Carbonmade – Those of us working in the creative industries such as design, graphic design, styling, photography and other visual mediums will appreciate this free online portfolio service. As a visual professional, you need to provide solid work examples to lure more potential customers and to make a name for yourself. And what a better way to do so than by creating an online portfolio of your own, one that looks amazing and presents your chosen works in an easy, nice-to-look-at place. Carbonmade offers just that.

To get started, I suggest exploring some samples – my favorites are Bódis Árvai Tünde Photography and Bunny Pirates by the illustrator Meghan Stratman, respectively shown here below.

The free Carbonmade bundle allows a maximum upload of 35 images (which is more than enough for the average professional), and a paid track of $12 a month for those interested in showcasing photos, videos, flash projects and more, all ad-free. What are you waiting for? Sign up now!

Weezic – This website is a unique take on music practice. Download and print music sheets, choose your own tempo and then play with a whole orchestra (mp3 accompaniments), or even record your interpretation of a known piece and share it on the site.

To learn more about Weezic and how it can be your best online musician friend, see the video below.

What Money Cannot Buy – At first glance this blog seems trivial; sharing simple, cherished moments of life. But as you start browsing the entries here, you will find a most inspiring collection of “life’s greatest simple pleasures and priceless moments.” Brought to us by the creators of Makes Me Think, this, too, is an online gem.

In our capitalist-driven era it’s refreshing to stumble upon an inspirational blog that offers generous riches for the soul free of charge. After reading this blog I honestly feel life is wonderful! Read the two entries below to see what money simply cannot buy:

Laughing hysterically with your friends, then pausing momentarily, looking at each other, and then laughing hysterically again. July 30, 2010 by Azooz.

Hearing a new song you really like and then downloading it and listening to it over and over and over. August 15, 2010 by dee.

To submit your very own priceless life moment, click the Submit button on the top of the page.

Dorkly – Videogame comedy. Yes, there is such a thing and it’s on fire right here, at Dorkly.com. If you’re not fluent in Playstation, XBox and Nintendo, this site is not for you. I believe the classic target audience of Dorkly is young males (aged 15-35). Either way, here are a couple of funny posts I thought I’d share – click the image to read them in full.

They Draw & Cook – Brother and sister Nate and Salli are a wonderful talented team of design and illustration. What started out as an effort to recreate a tasty dish they had during a vacation soon sprung into Nate and Salli’s amazingly creative illustrated recipe blog, They Draw & Cook. Text based recipes are fine if you are already familiar with the dish. If you’re a first timer however, the text-only list of ingredients and how-to is downright boring and lacks that pizazz I’m often relying on to get me into the cooking groove.

They Draw & Cook is all about putting lots of color and good vibes into cooking, as the blog’s recipe collection offers illustrated recipes that take the cooking experience to a whole new level. Here are a few examples (click the image to see the full recipe in larger size):

Can’t get enough? Find another recipe. Is one of your kids an avid kitchen helper? Try out the Kids Draw & Cook. To submit your own recipe and artowrk, click here.

KNSTRCT – This fabulous digital magazine is a beautifully created ‘design central’ both industry professionals and casual observers will appreciate. KNSTRCT aims to be “a global hub of design and innovation, an online destination for art, interiors, architecture, fashion, travel and all other limitless definitions of ‘design’.” Does it live up to its mission statement? You bet. Their very homepage screams aesthetics in every possible way:

The homepage is made up of a collage of photos, each representing a separate article with a different artist or project in focus. Simply hover your mouse over one of them and it will become highlighted. If you prefer the more straight-forward way, simply use the menu on the top right and browse the KNSTRCT magazine by picking design type, industry, or use their open search.

The two photos below represent a couple of amazing articles I found here on KNSTRCT and wanted to share. The first is Lang Baumann Paints the Streets of Vercorin, and the second is The Gardens of Marqueyssac. Click the images below to see the full posts and hi-res photos.

iStunt 2 – Use the arrow keys to control your moves and snowboard angles as you ride the white (and sometimes dangerous) slopes in this fun game. Making it through the track without crashing into the ground is a must, but see how many stunts and flips you manage to pull off as you go. For more exciting games visit our I ♥ GAMES page.

Google Crisis Response – Google.org initiated this blessed project back in 2005 (following Hurricane Katrina) to help hard-hit locations worldwide cope with the aftermath of natural disasters by making relevant information readily available for everyone, everywhere.

The recent earthquake and consequent tsunami in Japan forced the island country to come to terms with its worst natural disaster on record. The Google Crisis Response project gives you all you could possibly need in one easy page; comprehensive coverage along with real-time updates and latest news on the sitatuion in Japan; direct donations to the Japanese Red Cross using Google Checkout; detailed maps of the affected area; emergency phone numbers; people finder; current status (transportation, government warnings, blackout info) and much more.

Google’s Crisis Response project makes helping out fast and easy. Just imagine how helpful this could have been back in 2005 when New Orleans was in dire need of fast assistance. Please visit this project and help where you can. You would appreciate the same, God forbid you should find yourself under the circumstances Northern Japan communities are currently dealing with.

Memolane – This most inspiring and exciting service offers an interactive, ongoing audio-visual timeline of your life, with the option of adding your friends as collaborators. Create your own Memolane made up of photos, music, video, tweets, status updates, blogs, and many other content tools and you will be pleasantly surprised at how rich your seemingly ordinary life really is.

Click the image below to see what a Memolane timeline looks like, this one -rather, only a fraction of it- by Jeff Hester.

To learn more about Memolane and how it works, see this video:

blufr – Rightfully described as “not your mamma’s jeopardy,” blufr is a cool trivia game where you are presented with a statement and you need to decide whether it’s true (“Way!”) or false (“No Way!”). Test your knowledge and intuition to see how well (and how how high) you score on this game.

blufr is brought to us by Answers.com, and it’s certainly refreshing to see an online trivia game that’s targeting a younger crowd than usual. There is also an iPhone app available (free on the App store), so you can play blufr on the go and never miss a question!

Earbits – This super cool website offers an innovative way to consume music freely online, and discover new artists along the way. What starts out as a simple-looking page with 13 music genres to choose from (there’s also a ‘shuffle all’ option) soon turns into a most rewarding experience that not only looks amazing, but also provides high quality music sounds.

To give you the perfect example of what Earbits is about, see the image below, the listening page for Blues. The most eye-grabbing part here is the image of the artist himself (in this case Boo Boo Davis). The name of the artist will show on the bottom left side of the page, and clicking “view more” will pull you down to an informative bio and discography section of the artist you’re listening to.

In addition, Earbits have worked hard to make sure the social aspect of this service is as best as it can be; you can give each song a thumbs up or down, and when connected to the site via Facebook you can share whole songs with your friends, even tweet the track you’re listening to! Now that’s socially rewarding.

phraseup – If writing is not something you find easy to do, phraseup is a tool you should consider. It is essentially a sentence completion service that comes to the rescue when you have only a fraction of a sentence ready in your head. How does it work? Simply type in your incomplete phrase or sentence and put (*) where you’re short on inspiration. Hit the Complete button and see the magic happen before your eyes. Here’s an example:

For those of you interested in how exactly phraseup manages to offer appropriate completions, here’s an explanation: “Using a patent pending algorithm, phraseup* assists you with writing, by suggesting possible combinations to fill-in the words you can’t remember. Each suggestion is accompanied by definitions, synonyms and translations to other languages.” What an innovative concept! Writing just got a bit easier.