Zeus of the ‘NetReviews of the Coolest Sites on the Net

If you answered yes to both of these questions then boy have I got the site for you. If you only answered yes to the first question, I think this site might change your mind about the second one. MyDunkTank is a site with a very cool and philanthropic purpose (which I think is very cool and much needed) that lets people create a list of “dares” that they are willing to do for money that will then go to a charitable organization. The “dare” which receives the most donations from family, friends, and fellow DunkTankers, wins! And by wins I mean that’s the dare that has to be done. Pretty interesting concept, right?

To give you an idea of some of the “dares” currently running there’s one for Dare to be Aware of Spina Bifida, which so far has raised $4,563, with the top dare coming from an older lady who will assume a Lady Gaga identity at an official Spina Bifida event. I hope they post pictures after the event. Actually I think that would be a good idea. It would be another incentive for first time visitors to the site to donate and then to come back to the site.

This website is a little different than most that I usually share however whenever I get a chance to give back I try to do my best to do just that. And I thought what better way to give back than to share with my readers.

P.S. Would love to hear in the comments about any “dares” that were undertaken!

You’re probably thinking to yourself, how can any site possibly compete with Google?  Unfortunately the answer as of right now is that none can.  Or at least none can if they use them same format of ten blue links.  A new visual search engine called Spezify hopes to take some searches (a.k.a. a few bananas) away from the 800lbs Google gorilla.  The question is can they do it?

The thing I like most about this site is the user interface.  It’s quite intuitive and easy to use, which is extremely important if you want a large majority of the public to be using your site.  I like the fact that you can scroll down or up, right or left.  To me it tends to lead to a more engaging experience versus the traditional ten blue links.  Users can also filter the results to show only images, text, video clips, music, or tweets.  My main concern with the site however is the relevancy of the results it returns.  In my opinion Google is the most widely used search engine in the world because it consistently returns the most relevant results for user’s queries.  I think this will be Spezify’s biggest challenge.

Overall I see Spezify being used for more leisurely searches versus searches with a need for a specific answer or solution to a problem.  That being said it’s still a fun site to use.  If you have some free time and are looking to find some interesting websites (since you’re read this I’m guessing you probably are) go over and check out Spezify.  Then come back and leave a comment and let us know what you thought!

If you’re like me and love to try new foods then you might find this site interesting.  It’s a combination of Yelp and Foursquare in that the focus is on restaurants and users can earn points and badges.  However instead of multiple reviews/descriptions this site makes food the star (as it should be).  Foodspotting allows users (aka Foodspotters) to either upload or email pictures of the food they’ve tried at various local restaurants.  From there the community can nominate (known as “noms”) the foods they’ve tried and liked the best.  Users can earn points and keep running lists of foods ‘spotted’, ‘nommed’, and ‘wanted’, of course in addition to earning badges such as ‘Seafood’, ‘Dessert’, and ‘Sushi’.

They also have a very cool (and free) iPhone app that perfectly replicates the website experience.  I think an app like this is absolutely necessary for a website in this niche and they definitely hit the nail on the head.  If you have an iPhone I highly recommend downloading the app (just go to the App Store and search ‘foodspotting’).  So what do you guys think, next time you’re hungry but don’t know where to go would you consider checking out Foodspotting?

Luckily we’ve moved past the days of having to use a paper phonebook to find local service providers (I mean really, who uses the YellowPages anymore?). Now we’re onto bigger and better options. We now have local search directories such as Google Places, Yahoo Local, and Bing Local, just to name a few. However all of these new local directories lack a few things. They essentially act the same way as the old YellowPages did, listing a business’ address, phone number, product/service offerings, etc. with the added bonus of some reviews mixed in.  While this is a step in the right direction, Redbeacon takes it one step further.

Users can submit a request for whatever type of service they are looking for and can specify when, where, and exactly what they need to have done. Redbeacon will then send out a message to those service providers that match your criteria (that have of course created a Provider Services account) and then those providers can bid on your service request. From there you get to choose which provider you want to go with, based on their bid price, reviews, etc. Best of all this can all be done online, absolutely FREE.

In my opinion this site has a lot of potential. However I think for it to really take off, it’s going to need a lot of qualified service providers actively involved and bidding on service requests. What do you guys think, would you consider using Redbeacon for your local business needs?

You might have already heard about this site but I thought I’d share it with those who might not have (or for those who have and weren’t sure what it was all about).  Foursquare is for use on mobile devices (specifically smart phones like the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Palm, etc.) but can also be used via text message for those users on non-smart phones within the U.S.  After downloading the Foursquare app onto your phone (completely free) you can begin to ‘check-in’ at different locations.  The check-in process is based on your location (using GPS) and is pretty simple; all you need to do is select your correct location from the list.  If for some reason the business/location is not listed you can add it and then check-in.  You can also leave a short message, 140 characters or less, describing your experience.  Sounds interesting.

