Saturday, November 9, 2019
The Best Websites On The Web – 2019
The Internet is chock full of weird websites and useless information designed to do little more than keep you entertained. However, for every Wikipeetia.org or Snapbubbles.com, there’s a great website with great content and great resources. That’s why I made this list.
With so many websites floating around on the ‘ol interwebs, trying to keep track of the sites you should be spending your time on can be downright difficult. Fortunately, we decided to save you the trouble.
The websites on this ever-growing list are not only some of the most popular sites on the Web in 2019, but they’re each genuinely useful as well. Best of all, we’ve neatly categorized them for easy browsing and your viewing pleasure.
No thanks needed. Just check back in from time to time because we update the list regularly. Oh yeah, and don’t forget to spread the word and get a little cyber karma coming your way!
Finance & Accounting Websites
PayPal
PayPal is the world’s most popular online payment system and without a doubt the biggest player when it comes to receiving and sending money online. Not only does PayPal serve as a safe and secure electronic payment gateway for online money transfers, but a growing number of online service providers and retailers are now accepting PayPal payments, making it a go-to resource for anyone conducting transactions online.
TransferWise
Like PayPal, TransferWise is another website designed to make it easy to receive and send money online. However, the UK-based company specializes in making and receiving payments in different currencies, allowing you to quickly and easily transfer money abroad. While TransferWise does charge a fee for this service, it uses the current, real-time exchange rate and its fees are much lower than PayPal or your bank would charge.
Mint
In addition to being completely free, Mint is one of the best personal finance management sites on the Internet for people living in the US and Canada. It offers a fantastic automatic spending tracker and several great budgeting tools to help you manage your money, keep track of your finances, and improve your credit score. If you want to improve your financial responsibility, do yourself a favor and sign up for Mint today.
Money Saving Expert
Part consumer finance blog and part discussion website, Money Saving Expert is a gigantic resource for everything you could possibly need score some deals and save money. Whether you’re looking for money-saving coupons or low interest credit card deals, rest assured the folks at Money Saving Expert can point you in the right direction. It’s basically a free website created to help you do one thing – save you money. What’s not to like?
Expensify
Want to know where your money is going? Good for you, but to do that you need to keep track of it day in and day out. Expensify helps you do exactly that. With this nifty business bookkeeping site, you can generate free, detailed expense reports quickly and easily to analyze your finances down to the tee. From reimbursements to receipt scanning, everything is automated to make expense reports as headache-free as they can possibly be.
TaxAct
TaxAct is a godsend for millions in the US come January each year. This popular, easy-to-use tax preparation platform makes preparing and filing your taxes as easy as 1-2-3. With TaxAct, you can file both state and federal tax returns; and for simple returns, it’s 100 percent free. Plus, it offers unlimited support, handy step-by-step guides, and a 100 percent accuracy and maximum refund guarantee, so it’s impossible to go wrong.
Books
Audible
The Internet’s most epic source of online audio books, Audible features an insanely huge catalogue of books on audio. From new releases to the classics, you can find almost any title on Audible. In addition to audio books, you’ll also find audio versions of magazines and newspapers, recorded TV and radio programs, and a myriad of high-quality audio courses. Whether you’re at the gym, in the car, or at home and simply giving your eyes a break, Audible’s selection will keep you learning and entertained for years.
Good Reads
Good Reads is a modern-day book club. Well, technically it’s a social network for book lovers, but details aside, it’s pretty darn great. Owned by Amazon, Good Reads is thriving and growing every day, making it a terrific place to connect with fellow readers, share recommendations, read insightful book reviews, and more. Signing up for Good Reads is completely free, so anyone can freely search its vast database and generate a custom reading list in no time at all!
Which Book
Not sure which book to read? Reader reviews are wonderful and certainly insightful in a number of ways, but there’s nothing quite like the power of Big Data, which Which Books uses extraordinarily well. This next generation book suggestion utilizes cutting-edge tech to sort through millions of different factor combinations and suggest the best book for your needs. You simply tell Which Book the type of book you want along with some other information, and it will search through its gigantic library to match you to the book or books that best fit what you’re looking for.
Blinklist
Blinklist proves that big things truly can come in small packages. Rather than having to read hundreds of pages, it breaks down each book into minute-sized chunks, allowing you to gain insights into an endless selection of non-fiction books in under 15 minutes. This is what Blinklist is all about. It condenses over 2,500 top non-fiction books, so you can learn a ton of new things each and every day.
