Verbling – Make use of live one on one video calls to learn new languages with the help of native speakers, and teach others your own language. Instantly connect with native speakers worldwide using your webcam!

HardlyWork – The name couldn’t have been a more appropriate choice of words. HardlyWork offers all the perks of checking in on your Facebook friends -on Facebook- but with the false appearance of a 100% work oriented spreadsheet. Simply sign in via Facebook log in button and see the magic happen before your eyes – away from your bosses’. Here’s what the Facebook spreadsheet looks like:

As you can see, the Excel formula bar is actually where you search for friends names. Hovering your mouse above likes and comments shows you their content and the person who made them and, if you need to log out, simply hit the X sign you usually click to close windows. It’s so simple and cunning we should expect an overwhelming expansion of hard working spreadsheet employees all over the country in no time…

Codeacademy – HTML, CSS anyone? The bewildering world of programming seems so far fetched to most non-engineers, including myself. But I do know programming brings magic in terms of website appearance and infrastructure. Codeacademy is here to make the frightening and peculiar world of coding a simpler topic to learn. It offers “a better, more interactive way to learn how to program.” Thanks to Codeacademy creators Ryan Bubinski and Zach Sims, learning to code is now more accessible -and fun- than ever.

The lesson framework in Codeacademy is a step by step process that ensures high retention rates and increases your chances of learning while having fun! Although these lessons are quite basic they meant the world to me, a common Java illiterate! And look, I managed to code an alert message as you can see below.

Start with Codecademy’s eight lesson plan, and then sign up to online courses to maintain and perfect your training. You know, I never thought I’d ever say this but programming is fun!

Sophia – Classrooms in the Web 2.0 era have radically changed and now, not only does technology serve as a didactic aid, but also high connectivity and information accessibility of the digital age make traditional teaching and learning methods virtually obsolete. Sophia is a godsend resource for both teachers and learners seeking not only to spice up conventional education, but also to enhance educational success of each and every learner.

As the site’s About Us explains, “Sophia is a social teaching and learning platform that taps the teacher in all of us and enhances the learning process by providing access to a wealth of knowledge, help, instruction, standards-aligned content, and expertise available to learners everywhere.” Find teaching aids and learning material in an abundance of fields, from applied sciences and mathematics to humanities, English and literature and visual arts, just to name a few.

To give you an example, here’s the learning packet (highly rated of course) in biology, explaining the topic of enzymes.

Formspring.me – Don’t let the simple design of this site fool you. Formspring.me is a useful tool that helps people find out more about each other through sharing interesting & personal responses. Direct Q & A is the key concept of Formspring.me and results can be both surprising and insightful. Use this tool to find out more about the university or college you applied to, maybe even a restaurant you thought about trying, or a company you would like to work at.

Quirky – Now these guys mean business. Quirky offers a mighty innovative platform where anyone from the global online community can pitch an idea for a practical, life-ameliorating invention, or a radical improvement of an existing product. Quirky handles the actual product development and marketing aspects, which pushes forward amazing ideas and makes them a solid, retailer-sold reality.

Quirky’s framework is so brilliant, they produce a new product every few days, and users are invited to take an active part in products’ development. Depending on their level of participation, contributing community members earn hard cash from the products’ sales in stores. Here’s more on how Quirky works.

My favorite part of Quirky? The Shop. It’s where you can buy many of Quirky’s manufactured products that make life so much easier, induced by people like you and me who shared their great idea. That’s where I found these two amazing products. The first is Weigh To Go, a multi-functional travel accessory whose compact form packs a digital scale, identification tag, and built-in lock to prevent theft. Available for presale ($33).

The second cool gadget I’d like to share is called Splash Stacks, a cushioned mat set that is easy on your knees when bathing a baby or a pet in the tub. Instead of kneeling on hard bathroom floor tiles Splash Stacks is the perfect alternative ($39.99). This product is in production.

Google Advisor – The search giant is now on yet another do-gooder mission: To help us better manage information online, and this time, in the personal finance arena. Google Advisor seeks to facilitate finding financial offers from multiple providers, comparing them side by side, and applying online. You can use Google advisor to compare recent offers of mortgages, credit cards, Certificates of Deposit as well as checking and savings accounts.

Once again, we see the magic of Google in simplifying otherwise complex processes to help us make better decisions. In today’s shaky economy Google Advisor is a financial bliss you should take advantage of.

Runtastic – Here’s a powerful fitness app that offers a bundle of sweet features. Runtastic offers the GPS-via-mobile, exercise logs and stats features, but so do most fitness apps these days. Where Runtastic really shines is in its real-time cheers from Facebook friends joggers, cyclists and hikers receive while out, pushing their bodies to the fitness limit.

Added Runtastic perks include finding tracks and routes in your area, tracking your weight, and sharing your progress on Facebook and Twitter, among others. Many will also be happy to learn Runtastic offers apps that work with Garmin sport watches. Runtastic is available on the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows 7. So next time you go out for a run or a ride, rethink your app usage. Runtastic is a personally rewarding app that really pays off to use.

iPhone screenshots

TaskRabbit – Our hectic weeks these days don’t leave much time for those small errands we need to do, and we end up putting those off for the weekend, right? No more. TaskRabbit is a sweet community of reliable runners who willingly (and for a reasonable fee of course) run your errands, deliver supermarket purchases or whatever else you need done, for you.

TaskRabbit works by matching task posts and background-checked runners able and ready to do the task. When posting a task, the user will specify how much he or she is willing to pay for it, and commits to that sum. This way, runners know beforehand what’s the compensation, and the system will make sure the runner is paid once the task is closed (complete) by its creator. Want to meet some of the TaskRabbit runners? See them here.

The TaskRabbit service is currently offered in Boston, NYC, Orange County CA, San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, although more locations will be available soon including Chicago, Portland and Seattle. Want to become a TaskRabbit runner yourself? Click here. TaskRabbit is a terrific idea – we loved it!

Groupon Getaways – If you’re a happy Groupon camper and love their daily deals, you’ll love the company’s new collaboration with Expedia, Groupon Getaways.

FastCustomer – Forget about those long minutes on the phone, waiting for a customer service representative to pick up on the other end and help you out. FastCustomer is a pain killer mobile app that takes out the hold from calling companies.

FastCustomer offers a free, 1-click process by which the company’s customer service rep calls you, not the other way around (the app has over 1600 companies in its database). This way you are ridden of the costly and annoying hassle of waiting for an actual person to talk to you. In addition, the app automatically saves these calls on your mobile’s recent calls list for simple future use.

What I like about this free app, aside from its obvious anger elimination aspect, is that it helps the companies you’re trying to reach in the first place, as well. Happier customers are better and more loyal customers. It’s a win-win situation. Available for the iPhone and Android devices.

Pictarine – Storing and sharing photos these days is possible via Google’s Picasa, Facebook, Flickr and other photo hosting sites. The obvious question is how come there isn’t a single venue online that allows you to import all of your photos from various social networks and other locations to a single place? One that is easy to use, doesn’t require monthly payments to store your albums? Say hello to Pictarine, the site that invites you to “manage and share all your photos, whether they are on Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, Twitter, Instagram, your computer, your camera, and even your mobile. You can finally enjoy and share your photos the way you want in one place.”

In addition to storing and sharing photos, Pictarine offers a sociability feature whereby users can create ‘zests’ – a sort of a photo-based status update that friends can comment on and add their own photo to. Pictarine takes the chaotic world of dispersed online photo storage locations, and brings these all together to make it better and more organized.