Since the early 1990s, I've been collecting and categorizing web sites
I've found useful. When I published the first version of this web site
all those years ago, that list was the focus of the site. Back then,
everybody on the web seemed to have the same idea. Eventually, some
people took the idea more seriously, and formed companies like Yahoo to commercialize their work. I've kept plugging along with my humble,
eclectic list all these years, and I can't seem to stop collecting. I
hope you find it useful, too.
- 99 Designs: crowdsourced graphic design
- American Science & Surplus
- Ascent Technology, Inc., a software company founded by MIT AI Lab hackers
- Ashford.com, watch-sellers
- Association of Shareware Professionals
- Banking and Investment
- Battle-Tested Solutions: security consulting by Greg Schneider
- Beau Ties Ltd: Bow Ties & Neckties for Tie Connoisseurs
- Big Five Software, the company which published my TRS-80 video game, Weerd, in the early 1980s
- Books
- Bow Tie Club: Makers of the finest silk bow ties since 1994
- Cafe Press: Have T-shirts, etc. made from artwork you provide, then sell them through Cafe Press.
- Custom Ink: Design custom T-shirts, etc. on the web, then have them made.
- Cycorp
- Dale Carnegie: business training classes
- Despair, Inc., makers of de-motivational posters
- eBay
- Edmund Scientific
- Erwin Sattler, a modern maker of mechanical clocks in Munich
- Everything USB
- Financial Engines: Nobel prize-winning economist William F. Sharpe's financial advice company
- G. Scatchard Lamps: handcrafted in Underhill, Vermont
- Gateway 2000
- German Motor Specialist
- Hire A Chef: I haven't tried this, but it sounds terrific.
- House Mouse Designs: stationery, etc. from Vermont with drawings of cute mice getting into mischief. My wife loves House Mouse.
- InterMute, software which filters out Internet ads, etc.
- Inventables, Our Marketplace helps vendors of materials and technologies market their products to people who are looking to solve sourcing problems.
- Jane's Information Group
- L.L. Bean
- Latin Language T-Shirts
- Lightning Source: publishing on demand
- Lulu: Self-publish books, magazines, and other media.
- MacRumors Buyer's Guide
- Microsoft
- Mohler, Nixon, and Williams, CPAs
- Network computers
- NoMachine: who make the NX X compression system
- Novica: buy direct from craftspeople around the world
- Open Market
- Open Table, a nice way to make restaurant reservations
- Oracle Corporation, where I worked from 1993-1996
- Pak-Lite Company: official web site for Pak-Lite LED flashlights
- PayPal.com, which allows you to securely send money to any email user in the U.S.
- Photo Stamps: put your own photos on real stamps
- Photos
- Playful Invention Company, makers of "Pico Cricket," which came out of Mitch Resnick's group's research at the MIT Media Lab
- Qualcomm, makers cell phones, Eudora email software, etc.
- Radio Shack
- Radsoft, an interesting site with many tiny but useful Windows programs
- Shipping
- SlawinskyWest Coast Auctioneers
- Sterling Capital
- Stottler Henke Associates, Inc.: AI consulting for government and industry
- Sylvan Learning Systems
- Trusted Information Systems
- USB Stuff
- Visa
- VMWare, a product that lets you run two operating systems (e.g. Linux and Windows 98) at the same time
- Watercourse Way: hot tubs and massages in Palo Alto, CA
- Xerox PARC(Palo Alto Research Center)
- Yerba Buena Nursery, off Skyline Drive in the San Francisco Bay Area
- ZIP drives