In the old days, TV and Internet were two separate technologies. But today they are merging, and many TV networks now offer their most popular shows online, on demand. Seabreeze Computers has put together a list of where you can watch your favorite American TV shows online, and World Wide Internet Television lists over 2300 international broadcasts in dozens of languages.
Need a timeline for a school report? TimeSearch is a specialized history search engine that delivers results as timelines. You only need to say what areas (or themes) and time period interest you, and you’ll be rewarded with a timeline of important events with links to related websites and images.
Ning.com is a free, online tool that creates custom social networking sites. Possibilities include photo sharing, video sharing, ratings, reviews, bookmarking, blogging, group networking and more. It’s easy to use, fast to setup, and free. Start by registering a username, selecting an application template to copy, and then choosing a name for your very own Ning site.
Google Maps Mobile has just announced a free download for your cell phone that will display real- time traffic in thirty metropolitan cities. To learn more, visit the site from your home computer. To download the free mobile phone application, visit the site from the web browser of your cell phone.
Online social networking isn’t just for humans anymore, nowadays it’s for pets too. Dogs, cats (and their owners?) can join the fun at Dogster and Catster where dogs and cats are joining by the hundreds every day. FYI, most popular Dogster dog breed is a Labrador Retriever, and the most popular cat name on Catster is Chloe.
Keeping to-do lists used to be a job for paper and pencil, until Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) took over. Now a few Internet sites are vying for your lists, bringing the benefit of easy list sharing to the art and science of managing to-do lists. Here are three free services that offer shareable online to do lists: Ta Da, Voo2Do and Bla Bla List.
What makes news newsworthy? Is popularity a factor? Digg.com is a tech news website were visitors (free registration required) vote on the importance of stories. Stories will a lot of votes, naturally float to the top of the page. Although Digg focuses on technology, they also run stories on movies, music, gaming and science.
Social bookmarking site Del.icio.us allows users to create shareable or private online bookmarks. Not only is it a great way to store your own bookmarks, but the tagging features (categorization by keywords) make it a great place to find new and useful links. Start by creating a free account.
A meta-search engine is one that submits your search query to multiple search engines simultaneously. DoubleTrust is one that combines results from the two most popular search engines: Google and Yahoo! It has some cool features, such as allowing you to indicate which engine you trust more, and the listing of “orphans” (sites which only appear in one of the engines.)
Wikipedia ( http://www.wikipedia.org/ ) is an open-content encyclopedia that you can both read and contribute to. This collaborative, open-source resource is one of the largest of its kind. Topics are organized in a variety of ways, including Dewey Decimal, alphabetically, and chronologically. Become an active contributor, or just browse by hitting the “random page” button. Keep in mind, however, that Wikipedia articles are not reviewed by professional fact-checking editors.
