Why it's the best: Tells you if flight prices are going up or down.
It sucks to keep checking flight prices, only to find out that you could have paid a lot less if you pulled the trigger a week ago. Farecast helps you know "When To Buy^TM, When To Fly^TM, and Where To Stay^TM" using their technology and data. You can see how Farecast works here.

Product Reviews

Why it's the best: Trustworthy product reviews in every category, not just electronics. Over 2.1 million product reviews on the site.

On Buzzillions.com, the majority of reviews are written by Verified Buyers - people who have been verified through the retailer to have actually purchased the product. You can also instantly see what the crowd thinks of a product based on the review summary of star rating, pros, cons, and the best uses.

They're trustworthy because they don't scrape the web for reviews - they directly collect thousands of reviews a day directly from people who purchased products from online retailers like Staples.com, REI.com, Walgreens.com.

Cheap Gas Finder

Why it's the best: Find out where the cheapest gas is (in real time) within your zip code.
Yes, gas prices are high. At least with GasBuddy, you can find the best deal in town. They basically get real time price updates from volunteers (and they're always looking for more).

Electronics Recommendations

Why it's the best: They make it really easy to find community recommended electronics best suited for your needs.

Retrevo offers two very easy to consume recommendations - a Value recommendation and Community sentiment recommendation. Basically, they make it extremely easy for you to know if the product is good for the price you're paying, and whether the community opinion on the product is positive or not.

Movie Reviews

Why it's the best: 10 years of saving people from bad movies.
Rotten Tomatoes and their famous "Tomatometer" measures the percentage of positive reviews from ‘Approved Tomatometer Critics' to give you the bottom line about a movie.

Local Service and Restaurant Reviews

Why it's the best: Find out the good and bad for all your local needs.

Ever been caught with an expensive dinner with crappy food, a mechanic that over charges, or a really bad haircut? Yelp is THE site to see what others are saying and how they're rating local services - everything from salons to dentists and doctors to restaurants and shopping. It's also a great way to find great hole-in-the-wall food places you never would have known about otherwise.

Music Recommendations

Why it's the best: "Last.fm connects you with your favorite music, and uses your unique taste to find new music, people, and concerts you'll like."

You can get a personalized radio station that will play songs you, based on what you previously liked. They also aggregate all the data from every single song people listen to, to show top weekly artists, what the entire Last.fm community is generally listening to, and connect you with people with similar music taste.

Leave a comment if know of a review or recommendation site that's worthy of this list.

I “see” the blank look on your face. “How is a blog a business tool?” you are asking. For most, the blog conjures up images of schools banning kids from putting their pictures and music on MySpace. It is something fun to share with your friends that you scored a “Gandalf” on the Lord of the Rings personality quiz. While still a social communication venue, the blog can really help your business. If you don't believe me, ask yourself why the majority of Fortune 500 companies now blog. Many movies and television shows are now putting their information into a blog format.

First, look at your business. Do you have a web site? If the answer is no, you should get one. Business is being carried out each day and most people look online to shop and compare. They are reading reviews about the products they want to buy and are coming into your business armed with knowledge about those products. The blog should be a part of your web site.

• Adds incoming, indexed links to your site
• Offers the ability for customers to comment about your business (you still can moderate the topics)
• Broadcasts your business over the world and allows customers outside of your commerce area to find you

Once you have your web site, choose a blog that will compliment your business. I use Blogger.com . It is a free site supported by Google and can work well in a business setting. Mentioned prior, is MySpace, which is possibly the most wide-known blogging site. This is very popular and focuses mainly on music and entertainment. However, it does offer some interesting features and you may want to mirror your business blog alongside MySpace. Other blog sites include, but are not limited to: Xanga.com, LiveJournal.com and BlogSpot. Each offers a different set of attributes and features and you will have to decide which suits your business the best. The important thing is that you have a blog and you are hosting it on your site.

Make sure when you create your blog that you allow it to have an active RSS or ATOM feed. This broadcasts your blog out on the internet and gives you the chance of bringing more people to your site. Also, I would sign up for a FeedBurner account. This also helps you to publicize your blog and makes it easy for people to subscribe.

When making your posts, direct them to your audience. You won't have much of an audience at first, but over time they will grow. Make sure your posts are spelled correctly and are grammatically correct. Make them interesting and informative. After your first post make sure that you allow your blog to be “pinged”. Pinging is the method that notifies blogging directories that you just posted something new.

There are many add-ons and third-party items you can add to your blog. It seems daunting, but don't worry. The blog designers have made the creation of your blog fool-proof and easy to use. It is just like typing a letter or writing a memo.

