LikeUmm

Joomla Directory

2009-12-24T02:28:00.000-06:00

Joomla is a highly demanded CMS by small to medium sized companies looking to have a professional website but without the professional cost. It makes sense for developers and designers to choose Joomla because there is such a small learning curve for their clients when they take over control of the site and add or change any content. Joomla has a huge ecosystem and markteplace set up to offer professional services, whether they come in the form of templates, extensions, or hosting all of which clients expect the best of. So it makes sense as a developer to find a great amount of the resources in one place and then make an informed decision on which is the best. That is where a site called Joomla Directory is able to show the best template clubs, joomla hosting, and joomla extensions. Everything is voted on and organized by the community for the benefit of all Joomla lovers.

10 Sites that make the web better for everyone

2009-01-15T23:51:00.006-06:00

There has been a little hiatus from posting but nevertheless we'll get back on track. The internet is enormous and LikeUmm tries to scale it down to bring the best out of it. Yes Digg, Reddit, Mixx, and so on do that as well but each of those sites is catered toward news in the form of articles, pictures, and videos. We focus on whole websites and then put them into categories to be voted on and reviewed so that a nice organized list evolves out of all the chaos. For example, where does everyone go for their web marketing news or what is the best social network to join for a real estate agent? It's not impossible to answer those questions but it's not easy. Potentially you can just ask Google but then you wouldn't have any clue as far as the popularity. There definitely would be some validation in a search if you knew that 1000 or more other people really like it as well. I love sites that try to bring out the best of something through popularity, community voting, traffic, hits, etc... so I'll name some of my favorites.

1. Likeumm.com I have to give a shout out.

2. IMDB.com It's the number 1 place to find out the ranking of a movie and how it was perceived by the community.

3. Digg.com The most popular social news site.

4. Delicious.com The place for social bookmarking, it's always interesting to see which bookmarks become super popular.

5. Threadless.com You submit a design for a shirt, people vote on it, threadless sells it, you make money.

6. Ratemydrawings.com URL is pretty self explanatory, but people vote on drawings and the best rise to the top.

7. Quantcast.com They estimate web traffic and rank the top million sites based popularity. Nothing is categorized but still is cool and useful.

8. Yelp.com A business review site that ranks restaurants, shops, spas, plumbers, and more allowing people to decide if a business is worthy of their time and money.

9. Hypem.com A cool place to see what songs are popular in the music blogs. You can even filter the music blogs so that you only see songs from the popular blogs. A little double popularity.

10. Weblogawards.org Another great site to find the best blogs on the web as voted by everyone.

These are 10 great sites that try to make the stuff on the internet a little easier and better for the rest of us.

The new Joost

2008-10-13T19:16:00.004-05:00

I wrote about Joost around two months ago and the only way to watch video was to download the software. They then, a few weeks ago, only made you download an add on. This add on made it a little more convenient since you didn't have to exit your browser and fire up the software. But they still made you download something to watch the videos. Just recently they revamped their site, if you want to see whats on Joost, you are able to go to the site and watch the videos without downloading anything. Think of Youtube, Hulu, Veoh, and the rest that are dominating streaming video and TV. Joost has finally caught up to the rest in terms of in browser viewing. And this is definitely for the better.

Streaming Video

2008-10-09T15:04:00.008-05:00

Do you like to watch or upload video online?
(I'm guessing you've heard of Youtube.com so we'll skip that one)

1. Veoh.com
Veoh is quite possibly the next best online video service after Youtube. Watch video from across the web all aggregated and organized by Veoh. They essentially search all of the video sites on the web including Youtube and allow you to easily watch it from one central site which is Veoh. If you like producing your own video they also allow you to upload it in a very easy way.

2. Vimeo.com
Vimeo is more of a Youtube than it is a Veoh in that you can only view and upload stuff hosted by Vimeo. But don't take that as a negative thing, they offer a lot of easy to use features and there are tons of people using it and hosting their own videos. The quality of video is the best I've seen out of all the places to upload your videos. It's run by the people that started Collegehumor.com (which is super popular and funny) so you know that they are a young evolving company and will stay on top of the new trends.

3. Liveleak.com
Liveleak is another popular video sharing site similar to Youtube. However they focus on news and current events videos. There is a ton of cool stuff captured by "citizen journalists" who upload cool and fun news related stuff. If you have ever caught some news on your video camera, this site would be a good place to upload it to.

