Time-Wasting Web Sites 21-30
21. Twitterfall
Yeah, yeah--everyone spends too much time on Twitter. But Twitterfall offers a new way to connect with your fellow tweeters and discover interesting conversations. Just type in the term of your choice or select an option from the list of current hot trends, and Twitterfall will start dropping in related updates, one by one. You can control how quickly the tweets fall, and you can stipulate any number of combined terms that the tweets must include.
For all of Twitter's strengths, it seems to attract an inordinate number of tools whose tweets make you cringe. At Tweeting Too Hard, you can browse through Twitter's most "self-important tweets," voting up the worst offenders with sarcastic "back pats" as you go.
23. Lunchtimers
Cast a spell on your productivity with this virtual magnetic message board. Join other people in shifting big bright plastic-looking letters around, like the ones on your parents' refrigerator when you were a kid, or draw on a collective scratchpad to see what comes out.
24. GraphJam
GraphJam gives humor a statistical edge by inviting users to create funny graphs or charts that illustrate various aspects of life. One recent submission attempted to break down the content of Yahoo Answers (65 percent material for FailBlog; 25 percent spam; 10 percent legitimate questions). GraphJam makes it a cinch to build your own satirical analyses; and with in-site voting and embed codes a-plenty, you'll have no shortage of time-wasting toys.
25. Songza
Search for songs across the Web and play them to your heart's content at Songza. The site finds both audio and video files from multiple sources, and then allows you to create playlists and share them via Facebook or Twitter.
26. iMeem
Video isn't its specialty, but iMeem excels at tracking down the music tracks you want. Find and stream your favorite tunes and save them to custom playlists. A quick caution: You do have to create a free account to gain access to the site's full functionality.
27. Patently Silly
Hello, sir or madam, may I interest you in a retractable table top for your toilet today? That's just one of many wacky inventions featured on Patently Silly, which displays some of America's most unusual patents.
Family photos are always awkward, but some go beyond the typical intergenerational tension and tiptoe into disquieting new territory. AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com pursues the mission of finding and flaunting the most unbearably awkward images from real photo albums submitted by real users.
So what constitutes awkward? Oh, I don't know...maybe having a medium-size marsupial on your arm, hovering near the back of a child's head and eying his tousled hair as potential nesting material? Yeah. And you thought your sister's braces were bad.
If only you could find out what all those college girls were constantly texting about. Oh, wait--you can. Texts From Last Night collects the most insane (and allegedly real) late-night texts from users, shame included. You can imagine the kind of language and subject matter involved, so click through at your own risk.
30. Truu Confessions
For slightly less succinct (and usually less salacious) confessions, surf over to Truu Confessions. There, people of all ages anonymously submit their deepest secrets and await your reactions.
Next: PostSecret and nine other tasty tidbits