You can also make money from your blog. On Blogger, you can add Google's AdSense. These are paid links from affiliate subscribers. The types of businesses that appear on the blog depends upon what words you use in your forum. Each blog has its own type of affiliate and you can choose to use them or not.

You can make money in your own way, too. Make sure to list store specials and promotions in your blog. Tell people important news and generate excitement to bring them to your business. Become an expert that they know they can trust. People that believe in what you say will be more inclined to shop with you first.

You can set up polls and questions on your blog. What better way for people to be more involved than allowing them to have a voice? By bringing your customers into your “Blog Family” they can be interactive with your company and become closer to you. This is the main reason you will find movies and tv shows on blogs. They are creating a “buzz” about their show and then seeing how the crowd responds. You can do this too.

For example: You own a retail outlet and you want to bring in a new product. So you write in your blog, “Introducing Product A”. You show pictures of the product from different angles, you write about the product information, you talk about pricing and all of the ingredients that go into bringing a new product on the shelf. And then you ask for comments from your faithful customers…

Think about this for a moment. Your blog is a way to test market new products. How much money can that save you?

As you can see, a blog can be more than just a social medium. Use it for your business. Have the links coming in to your site. Make money through the AdSense and other programs. Gather subscribers and have them be your marketing study groups. A blog can help your business grow.

What Causes Bloggers to Stress Out?

Bloggers are compromising their health primarily because of the stress that blogging causes for their lives. There are several different sources of that stress and the levels obviously vary amongst bloggers. However, common complaints from bloggers about the sources of their stress include:

• Financial concerns. Bloggers usually make their money based on the number of people who visit their posts. This can make some months pretty lean which puts the burden of paying bills on the front burner for a blogger's concerns.
• Overwork. Bloggers who want to get the latest scoop - or who need to turn out a whole lot of posts to pay those aforementioned bills - frequently work much longer hours than a writer at an office job would work. In fact, since their work is online and their laptops are almost always with them, some that bloggers never really stop working.
• Family and social stress. The overworking situation frequently leads to problems with relationships because of the fact that the average friend or family member doesn't understand that when the blogger is “messing around on the computer”, he or she is working.

In other words, bloggers are stressed out by the same thing that anyone who works too much is stressed out by. They need to find a balance between work and the rest of life in order to reduce that stress.

Differences in Blogging Stress Levels

Not all bloggers feel stressed out by the work that they do. In fact, some bloggers say that their posts are a relief to them, not a source of stress. So what causes some people to experience stress when writing for the web and others to deal with it seemingly without problems? There are a few major differences between stressed-out bloggers and those who aren't. Some of those differences are:

• Full-time vs. occasional bloggers. People who work at blogging full time get stressed out because they are relying solely on blogging for their income. Part-time or occasional bloggers blog for the joy of writing, not the money, so they aren't as stressed out by the work.
• High-stress topic areas. Some areas of blogging are naturally more stressful than others. People who blog about news, politics and technology developments tend to have high stress levels because they have to be online more frequently than someone who blogs about a non-immediate topic such as blogging itself.
• Self-esteem issues. Bloggers often face comments from people on the web who are, frankly, pretty nasty. Someone who has trouble with self-esteem is more likely to take that to heart and get stressed out than someone who is able to let those comments roll off their backs.
• Passion for the work. A blogger who loves blogging and who also loves the topic she blogs about is going to naturally be less stressed than someone who fell into blogging and doesn't really love it.

Identifying the differences in blogging stress levels may help bloggers to recognize where the problem areas are in this business in order to reduce the stress they experience.

Reducing Blogging Stress

How each individual reduces the stress associated with blogging depends upon the specific cause of their blogging stress. If the problem is overwork, they may reduce blogging stress by hiring help or simply cutting back on hours. If the problem is financial strain, they might take on a part-time job or do additional web writing to relieve the pressure. (For further tips on reducing blogging stress, read this helpful article.) As a basic rule, the goal is to restore the balance between blogging and the rest of life. Everything in moderation, so they say.

Very often professional movie critics have very different opinions from the general public. That's why IMDb is a great source to see movie reviews and ratings because you can see what hundreds if not thousands of people think of a movie, instead of just one or two critics. For instance, Juno got an average 8.2 stars out of 10 by 58,000 voters, and you can even see the gender and age breakdowns for the votes.

You also won't have a hard time finding what you're looking for: IMDb consists of the largest accumulation of data about films, television programs, video games and other media.

