Top websites 2007: Lifestyles

Beliefnet

www.beliefnet.com
By Eric Griffith
Beliefnet is the largest multifaith community on the Web, with sections for every faith: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, even Scientology and China’s Falun Gong. (Sorry, Jedis. Try StarWars.com.) Learn what makes us different, but more importantly, what makes us all the same—like our love of our kids, Harry Potter, and The Simpsons. If you’re not sure what you are spiritually, the Belief-o-Matic quiz can tell you.

 

Boing Boing

www.boingboing.net
By Kyle Monson
Boing Boing has for years been among the top blogs on the Web, and it’s certainly among the most eccentric. Each of the writers has his or her own pet causes, hobbies, and areas of expertise and trolls the Web in search of anything that might pique his or her curiosity. The result is, as they say, “A Directory of Wonderful Things” that somehow works perfectly despite (or perhaps because of) the mishmash.

 

Epicurious

www.epicurious.com
By Corinne Iozzio
Epicurious is the Web home of Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines—and it has the swanky recipes you’d expect from such a Web site. Don’t expect to find recipes for Grandma’s Chicken Pot Pie or Tuna Noodle Casserole; as is evidenced by its name, which is a compound of epicure (one with highly discriminating tastes) and curious (duh), this is a site for luxurious food and entertaining recipes and advice.

 

 

 

 

Top websites 2007: Shoppings, classified, travel

Amazon

The Consumerist
www.consumerist.com
By Kyle Monson
Tired of getting ripped off? Angry at Company X’s poor customer service? Head over to The Consumerist to read cathartic rants and learn how to save money on your purchases. The site provides readers with deal alerts, recall notices, and a forum for venting, and calls out businesses that don’t treat their customers right.

Craigslist
www.craigslist.org
By Brian Heater
On an Internet dominated by dynamic Flash animation, shiny Ajax, and countless other instances of style over substance, Craigslist continues to rely on one of the most basic designs around. The world’s most popular online classifieds site has long focused on content and community, which is why it continues to be the Web’s premier one-stop destination for home rentals, jobs, second-hand goods, and yep, casual encounters.

Dynamism.com
www.dynamism.com
by Jennifer L. DeLeo
Everyone knows Japan is well ahead of the United States in terms of next-gen technologies, but that doesn’t mean that consumers can’t get their share of Japanese goodies. At Dynamism.com, shop for ultraportable PCs, slim mobile phones, and wacky gadgets such as a duck-inspired USB flash drive or robotic bird. Add the site’s RSS feed to your browser to be notified when new products ship.

Google products

Priceline
www.priceline.com
By Eric Griffith
You can still Name Your Own Price to an extent, but these days the deal-making site also offers you preexisting deals for your travel, be it flights, cars, lodging, or cruises. Check the PriceBreakers section for handpicked deals such as ultracheap flights and free rental car upgrades; or better yet, get them sent to you via e-mail or RSS.

ThinkGeek
www.thinkgeek.com
By Jennifer L. DeLeo
A true geek wouldn’t be caught dead without his USB turntable, pocket mind reader, and LED watch. Online store ThinkGeek makes it easy to satisfy your geeky appetites for oddball gadgets and USB gizmos. New to the site is the drop-down menu for easy access to gifts for him, iPod stuff, and USB devices.

TripAdvisor
www.tripadvisor.com
By Eric Griffith
Who do you trust more, the travel agent who’s never left his/her desk, or someone who’s already traveled where you want to go? TripAdvisor’s all about user-to-user communication on what works and what doesn’t when you’re out and about, with all the comforts of a social network to connect with your fellow tourists. And if you still want to get some expert opinions, they own the travel-guru site SmarterTravel.com.

Source

Top websites 2007: Money and News

The Motley Fool
www.fool.com
By Kyle Monson
The Motley Fool’s credo is “To Educate, Amuse, and Enrich,” and they mean “enrich” literally. The site is packed with financial advice on every topic and for every level of investor, and most of it is entertaining even if you don’t have cash to drop on new stock picks.

Digg
www.digg.com
By Eric Griffith
The premise: An online popularity contest. The contestants: Everything on the Internet. Can you Digg it? Find what you like, “digg it,” and it bubbles to the top, ensuring that the best stuff is seen the most. It’s not just tech stuff, and it’s not just text stuff: Look for your peers’ favorite daily doses of videos and podcasts too.

Fark.com
www.fark.com
By Eric Griffith
Fark is not news. In fact, it wants to be synonymous with “not news.” The sometimes profane but always funny site aggregates tales from around the Web of stupid people doing stupid things, and the stupid media that covers the stupidity. The Farkers (who submit the stories) then provide witty comments. TotalFarkers pay $5 a month to see all 2,000 submissions a day and, better yet, vote in the Photoshop contests of creatively doctored art.

Gawker
www.gawker.com
By Vicki B. Jacobson
Since its inception in 2002, Gawker has ruled as the grande dame of celebrity blogs and has singlehandedly made snark the most valuable blog commodity. Today, it continues its mission of passing along New York– and media-based news and gossip, along with providing newer content such as Gawker’s User’s Guides—short (and yes, snarky) video clips about popular New York City neighborhoods. We guarantee you won’t find anything like them on Expedia. Oh, and don’t forget the controversial Gawker Stalker: celebrity sightings with date, time, and location details. Right this second, Jessica Stam is eating at California Pizza Kitchen two blocks north of here. Gotta go!