Pixel of Ink
Dying to read a Kindle ebook your friend recommended but don’t want to spend more than a dollar or two? Pixel of Ink is the best place on the Internet for tracking down awesome Kindle ebooks for next to nothing or completely free. With tons of bargain ebooks available for less than $5, $3, and even $1, it can be a real goldmine for bargain-hunting Kindle owners.
Book Riot
Book Riot is a wonderfully unpretentious blog created by book lovers for book lovers. The popular online publication is filled with witty and entertaining book reviews and literary news. Whether you’re looking for can’t miss recommendations of must-read books, commentary on the latest new releases, or the latest scoop on book-reading technology, Book Riot is the place to be.
Project Gutenberg
Speaking of book-reading technology, Project Gutenberg is all about digitizing, archiving, and distributing ebooks. In fact, it has taken it upon itself to digitize as many of the classics and other cultural works of the written word as it can for the current and future generations to enjoy. Best of all, everything on Project Gutenberg is available to read online or download absolutely free of charge.
Video Streaming
Amazon Prime Video
A subscription to Amazon prime not only gets you fast free shipping – it also gives you access to Amazon’s top-notch Prime Video streaming service. While it isn’t as polished as Netflix, it’s free with your Prime membership and comes with a ton of great content, movies, and original shows. With deep pockets and exclusivity deals with HBO, BBC, and more, its already impressive catalogue is getting even more impressive by the day. Of course, you also get ad-free music, unlimited photo storage, and access to Amazon Kindle ebooks as well.
Netflix
With a dizzying selection of movies, documentaries, and TV shows available on-demand, it’s easy to see why Netflix remains the world’s leading video streaming site. The site’s catalogue of programming continues to grow right along with its list of subscribers. In addition to giving you access to an endless number of movies and shows on any smart TV, PC, smartphone, tablet, or gaming console, Netflix’s original productions are on par with some of Hollywood’s best.
YouTube Movies
YouTube is much more than the world’s top destination for videos in just about every category. In fact, you could actually make a case for it competing in just about every category on this list. That said, one of the website’s lesser known features is YouTube Movies, which allows you to rent movies and shows on-demand. Of course, being YouTube, there are plenty of free movies available as well. From “Avengers Endgame” to “The Lion King,” you name it and chances are YouTube has it.
Vimeo
To many people, Vimeo is pretty much YouTube’s little stepbrother. However, this Rocky-esque site has managed to defy the odds and carve out a loyal following. As one of the most supportive communities on the Web for indie filmmakers, Vimeo is where you go to stream refreshingly “artsy” films on demand. This isn’t the place to stream “Thor: Ragnarok.” It’s the place to see Sundance, Tribeca, and SXSW award winners. Not the artsy type or in the right mood? Don’t worry, Vimeo has a little something for everyone and every mood too.
Movies
Rotten Tomatoes
Want to know whether or not a movie is worth your hard-earned $15? Rotten Tomatoes has you covered. This incredibly popular movie site is the go-to website for the very best movie reviews. Home of the “Tomato-meter,” it provides the most trusted, unbiased, and simple appraisal of movie quality on the Web. The higher the Tomato-meter, the better a movie is. It simply averages thousands of reviews to create a 1-100 number score. Of course, like its competitor IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes also has movie trailers, showtimes, in-depth reviews, and more.
IMDb
IMDb is one of the Internet’s oldest websites. In fact, it was created before the first web browser. Not surprisingly, it’s also one of the most popular websites. It features the world’s largest database of movie reviews, ratings, and fun facts. As such, it’s the go-to place to get the scoop on the next big box office hit, TV shows, video games, celebrity content, and more. if you want to dig deep into a movie or Hollywood in general, IMDb is the place to do it.
Screenrant
Like IMDb, Screenrant is one of those sites that should be bookmarked and religiously visited by any self-respecting, in-the-know movie buff. Filled with the latest movie and television news, reviews, trailers, and more, it’s a nicely edited, insightful publication that covers anything and everything Hollywood-related. If you love movies, you’ll love Screenrant.
