(Every Wednesday, Joey D takes a look at a web application, web page, or open source program that benefits you! Take a listen every Wednesday at 3:50 for the Web Pick of the Week on Big Country!)

This week on the show, I decided to dig into the deep and plentiful world of twitter clients for all you twitterholics like me. If you are like me, you like to manage your twitter in a space that allows you to be creative, catch all the content you are looking for, and isn't to hefty on your computer so it can run in the background or on your terms without slowing down your machine.

While I have used and become a fan of Tweet Deck, Echofon, and many of the other applications for Twitter out there, trying to find the complete package. This week's Web Pick, Seesmic, is just that.

Seesmic not only is a down-loadable program, but it also can run very smoothly inside your favorite web browser. If you are a Motorola Droid or Blackberry user like myself, you can also find a very solid, yet free mobile version as well.

Features and Perks:

Web Version- Very fast, smooth loading, left sidebar that beats out twitter's 2.0 client, easy search engine, contact list, and easy option adjustments.

For those of you that have used other twitter clients through a browser and have not found it to allow enough customization, you will be happy the moment you launch Seesmic.

For Windows/MAC- Multiple accounts, Great Options for your stream, add or remove services, not too heavy of a program, very solid resolution, great profile view when clicking on twitter handles, easy image integration.

The Windows and MAC downloadable versions are really simple to use right off the bat and again are smooth running. I have been running the program on my desktop for a week and still no crashes. It's so simple, yet get's the job done on all levels.

Mobile Version (Android OS/Blackberry)- When I started tweeting from my phone from my Motorola Droid, I could not find an application that would have the same feel on my phone as it does on my main computers. Seesmic for Android and Blackberry gives you that. The Droid version is very fast, allows for multiple accounts, and has a perfect setup for mobile tweeting. Without trouble you can view your replies, messages, profile and time line. A quick tap of the menu button on the Droid instantly gives you a list of options that make the tweeting experience on the go work.

Overview:

Like I said on-air today, I do not want to get into the twitter client world on the Web Pick of the Week, but when a product like this comes around you have to share. The software engineers of this program have done a flawless job of making three seperate but distinct programs for four different systems work flawlessly together. Whether it be in your web browser, desktop, mobile phone or Mac.

Download it today for your tweeting machine of choice, or if you tweet on the go open up the Seesmic Web today. It makes the whole tweeting experience that much more fun and easy!

Okay, so some of us are addicted to Twitter. Let's admit it. I have friends that have four different accounts to disperse information about different subjects. Sometimes we get caught up in the fact that it's just sending 140 characters at a time when we prepare our latest tweet.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Social technology. It's is great! But like all things, sometimes we get caught up just a bit too much in this realm of life.

That includes myself.

That's why this week's web pick of the Week has to do with finding out how much you actually spend a day tweeting. The website is called Tweetwasters, and it calculates how much time a day you spend tweeting.

I spend about an hour a day on that darn social networking! That doesn't even include time looking around and finding information! Check it out- http://www.tweetwasters.com.

Have you been looking for a good way to traffic your favorite tunes through the internet? Well one good way is the service Lala.com. The music service, which allows you to upload tunes from personal collection onto the internet, and allows you to stream all kinds of music from their servers. Not only can you make your own playlists and set up your own tunes, you can also buy new ones for relatively cheap.

All the music on Lala is DRM free and is compatible with Windows Media Player and Itunes. I say check it out, it is a great little web application that makes your life so much easier. Plus, you can always take the party with you as long as you have the internet!

Maureen Cutajar of helium.com has a great how to on how to get started on lala.com. To view her step by step directions on how to get started, click here.

This Week's Web Pick of the Week is a great tool for you business owners or entrepreneurs who are low on money. The Website is called K7 Unified Messaging.

What does it do? Good Question.

Maybe you had to cancel your business line or chose to cancel it, but you want to still be able to have clients send you voicemail. All you have to do is sign up for an account at K& for free, and they will send you a phone number to give out. Whenever someone you know dials that number, they will automatically be sent to your voicemail line. Once they have left their message, it will be sent to the email account you set up your account with in an mp3 file.

Pretty cool huh?! The best part is that function of K7 is free. If you are still into faxing and don't have a machine, K& also has those functions available to you. Try it out for free on the website and let me know what you think!

