Reason #766 to love the Internet: because with Turtlecalls you can enlist a professional turtle impersonator to phone your friends and have a delightful conversation with them – as a turtle. Reason #767: because you can upgrade to the turtle-impersonating-Don-Cheadle package.

Irrefutable: There is something mesmerizing about a clip of James Van Der Beek finger wagging playing on a loop. That (and so many other imminently watchable .GIFs) are on full display at Gif.tv, perhaps the most mindlessly addictive site on the Web.

Nothing wrong with a little competition, right? Download the Capture the Flag app and every time you snap a picture of one of your favorite destinations you help your team claim it as their own. Better capture your favorite bar before someone else does.

The only thing worse than trolling Facebook at work is getting caught trolling Facebook at work. Hardlywork.in converts your Facebook page into a spreadsheet, disguising your wall as just another boring expense report and allowing you to browse at will.

Just because a breakfast cereal claims it’s healthy (with an exclamation point!) doesn’t mean it is. With Fooducate, you can scan barcodes to see product highlights (both good and bad) as well as comparisons with similar alternatives.

Your health is nothing to toy with. Or is it? Health Month makes a game out of your fitness regimen, letting users create monthly “rules” they’d like to live by and applying some gentle social pressure to help you meet your goals.

Chances are Yahoo! Answers readers didn’t go to med school. Medify lets you search published studies from professionals, breaking down results into categories like top treatments, potential causes, and other conditions associated with your ailment.

Ten out of ten cranky people agree: A good night’s sleep is important. The Pzizz app for iPhone and Android generates a unique audio soundtrack made up of billions of sounds that facilitates napping during the day or conking out at night.

It took you long enough, Internet. Finally, a site capable of locating doctors of all stripes, from Allergists to OB-GYNs. Use ZocDoc to narrow down results by insurance carrier; read patient reviews; and even book your next appointment online.

Fortunately, no matter how far you go off the beaten path, GPS Tuner will help keep you on the right trail. It’s a fantastic smartphone app that ensures your hiking party won’t also require a search party.

Even the biggest of city slickers will find it easy to track and plan trips, whether on foot or in the car. With maps easily downloaded onto your phone for offline use, a compass and a bubble level to stay on course, you relax and enjoy what nature has to offer.

Its social capabilities allow you share your current location and track details on Facebook and Twitter so you’ll never be too far out of touch to brag about your beautiful location to those of us stuck at the office. Prefer to play like the professionals? With GPS Tuner you can chart daylight, direction and altitude, making you the Grizzly Adams of the smartphone generation.

It’s designed for the outdoor aficionado and the brand-new converts alike, but assembling the tent is still up to you. Finally your worst woodland fears won’t be living out the plot of Deliverance, just whether or not you’ll make it back in time to catch it on TNT.

We’re finally savvy to the green thumbs and helpful hands on Smart Gardener. With their help, you can plan and plant your entire garden based on your location, the size of your family and the seasons.

The site will generate a list of plants recommended for you, and help you plot them in a virtual garden designed for the best results. Your choice of plants will then be automatically added to a combined calendar and to-do list so you know when to pot, plant and water. You can even order your seeds directly through the site.

SmartGardener also sends email reminders of to-do items, in case you don’t have time to check in every day or just need help remembering. But if you do have some spare time on your hands, there are pages and pages of helpful gardening advice to ogle.

Sadly, we still have to go to Krispy Kreme for our doughnut supply. But we’re not going to stop planting Frosted Cheerios; we love glazed doughnuts way too much!

But great travel also requires friends, which is why we love gtrot. It lets you share travel plans in seconds, find friends in your destination, and collect travel advice from people you trust.

Gtrot links with your Facebook to find friends who live in your destination, will be there at the same time, or who have been there before. You could end up with a friend to guide you around during your trip, or at the very least get advice on where to score the best taco in town.

Our travel plans and social lives haven’t overlapped this seamlessly since we went to the national Friendster meetup back in 2004. The best part? If you’re traveling to a major US city, they’ll even hook you up with the best daily deals from sites like Groupon before you go.

Of course, you could always just travel with your parents but that would mean…traveling with your parents.

