Favorite Websites:Websites you can help.

Each of these websites is composed of user-generated content from people like you. Of the three, Wikipedia is the most popular and best known of the three sites.  So what can you do to help make the sites better?

Wikipedia

Everyone knows about Wikipedia and a huge number of people use it as a research tool but the number of people editing Wikipedia articles is actually decreasing. Wikipedia is also suffering from editing wars and out and out vandalism. So what can do to help keep Wikipedia a great resource? 

Editing articles

Editing an article for content might feel intimidating, but a lot of the editing work that goes undone isn't content but grammar and cleaning up dead links. While you might not feel that you are qualified to edit an article on quantum physics, you could edit your hometown', county, or school's entry. Once you get the hang of editing, you can even create entries from scratch for parks or local events. I would avoid anything that is opinion based and pages on famous people or political figures. Many of those pages have been locked to keep the editing wars to a minimum.

How to edit Wikipedia

Here is a link to the Wikipedia editing tutorial. 

OpenStreetMap

The maps on OpenStreetMaps are used by many websites and apps including Apple Maps. Contributing is actually easy. One task that anybody can do is to add information like restaurants, stores, parks, churches, libraries, schools, and government buildings. I do wish that OpenStreetMap would make editing a bit easier. You can also get apps for your smartphone to help you map roads. I do wish that Open Street Map would add walking trails, sidewalks, and parks. While Google Maps, Bing Maps, and Nokia Maps are all great resources they are also all controlled by companies. You can not download any of the maps and you can not edit them. OpenStreetMap is open for all to use and to update. This means that local businesses can update their location and opening and closing times as well as add new locations. For small towns, it means that every store and restaurant can be added to the map without waiting for Google or Microsoft.

How to edit OpenStreetMap.

Here is the link to get started as well as a link to some video tutorials.

Wikitravel

Wikitravel is probably the least known of these sites, but it is also the one you could make the biggest impact on. Who knows more about where you live than you do? You will find many of the entries in Wikitravel are just stubs or lacking in detail.  This offers a great opportunity for you to contribute to your local community, as well as the Internet. Another way to help is to use Wikitravel and let others know about the site. The more people that know about Wikitravel, use Wikitravel, and contribute to Wikitravel the better it can get. 

Editing Wikitravel.

Do not put in things like this is the best bbq or pizza restaurant in town since that is just opinion and is better left to review sites. Do include points of interest and useful information for people traveling.

How to edit WikiTravel

Here is a link to a video tutorial for Wikitravel

My Thoughts

I have contributed to each of these websites over the years, I have edited entries on Wikipedia about the North American A-36, added some businesses to OpenStreetMaps, and edited the entry on Port St. Lucie Florida on WikiTravel. The idea behind these sites is "many hands make light work" so pitch in and make the Internet a better place.

Favorite Websites: TuneIn.com

TuneIn Radio

What they have to say.

TuneIn lets you listen to the world’s radio from wherever you are. Whether you love music, sports, news or comedy, TuneIn gives you over 70,000 live radio stations and two million on-demand programs, like podcasts, concerts and interviews. With TuneIn, it is easy to find and discover what you love—from music and news to music festivals and sporting events. Use TuneIn to hear the

world’s radio and be transported to favorite places you’ve been or to where you’ve always wanted to go. 

TuneIn is available for free across 200 different connected platforms, including all smartphones and tablets, smart TVs, consumer electronic devices and connected cars.

What I have to say.
I love this website and the TuneIn Radio mobile app. You can listen to radio stations from all over the world free of charge. It doesn't matter if you just want to listen to your old hometown radio station, check in on your hometown radio station while you are traveling, or listen to a pop radio station in American Samoa, Australia, or Tokyo Japan. Yes I know that radio might seem a bit old fashioned but I actually enjoy radio as long as it is not the homogenized radio so common today. Nothing makes you feel like a part of the community like listening to a small town radio station.

Scorecard

The Rating uses G, PG, PG-13, and R while the other categories use A for the best that I know of,B for good but others might be better,C is average, D below average, and F is just terrible.

• Rating N/A You can listen to radio stations from around the world so their standards depend on the nation in which they are located. 
• Quality A The website is easy to navigate and use.
• Community N/A This kind of website really does not have or needs a community.
• Depth A  TuneIn has over 70,000 radio stations from all over the world.

• Overall A This site does everything you expect and does it well, as do the mobile apps. I consider it a must have mobile app as well as a great website.
•   

My thoughts on TuneIn.

My family used to spend a month each summer in the mountains of North Carolina. At that point in time our lodge could not get TV, which really didn't matter since there was not TV anyway. I got hooked on radio listening to those small town am radio stations. When I was a teenager I used to rock out to WIZD 99 FM while driving to school or to pick up my girlfriend. In college I started to use the local NPR station as my alarm. As a marred man, my wife and I would drive to Texas at Christmas to visit her family, I stayed awake through Mississippi listening to small town radio stations.  TuneIn allows me to travel the world listening to radio stations without spending time or the gas money. So check it out for yourself.

TuneIn Radio

Favorite Websites: Hack A Day.

It is the good kind of hacking... Most of the time.

