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Best Sites

Entry 387, on 2006-08-29 at 14:21:06 (Rating 1, Computers)

I just read a Slashdot article about the most important web sites. I didn't totally agree with their assessment so I thought I would make my own list based on my own areas of interest. There are two major factors which make my list different: first, I live in New Zealand, not the US; and second, I am a Mac user and also work with Macs.

So what is my number one site? I would say Wikipedia. It really is a great resource for information on a huge variety of topics and at many levels of technical detail. If by some chance you don't know it, Wikipedia is the free, collaborative, web-based encyclopedia. URL: http://www.wikipedia.org/.

Second would be the BBC news site. I think the BBC offers the best overall news service. Its relatively unbiased, always up-to-date, has good detail and links to further resources, and its fast and easy to navigate. A really great site! URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/. I use the Herald for my source of New Zealand news. I would prefer to use the local Otago Daily Times, but their on-line service is horrible. The Herald's is easy to use and mostly free. URL: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/.

As a Mac fan I need to keep up with the latest news in the Apple world, so I regularly check Rumor Watch. This gathers rumors from other sites and presents them in an easy to navigate form. Its an essential site to keep up to date with the latest Apple rumors. URL: http://rumor-watch.com/

I like trading on-line so TradeMe would be next. This is the New Zealand equivalent of eBay. Its quite ugly and not very well designed, but it does have an excellent selection of items for sale. Its an example of where sufficiently good content can make up for the deficiencies of poor design and implementation. URL: http://www.trademe.co.nz/.

To keep up with computing in general I find Slashdot useful. Any true computer geek should check in here regularly and it offers a good mix of news on all computer platforms, as well as highlights from other areas of science and technology such as space exploration. URL: http://slashdot.org/.

So there is my short list. The interesting thing is that two are non-profit organisations, the rest are companies (none are major corporations though). Half are based outside the USA. Two are collaborative, two concentrate content from other sites, two have content provided by professionals. This sort of variety is the an example of the Internet working the way it should!

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