Now we’re just excited to start learning more about microbrews and local ales with Untappd. It’s a social network where we can share what beers we’re drinking, who makes it,  and where we’re enjoying it.

Untappd uses foursquare-style check-ins to share your beer tasting activities with your friends–without an app. Accessing the mobile site is all you need to do to get started.

Like a good bartender guiding his regulars, Untappd offers tasting recommendations based on what your friends have been drinking. We also love the handy “tab” it keeps so we can remember our favorite discoveries.

If you’re looking to do a little more research, we recommend Pintley.  They make personalized beer recommendations based on an intimate knowledge of over 17,000 beers and an analysis of more than 600,000 ratings and taste notes.

Their active community boards are great for discussing beers and discovering new breweries to try out. When you’re out on the town, the iPhone app and mobile site let you take the information anywhere.

We recommend test-driving it during the upcoming holiday weekend. And remember: calling a beer hoppy has nothing to do with a frantic jumping motion.

Netted has you covered with online tools to help you get the most out of your summer trips while making sure your time and money are well spent. So grab your sunscreen, prep your flight-booking fingers and get ready to hit the road–it’s vacation time.

Now we use Tildee to make easy-to-follow tutorials for anyone who needs a little help. Their easy-to-construct instructions can include images, maps and video and can be as simple or as complex as you need them to be.

Maybe the driving directions to your summer house require a bit more explaining than a GPS can offer. Or perhaps your cheesecake recipe requires a little more explanation than a recipe allows. Tildee makes following your tutorials as easy as making them.

It’s way faster, better-looking, and more enabled than writing up a Word document. Each tutorial has a unique URL, so it’s even easier to share once you’re done.

The possibilities for using Tildee are limitless, especially in the computer help area. There’s also an archive of pre-existing tutorials that you’re free to browse.

We really don’t miss those phone calls from mom every time she wants to “turn on the Internet.”

That’s why we love Meebo: it helps you find more of what you love on the web by connecting you with others. After all, everybody gushes about their favorite bands or movies…why shouldn’t awesome websites get the same attention?

Get started on Meebo just by downloading the the Meebo browser extension (affectionately known as the “Meebo MiniBar”) and “checking in” to the site you’re visiting. Sharing where you visit or what you find interesting is only as public as you want it to be, although broadcasting to your networks is a snap.

Our favorite part is seeing what others are reading, watching and recommending. Plus Meebo makes it easy to find and follow others with similar interests and check out their recommendations too.

Ready to get started? In honor of Internet Week New York, Meebo has launched the True New Yorker Quest. It’s a fun way to use web check-ins to discover new sites and unlock badges to explore all the Big Apple has to offer.

It’s the best thing to happen to online discovery since the Lycos dog.

We’re not entirely sure what he meant, but using the AG Wine app for iPhone and iPad has made discovering wines a lot less confusing. It’s a comprehensive guide that lets you browse wines by region, varietal, style or food pairing.

It’s an educational wine shop companion, making the process of selecting the type of wine you’re really after a lot simpler. The app is very well organized, so finding information is lightning fast.

The app doesn’t focus on specific producers or brands unlike other pocket sommeliers. Instead, they use regional strengths and accurate descriptions so you can make your own decisions. Put simply, it makes buying wine about discovery again.

Android users should check out Swirl Pro. The app searches the powerful Snooth database for recommendations, and lets you keep track of the wines you’ve tried with a camera and note system.

We think we’ve reached the next level of funk because now we can’t get “Raspberry Beret” out of our heads every time we go wine shopping.

This is why we are proud to announce the launch of Petted, a new daily email bringing you the best in animals that simply must be touched. Our intrepid team of professional Petters will leave no critter untouched to help you make better petting decisions.

After the government began placing heavy taxes on our beloved MaxxThrottle Amped LokoBull Energy Mega-Beverage, the Netted team has been hard pressed to find a new drink to keep us going through the day. We’ve decided to make the switch to tea and coffee, and we’ve found some great resources for our newfound obsessions.

Steepster is the ultimate social network for tea lovers, perfect for discovering and discussing everything from Earl Gray to Golden Monkey Paw. Members rate teas and pass along recommendations on how to make a perfect pot for each.

Many of the teas being discussed are linked to sites where you can purchase them to try for yourself. If your love for tea runs deep, you can keep a tea journal or search for nearby tearooms.