Short of the Week
As its name suggests, Short of the Week is a website dedicated to showcasing the best short films. A new short indie film is hand-picked and added to the website each and every week. From killer zombies to love and every other topic under the sun, you’ll find hordes of great film shorts in every genre just waiting to be appreciated. Each short weaves incredible storytelling into a 5-20 minute movie, making it an ideal place to get your entertainment fix in today’s on-the-go world.
Music
Spotify
Featuring an endless selection of music for everyone, Spotify continues to reign as the world’s leading music streaming website. It gives you instant access to thousands of artists, albums, and songs in every genre imaginable. Best of all, it’s free. However, if you love music like I do, Spotify Premium might be worth picking up. Although it isn’t free and will cost you a little each month, it gets rid of the ads, which don’t appear often but can be really annoying when they do.
Soundcloud
Love indie music and discovering new artists before everyone else? If so, Soundcloud was made just for you. This simple, bare-bones website not only allows anyone to download music, but it also allows anyone to upload music and embed their tracks across the Internet. So, you can upload your own creations or listen to millions of other original songs uploaded from people around the world. If you want to beat the labels to the punch and be the first to discover the next big thing, Soundcloud is the place to do it.
TuneIn
Being able to listen to artists, songs, and albums is one thing, but with TuneIn you can stream live programming from more than 100,000 radio stations located in cities around the globe. regardless of your favorite genre of music or the mood you’re in, chances are you can find the perfect song on TuneIn. That said, unlike other music streaming sites, TuneIn allows you to enjoy the full radio experience complete with trivia, call-ins, witty banter and all.
SongKick
Love going to live concerts and shows? SongKick is a unique concert discovery service that directly connects to your Spotify, Last.fm, and Facebook accounts to keep you in the loop about when and where your favorites artists are scheduled to perform near you. With SongKick, you can organize and track your favorites musicians and bands, receive concert alerts, get ticket prices, and purchase tickets online. It’s a powerful, streamlined way to make sure you never miss a live gig.
Apple Music
Apple Music and its iTunes Store has become one of the biggest players in the music industry, responsible for a huge percentage of music sales around the world. If you want to buy music, movies, or even audiobooks for that matter, iTunes will definitely have what you’re looking for. At Apple Music, you’ll find millions of premium-quality song titles and a lot, lot more.
Last.fm
Last.fm is uniquely cool place to find songs, discover artists, and listen to music online. In fact, it’s the largest online music website in the world for listening to artists, learning all about them, and receiving music recommendations custom-tailored to your likes and taste. By using cutting-edge statistical analysis, Last.fm is able to accurately predict what artists and songs you might like. It’s like the “Magic 8 Ball” of music.
Poolside.fm
Whether you’re lounging poolside or not, Poolside.fm should be playing in the background. As the perfect accompaniment to summertime temperatures, backyard barbecues, and outdoor fun, this creative website pairs ‘80s video clips of big hair, rollerbladers, leotard-laden aerobics classes, and movies like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” with song tracks of the era for an entertaining audio/visual combination that’s sure to be a hit at any pool party.
Pandora
Similar to Spotify, Pandora is another great place for finding and listening to music on any smart device. The personalized online radio platform is free to use and makes listening to your favorite tunes easy as 1-2-3. Simply add some of your favorite artists and Pandora will begin playing all of their most popular tracks along with plenty of similar music that may or may not be new to your ears.
Genius
From Led Zeppelin to Lorde, if you want to know all about an artist, band, or the songs they sing, Genius is the site for you. It’s basically a huge community of music lovers. It’s a place people turn to when they want to talk about song lyrics, break them down, and expand their insights by finding their deeper meaning. Artists also regularly contribute by using the platform to share and discuss their music with the world.
Mixcloud
Whether you’re into hip-hop or classic rock, Mixcloud has your back. The website brings radio into the 21st century, providing a fully interactive experience where anyone can produce and upload their own radio shows. If you love radio but listening is more your thing, you can also search for a radio station, podcast, or DJ and listen in for free.
Deezer
With over 50 million songs and 14 million users around the globe, Deezer is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the music streaming world. Why is it becoming so popular? Well, besides its punchy, unique name, Deezer is the only service of its kind with Flow, a proprietary algorithm designed to dish up new recommendations and all of your favorites into a single ever-changing stream of music consciousness. Sounds great, right?
