Why Do I Live Here? – Another Weekly Blog winner a couple of weeks back, Why Do I Live Here is a Cheezburger lol blog showing photos of what you’d expect from the title. Funny houses galore, this blog is all about the extreme and bizarre. See some pics I found really daunting…
Inception: The Cobol Job – Forget about conventional, 2-minute video trailer for movies. That’s so old and boring. The Yahoo! Inception: The Cobol Job movie is a totally new and innovative way of getting a glimpse of the upcoming action movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Even if you’re not into comics, the interface of this unusual trailer manages to emphasize intense plot moments by varying the navigation speed and direction from one story frame to another. This is simply amazing and it did the job: I’m psyched about the movie! Currently in theaters (and Imax). By the way, you can download the entire comics story line in PDF.
Inferno – The name might be a bit over the top. You are a firefighter robot, and you must put out the fire in each and every level. Make sure you’re standing on solid ground, and aim correctly the water hose to put out the flames as fast as possible. For more exciting and addicting games, visit our I ♥ Games page and get instant updates on the best ones out there!
Stay.com – Planning your vacation nowadays is easy and fun, thanks to the numerous online travel guides available (see some of the best ones on our Travel page). In most cases, these travel guides are based on the input of users who have already been to various locations and shared their experiences and recommendations with the rest of the community. Stay.com is yet another fun and interactive travel guide on the scene, offering easy and accurate planning of your next vacation.
Although you can type in any destination in the world, Stay.com currently offers the travel guide feature only for major cities. This is a shame but since Stay.com is a new player, I hope that with time we’ll see their travel guide tool include less mainstream destinations. In terms of the travel guide itself, once you’ve chosen a city, you get a basic guide including a map with chosen site-seeing suggestions. Your destination page will have a list of other visit ideas you can easily add to your guide (drag and drop), and these will be beautifully integrated into it.
Needless to say, you may download your custom travel guide, and when you come back, you can create your own and share it with the rest of the Stay.com community. I only wish they had offered a cool travel guide option to other locations such as Bali, Indonesia, where I’d really like to go someday. See the screen shots below of the offered travel guide to Berlin for families with kids.
Historypin – A cool collaboration between the social movement We Are What We Do and Google has produced this amazing project focused on an innovative documentation of our collective history. Combining Google Maps (both standard and street views) with your grandparents’ historic photograph and personal story, Historypin brings the young and old generations closer. According to their About page, “Historypin virtually requires you to spend time with someone from a different generation: young people need older people for the photos, and older people need young people to explain when to click and when to double click.”
The Historypin scene as the meeting point of generations is spectacular. The superb interface, the ease of the documentation process and the existing database of other users’ documented photos (over 10,000 entries!) make Historypin a first of its kind in terms of both concept and execution. See the photo of Sydney’s Queen Victoria Markets (posted by Rebekah), dated 1885-1915, with the site’s current appearance in the background. Absolutely amazing. Add your photos and tell your story so the young generation in your family will learn your family’s history. You will need a Google account to sign up and contribute to Historypin.
FunAdvice – Another cool question-and-answer site in the neighborhood, FunAdvice is here to help you get the information you’re looking for (covering more than 20 categories), and you’re invited to answer others’ questions and make friends along the way. The latter is a nice added value other Q & A sites currently lack, and this is refreshing.
Navigating through FunAdvice is easy and interesting; you can choose between Questions, How-To’s, Updates, Interests, People and more. Although you must be a registered user to be an active FunAdvice member, it’s free, easy to do and totally worth it. I just love it when a site offers a good service and throws in some cool extras for the user community. See this important question many mothers all over will identify with (it includes all the answers users provided).
Life In A Day – Prepare yourself for a first of its kind documentary film, produced by the legendary Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald, starring YOU! This amazing collaborative project with Google aims to create a collective documentary film, made up exclusively of footage shot and submitted by users. Here’s what you need to do: “On 24 July, you have 24 hours to capture a glimpse of your life on camera. The most compelling and distinctive footage will be edited into an experimental documentary film, exclusively produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald.”
To learn more about the Life In A Day project, check out this public document, and be sure to visit the YouTube channel for it. The finished film will be premiered sometime in early 2011. An announcement of the film’s exact premier date will be provided later on on the YouTube page. I bet we’re going to see some amazing stuff. Stay tuned.
Wallpaper Art – Holding true to their promise, Wallpaper Art is not just another wallpaper library. You will find here truly exquisite wallpapers from all over the Web, and no doubt you will be changing your desktop background by the time you’re done exploring this site. To make the most out of Wallpaper Art, be sure to explore all the various features. These include contests (including submissions and winners of various contests), wallpapers (duh), inspiration, interviews with uber-creative artists and suggested links (in the field of graphic design, web design and others). In short, I’m happy Wallpaper Art scored the Weekly Fave spot – they’ve earned it! See a couple of fabulous wallpaper designs below. The first is by Adidas, the other by Martijn van Dam.
Insects.org – I’m not a big fan of insects myself. In fact, until I brought a cat home, whenever I spotted a cockroach on the floor I would climb up to the highest possible point and scream like a 3 year old. No matter how you see insects, they are as beautiful and essential to the circle of life as any other organism group on Earth is. Insects.org is here to shed some light on the amazing world of insects, offering intriguing facts and information on major insect types, and providing remarkable photos of each.
Dive into the world of the Order Insecta, the most diverse Order of all organisms on Earth, and meet some local friends (meaning cool butterflies, cicadas, crickets and other winged buddies you can find in your neck of the woods). I remember this little fella in the picture below. It’s famous for the clicking sound it makes when it lands on its back.
You Are Not So Smart – A winning Weekly Blog on All My Faves, You Are Not So Smart, simply put, is “a blog devoted to self delusion and irrational thinking.” Each post is made up of an an introductory Misconception, a common wisdom fact that isn’t factual at all, then followed by the truth (based on empirical studies and scholarly publications). Creator David McRaney, a professional journalist, proves he is indeed in the right profession; the posts in his blog are beautifully written. Without even noticing it, I spent a long session of insightful reads here. I relished in every single one I’ve read and I appreciated the diversity of the topics covered in the blog. One interesting post I thought you should read as well is Opposites. Enjoy.
Infectious – Personalization of your home decor, personal gadgets and t-shirts is taken to a whole new level with Infectious. This divine design shop center offers unique and uber-sophisticated skins for the iPhone, iPod, laptops, skateboard, even your home walls. One of the best features on Infectious is users’ option to create their own customized design for any of the available item options (iPhone, iPod, iPad, laptop, skateboard and paper art print). All users are also invited to give their feedback on the designs featured on the site.
Since photos speak louder than words, see a couple of the amazing designs you should check out on Infectious, shown below.
Design by Dennis McNulty
Design by Mimi Yoon
Zoogami – This is a whole lot of fun! Play by signing up via Facebook Connect and grant your webcam the access to take your photo. Without giving away too much, all I can say is you’ll have to get used to wearing glasses, and you will have to be quick in following the instructions you hear on your speakers… Enjoy and see the gallery of all the other users who have played before you. By the Way, this site is actually an ad for a facial accessory. Guess which kind?