Rating (1-5):

Reviewed by Nick
Grooveshark Music Sharing Website
Type of Site: Music Sharing Community

Listen! Grooveshark.com is an awesome website for music lovers everywhere, and they just launched Grooveshark Lite. As a music lover I'm lovin' it. It's so easy to navigate through it. The easy-to-use style reminds me of Google. The search is extremely easy, and the page effects slide in and out super smooth and fast. You can find artists, songs, albums, etc. And easily too!
Not only can you find millions of songs, you can listen to them all free!

Once you set up your own account you can save music to a play list and quickly hear your music where you arrive. Organize your music and share lists, or Y see what people are looking up the most by clicking the Popular button, or view recent searches by clicking Recent. If you don’t know what your looking for you can always click on All Music and just browse.

They also have a system where you can earn credit towards free songs by participating and sharing with others. The three founders from the University of Florida are attempting to bring a common sense, legal solution which the music industry has been unable to resolve. Grooveshark has a cool system where people search for music through a community of rated participants. If they find a song on your computer, and buy it, the artist gets paid, and SO DO YOU! This way everybody's happy.

They have over 5000 beta users to get things started, and expect to create "feeding frenzy" according to founder-CEO Sam Tarantino

Some quotes:

"Grooveshark tracks the best users so you know who can be trusted to deliver quality content." -Mashable

"Grooveshark is an exciting company in the P2P music market." - Josh Catone, ReadWriteWeb

"So far Grooveshark gets two thumbs up from me." - Leslie Poston, Profy

"...hell-bent on changing the music industry." -Steve Spalding, How to Split an Atom

Check it out!

Labels: music downloads, music sharing, peer-to-peer, song library, website review

Glass Giant Web Site

Rating (1-5):
Reviewed by Nick

Type of Site: Cool Widgets

Check out http://www.glassgiant.com/. I found this site because I wanted to make a sign for KidReviewer and it popped up on Google. I was amazed with how many types of sign-making tools there were. You can make signs from anything. You can customize a cookie, keyboard, or even the famous Hollywood sign. They are good for sticking on myspace and blogs.

Here are some examples of signs I've made at GlassGiant.com:

Have fun!

Labels: website review, widgets

Rating (1-5):

Reviewed by Nick
Kid Cartoonists Web Site
Type of Site: Kid's Cartoons and Art

Check out www.kidcartoonists.com. It's a great site for kid art. Kids submit their art and other people can freely view and comment on their work. I posted a drawing a while ago and I’m glad I did! This site could be a site for new and upcoming kid artists to post pictures, or just a place for kids who love to draw, like me.

Here are a couple of the drawings I liked there:

By Moriah, age 12


By Nikki, age 12

Labels: cartoonist, kid art, website review

Rating (1-5):

Reviewed by Nick
HackQuest Web Site
Type of Site: Mental Challenges

I found www.hackquest.de in Google. I like this site because it provides very difficult mental challenges that make you think and learn. As you solve each challenge you are given a password, which is used to add points to your ongoing score. (You must be at least 13 to register.)

The challenges are separated into categories. The easiest for beginners is the logic section, because you don’t really have to know much but math and logic. Some of these are word problems, others are just a series of numbers which can be used to arrive at a special number. Here’s the type of riddle or question you might find:

Seven people walk into a square room which has no windows.
They found a dead man who had clearly hung himself from the ceiling, but they couldn't figure out how he did it.
There was no chair or table that he might of jumped off.
The only thing there was a puddle of water.

How did he do it?

Answer: He stood on a block of ice, which eventually melted.

Other challenge categories help introduce you to computer concepts, like programming, JavaScript, etc. to complete the challenge. For example, there was one challenge in a JavaScript category, where I had to look at the source code of the webpage to find the password. It’s really cool. (To view the source code of this page, click ‘View’ on your browser menu, and scrolldown to ‘Source’; you’ll see what I mean.)

There are forums for members to share ideas about each puzzle, but no one gives the answers, just hints. Some of the puzzles are really tricky, so if you’re a quitter don’t join Hackquest. The challenge selection screen shows you how many people have completed it, so you can see which ones are hard or easy. I get frustrated with many of the puzzles, but I love it when I solve one. If you like mental challenges, give it a try.

Labels: online games, website review

Rating (1-5):

Reviewed by Nick
Makai Media Web Site
Type of Site: Skill/Arcade Games

Summary:
Found some cool games here. This is a good site for skill games and fun timewasters. The graphics are pretty nice. There are over 30 games, but I put links to a few of them below.

Sea Dogs
Makai Checkers
Vine Swing
H-O-R-S-E
Speartoss
Volcano Jump
Rat Wheel
Garage Door Tennis
Juggling
Video Poker
Makai Media Cannon Fodder
Knife Throwing
Baby Fury

Labels: online games, website review