This Week's Web Pick is a selection from Big Country's own Iain Black. It's called Tune Up and it is a plugin for the popular Itunes media player.

What is it? Well, If you are a music lover like I am, then you have a lot of songs that do not have labels of the album, artists, or many other things.

So far while playing with the software, I have found it a very delightful experience. Not very often does it mess up on songs, and you can even set preferences so that it wont.

Tune Up does cost, but there is a free trial on the homepage. To get there, just click on the logo on the right.

A rather easy Web Pick this week, but a very handy tool for those that are recording their records to digital and such.

It's another Web Pick for you to enjoy this week! There are a lot of people out there, looking to save money and maybe even pick up a little cash. One of the ways that a lot of people are saving money and even making it is through DJing. Sometimes newlyweds who can't flip the bill for an expensive professional or families just want to have some music at a get together.

For all aspiring disk jockeys, moving your music to the computer can be intimidating. Not only is there a possibility of crashing, but the costs of programs can be outrageous. That's where our web pick this week comes in. Mixx is a free program that allows you to mix, play, and modify your music library for your first DJing job.

Mixxx is available on all platforms: Mac, Windows and Linux. It's very simple to install as well. Here are the instructions.

1.) go to: http://mixxx.org
2.) click Downloads on the top tab of the website
3.) choose your Operating System platform
4.) Install Mixxx

Interface, Usage, and Support:

Once you have Mixxx installed, you will find that right of the bat, figuring out what to do could be quite complicated. What is great about Mixxx, like many of our Web Picks, is that it is open source software. Many continue to improve it and keep it updated as well as free.

One of the first things you will want to do is upload your library. Mixxx will ask you where to locate your music, and if you guide it to it, then it will load it. You can always add to it by just clicking add to library. What I love about Mixxx is that it has great support for a free program. On the website you can find forums, support, and a wiki that answers most if not all questions users have.

The program itself has two channels for you to use, so that you can cue up two different songs at once. There are volume adjustments for each track and tools to help you mix if that is your thing. There are so many options, such as playing your song backwards, adjusting the tempo, depth, and delay. It's a really cool tool to play with.

If you use it and like it, one suggestion I would give is that I would not have this be your only weapon. Setting up some external devices would be the best idea, just in case something does go wrong on your computer.

I hope you enjoy Mixx!

For Writer, Collaborators, musicians, historians...heck! Anyone who shares things on the Internet, Write Board is a great program to share ideas with others.

The text based program can be found at http://writeboard.com. There is no need for installation, or directions on how to use because it is so easy. Write Board uses what is called cloud computing to bring text to many different users. What that means is that even though I love this software, I always reccomend that users that are working together always backup the document. You can do so by just saving the text into a word or text document.

Here are some simple directions:

1. go to http://writeboard.com
2. Go to the right side of the home page to the create a write board and enter the following information: Write Board Title, Password (make it something everyone in your group planning to use it will know), Email address (to verify).
3. After your Write Board is created, you can invite people by clicking on the invite people tab. All you have to do is insert the email of the person you want to see your document.
4. Once all of your work is finished, or at any point in the project, you can export your work to a .txt file or a .html file. All you have to do is hit the export button on the top of the write board.

Overall, for an amateur writer like me, I find this program to be the perfect layout to collaborate with writers who might live cross-country or to share your work with someone that isn't very computer literate, but wants to help edit your work. It's a program that's very easy to understand and I would reccomend it to anyone who is looking for a collaboration program that is free.

This Week's web pick of the Week is a great program for Ipod/IPhone users that need a program to tie everything they do together on the web. Whether it be your bank account, netflix, twitter, email or even your student loan accounts (like i do!) It's called Personal Assistant and it can be found free in the Apple App store!

Here is what Lifehacker, A great website dedicated to tech had to say about personal assistant:

Free application Pageonce provides iPhone-friendly access to all of the information you have stored on previously mentioned web site Pageonce, an internet start page dedicated to aggregating your online accounts in one location. The app—like the Pageonce web interface—gives you an overview of everything from your Gmail and bank account to your cellphone usage and Netflix queue. Like the web site, the main concern here is trusting your sensitive logins to a third party. Even if you trust Pageonce with your logins, be sure to require a password every time you open the dedicated iPhone app so you're not screwed should you lose your phone. Pageonce is a free download from the iTunes App Store, works with your iPhone or iPod touch running 2.0 software.

