TECHNOLOGY
1
Google www.google.com
The
powerhouse of the internet and the only place many people go for
information. But if you thought Google was a still a mere search
engine, look again. Click on 'more' at the top of the homepage to
discover the work of 'GoogleLabs' - more than 50 free tools and web
pages that could change your internet life.
GoogleDocs lets
you create documents, spreadsheets and presentations, store them
online, share them with others and access them from wherever there's an
internet connection.
Googlemail
is probably the best email program - it has virtually limitless
capacity and you don't need to change your email address to use it. The
Google calendar is a powerful searchable diary that you can allow
others to access, so family members can make appointments together.
SketchUp
could be just the tool you are looking for to design that conservatory
extension and see what it will look like once the builders have gone.
Add to that databases for searching academic journals and books in the
public domain, the powerful GoogleMaps, with its
engaging satellite imagery, a finance page with live stock quotes and
an easy-to-use online messaging system, and you can see why some people
say Google is taking over the world - and, with GoogleMoon and GoogleMars, the rest of the galaxy, too.
2
Anonymouse
www.anonymouse.org
Surf the web without disclosing who or where you are.
3
iLounge
www.ilounge.com
Hints, tips and troubleshooting for your iPod and associated software.
4
Only2Clicks
www.only2clicks.com
If you use just a few websites, this lets you create a home page that has links to them all. Simple, free and practical.
5
Zoho
www.zoho.com
A
suite of free business programs. From word processing and presentation
software to tools for taking notes in meetings, planning projects and
creating databases.
6
Backpack
www.backpackit.com
To-do lists, notes, ideas and calendar. Excellent for juggling projects and much more versatile than a ring folder.
7
GetNetWise
www.getnetwise.org
All
you need to know about keeping the net safe - protecting children,
preventing spam, avoiding viruses and stopping others accessing your
personal details.
8
DaFont
www.dafont.com
More than 7,500 free fonts (for Mac and PC), so you can at last stop using Copperplate for your party invitations.
9
Pando
www.pando.com
The superfast way to send large files over the web. Don't attach that family video to an email, Pando it instead.
10
FlipClips
www.flipclips.com
Turn your home videos into animated flip books. Much more appealing than another DVD.
ENTERTAINMENT
11
Digital Spy
www.digitalspy.co.uk
Entertainment,
media and showbiz news. Plus, a surprisingly good forum for
technology-related problems - a great place to sort out your broadband.
12
BBC iPlayer
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
On-demand television and radio programmes from the BBC.
13
Whatsonwhen
www.whatsonwhen.com
Events, attractions, openings and exhibitions from around the world. Enter a location and dates and the site will show listings.
14
London Theatre Guide
www.londontheatre.co.uk
What's
coming on and what's making an exit in London's theatre world.
Especially good for seating plans, so you can see where the box office
staff are putting you.
15
The Internet Movie Database
www.imdb.com
The world's biggest (and still growing) reference for actors, directors, locations, plots...
16
Rotten Tomatoes
www.rottentomatoes.com
A round-up of what the critics thought of films on general release.
17
Screenonline
www.screenonline.org.uk
The
British Film Institute's definitive guide to the British film industry.
Plots, features, statistics and news from the film world.
18
Good Reads
www.goodreads.com
Expand your reading. Catalogue your books online and others make recommendations based on what you seem to enjoy.
19
TV Guide
www.tvguide.co.uk
News,
features and listings for Britain's terrestrial and cable television.
Customisable interface so your favourite channels are always at the top.
20
Football365
www.football365.com
The authentic (and often tangential) voice of the Britain's 'real' football supporters.
21
CricInfo
www.cricinfo.com
Everything you want to know about the world of cricket.
22
Beijing Olympics
en.beijing2008.cn
The official Olympics site, with news, scheduling, features and a countdown to the games themselves.
23
Radio Locator
www.radio-locator.com
From shock jocks to orchestral baroque, thousands of internet radio stations to listen to on your computer.
24
Live Plasma
www.liveplasma.com
Expand
your music and movie tastes. Enter the name of a song, band, movie,
actor or director you like and Live Plasma will return some pretty
intelligent recommendations for further investigation.
25
Blinkx
www.blinkx.com
A
clever way of searching for video clips on the internet - from uploaded
episodes of your favourite soap to comedy home-video moments.
26
Lulu
www.lulu.com
Self-publishing
made smart again. Write, design and then print your own books - though
you'll still have to persuade others to buy them.
27
VideoJug
www.videojug.com
28
Wonder How To
www.wonderhowto.com
Two
great sites full of short videos showing you how to do almost anything,
from the incredibly useful (exercises for diabetes sufferers, tying a
Windsor knot) to the revelatory ('learn different kinds of kisses'),
via the wonderfully obscure ('make a moving jaw for your werewolf
mask').
