NabeWise – Thinking of moving into a new neighborhood? If you’re already familiar with the new location in terms of what the local community is like then you’re all set. But what happens if you want or need to relocate to a different state? How would you go about searching for the right neighborhood for you, especially if you don’t know anyone in the area? NabeWise was conceived precisely for this purpose, and it offers an innovative neighborhood ranking and research tool for the clueless ‘relocators’.

Whether you are a single woman moving from Chicago to New York City, or a married + children family relocating from San Francisco to Seattle, NabeWise is your best buddy for identifying the most suitable neighborhood for you. Based on their user community feedback, NabeWise offers bona fide information on local neighborhoods in major US cities (currently covering NYC, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle and Chicago, with more locations coming soon). Explore neighborhoods’ ranking (in terms of quality of life, character, people, and things to do), average rental costs, school statistics, local reviews and more.

NabeWise’s excellent use of visual content helps you taste better the currently distant neighborhood you are considering moving into. I don’t think there’s anything quite like it on the Web, and I am still a bit bewildered by the fact that NabeWise is a 100% free service! To see an example, see what searching for a Seattle neighborhood is like on NabeWise. The screen shot below is a glimpse of the NabeFinder, a dynamic neighborhood search map showing results according to set parameters (over 30 attributes to choose from).

VisualEconomics.com – Investments, loans, consumption expenditures and saving are financial terms we hear and read about everyday. But do we really understand what they mean? Excluding the professionals involved in the finance field, most laypersons often find it difficult to truly grasp the meaning behind published financial data, despite the increased accessibility we all have to related reports, numbers and information (thanks to the use of the Internet).

VisualEconomics is here to simplify our understanding of the financial market by offering down-to-earth content and explanations of some of the most complicated economic concepts and implications. Although VisualEconomics includes an abundance of break down information on various financial terms, it is their infographics section that truly makes them shine. Think of it as the cumbersome world of financial concepts, simplified. The infographic “How Much Americans Spend on Shopping” is but one example of the VisualEconomics magic. Enjoy and learn.

CarWoo! – Buying a new car seems easy; about every other TV commercial advertises a new car model, and promises easy financing (do you manage to read the fine print in less than 10 seconds?). But if you’ve bought a new or pre-owned car sometime in the last 10 years, you know it’s not that easy, and if you don’t do your homework properly or know how to negotiate, you might pay too much for your car or find yourself overwhelmed with car debt.

CarWoo is here to make the entire process much simpler and easier, by taking the load of price negotiation and dealer deals off of you. This way they allow you to be choosy, and you can be rest assured that you are presented with the absolute best deal options for your desired car. Although the service costs between $19 and $39 (basic and plus CarWoo deals, respectively) for a 2010 Toyota Prius, CarWoo is worth a shot, especially if it’s such a cash saver! Plus, if major publishers such as Wired.com, Forbes and BusinessWeek praised CarWoo, I think you should give it a go the next time you plan on buying a car.

To learn more on how CarWoo works, see the video below. The site is beautifully designed and the interface is easy to work with. Great job CarWoo! For more top notch car related sites and resources visit our Cars Mini Faves page.

Unhear it – I remember this one time in the very last week of my senior year in high school, I was in the middle of my final exam in history, and as I was trying to formulate an answer to one of the questions on the exam, I couldn’t help but repeating the same song in my head: Boney M’s cover of Rivers of Babylon. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a cool song and the 1970s wouldn’t have been complete without it. But being unable to get rid of this tune in such a crucial moment as that of a final exam, well, you get my drift.

The point of this personal anecdote is to bring Unhear it to your attention, a cool site that offers what I so direly needed that day in high school: a get-rid-of-that-song-in-your-head solution. How do they do it? Well, they make users “‘unhear’ songs by hearing equally catchy songs.” The idea is a great one, although you end up with a new catchy song that might be the new god-damn song in your head you’ll wish you had gotten rid of…

Holycool – A must RSS, the holycool.net blog features nothing short of the absolute coolest products one can find and buy online today. Created by the lovely Dee, Holycool truly stands out from any other design blog I’ve seen recently. Its unpretentious attitude, simplistic design make way for beautiful content and product finds that are genuine, spot-on, and each review post tells you right up front how much that cool product costs and where you can buy it.

Below are a couple of awesome products I haven’t seen or read about anywhere else.

