Internet Moments

The folks who created CharityNavigator.org know that not all charities are created equal. They launched their website in 2002 to help Americans make more informed decisions when they make donations. CharityNavigator.org is an independent organization that “works to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of over 5,400 of America’s largest charities.”   As you are making decisions on how to portion out your next donation you might want to consider spending some time looking at the Top Ten Lists at CharityNavigator.org for some assistance.

BankRate.com is a publically traded company (Nasdaq: RATE) that went online in 1996.  The site is sort of like “consumer reports” for banking.  BankRate.com monitors almost 5,000 financial institutions and provides users with a quick comparison of them all.  They track mortgage rates, CD rates, credit cards, financing college, all kinds of loans and insurance.  It’s a great resource for anyone who needs to research their financial options and it can provide information to anyone no matter how money savy they are.

Some features to check out:  Comparing CD Rates, Comparing Mortgage Rates, Comparing Credit Cards, Comparing Auto Loans, and various Financial Calculators.

SketchUp was introduced by a company called @Last Software in 2000. The creators, Brad Schell and Joe Esch wanted to make a 3D design program “that would allow design professionals to draw the way they want by emulating the feel and freedom of working with pen and paper in a simple and elegant interface…” Wikipedia entry about SketchUp

In 2006 Google aquired @Last Software and currently offers Sketchup as a free download. They also offer a professional version of the software for purchase.

SketchUp has lots of features and is very easy to use. Below is a short video to help you get started with it and here’s a link to download it to your own computer: http://sketchup.google.com/download/index2.html

If you enjoyed the music selection on Pandora then you’ll probably like GrooveShark even more.   It’s simple.  Any song you want, any artist you can think up.  Just type it into their search engine and they’ll find it for you and play it for free. 

GrooveShark was founded in 2006 by Sam Taratino and Josh Greenberg and it’s based out of Gainesville Florida, U.S.A.   It is a service of Escape Media Group and according to Wikipedia (01/04/10) they are streaming 50 to 60 million songs a month and growing at a rate of 2-3% a day.  

Give it a try today, see if you can find your favorite music on http://listen.grooveshark.com/