29
Instructables
www.instructables.com
DIY
projects from zombie make-up to LED balloons. Excellent selection of
rainy-day projects for bored children (and adults) at home.
30
Flash games
www.k2xl.com
Addictive series of Flash games including the hypnotically soothing Boomshine.
31
GameSpot
www.gamespot.com
News,
reviews, hints and tips for virtually every console game on the market.
Essential if you are still up at 2am trying to find a way into the
castle on Zelda.
32
Anagrammer
www.anagrammer.com
Online anagram machine for Scrabble players and crossword enthusiasts. Also solves Sudoku.
ADVICE AND INFORMATION
33
Newsmap
marumushi.com/apps/newsmap
A
wonderfully graphical - and customisable - display of news stories from
around the world. Click on an item to see the full story.
34
The Eggcorn Database
eggcorns.lascribe.net
Continually
updated guide to modern-day Malapropisms, misunderstandings and other
manglings of language. From 'high dungeon' to 'wreckless driving',
Eggcorn names the culprits and nudges them in the right direction.
35
Arts and Letters Daily
www.aldaily.com
World-class
articles from intellectual and influential journals around the world.
Browse the day's selections. Like The Week for eggheads.
36
Ask Philosophers
www.askphilosophers.org
The
academy comes to cyberspace. A panel of mainly American and British
philosophy scholars answers questions sent in by the public. Search the
database, from Abortion to War, or send in a question of your own.
37
When Is
www.when-is.com
Shows you the dates of Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and American holidays from now to 2010.
38
Rhyme Zone
www.rhymezone.com
For
when the muse has gone, a rhyme and synonym generator to help you
towards the perfect mot. You can also search for Shakespeare
quotations, biblical references and other literary inspirations.
39
Nationmaster
www.nationmaster.com
Giant but easily searchable database of statistics, maps and profiles for every country in the world.
40
Digg
www.digg.com
The
people's approach to news and features, Digg brings together items from
across the net, ranked according to how many people have felt them
worth recommending. Sometimes a little techie-heavy, but excellent for
discovering what the cyberworld is getting worked up about.
41
They Work For You
www.theyworkforyou.com
A powerful way of keeping tabs on MPs and peers: attendance records, voting patterns, recent statements and more.
42
Time Bank
www.timebank.org.uk
Volunteering opportunities for young people, sorted by region, interest, skills and need.
43
Wikipedia
www.wikipedia.org
Controversial,
democractic and sometimes error-strewn encyclopaedia that has brought
Darwinism to the world of knowledge. Make it your first port of call
for looking something up. Just be sure to check somewhere else that
what you find makes sense.
44
Wiktionary
www.wiktionary.org
Wikipedia's online multilingual dictionary. Immensely powerful and far less controversial than its encyclopaedic forebear.
45
Motley Fool
www.fool.co.uk
The original - and still the best - personal finance site on the web (the American version is at
www.fool.com). For savers, borrowers, stock spotters and day traders, sound, independent advice that cuts through the jargon.
46
Martindale's 'The Reference Desk'
www.martindalecenter.com
From the arts, business, science and technology, a dry but authoritative conglomeration of data from around the world.
47
PubMed
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed
Free
and authoritative database of more than 17 million medical research
papers. Not always easy to understand if you are not a medic, but a far
better place to look for information than the random sites that come up
on Google.
48
About.com
www.about.com
The
internet's version of that clever uncle who always seems to know the
answer to your questions. There are few subjects the site doesn't
tackle, though the coverage can be superficial. A good starting point
for idle research.
49
NHS Direct
www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk
Online
information and advice about health and illness, run by Britain's
National Health Service. The site includes a useful self-diagnosis tool
that can reassure you that your hangover is not in fact meningitis.
50
Legal Services Shop
www.freelawyer.co.uk
General
legal advice relating to housing, family law, employment, motoring,
consumer issues and personal injury, plus wills, conveyancing and
divorce. Good starting point to see where you stand. Will also, for a
fixed fee, answer questions and put you in touch with a solicitor.
51
How Stuff Works
www.howstuffworks.com
Engaging
encyclopaedia of the modern (and not so modern) world, with good
illustrations and clear text. Can suffer sometimes from an 'it's
amazing!' tone of voice..
52
XE
www.xe.com
Currency converter covering every world currency. Azerbaijan new manats to Cayman Island dollars? Just a click away.
53
Advice Guide
www.adviceguide.org.uk
Find where you stand legally with the Citizens Advice Bureau's online information resource.
