50 Kick-Ass Websites You Need to Know About
50 Kick-Ass Websites You Need to Know About
Posted 10/21/2009 at 8:00am
| by Alex Castle, Norman Chan, and Forence Ion
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It's time to update the entries in your browser's links toolbar. But with recent estimates putting the size of the internet at well more than 100 million distinct websites, it's getting harder and harder to get a handle on all the great stuff that's out there. That's why we've compiled this list. And unlike some lists you may have seen, which try to name the very "best" websites, but end up just telling you a lot of stuff you already know, we've chosen instead to highlight 50 of our favorite sites that fly under most people's radar. Think of it as the Maximum PC blog roll (remember those?). These sites represent great alternatives to popular web destinations like YouTube and Hulu, and include useful references, powerful web apps, and the unknown blogs you must absolutely bookmark.
You might have heard of some of these sites, but we'll bet you haven't heard of all them. Read on and find out. You won't be disappointed.
Demoscene.tv
See What Can Be Done with 4 Kilobytes
If you’re any kind of nerd at all, you probably know about the demoscene, where talented programmers create complex videos rendered in real-time, stored in incredibly small files. If you’re not familiar, you should make yourself acquainted with the scene, and all of the trippy, procedurally-generated content it has to offer. And hey, it’s not like you’re going to hit your bandwidth cap watching demos.
But what if you just want to see what all the fuss is about without actually downloading and running an executable? That’s where demoscene.tv comes in. Think of it as YouTube for the scene, letting you watch demos in HD on the web. And if you like what you see, the full demo executable is just a click away.
lite.Facebook.com
Clutter-Free Social Networking
You can admit it. Along with Twitter, Facebook is one of the sites that you absolutely feel compelled to check every day to keep track of your friends’ activities and latest funny links. But while we’re all for friend-stalking, we could definitely do without the AJAX-heavy sidebars and interface modules that clutter up the Facebook homepage. Try using Facebook Lite, which gives you lean views of friend feeds and your user profile. You get access to essential image and update posting functionality without being bothered by the newest Facebook game apps.
Letsplayarchive.com
Let other people play games for you
The Let’s Play Archive maintains a list of hundreds of “Let’s Play” games, where somebody plays through a video game while maintaining a journal using text, screenshots and videos. Some are funny, while other’s just give you a whirlwind tour of a game you’ve never played before. Sounds dumb? Give it a try, you might just find it more engrossing than you’d imagined.
Soyouwanna.com
What They Didn’t Teach You in School
If you’ve ever needed some advice on how to do go about doing the most obscure, but didn’t really know who to turn to without receiving some sort of critical feedback, So You Wanna is a great resource for inquiring minds that think alike. So you wanna…audition for American Idol? Bottle your home-made beer? Get a travel visa to a foreign country? So You Wanna tells you all about it and assists you in your quest to become the all-knowing. Note that there is some NSFW content floating around the site.
Google Building Maker
Crowd Sourcing the 3D World
14th Century cartographers would be right about Google Earth – its world is pretty flat. Despite high-resolution satellite imagery that lets you zoom in on your neighbor’s skylight, buildings are still part of one big flat surface. That’s where you come in. Google’s Building Maker is a website that lets you help design and create buildings for Google Earth. Using a plug-in based version of their Sketch-up modeling program, you can easily create a textured 3D model of your neighborhood or local landmarks and submit them to be included in the Google Earth database. The process is surprisingly simple and really fun to use. Google has rolled out the service to 50 cities so far, but plans on expanding its reach in the future.
Ikeahacker.blogspot.com
Outsmart the Swedes at their Own Game
If you’ve been a college student or 20-something living on a budget in the last couple decades, chances are good that there are a couple of bits of Ikea furniture gracing your living quarters. The Ikeahacker blog shows you how other people have transformed their old Swedish furniture into something awesome.
More like this
hath80
November 17, 2011 at 6:42pm
Very nice sharing. You might have heard of some of these sites, but we'll bet you haven't heard of all them. Read on and find out. You won't be disappointed. dvd creator, dvd video tool
jhonybravo222
September 25, 2011 at 10:27pm
Thanks for this beautiful post and your this post has great effect that you can add your navigation keep it up for growing in it world
web application development | ecommerce website development | website design
luedawen
February 08, 2011 at 5:39am
This is a great list! I'm going to try allot of the sites listed on here today at work ~WINK~
Since other ppl are sharing sites they like I like http://AsSeenInBathrooms.com its a funny site I guess they put new stuff up every day. Some of the pictures are ok but I did find allot that make me laugh!
exa4774
January 01, 2011 at 8:13pm
I wish it was updated but the sites mentioned are very cool. I'm starting up my own awesome sites site. Check it out at http://www.awesomewebsites.org/ I'd love some feedback...
carbon6
August 25, 2010 at 8:03am
Another one I'd add to the list that’s just starting is called eventtap.com, and it does something that is needed but doesn’t exist on the web- display things to do right now in your area. I expect to see it become very popular within the next couple years, as long as people use it and add content (something which it’s lacking right now, but it’s just starting to grow)...so check it out! Maybe add it to the list!
kenhat92@gmail.com
February 23, 2010 at 5:37am
I use left2go.com when I have a deadline to meet. It lets me know exactly how many days, hours, minutes, seconds I have left to procrastinate.
