cuchillo

Hi, I know that not all of you are as much of a computer nerd as me, so I have decided to publish, "Lance's Best of the Web." A completely un-exhaustive summary of the cool things you can find over hypertext transfer protocol. I'll try and keep it brief. That's what people say before a long speech.

Best All-Around Utility

www.google.com
Could it be anything else? I know it is kind of a no-brainer, but that's also what's amazing about it. Try and think of what the internet would be like without a good search engine. I remember back in the day before we had Google, or even the internet for that matter. Do you remember what a card catalog is?

There are probably things about Google that you don't know too. Try putting in someone's telephone number (not cell phone), or street address with ciy and state, or name and city.

Best Email

gmail.com
Another winner from the Google people. They give you over 2GB of storage, and this is always growing. Also you can search all of your old emails with the power of Google. I wonder if someday people will say, "try and think of what email would be like without a good search engine." But the best part is there are no flashy banner ads.

Best Book Store

www.amazon.com
I love Amazon, maybe because I love books. Did you know you can search for text within copyrighted books on Amazon? The wishlist is another great tool for keeping track of the books I would like to read.

Best Map Service

maps.google.com
Yet another good thing from Google. I promise they aren't paying me, they just make really good stuff. Very smooth interface. You can get directions, and plot all the coffee shops around town.

Best Bible Site

www.biblegateway.com
This is where I go to look up verses, in English or Russian. There are many other languages and versions available too.

Best Nerdy News Site

slashdot.org
News for nerds they call it. It is a bunch of links to stories. The way it works is pretty cool too, but I won't get into all that nerdiness.

Best Deal Finder

www.bensbargains.net
They post good deals on stuff from around the web.

Best Translation Service

www.freetranslation.com
So Google didn't come up first in this with their "Language Tools." Maybe if they had Russian I'd use it more.

Best Place to Find and Buy Obscure Stuff

www.ebay.com
My friends had a fun game back in Alabama, where they would try to find something locally that they couldn't buy on ebay. After a while one friend found something, but it was pretty obsure.

Best Funny Site

www.homestarrunner.com
Be sure to read the Strong Bad email.

Best Place to Find Facts on Countries

www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
El Salvador produces no oil. I read it here.

Best Dictionary

www.m-w.com
I still like it better than Google's, and they say every word for you.

Best "Wow that's neat site!"

www.howstuffworks.com
If you are ever wondering how something works like say, cell phones, CDs, or an internal combustion engine. This is a really cool site

Best Idea for a Free Encyclopedia

www.wikipedia.com
This is a neat idea, anyone can make changes to the pages. Doesn't sound like it would work, but it does.

Best Thing Your Friends Probably Don't Know About

www.archive.org
You can see what a particular website used to look like.

Best Handy Weather Tool

www.accuweather.com
I haven't researched all the weahter tools, but this is the one I use.

Best Place to Buy Fridge or Dryer Parts

www3.sears.com
Really cool diagrams of your appliances. You don't even have to make two trips to the repair shop to order then pick up your part. Order online, and they just deliver it to your house.

Best Place to Update Windows

windowsupdate.microsoft.com
Don't forget to do this often. It's good for your computer.


And now it's time for the special bonus section of great free tools for your PC!

• Firefox - A really great browser. Better than IE in a lot of ways.


• Picassa - This is from Google, it allows you to organize, search, and edit your photos.


• Windows XP Power Toys - A little more on the geekier edge, these can make some things much more efficient.


• MSN Messenger - You probably already have this, if not you should get the latest version. Chatting is fun.