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BoxxetA mash-up that automatically grabs content on your favorite topics. Price: Free
By Steve Smith 
As much as we like the social-networking and content-sharing craze of Web 2.0, some of the implementations strike us as so convoluted that it's hard to understand their raison d'etre. Not so with the excellent Boxxet, which lets users contribute to ongoing collections of news, images, links, blogs, shopping opportunities, and top information sources for hundreds of possible topics.
Boxxet-the name refers to a box set-can pull together in a single, at-a-glance page the top news stories, blogs, images, and bookmarks related to, say, Lindsay Lohan, Web 2.0, Brown University, or Windows Vista. Boxxet's tremendous power is driven by its clean interface and its user ratings and additions. Unlike some content-sharing tools, you cannot make any new Boxxet you want; instead, you have to submit a request for a new topic. Adding content to existing topics, however, is as easy as cutting and pasting the target URL in a simple form. Boxxet packs a fine set of tools into this participatory search project. You can subscribe to a Boxxet's RSS feed, add personal Boxxet collections, and comment and vote on every item. The service is in its infancy, so it is not up to speed yet-literally. Performance was sluggish last time we visited, and there wasn't enough critical voting mass in many subjects to filter out anomalous images and irrelevant news items; some collections still have a number of false hits. Regardless, this is one of the more effective social networking/content services we have seen lately, and it's bound to get even better with time. Suggested Stories: Top Ten Web 2.0 Sites Instant Expert: Web 2.0 How To Manage RSS Feeds Online Featured Site Sponsors
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