Keeping your contact details up to date

KILDARE, IRELAND - I haven't used this blog in ages to be honest. Not sure why, maybe it's just because I lost focus on it. I think I'm just going to make it into a blog on useful software/websites that people should use. The sort of sites that I think are great for keeping productive with.

I'll start off on contacts. Ever have the hassle of dealing with, and maintaining all those contacts and wonder about how to get people to update their contact details for you if you ever leave one email account, or change your mobile phone number?
I'll recommend Plaxo
With the ability to synchronise between all the different system (although they can't update the Gmail account, they can only take it and merge with all your other details), it is one of those brilliantly simple systems.

Of course, if you're carrying a phone that can be backed up to your computer, I hope you're making the most of this feature. You all know how annoying it is when you lose or break your mobile phone and lose all your contacts (most new Nokia's and Sony Ericsson's support this feature now). Plaxo can be used to keep it merged with your other address-books so that everything is up to date.
The neat part is that by being registered to the site that whenever you modify your details, it automatically replicates it across all your other contacts also meaning you never have to worry about getting people to update manually. Removes the human issue basically!
Only about 10 people I know are on it right now but already it's saved me some trouble, but come on and join the party! Think of it as a version of Facebook for keeping in contact with people, the big difference being that all your data isn't locked into Facebook's systems.

Jaiku: a blog entry on reasons why it was fantastic

I've commented on this company before but having read this blog entry only now, it explains all the benefits of how useful it is. Forget about comparing Jaiku with Twitter (note: I've never tried Twitter but have read enough on it to know how it works and the concept behind it).

Tim O'Reilly, of internet fame, has written up a great write-up on his own blog under the title: I love my iPhone, but...bah, no Jaiku!.
This is the first time I've seen someone write on Jaiku and it's uses in how I've described (on this blog and in an Gtalk discussion with a friend recently :). His primary reason for the blog entry is due to his disappointment that he can't get it working on his iPhone, however he gives a great description of it's benefit.s He goes on to elaborate even more on the benefits of integration into address book and the like. For anyone interested, it's well worth the read.
All thoughts are welcome here also for anyone who's been lucky enough to try it out.

Note: Jaiku were bought out by Google recently and as part of it, they closed their service for the moment. For anyone interested, I have two spare accounts on Jaiku if you're interested in trying it out........ post on the comments or email me directly if you want to play with it. Note that they're under the username 'ntesting1' and 'ntesting2' (used from testing when I originally used the service in September '06) but you're more than welcome to use them.....