Brewmethods will make coffee fanatics weep with joy. Need a cold brewed iced coffee recipe? Want to order specialty coffee or replace that French press? They cover everything, and even include great how-to videos.

You’re now well on your way to partying like its 1773… in Boston. Remember, pinkies out!

We’ve spent the last few days falling in love with Foodily, a beautifully designed and deeply intuitive recipe search engine.

Of course, there are recipes for everything from pound cake to Pad Thai pulled from top chefs and recipe sites. What’s special here is that every ingredient is known, making it possible to avoid anything specific.

Foodily makes it dead easy to find what you want (or what you never knew you wanted). Even typing in “sriracha” yielded some amazing new uses for our favorite hot sauce.

To put it bluntly, this is a game changer for us. We would come up with something witty to sign off with, but we’re way too busy drooling over this raspberry trifle we’re going to make tonight.

Since we already bring you better living through the Internet daily, we figured it would be nice to bring you better loving through the Internet with our very special Netted Guide to Valentine’s Day.

If you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day this year with someone you love, think of it as the perfect opportunity to be truly original and surprise that special someone with a unique gift or memorable experience. It’s totally fine if you want to keep things traditional, but if not, we’re here to help with some fresh material.

We think it serves as a perfect backup plan now that your fireworks and personal chef budget has dried up.

Thankfully, CureTogether can help by allowing you to monitor and track your health by providing a trove of information on over 500 medical conditions.

When you sign up for a free account you’ll be prompted to list potential conditions you may be suffering from or to search for a specific ailment.

The site offers a comprehensive infographic for each malady, which includes available treatments and how effective each has been according to survey data collected from users. You can also create a database for test results and diagnoses, allowing you to easily see changes over time.

The true advantage, however, lies in its broad community, where you can privately message “members like you” who have reported similar conditions for treatment advice.

It’s not a cure for the common cold, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Note: Netted does not recommend foregoing doctors when you need medical attention.  CureTogether is a resource, not a medical provider.

To take advantage of these glorious circumstances, consider Mixologist, a $.99 iPhone app that allows you to search for specific drinks or conveniently find what cocktails you can make with what you have in your liquor cabinet and fridge.

If you’re going to be brave and attempt to venture out into the masses of partygoers, the app can also locate nearby liquor stores and bars.

If you’re an Android user, we recommend 10001 Cocktails. The app is free and is loaded with enough cocktail recipes to make Don Draper weak in the knees. You can also add your own recipes or save your favorites for easy access.

Remember to use this newfound technology for the power of good, not evil, and a very happy and healthy New Year to you from all of us at Netted!

Chances are you’re about to get a little holiday bonus (here’s hoping it’s a big one).  Assuming you have a little left over, it makes sense to invest it.  But where?

Enter Plantly, a new service that creates a diversified investment plan based on information you supply.

To start you need to register for the service.  You’ll be asked a series of questions, including how much money you have to invest and how long you can wait before you touch the investment.

Once you answer these questions you’ll pick a level of risk you’re comfortable with.  From there you’ll see a graph with their forecasts.

If you want this investment Plantly will then lay out the breakdown of the plan.

Plantly doesn’t execute the investments, so there are no fees and the advice is unbiased.  For our money it’s a great resource for gathering investment ideas that you can then run by your own financial planner.

Special For Netted Readers
Plantly is still in private beta but Netted readers can access the site via a special invite code. Just enter the code NETTED at the registration page.

Travel guidebooks have always been a curious tool for globetrotters. Though well intentioned, they can be confusing and often contain extraneous info.

Thankfully, there’s Stay.com, a site that allows you to create your own custom travel guides for the cities you’re visiting.

Start by creating an account and picking which city you’ll be visiting. From there you can add the restaurants, attractions and sites that you’d like to visit (the site also allows you to book hotel rooms).

If you’re looking for guidance on a place you’re visiting, browse guides that have been created by other users. Many of them have themes (e.g. “things to do with your kids” or “New York’s Most Beautiful Parks”) and can help you get off the beaten path.

When you’re finished, download your guidebook as a PDF to print or share with others. All items included are pinpointed on a map, making navigating a snap, and the layout makes them easy to fold and carry.