Tidal
Recently acquired by rap star and modern-day tycoon “Jay Z” for $56 million, Tidal now has the distinct privilege of being the first artist-owned major music streaming service. Not surprisingly, it also claims to pay artists and songwriters higher royalties. That aside, Tidal has carved a niche in the marketplace by offering CD-quality music streamed on demand. If you want to fully appreciate your $250 Beats headphones, Tidal is worth checking out.
Productivity (Getting Sh** Done)
Google Drive
Google Drive is arguably the best cloud storage and backup service out there. This is especially true if you’re already under Google’s umbrella via Gmail or Android. With Google Drive, you get access to Google’s secure and easy-to-use cloud storage and backup service for all of your photos, videos, documents, and other files.
Gmail
Most consider Gmail the best non-commercial email service out there, and for good reason. As one of the most popular email platforms for over a decade now, Google’s Gmail has plenty to offer. For starters, it’s free, intuitive, less spammy, and provides decent storage. However, it also seamlessly integrates with Google’s suite of other productivity apps, making it a no-brainer for just about everyone. Plus, there are plenty of new productivity features and third-party app integrations coming out every day, so it just keeps getting better and better.
Evernote
Want to capture anything anytime you want? If so, Evernote is worth checking out. The hugely popular note-taking app is available in your browser and in app form across multiple platforms, including Android, Windows, iPhone, iPad, and webOS. With Evernote, you can create tasks lists and save all of your favorite photos, articles, recipes, notes, Pinterest pins, and just about anything else online to your account to view or use at a later date. You can literally have 1,000s of them, and everything you save in Evernote is always only a few clicks or taps away.
IFTTT
IFTTT is short for If This Than That. It’s a cool, completely free website that allows you to connect hundreds of apps and services you regularly use and create “applets” to automate specific tasks. For example, you can use IFTTT to automatically save your PDF documents and email attachments to OneDrive, Google Drive, or another file storage and backup service. This is just one example of what IFTTT can do. You can also set it up to automatically Tweet your Instagram posts, receive SMS alerts as events come up in your Google calendar, and more.
Todoist
Todoist is a t-do lis manager extraordinaire. It can basically help you organize your entire life. Millions of people use Todoist to keep track of anything and everything. However, not only can you use it to search, schedule, and add tasks, but it’s loaded with useful features and IFTTT integrations to help you stay on top of everything and simply get more done.
Rescue Time
Need help staying focused and productive? Rescue Time may be able to help. This browser plugin and time management program includes a personal analytics service that tracks how you spend your time online and gives you tools to increase your focus and productivity while improving your work-life balance and overall quality of life.
Google Hangouts
As the search giant’s answer to Skype, Google Hangouts is a great platform for bringing conversations to life with family and friends around the world. You can connect via video with anyone you want on any Windows PC, Mac, Android, or iOS device.
OneNote
OneNote is a free note-taking app from Microsoft that many feel is even better than Evernote. Designed for freeform information gathering, it allows you to gather notes, screen clippings, drawings, audio commentaries, and pretty much everything you want across all of your devices. it also allows you to customize your note layouts and drag and drop individual note elements anywhere you want. You can even drop several pieces of media into one note. Pretty neat indeed.
Google Keep
Google Keep is a simple note-taking platform that’s much more lightweight and streamlined than OneNote and Evernote. Launched in 2013, the Google Keep website and mobile apps allow you to easily create and store tasks, lists, notes, photos, and audio. You can use them whenever you want or share them with family and friends via any computer, Android, or iOS device.
Upwork
If you want to get the most out of your day and boost your productivity in the process, outsourcing some or all of your tasks might very well be one of the best decisions you could make. As the world’s largest freelance website, Upwork is the perfect place to hire freelancers for almost anything imaginable web or business-related. Just post a job description explaining the tasks you need done, which can be anything from graphic design to making reservations, sort through all of the proposals you’ll receive, and choose the person you feel is best. That’s all there is to it.
Microsoft Office Online
Microsoft Office has been a mainstay in homes and offices around the world since what seems like the inception of the Internet decades ago. Now, Microsoft is offering a free version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive, and all of its most popular Office apps. While the free version has less features, it’s a great way for anyone to access files and edit them from their browser. it’s also a great way for people to collaborate and work together on documents. Collaborating with Microsoft Office Online is free, and since you can save files to One Drive, sharing and working with others has never been easier.
