Roger R.

If you're going to review websites, then you should check out the Webby Awards. To see what really works and also what's possible, the Webby Awards provides lots of categories and lots of links for someone looking to get lost web-surfing for a while. Also a great reference for web developers moving with current trends, and there's a few good examples showing the effective use of new web technology.

There's no reason to search the other travel sites because Kayak already does that. This is the one stop shop for putting together travel ideas. Although the prices might not reflect the best deals out there, it's a good starting place for finding out what actual flights will get you to where you want to go. In terms of prices, there's a lot of strategies out there and Kayak does a good job of quantifying price fluctuations and trends, but sometimes once you know the flight you want it's just better to buy directly from the airline. I've been using this site for years and plan to continue until Google comes up with something clever and makes it obsolete ;)

A website that talks to you!?! Maybe I'm still a bit of an internet rookie, but I thought that only the big corporate companies like Verizon or AT&T offered an instant chat feature on their websites, not just some online hydro-shop. But that's the first surprise I found when I was searching for a cheaper alternative to my local "rip-off" hydro stores.

So when I saw that little button that said "Chat" and decided to put it to the test, most likely an outsourced feature, right? Again I was surprised to find that there was a real person on the other end and that they actual had very credible information. I asked them about "beneficial" bacteria and fungi and they gave me a lot of good info, and of course included links to purchase. I can't complain about the shipping or other customer services because I've always gotten what I ordered, and on time, but then again people love to complain on these review sites. Overall I've really benefited from the prices and info from igrow, and if you can't tell, I really dig that "Chat" feature! If you are a dedicated hydro-hobbyist like me, then don't let a few bad reviews turn you off from this cool hydro site!

I'm still a big fan of Pandora despite the recent commercials that they've been forced to include between songs for non-paying members. The database seems to continually expand and most of the time it does a decent job of music selection. Although, occasionally I'll be given some Snoop Dogg when I'm trying to listen to my Animal Collective channel!?! Either way, Pandora is great for the casual music listener!

From a design perspective, you can't get a more design friendly web-browser. Aside from all the available utilities and plug-ins for enhancements and developing, the basic screen space used by Chrome versus the other main browsers is much better in terms of usability and screen space used (if you open all the different browsers side by side and compare how much of the screen is dedicated to just the menus and tabs, Chrome is by far the most minimal and allows for more viewing space of the actual content. I keep discovering cool new features using Chrome. I'll continue to use the other browsers for cross-reference, but Chrome is definitely my browser of choice!

There are not many review sites that have such a huge number of reviewers, and although quite a bit of them are from people within the businesses themselves, there are still quite a few decent opinions for the widest assortment of businesses. Yelp has my favorite sushi spot coming in at #1 in my city and the recommendations Yelp has given have been fairly on point as well. All in all, a good resource for open minded people.