Ajaxy personal pages with newsreaders are gaining traction and usability. Protopage is a free service that is astonishing easy to use and doesn't even require registration. (If you create a page and wish to make it persist at an easy-to-remember URL, you must register. But it's still free.) Floating information panels can be dragged around the screen, and there are three basic types: RSS reader; sticky note; and link panel. As far as I can tell there is no way to add a photo to a page, which is a shame. Protopage also provides a default search panel with keyword boxes for Google, Yahoo!, Dictionary.com, and Wikipedia.

Overall a simple product, but the RSS panel does allow OPML uploads, and you can fashion more than one panel for extra sorting power. All colors and backgrounds are customizable with sliders and drop-down menus. You can add pages to your Protopage space, and make those pages public or private individually. A mechanism for inviting friends is furnished, but there's no integrated social action here. You share you page by giving someone the URL, and, of course, friends can build link panels with each other's addresses.

Perhaps the funnest application of Protopage would be to share a password, and get a group together to build a space. Protopage would be an entertaining environment in which to assemble news, links, and notes. Conversations could transpire on the sticky notes. More widgets are needed to bring this thing to life, though. Give it a calendar and photo uploading, and Protopage would start to rock.