Internet Site of the Week | Bangkok Post: tech

LabPixies is a fun site to visit, for many reasons, offering, as it does, the ''coolest gadgets on the web''. By ''gadgets'', the folks at LabPixies mean little programs that can be run on your web browser or cell phone, or be added to popular web destinations like Facebook, MySpace, Hi5 (a popular social networking site in these parts), iPhone, Android, Orkut and more.

A gadget can be something like a ''social to-do list'', a little program that allows you to make a list of things to do, and share this list with your friends. There are many, many gadgets and you're sure to find something you will enjoy.

LabPixies, at labpixies.com, has been snapped up by Google _ always a good sign. Google seems to be the only tech company that really understands the Internet and what people want. Yahoo! has a lot of content, but doesn't know how to present it. eBay is a success in spite of itself _ the most crappily de signed web site you will ever see. Microsoft wants to rule the Internet, but can't figure out how. AOL still thinks it's a player. Google, with the exception, perhaps, of Buzz, has been pretty much right on target, having the foresight, for example, to snap up YouTube.

There are lots of games on LabPixies, if that's your thing, plus gadgets for weather, unit conversions, stock box, calculator, and so on. If you're of a mind, you can add a pregnancy calculator to your Facebook page, or a calorie counter, and more.

Web developers will want to pay a visit to LabPixies to see solid examples of the sorts of ''gadgets'' that surfers like and want to use.

My only complaint is that some of the gadgets are advertising-funded and display intrusive ads, which takes the fun out of using the gadget. One does get annoyed with ads constantly being throw at you.