Whats Cool On the Web
At Zeekee we are self proclaimed marketing, technology, and all around “cool stuff” buffs. This makes sense considering what we do all day and how we strive to always help our customers with the latest technologies, ideas, and marketing techniques.
Internally we have a contest where every Monday the entire Zeekee crew brings something new, fun, or interesting from the internet to the table for our production meeting. These submissions are typically unusual ideas or new technologies from the web that we feel would be useful or helpful in some form or fashion in our daily quest to better reach a wider audience with each site we build.
Since we at Zeekee are always expanding our horizons and searching for the latest and greatest ideas to pass along to our clients we’d like to open this contest up to everyone. So, in an unprecedented move, we’re doing just that! Fill out this form with your information, and let us know what your submission is. Every Monday we will vote and post the winner, as well as any close runners up. And, as if a good challenge weren’t enough, we’re offering Starbucks Gift Cards to the winners. But bring your A Game because the Zeekee Crew is hard to beat!
Previous Winners
www.brandsoftheworld.com - This is for all the designers and laypeople, who might need a better version of a national or international logo. If I had a nickel for every file that I asked for in a vector format and got something else I would be rich. Check out this site for a vector based file for a huge number of logos.
Submitted by Mark
www.longtailvideo.com - The JW FLV Player is the Internet’s most popular and flexible media player. It supports playback of any format the Adobe Flash Player can handle. It also supports a wide range of settings and customization setting.
Submitted by Doug
www.myphotoshopbrushes.com – For those of you who are designers out there this choice will make a lot of sense. If you aren’t a huge Photoshop fan like everyone in the Zeekee office, well… move along, move along. This week we present to you Alana’s masterpiece winner: www.myphotoshopbrushes.com. The right tools make a job easy, and we like having the right tools.
Submitted by Alana
www.cyclo.ps – Stock photography is the 8th wonder of the marketing world. Pictures of everything at your fingertips. But with so many pictures, how can you sort through all the sites and find the right one? Anwer: cyclo.ps. One site… one search… hundreds of thousands of stock images to choose from. Have a look, but don’t blame us if you waste half your day there!
Submitted by Doug
www.litmusapp.com – Curious what a website would look like in an OLD browser? Well, probably not so much if you do something other than web development for a living. Fortunately for us, though, we have litmusapp.com! We can simulate different browsers without actually having to have a machine in the office with Internet Explorer 2.0 installed on it. (Seriously, Internet Explorer 2.0? It’s time to upgrade people, 1995 has come and gone!)
Submitted by Doug
www.toptenreviews.com – Ever wanted to see review of the top 10 products in their respective class? Well now you can. Top Ten Reviews takes all of the things you want to buy, then compares them side by side in a Top Ten Review. Pretty handy for the Holiday Seasons.
Submitted by Dennis
www.jiwire.com – Ever been somewhere and wondered “OK, where is the nearest free wi-fi hotspot that I can hook up to?” Well wonder no more. If you’re smart you can look it up before you go, and if you have a Blackberry, iPhone, or similar device you can head over to www.jiwire.com and quickly and easily find a hotspot with your name written all over it.
Submitted by Todd
www.pandora.com – This is what sparked the entire What’s Cool on the Web contest. Online radio taken to the next level, it learns what you like and don’t like and tailors the songs to your tastes based on similarities in artists, other users feedback, music qualities etc. It’s the Music Genome Project… and it’s pretty cool.
Submitted by David G.
www.spammeltdown.com – No Spamburger Hamburgers here. This site means business… email marketing business. Check it out to see a collection of email marketing specimens from some of the biggest names across the US. And while you’re at it, keep in mind that Zeekee can help you with all of your email marketing!
Submitted by Morgan
www.google.com/chrome - A new browser with a TON of potential. Unless you’re a software engineer or nerds like us, the technical aspect of it would fry most of your brain cells. But take our word for it, once they get all the bugs worked out Google Chrome could give Internet Explorer and Firefox a run for their money…. Figuratively speaking of course, since it’s free.
Submitted by Kassady
www.thewhalehunt.org – A lifetime of photos taken over several days. This site explores a new, creative method for expansive photo galleries.
Submitted by Morgan
www.ustream.tv – Live video from every corner of the net. You want to find a live broadcast? Chances are it’s here! Want to broadcast live to the world how many times you can say “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood” in a row? Now’s your chance!
Submitted by Doug
www.savemyass.com – Horrible design, brilliant idea. This service randomly schedules to send your wife or girlfriend flowers, or specifically pick an important date and have them show up on time. No more forgetting birthdays or anniversaries! Even better, there’s a PANIC button that is sure to get you out of any jam! These guys have a great interactive strategy.
Submitted by Todd
www.oldversions.com – Wish you hadn’t updated to the “latest and greatest version” of something? Wondered “What was I thinking, I wish I could go back!” Well, other than getting back the old version of Facebook, we can help you out. Just follow that link and download the old version of just about anything! (Although we recommend staying away from Internet Explorer 1.0.)
Submitted by Matt
www.bugmenot.com – We found this little gem to be extremely helpful. All those times you wanted to read an article but have to sign up for your “free account” only to be spammed once you give a real address have probably made you gun-shy about giving it out to anyone. Well here’s a site that gives randomly generated passwords to get into a log of free websites! Fantastic for using on sites like the NY Times, Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune and more! Speaking of Spam, we’ll take this opportunity to plug our own spam filtering software, Filterlabs.
Submitted by Alana
www.cooliris.com – Tired of dealing with different photo galleries? Sick of these lame “10 pictures per page?” Get Cool Iris and browse any gallery, from photos on your favorite site to YouTube videos, in one of the coolest browser applications we’ve seen yet! Free, easy to install, easy to use, and did we mention free? Check it out and see why we're excited.
Submitted by Dave G.
Honorable Mentions
www.rss-to-javascript.com – We live in a tech world where things that make our lives easier are DEFINITELY cool. Here’s a little site designed to take your rss feed and transfer it over to javascript. To you, it might not mean much. To us, it’s about like sliced bread!
Submitted by Alana
www.searchenginerapbattle.com – In the battle for SEO it was bound to happen, search engine meet 8 Mile. In no way should this site ever win anything… ever. But we all laughed so hard that it HAD to receive an honorable mention. There’s no describing it, you just have to watch. We’re not responsible if you spit coffee on your keyboard.
Submitted by Todd
www.php.net – It’s a programmer thing… but if you’re ever curious about how custom back end databases run off of php and want to jump in on some of our Monday morning discussions, then we recommend brushing up on your dynamic coding skills here. Otherwise it might be best to leave the application development to us.
Submitted by Matt
www.digg.com – You dig it? We dig it. This site lets the world know what’s cool… or at least what other people think is cool. Keep your eyes peeled for the “Digg” button on thousands of websites and blogs across the net. Want one on your website? We can help.. check out our social media page.
Submitted by Doug