December 17, 2008 Vol. 2, Issue 24

If you’re like us, you’ve had it up to “here” with reading newsletters with titles like “Looking Back at 2008″ and “Gloomy Outlook for 2009.” Call us crazy (you might already), but we are unwilling to be negative. We see great opportunities for 2009 and we prefer to look forward rather than back. We believe that positive thinking and using all available resources to their fullest are the keys to success in today’s challenging business climate.

So learn something new rather than dwell on the past. And use us for your research for drumming up new business or improving your internal efforts! (Was that subtle?)

Improve your Twitter life.

Twellow.com is a great way to find new people to follow on Twitter. You can search for an individual or a someone with a category of knowledge you may need — like accounting, biotechnology, law, technology, or a chef to make your holiday dinner…

And while you’re in Twitter-land, set up Twitter Alerts at TweetBeep.

Dig it.

Digg.com is still the the largest and most popular social news website on the internet. You can find out what everyone is reading and then use that information to target your marketing efforts. It’s a great way to keep up on the trends — like future web trends from Read, Write, Web.

So what do you know about that website, Gus?

Want to find out a lot about a site? Quickly? Get to Quarkbase. You’ll find traffic statistics, technical information and breakdown of information from the site. Also find out how many times it’s been bookmarked at De.licio.us or Digg or Reddit or StumbleUpon, the number of references on Wikipedia or Yahoo! Answers, number of blog reactions from Technorati, and more. Phew. You get the picture.

Take a break from work this weekend. Cook!

With all the preparing and eating and eating and eating that gets done this time of year, we’re definitely thankful for 100 useful search engines for chefs, cooks, and food lovers. From recipes and ethnic foods to restaurants and local farmers markets to wine and beer — you can find everything a true foodie’s heart desires. Check out this Pumpkin Ravioli recipe that Wendy made for Thanksgiving. (Andrew made the filling, if truth be told.) Everyone loved it!

Best wishes from our research-y team for a wonderful holiday season. See y’all in 2009.