NEWS
CNN - A most interesting general news site. Lots of categorized links.
MacSurfer - The best starting point for comprehensive news coverage of the Macintosh computer industry, in headline news format.
TechNN - The best starting point for general computer news. From the makers of MacSurfer. This is the only comprehensive PC headline news site I've ever found.
WEATHER
The Wunderground - Currently my weather internet site of choice, primarily because it gives the temperature in Fahrenheit and Celcius together, which makes it easier when updating my News page.
Environment Canada - My alternate source for Canadian weather information. It is often more accurate than the Weather Network forecast but lacks some of the data the Weather Network posts. Excellent for a second opinion though.
AccuWeather - When I lived in the US, AccuWeather provided the most reliable forecasts. This site originally wasn't free, but now is for casual use. For Canadian locations, it doesn't provide the level of detail that the Environment Canada site does but is good for a third opinion.
Jetstream - This is the AccuWeather site's jetstream map, showing where the jetstream is currently positioned. If you weren't aware of it, the position of the jetstream is a good indicator as to the kind of weather you'll be getting. Weather north of the jetstream is controlled by Arctic weather systems and south of the Jetstream by Tropical systems.
SPORTS
Sports Illustrated - Not being a big sports fanatic, although I've been known to watch an Ohio State football game with some enthusiasm, this site gives me all the info I need for North American sports.
BBC Sport - Having been to England a couple times now, I like to follow their soccer leagues ('football' to them) and this site gives me all the info I want.
ENTERTAINMENT
Live365 - Streaming audio, not really radio in the traditional sense, but this site is an incredible source for music of almost any genre (i.e. Jazz) and sub-genre (i.e. Smooth Jazz) as well as news and sports on demand. I often have this playing music in the background on the Mac iBook or PC as I do my real work on the desktop Mac.
Web Radio - This is the definitive source for traditional radio stations that broadcast into the internet at the same time they are broadcasting into the air. Here you will find radio stations from all over the world and receive the same broadcast through your computer that listeners within the station's region will receive through their radios. A truly incredible aspect of the internet and infinitely better than shortwave radio reception. I love to sit here in the winter, looking out the computer room (office) window as blizzards howl and rage and listen to stations in Miami or the Caribbean. It helps.
All Music Guide - This is the definitive source for music information. If you want to know what songs are on which album, or what albums a particular band made, or just about anything else about anything else to do with the music industry, this is the place to go.
Internet Movie Database - This is the definitive source for movie information, and quite a bit of TV as well. If you want to know who played what character in which movie, or when it was released, or just about anything else about it, this is the place to go. Like, who played Sam in Casablanca? You can find that answer here in seconds.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Fred Miranda - An excellent site to learn about almost anything photographic.
Luminous Landscape - Another excellent site to learn about almost anything photographic.
dpreview - Probably the best digital photography hardware site for finding not only information on digital photography in general but it also has the most comprehensive reviews of digital cameras.
Neil Paskin Photography - Some of the best photography you'll see of Australia and the United Kingdom, taken by a photographer I've gotten to know through the internet. More of Neil's photos can also be seen in his pBase.com galleries.
COMPUTER SOFTWARE
VersionTracker - Tracks the latest versions of Mac OS X, Mac Classic, Windows, and Palm software and provides links for immediate downloads and further information. Truly one stop access for the latest info on nearly all software, be it commercial, shareware, or freeware.
MacUpdate - Also tracks the latest versions of Mac OS X and Classic software and provides links for immediate downloads and further information, but without the annoyances VersionTracker now has that are designed to encourage buying a membership.
GRAPHIC ARTS
CreativePro - An extensive site filled with much useful info for a graphics person, including news, feature articles, reviews, and how-to's.
FontHaus - This site's primary focus is fonts, but many other useful graphics related things can be found here. It is also the home of x-height magazine, a formerly printed publication of some renown but now online here.
Graphic Exchange - The website of a Canadian graphic arts publication that is mailed free to qualified Canadian residents. An excellent publication at an excellent price. Published 6 times a year and contains very useful articles. Subscriptions outside Canada will cost you though. Sorry.
REFERENCE
StartSpot - If you need to find the answer to almost anything, this is the spot to start.
LibrarySpot - One of the StartSpot sites but so good it deserves special mention. An absolutely incredible array of information is available here.
Online Encyclopedias - One of the great benefits to me of the internet is the vast amounts of information that's available on it and currently the best of the encyclopedia sites is the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Since its creation in 2001, the Wikipedia has rapidly grown into the largest reference website on the Internet. The content of Wikipedia is free, written collaboratively by people from all around the world. It is the first place I now look for further information on almost anything.
Also of note is the online version of the venerable Encyclopedia Britannica which was also free until the 'dot.com' bust, but now all they give you for free is little more than a teaser amount of information, requiring a paid subscription (currently US$70/year) for access a full article.
In addition to these are the Columbia Encyclopedia found at Bartleby.com and Encyclopedia.com, both still free but with considerably less depth than the Wikipedia or Britannica's paid subscription service.
Online Dictionaries, on the other hand, have numerous versions that are free, but I find the quickest and simplest way to find a definition is to simply start a Google search with the word 'define' (without the quotes) which gives definitions from multiple of these dictionary sites all in one window. For instance: define window.
BIBLE
Bible Gateway - Lookup passages, compare passages, and word search in 19 English translations and with translations for all other major languages and many not so major. Truly impressive Bible site.
Bible Study Tools - All manner of Biblical reference works like Interlinear Bible, Parallel Bible, Concordances, Dictionaries, Lexicons, and so forth.
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