Product Reviews

It's hard to find trusted product reviews on the internet. ConsumerReports requires a costly subscription fee, Epinions.com is unreliable because they pay people to write reviews, and retail sites seem to have 5 star ratings for everything because they want to sell you something.

That's why Buzzillions.com is the most reliable and trustworthy product review site out there - they gather thousands of reviews a day from their 1000+ store fronts including Staples.com, Overstock.com, RadioShack.com, etc., and they show which reviews have been written by Verified Buyers - buyers who have been verified through the retailer to have actually purchased the product. Since the majority of the reviews are written by these Verified Buyers, you can feel assured that the products honestly reviewed.

Local Service and Restaurant Reviews

Ever been caught with an expensive dinner with crappy food, a mechanic that over charges, or a really bad haircut? Yelp is THE site to see what others are saying and how they're rating local services - everything from salons to dentists and doctors to restaurants and shopping. It's also a great way to find great hole-in-the-wall food places you never would have known about otherwise.

New and Used Car Reviews

Edmunds is by far the best site to read new and used car reviews. Buying a car (especially used) can be a really frustrating experience, and Edmunds is great for finding the true transaction price and ownership costs. Edmunds cuts through the chase and offers great reviews and valuable tips on both buying and selling cars. For instance, it tells you how the Kelly Blue Book was originally developed by a car dealer and can lose you a lot of money.

You can also search by zip code to find extensive information specifically for your geographic area. For example, when you've decided on a car to look at, they make it easy for you to request price quotes from car dealers in your area.

Videogame Reviews

Gamespot has been around for 11 years, and attracts some 2 million gamers per day. They have expert and community reviews on every console and pretty much any game you're looking for.

Music Reviews

Allmusic claims to be the most comprehensive music reference source on the planet, having a vast wealth of music information on even some of the most obscure albums and artists. You can find everything from old and obscure to popular and new, and read editorial reviews and in depth details from pretty much every genre of music.

They have an editorial staff as well as hundreds of expert contributors so you can find what you're looking for as well as great recommendations.

TV Show Reviews

While Metacritic has a wide range of reviews on games, books, and other categories, I see them as most useful and valid for their TV reviews. Why waste time trying to get into a TV show if everyone says it's not worth it? On Metacritic you can search for TV shows by season, see the "Best Of" rankings by year, and see ratings for upcoming TV show premiers. You can also see reviews by both critics and by viewers.

Fon

Funding: $35 million from Google, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital (Around 10% of the value of NASDAQ is made up of firms funded by Sequoia), Skype, BB Excite, Digital Garage, Tsukum, and British Telecom

Fon is essentially a worldwide Wi-Fi community where members of the community - Foneros - gets free internet access at community Fon Spots around the world. While companies like T-Mobile have hotspots where people pay for WiFi, Fon enables people to do the same thing and earn money. People can buy a $30 router from Fon, share their broadband with other Foneros for free while charging outsiders $2-$3, which Fon takes a cut of. Also if you're a Foneros, you get free internet access at all Fon Spots. If you visit Fon.com, you can see where the nearest Fon Spot location is to you.

PowerReviews / Buzzillions.com

Funding: $21.25 million from Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Draper Richards

Consumer reviews are undoubtedly an important feature for e-commerce sites. Numerous studies have shown that not only do the majority of people read consumer reviews, a Deloitte study showed that over 82% of review readers' make their purchasing decisions are influenced by consumer reviews.

PowerReviews tapped into this market by offering free review technology and services for online retailers. They now power the review system for over 200 retailers including Staples, REI, RadioShack, Overstock.com, amongst many others. In exchange for the free licensing, PowerReviews aggregates this review data from their client retailers, and publishes the reviews on their own consumer site Buzzillions.com. Buzzillions receives a commission from their retail clients on a CPC or CPA basis, so they make money sending traffic back to their clients using the clients' reviews.

VideoEgg

Funding: $34 million from Maveron, August Capital, and First Round Capital

VideoEgg, which started out as a video publishing platform has since leveraged the growing popularity of social networks, powering video for 14 of the major 20 networks while monetizing and sharing revenue.

They then took advantage of the explosion of Facebook applications, creating a Facebook Ad network called the EggNetwork, and now has expanded to other sites like Meebo and Flixter. VideoEgg charges a fee of $0.50 to $1.00 every time a user either clicks on a flash ad or hovers over it for one to two seconds. This way, the advertiser is paying for verified user engagement with the ad, instead of their previous $10 per CPM model.

