50 Coolest Websites

"Our tally of the best sites that piqued our interest over the past year."

NEWS AND INFORMATION
"We'll stay away from the major news organizations; you probably already have those Websites bookmarked. Instead, here are some less obvious links, including an encyclopedia of how-to advice and a Hollywood hot sheet, a lie detector and a blog-sifter, all guaranteed to keep you in the know."

Bloglines.com
BBC.co.uk
Ehow.com
ET.tv.yahoo.com/newslink
Factcheck.org
Fedstats.gov
Nationalgeographic.com/education
News.google.com
PBS.org/pov/borders/index_flash.html
SEC.gov
SSA.gov/OACT/babynames

LIFESTYLE AND CULTURE
"Each site listed here pertains to a particular area of interest — politics, science, health, music — but they all have two things in common: great content and great presentation."

Apple.com/itunes/store/
Cancerfacts.com
Engadget.com, Gizmodo.com
FFFBI.com
Freshdirect.com
Kidshealth.org
Metacritic.com
Mojam.com
Noggin.com
Talkingpointsmemo.com
Wordswithoutborders.org
Yoox.com

COMMUNITIES
"It's a small world, after all, and the Internet can make it seem even smaller. Each of these sites, in one way or another, and for one reason or another — practical, political, personal or professional — does a good job of connecting people."

Craigslist.org
Friendster.com
Freecycle.org
iPodlounge.com
Meetup.com
Sittercity.com
Tolerance.org
Triggerstreet.com

TOOLS AND ESSENTIALS
"Here are some new, exciting and maybe better ways to do a lot of things you probably already do — search the Web, share digital photos, consult a thesaurus, find something on a map and decide what to cook for dinner."

A9.com
Freetranslation.com
Froogle.com
JiWire.com
Local.google.com
Maps.yahoo.com
Mobissimo.com
Photos.yahoo.com
Refdesk.com
ResearchBuzz.org/archives/001404.shtml
Testmyspeed.com

JUST FOR FUN
"If you're in the market for new ways to waste time, you're in luck: we found some marvelous examples of flash animation, a rather odd public art installation and one bad-ass movie site, among other worthwhile distractions."

Accessproject.net
Comedycentral.com
eBay.com: Wedding Dress
Newseum.org/newsmania
Puzzlepirates.com
Sonyclassics.com/badass
There.com
Trevorvanmeter.com/flyguy

Link
Source: Time
See also:
The Webby Awards 2004 winners
Alexa Web Search - Top 500
Google Zeitgeist