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

For those of you out there who are obsessed with cars, as well as those who just have a healthy appreciation for them, this site will help you get your daily dose of all things car related.  Covering a wide range of topics, Jalopnik has something for everyone.  From diehard enthusiasts to casual observers, this site has something for all the car lovers of the world.  From this interesting article about deciphering your cars VIN number, to this article (with plenty of pictures included) about an American muscle car classic, the Corvette.

Updated with new information, articles, and pictures on a regular basis, Jalopnik is a great way to find out what’s going on in the world of automobiles.

Although previously unheard of, this social networking site is poised to burst onto the American social networking scene to take on two Internet behemoths.  As far as social networking sites go MySpace and Facebook are by far the biggest players, with no real competition.  That might not be the case by the end of this year. The name Hi5 is virtually unknown here in the U.S., but that isn’t the case overseas.  Hi5 is the number one social site in over 30 countries spanning the globe from Latin America, to Europe, to Asia, and Africa.

What sets this San Francisco, California based company apart from its huge competitors is its language flexibility.  Offered in over 40 languages (with more than 60 additional languages planned for the near future) they are way ahead of their competition.  Currently with over 80 million registered users in over 200 countries, Hi5 is in the perfect position to be the most popular social networking site in the world.

If you’re looking to try out a new restaurant, bar, hair salon or dentist but aren’t sure where to go or which one to choose, check out Yelp.  Soaring in popularity since Google began including reviews from Yelp on their local listings section, the concept is simple: a place to talk about what’s great and sometimes what’s not so great about the places and business you visit.  Known as Yelpers, the users that comprise Yelp make the site what it is.  The very definition of Web 2.0, Yelp is a great site for users and businesses to find each other, and learn more about what the other is all about.

Once an account is created (free of course) you too can become a Yelper and upload photos, add a bio, and most importantly begin reviewing!  And with the addition of Mobile Yelp users on the go will never again have to randomly choose a restaurant or bar without first seeing what their fellow Yelpers have to say about it!

If you’ve ever wanted to create your own cool slideshow of say vacation, birthday, or Christmas party pictures, then Animoto.com is the site for you.  In fact, it’s the site for just about everyone with a digital camera and an Internet connection.  There’s a lot of hype surrounding Animoto these days, which can be daunting for any company but especially so for a web start up.  However this site lives up to it and then some.

For absolutely free, yes that’s right free (once you try it out you’ll be as amazed as I was that it’s free) users can create their own 30-second video, complete with music and everything.  After creating an account, users can then upload pictures (approximately 12-20 for a 30-second video), and can then re-arrange them in the order that they want.  After the order is selected, music for the video can either be upload or chosen from the library of songs on the site.  Next a title and description can be written for the video, and then finally Animoto takes over and does the rest.  A 30-second video takes about 2-3 minutes to be created, and once it’s finished just sit back and enjoy.

Videos can be emailed, downloaded, embedded, or uploaded to YouTube.  Because what would be the point of creating something as cool as your own video slideshow, if you couldn’t share it/show it off to your friends and family?  Well with Animoto you won’t have to worry, because now you can share your pictures in a very cool and unique way.  Bye Bye Boring Slideshow.  Hello Animoto.

Have you ever tried mixing random liquors, only to come up with something that tastes like it came straight from the Nyquil reject batch?  Yea, yea me neither.  But seriously, this is where ExtraTasty and their recipes step in and help make that mixing/experimenting process easier.  With thousands of drink recipes to choose from, and a new drink of the day every day, this site offers liquor lovers many cool drink options.

Doing a random search on ‘tequila’, 271 results are returned, ranging from guava margarita to citrus express to death wish.  Each gives the booze, the mixer, the garnish, and the directions.  Ratings and comments are included with each recipe to give users a better idea of what the drink will be like.  So before you decide to host that next party, be sure to hit up ExtraTasty to get some unique drink ideas.

While this still remains to be seen, the founders of the enormously popularly and widely referenced Wikipedia website, have decided to give it a go.  Their search engine site Wikia Search is similar to the big three (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) in that the results are displayed in the standard fashion, with ads along the top and right hand side.

To test out the relevancy of this newest Google challenger, I did a search on ‘basketball’.  The results are displayed in a manner that is very similar to Google with a few exceptions.  The first result (as I also tested with several other searches) is always a wikipedia article relating to the search query, which makes sense I guess.  Also along the top of the results page, various topics related to the search query are given.  In the case of my ‘basketball’ search, the topics included: shoes, games, drills, court, plays, rules, etc.

Another unique feature of the site is that users never have to go page by page through the results.  As you scroll down the page new results are continually added, so you can continue to just scroll down until you find the result that best matches your search.