-- "Insisting on absolute safety is for people who don't have the balls to live in the real world." Mary Shafer
dandart
November 20, 2009 at 7:08pm
Last.fm (music, scrobbling, sharing, recommendation)
Jamendo.com - brilliant free music
Your Creative Commons search bar - search for free moddable stuff.
xenon.kevinghadyani.com - a Web OS plus file, video, audio, picture sharing and hosting!
Stuff:
sourceforge.net - free software
freshmeat.com - free software
ubuntu.com - a whole free OS
linuxmint.com - another one that may be the easiest OS I have ever used
amarok.kde.org - a great audio player
Wikipedia.org
Google.com
Kevin398
November 05, 2009 at 9:51pm
Like the previous post said, I agree that this website looks like a good idea. Seems like it lets consumers combine buying power to get a better deal.
freb
October 28, 2009 at 5:33am
This site looks like a good idea. I don't know if it works or not. http://www.swaggitsearch.com
Freb
bballisgod
October 27, 2009 at 12:26am
I also thought the all in one search engine http://www.onepageartist.com was pretty good, you guys should think about it for your next list! Thanks for the compilation!
Phoebe
October 22, 2009 at 12:54am
Great combination of standbys like Kayak and io9 mixed with some useful new discoveries.
Those looking for an alternative to Hulu etc. might also take a look at Jinni http://www.jinni.com for a new, visual way to choose and get seamlessly connected to watch with Netflix, Hulu, etc.
rharjanto
October 21, 2009 at 10:08pm
http://www.heapr.com
Search Google, Twitter, Wikipedia, WolframAlpha, etc. all at once, super fast (search on key press)!
ericalong1
October 21, 2009 at 6:48pm
The Filthyrichmond site is ridiculously funny, you guys left out http://booklookr.com for finding cheap textbooks/school books, great list!
gendoikari1
October 21, 2009 at 2:30pm
Great job MPC, you just [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife ruined hundreds of lives]]... AAAGH IT HAS ME!
markohurlo
October 21, 2009 at 2:25pm
I think Prom Date Depot --- http://www.promdatedepot.com --- is one of the better site ideas I've seen in awhile....
johnny5000
October 21, 2009 at 1:16pm
It's not listed, but I really like Woopid.com
tons of really great tutorials for me and those I help out
Obsolete
October 21, 2009 at 8:04am
Thanks so much for linking to ObsoelteTheBook.com! My name is Anna Jane, however. Not Mary Jane. Although, I do like Mary Janes...
The site is actually just an extension of my book, <A href="http://bit.ly/obsoletebook">OBSOLETE</a>. Thanks for allowing me this shameless plug.
Signed,
MJG
norman
October 21, 2009 at 8:09am
Oops, fixed! Sorry about the error. Good luck with your book!
-- Norm
DogPatch1149
October 21, 2009 at 7:18am
I've been using Weather Underground for a long time now, and the ability to select advanced radar types alone is reason enough it beats Weather.com in my book. (Of course, WU doesn't have Heather Tesch, so it's kind of even, I guess. :) )
More than once, I've used WU to monitor approaching storms...the interactive radar display gives you six frames of playback (more if you pay), which is more than adequate to figure out where the serious weather is headed.
saw
July 29, 2010 at 3:46am
The above article is very so nice and amazing and very good information is shared .Thanks for sharing and matter. investment in ashford
fnordfnord
October 21, 2009 at 6:46am
FilthyRichmond.com is hilarious. But WTF is up with her grill?
Comic Book Guy
October 21, 2009 at 1:49am
It only searches cities in Iowa, what good is it for Craigslist..?!
Comic Book Guy
Comic Book Guy
October 21, 2009 at 4:11am
Why would I put Iowa zip codes, I am in Canada, I tried postal codes, as well as city; it's only good for the US then...so it's still useless!
Comic Book Guy
Modred189
October 21, 2009 at 4:43am
I think you are mistaken! It just means it is useless to people who don't live in the US. Who are pretty useless anyway!!!
I KID!!!mm :-D
Havok
October 21, 2009 at 6:08am
Oooooooo.... you just pissed off A LOT of users Mr. Naruto-avatar-person...When a Canadian pokes fun at Canada, it's funny, when a 'Mericain makes fun of the US it's funny, just not the opposites. Canada shames YOU!
CLICK.
Xylogeist
October 21, 2009 at 6:27am
Nah, Canadian independency is a joke. You'd be better off anexed by the US.
DBsantos77
October 20, 2009 at 8:57pm
Nice list! I like soyouwanna.com, saves me a lot of time rather than using a search engine.
-Santos
robertsimon212
August 11, 2010 at 11:44pm
You might have heard of some of these sites, but we'll bet you haven't heard of all them. Read on and find out. You won't be disappointed.
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