Guardian Unlimited
www.guardian.co.uk
By Brian Heater
Sometimes getting the best news about your country’s politics involves turning to sources outside of its borders. Published since 1821, The Guardian (formerly The Manchester Guardian) has become one of the most celebrated English-language papers around for its journalistic transparency. The Web version is equally excellent, and completely free.

The Onion
www.theonion.com
By Alex Ivey
Back in the day, we had to wait a full week for The Onion’s signature brand of news-spoofing wit. One of the best perks of living in the Internet age is that The Onion can be enjoyed daily, hourly, or even (if your boss isn’t looking) by the minute. And with its new Onion Network News, it’s funnier than ever.

The Smoking Gun
www.thesmokinggun.com
By Brian Heater
If you’re a celebrity or other public figure, you’ve likely woken up in more than a few cold sweats since 1997, when two former Village Voice writers launched The Smoking Gun. Existing at the crossroads of First Amendment rights and gossip, the Web site specializes in incriminating evidence, from mug shots to court documents to bands’ backstage riders. If there’s one thing that The Smoking Gun has taught us, it’s that damning evidence makes for a damn good read.

Slate
www.slate.com
By Kyle Monson
Slate may not specialize in hard news the way The New York Times does, but it’s perfected its own offbeat style. The site excels at taking the leading news stories of the day and twisting them, reanalyzing them, or fact-checking them into oblivion. And the writing is excellent and engaging—so much so that it’s easy to spend a whole afternoon enjoying Slate before realizing that you aren’t really interested in any of the topics you’ve been reading about.

Source

Top websites 2007: Info and reference

On average, 34 million monthly visitors head to About.com for guidance on subjects such as careers, child-raising, and technology. Newly sprung is the company’s video player with over 500 videos, as well as Guidesites, an expansion of its Web channels overseen by professionals such as a licensed health counselor and a world news columnist. Don’t have time to sniff around the site? Go to the What’s Hot Now sidebar.

How Stuff Works
www.howstuffworks.com
By Corinne Iozzio
No matter how old you are, at some point you’ve looked up at an adult holding some toy or contraption and implored, “But how does it work?” Odds are that dear old Dad made up a pretty convincing story at the time, but now, in the age of the Internet, we have the means to dig down and find out how everything really works, from a dog fight to the animation on an episode of The Simpsons. The experts at How Stuff Works share their knowledge on any and all subjects, and we recommend taking advantage of it.

The Library of Congress
www.loc.gov
By Lisa Ruefenacht
As the online rolodex of the Library of Congress, this site houses numerous reference materials, digitized collections, films—basically any content you’d ever want to find. The Library of Congress is the only library in the United States that contains everything ever published in the country, so if you’re stuck trying to find something, chances are the Library of Congress will have it.

Merriam-Webster Online
www.m-w.com
By Kyle Monson
Besides the regular ol’ stuffy-dictionary features, Merriam-Webster Online teaches you your own mother tongue with fun stuff like the Word of the Day and daily crossword puzzles, and even a user-submitted “Open Dictionary” that lets you submit your own words and definitions.

Nolo
www.nolo.com
By Kyle Monson
Nolo is an excellent online law resource center for non-lawyers. Get legal documents, advice, and information for your business or family, or turn to the site’s lawyer directory if you’re squeamish about taking the law into your own hands.

Snopes
www.snopes.com
By Corinne Iozzio
Before you forward that so-called “true” story that landed in your inbox this morning to everyone in your address book, you better check Snopes to make sure it’s not completely full of you-know-what. It’s an extensive index of urban legends, common fallacies, old wives’ tales, strange news stories, rumors, trashy gossip, and more. If it’s on Snopes, funny or moving though it may be, it’s totally untrue.

The Straight Dope
www.straightdope.com
By Corinne Iozzio
Every class had that kid: the one who would ask all the dumb questions you were dying to ask but felt too embarrassed to utter out loud. The Straight Dope is the grown-up, online version of that kid. Published in the Chicago Reader and penned by ghostwriters under the name Cecil Adams (aka “the smartest person in the world”), The Straight Dope tackles burning questions from “Who invented the smiley face?” to “Did Mussolini use castor oil as an instrument of torture?” with a delicious combination of sarcasm and profanity.

Urban Dictionary

www.urbandictionary.com
By Vicki B. Jacobson
This user-generated online slang dictionary doesn’t just teach you new ways to swear; it can actually expand our common vernacular. For example, on August 1, the Urban Word of the Day was “baby bear,” which is an adjective for when “things are just right.” And here we thought it was just a fairy-tale character! Also, if you don’t have time to check the site every day, get your daily dose via cell phone at urbanwap.com.

Wikipedia
www.wikipedia.org
By Brian Heater
Love it or hate it—though most likely, your feelings are some combination of both—you can’t ignore the current poster child for the wisdom of crowds. Launched in 2001, Wikipedia has become the go-to online resource for global knowledge, with nearly eight million articles written in 253 languages. We’d think twice before quoting it as a source for an academic paper, given the sometimes questionable authority of its authors, but that doesn’t stop us from consulting the encyclopedia several times every day.

Source