Sites We Just Plain Like

TinyURL
Ever have to paste a really long, ugly URL into an e-mail or web page? Wish there was a shorter version of the URL? Why not make your own? Or, rather, let TinyURL.com make one for you. Just paste that big ol' ugly URL into a field and submit it. TinyURL spits out a, well, tiny url. Easy to remember and paste into whatever you want and it works the same.

AllMusic
An all-inclusive database of music. Similar to the Internet Movie Database (iMDB) in style and layout, AllMusic.com lists a plethora of information about bands and their music, including reviews, discologies, similar artists, and much more. We especially like the Music Maps, a cool way to see where various music styles have come from and who brought them along.

MetaCritic
Metacritic is a great idea. They take all the movie reviews from around the country and adapt them to a 100 point scale. Then they give an average review and display snippets (linked of course) of all the reviews it gathered, ranked from best to worst. Now you have at-a-glance look at all the reviews of a movie on one page. It's a great way to decide whether a movie is worth seeing.

MovieCritic
Not sure what movie to go see? Not sure what video you and your significant other should rent? MovieCritic.com may be the best place to look. The premise is simple, you rate as many movies as you want (at least 12 to start) and MovieCritic.com starts making recommendations based on your ratings. We were quite pleasantly surprised with the accuracy of their recommendations.

Shockwave
If you want to take your mind off work there's no better place to do it than Shockwave.com. Great games in a variety of categories (Sports, Adventure, Arcade Classics, and more) make it a great destination. Plus they recently accquired the wonderful independent movie site atomfilms.com, expanding their entertainment to include short, streaming films, many of which are outstanding.

IMDb
The best source on the net for movie and actor information. An immense database of movie and TV facts and bios. One of our favorite features is the ability to search quotes from movies.

Adcritic
Adcritic has almost every commercial ever made available for your viewing pleasure. You won't want to change the channel this time.

AllRecipes
Not only a veritable treasure trove of great recipes for every taste, AllRecipes is a great example of a well-made, well-thought out and useful site. Webmasters take note!

iPing
Yet another idea we had at Technogeekboy.com that we didn't have the guts (or capital) to start! iPing allows you to schedule wakeup calls and reminders that you can route to any phone. Wake up to the news every day, wake up to your own voice, it's up to you.

Memepool
Hard to explain what Memepool.com is, but think of it as a collection of eager and slightly demented web reporters who post the funniest, weirdest, and most inexplicable links they run across while surfing. This might include anything from a site about God action figures to a site about equipping your car with jet turbine. After a few clicks you may find yourself addicted.

HowStuffWorks
From the site itself: "Ever wondered how a car's engine works? Or pondered the inner mechanics of your refrigerator? Students of all ages can learn about such fascinating topics at Marshall Brain's HowStuffWorks.com (www.howstuffworks.com). Get the lowdown on everything from artificial-snow machines to nuclear power plants."

Parts
Now, in all honesty, we don't know the difference between a manual transmission and a manifold, but how can you not love a site that carries any automobile part there is? The interface is very well thought out, and only when you really start to drill down through their inventory do you realize the breadth of their site. They even include illustrations.