Link Aggregator - Best of the Best

Forbes.com Best of the Web

Forbes magazine, eh? Isn't that for wealthy, money managers and greedy businessmen? Yeah, maybe. But their collection of links is excellent!

There is a vast difference between having lots and lots of links, and having a collection of well organized links to the best sites in every category. The folks at Forbes have really done their homework. This site links to the best of the best.

Their categories are:
Blogs
Collecting
Education
Health
Investing
Look It Up
Luxe Shopping
Management
Personal Finance and Careers
The Good Life
Travel


Ok, so maybe I could live without the Luxe Shopping category, but the rest seem to be really good collections of links. Each category, breaks down further into subcategories. Even though the categories seem so simple, they claim to have included over 3,000 sites, which qualify because of Content, Design, Speed, Navigation and Customization. Wow!!!

Aggregators like this are great for link scavengers like me. I might be able to get a whole week’s worth of really good links off of this one website. Now, if Christopher Walks only had the time to check them all out, Christopher Walks might be able to put more links up on the Linkjockey website.

If you have suggestions for the Linkjockey, please email them to me.

Over 3 gigs of free mp3 downloads from SXSW

2007 SXSW Showcasing Band MP3s (Torrent)

Click today's link to start downloading over 3 gigabytes of hot new indie music, featuring showcase artists from the 2007 South-by-Southwest art and music festival in Austin Texas.
SXSW is a cool festival with lots of shows, where all kinds of new bands get their big break. It sounds like a load of fun, and I would like to go someday. It runs from March 9 to 18 this year.

The link requires Bit Torrent software to work. If you haven't used Torrents before, you'll be able to download the free software here. And yes, it's completely legal, although some people use Bittorrent for other purposes too.

If you'd rather pick-and-choose songs by band name, try this link instead. 3 gigabytes of mp3s is a LOT!

Movie trailers for Oscar nominees

Apple - Movie Trailers - 79th Academy Awards


After watching the Academy Awards last night, I've heard about some new films that I'd never heard of before, that might be worth checking out. There are also some "maybes".

Here's a list of the winners, and here's the Oscar's environmental web page they talked about.

Today's link is part of Apple's gallery of movie trailers. Apple's site is THE best site to visit to watch the official movie trailers for every film that's out, or is coming out. Yes, the Oscars ant the trailers, it's all just PR for Hollywood, but it looks like they need the help right now.

The LA Times has an article saying that the movie industry might have peaked, which is amazing since it's the most influential and dominant art form of our times.

Best Kids Camp!!!

Camp Artaban

I'm a little late putting up today's post because I've spent the weekend on Gambier Island at Camp Artaban. I've spent the 4 best summers of my life working there, and a few of us were up there this weekend doing some maintenance work around the camp.

Camp Artaban is an Anglican camp, but is open to people of all religions and beliefs. The activities include: climbing, swimming, wharf-jumping, drama, sports, hiking, canoeing, rowing, sailing, crafts, windsurfing, archery and dancing. Artaban has an absolutely gorgeous, natural setting in the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest. During the summer, Camp provides a variety of high-energy, fun and meaningful camp sessions for children and families.

It's one of my favourite places in the entire world.

NHL Trade Deadline

Yep, I'm Canadian and I love hockey.
The 2007 NHL trade deadline is Tuesday, February 27 at 3 pm ET / Noon PT.

Track all the transactions on the following websites:
NHL - News - Yahoo! Sports
TSN : NHL Trade Deadline
Sportsnet - NHL Trades

Hopefully, my beloved Vancouver Canucks will make a fantastic deal, and finally make a run at the Stanley Cup.

The controversial history of Monopoly

Monopolizing History

The world's most popular board game developed differently than most other modern games or sports. Modern games tend to be invented by one single inventor, whereas traditional games have evolved over much longer periods.

Monopoly developed as a combination of evolution and invention, and represents wildly different economic and social points of view. Now, it's seen as a popular American icon, and has been played by over 750 million people, and spun off into countless versions.

Today's link is a review by David Parlett of a new book by Philip E Orbanes, called Monopoly: The World's Most Popular Game - And How It Got That Way. Good reading!

For some additional Monopoly fun:
Play by your own rules.
Learn how to win.
Play live on the net.

Interactive Art History

Timeline of Art History The Metropolitan Museum of Art



The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has created this great interactive gallery online where you can browse the history of art: by period, by timeline and by geography. There are lots of pictures, videos, audio recordings, essays and reading lists.

This could be overwhelming, but the site is an absolute joy to navigate. My only minor complaint is the omission of any Canadian art.

What is outstanding customer service?

Seven steps to remarkable customer service - Joel on Software

Wow!
From the title, it might not seem like a very exciting article, but it is.

This guy, Joel Spasky, has a software company, and these are his tips based on years of experience. Yes, they're most applicable to software and tech companies, but it would be absolutely incredible if more companies were able to provide service like this.

Want some examples?

You have a problem? Our company will fix your problem, and then fix the problem overall to make sure that no one else ever has the same problem.
If the customer did indeed make a mistake, let them save face and don't make them feel like an idiot.
Apologize to the customer. Never get into a fight with them.
Make the customers amazingly happy.

Wow! It seems so straightforward. What's wrong with companies?

Imagine a Samurai Elvis performing the Price is Right theme

"Matsuken Samba" by Matsudaira Ken

The Matsuken Samba is song and danced by a formerly washed-up Japanese samurai soap-opera star, Matsudaira Ken. Man, not only can he croon, but he is amazing at shaking his hips. Ken's got the moves, but you could even learn them too with the instructional video.
(For bonus points, track down the mock-training video by one of the guys from Smap that will teach you all the Matsuken moves)

This is Japanese cheeze at its very best!

Free ecommerce hosting - Shopify.com

Shopify - A shop in minutes, a business for life.

Want to start your own business selling homemade widgets online? Bust out your inner entrepreneur.

Shopify will let you set up your own ecommerce store on their servers for free. It looks really easy to use, but professional! You can control the design, track orders and organize your inventory. Your customers can even pay you over email using Paypal. Shopify makes money with a commision off of your sales. Soon, you'll have customers shopping all over your site, and you'll be a millionaire in no time.

Sorry about the marketing hype-speak. While the Linkjockey hasn't tried it yet and can't vouch for the implementation, this idea is great! I've been thinking about setting up some kind of ecommerce website, and it's pretty encouraging that I don't have to use ebay or pay a web developer to set up just a basic shopping site.