14. It might be easy to dismiss EyeOS as an attention grabbing alternative OS that runs in a browser. After all, it could be argued Firefox is a kind of operating system that runs JavaScript apps. EyeOS makes easy work of common tasks like file associations and one-click access to your favourite apps. The OS includes 60 popular apps, including word processing and audio players – you can get more at www.eyeos-apps.org. Still in its infant state, EyeOS reveals a tantalising glimpse of what Windows could look like if it ran in a browser.

15. The concept of a 'social database' might seem like a contradiction – but Blist pulls it off. You can enter vast quantities of data – the entire fantasy football roster for all your friends, for example – and then share the data between Blist users. Templates are geared for those who want to weed out duplicate data.

16. The holy grail of file syncing is the ability to drop files into a folder and have that same folder show up on every other computer you own and work exactly like a network drive – except that it's online. Dropbox (still in beta) solves this issue. Just add a folder to your desktop and copy files. You can also share complete folders so that anyone with access to the folder sees and is able to use the shared, synced files.

17. Carbonite is a unique online back-up utility that sits in your system tray and watches important folders, such as those containing 'dev' files or Word documents, automatically archiving them to a secure website as you work. There is no limit to the storage space available, although the program will only upload a couple of gigabytes per day. Strangely, after install, the clientside app reboots Windows Explorer.

Graphics

18. There are no extra frills offered by dafont.com – the main draw is that the site houses over 7,000 fonts, all freely available to download for Mac or Windows. Linux users will have to convert the fonts. You can grab every single font in one eMule or BitTorrent file; just go to www.dafont.com/faq.php#howmany and look for the 'zip' file links.

19. Part Flickr replacement and part entry-level photo editor, Photoshop Express proves that Adobe is on a clear path toward online apps. It's fairly basic: you can apply a handful of filters for lighting and exposure, rotate and re-size images, embed photos into a web page and share your shots with other users – even those on Flickr. The site shows huge potential: with 2GB of free storage, imagine being able to apply complex editing tasks to a series of photos where 'the cloud' does all the processing for you.

20. There's a plethora of general purpose how-to sites on the web, including the fantastic www.wonderhowto.com, but Luxa is for the technical-minded Photoshop user. You may already know how to perform a Gaussian blur, but Luxa teaches you how to make neon glow effects, complex layering, text design within Photoshop and many other skills.

21. Don't avoid Bluestring just because it's owned by AOL: the site is an example of how the web can be a powerful ally in digital media collection. You can upload music, photos, and videos. The handy status bar lets you do a massive bulk upload and switch to a different tab, then check back to see how much data has been uploaded.