Cool features aside, the determining factor of whether or not this search site will be successful lies solely in the relevancy of the search results given.  So far they are doing a pretty good job.  As for being a serious competitor to Google…only time will tell!

If you’ve ever wondered which roads and highways are the most dangerous in and around your neighborhood there is a site that can help out.  I came across SafeRoadMaps.org thanks to a recommendation by my girlfriend and was immediately impressed with not only the idea and the information given, but how it was presented.  The website is a mashup that integrates data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and uses Google Maps to present the information visually.  Some people might think this site is a bit morbid, however I think it can be very useful in helping to save lives.

According to SafeRoadMaps there are over 42,000 crash related fatalities each year in the U.S., which is why this site (a joint effort between the University of Minnesota and the Center for Transportation Studies) was created.  After selecting the Maps tab, and then Safe Street Maps, users can do a simple address search to see how many fatalities have occurred in their neighborhood.  After entering in an address, results can be filtered further by selecting a distance, anywhere from half a mile to ten miles away.  A Google Maps satellite view is then displayed, showing an icon where each fatality has occurred.  For further information, users can click on the icon and can find out the date, time of day, age, and sex of the driver and passengers, as well as if speeding or alcohol was involved, or if seatbelts were worn at the time of the accident.

Websites like SafeRoadMaps.org offer valuable information to help keep yourself and your loved ones safe.  With the holiday travel season coming up, hopefully the information given can help make it a safe trip for everyone.

With so many websites out there on the ‘net today sometimes it’s difficult to find cool websites that cover topics and fall into categories that you’re interested in (which is probably why your reading this blog!).  That’s where StumbleUpon can help out.  Users fill out a quick info page, selecting which categories they are interested in, i.e. music and movies, art and history, sports, etc., and then download a toolbar where they can then ‘Stumble’ through the internet.

Using the toolbar, users can randomly surf the internet by clicking on the Stumble icon.  Websites are chosen at random using the categories previously selected, (filled out in the initial info page) which are then pulled from the pool of sites given a thumbs up by fellow Stumble users (a thumbs up is given to websites that users think are interesting, and that other Stumblers would like).

From the toolbar users also have the ability to share a website with friends, read reviews of the website that were left by fellow Stumblers, along with other advanced options, including the ability to Stumble only certain categories like music or sports for example.  With so many cool features, StumbleUpon’s toolbar is one of the few that’s definitely worth downloading!

Imagine combining all of your photo albums, scrapbooks, home videos, and correspondence all in one easy to access spot.  Well imagine no longer.  Lifesnapz.com is a free to use site that lets its users chronicle the events of their lives, and share those events with the people closest to them.  Users of the site fall into one of three categories: Group Founder, Full Member, or Read-Only Member.  The difference between them being Group Founder’s and Full Member’s have full editing and invitation privileges, while Read-Only Members can only view events and add comments.

Members, who have the privileges to, can add photos which can be uploaded from photo sharing websites flickr.com or picasa.com, and videos which can be uploaded either from youtube.com or vimeo.com.  This site has many cool features, but the coolest is probably the timeline (see example below).  This feature is an excellent way of visually looking at events in chronological order, which makes finding specific events much easier.  There is also a zoom filter option which let’s group members search for events by a certain increment of time (i.e. 1 month, 6 months, 10 years, etc.), to be able to narrow down their searches even further.

With the ability to have a virtual history of your life’s events available to view and share with family, and friends, LifeSnapz.com has hit upon something unique that could someday propel them to become a very popular social website.

The holiday season is quickly approaching, and that usually means two things: shopping and traveling. With shopping covered in the last post (Looking for a Good Deal…) that just leaves traveling. And that’s where Kayak.com steps in. Pulling from over 140 travel websites, and covering flights, hotels, cruises, car rentals, and more, Kayak is the place to start if you’re planning on traveling and are searching for cheap travel deals.

There are quite a few features that make this site stand out from the crowd. The first is the ability to filter the results of your initial search. Users can filter by price, star rating, hotel brand (i.e. Hilton, Marriott), amenities, or by miles away from certain landmarks or neighborhoods. The second is the different views in which the results can be displayed. There are three options, List View, Map View, and Photo View. The Map View can be particularly useful if you used the landmarks or neighborhoods filter, and are looking to stay in a very specific region of a city; and the Photo View helps to give you an idea of what the hotel and the rooms look like.

With so many websites out there selling or offering the same or similar services, it can be difficult to cut through the clutter to find a good deal. Traveling is no exception, but Kayak.com helps users to navigate through all the clutter to find the best deals.