Things I Like About The Internet
- Google. Google is magic. Really. You should know. You should be using it by now. Google Earth is pretty magic, too. So is Google Maps. And Gmail. They might be taking over the world. If they're evil, they hide it well. Oh yeah, they also own a certain blogging service which happens to be called:
- Blogger. Hey. You're actually using this one right now. I've used it since 2002, so I should obviously like this one. Really easy to use, works on every computer with an internet connection I've ever used, and Audioblogger is not only one of those "gee, that's neat" services, but it does what it's supposed to and works. And did I mention it's free?
- AIM/iChat. I've used it since...wow. 1999? Yeah. Simple, faster and more convenient than e-mail, and now lets you do video and voice chats. I think I've only had problems with AIM once or twice, and those problems were just a few years ago. Also free. This makes it better.
- Flickr. I started using it last year, and after messing around with a bunch of other photo services (like Photobucket), I found Flickr much easier to use and faster than the rest. Flickr's got a great system of what they call tags that allow you to browse through photos by subject chosen by the photographer. From their, Flickr can organize pictures into groups of related pictures and even sort photos by "interestingness". If you take photos and want to share them with people, seriously give Flickr a look.
- Wikipedia. You probably already know about this one by now. Basically, it's an encyclopedia anyone can make changes to. Because of this, it has an amazing variety of articles. Think of anything, type it into Wikipedia, and you'll probably find an article about it. It's not always totally accurate, and teachers are more and more frowning upon it for research, but it's a good way to get a general idea about a topic.
- iTunes Music Store. You probably know about this one by now, too. Music, videos, 99¢ for songs, $1.99 for TV shows. I don't like to use it to buy whole albums (I find it more satisfying to have a physical copy of an album), but it's great for individual songs.
- Netflix. Our family only recently started using Netflix, but it's been great so far. Summary: make a big list of movies you want to see. Netflix sends one or a few to you, you watch, and send it back. Repeat process. A nice way to see movies that you wouldn't necessarily want to put down five dollars to see at a video store.
- the show with zefrank: Zefrank's been doing a daily video show since March. Topics range from duckies, politics, current events, giant babies, and sometimes songs. He even challenged viewers to write an episode for him...and he performed it. Very funny show.
I probably forgot a bunch of things, but I'm tired of writing.
Lastly, a challenge to other people with blogs: what things/services about the internet do you like? What don't you like? I'm curious as to what other people use and like.