10 Useful Web Sites I Frequent
As a digression from my regular ... absence? I figured I would post the first 10 useful Web sites for various things that I do on the web that I used to do using applications, email, or a hodge-podge of utilities. Note that these are just in order of "off the top of my head" rather than in order of importance or usefulness.
#1 Chat
https://meebo.com - This is a really sweet chat site. I can access all of the features that I would get from something like Naim, Gaim, or Trillian, except I have access everywhere!
#2 RSS
https://bloglines.com - This is the BEST RSS reader that I have found that runs entirely off of the web. Accept no substitutues (I'm looking at you, Google reader)
#3 Community Blogging
https://www.livejournal.com - I have been a long term LJ user and the communities on there are really some of the best and most fun on the Web.
#4 File and Photo Sharing
https://skydrive.live.com - I love SkyDrive, it's what I find to be Microsoft's BEST Web 2.0 site because it solves the issue of silly form uploads and having to install third party applications (issues that plague many other file and photo sharing sites) while remaining free, easily controlled, and simple (unlike uglymug and flickr). For SkyDrive, you just choose a folder full of files, dump it, and upload it, no fees, no hassle. I love it.
#5 Personal Social Networking
https://facebook.com - Facebook is killing it in the online social networking space. I'm always amazed at how many people I work with, went to school with, and so on are switching from myspace. The reason is really straightforward, facebook has a clean interface. The chat doesn't require a client. The apps are cool. Photo sharing is a piece of cake (see #4). I wonder if I should share my infos with readers... Anyways, if you're on the socials, facebook is the way to go if you enjoy simplicity and usability.
#6 Professional Social Networking
https://linkedin.com - LinkedIn... Yeah, you're probably asking why I would put facebook and LinkedIn on the same list. Linked In is a rather contrary site to Facebook because it really doesn't let you do much more than place your resume and credentials online. This is a good thing though because it keeps your professional contacts professional. You don't want recruiters looking at your social pictures as could happen on Facebook, and you also may want to have and maintain professional contacts
#7 Online Music Playback
https://playlist.com - This is an awesome concept. Find all the music you like, put it on a playlist, and listen to it anywhere! Playlist does an excellent job of enabling access to collections of music online without any hassle.
#8 Online Music Suggestion
https://www.last.fm - It's really a toss-up between last.fm and pandora project for me, but I happen to prefer the look and feel of last.fm the most.
#9 Web Design Resources
https://webdesignfromscratch.com/ - Every time I design a new site, I try to check over the WDFS resources to see if there's anything they have written about that could help me to improve my layout. These guys offer incredible insights for free!
#10 Bookmarking
https://de.licio.us - I love de.licio.us because I work on a number of machines and am totally tired of synchronizing my bookmarks. I wonder if they will automatically sync your bookmarks out to your browser.
Anyways, there you go, a few useful sites that offer excellence in productivity and synchronization.