54
Need2Know
www.need2know.co.uk
Advice
and information for young people, including health and fitness, drugs,
problems with bullying, how to study and applying for jobs.
55
Royal Horticultural Society
www.rhs.org.uk
Advice and suggestions from the world's leading gardening organisation.
A good 'how-to' section and seasonal tips for the time of year.
56
Babelfish
babelfish.altavista.com
Automatic
translation to and from most European languages and Chinese. The
results are sometimes a little strange, but you will usually get your
message across.
57
eHow
www.ehow.com
How to do just about everything, from getting stains off curtains to buying a second-hand car.
58
Eat the Seasons
www.eattheseasons.co.uk
Updated weekly, information, tips and recipe ideas on British seasonal food.
59
Age Concern
www.ageconcern.org.uk
Website of Britain's leading charity for the elderly, packed with advice about maintaining an active life.
60
Weather.com
www.weather.com
The
queen of weather sites, with more information than you would possibly
imagine you might need, from pollen counts to surf forecasts.
61
Uncyclopedia
uncyclopedia.org
Spoof
Wikipedia-style encyclopaedia where nothing is true, but a good deal is
very funny indeed. Idle away an afternoon or, even better, hone your
comedy skills by making a contribution yourself.
62
Kiva
www.kiva.org
An
easy way to lend small sums (from $25) to business projects in the
developing world. Kiva keeps track of your investment, updates you on
progress and repays your loan as the business grows.
63
Embarrassing problems
www.embarrassingproblems.co.uk
From bad breath and piles to cold sores and beyond, Dr Margaret Stearn dispenses invaluable advice.
HOUSE AND HOME
64
Noise Mapping England
www.noisemapping.org
Click
on an area of the map to find out how noisy a street, or even a section
of the street, is - handy for light sleepers planning a move. At the
moment only London is mapped, but the rest of England will follow.
65
Prime Location
www.primelocation.com
One of the best sites for finding property. It is UK-based but has a good international presence.
66
Rated People
www.ratedpeople.com
User
reviews on local tradesmen. You describe the job you need done and how
quickly and suppliers contact you with quotes - with previous customers
rating them.
67
Zoopla
www.zoopla.co.uk
Possibly
the most dangerous site on this list, Zoopla gives sale prices of
recently sold homes and - the tricky bit - estimates the value of the
rest. We dare you not to look.
68
Money Saving Expert
www.moneysavingexpert.com
Subtitled
'Consumer Revenge', this is where you find the discounts, tricks and
tips to save money. The weekly email is essential reading for canny
consumers. It caters only for Britain, but every country should have
one.
69
MetaEfficient
www.metaefficient.com
Practical
guide to making your home more environmentally friendly, from low-flow
showerheads to 12V lighting. US-based, but many of the products are
available elsewhere.
70
Design My Room
www.DesignMyRoom.com
For
budding Laurence Llewellyn-Bowens everywhere, it provides the ability
to redecorate your home in cyberspace. Choose colours, furniture,
accessories and finishes and then publish the results online.
71
Up My Street
www.upmystreet.com
Neighbourhood
information based on postcode: schools, shopping and, juciest of all,
how much the house down the road sold for recently.
72
Home For Exchange
www.homeforexchange.com
One
of many sites where you can swap homes with someone else for a period.
This is less cluttered than some of the others and has a good
geographical spread.
73
SimplySwitch
www.simplyswitch.com
The
fast way to compare utility suppliers and other services, from
broadband to home insurance. Enter your postcode and the site comes
back with the best deals.
74
101 Cookbooks
www.101cookbooks.com
Enchanting
recipe and foodie blog from a Californian cook who believes in good
food. Subscribe to the email alert service and transform your cooking
repertoire.
SOCIAL
75
Facebook
www.facebook.com
The
most grown-up (just) of the social-networking sites that are fast
taking over the world. Excellent for staying in touch with far-flung
friends, though pretty good too for re-establishing contact with those
you hoped you had lost.
76
Wordpress
www.wordpress.com
The quickest and easiest way to create a blog of your own.
77
Ringsurf
www.ringsurf.com
Like
an online Mothers' Union meeting (though sometimes a little more
risqué), Ringsurf is a chatroom where people exchange ideas about
anything from politics to relationships. The quality is not always
high, but users have been known to discover new (real-life) friends
with interests they thought no one would share. A tribute to the
information-sharing capability of the net.
78
bubbl.us
www.bubbl.us
Organise your thoughts by creating mindmaps online and sharing them with others.
