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- Hydrogen Audio Wiki - This site has audiophiles specifically in mind. Primarily for those who want to squeeze every bit of audio performance from codecs such as FLAC, LAME, and other audio encoders, as well as CD ripping programs, the site offers in-depth recommendations on what works (and doesn’t work). It even goes so far as to recommend presets to squeeze every last bit of juice of performance out of the codices.
- Rare Wares - This website has many hard to find software programs used by audiophiles, and also has pre-compiled versions, beta releases, and other assorted bits of various audio codecs including ones for LAME, FLAC, as well as other pieces of software that have been long-since discontinued, but still proved popular among the audio recording set.
- Pricewatch - For the person who wants to get a good idea of how much a particular piece of computer hardware costs at any given time, Pricewatch is your place. It’s a website many online retailers submit their prices on virtually every piece of hardware, software, and accessories live and in living color. Some retailers even go so far as to give perks for mentioning you saw a particular product on Pricewatch (they’ll usually say right on Pricewatch itself), such as free shipping or a discount, and the prices get updated within seconds of being submitted. They’ve also made forays into other things like clothing, fashion, comsumer electronics, and the site is pretty intuitive, so go and have a look. You’ll never know what kind of bargain you might find.
- Newegg - This is the website I go to when I’m in the mood to purchase my computer equipment, and it’s for one very simple reason… it’s the best. This website has been around the block a few times, just don’t point out the similarity in name to the old Egghead.com site which got swallowed up by Amazon, it’s just a coincedence, and believe me, they’ve probably heard it enough times. The techs who purchase items from the site are, often brutally, honest in their opinions on products, and it shows, giving items pretty in-depth reviews. While the site might be a few bucks more expensive than some others, their reliability, and overall awesome staff and stock of items more than makes up for it. Plus they’re anal, in a good way, about keeping you informed about what’s up with your purchase. Oh, and they’ve received the Better Business Bureau’s highest rating for customer satisfaction and excellent dispute resolution to boot.
- Frozen CPU - This website is devoted to the customization of your computer. Much like there are body shops and such that offer peopl ethe chance to pimp their rides, Frozen CPU is just such a site for people to pimp their ‘puters. They have everything under the sun to help you go buck wild with making each computer a unique creation. They also have an extensive section of caffeinated items (including Cocaine, the energy drink that’s earned the wrath of the FDA), t-shirts, and other assorted gaming and modding goodies for you to pimp out your ‘puter in style.
- Think Geek - The website for the geek in all of us. This site has tons of cool gadgets, fashion, computer parts, and other assorted items, like caffeinated gum, soap, etc., to keep you happy and geeked out for a long time to come. They even have sections for action shots where geeks from around the world submit items they’ve purchased from the site and used in the course of a day, or just about anything else involving the hands of those loveable huggable geeks out there.
- Anand Tech - One of two websites I frequent to get up to speed on what the latest and greatest is in the world of computers. Anand, the webmaster, receives products to be reviewed from various companies who are trying to hawk their wares, and he pulls no punches. If he feels it could be better, he’ll let you know exactly what the piece of hardware needs to do to up it’s game. Kudos!
- Tom’s Hardware - The other website I go to for product reviews. This site, like Anand’s, reviews the latest and greatest out there in the world of computer hardware, and then reports back his results. Tom even has a series of charts, comparing the performaces of hard drives, video cards, CPU’s, and even routers, so you can get the best bang for your buck with whatever is out there at the moment.
- Weather Underground - If only I had a dime for every time I’ve come here to check out the weather. This site is bar none, the best site for checking out the weather, not just nationally, but also in your local area. It’s gives live, up to the second, updates of every city and town in the country, right down to the 1/10th of a degree. The radar operations are also pretty nice, and have saved me on several occasions from having to drive through a storm, or do anything else dependent on weather at the last second. And don’t worry, this site has absolutely nothing to do with that pesky terrorist organisation. It’s just a coincedence.
- Slashdot - The patrons of this website have an unofficial rule, in that if it’s not on Slashdot, then it must not really be that important in the world of computers. Rather unabashed and brutally honest in their stances against corporations (especially Micro$oft), the RIAA (including court cases they’ve levied against little six year old girls and grandparents), and anything else that pops into geeks’ heads. Several geek celebs, including Wil Wheaton of Star Trek fame, and a number of the early developers of Unix frequent the site, and the site gives live feeds and instant feedback on anything of relevance in the tech world.
- Speed Test - Ever wonder how fast your internet connection really is? Go no further than Speed Test. This website has servers all across the world that sends test data to your computer (no worries, nothing is ever installed or modified, it’s just a sample packet), to test not only how fast your cable or DSL downloads, but also uploads that very same sample data, to make sure everything is as advertised as far as speed, and to also check for anything out of the ordinary that may be occurring with your connection.
- The Sourceforge - This website is an open-source development community, where like-minded programmers come together to not only fill niches with sometimes innovative pieces of software, almost always for free. People even submit requests for software, which can then be picked up, and developed whenever time permits. Some software packages flop, others become popular cult hits, such as LAME, CDex audio ripper, etc., both of which have extensive underground followings. So if you have an idea for the next big thing, or if youre a programmer with some free time, drop a line and see if anything peaks your interest
- Dreamhost – You honestly didn’t think I’d leave without putting in a shameless plug for the company I get my web hosting from, would you? This company has been the web hosting company I’ve gone with since 2004, and is worlds apart from many of the other companies out there. For one, they’re famous (or infamous some would argue) for the transparency of their operations, in which when something goes incredibly right (or horribly wrong), they give detailed descriptions of what happened. In one case a few years back, a massive outage due to a nearby transformer blowing would’ve crippled most companies’ operations for days, but the employees not only did a fantastic job of recovering most of their customers’ websites in near-record time, but they also won legions of fans by posting up minute-by-minute coverage of the outage, including what went wrong (and right), and letting their customes know what was going on, which won them legions of new fans, and the loyalty of a great deal of their existing customers. Their interface is incredibly easy & intuitive, and their pricing is right, not to mention they have lots of programs, like WordPress, a Wiki engine, a phpBB forum engine, etc., that they’ll install, upgrade, and/or remove for you on your site at your whim, regardless of what kind of website package you go with. Plus, they have an on-going customer loyalty program where every month you stay with them, you get additional file space and bandwidth, that adds up pretty darn quickly. The company also was the recipient of the 2008 World Blu “Most Democratic Workplace” Award, which is awarded to 25 companies (including for the first time this year, a Fortune 500 company) around the world for their focus not only on outstanding customer service and input, but also on giving their employees the say in how the company should be run, instead of just the higher-up’s. Oh yes, and for all the ecologially minded souls out there, the company has also been officially carbon-neutral since 2006.