The planet doesn’t feel so lonely anymore.

To help cast a wider net, there’s Yummly, a website that uses your tastes and diet requirements to make personalized recipe recommendations.

Begin by setting up an account (or signing in with Facebook) and input some basic information about your food preferences. In addition to this, Yummly uses recipes, ingredients, cuisines, and ratings to determine your personal tastes and to recommend recipes.

Each recipe is scored based on its ingredients, which allows you to search for (or avoid) recipes based on ingredients, allergies, diet restrictions, or price.

Yummly also allows you to edit recipes and save them as your own, get recommendations for ingredient substitutions, see popular variations on dishes and add photos.

At least you can still use your copy of The Joy of Cooking as a cutting board.

Forutnately there’s EveryBlock, a website that aggregates information to create a news feed for every block of major American cities.

Start by choosing your city (to date they cover 16 US cities) and entering your local information. You can search by neighborhood name, zip code or specific address.

From there, EveryBlock compiles all the information a local could need. News stories are aggregated from everyone from major news outlets to local blogs, and civic information (such as building permits, crimes and restaurant inspection reports) are included.

EveryBlock also compiles photos from local Flickr accounts, reviews from Yelp, lost and found postings from Craigslist, and user-generated announcements to give it that authentic neighborhood bulletin board feel.

It’s like having Tom Brokaw as your sage, retired neighbor across the way.

Cooking a complicated foreign meal at home is a great idea.  In theory.

To put your global culinary skills into practice, try Destination Dinners, a service that provides recipe kits for authentic signature dishes from around the world.

The site offers dozen of recipe kits, organized by country of origin. Whether you’re in the mood for Chicken Garam Masala from Bangladesh or Lebanese baked spiced lamb, there’s a kit for you.

The recipe kits take the guessing out of the equation, and each comes with instructions, premeasured portions of every dry ingredient you’ll need (spices and the like) and a grocery list for the perishable parts of the meal you’ll need to buy.

The kits start at $25 and are designed to feed four adults. If you’re looking for something a little more elaborate, they also offers “Dinner Party” sets, which include extras like specialized utensils and accessories in addition to a recipe kit.

Get ready to retire that old stack of food delivery menus.

Thankfully, there’s Nabewise, a new site that takes user reviews to collect data and rank neighborhoods in American cities based on a wide range of criteria.

Simply pick which city you’re looking to explore (currently served are New York, San Francisco, Boston and Seattle, with more to launch soon). Nabewise takes votes and reviews from locals to determine the pace and lifestyle of specific neighborhoods.

Nabewise allows you to assess based on a wide array of attributes, including quality of life (safety, average rent), demographics (singles, parents, beautiful people) and activities (parks, shopping and nightlife).

Once you’ve narrowed down your choices, you can visit each neighborhood’s profile page. There you can find out everything from the median cost of homes to which public transport lines serve the area to how good the local schools are.

The only thing left for you to do will be convincing your friends to help you move your stuff.

Enter iFixit, a free resource that provides comprehensive repair guides, troubleshooting tips and a community of technicians ready to help you fix your gadget, household appliance or vehicle.

To start, just visit the site and begin browsing. If you’re not quite sure what’s wrong with your item, check out the “answers” section, where nearly 45,000 users are there to help troubleshoot.

Once you’ve determined the problem, turn to the site’s selection of helpful guides. (Apple devices are heavily represented on the site, including help for older models that the company no longer provides support for).

You can search by make, model and brand, so you’ll be certain to find the correct guide for your product.

But what sets iFixit apart is the sheer level of detail each guide contains, including foolproof step-by-step instructions and annotated photographs that show you what to do.

The site even sells the replacement parts you’ll need to make many common repairs.

You are now free to break your durable goods.

For those moments there’s Betterfly, a new service that puts teachers and students together, all with the goal of making you better at any of 1000 different things.

To start you create an account, adding your interests, skills and things about yourself you’d like to improve.  Then you look for the services you want, be it trumpet lessons or accent reduction from a linguistics Ph.D.

You can search based on the location of the Betterist, their appointment times or verified review scores. (Each Betterist is ranked accordingly, so your search results will suggest the Betterists who are right for you).