The question is why would anyone use this?  To address this issue, Foursquare has created a game style format with points and badges where you can login in at the end of each month and see your stats.  The ultimate goal behind this is to become “mayor” of a certain business location (your local Starbucks for example) which is achieved by checking in at a particular location more times than any other fellow Foursquarer.  Once you are mayor of that location you unlock the mayor’s badge and in some instances can receive a discount off of purchases ($1 off purchases at Starbucks) simply for being mayor of that location.

I think there’s a lot of potential in this new geo check-in arena but Foursquare is dealing with quite a few competitors at the moment and some pretty formidable ones at that (Yelp).  It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds over the next 6-12 months.  What do you think, would you use a service like this?

Me too!  But since we all know that’s not possible (at least not without a flux capacitor) let’s talk about a site that will get you as close as possible to time travel.  In existence since the very early days of the internet (1995) Archive.org has archived nearly every website, audio, live music, text, and moving image that has been posted online in the last fifteen years.  Most users of this site however take advantage of the coolest feature called the “Wayback Machine” (with a top speed of 88 mph… OK I’ll stop).  With over 150 billion pages currently in its archive the Wayback Machine has the most extensive collection of webpages on the internet today.

It works like this: users go to the site and type in the URL of a website (let’s use Yahoo as our example) and then click ‘Take Me Back’.  It then takes you to a search results page that has the years, number of pages, as well as links with exact dates of went a snapshot was taken.  For example the earliest snapshot of Yahoo.com was on October 17, 1996 and links to this snapshot. This can be done for most websites in existence (with a few exceptions).

So just thought I’d share this neat tool that can be used for research or for those of us with a curious streak.  Whichever reason you decide to use it, I’m sure you’ll find it to be a valuable resource! (I’m sure Doc Brown would have agreed…alright I lied!).

Have you ever wanted to show someone a funny or cool scene from a movie but couldn’t find it on YouTube?  Or Google?  Well this site’s got you covered.  Currently still in beta, Movieclips.com has over 12,000 clips (from 6 major Hollywood studios) that range from “Dirty Harry” to “When Harry Met Sally” and everything in between.  With HD quality videos and a similar layout to both Hulu and Vevo, this site has got what it takes.

With the standard social media elements integrated into the site (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) this site has got all of the bases covered there too.  So after you find that scene you’ve been looking for you can share it with all of your friends.

While technically the title of this post is misleading, this self-described video “taste engine” is pretty cool.  Jinni is a movie, TV, and short video search engine power by The Movie Genome.  The search capabilities are weighted more on semantics than on an algorithm (traditional search engine) that use mood, plot, genres, time period, place, audience, and praise to tag and categorize movies in a way that no other site has done before.  This allows for exploring movies in a way that’s beyond the traditional keyword search, a way that lets people choose/filter based on specific criteria, which is something no website has able to do until now.

Keeping in mind that Jinni is actually a video discovery portal and not an online video website (like Hulu for example) one of the features I really like is the social media involvement they have integrated nicely throughout.  Since this sites purpose is to help its users more easily find movies and TV shows they will like, I think this social aspect is important.  For example on the Back to the Future page they are pulling rating information from IMDb, linking to a Twitter search for the movie, as well as the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes page.  In addition the ‘Watch it’ link will take you to a page that has links to the various ways you can watch/rent/buy the movie, which includes deep links to the movie’s specific page on Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon.

So what do you think, does Jinni have a place in the competitive online video world?

If you’re like me when you need a greeting card you probably head to your local bargain retail/drug store to pick one out.  You probably spend a good 10-15 minutes looking through the small selection of extremely cheesy cards, each one worse than the last.  Defeated, you finally pick the least lame card of the bunch.  Luckily now there’s a new alternative: enGreet.com.  To me this site is pure genius.  Users can order anywhere from 1 greeting card ($1.99 for blank, $2.99 for custom) up to 1,000 and with a wide selection to choose from, you’re sure to find one you like.

I like websites like this that fill a need that traditional brick and mortar stores simply can’t.  Since everyone has to buy greeting cards for all of the various occasions throughout the year, I think this was a great idea for a website.  What do you think, would you give enGreet a shot?

As more and more TV shows, movies, and original content become available online, it’s going to be increasing harder to find the programming you’re looking for.  Which is why I think in 2-3 years time (when the majority of LCD TVs become internet capable) Clicker.com is going to be huge.  They are positioning themselves to be the directory/search engine for all online video programming.  So as people start watching online programming on their internet capable TVs (possible even in 3D), they are going to want to be able to quickly find what it is that they want to watch (directory).  And if they’re not sure exactly the program but say want to watch something funny, they are going to want to be shown a list of relevant options (search engine).  This is the future need that Clicker is already addressing, today.

Judging from the management team (the CEO is former Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone) and its VC backing, this site has the potential to become a huge online brand and resource.  Personally I think online programming (movies, TV shows, user generated content, as well as original programming) is going expand and grow exponentially in the coming years.  But make no mistake; the reach of the internet into every aspect of our lives is an inevitable evolution that will bring about opportunity for an unprecedented shift in power, from the few to the many.  The game is changing from the old-school push model, to the 21st century pull model, where people engage in and watch whatever they want, whenever they want.  Clicker has aligned themselves to make that transition easier.  Evolution.  It’s a beautiful thing.