Hacking does not mean breaking the law. 

Hack A Day is a site dedicated to "Hacking", it covers all kind of fun projects that involve technology and Hacking culture. Some of the projects that Hack A Day has published are...

2D Room Mapping With a Laser and a Webcam

Stop Traffic In This 7-Mode LED Running Jacket

Solar Hot Dog Cooker Does it With Parabolic Mirrors

Hack A Day also posts series, such as Retrotechtacular.

Retrotechtacular: Salvaging a Capsized Ocean Liner

Retrotechtacular: The Genesis of the Transistor

Also, Fail of the Week

Fail of the Week: Reverse Engineering a Wireless Energy Monitor

Hack A Day covers all kinds of projects at all levels of experience. It doesn't matter if you are interested in building a robot or looking for a good science fair project Hack A Day probably has covered it. 

Scorecard
The Rating uses G, PG, PG-13, and R while the other categories use A for the best that I know of,B for good but others might be better,C is average, D below average, and F is just terrible. 

• Rating PG-13 I wish that I could give it a G, but in the past Hack A Day covered some drug use based hacks as well as some that have more sexual content than some people are comfortable with. Honestly the total number of none family friendly posts is under ten but that is enough to keep me from recommending it to everybody. I am hoping that the new owners will go in a more family friendly route. The other reason is many of these Hacks involve soldering and power tools which requires adult supervision. 
• Quality A Hack A Day carefully selects the projects that it posts so they usually include very good documentation. 
• Community C+ The community is not as bad as some, but you can get some rather rude comments from people who do not think a hack is worthy.
• Depth A  Hack A Day has not fear of going deep and most of the instructions are very complete.

• Overall B I would love to give it an A, but the less than generous culture of the commenters and the few drug related hacks keep prevent it. I feel It is still a great site and well worth visiting. 

My thoughts on Hack A Day.

I really enjoy Hack A Day, it is a great educational resource as well as great fun. The one thing that bothers me are the few drug hacks that are on the site. There are only three of those hacks out of hundreds of posts, but they are enough to make schools ban it, company HR departments worry,  and for parents to not want their teens to go to the site. That is a real shame because so many of the posts are just great. I know some people support legalization of some drugs. I am not saying they are right or wrong, but that content is enough to keep Hack A Day to be a website for everybody and that is a shame. I will still read it everyday because I love the projects and as an adult I can decide what is appropriate and what is not. 

Favorite Websites: Voice of America

Voice of America

News sites and networks tend to drive me crazy. They often are very biased and seem to be more interested in number of views than in providing unbiased information. Well surprise!  I have found what I think is a good unbiased news site that is big on facts and short on opinion.

The Voice of America (VOA) started during WWII as a counter to Nazi propaganda. For some reason during World War II, miracle of miracles, the government actually seemed to do things the right way!  VOA to this day has kept to it's mission "to promote freedom and democracy and to enhance understanding through multimedia communication of accurate, objective, and balanced news, information and other programming about America and the world to audiences overseas." 

Voice of America is available on-line and as a mobile app and still has that same high standards that Voice of America has had for decades. The site is pretty and clean and free of ads. The news is balanced, verified, and spin free. I feel that VOA is the BBC of the US, except that almost nobody in the US knows about it. 

Scorecard
The Rating uses G, PG, PG-13, and R while the other categories use A for the best that I know of,B for good but others might be better,C is average, D below average, and F is just terrible. 

• Rating G Voice of America is fine for any age.
• Quality A Voice of America is a professional news service run by professional journalists. 
• Unbiased A That is the goal of Voice of America. It was created with a simple idea at the heart. If you tell the truth, people will trust you. Odds are some will not feel it is unbiased, but you can not make everyone happy. 
• Community N/A Voice of America does not have forums at all. Which is great because let's face it most comments on news sites are pure rubbish.

• Depth A Every bit as good as any news site.

• Overall A I feel that Voice of America is one of those lost gems. It is a great news site if a little bland. The thing is I do not want anyone else to decide how to spice up my news. As Sergeant Friday used to say on Dragnet, "Just the facts".

More about Voice of America.

The wikipedia article about Voice of America http://www.voanews.com/. 

Favorite Websites: Space.com

Space.com

As a big fan of all things techie, Space.com has become one of my favorite sites to check in on every day.  It covers several aspects of space exploration including Astronomy, Tech, Spaceflight, The Search for life, and even entertainment. 

Scorecard
The Rating uses G, PG, PG-13, and R while the other categories use A for the best that I know of,B for good but others might be better,C is average, D below average, and F is just terrible. 

• Rating G Space.com is suitable for the entire family.
• Quality A Space.com is a very reliable source. You will not see things about UFOs or other questionable stores, the images are often stunning, and the articles are well written.
• Unbiased A The site while pro space is willing to give both sides of the story when it comes to manned vs robotic exploration.
• Community C Space.com's community is only average which means you should really skip the comments and stick with the content from Space.com.
• Depth B Space.com articles are at the Popular Science level of depth. That is not bad thing as it makes them very accessible and since this is the internet you can always dive deeper into the subjects you learn about with a simple Google search.
• Overall A Space.com is a great place to go for all your space news.