10 Coolest Website
 | ||
 |   Pachyderm science, plus numerous other lesson plans, is offered up at nationalgeographic.com/ education | |
 | ||
| JAMES L. STANFIELD / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC | ||
BBC.co.uk
This terrific source for war and other world news has other sections worth exploring: BBC Sport offers comprehensive coverage of sports around the globe (including such pursuits as rugby and cricket) plus a snazzy Virtual Replay interactive video tool (Macromedia's Shockwave Player required) so you can experience the winning goal from a variety of angles. In Science & Nature, you'll find a boatload of material about the human body and mind illustrated by top-notch graphics. Study the Nervous System, take the Senses Challenge or play the Skeleton game.
Bloglines.com
If you want to stay plugged into the world of politics, technology, show business or any other area of professional or personal interest, you have to read Web logs, a.k.a. blogs, regularly-updated personal or collaborative online journals. The best ones are in some ways more relevant and more influential than mainstream media outlets. To keep up, let Bloglines track your favorites and deliver their latest posts in one neat package. Other good blog-aggregator services include Kinja.com, a similar though somewhat shaky service (it just launched a few months ago) that shows promise as a tour guide for those entering the blogosphere for the first time, and Blogdex.net, MIT Media Lab's study in "contagious media" that lists the fastest-spreading ideas and news items based on how many blogs are buzzing about them.
Ehow.com
The site for tips and step-by-step instructions on how to do stuff. There's the practical (how to teach a child how to tie his shoes), the creative (how to make tile mosaics) and the merely suggestive (how to exercise at the beach). The site's ads, supplied by Google and relevant to your searches, were some of the least obnoxious we've seen.
ET.tv.yahoo.com/newslink
Click here to get your daily fix of showbiz and celebrity news. Articles are short and sweet, which works for us: how much do you really need to read about Britney Spears' knee injury or why Tom Cruise was chosen to carry the Olympic Torch?
Factcheck.org
Voters, if you're sick of being spun, take heart: here's a breath — make that blast — of fresh air from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. The articles and feature stories pick apart speeches, press releases, TV ads and other public statements by politicians of all stripes — these days, mainly Bush and Kerry — to set the record straight.
Fedstats.gov
Not the sexiest site on our list, to be sure, but incredibly useful for gathering statistics and reports from more than 100 government agencies. Click on Key Statistic next to an agency's name (they're listed alphabetically) to pull up links to other Web pages containing relevant info. You'll have to dig a little, but for many kinds of research this is a great place to start.
Nationalgeographic.com/education
Type "elephant" into the "One-Stop Research" search field to pull up maps, facts and photos from the National Geographic archive. Designed for educators, the site includes lesson plans in various subject areas and a teacher store where you can search for materials based on subject (mainly Sciences and Social Studies, as you'd expect) resource type (books, maps, software, etc.) or grade (K-12). Another must-click: nationalgeographic.com/news.
News.google.com
Keyword searches pull up links to the latest stories, each with a note indicating when it first appeared. The returns are culled from thousands of online news sources based in the U.S. and abroad. You can sort results by date or relevance; you can also request e-mail alerts so you know when new articles are posted.
PBS.org/pov/borders/index_flash.html
If you missed it on TV, click here to catch POV's Borders, a thought-provoking PBS series about the environment. Topics are timely and the content is playfully organized, with layered title pages and lots of video clips, plus a couple of interactive games (see the Earth section).
SEC.gov
An invaluable resource for anyone interested in business, investing and finance, now more than ever, thanks to new search tools and options. See "Filings and Forms" (a.k.a. EDGAR) to access any public company's earnings reports and other public documents, including mutual fund prospectuses.
SSA.gov/OACT/babynames
What were the most popular names for baby boys and girls in the 1880s? The 1960s? Last year? This cultural snapshot provides table after table of popularity rankings by decade, by state, and, starting in 1990, year by year. Data is based on a 5% sampling of social security card applications. The site can't tell you if your Conor will be the only Conor in his kindergarten class, but it can tell you that Connor (spelled with 2 n's) is a far more common spelling.
11 Web sites every student should know
MSN Encarta
The free MSN Encarta site features more than 4,500 articles pooled from Microsoft Encarta and comes with dictionaries, maps, fast facts, interactive quizzes, handy homework tools, and more.
Refdesk
Since 1995, Refdesk.com, which stands for “reference desk,” has served as a one-click springboard to many of the Web’s top dictionaries, encyclopedias, calculators, atlases, news headlines, and search engines. The site also includes a handy “homework helper” section that provides help in all subjects to students in every grade.
HowStuffWorks
Ever wanted to know why earthquakes happen? How CD burners work? What the sun is made of? These questions, and a large amount of others related to computers/electronics, automobiles, science, entertainment, and people, are all answered at this award-winning Web site. Simply type a query into the search window or peruse the topics by category. Extras include free newsletters, surveys, and printable versions of all answers.
Canada’s SchoolNet
Established by the Canadian government, SchoolNet provides English or French links to other educational sites and learning resources. The “@SchoolNet Today” section serves as a handy news source covering the latest educational material, information, Web sites, projects, and contests.
