1. www.google.com/reader
If you're an avid user of http://www.google.com/ as your preferred web-search site, and have a Gmail account, this site is for you! (If you don't have a Gmail account, and you look at a lot of blogs or news websites, you can create an account, or look for similar offerings from other companies.) This is not just a site, it's a tool for life! :o)
Google Reader is a nifty little thing. Do you find yourself checking all your friends' blogs, just to see if they have new posts? Do you constantly go to CNN or MSNBC or Drudge or some other news site to get the latest scoop? Does your favorite site or company put out things you like to see or read, like HBS Innovations or the Word of the Day?
Well, waste time no more trying to remember all your sites and clicking through them all!
Google Reader acts like an "email inbox" for all* of your favorite sites. Simply "Add a Subscription," and then check your Reader to see if anyone has a new post. Voila!
Happy Reader-ing! I hope you see all my new posts and comment often.
* As long as they have an RSS feed. Your browser should tell you (IE7 turns orange) and sometimes the site will actually have a link for their feed.
2. www.adrive.com/
Do you ever need access to your files while you're "on the go"? Wish you could get to something on your home computer when you're at school or at a friend's house? Or, do you have some data that you need to back up*, but aren't sure if you want the piles of CDs or DVDs it might take?
ADrive is a totally free online storage site, with the most space that I've ever seen. Sure, if you're in the habit of emailing files to yourself to save or access later, Gmail lets you store ~6GB and Hotmail gives you 5GB. Or, web-hosted file storage like Windows Live offers a 5GB web-hosted "SkyDrive".
Does fifty gigabytes of space sound like enough for your online storage/back-up needs? Yes, that's right, 50 GB. Archive all your static files (music, video, finished resarch papers, pictures, etc.), or back-up changing files "regularly" -- databases, school projects in process, et al.
* Redundancy, we've found the hard way, is an important part of back-up/archiving. A copy on the laptop, a copy on a DVD in the stack, a copy online, a copy on the external drive, a copy on the flash drive, a copy ... ok, maybe that's going a bit far, but you get the point.
3. www.mormon.org/
Besides the fact that I think everyone should have the opportunity to learn about the Church, this site makes the list for the additional reason that it has changed a lot over the last little while. Think you know what you'll find there when you visit? I think you'll be in for a surprise. The Church spent many months interviewing recent converts and recording their conversion stories and testimonies. One family that is pictured in some of the online banners and other materials is from our ward.
4. http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/
While this site is geared toward bloggers (and, as such, might not at first glance be something that everyone should know about), I have decided that I like it so much that I would include it. If you're a blogger, there are tips/tricks/instructions in there for (1) things you've always wanted your blog to do, but didn't know how, (2) things you've never seen, but want to do now that you have, and (3) just about anything else. The site is searchable and the posts are clearly lableled.
If you're not a blogger, this site is still interesting. Wonder how some sites have an icon that comes up to the left of the web URL? Web designers and now bloggers can create an image to put up there. Wonder how web pages get things to scroll or hover or other cool "mouseover" things? You can learn a lot about the Internet/web design by browsing these posts.
And, (maybe this is a stretch) another reason or two that everyone should know about this site is that it is a great example of how the web has changed our world and of the power of the web. For one, back in the day, it seems that HTML used to be the language that only dorks knew about (for example, I taught myself HTML around 1995 and started making basic web pages). The Web grew in popularity and usefulness, and now it seems that everybody is online. But no one cared about how the sites were written. You could get Pagemaker or Netscape (Creator?) or Dream Weaver or all these other free, and not so free, software programs that let you create web pages without knowing anything about HTML. Now, we all use software that helps us make web pages (or blogs!), but want to get beyond the basics of what the program lets us do, so we have to go back and change the html code, which means learning something new...
Basically, I find it amazing just how much stuff you can learn online. "Mad props" to all those bloggers out there who use some of their time to share their knowledge with others. (I'd love to do something like that, but I'm afraid I've shared most of my knowledge in this post!) The Web is an amazing, powerful tool. Maybe you won't need to use "Tips for New Bloggers," but you'll have it in your memory and can share it with someone else, and you'll think to look online for other "Tips" for something else you might need later...
Which brings me to:
5. www.google.com/
To re-hash a phrase that I used as the thesis for a high school British Lit. paper, Google is the Internet version of "the greatest thing since sliced bread." Not only is its search engine amazing, but the company keeps churning out (and scooping up) great things like
* Blogger
* Reader
* Docs (formerly Writely)
* Groups
* YouTube
* etc!
It seems that a great future lies in online "software-as-a-service." What do I mean by that? SaaS, and "good-enough apps," are all around us... Companies like Google and Salesforce and others use it deliver great products. For example, MS Office is probably the most commonly used word processor in North America. The newest version takes up a lot of space on your computer, but does a lot of amazing things (most of which normal people will never, or hardly ever, use). But you use it because you can send a doc to a friend or write a resume or whatever...
But, what if you don't need a word processor that can do all those things. What if you need to have access to your documents on the go, edit them from any computer, and be able to share them with others--even collaborate? Google Docs is a word processor. It is software that you access through your web browser. You can make docs and spreadsheets and PowerPoint-style presentations -- all online! You don't need any software other than a web browser. Pretty cool, huh?
Similiar concept applies for Salesforce. By visiting Salesforce.com and logging in with the credentials from your company, you can access thousands and thousands of CRM- and other type records. You can track sales, fundraising, inventory, yadda yadda yadda. And it's all online. For the business, it saves them a lot of IT cost -- they don't have to buy, maintain, and cool servers -- they outsource it to a company like Salesforce, that says, "We'll maintain the servers and the data, you purchase licenses for your employees to use the software, and your data is available any time, anywhere in the world, on any computer." Again, pretty cool.
Can Google Docs do everything MS Word can? No. Can Salesforce do everything a "heavier" (another discussion) CRM software, like Oracle, can do? No. But, they provide solutions that are "good enough" for the average user on trajectories like performance, cost, and interoperability.
Lots of similar software exists. Need a calendar to schedule and track your appointments? Need somewhere to store your photos? Need an email address that you can check anywhere? It's all around us... have you found yours yet?
So, http://www.google.com/ makes the list for these two final reasons:
(a) Check the little blue links up top. Click the "more" sometimes. Visit Google Labs and see what's in the works. Maybe someone is designing something that will put a sparkle in your eye, make something a whole lot easier, or save you or your company some money.
(b) Use it to find something else! Let it be your portal into the world wide web of everything you could ever possibly think of, and then some.
** N.B. I am not now, nor have I been, an agent, employee, contractor, volunteer, janitor, or any other -or or -eer for any of the above-mentioned sites or services. I am not receiving any compensation for promoting these sites (although I wouldn't mind it). and I have selected this sites of my own free will and choice.
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