Besides being free, what I love about it is it's usable interface. It's extremely easy to add any business account, email or twitter account to the app. If you are a flyer you can throw your flying company accounts on there. Now this program isnt for everyone, but is definitely worth a try.

Here is a review by an Ipod App website:

Do you often find yourself wasting hours away on the internet? Is your mother no longer over your shoulder making sure you are being productive on your computer? Over the past week I have been trying a product that manages your time on the computer. No, it isn't one of those stinking programs that boots you after a certain type of time. It doesn't spit updates at you and it doesn't send you constant emails letting you know it is time to get off the computer.

The product is called Rescue Time and it can give you an insight on what you are doing on your local machine. Local Business that need to track time on projects or productions could also find Rescue Time effective. Often times purchasing clients want a log of how much time is spent on one project. As part of the business package, that is plausible. There are many different packages on a per month basis for Rescue Time, but there is also a free solo lite option. I recommend starting here for all interested users.

Installation Instructions:

1.) Start by going to http://rescuetime.com

2.) Go to the individuals box on the right hand of the screen and click sign up

3.) Click Sign Up For Solo Lite

4.) Fill out your email address, password and check agree and click sign up

5.) Download the Data Collector. Once downloaded click next. Make sure to install the collector
once you are done setting up your account

6.) Configure your profile- What is the most distracting activities and the most productive? After configuring your profile, click next step.

7.) Next you will confirm your settings. This includes your goals and the amount of times you want to be alerted. Once you have decided on your settings, click next step.

8.) Once you click next step, the profile and installation is complete. At this point it is imperative to make sure you have installed the data collector program you downloaded earlier. If that is done, then the next step is to go back to what you would normally do. Rescue Time will do the rest of the work.

Dashboard:

Once you have let Rescue Time do it's job for a while, it is time to check in at your dashboard. To get there, all you have to do is go to the Rescue Time Homepage and log in. Once you log in successfully you will be transferred to your dashboard. From here, you can see many different breakdowns of what has been happening on your computer. Whether it be full reports or graphs, they are broke down in many ways. You can visit daily usage, weekly usage, monthly and even yearly.

In the picture to the right, you can see the break down of my productivity for today. The majority of my usage today has been productive today, based on my settings earlier established. I have spent over an hour working with media and reading up on entertainment. This is just one of the many graphs you can view. Others include efficiency summary and breakdown of usage on your computer by the preset categories in Rescue Time. Once your week is over, you can view your goals, overviews and complete productivity.

Overview:

Rescue Time is a great program that allows you to monitor what is going on a specific machine. Not only is the free version effective, it is a great glimpse into what monthly plans bring to the table. If you own a marketing or production company in the Marquette area, then this is an ideal product for you. If you are like an individual like me, here is a free way to monitor what you are doing. Whether it be 24/7 monitoring or selected times during the day, Rescue Time is a solid product to consider. Plus, you have to love the placebo that some program is watching what you do!

Usually, I try to focus on something that is completely new to you guys, but I was so impressed with the new Netflix, that I decided to try it out.

What is great about the new netflix is that beyond the movies you rent through the mail, is the streaming service online. Not only do you get to watch your favorite classics on your computer instantly, but most of the movies are in hd quality. As part of any dvd package, you get this ability to stream some new movies, a bunch of good ones, and even documentaries. While you are waiting for your dvds to arrive, you can watch some really good film. This is what is enticing to me. With recent starz airings as well, you can catch up on the movies you missed at the theaters and your favorite tv shows.

If you used to have netflix, or have always thought about it, then it is definitely worth the free two week trial. I have always been the type to run down to the local video store, but I really think that Netflix is the way to go. For 13.99 a month you can get out 2 dvds at a time sent to your mailing address (about 8 rentals) and unlimited streaming of videos (as long as it is in the library). If a rental is 2.50 a peice, that is the equivilent of about seven movies.

Hookups to your big screen tv are available as well. It is definitely worth a try.