Great comedy from Funnyordie

2008-10-03T16:38:00.003-05:00

Everyone is always looking for a good laugh and Will Ferrell and some of his celebrity friends have put together a great site. Funnyordie is what it's called and they jumped way up in visitors after the super funny skit by Ferrell and his "landlord." You may have seen it already but it's absolutely worth watching again. They also allow users to submit their own funny stuff which makes it a worthy competitor to Youtube, at least for funny videos.

Reddit: The Prince...

2008-09-17T23:39:00.003-05:00

Reddit is another social news site that is right on par with digg in terms of die hard followers. If there are two social news sites to follow, reddit and digg would be the ones to read. The top stories are sometimes clones but the comments are always different. Reddit, if you don't know, allows users to submit and vote for their favorite stories and the top make it to the front page. It's your classic social news site. I happen to like the community of reddit a little better than digg because the top stories there always seem to be of interest to me. If you have a favorite let me know in the comments. Or rate them on LikeUmm.

Digg: The king of social news

2008-09-11T11:31:00.005-05:00

Many people already know of digg and what it is...but it deserves to be recognized because of its unique ability to make the news entertaining. If you don't know, digg is a user controlled news site where "diggs" or votes control what makes it to the front page. The stories vary from tech to politics to bizarre but are always interesting. The best part, in my opinion, are the comments which are often hilarious and there have been many times when I don't even get to the article, I just enjoy reading the comments.

Community News Portal

2008-09-08T21:20:00.004-05:00

Topix is a great site which has tons of traffic yet I have never fully appreciated it until now. They run a community news portal which connects people to the news that matters to them. Basically what that means is you will get news based on your location of which you can contribute. You can do that by commenting and discussing with the people who are also in your location and reading the same stories. So at the city or town level you can discuss the stuff that matters to you and you may be in contact with people that can actually influence change on that stuff. Anyways, it's a great community news portal that I will start to look at on a regular basis.

Threadless: Design your own T-Shirt

2008-08-28T23:02:00.002-05:00

It's very hard for me to explain how excited I was when I first discovered Threadless. The site brings a truly revolutionary approach to what a clothing company is and should be. Threadless is an online community of designers and enthusiasts that submit hundreds of t-shirt designs each week and then vote on those designs. A small percentage of the submitted designs, about 10 each week, are then selected for printing and are sold online at threadless for a relatively cheap price ($15-$25). The designs are cool, so you'll definitely find something you like. Check it

How do you find your books?

2008-08-28T18:10:00.005-05:00

Not everyone loves to read but if you do and you want some advice for finding a great book, GoodReads has a top notch network of readers meticulously reviewing and rating thousands of books. They are essentially an online reading club except you don't have to constantly participate to reap the benefits. You can see what any book is rated and how it was reviewed and as you make friends through the site or have your own friends sign up, the ability to find new and recommended books increases dramatically. Think of IMDB's ratings but perfected for books.

Mashable: Social Networking News

2008-08-22T23:15:00.005-05:00

If you like the internet as much as I do you would probably enjoy reading about internet ventures springing up around the world. Mashable is the site that features them and they do a wonderful job. They offer news and explanations of many social websites and without a lot of clutter. Most of the websites they review are worth going to; they do a good job cherry picking some cool ones out of the vast depository of sites. They are officially a tech blog and a social networking news site and it's definitely worth reading at least on a weekly basis. They're not the clear leader in tech news, I would have to give that to TechCrunch, but they are a worthy competitor.

On demand music!

2008-08-17T00:46:00.004-05:00

Songza is one of my new favorite places to find music. I used to download everything, but now with so many on demand streaming services at your fingertips it doesn't make sense to waste the time it takes to download a song. Type in the artist and song and in seconds it's ready to play. The design of the site is very cool and it's super easy to use. The audio quality isn't perfect so don't plan on playing it loud on a top of the line system. But with some headphones or small speakers it's perfect. There are many new sites (here's one) offering this service but this one seems to have risen to the top.

Yelp: the ultimate city guide

2008-08-14T11:06:00.006-05:00

Yelp has recently become a tremendously popular website on the internet, so if you don't know what it is you probably should. They are ranked the 88th most popular site in the world in Quantcast which puts them at about 11 million people visiting per month. They are the ultimate city review guide where you can find reviews about almost everything related to city living. You must choose a city first and then you can search for anything or browse by category. They don't have every city in the US but they are growing fast. The site is very easy to use and the information is super useful so if you are heading to another city soon be sure to check out where the hot spots are on yelp.

