Top 10 Sites That Have Changed the Internet…For Me

So I was thinking about how far the internet has come since I started blogging a few years ago (over yonder at Blogger back then), and decided it was time to show some love for the websites that I wonder how I ever lived without. I know I’ve left great sites out, so it’s up to you to fill in the blanks. Anyway, without further ado, here are the top 10 websites that have changed the internet for me:

1. Google. For me, Google = Internet. What good would the net be without this search engine? Google is so ubiquitous, that we sometimes forget about it. It’s just the search box, right? No! It’s the very reason that the internet has become the useful resource that it is today.
2. Gmail. How I love my Gmail! Gmail revolutionized the way I thought about free webmail. Blew my mind with the 2 Gigs, the labeling, and oh my - chat! I boldy state that my Gmail address may very well be the email address that I keep FOREVER.
3. Del.icio.us. Who needs to bookmark stuff in their browser anymore? Now I just tag at del.icio.us. I can joyously save bunches and bunches of URLs without getting disorganized and having to make folders and sub-folders and all. Plus, we can all share our bookmarks.
4. flickr. Though I’m not a shutterbug, I love looking. I can easily view my peeps’ pics or just search for random pictures by tags. flickr is awesome.
5. YouTube. I am so addicted to YouTube! The internet is now not just useful, but fun, too. Crazy Ninja stunts? check! Triumph the Insult Dog? check! The last scene from the X-Files? check! Sweet.
6. TypePad. I love my blog. I love blogging. I love bloggers. People have tried to convice me to join the WordPress bandwagon, which I hear is great, but I just couldn’t part ways with TypePad. I love TypePad. But hey, whatever blogging platform works for you. I’m down with that.
7. MySpace. OK, maybe I could live without it…maybe…but the fact is I’ve wasted many an hour hanging out there. So what if I wish I was 23 again? Who doesn’t? You can’t deny that the #1 site on the net hasn’t had an impact on you…can you? Besides, I can finally keep up with my little sis and long-lost cousins and that kid from my high school French class and that girl who lived in my dorm and that guy I work with and…oh yeah…my friends.
8. WikiPedia. So maybe it has accuracy issues, but it’s so convenient. I can Google my search term and the word "WikiPedia," (there’s Google again) and boom! I’ve got answers.
9. IMDb. Never again will the question "who was that guy who was in that movie?" go unanswered. I guarantee I hit this at least once a week, if not more.
10. Digg. It’s the new Slashdot and it’s so cool with all its AJAXy goodness. V3 brings it to the masses and leaves us all begging…if you love this, digg it!

Subscribe to this blog's RSS feed

The new Digg V3 now works with TypePad! (The old Digg didn’t). Thanks to Eric for this tip! Once you set up your profile, you can click "blog this" at the bottom of the story. I may have to start using this over on my "Blogrolls & More" page!

LiveJournalers, your time has come! The LJ development community has just announced that LJers now have IM capabilites though open-source Jabber chat clients using their LJ username and password. In the future, there are plans to integrate with the GoogleTalk client as well. The Jabber buddy list is integrated with a user’s LJ friends list. Currently, as this is still in alpha, SSL support is not enabled, so conversations could be sniffed, but not login information. As of now, the working clients are iChat, Adium, Trillian Pro, gaim, Pandion, Psi, Miranda, SIM-IM, Kopete, and Tkabber.

Zooomer is a new photo-sharing website that aims to be the site of choice for bloggers. To get us bloggers interested, they are offering free Pro accounts to bloggers. To get the free Pro account, all you have to do is host at least one image at Zooomer. It’s realatively easy to do: sign up for an account, upload an image, cut and paste the html code, then blog one of your images. They ask that you then paste the url into the comment section of their blog post offering this deal and then they will upgrade you to a Pro account.

According to this article at ZDNet, Gmail users will be getting a couple new features in the near future. The first one will be a link in your spam folder that allows you, with one click, to delete all your spam messages at once. I will certainly enjoy that feature! Although I know that my spam emails are automatically deleted once they are 30 days old, there is this email "neat freak" in me that wants everything organized and emptied. The second new feature is the ability to apply new filters not only to incoming mail, as you can now, but also to mail that is currently in your mailbox. Now this is extremely useful! I never understood how Gmail could have the ability to "test your filter" during the creation process, pulling up the messages the filter would apply to, but not give you the chance to apply that filter to those same messages. This feature will certainly save me tons of time when I’m organizing and labeling my email.

The features have just been discovered in the Gmail code, but no word yet on when we’ll see them in our mailboxes. Anyone have them yet? Keep your eyes peeled!

I guess I’ll take it as a compliment? I commented on their post that it’s wrong to steal like that without as least linking or giving credit, but my comment was deleted.

My post: http://hyperculture.typepad.com/sarah/2006/06/google_checkout.html

Their post: http://blog.diyersitzone.net/?p=61 (a copy-and-paste of mine, word for word!)

Whoa. It’s here and it’s not from Google. There’s a startup called YouOS that’s currently in alpha. In fact, it’s really even younger than alpha, alpha alpha perhaps? You can register for an account and test it out yourself at YouOS.com. After logging in, your browser window becomes a desktop, complete with links and/or windows for email, chat, document creation, sticky notes, web surfing, RSS, file storage, along with some flickr and YouTube integration, as well. While waiting for the YouOS desktop to load, you are presented with a silly quote, like "Nothing in the world is friendlier than a wet dog," which hints at the age of the YouOS creators - four young college grads. The YouOS website is slow, but don’t complain about that - if anything, this is more of a proof-of-concept, than a reliable, working product you’re going to start using on a regular basis.

But now imagine a Google acquisition of YouOS…hmmm…

Keep an eye on this one, folks.

YouOS blog…here.

PhotoBucket is offering a customized version of the Flock browser. It’s just like Flock, except PhotoBucket is the only choice for photo integration. (No flickr!) Okay for PhotoBucket die-hards, I guess…but no flickr?? No Way!

Sweet! I saw this over at TechCrunch a few days ago, but have been too busy to post: XHTMLized is a new service that will turn your site into CSS or XHTML by outsourcing your design to coders around the world. In 5 days, you have a hot, modern website, search engine optimized to boot. If you don’t like it, you don’t pay. Rates start at a very reasonable $150. Who said outsourcing was a bad thing? (wink, wink)

Copied from the Register: The NTIA - an arm of the US government’s department of commerce - is holding a public meeting at the end of July over what should happen to the current Internet overseeing organisation ICANN when its contract is renewed in September. In the meantime, it has opened a public comment board where you are able to email comments for the US government and the rest of the world to see. The board is open now but comments need to be sent by this Friday, 7 July. The email postal address is DNSTransition@ntia.doc.gov.

Have your say now!!