Five Websites That Are Genuinely Useful
Oh my, they actually are.
Feature
As a follow up to our feature on great time-wasting websites, we thought we’d
explore the constructive side of the internet.
There are only so many videos of kittens being funny or clips from wacky Japanese game shows you can watch before the internet seems a bit dull. Likewise, although Itchy loves a good facebook snoop, spending hours reading how drunk your colleagues were last night, or learning the breakfast preferences of someone you hardly know can begin to seem a bit like the online equivalent of the most tedious episode of This Is Your Life imaginable.
Thankfully, every now and then, Itchy finds a website that slaps us out of our news feed-induced coma, providing a useful function or even encouraging genuine thought. While the World Wide Web is often lauded as a triumph in the human quest for information and enlightenment, it can be hard to fish out the gems from the flash games and planking pictures. So, allow us to share just a handful of sites that can be of genuine use or perhaps even change the way you think about the world and your place in it.
Visual DNA
We’ve all seen those personality tests; the ones that ask you tons of questions before hitting you with a concise summary of the ways in which you should seek happiness by changing how you approach personal relationships, or by eating less doughnuts, or investing in a hammock. For the most part these sites are preachy and often present their findings in the most hideously patronising ways. The visual DNA approach is much more innovative, asking you to respond by selecting images that sum up your feelings on particular topics. This process feels very intuitive and yields surprisingly accurate results, along with the usual self-improvement spiel at the end. Give it a go. But don’t blame Itchy if you wind up quitting your highly paid job to find your calling as a Buddhist Monk!
What Should I Read Next?
Ever find it difficult to discover new books you enjoy? Do you have a ton of favourite titles but struggle to find anything to match them? This site allows users to compile lists of their favourite books. Then, by searching based on one or more of these titles, the website uses other members’ preferences to recommend what you should read next. The results are often unexpected, and are less full of your chosen authors than you’d predict, but Itchy can vouch for their startling accuracy. Get involved by adding your picks to the 80,000 or so books that are already catalogued. The more people contributing, the more accurate your results should be. Providing your list isn’t populated exclusively by Dan Brown novels, intellectual fulfilment may only be a few clicks away!
Musicovery
The musical equivalent of the previous entry in this list, Musicovery allows users to explore tracks based on their preferences. But, rather than just being a catalogue of similar artists presented in a standard format, the site has a highly interactive layout and lets you specify particular musical eras and even identify your mood on a grid before finding you a suitable soundtrack. So, if you find yourself wanting to punch walls after a tough day at work, drag your curser up to the area that lies between “energetic” and “dark” and you can vent your frustration to some rapid death metal. Likewise, if you’ve decided to finally invest in that hammock and chill out a bit, let the site select you something from the “calm” section of its database. Happy listening!
Global Rich List
This is the simplest, yet most thought-provoking website Itchy has come across in quite some time – and we are well travelled! The page offers users a chance to see how they fare on the global rich list, hinting that we all secretly wish to be on a par with the super rich. Yet the site cleverly challenges our notions of wealth and poverty. Simply enter your annual wage into the calculator and, very quickly, the fact that you don’t own the latest smart phone or the fact you only manage one short trip to Bognor Regis a year will begin to seem rather less grim. Even the least well off internet users may find this to be a particularly eye-opening experience. Be prepared to be slapped in the face and told to quit complaining – in a good way!
Stumble Upon
Finally, we have to admit that we had some help in discovering the previous entries on this list. Yep, the increasingly popular Stumble Upon toolbar took Itchy’s incredibly fascinating and diverse inventory of interests and pointed us in the direction of web content that appeals to our own unique taste. With Stumble Upon, each user is presented with a random web page and is asked to rate it using the same simple thumb up/down system used on sites like youtube. With each thumbs up, the toolbar creates a more tailored set of web pages and, in theory, each stumble should be closer to your chosen interests. Users can also review web pages and add their favourites to the database, enhancing the system overall.
So you no longer have any excuse to sit staring blankly at the same four websites, or the inane drivel posted by ex-schoolmates on social networking sites.
