Do you visit the same old Web sites over and over again? If your daily routine consists of checking email, then surfing over to the news and stock quotes, it may be time to spice it up a bit. Take a look at some of the popular websites and see what others are doing with their time on the Internet. Here are a few of the currently popular websites. Each has a unique purpose that you may want to investigate.

Digg  is a news site where visitors submit stories and rate stories that others submit. When you like a story, you give it a thumbs up by "digging it". The stories with the most "diggs" get promoted to the front page. So in effect, the readers themselves become like front page editors. You can submit any story to Digg. If you read an article or story that you like at the Pilot online (www.thepilot.com) or my Compu-KISS website (www.compukiss.com), you can submit it to Digg and watch to see how others like it. This also creates traffic for the website whose article you submit, which is a very good thing for any website.

You Tube  is a website that is all about sharing and enjoying videos. You can watch videos of everything from car accidents to dancing bears to hawks eating their prey. You can watch babies, pets, sports and how to's, as well as political candidates. Some of these videos are professionally created, but most are done by the average man (or woman) on the street. The You Tube website has made it fairly easy to upload videos to the website. Type "compukiss" into the search box at YouTube to view some of the tutorial videos that I have created. Then be sure to look around. You Tube has millions of videos and some of them are viewed millions of times. So there is not doubt that there is something here for everyone.

If you want a real online experience, surf over to Second Life. This is a website of a 3D online digital world which you can easily join. If you haven't tried anything like this before, you will truly be amazed. The environment is stunning and you are able to help create it. You choose an avatar to represent yourself in this virtual world. You can choose everything from your sex to your eye color and clothing. In Second Life you can do just about everything you can do in real life. Second Life even has its own monetary system. Second Life is so realistic that the lines between this virtual word and the real world are blurring. I just heard of a college professor who is using Second Life to teach his class. The Second Life Linden dollars can, in some cases be traded for real dollars. The Second Life website says that "thousands of residents are making part or all of their real life income from their Second Life businesses." Second Life currently has over 9 million residents.

Another popular website is Linkedin.  While this site is business oriented, it is an interesting site for everyone. Linkedin has more than 9 million members who use Linkedin to form partnerships, get jobs, and share information. This is also a great place to find information on business professionals or to reconnect with old business acquaintances. Type "Sandy Berger" into the search box at Linkedin and you will be able to view my bio, business experience, connections, and recommendations. You'll also find Gordon White, our prestigious sports writer on Linkedin, as well as some other influential movers and shakers. It's an interesting site to visit.

On the lighter side, try Flickr  a popular online photo management and photo sharing website. With a Flickr account you can easily post pictures to Flickr where you have your own area for photos. You can share your photos with the world or with a selected set of friends and acquaintances. Flickr has some great organizational features and will even let you plot where your pictures were taken on a map. Flickr also lets friends and family leave you notes directly on your photos. It's all very cool and it's an easy way to share your photos.

All of these websites are free and all are very interesting. Check them out and you will never be bored again!