Blip.tv

Business Model: Licensing and Advertising

Investors: Ron Conway (Google, PayPal, Ask Jeeves), Mark Gerson, Ken Lerer, Peter Theil (Co-founder & CEO PayPal, Facebook, Slide, LinkedIn, Friendster, IronPort)

Blip.tv enables syndication for online shows, and provides producers with everything from free hosting, ads, and distribution to websites and blogs. A partnership with Akimbo now allows top shows to be available on television through internet video on demand. Blip works with video ad networks and helps seek sponsorships for popular shows, and shares the revenue 50/50 with the publisher.

 

While reading for an article about the new backup solution from Microsoft that offers 5GB of space, which is really cool, considers that I am using Box that only offers 1GB. Skimming through the comment area for any tips, I saw the word 50GB stood beside free. No way, I thought, but after clicking on the link, the commenter didn't mistype nor I misread it. Adrive.

What Does It Give You?

50GB of free, yes, free storage space for your back up needs. If that's not enough to convince you to click the link right away, let me.

The service is still in beta, that doesn't mean it's filled with bugs that follow the word beta everywhere. In fact, I haven't yet to step on any bug. This is quite heartening, since the very nature of the backup service is reliability.

What more impressive about Adrive is that it allows huge files to be uploaded, up to 2GB per file. Other services usually only offer from 10MB to 100MB limit.

Adrive accepts all kinds of files, from photos, movies, music to private documents. This means you can use it to back up your photo collection, upload collaborative documents to work with your co-workers...

How to Get the Most Out of It

The service uses Java to run the upload manager, so you may want to install the Java Runtime before uploading, or the browser will do it for you if you don't mind a little waiting. What I really like about Adrive is it provides whole folder uploading; it will keep the folder tree exactly the way it is in your computer. After choosing the folder, you can then unselect the files you don't want to upload, or add more files/folders. There is a 1000 files limit per upload session though.

I stumbled upon Lifehacker using StumbleUpon in Firefox. It's been in my Bookmark for 6 months and still healthy.

What Does It Give You?

From DIY (Do it yourself) ways to clean up that mess of cables on your desk, to how to get the most out of your camera. Lifehacker literally floods you with useful tips to "hack" your life to make it better. You won't believe me until you really step in the site to take a look. And to give you a helping hand, here is a list of what I think are the best:

• Smarter ways to use your Windows, Mac, or Linux PC.
• Funny geeky talk that will fill you with sweet sweet old memories.
• How to get the most out of what you already used every day, from better search, to an even more addictive Gmail.
• How to improve the quality of your life with tips for taxes, credit score etc.
• How to organize your desk, eat healthily, take better pictures, sleep better... you name it.

How to Get the Most Out of It

Although Lifehacker editors put a lot of effort in their works, they are still just a selective few. What the lack, however, are filled in by the useful community. You need an alternative way to do the things Lifehacker recommended? Leave a comment and you will most likely get more than one useable tip.

A user who uses a web page developed using these technologies is able to complete a specific task with less time than using a web application developed using traditional technologies and avoids frequent calls to server. The turn around time is usually less for applications developed using web 2.0 concept. This is because almost everything is done on the client side only. This means that users don't have to wait for the response from server side on every action completed resulting in saving lot of time.

Many companies and banking corporations around the world are embracing these new technologies to provide a highly satisfied user experience. Online banking applications, e-commerce sites developed using these technologies can provide users a highly rich and faster service. Unlike conventional Internet applications the sites developed using web 2.0 concepts doesn't refreshes the whole page while you make updates. A web page developed using these Rich Internet Applications make the web page to act more like a Desktop application and allows users to interact more with the application.

1. At the moment Digg is one of the best known and visited sites on the whole internet. I think this should be enough for you to realize its power.
2. Submitting your page to Digg brings you about minimum 5 targeted visitors per day in the next 5 or 6 days to my experience. And if they find it valuable, they will digg it. Then more will come and they will digg it too. You see the power?
3. If you submit your site to Digg, Google crawls your site within hours, and sometimes within minutes. You get indexed very fast. It's like someone saying “Hey, Google, come and check this out!”
4. If you get to the front page you can expect over 2000, and more visitors per day. That's a hell a lot of traffic!
5. Go and test what I've told you and you'll see that I'm right. So the 5th reason would be: If you test all this you'll see that everything I say is true

If you have any other reasons to share why Digg is or is not for spreading the world for your site, then feel free to leave a comment.

Verdict

Very useful site for specific users (Arabs obviously), fast loading and response time live up to Ajax standards. Auto suggest while you type makes the whole process much easier.

Longevity potential

This really depends on the amount of exposure and track back links the site receives. But based on its remarkable app, It will sure attract plenty of surfers over a long period of time.