2012 CyberSelections in Brief

January: Brandirectory  http://brandirectory.com/home
Brandirectory calls itself "the ultimate collection of information for the world's largest brands." It is operated by Brand Finance Plc, founded in 1996 and based in London with offices in 19 other locations throughout the world. Brand Finance provides valuations of companies' brands and other intangible assets for accounting, tax, and legal purposes and for commercial transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, licensing, and joint ventures. Brandirectory's "encyclopedia" of brands includes 500 brands throughout the world.

February: CrunchBase  www.crunchbase.com
Crunchbase is a free database of technology companies, people, and investors. It currently contains records for nearly 80,000 companies, over 100,000 people, and 7,000 financial organizations. CrunchBase is operated by TechCrunch (http://techcrunch.com), a popular technology news company founded in June 2005, which describes itself (on CrunchBase) as "a network of technology-oriented blogs and other web properties," and was acquired by AOL a year ago.

March: Today's Front Pages  www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages
Today's Front Pages is one of several interactive exhibits at the Newseum, a Washington, DC news museum; each day a special gallery lets visitors have a look at up to 80 newspaper front pages from every U.S. state, the District of Columbia, and countries around the world. Today's Front Pages on the Newseum website goes even further. More than 800 newspapers submit their front pages electronically each morning, and by 8:30 AM Eastern time--a half hour before the physical Newseum opens--the pages are available for web browsing.

April: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)  www.itepnet.org/
Founded in 1980, ITEP is the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit, non-partisan organization devoted to research on federal, state, and local tax policy issues. ITEP works with lawmakers, non-governmental organizations, the media, and the public, providing accurate, timely, and straightforward information to promote understanding of the effects of current and proposed tax policies. If you want to see how the presidential hopefuls' tax proposals would affect you, other Americans, and the economy in general, check here.

May: BusinessUSA  http://business.usa.gov
BusinessUSA is a "centralized, one-stop platform" designed to make it "easier than ever for businesses to access services to help them grow and hire." It went live in beta in February, just four months after President Obama challenged government agencies to work together, beyond their individual boundaries, and to "start thinking and acting more like the businesses they serve." Thus much of the information you find here is available at other U.S. government websites; the unique contribution of BusinessUSA is supposed to be that you can find what you need easier and faster.

June: OnlineConversion.com  www.onlineconversion.com
When I went searching for a measurement translation site that is comprehensive but simple to use, I was glad to find OnlineConversion.com, where you can "convert just about anything to anything else" in over 5,000 units of measurement. As globalization shrinks our world, it becomes increasingly impossible to do research, read for pleasure, and compare purchase prices online without making, or checking, conversions between different currencies and units of measure. OnlineConversion.com is a one-stop measurement conversion site that can save time for everyone.

July/August: ClinicalTrials.gov  http://clinicaltrials.gov
ClinicalTrials.gov is a registry and results database of clinical trials supported by federal and private healthcare research facilities and conducted in the United States and around the world. Authorized by federal mandate in 1997 and managed by the National Institutes of Health, the database went live in February 2000 and currently gives information about the purpose, location, and participant requirements of more than 125,000 clinical trials in all 50 US states and nearly 180 countries.

September: Udemy  www.udemy.com
Udemy is an online academic course site that is different; it offers both free and fee-based courses, and in addition to hosting courses through which you can learn, it provides a platform through which you can create a course and make money. Founded in February 2010, Udemy now claims 10 million users and garners 70,000 lecture views each month. Courses are offered in a wide variety of technology, academic, and lifestyle categories; While the majority are free, many charge a fee.

October: GeoNames  www.geonames.org
GeoNames looks plain, unexciting, and bare-bones, but it hides a lot of power behind its dull facade. Founded by Marc Wick, a self-employed software engineer in Switzerland, the site contains over 10 million geographical names from all over the world. GeoNames exists commercially as a web services tool for developers; you may have benefited from it when using sites such as Bing Maps, the U.S. Geological Survey, the BBC, and Nokia. Much of the data that moves below the surface in those sites is available for free at www.geonames.org, and it can be used directly by individuals in a variety of ways.

November/December: ForeSee www.foresee.com
ForeSee, the force behind many of those annoying pop-up polls that often greet you as you approach websites with a specific task in mind, defines itself as a "pioneer in customer experience analytics" and claims to "collect millions of satisfaction survey responses annually." What does it do with the data? Its website offers a supply of research and white papers, webinars and transcripts, and blogs, all of which are free.