Posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 by Shachar Pessis
Change.gov – On November 4th, 2008, history was made. Barack Obama became the first African American elected to be the President of the United States of America. Another extraordinary fact to consider in these Presidential elections is the overall number of votes casted. Not only did Obama win 53% of the electoral votes, but this time more American citizens (65%) exercised their constitutional right than what previous generations did in the past century – it was the highest turnout since 1908. On his last presidential campaign speech, Barack promised CHANGE in Washington. His first step towards realizing his vision was the launch of Change.gov. Change.gov is your source for the latest news, events and announcements regarding the governmental administration during the transition period from the Bush administration to Obama’s. The most prominent change (in my opinion) is Obama’s commitment to a genuine and sincere dialog with the people. He is making a wise and groundbreaking use of the Internet to open a free-flowing communication channel with ‘the people’, thus allowing individuals to share their vision, concerns and ideas with the President and his advisers through text, images and video. People: this IS the big change.
The Kitchen – This site is for people who like to get their hands dirty in the kitchen. If you’re picky about the quality of the food you eat, or how about it affects your health and the environment, The Kitchen is for you. Alternatively, if you’re less than a master in the realm of your own kitchen, or if you are simply a bit intimidated about the whole idea of cooking, you should consider giving this site a try. It’s a place for people to plunge into and embrace the joy of one of our basic needs: food. The Kitchen is truly cute. It is like a slice of heaven for food and cooking lovers. The Kitchent is part of a series of sites (The Nursery, Home Tech and Green Home), created by Apartment Therapy, which strives to help people make their homes more beautiful, organized and healthy by connecting them to a wealth of resources, ideas and community online. The above links provide nothing less than 100% of good stuff!
Audible – As I came back to the office last week after a day of errands and a business lunch, my brother was listening to a free full recording of “Tribes” by Seth Godin. “What a nice feature,” I told him. I immediately suggested that we add Audible to our next Weekly Faves. Audible is one of the leading providers of premium digital spoken audio information and entertainment on the Internet. It specializes in the spoken experience, providing digital audio editions of books, newspapers and magazines, original programming and TV and radio subscriptions. Audible has over 50,000 audio programs from more than 600 content providers, including: leading audiobook publishers; broadcasters; entertainers; magazine and newspaper publishers; and business information providers. This service doesn’t come free but they do offer an appealing deal for those interested: first three months for 7.49$ each, or twelve months for 149.50$. This is a good deal if you take into account the fact that their downloaded version is 75% cheaper than the average retail price of CD books. If you still have your heart set on using hard copies for the consumption of your favorite media, you can get a glimpse of Audible by listening to free samples of most of their offered audible books. My brother listens to Seth, I’m listening to Stephan King – Just After Sunset. What are you listening to? Enjoy!
Thrillist – The first thing that came into my mind when I first came across Thrillist was how similar it is to Craigslist‘s underlining idea – an e-mail based distribution list. Craig Newmark (Craigslist’s Founder) originally started Craiglsist as a method of informing his friends about upcoming tech or art events in San Francisco. Once the number of the listed people grew too large, Craigslist became a formal website (for the full Craigslist story click here). Thrillist is a quick and free daily email (excluding weekends) that drops you a ‘must’ recommendation message. The recommendations range from the the best of what’s new, to in-depth, under-the-radar goodness. Thrillist claims that they only cover what they like and they vouch that you won’t receive reviews but rather recommendations. At the moment, Thrillist covers eight locations: NYC, LA, SF, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Las Vegas and the relevant-to-all Nation-Wide. Give them a try, you might find these recommendations useful.
Cute Overload – I would like to let you in on the AllMyFaves work process. Every Monday my brother and I finalize two features: he works on next week’s Weekly Faves while I review the ones of the previous week. Before reviewing the sites, I check the number of clicks each weekly fave has received. I also enjoy learning about what sparks people’s interest the most before reviewing a site. I was astonished to see that Cute Overload from last week received twice the amount of clicks than any of the other featured Faves. I checked StumbleUpon and realized that people are simply in love with cute animals (especially cats). Here’s what people are saying in the following StumbleUpon reviews: 1. “Cuteness never gets old. There are way too many cute little cuddly things.” 2. “I am a Cute Overload freak. It’s my second choice for a fun pass time activity after Icanhascheezburger.com.” 3. “Ma’ favorite way to start the day is by clicking on this site;)” 4. “For those of you that want to be absolutely pummeled by cuteness, here’s the site… Phew – now I have to listen to Tool or read Camus or something.” 5. “When you’re in the mood for something sweet”. 5. “My husband and I love to look at this site together. It also helps in my plans to eventually convince him we need to own 1 of every type of animal in the world.” – Is this cute or what?
CO2 emissions – This is a visual illustration of the human activity on our planet. Just by watching it for a few minutes I was struck by a totally different perspective on our lives. Everyone should definitely see this, especially those who insist that global warming is nothing but a propaganda. Keep in mind that this is just a simulation, based on past data. It’s likely that the percentage of CO2 emissions is currently much greater than what is presented in this site . What can you do? You can start by following some of the advice on our previous featured green sites, such as: Animals Save the Planet, Grist, STUFF, Carbonrally, VIROPOP, The Daily Green and Do The Green Thing. Hail Holy Green!
StreamDrag – StreamDrag is a cool web application that is based on code.google.com using the YouTube-API. If this last sentence sounds gibrish to you, I apologize. To be honest, I don’t really understand coding myself but I will try to simplify it. StreamDrag lets you search music videos using YouTube with the only difference being the interface. If a search on YouTube produces, say, 20 results per page, with StreamDrag you’ll receive around 50. That’s it, it is all in the appearance. I like it, do you?
Lyndon Wade – Our Weekly Faves’ goal is to bring you the best of what’s new and buzzing in the Internet arena. Thanks to Lyndon Wade, our job is even easier. This site has topped our own (high, very high!) expectations. Lyndon Wade is, without a doubt, an exceptional creator. His vibrant compositions often depict subjects in a kind of suspended animation; their halted motion suggests a larger narrative in the space of a single incident. Wade’s unique talent of producing complete narrative concepts within single images or small series of images is employed to great effect as a lure to viewers who are asked to draw their own conclusions. Close all open windows and dedicate yourself to Wade’s original and amazing art. My Fave set of photos is the Room 107 Gallery. It left me speechless!!!
Bio-Bak – Want to explore the Bio-Bak? In that case, you must trust me on this one. Put it on full screen, set your speakers to high and follow the narration. Prepare yourself for an inspiring experience as an entire world of animated fiction is revealed. Enjoy!
Mastermind WC – Everybody wants to rule the world! Defend your base, use your minions to attack the enemies and run down their civilization! Conquer the Planet once and for all! Make sure to read the tutorial and follow it properly, as it does get confusing otherwise!