You can also use Betterfly’s Appointment Finder to search for a Betterist’s real-time appointments or see who is offering a last-minute deal.

Once you find a Betterist, visit his or her page to see what services they offer, read client reviews and even book an appointment online.

Once you make an appointment you’ll meet the Betterist in person at an agreed-upon time and locale (though some Betterists do offer lessons via videochat).  You won’t have to pay the listed price until you finish.

Have a unique skill and a desire to make others better? Betterfly makes it simple to create your own page.

Thankfully, Google has beefed up its real estate maps spinoff with some handy new tools that help give you a sense of a particular locale.

Search for a city, suburb or neighborhood. A sidebar to the left presents available properties (you can search for rentals or for-sale listings) while the map labels each property with an interactive red marker.

To learn more about a particular property, click on the marker.  With the Street View tool you can walk through the area virtually.  Zoom in and you can do a close-up on the exterior of the actual property.

You can also look for nearby businesses and do a directions search to get a sense of how easy (or challenging) your commute to work will be.

Another real estate site with new features is the old stalwart Trulia, which has added both rental properties and a new feature that allows users to search for bargains on foreclosed properties.

Not that we encourage you to kick people when they’re down, but…

Of course, that data only becomes useful when it’s put into a simplified, accessible and consistent interface, which is what a new site called This We Know accomplishes.

The site presents data about communities across the United States, pulled from a variety of sources that includes the Agency of Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Labor and, yes, the U.S. Census (so fill yours out).

Search for a city, town or zip code and you’ll get a list of “factoids” about that particular locale.

These include the total number of factories in the area, the demographic and employment breakdown of the local population and the number of bills introduced by local members of Congress.

Clicking on a factoid brings up tables of data, which in turn are linked to even more detailed information.

For example, we learned that 1,632,830 pounds of 35 different pollutants were released in Brooklyn.

When we clicked on “pollutants” we found the name of the facility that released it, what chemical it was, how much of it they released and what type of emission it gave off.

Information wants to be free, and this is one great way to use it.

Don’t have time to hunt Japanese whalers aboard the Sea Shepherd?  You can still make a difference, thanks to a free service called Going Green Today.  The site will create a tailored plan that outlines ways you can make your life more environmentally friendly.

It takes about 20 minutes to fill out the detailed assessment, but it’s worth the time investment—the site claims their plan can save you up to $2,000 annually (along with reducing your CO2 emissions by 30,000 pounds).

They’ll ask questions about your home, your family, your lifestyle, your driving habits (if you don’t have a car, for example, they won’t offer advice for getting better mileage) and various other lifestyle queries.

From there it creates a personalized plan that lists a set of goals and tells you how to achieve them on a day-by-day basis (the main focus is on the first 90 days, but it offers tips beyond that go beyond that).

The idea here is that we all need prompting, reminders and guidance in order to make positive changes.

The full plan costs $29, though half of this fee goes to a green charity. And you’ll get a free report just for completing the assessment.

Hey, nobody said saving the Earth was easy.

Unless that brain belongs to thirty-three year old Salman Khan, creator and star of the Khan Academy, a not-for-profit video site that aims to provide high quality education for everybody.

Khan is an obscenely well-educated MIT engineering grad (and Harvard MBA) who offers more than 1,200 lucid tutorials on everything from linear algebra to collateralized debt obligations to the French Revolution.

Originally posted on YouTube, the videos allow a layperson to understand esoteric and long-forgotten concepts that rarely get explained outside of the classroom.

And, more importantly, they manage to make them accessible and interesting.

Find a subject you like and scroll through the long list of available lessons. Khan records individual videos for each topic—which means that users interested in biology, say, can study embryonic stem cells or the anatomy of a neuron at their own pace.

In each video, Khan draws extensive diagrams and writes important terms on a black Microsoft Paint chalkboard. He has a steady hand, so the writing (thankfully) is clear enough to read.

The voice in the background is Khan going through each concept in a mellifluous tone. He struck us as calm and inviting—exactly what you’d want in a professor.

For a little know-how from a generous know-it-all, look no further than Khan Academy.

Thankfully there’s Measy, a free service that helps simplify the complex process of deciding which digital camera, HDTV, netbook, smartphone or E-reader you should purchase.

