Synapse is a business-focused Ajax productivity suite (think Zimbra – email, calendar, etc.) that we covered back in August when it first launched. It’s easy to ignore Syanapse – the corporate website screams 1998 – but we’ve taken the time to look at the actual application and have come away surprisingly pleased. Version 2 will be released in the next few days and includes a browser toolbar extension and tools for importing/exporting calendar, OPML and other data.
They only offer a hosted, free version currently. The dashboard has a Netvibes, module based look and feel where email, calendar, RSS reader, bookmarking, todo list, basic cash flow ledger (?) and coworkers are shown (see image). Click on a module and the application pops up. The service also works very well on mobile devices.
The problem with SynapseLife is that it isn’t nearly as robust as Zimbra for the enterprise, and not as cool as Goowy for the consumer. And Google continues to domainate this space anyway – Google Calendar and Gmail are best of class online applications.
SynapseLife’s best shot at success may be the fact that they will soon be releasing an API, allowing third parties to create modules for the service, and to pull SynapeLife into other apps. This is a self-financed team of four developers – so they are nimble enough to change direction over time as well.
If you’re interested in other organizational solutions, check out yet-to-launch LifeIO and the much anticipated Scrybe.