Now, go and rediscover the internet!
Ronan Martin
There are only so many videos of kittens being funny or clips from wacky Japanese game shows you can watch before the internet seems a bit dull. Likewise, although Itchy loves a good facebook snoop, spending hours reading how drunk your colleagues were last night, or learning the breakfast preferences of someone you hardly know can begin to seem a bit like the online equivalent of the most tedious episode of This Is Your Life imaginable.
Thankfully, every now and then, Itchy finds a website that slaps us out of our news feed-induced coma, providing a useful function or even encouraging genuine thought. While the World Wide Web is often lauded as a triumph in the human quest for information and enlightenment, it can be hard to fish out the gems from the flash games and planking pictures. So, allow us to share just a handful of sites that can be of genuine use or perhaps even change the way you think about the world and your place in it.
Visual DNA
We’ve all seen those personality tests; the ones that ask you tons of questions before hitting you with a concise summary of the ways in which you should seek happiness by changing how you approach personal relationships, or by eating less doughnuts, or investing in a hammock. For the most part these sites are preachy and often present their findings in the most hideously patronising ways. The visual DNA approach is much more innovative, asking you to respond by selecting images that sum up your feelings on particular topics. This process feels very intuitive and yields surprisingly accurate results, along with the usual self-improvement spiel at the end. Give it a go. But don’t blame Itchy if you wind up quitting your highly paid job to find your calling as a Buddhist Monk!
What Should I Read Next?
Ever find it difficult to discover new books you enjoy? Do you have a ton of favourite titles but struggle to find anything to match them? This site allows users to compile lists of their favourite books. Then, by searching based on one or more of these titles, the website uses other members’ preferences to recommend what you should read next. The results are often unexpected, and are less full of your chosen authors than you’d predict, but Itchy can vouch for their startling accuracy. Get involved by adding your picks to the 80,000 or so books that are already catalogued. The more people contributing, the more accurate your results should be. Providing your list isn’t populated exclusively by Dan Brown novels, intellectual fulfilment may only be a few clicks away!
Musicovery
The musical equivalent of the previous entry in this list, Musicovery allows users to explore tracks based on their preferences. But, rather than just being a catalogue of similar artists presented in a standard format, the site has a highly interactive layout and lets you specify particular musical eras and even identify your mood on a grid before finding you a suitable soundtrack. So, if you find yourself wanting to punch walls after a tough day at work, drag your curser up to the area that lies between “energetic” and “dark” and you can vent your frustration to some rapid death metal. Likewise, if you’ve decided to finally invest in that hammock and chill out a bit, let the site select you something from the “calm” section of its database. Happy listening!
Global Rich List
This is the simplest, yet most thought-provoking website Itchy has come across in quite some time – and we are well travelled! The page offers users a chance to see how they fare on the global rich list, hinting that we all secretly wish to be on a par with the super rich. Yet the site cleverly challenges our notions of wealth and poverty. Simply enter your annual wage into the calculator and, very quickly, the fact that you don’t own the latest smart phone or the fact you only manage one short trip to Bognor Regis a year will begin to seem rather less grim. Even the least well off internet users may find this to be a particularly eye-opening experience. Be prepared to be slapped in the face and told to quit complaining – in a good way!
Stumble Upon
Finally, we have to admit that we had some help in discovering the previous entries on this list. Yep, the increasingly popular Stumble Upon toolbar took Itchy’s incredibly fascinating and diverse inventory of interests and pointed us in the direction of web content that appeals to our own unique taste. With Stumble Upon, each user is presented with a random web page and is asked to rate it using the same simple thumb up/down system used on sites like youtube. With each thumbs up, the toolbar creates a more tailored set of web pages and, in theory, each stumble should be closer to your chosen interests. Users can also review web pages and add their favourites to the database, enhancing the system overall.
So you no longer have any excuse to sit staring blankly at the same four websites, or the inane drivel posted by ex-schoolmates on social networking sites.
Now, go and rediscover the internet!
Ronan Martin
1 Comment
Tom
26 Jan 2012A really nice article I should say and very useful websites!