Picclick - Visual search engine for eBay and Etsy

Online shopping can sometimes be frustrating especially when you use eBay. Searching eBay for a certain item can sometimes take awhile as you scroll through page after page looking for the item you want. Picclick is a site that makes searching for items on eBay and Etsy so much easier by making the search 100% visual. Using their search bar, you simply type in what you are looking for (you can also set price and location) and the site gives you up to items, pictures only.(Below is a screenshot of a search I did for desk organizers)  The images start off small but you can adjust their size to make them easier to see and you simply scroll until you see the item you want and clicking on the picture will bring you to the item page. Once you use Picclick, you won't ever use eBay's tired old interface again. After all, you know what you are looking for, you just need to see it.

Graphing Manly Words?

Graphing Stories is a series of "real world" videos by Dan Meyer and Buzz Math that have a graphing measurements theme. It sounds boring but the videos and accompanying graphing worksheet are an engaging way to demonstrate concepts. The videos are free to download and as mentioned before, they come with a generic graphing worksheet.

Next up is a site called Man Crates which offers gift "crates" (no baskets) that appeal to men. The crates have masculine themes such as "survivalist, beer, sports, and carnivores. Each manly gift is delivered to your door and even comes with its own crow bar to open the crate.

22 Words is a blog by Abraham Piper that features 10 to 12 "curious, cute, comical or "crazy" posts a day. Each post is essentially a picture, a video, or cartoon that is funny, amazing, or disturbing. 22 words is a good site to check out if you want be entertained or have a good laugh.

Can I get a Woot Woot!

Today, I will be starting with a site called Zeen. This free site allows you to collect your favorite pictures and videos from the internet and add your text to create an interactive digital magazine that you can share with other people. This site could be used for school projects, invitations, online memory books, business portfolios, and advertising just to name a few options.

Woot is a personal favorite of mine. It isn't your typical shopping site because it doesn't offer a wide variety of products to purchase. Instead, it gives you one deal per day at a deep discount. While I usually don't buy their "deal of the day" I have been known to make purchases when it is something I really need or want. Woot has grown in popularity to where there is a wide variety of Woot sites including techWoot, sportWoot, homeWoot and even a wineWoot. If you have never heard of Woot, head on over and check it out.

"How 'bout cupcake?" is one of my all time favorite videos (very cute) but seriously  how about cupcakes? Here is a collection of 30 cupcake recipes from a site called Slow Robot. It includes pictures for each recipe and it will make you hungry as you look at all the choices. Happy baking.

More Cool Web Finds

This week I'd like to begin with a site that is intended to make you laugh. We all have taken embarrassing pictures somewhere in our past. We are also smart enough to make sure they don't get posted on the internet. Fortunately, there are plenty of people brave (foolish?) enough to share there worst moments caught on camera. Check out awkward family photos, which is a collection of photographs that will make you smile as you say "what were they thinking?" Thank God these people decided to put them on the web for us to see.

I came across two very cool video sites this week. First there is Frequency, which is a site where you will find video collections made by people just like you. Choose the category on the left and a long list of channels appears in the middle of the page. Choose the channel and the videos appear on the left. The categories range from entertainment, to education, health, "how to", and many more. I plan on spending more time at this site in the future.

The second video site is called Video Jug. This sites videos are also sorted into categories but the focus of the site is improving your life. Do you have a home project you want to start? Perhaps you want to learn to cook a certain dish? Maybe you want to become a better golfer? This site is overflowing with tips on cooking, sports, technology, home projects, relationships, children, and the list goes on and on.

Speaking of improving your life, if improving your health is your goal then go to the Greatist where you will find tips on exercise, nutrition, sleep, stress reduction and other health related topics.

For those of you who enjoy online shopping there is Uncommon Goods, where you can find a wide variety of unique and unusual gifts. With the holidays fast approaching, it is worth a look.

I was a comic book collector when I was younger so this site appealed to me personally. The Digital Comic Museum is a collection of comics from the "Golden Age of Comics" (1930's-1950's) that are now "public domain and have been put up on the net. There is educational value here in that they provide a snapshot into American culture of the time. They were published during World War II as well as the earliest days of the Cold War so there is plenty of propaganda to be found for the social studies teachers out there.

Finally, in the era of Twitter and other micro blogging sites there is One Sentence, where people submit stories told in only one sentence. They reject 90% of the "stories" that are submitted so this is obviously much more difficult than it looks.