Download.com
Consider Download.com the ultimate file repository that links to literally tens of thousands of downloadable free or shareware programs. This includes utilities for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux, Internet tools, desktop dictionaries and language translators, Pocket PC and Palm applications, and of course, computer games. Visitors can search by typing in a keyword or by perusing the many sections.
Novelguide.com
The Web’s answer to those black- and yellow-striped Cliff Notes is Novelguide.com, a reliable and free source for literary analysis of classic and contemporary books such as Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground. The site offers character profiles, metaphor and theme analysis, and author biographies.
Math.com
This site provides help in a number of mathematics-related subjects, including basic grade-school math, calculus, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and statistics. Practice exercises are automatically graded, plus this free site also features a glossary, calculators, homework tips, math games, and lesson plans for teachers.
Wolfram Mathworld
With more than 12,600 entries one of the most extensive mathematics resource.
FreeTranslation
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Perfect for language studies, this handy Web site automatically converts text from one language into another, such as English to Simplified Chinese or French to English. Simply type and paste up to 10,000 characters (about 1,800 words) into the search window and then select the desired language. Alternatively, you can cut and paste a Web URL to convert the entire site.
Shakespeare Online
This Web site can be filed in the “where was this when I was a kid?” category. On the aptly named Shakespeare Online site, visitors can read every play or poem from the world’s most celebrated writer and, more importantly, make some sense of his works with free analysis and famous quotes.
Science Made Simple
Science classes—including the ubiquitous science project—aren’t as easy for some to grasp as for others. At Science Made Simple, kids of all ages can get detailed answers to many of science’s questions, read current news articles related to science, get ideas on school projects, and take advantage of unit conversion tables. Users can also find out if their school’s textbooks pass the test.
10 Websites To Save the Planet
Hugg
Hugg is a Digg-like news site, where users submit and vote on the green-flavored news stories, and unlike many other read-submit-vote-comment sites, it seems to have quite an active community. And, for all you Diggers who still have nostalgia about the top user list, Hugg has one, so you can compete for the title of the most environmentally friendly Hugger.
RiverWired
A combination of a news aggregator and a social networking site, RiverWired fetches green news from over 200 sites and delivers them divided into four topic: do good, live green, be entertained, and be well. Registered members can also share photos and videos and discuss various topics with other members.
http://mashable.com/2007/04/11/riverwired/
Care2
Care2 was one of the first really big sites to add a Digg-like section to their existing community, and they still seem to be going strong, with popular submitted stories usually reaching several dozen votes. Of course, there’s a lot more to the site besides the section for submitting and voting on green news; from environmentally friendly shopping to sending e-cards and creating and signing petitions.
Zaadz
Zaadz is another social network aiming to change the world one step at a time. Their goal? Sustainable future. Registered users of the site can write a blog, add photos, schedule events and discuss with other members. Zaadz also lists cool books, eco-friendly businesses, and hosts videos. Another interesting thing about Zaadz is their devotion to being transparent; on the site you can, for example, find a detailed explanation of their business model and future plans.
Dianovo
On Dianovo, registered users get their own blog and an image gallery. They can also post events, as well as share and comment on content from other members. The company itself is 100% powered by solar power, which means that their servers will crash at nig…just kidding; it means that by participating, you’re actively supporting a truly green social network.
FiveLimes
FiveLimes is a social bookmarking/networking site focusing on eco-friendly shopping. Registered users can add friends and exchange messages with them, as well as submit new products to the site and save the in their profile. Also, there’s the MyCity feature which is a Google Maps mashup, in which users can add eco-friendly services and shops to the map.
http://mashable.com/2006/10/02/fivelimes-social-shopping-goes-green/
WorldCoolers
Unlike all other services on this list, WorldCoolers is actually a desktop application, which lets you receive notifications and participate in online rallies. If you like, you can also receive alerts online through an RSS feed, or with the help of a Firefox add-on.
Common circle
Common circle is an eco-friendly social network, which offers quite a lot of features to its users: blogs, polls, classifieds, chatting and event posting are some of them. The look and feel of the site might be described as old-school, but it’s quite usable, and the community seems to be thriving. And, just like Dianovo, the server the site is hosted on, as well the offices of Common circle are powered on renewable energy - wind and sun.
2People
2People is trying to fight global warming and achieve sustainability in one generation. The social networking features are quite basic: after registration, you can connect with others and form teams. Every team gets its virtual space, which has a forum and a workspace. Users can also monitor events, people and actions in their part of the world. The ultimate goal of the site is to connect a critical mass of activists who will create enough fuss about global warming that the governments will have to do something about it.
DoTheRightThing
Although not entirely oriented towards green and eco-friendly topics, one of the premises of DoTheRightThing is, well, doing the right thing, and that also includes being nice to the environment. The site itself is quite an original spin on the Digg-like concept: instead of voting on news items, users are voting on the performance and ethical standards (however subjective this may be) of companies and their actions.
