It’s a Atlanta based start-up and like many other sites and third-party applications, Twitpay too is based on Twitter, a social networking website. So what does Twitpay do?

It simply facilitates your payments by sending a twitter update. For example, If you want to pay $10 to your friend, lets say Droopy, then you can simply send a Twitter update “@Droopy twitpay $10 for dinner” through your mobile or a third party application like twitterfox . This will transfer $10 to Droopy’s Twitpay account.The company monitors the public stream of messages for the keyword “twitpay” and facilitates the exchange. And once you have over $10 in your Twitpay account (less applicable fees), you can spend your balance on an Amazon gift card, a Twitpay charity, or on Twitpay itself as the service is so brilliant. You can always credit your Twitpay account through Paypal. As the saying goes, there is no free lunch, Twitpay charges a nominal fee for this service. For all transfers exceeding $1, Twitpay will take a flat cut of 5 cents.

In its simplest form, its an easy way to settle dinner or  little borrowings between two friends. But on large scale, it predicts the paradigm shift in online shopping. For example, if you want to buy a book, lets say Google Story, from Amazon.com, you can send a twitter update “@amazon twitpay $25 Google Story”. Though this assumes the integration of your twitter account and amazon account, which is anyway inevitable in Web 2.0, but the ease of making payments with the fact that Twitter is already accessible on everyone’s mobile would make it the most preferred way of doing business online.

But Michael D. Ivey, its chief executive and co-founder, says it could also make it easier to donate money during a disaster like Hurricane Katrina or an earthquake. “Ideally we want to enable social giving on Twitter,” he said. “But beyond that, we could enable charitable giving, such as to the Red Cross. We’re very excited to be able to help people do good over Twitter.”

The service is still in trial phase but I believe it’s going to be the next big thing on Internet. So guys watch out for Twit Banking.

* Dial2Do When beloved voice-messaging service Jott started charging for all but its most basic functions, I cried. Then I found Dial2Do, a nearly identical replacement that’s getting better all the time.

* Dropcard Why bother printing (and collecting) business cards when you can use Dropcard? This ingenious service lets you exchange contact information with others using only your cell phone.

* Drop.io If there’s an easier way to share files online, I haven’t found it. A few clicks is all it takes to create a “drop,” a custom file-hosting URL you can share with others.

* Foxmarks This bookmark-syncing extension for Firefox has been a favorite for many years, but in 2008 it rolled out a killer feature: password synchronization. Talk about making a good thing even better. (How about extension syncing for 2009, guys?)

* Windows Live Sync Formerly FolderShare, Windows Live Sync remains an all-time favorite for making quick and easy work of synchronizing files and folders between multiple PCs. Couldn’t live without it.

Did I leave out one of your favorites? Think Evernote should have made the cut? Yapta? SkyDrive? Hit the Comments and nominate your favorite Web services of 2008.

The government in its Budget 2006 had extended tax benefits to five-year tax-saver deposits. According to the existing provision, you are eligible for exemption on five-year deposits on investments up to Rs 1 lakh. These fixed deposits will not have the option of premature withdrawal and will be locked for a five-year period from the effective policy date. Secondly, these fixed deposits cannot be undertaken as guarantee to secure a loan to meet your liquidity needs.

Also, banks do not give overdraft facility on tax-saver deposits. As this instrument of saving money is special due to its tax-saving status, banks do not extend relationship benefits on the tax-saver FD.

Unlike the accustomed fixed-deposit products, these tax-saver FDs do not have the sweep-in facility. This means, the surplus funds in the savings account will not be automatically invested in this fixed deposit.

Similar to life insurance policies and mutual funds (ELSS), this exemption comes under Section 80 C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. One thing is clear that this five-year bank fixed deposits offer tax benefits when you invest in them. Some industry experts have a view that these five-year tax-saver FDs are better than PPF.

In PPF, your money will be locked for a period of 15 years. A loan can be taken against the PPF account after completion of one year from the end of the financial year of opening of the account and before completion of the fifth year. Moreover there is an option of with drawing the money after completion of 5 years from the end of the year of opening the account. But in this case, a five-year fixed deposit can score over the PPF due to higher lock-in period.

The interest rate on most of these tax-saver deposits range between 8.5-9% p.a. PPF and NSC gets you 8% p.a. However the interest on deposits is tax free in case of PPF. Interest is generally calculated on a quarterly basis and the interest reinvested into the fixed deposit.

Kartik Jhaveri, a certified financial planner and wealth manager with Transcend India explains, as the returns on these deposits are taxable, the net return depends upon the income tax bracket in which you fall. Let us assume that your tax-saver deposit is fetching you a return of 8.5% p.a. Now, if you fall in the 20% income tax bracket then your effective post-tax return would be around 12.4% p.a. This is after taking into account the tax rebate earned as well as tax paid on interest earned.

Though there are various tax-saving alternatives available in the market. But a 5-year fixed deposit is a near risk-free investment. Before signing on the dotted lines study its benefits carefully.