for this to be effective? This does fall into Google’s 10%, and will probably remain a Beta version for months, if not years. It’s probably a service that they should offer for the average user, and the average user should have no problem creating SOMETHING. And really, I’m sure we need more websites with black backgrounds, flashing text, and a plethora of emoticons and family reunion photos - which seems to be what this service will host.

AOL may have arrived a little bit late to the User Generated Content arena, but the Entertainment company sure knows how to make an entrance. On the heels of the release of their “MySpace Killer” called AIM Pages, AOL has now released their “YouTube Killer” under the name of UnCut Video.

AIM Pages was fairly impressive. The site was clean, seems relatively easy to navigate through, and addresses some of the long-term problems that will undoubtedly plague MySpace, like building the site Web 2.0.Â? We posted yesterday about MySpace offering episodes of ‘24′Â? and how the move could take a little of the wind out ofÂ? AOL’s sails. But the very next day, AOL’s release of their own video sharing website trumps News Inc’s release.

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It seems that as soon as we’d posted the message, and then BAM!! A whole wackload of examples presented themselves. MySpace has started to sellÂ? episodes of ‘24′ and Skype is doing a couple different things, offeringÂ? SkypeOut free in the U.S. and Canada, and soon will allow PayPal payments via Skype. These are basic examples of these websites building on their core features in a way that provides added benefit to their users.

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For any business, it is important to be able to increaseÂ? their potential customer base andÂ? increase their connections with current customers. Of course, the ability for a business to do this without the two interfering with eachother is always a difficult juggling act. How easy it is to develop a new aspect of a company while maintaining the focus and attention that the original and/or current aspect of a company. This is especially true for start-ups trying to capitalize on a broader focus. It is easy to lose traction with a small staff stretched too far for too long.

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Silent Rob re-read the blog post we made yesterday and felt that it may have been a little harsh. Poor, poor Big Brother II, er, Google, and I guess what turns out to be MY disappointment with several of their latest products. First, I guess we should mention that Google’s release of SketchUp a few weeks ago was actually a great program, but it also makes amazing business sense.

The recent trend for user generated content is so widespread that even advertising companies have jumped into the arena. One example isÂ? Mastercard,Â? letting users create their own version ofÂ? one of theirÂ? “Priceless” commercials. SketchUp and the downloadable plugin for Google EarthÂ? createsÂ? one of the most powerful and unique user generated content sites on the Internet. In the Google Press day presentation,Â? we believe it was Eric Schmidt that made a comment about satellite imaging and, to paraphrase, “who hasn’t gone and looked at their house using Google Maps.”Â? There will obviously be fewer inclined to create their house and upload it to Google Earth, butÂ? we have a feeling there will be a number of individuals motivated to go far beyond their own house. The first day we downloaded the program we recreated most of the block surrounding our office. We showed Google though, we deleted that bad boy so they couldn’t capitalize on our hard work, but it’s only a matter of time before Google Earth has a thorough recreation of several of the most popular areas in the world. It could almost become like a MySpaceÂ? profile, with companies using it as another form of marketing. Google could add some sort of mouseover withÂ? more informationÂ? or link theÂ? “SketchUp”Â? to aÂ? company’s webpage.

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