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

If you’ve ever tried to keep up with the endless number of blog posts, articles, video clips, etc. that are out there on the web, you know it can be a daunting task.  I’m sure there are many like me who try but often are just unable to keep up with the flood of information that is published on a daily basis.  Instapaper tries to address this issue in a simple and straightforward way.  First create an account, second click the “Read Later” button when you come across something you’d like to read at a later time, and third come back to read the article, blog post, etc. when you have time.  It’s a simple process and their website speaks to that simplicity.  They also have apps for the iPhone and iPad ($4.99/app).

With Instapaper you can now read that article, watch that video, or read that interesting blog post, when you have the time to do so.  For those who use this site or one with a similar service, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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!

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!).

With the economy getting worse and worse as the months go by, it seems like everyone is now watching every dollar they spend and for good reason. With rent being the largest monthly cost most people incur, I thought this rent calculator site would be of particular interest to those out there that are looking to rent an apartment sometime in the near future.

Rentometer is very basic and easy to use.  First enter in whether you are a tenant or landlord, then enter in your address, followed by how much the monthly rent is currently, and lastly how many bedrooms the apartment has.  You will then be taken to the results page that displays a meter (that looks similar to a speedometer) that gives you a quick visual as to whether the rent is reasonable or overpriced.  At the top of the page it will also tell you what percentage of apartment listings are either priced higher or lower in the surrounding area.  And finally on the bottom right hand side there is a Google Maps mashup that displays other apartments in the area.

This site is a great quick reference tool that can be used by anyone out there that is in the market for an apartment and wants to know what the average rent cost in a particular area is and if they’re getting a good deal.  After all every dollar counts during these tough economic times.