The Unlawful Internet Gaming Act, however, included a curious exception: fantasy sports^†. Placing an online bet with a bookie for a particular team to win a sporting event is illegal in the United States. But choosing a group of sports players, earning points based on the performance of said players, and then winning money from other participants who selected a different group of sports players—that is completely, 100% legal.

That loophole in the law has created a cottage industry of websites where you can bet real money on fantasy baseball, football, basketball and other sports. These sites generally don’t offer season long fantasy leagues. Instead, leagues last for a week or, more commonly, for only a single day. That means payouts happen frequently and new participants can join anytime.

There are dozens (perhaps more than a hundred) such fantasy sports betting websites currently operating. Spot Cool Stuff sought out the ones that offer low budget leagues (eg. for $2 or under), live scoring and the ability to easily deposit and withdraw funds via PayPal. Here’s our comparison review of the four best:

#4 Fantasy Sports Live

The unpopular Fantasy Sports Live website has poor selection of leagues to choose from and an uninspiring design. We also dislike how the site forces you to make a deposit when signing up—the three sites below will each let you create an account and take part in free leagues before committing any money. That requirement to deposit funds, combined with the tiny Fantasy Sports Live user base, makes us nervous about the site going under and taking all of their users’ money along with it.

So why did we include the site in this review? The answer, in a word: NASCAR.

Fantasy Sports Live is the best of the small handful of sites that offer NASCAR auto racing fantasy leagues. If you are interested in other sports, keep reading . . .

Bonus for depositing $25: $0
What you’ll win betting $10.80 in a 2 person league: $20 (14% rake of winnings)
Sports offered: MLB (baseball), NBA (basketball), NHL (hockey), NFL (American football), NASCAR (auto racing)
Recommended for: NASCAR fantasy players only

GO TO THE SITE |

#3 Draft Day

Draft Day is considerably less popular than the two sites reviewed below. There’s a practical downside to this—the fewer people there are playing the fewer leagues there are to choose from.

That said, of all the fantasy sports betting websites we looked at, Draft Day easily has the best user interface. The clear navigation and uncluttered look makes using the site pleasant and intuitive. We wish there were a way to search for players by team, but we like how the site will calculate your average remaining salary per position as you are selecting players. Draft Day also takes a smaller percentage of player winnings than do the two websites reviewed below. Altogether, we recommend the site and look forward to the day that it has a larger user base.

Bonus for depositing $25: $5
What you’ll win betting $10 in a 2 person league: $18.40 (16% rake of winnings)
Sports offered: MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL
Recommended for: Occasional players

GO TO THE SITE |

#2 Draftstreet

Draftstreet has a feature no other major fantasy football betting site does: live drafts. Instead of picking players within a salary cap, between 2 and 6 participants take turns selecting players for their teams. For those who find the draft best part of joining a season long fantasy league, the daily live draft fantasy leagues at Draftsteet are superlative; it’s like getting Christmas every day. Following the live scores of drafted leagues (as opposed to salary cap leagues) is more fun too since teams don’t have overlapping players.

Draftstreet also offers some of the best player news of any fantasy sports betting website.

With those superlative features going for it, it is a shame that the look and feel of the Draftsteet website is, well, bad. The poor navigation and busy design makes using the site rather irksome. Also, Draftstreet doesn’t offer any $1 leagues ($2 is the minimum).

Those downsides are not enough to substantially subtract from the pure fun that are the live draft leagues on Draftstreet. But players more interested in salary cap leagues would do better to join Draft Day (above) or Draftstreet (below).

Bonus for depositing $25: $4 (first deposit only)
What you’ll win betting $11 in a 2 person league: $20 (18% rake of winnings)
Sports offered: MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, NCAA college football and basketball, PGA (golf)
Recommended for: Fans of choosing players by live draft (as opposed to choosing against a salary cap).

GO TO THE SITE |

#1 Fanduel

The most popular fantasy sports betting website is also the best. In fact, Fanduel is the best in part because it is the most popular. The site has the largest selection of leagues to choose from. Entry fees range from $1 to $535. The number of participants can be as few as two or number more than a thousand.

With so many leagues to choose from, players have a lot of flexibility in choosing their level of risk and reward. Join a $1 winner-take all league with hundreds of participants and you could win huge for a minimal cost. Or, join a “50/50 league” with 20 people and win the exact same payout no matter where you finish in the top 10.

We’re also fans of Fanduel’s solid website design. Their mobile site is especially well done; Fuelduel is currently the only fantasy sports betting website that’s smartphone friendly. We also like how you can see a small profile of your potential opponent before choosing to go against them in a head-to-head league.

For players who don’t want to bet real money and novice players looking to give fantasy spots betting a try, Fanduel is outstanding. The site offers lots of a surprising variety league that are completely free.

Fanduel does take a slightly higher cut of the winnings than their competitors, though the site runs lots promotions for their existing members, including “reload” bonuses and invitations to join free leagues that pay out real money.

If we were to nitpick, we’d complain that Fanduel’s fantasy baseball teams include only one pitcher. That, in our opinion, gives the pitcher too large of a role of role in a team’s success. We prefer how Draftstreet fantasy baseball teams include four pitchers, including at least one reliever. But that one little point is not nearly enough keep us from considering Fanduel to be the gold standard of fantasy sports betting websites.