Join.me
Join.me is an easy-to-use screen-sharing website. It allows you to share the screen on your Mac, PC, or smartphone with up to 250 others, making it great for web conferencing, online meetings, conducting presentations, team collaborations, and the like. The free version of Join.me is almost too good to be true as alternatives like GoToMeeting and WebEx can cost a pretty penny. Its simplicity and ease of use is also a plus. In fact, you can set up a screen sharing session with a few simple clicks. You don’t even have to register for the site!
Soft Murmur
If you’re like many who work better with a little ambient noise going on in the background, Soft Murmur might just be your new favorite site. Available online or as an app for Android and iOS devices, its dashboard features slidable bars to adjust the volume of each of its five nature sound effects independently for a completely customizable sound. Whether you turn up “Waves” and “Wind” for the sound of a breezy beach day or “Thunder” and “Rain” for the soothing sound of an afternoon storm, it’s sure to channel you into a more relaxed and focused state of mind.
Online Privacy
Tor
Technically, Tor isn’t a site – it’s a browser. However, it’s not any ordinary browser. By bouncing encrypted messages through a huge obfuscation network of computers, it’s able to make you anonymous and protect your privacy online. Best of all, it’s free, proving you don’t have to spend money to safely browse the Web.
Have I Been Pwned
This is a great site to see if any of your personal data and account information has been compromised or leaked by a data breach. There’s no need to register, enroll, or anything like that. Just search the site’s database by entering your email address. If you’ve been compromised, you’ll be able to see which data has been leaked, allowing you to take action and secure the accounts. It’s quick, easy, and most importantly, it works.
BleepingComputer.com
Computer acting up? Think it may have been infected with malware or a virus? If so, you should pay BleepingComputer.com a visit. This computer help website is the place to go for answers to any technical and security-related computer questions. From the latest security news to updated malware, ransomware, adware, and virus removal guides, you’ll find the technical support you need at BleepingComputer.com.
LastPass
Managing all of your passwords is tough. You know you’re supposed to use different passwords for different sites and change them periodically, but trying to keep track of them all can be downright impossible, right? We agree, but fortunately, LastPass can help. It’s one of today’s most popular password managers. With LastPass, you can generate passwords, encrypt them, and safely store them under lock and key. When logged into LastPass, you can easily log into other accounts without having to remember the passwords for each. Needless to say, it’s about time to throw the Post-Its away.
JustDelete.me
As its name suggests, JustDelete.me is a handy website for getting rid of different social media and other accounts with a minimal amount of effort and fuss. Have an old account for some shopping store you opened one Christmas season a decade ago? Do yourself a favor and visit JustDelete.me.
DuckDuckGo
Google is without a doubt the leader in search. Many of the Web’s largest companies have tried to go up against the “Big G” and failed. To say DuckDuckGo is a small company is an understatement. It’s a one-man band, yet it’s managed to become one of the most attractive and secure Google alternatives today. Rather than dealing and messing around with maps, email, social networking, and real-time results, it’s a simple, no-nonsense search engine with a no-nonsense privacy policy as well. Not only does DuckDuckGo have a strict no-logs policy, but it also anonymizes your searches for a truly private and secure search experience.
TOS;DR
Short for Terms of Service; Didn’t Read, TOS;DR is a cool project that analyzes boring, dry, and unreadable legalese (aka: Terms of Service notices) and transforms them into something much more readable and succinct. It’s great for anyone wanting to take an active role in overseeing the use of their data and protecting their privacy.
Images
Unsplash
Nowadays, photo sharing websites are springing up everywhere. However, despite claiming to be different than the next and better than Flickr, the grandfather of the bunch, they all pretty much do the same thing: allow you to interact and share your photos with others. This is where Unsplash comes in. It truly is different. When you subscribe to Unsplash’s mailing list, you’ll get 10 professional, high-resolution photos every 10 days for free. Of course, you can still use Unsplash the traditional way by browsing through shared photos and downloading the ones you want. You can even group your liked photos into different categories for multiple collections.
Further reading: Free stock images
Shutterstock
If you’ve ever searched for stock photos for a website or any other project, chances are you ran across Shutterstock more than once. As the industry’s top stock photo agency, Shutterstock has a vast collection of over 95 million royalty-free images at super low prices. With a huge library of cheap, high-quality stock photos in a variety of categories, Shutterstock is hugely popular and pretty much impossible to avoid when on a stock photo hunt.