The easy-to-use site employs a decision tree process, asking you a series of detailed questions that includes your budget, how you plan to use the device and what your priorities are (in terms of size, picture quality, need for durability, etc.).

Measy then calculates a score based on your preferences.  From there it selects the five models that come closest to matching your score.

You can view their selections in side-by-side comparisons or click on one for more detailed information.  The site also provides links to approved retailers, presenting the store name and the price.

While you”ll likely want to do additional research, Measy is a great place to figure out the range of products that fit your needs, and to figure out exactly what your needs are.

In a world full of choices it’s good to have a service that helps limit the options.

Now, thanks to a free service called Lumosity, you can get your mind back into fighting shape, and it only takes about 15 minutes each day.

After you sign up the site will create a guided regimen of cognitive training.  Basic training consists of 40 sessions (each session consists of 5 games).

Once you graduate from basic you can choose other, more advanced courses.

Lumosity strengthens your concentration and improves your memory and attention span through the use of logic games, word puzzles and problem solving boosters.

The site keeps track of your scores for each game. In addition, it checks off those games you’ve already completed so you won’t have to repeat any exercises.

After a few sessions you’ll be given a BPI–Brain Performance Index–that you can compare with other users.  This tells you how well you performed in a given cognitive function.

A mind is, after all, a terrible thing to waste.

Bringing us one step closer is Instructables, a comprehensive database of do-it-yourself videos and articles.  The site is packed with homegrown tips, expertise and instructions on how to undertake thousands of useful activities.

Want to turn an old NES cartridge into a functioning external hard drive with just a soldering iron and a screwdriver?  How about retrofitting your original 1984 Mac so it can run the current Apple operating system or training a guinea pig to play dead? It’s all there for you to discover.

You can also find solutions to problems that aren’t quite answered by the array of videos.  Just post a query in their answers forum and one of the site’s regular users (or “pros” in their lingo) will likely answer it (and turn the answer into a video).

If you’ve got knowledge you want to contribute, click on the Submit button to post your own article or video. (You know, in case you want to give back a little).

Who says you can’t build a better mousetrap?

Look no further than Nutrition Data, a one-stop source for all your nutritional analysis and food management needs.

The well-designed site offers a vast array of tools that help you understand what foods you need to eat (and which you should avoid).

One that we like is the Daily Needs Calculator, which determines the number of calories you burn, your body mass index (BMI) and the recommended daily amounts of various nutrients you need, based on your age, weight and exercise regimen.

There are tools that allow you to track the foods you consume over time, analyze recipes and rank popular food brands in terms of calories, carbs and fat content.

You can also get the lowdown on items from a variety of fast food chains, from Arby’s to White Castle.

The information provided about specific foods and brands is very thorough and includes graphical representations of the nutrition (or lack thereof).

Spoiler alert: corn dogs have not suddenly become healthy.

But thanks to a new easy-learning service called Smart.fm you can learn just about anything–languages, the game of chess–without the burden of going back to school.

The site uses word games, flash cards and other brain training tools to help you learn–and, more importantly, to retain all the new information.

To start you sign up and choose a goal (you can search their list of thousands or create your own).

The site gives you a choice of learning methods and then constructs a schedule that tells you when and what to study.

Based on its advanced algorithms it determines how you’re performing and where you need improvement, and it alters the study schedule accordingly.

If you’d prefer to work with other students try the community section. You can even post a study journal and try custom goals created by other users.

Too busy to do it at home?  Download the Smart.fm iPhone app and you can spend a subway ride brushing up on your Latin declensions.

Pop quizzes were never so much fun.

Providing you with verified intel is Sit or Squat, a website and mobile app that organizes and maps user-reviewed public toilets in cities around the world. (To date they have more than 81,000 facilities in their registry).

To start you enter an address, zip code, city, or intersection in the search bar.  An interactive Google map will appear, showing all rated public bathrooms in the area, denoted as either “open,” “closed” or “unknown” (which means not yet reviewed).

Click on a bathroom listing and you’ll see its address, its average user rating and a short description with commentary. (Many listings include photo of a stall as well).

Most importantly the reviews answer the site’s eponymous question, telling you whether to “Sit or Squat” based on the average cleanliness rating its users assign a given bathroom.

