It’s getting harder to keep track of new and useful Web sites. Every day, creative minds around the world come up with sites that can help us with work and play. But we keep going to the sites we know because we are comfortable with them.
In order to help me track new sites, I started a blog about six months ago (I know what you’re thinking: “That’s just what the world needs, another blog!”). Instead of using the usual blogging software, though, I used Furl.net, an online bookmarks service I wrote about in Jan. 2004 (back then Furl was a small independent company; it’s now part of the LookSmart group of Internet properties). It allows me to save bookmarks, sites, blogposts, etc., choosing what I keep private and what I make public — and I can access my collection on any computer on the Web.
The blog, “New to Sree” (at sreetips.com/new), is constantly updated as I come across new sites. Here are just some of the items I have saved during my recent online travels, divided into various categories. Yes, I know some of these sites aren’t all that new. But they are new to me.
USEFUL
- 30 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do on the Internet: From PC World magazine, “The Web is learning new tricks every day. These surprising sites and services will help you solve problems and save time — and one might even make you a star.”
- Virtual Hospital: Hundred of tips and articles for patients and healthcare providers from the University of Iowa.
- Where To Find Great Free Photographs And Visuals For Your Own Online Articles: A guide to what’s out there for use in personal websites. Read the fine print carefully.
- Houseplans.com: More than 20,000 house and floor plans of all kinds. Useful for getting ideas or just gawking.
SEARCH
- Twingine: Put in a search term and it displays the results from Yahoo and Google SIDE-BY-SIDE.
- DoubleTrust: This site takes the results of Google and Yahoo and shows you which ones show up on BOTH and also which are unique to Google and unique to Yahoo. An interesting concept. Think of it as a BLEND of the two sites.
- Yahoo! Next: Yahoo’s answer to labs.google.com — a showcase of current research projects. Some good ideas here.
- RoadsideAmerica.com: Just in time for summer, a guide to all kinds of offbeat roadside attractions (world’s largest cow, anyone?).
- IndependentAmerica.net: A terrific multimedia blog by Hanson Hosein (a former student of mine) and his lovely wife Heather about their road trip across the country, looking for “mom and pop” stores, eats and more. They want to get away from corporate America and are even avoiding driving on interstate highways as they make their film.
- FlightArrivals.com: In addition to flight arrival and departure data, there’s also airport delay status checks and weather reports (for 71 U.S. & Canadian airports).
- Thinking Machine Chess: Not just another online chess game. After your move, you can actually watch the computer think ahead and consider all the moves that are possible. Really cool and an insight into how machines think. It’s art AND science.
- Spell with flickr: Type in a word or phrase into this site and it will spell it out using photos of letters it finds on the popular Flickr photo sharing service.
- Complete ACME catalog: Remember those ACME products that Coyote used to try to catch Road Runner on the old cartoons? Here is the complete catalog of all ACME products.
YOUR TURN: Got a site you like? E-mail me at poynter@sree.net.
SAJA CONVENTION: More than 50 workshops and panels at this year’s gathering of 1,000+ journalists from around the world -– June 16-19 in NYC. You don’t have to be South Asian to attend! Also see the launch of SAJA Reporting Fellowships: $10,000 in funds to go cover the aftermath of the tsunami.
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