Pandora Radio

2008-08-12T21:48:00.005-05:00

What if there was a radio station that only played music you liked? Well, the people at Pandora have done just that. They do it by dissecting a song into many different characteristics, ranging from funk groove style to angry lyrics, and then only recommending songs that have similar traits. To get started, all you have to do is create a station by typing in a band or a particular song you like and Pandora will do the rest. They also let you create and save multiple stations (up to 100). This website is only available in the US and you are not allowed to play artists and songs on demand (if you want on demand songs go here). But besides that it’s a great site to find new music. Give it a shot.

Springwise: New Business Ideas

2008-08-09T00:19:00.004-05:00

If you have ever thought about starting a business or enjoy reading about new businesses, Springwise is a great resource. They feature startups from all over the world that at least a few people thought were cool. Throughout the day Springwise does writeups on businesses that have been submitted to the site by "spotters" who get points towards gifts if their submission gets accepted. (Anyone can be a spotter BTW) And most of the businesses are interesting and fun to read about. They can also offer a little insight on a business that you may have just started or plan on starting in the future. There is an ad business out of China that I thought would potentially work well in the US, especially at big universities. Check it out.

Ear Ideas

2008-08-07T11:29:00.006-05:00

In theme with TED is another "ideas" site called earideas. The only difference is that while TED is video, this site is audio. It's put together nicely and has a lot of great speakers and talks organized by category. There is also an earideas radio that lets you listen continuously to whatever they have chosen for the day. Think of it as a more exciting NPR. This site may not be on par with what they have at TED but is great in its own right. It's not very well known or super popular but if you want to gain some insight and can only listen and not watch, then check it out. I've found some cool stuff in the All in the Mind category.

If you're looking to become smarter...

2008-08-06T12:09:00.004-05:00

If you ever want to be inspired by great ideas, or just need a mental dose of intelligence, head to TED. TED stands for technology, entertainment, design, and is an annual conference where the world’s leading thinkers and doers spread their ideas through 18 min talks. Luckily for us the organizers at TED posted a large amount of these talks online, so that people like us who weren’t invited would still be able to enjoy them. The talk by Blaise Aguera y Arcas is one to check out. The site itself is pretty easy to navigate through, the video and audio quality is good, and there are no annoying ads before the video plays. The only minor complaint I have is that the TED intro, before every talk, might damage your eardrums if you’re not careful. Besides that, enjoy!

The SixtyOne

2008-08-04T23:01:00.004-05:00

The SixtyOne is a new favorite website of mine which has been getting great reviews by a number of people. If you're looking for independent artists or music that's just not mainstream (yet) it's definitely worth checking out. The site operates in a similar fashion to Digg, where users vote up or bump as it's called, songs they like. It's very easy to navigate around and one of the best features is that the music continues to play while you're doing that. The music is a nice refreshing experience when comparing to the stuff you are bombarded with on the radio.

More Streaming TV

2008-08-01T16:52:00.003-05:00

Joost is another offering if you're looking to find TV shows online. Joost is a little different than Hulu and some of the others because you must download a client, which is basically a program, that allows you to watch TV streaming on your computer. They have a different set of shows from a different set of channels than Hulu but definitely some good, high quality stuff. I think as soon as people start catching on to streaming TV, more shows as well as more episodes will be brought online by the big media companies as they realize they can make some money with them. It's not hard to download Joost and the design is really neat when it's in full screen mode and you want to browse through the different channels. I recommend it just as I recommend Hulu and hope that the content from both of these sites keeps coming.

Streaming TV

2008-07-31T14:07:00.008-05:00

Hulu has gotten a lot of press over the past year and I just wanted to share my take. With so many TV shows to watch and the ability to watch them at any time and for free, it's amazing that they are only ranked 2068 (at the time of writing) in Quantcast. What this can mean is that they're still relatively unheard of to the general public. You must have broadband to watch the shows because they are all streaming but according to Quantcast they have around 750,000 people a month visit them. There are more than 750,000 people in the US with broadband so it still remains a mystery. Anyways Hulu is a great place to watch TV online and they are definitely paving the road for future internet TV. As broadband speeds continue to increase and the costs hopefully continue to decrease, this will only get more popular. BTW here is my current favorite show called Burn Notice.