TIME's Top 10 Websites
1.PROSPER
( Prosper.com )
The idea behind Prosper is a bit unusual today, but, as the site reminds readers, person-to-person lending—loans without a financial intermediary—has been around since 300 A.D. For those more used to the Internet age, think of it as eBay meets your neighborhood bank. Prosper is an online marketplace that allows lenders and borrowers to bid for loans—with fees and rates than can be much lower than those of a lending institution. Prosper uses credit scores to help its users gauge the risks of their deals, and easy-to-follow instructions on the site help clarify the details.
2. GOOGLE CALENDAR
( Google Calendar )
Launched in April, Google Calendar quickly became a staple of the search giant's Web tools. Unlike most computer-based calendar programs, Google's is stored online rather than on the user's own machine. That means you can log in with your Gmail account name to create events, then see what's next on your schedule from work or home—indeed, from almost any computer with an Internet connection. You can even receive updates to your mobile phone through text messages. To make things more fun, you can share your calendar with others or search through public events.
3. ZAFU
( zafu.com )
Buying a book, lamp or new computer online is easy. But without a dressing room, buying jeans that fit can be a challenge. Enter zafu, a new site meant to help women find jeans from major name brands that match customers' style and shape. Zafu takes you through a series of questions designed to pin down various aspects of your body shape and your desired pair of pants—everything from your size and weight to how much your jeans typically gape at the waist—then shows a list of options with links to buy from merchants' websites. It's a long-overdue fix to fashion e-commerce.
4. YouREP
( yourep.com )
Just when you thought online photo sharing couldn't get any better, along came YouRep. Like popular photo community flickr, YouRep lets you upload and tag your photos or search through other people's shots. But its interface is arguably easier to use, and special features like photos on a map are easier to find. Most importantly, it provides two gigabytes of free storage space—100 times more than flickr's free account—and gives you a share of the revenue made from ads placed on pages with your photos. Flickr's community aspect feel isn't here yet, but YouRep is still new: I predict it will eventually give flickr a run for its money.
5. FINETUNE
( finetune.com )
This site plays the music you want, and the music you will probably like but didn't know you wanted. Type in an artist's name and you'll find yourself instantly listening to full tracks from that artist (not clips), but you'll also be provided with playlists created automatically or by other users with artists similar to the one you entered in. You can help improve the site's "recommendation engine" by creating your own playlists or tagging music. Oh, and did I mention this service was free?
6. NEWSVINE
( newsvine.com )
This social news site comes with the tagline 'Get Smarter Here.' A bit blunt, but that's Newsvine's style: the site provides users with quick, undiluted and unedited access to news from all over the Web. Users can comment on stories and vote on stories' importance, add news articles they find elsewhere to the site and write their own blogs. Bloggers can even keep a share of the revenue ads on their columns produce, and make more money by referring friends to the site. Newsvine was founded by members of ESPN, Disney and other media organizations.
7. THE BARGAINIST
( bargainist.com )
The ultimate tool for the coupon-clipping, bargain-hunting shopper, the Bargainist displays the latest deals it finds across a wide range of product types and stores. Deals are posted often—many times the top deals on the home page are only minutes old. You can find coupon codes ready to be used on merchants' websites and even links to items being given away for free—although you may have to pay first and then send in a mail-in rebate. You can also sign up for a "daily deals" e-mail newsletter to have the site's top finds delivered straight to your inbox.
8. EARTH ALBUM
( earthalbum.com )
View lands far away and close to home without leaving your computer. Just click on a spot on the giant map and you'll see pictures other users have uploaded to photo-sharing service flickr displayed immediately. Since flickr and online mapping tools came out in the last few years, the number of these so-called "mashups" on the Web has grown considerably, but I liked Earth Album more than the myriad of other photos-on-a-map sites out there for its ease of use and elegant design. Just click to see pictures, or zoom in for more specific peeks into people's lives.
9. GREEN MAVEN
( greenmaven.com )
Going green has never been easier than with Green Maven. Editors at the site hand-pick Web pages and news items related to the environmental movement—about everything from eco-friendly cities to organic socks—that can then be searched using the Google tool on the homepage or browsed through using a directory. Green with envy over all the sites listed on GreenMaven, and want your own environmental Web site included? Register on GreenMaven and then submit your site for review by the editors.
10. ONLINE VIDEO GUIDE
( ovguide.com )
If you've watched all of YouTube's hundred-million-and-counting videos and still have some time to spare, unglue your eyes from the computer monitor, get up, stretch, and then come back and check out this site. Online Video Guide connects users with video content from YouTube and dozens of other video providers. You can search or browse by provider or category. Some of the video sites accessible from Online Video Guide you may not have heard of include video-sharing sites photobucket and vidiLife, but you can also look up professional clips from the History Channel, Oprah, and the major television networks, just to name a few. While I applaud the site's efforts to bring together so many facets of this increasingly popular trend, I can't help but feel that the directory concept the site employs seems a bit old-fashioned in an era dominated by search engines.
About the list
Contributors (3)
novelist
mac-lover
readees