Fred & Friends’ Yumbots Robot Cupcake Molds:

Eco Reminders Wall Stickers (by Hu2 Design):

Food on the Table – Unique in every possible way, this practical site’s concept “was born out of a need to get organized with menu planning, to create easy prep meals that everyone enjoyed and to save time and money at the grocery store.”

So, how does Food on the Table work, exactly? After you sign up (the basic plan is free, upgraded plans are available), submit your zip code and locate the various supermarkets in your area, and choose your top three. Next, set your taste preferences and food categories you are interested in. Then, click on Meal Plan and see which items are on sale based on your supermarket and food items settings. All you need to do next is buy the items and cook up a meal that’s within your budget and suited to your taste buds and nutrition plan.

Food on the Table is a great service, and it truly is a bliss for all the busy multi-child families out there where parents come back home from work to job no. 2 (family time). Thanks to Food on the Table, creating a healthy meal that’s on budget, on time and good is easy and quick.

ooVoo – Video chat is all but new. Google does it, so does Skype; MSN offers it as part of their Messenger service, and online video conferencing is also provided by Rounds. And this is just a quick list. ooVoo tries to be different, and in fact, based on a recent study commissioned by ooVoo, 8 out of 10 Skype users apparently prefer ooVoo over the former.

Let’s see how it measures up to or, if it really exceeds Skype as ooVoo claims. In terms of features, ooVoo offers video chat, video conferencing, phone calls and desktop sharing (that’s right). Right off the bat, desktop sharing is a crucial business tool I can definitely see coming into high use. Secondly, the ooVoo video chat is possible with friends and colleagues who don’t have ooVoo installed. You simply provide them with a certain link you receive from ooVoo after you sign up, and your friends’ browser will use that link to get in visual touch.

So, final verdict? ooVoo is easy to use, the sound and visual quality is terrific (which reminds me of those countless times when Skype lacked sound and video quality), and the video chat feature is free. I’m going to switch from Skype and give ooVoo a real test drive. Seems worth it!

The complete list of all ooVoo’s features is right there on their homepage. You should also check out their business solutions overview. See the screen shot below of my ooVoo profile, offering the video chat link for friends ooVoo-less. That’s ingenious!

LucyPhone – This free service is a true godsend. Don’t you just hate it when you call your cable or phone company, and end up waiting forever for an actual person to take your call, while in the meantime you’re forced to listen to the worst elevator music ever? LucyPhone is here, ladies and gentlemen, and it’s a blessing.

Forget about long speaker-mode calls on hold, waiting for that utility company’s customer service representative to finally talk to you. Simply search for a company or type in the toll-free number into the site’s text box, provide Lucy with a phone number you can be reached at, and lovely Lucy will call you when an actual human on the other side can take your call. In one word – Hallelujah!

Redbeacon – The next time you find yourself searching for the services of any professional, stop by Redbeacon and give their innovative service a shot. Redbeacon has created a revolutionary platform for matching clients with professionals (from plumbers and electricians to personal chefs and graphic designers), based on the type of job required, location, date and price.

What next? Once you’ve submitted your service request, Redbeacon will “show you the price quotes and profiles of people interested in doing your job, and allow you to book an appointment with them, saving you the time and hassle of calling around.” No more endless searches on and offline for landscapers, dog walkers, air conditioning technicians and what have you; Redbeacon makes the entire process, from start to finish, easy, affordable and premeditated. We like that!

See the screen shots below of the service request submission form, and of the table explaining the benefits of using Redbeacon. By the way, if you have a service to offer and wish to use the Redbeacon platform to meet new customers, click here.

Wakerupper – Chosen as one of the 50 Best Websites of 2010 by TIME.com, Wakerupper is so simple and useful we just had to give it a Weekly Fave spot. As you might infer from its name, Wakerupper is a computer-to-phone wakeup call and reminder service. Use this tool as a great reminder for meetings, to-do’s, birthdays and anniversaries, and picking up your family members from yoga class, soccer or any other recreational activity.

If you’re not sure Wakerupper is right for you, give the service a shot by scheduling a test call for free. Wakerupper currently works only in the US and Canada, so I’m afraid using this service for an overseas meeting or wake up call is not an option. Hopefully with time Wakerupper will be available in other location as well.

Online ConVert – I just love it when a website offers a useful service for free, without any background noise. That’s the case with Online ConVert, a ridiculously simple conversion site for practically any type of media file you can think of.

Use Online ConVert to handle all your audio, video, image, document, eBook and hash files and transform them to the file type you’re looking for in your desired category. Oh, and the best part? No download is required. Period. That’s just wonderful.