For the past six weeks, I've regaled readers with a list of finalists in various categories to win Webby Awards, as presented by the Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Hopefully you found a few new Web sites in the bunch that were worth bookmarking.
This is my last week of milking the Webby's, I promise.
Services
EBay - www.ebay.com
Not that it needs an introduction, but eBay is the Internet's largest auction house with millions of items up for bid.
Evite - www.evite.com
Evite is an online service for making and sending online invitations and tracking RSVP's. Most services are free.
Netflix - www.netflix.com
Fifty-seven channels and nothing on? Rent up to three movies through the Web, which will be delivered to your door complete with a prepaid envelope. No late fees!
Paytrust - www.paytrust.com
PayTrust allows you to pay all of your bills online and balance your chequebooks - if you live in the U.S.
VolunteerMatch - www.volunteermatch.org
Looking for a volunteer opportunity in your area that fits your interests and lifestyle? VolunteerMatch places people with 25,106 organizations.
Spirituality
BBCi Religion and Ethics - www.bbc.co.uk/religion
Religious news, views and interpretations from the world's leading news source.
Giardian Reflections - http://my.execpc.com/~paulnue
Giardian Reflections interpret the Bible from an anthropological point of view, relating the scriptures to humanity .
Parish Trinity Church - www.trinitywallstreet.org
The Web site of a powerful, and liberal, church in New York City.
Pluralism Project - www.pluralism.org
The merging of major religions and sub-religions into a single belief system.
Ritual Well - www.ritualwell.org
This site clarifies ceremonies and rituals for Jewish families.
Sports
ESPN.com - www.espn.com
ESPN is the original sports network with comprehensive coverage.
NBA.com - www.nba.com
The official site of the National Basketball Association.
Surfline - www.surfline.com
Surfline patches together Web cams, lives reports, and other surf data from the surfing world into one bitchin' central resource.
The America's Cup - http://americascup.yahoo.com
The offical site of the world's oldest and most distinguished yacht race.
Tour de France - www.letour.fr/2002/us/
The English Web site of the world's most prestigious bicycle race.
Technical Achievements
Apache Web Server - www.apache.org
The Apache Software Foundation provides support for its community of open-sourced software projects.
Google - www.google.com
The world's simplest and most popular search engine.
Laszlo Presentation - www.laszlosystems.com
"Laszlo Presentation Server couples desktop-usability with the robustness of server-based deployment to create a more fluid Internet," whatever that means.
Linux - www.linux.org
Free and reliable, Linux is an open-source operating system based on Unix that most computer people love.
Phpbb - www.phpbb.com
Phpbb, which can be pronounced 'fip-bib' for brevity's sake is an open-source bulletin board system for Web sites.
Travel
IgoUgo - www.igougo.com
Travellers provide all the content for IgoUgo, allowing you to learn about destinations from the ordinary people who have been there.
Joe Sent Me - www.zyworld.com/brancatelli/
This is a page devoted to business travel, with recommendations, rants and practical advice.
Lonely Planet Online - www.lonelyplanet.com
The Lonely Planet offers some of the world's most comprehensive travel books, as well as producing an award-winning travel show.
Seatguru - www.seatguru.com
Not all airline seats are the same, especially if you are stocky, tall, or have back problems. This site compares seats and seat locations on major airlines.
NY Times Travel - www.nytimes.com/pages/travel/
The New York times travel section is one of the top newspaper travel sections in the world in terms of size and coverage.
TV
Animal Planet - http://animal.discovery.com/
This is an interactive site dedicated to animals, both domesticated and wild.
Cartoon Network - www.cartoonnetwork.com
The official site of the Cartoon Network, with lots of cool online features and games.
Frontline - www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/
Billed as "Stories from a small planet," this program features the work of video journalists on a variety of topics.
HBO Online - www.hbo.com
HBO's now legendary programming, much of it original, can be found here.
Nick - www.nick.com
This is Nickelodeon's site, with shows, games, music, and a whole lot more for kids
Weird
20 th Century Castles - www.missilebases.com
A look inside some of America's abandoned missile silos.
David Hasselhoff Video - www.hellonetwork.com/demo/toysclub/
Watch the Knight Rider's strange cover song and video of this Tom Jones classic.
Fortean Times - www.foteantimes.com
Weird news for the quirky and paranoid.
Pole Shift Preparation - www.poleshiftprepare.com
One day the poles of planet Earth will reverse - it was supposed to happen in May. Here's how to be ready.
RatherGood.com - www.rathergood.com
An incredibly odd series of Flash animations.
Youth
3d&I - www.3d-i.org
A design site for youth that allows kids to design different projects online.
BAMboozled.org - www.bamboozled.org
This is basically a site to keep kids busy while helping to educate and protect them.
Disney's Toontown - www. Toontown.com
For PC's only, this site allows kids to design toon characters, and enjoy other Disney content.
Sodaplay - www.sodaplay.com
A site that allows kids to design and animate simple wire structures.
Whyville - www.whyville.net
Whyville is a virtual city that encourages scientific curiosity by presenting children with problems to solve.
