Nogeno – The team behind Nogeno has a calling. They want this website to serve as a home for the musicians who “need something personal – a page to call their own which will bring out their music, videos, upcoming gigs and much more.” Although there are many prominent sites for novel musicians (such as Bandcamp, MySpace and others), Nogeno’s added value comes in the form of lack of commercialization, or so its team claims.
To discover new artists that will suit your taste, you are invited to type in your favorite artist or band’s name in the homepage and the Nogeno system will automatically build a playlist made up of new emerging artists within the ballpark of your preferred genres. Musicians are also invited to create their own music space using Nogeno’s platform to increase their exposure.
Here’s the mixtape playlist Nogeno created for me, based on my submission of Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse, two bands I love to listen to. As you can see, the left part of the screen is the actual playlist, while the right part of that page is devoted to bio and background info regarding the artist/band playing.
A Google a Day – Google has done it again with this brilliant trivia game. To help its vast community of users in learning how to search better and faster, Google came up with A Google a Day, a daily trivia question for which the answer lies in the proper search, via Google search, naturally.
Each day a new question will be waiting for you, and it’s your job to go ahead and find the answer. Clciking “Answer” won’t give you the bottom line answer, but will rather give you clues of what to look for, and by the end of that process you will discover the answer yourself. Since this trivia game is both fun and didactic, it gets an A plus from me. Why don’t you challenge your friends to a Google duel? Should be fun and interesting!
Here’s an example of a question and the answer of Google a Day’s question from April 16.
Patch – This cool website seeks to keep you informed with what’s happening in your very own town. This extremely local news provider includes photos and videos of events taking place near you, keeps you updated on local businesses, it invites you to join discussions and even encourages you to submit your own announcements, photos and reviews. In this era of massive information consumption the local community often gets lost. Thanks to Patch, your own neighborhood becomes the center of attention.
Here’s what the Patch coverage looks like for Apple Valley, MN:
TIME LightBox – Great photos in newspapers have long been a prerequisite. The professional teams of photographers working in major newspapers produce compelling pictures that help to tell an important news story. But the TIME’s LightBox tops even that by offering a one-stop place for the absolute best photos the newspaper has to offer. All photos are hand-picked by the TIME’s photo editors to create a regularly updated collection of grade A pictures.
Terribly Beautiful: J Henry Fair’s Aerial Photographs of Industrial Pollution
Per Square Mile – This unique blog -and a Weekly Blog champion- focuses on density. As blogger Tim De Chant explains, “It’s about what happens when people live like packed sardines. It’s also about what happens when people live so far apart they can go days without seeing another soul.”
Although Per Square Mile is not rich in photos or videos, its top quality textual content makes up for any visual downsides, and it really dives into the effect of density on people’s lives, for better or worse. An interesting post that will help you get into this blog’s mood is this one, discussing residential houses situated near train tracks. You can also click the image below to get to the full post.
TwistedSifter – Here’s a sweet website that will satisfy your crave for interesting and creative things online. TwistedSifter finds all the most popular stories, photos and posts currently on the Web, and the site’s use of large photos whenever possible makes it visually appealing as well.
TwistedSifter offers a variety of categories for you to explore. These include Picture of the Day, The Shirk Report (the funny side of the Web), Current Events, Galleries and more. In short, TwistedSifter truly offers a hot spot for interesting and creative content the Web has to offer. Click the image below to go to my favorite post.
Portrait of Muhammad Ali, created by Michael Kalish. Photograph by Jon David
Back of a Webpage – 100% fun, this simple yet unique website showcases what websites look like reversed – from the back, based on people’s imagination. What does that mean, exactly? See some pics below and you’ll get it.
Here’s the back view of Flickr – see the image, just like an actual photo from a developed film.
And here’s a creative submission, showing the back side of YouTube.
True Life Costs – This amazingly designed and executed website by Volkswagen brings an entire town to life to teach us the concept of good value and expenses over time. Once you arrive in town you are invited to explore a variety of expense categories, including vacation, house, food, family, and of course, car -after all, it’s Volkswagen’s website and they do a terrific job at showing their cars’ good value.
Putting marketing agendas aside, the True Life Costs project is fun to explore, it’s beautifully designed and it does succeed to send the message of calculated spending.
Farm Mania 2 – Another farm game, Farm Mania 2 will test your task management skills as you work hard to grow produce, feed the animals and sell your veggies in the market. It’s addicting, fun and in my opinion, it’s a great organizational skills exercise. For more great games visit our I ♥ GAMES page.
Sleep Cycle – Imagine waking up every morning refreshed, full of energy and ready to take on the day. Sounds like vacation time, doesn’t it? Well, the Sleep Cycle alarm clock app offers “a bio-alarm clock that analyzes your sleep patterns and wakes you when you are in the lightest sleep phase.” No more rude awakening from deep sleep to the sound of that annoying alarm. The app will make sure you wake up when your body is ready at the lightest sleeping cycle, and it will ensure you have enough time to prepare for and get to work when you need to.
The Sleep Cycle tracks your movement during your sleep and that’s how it identifies your deep and light sleep cycles. Although it requires an initial movement calibration, using Sleep Cycle will improve your mornings. Monday won’t be so dreadful again, at least in terms of waking up…
Join.me – In the golden age of online sharing, now computer screens are added into the mix, and for free. Join.me lets you share your screen with others, and see other people’s screens. No registration is required, which is a huge plus in my book. Instant online meetings are a breeze, as the Join.me team explains: “just click share to download and run the app and share your screen, instantly. No need for a plane, train, or sandwich platter. Just gather at join.me.”
Want more goodies? Join.me offers free mobile viewers for iPhone, iPad and Android, and the screen sharing system comes with free chat and file sharing as a default. This is a most valuable service to use, whether for professional or personal reasons – it’s simply a must!
Proust – For those of you unfamiliar with Marcel Proust, the man after which this website is called, here’s the gist: This 19-century French novelist is most famous for his work In Search of Lost Time (1913-1927), where the main character, while having a pleasant visit at a relative’s house, is taken aback by a powerful moment of involuntary memory -his childhood- and goes through a strong emotional experience, all as a result of the Madeleine cookie’s taste in his mouth. Proust the website plays on the same family moments theme and offers an easy platform to create, document and share family memories.
Sign up to Proust.com and start creating your story. The system will ask you a few questions to get you started, and from then on you can share these, send questions to family members and see where the story takes you and your family. Here’s Tom’s story as an example. To learn more about Proust.com watch the video below.