79
Technorati
www.technorati.com
An
intelligent, intuitive and inspiring way to read entries from some of
the millions of blogs that dot the internet. You can browse by subject
or area of interest, read the postings that are catching the world's
attention and bookmark blogs that catch your attention. And if you want
to join in...
80
Flickr
www.flickr.com
The
website you graduate to once you've discovered how to put your holiday
snaps on the net. Here, everyone's photos are linked by using tags,
such as 'Spain', 'beach' or 'happy', which sets you off on an
exploration of others' uploads.
81
BabyCentre
www.babycentre.co.uk
There
are plenty of great parenting forums out there - Netmums, Mumsnet - but
this is still the best source of considered, authoritative, often
soothing advice on everything from colic to tax credits.
82
Friction TV
www.friction.tv
YouTube for debaters. Upload a short video about an issue close to your heart and others reply in kind or by text.
SHOPPING
83
GiftGen
www.giftgen.co.uk
Gift
ideas for when you can't think what to buy someone. You enter their
age, sex and interests and how much you want to pay and it scours the
net for ideas.
84
eBay
www.ebay.co.uk
Online
shopping for (nearly) everything you might want to buy. The original
auction formula is still going strong, but plenty more features have
been added since it began. Take a look at non-UK sites, such as ebay.fr
and ebay.de, too, for bargains others may have missed. The layout is
the same even if you don't speak the language.
85
Who What Wear Daily
www.whowhatweardaily.com
Fashion
tips, advice and suggestions. Includes Ask a Stylist for those tricky
co-ordination problems and a What Was She Wearing? inquiry service to
help you track down your favourite celebrity's fashion choice.
86
Gumtree
www.gumtree.com
Unabashedly straightforward classified ads site, for everything from new homes to online romance.
87
AbeBooks
www.abebooks.co.uk
The
Amazon of the second-hand book world. More than 13,500 booksellers
selling 110 million books. If it's not here, it's not worth looking for.
88
Kelkoo
www.kelkoo.co.uk
There
are plenty of price-comparison sites on the web, but this one seems to
get it right more often than most. Type in what you want to buy and
Kelkoo will come back with the cheapest prices it can find.
89
Endgadget
www.engadget.com
A
(digital) finger on the pulse of the technology world. All the newest
developments, discoveries, gadgets and toys - before they hit the shops.
90
Cork'd
www.corkd.com
Discover more about wine by reviewing what you've enjoyed and receiving tips and suggestions from others.
91
I Love Jeans
www.ilovejeans.com
Find
the right jeans for your fit before you even leave home. A cheeky but
revealing 'body type' guide takes you straight to the brand you should
be trying. Search by style, body type or brand. Women only.
TRAVEL
92
Sky Scanner
www.skyscanner.net
Monitors
prices and destinations for all the low-cost airlines so you just type
in where you want to go and when to find the best deal.
93
The Man in Seat 61
www.seat61.com
Routes,
tickets, tips and advice - the only guide you need to travelling by
train from Britain to Europe and the rest of the world.
94
Walk It
www.walkit.com
Online
pedestrian routefinder for London, Birmingham, Newcastle and Edinburgh
that shows you the best route to walk from A to B. Includes calorie
counter, CO2 savings and points of interest on the way. Other cities
coming soon.
95
Transport for London Journey Planner
journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk
Indispensable
and almost always spot-on guide to negotiating the capital's public
transport system. You enter your starting point and destination and it
gives you the best bus, tube, cycle and even boat routes to get you
across town.
96
ViaMichelin
www.viamichelin.com
A
hi-tech hark-back to the days of leisurely motoring. ViaMichelin gives
you maps, routes and directions throughout Britain and continental
Europe with added panache. The maps have a pleasant printed quality
about them and, naturally enough, your route is accompanied by
gastronomic highlights to be found along the way. There's also
information about destinations.
97
Carbon Neutral
www.carbonneutral.com
Information on your carbon footprint and how to cut it down. Includes an online calculator to measure your effect on the world.
98
Expedia
www.expedia.com
Excellent
all-round travel site. Use it for good prices on flights and holidays,
but click on 'Destinations' for some well-researched and up-to-date
travel guides.
99
SeatGuru
www.seatguru.com
Aircraft seating plans, showing you the prime seats, possible annoyances and seats you should avoid.
100
Airline Meals
www.airlinemeals.net
A
consumer guide to what you can expect to eat on board. There are news
and features from the airline catering world, but the best part is a
gallery of photos of on-board meals sent in by passengers and listed by
airline.
101
World Hum
www.worldhum.com
Travel
writing with a twist. Click on the destination you have in mind and be
prepared to be inspired. The site also offers tavelogues, news, books
reviews, blogs and slideshows.