Returning users can create a favorites list (trust us, it’s a wise idea) and you can give back to the community by rating your own hidden gems.

Given the nature of this info you’ll want to download their mobile app (available for iPhone and Blackberry; an Android version is in the works).

Truly desperate? You can text “sitorsquat” to 368266 to receive a message with directions to the nearest bathroom.

Or they can use a new site and app called Laptopfriendlycafes.

As the name implies, it’s a guide to coffee shops that have free Internet access (though they also take into account the number of power outlets and 3G reception).

At the moment they’re just north of 300 coffee shops in North America, the UK and Australia. The list is not huge, but that’s because it only has cafés they or their readers have first hand experience with.

You can search by city or postal code (or choose from a roster of cities on their home page).

The iPhone app detects your location to automatically to find the nearest free wifi and power-ready laptop friendly café.  (And it will show you on a map, and provide directions).

What it won’t do is tell you which cafes are full of unemployed people “working on their screenplays.”

Nextstop is a new travel site that is built on this idea. Their goal: to create a catalog of all the best things to do, places to go, and experiences to have anywhere in the world through user-generated guides created by residents of a particular locale.

Want to find the best Croque Madame in Sydney or the oldest working jukebox in San Francisco? Nextstop can tell you where to go.

The easiest way to explore the site is to search for a particular city (though you can also search by category or via their interactive map).   A search for “Paris,” for example, yields fifty guides.

Click on one—“Paris pour les petits”, say—and you’re taken to a slideshow-like page that features a dozen activities and sights to see with kids, each with a photo and a short recommendation.  Dig deeper and you’re taken to a full page that has maps, additional information and related guides.

Those worried about the credibility of the people creating these mini travelogues will be pleased to know that users vote on each guide.

The site tallies the scores and the guide’s creators are given a “reputation score.”  The higher the score, the better the guide (and the more prominently it is displayed).

Consider Nextstop your experienced friend in whatever city you’re going to, minus all the long distance phone calls and guilt about how you visit so infrequently.

A new site called MotorMouths is trying to change this by offering a one-stop information hub that gathers and analyzes the latest car reviews from established publications.

The site is laid out in a very elegant but simple to use way, so finding information on the specific model you’re interested in is easy.  You can browse by model, make, style, price, fuel economy or reviewer rating.

Each car is presented with blurbs from its reviews (you can click on the review to go to the full article) along with an overall vehicle score (out of 100) that the site calculates, based on the scores given by each individual reviewer.

And the best part? The reviewers are reviewed.

As part of something called a “critic credibility system” every journalist cited on MotorMouths earns an overall credibility rating, based on their published reviews. This grade lets you know how trustworthy their opinions are.

These ratings come courtesy of verified owners of each car reviewed.  These owners rate the overall accuracy of each reviews, vis-a-vis their own experience with a vehicle.

If only such an elaborate system of checks and balances were applied to car dealers…

Specifically, we’re presenting a step-by-step Howcast video that shows you how to properly undertake this difficult, age-old art form.

In other words we’re giving you a chance to impress your family, friends and loved ones.

What you’ll need: A turkey (preferably one that’s been cooked), a sharp knife, a cutting board and a serving tray.

Obviously, carving a turkey is an offline, analog activity.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t use the Internet to perfect your craft.

And if you’re looking to, uh, bone up a bit more, there’s also this bonus video of Martha Stewart trying to teach Andy Samberg how to carve a turkey.

And, yes, he’s wearing an ironic holiday sweater.

Enter Aardvark, a handy service that finds answers to questions via your social networks (your Facebook friends, your friends’ FB friends, your Twitter followers) and others who have opted into the Aardvark system.

The advantage: you’re tapping a trusted knowledge base (not the general population) without annoying every person you’ve ever met with an e-mail.

Aardvark uses a sophisticated set of parameters to narrow the search, asking only those most likely to have the right answer, based on their interests, geography and other aspects of their profile.

We asked it where we could find an H1N1 shot in New York City and within ten minutes we were IMed a half-dozen useful answers from people we were somehow connected to.

Aardvark even allowed us to IM directly with the answer providers to ask follow-up questions.

Think of it as your own virtual brain trust.