30 Boxes Webtop!
Our latest toy is a slick new webtop that you can use as a starting point for your web apps and stay up to date on the latest updates (calendar and web stuff) from your buddies. — I love that fact that you can customize your background image.
Context & Ripple Effects
30 Boxes had already drawn attention as a calendar service in early 2006, including an early assessment of its calendar experience. The new interface broadens that role into a customizable home screen for launching web apps and following calendar and social updates in one place.
First-order effects
- 30 Boxes users gain a single personalized surface for their calendar, web applications, and updates from friends rather than treating the calendar as a standalone destination.
- Customization, including background images, makes the service's front page a user-controlled workspace as well as an organizer.
Second-order effects
- Web applications become more valuable to 30 Boxes users when they can be reached from the same daily dashboard, raising the importance of being part of the user's starting screen.
- Social updates give 30 Boxes a reason for users to return beyond managing their own schedules, linking personal organization with buddy activity.
Third-order effects
- If services adopt the same model, personal web software will compete to become the configurable work surface that aggregates many web destinations rather than a single-purpose application.
The trend: Consumer web services are evolving from standalone tools into customizable dashboards that combine personal data, applications, and social activity.