Bonus for depositing $25: $10 (first time, though there are several “reload” promotions throughout the year)
What you’ll win betting $10 in a 2 person league: $18 (20% rake of winnings)
Sports offered: MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, NCAA college basketball
Recommended for: Nearly anyone looking for salary cap leagues (as opposed to live draft)

GO TO THE SITE |

^† The stated reason for this exception was that betting on a sports team was a game for luck while betting on an individually chosen group of athletes was a game of “skill.” Spot Cool Stuff doesn’t see it. How does betting on the New England Patriots to win by more than 3 points involve any more or less luck than betting on Tom Brady to throw multiple touchdowns? Our suspicion is that politicians who approved the law were simply fans of fantasy sports themselves and didn’t want to make their hobby illegal.

Related posts:
Best Websites for Discount Caribbean Vacations
6 Cool Running Events in Europe
Charge an iPod with an Onion and Sports Drink
Reviews of the Best Dating Websites

At the moment, only around 50 kilometers (30 miles) of the Amazon River near Manaus, Brazil have been Street View-ified. But even that small fraction of the river’s length was a massive nine-month undertaking that Google embarked on together with the Foundation for a Sustainable Amazon.

A big part of the challenge was that the 360-degree panorama photos required to create a Street View are gathered by a special camera-mounted tricycle known as a Trike. The Trike worked well in areas where there was a road or path. Securely mounting the Trike onto a river boat was more difficult. Then there are the environmental factors to deal with, from the humidity to the frogs jumping onto the camera lens (pic to right).

Altogether, the Trike took over 50,000 panorama photos that Google had to stitch together using sophisticated software.

Google is working on bringing other sections of the river to Google Street View in the future. In the meantime, the best way to get a look for yourself is to take your own Amazon River cruise. Trike optional.

GO TO THE SITE | JOIN US ON TWITTER / FACEBOOK / PINTREST |

Related Posts:
Google Chromebook Review: Acer vs Samsung
Google Earth Carpets
The Blog of Strange and Wonderful Maps
First Google Store Opens in London
A Review of Aqua Expeditions: A Luxury Cruise Along the Amazon River

GO TO THE SITE | JOIN US ON TWITTER / FACEBOOK / PINTREST

• Seniors and Baby Boomers
• Nationalities
• Religions
• Those looking for a fling
• Professions and lifestyle
• Personal interests
• Odd and unusual

Age

Seniors and Baby Boomers are easily the fastest growing demographic active in online dating. Not surprisingly, many niche dating websites have sprung up to serve them. The thing is, no senior dating website has close to as many over-65 users as the mainstream ones do: Match (with 2.5 million single senior profiles), eHarmony (1.1 million senior profiles) and Chemistry (940,000 profiles). For single seniors, we’d suggest signing up with one of those three (read our Match.com vs eHarmony comparison review for more) or Perfect Match (300,000 profiles of people 65 or older).

Perfect Match doesn’t tailor exclusively to seniors. But it does have a user base that skews older, making it good choice for those approaching senior-hood (eg. late 50s and up). Perfect Match uses a personality matching system called Duet that’s
similar to, but less extensive and time consuming than, eHarmony’s. For every profile you can do a “duet analysis” that lays out the ways in which a prospective date’s personality is similar to, and complimentary to, yours. (For better or worse, it does not analyze ways in which your personalities clash). Once you find some one you are interested in, you can write a message or send per-written multiple choice icebreaker questions.

If you must use a site that caters specifically to “mature singles,” then globally we are partial to Senior Friend Finder. If you are in the United States, consider signing up with Senior People Meet. In the United Kingdom, try Mature Dating or The Online Dating Agency.

Nationality

Obviously, there are a lot of dating websites that are based in a particular country. If you are in say, Stockholm, and are looking to meet locals, there are several Sweden-based, Swedish language dating websites (eDarling being a well-designed example). The websites below are geared towards people looking for mates from countries other than the one they reside in:

Africa
African Beauties sets the standard. The site is aimed predominantly at men seeking women currently residing in (but presumably looking to leave) Africa.

Asia
The Friend Finder family of sites has several offerings targeting Asian nationalities. Those include Korean Friend Finder, Indian Friend Finder and Filipino Friend Finder. If those are too specific for you, there’s always the more general Asian Friend Finder.

If you are a western man looking for a your Asian internet-order bride—and, hey, we aren’t judging you—then Orient Brides (aka Asian Beauties) is your best choice.

Russian and Eastern Europe
The Anastasia Dating Service is the largest and best of the websites geared to towards international men finding Eastern European partners.

Western Europe
As with Asia, there are several “friend finders” for European nationalities. Among them: German Friend Finder, French Friend Finder and Italian Friend Finder. Another possibility: Sign up with Match.com and do a local search for people who speak the language of the country you are interested in—Swedish for example. Not all the people who come up in your search will necessarily be from Sweden, but many will.

Religion

On a general population dating site, such as Match.com, users often specify what region they are. But there’s often no way to tell how significant their faith is in their life. If dating a devout follower of a specific faith is important to you, we strongly recommend a niche dating website. People who sign up for a religion-specific site are a self-selecting group who almost without exception have their faith as a focus point in their search for a partner.

Christian
MyRightSomeone and Christian Mingle are the two best christian dating websites. Of the two, we prefer MyRightSomeone. It has the better user interface of the two. We especially like the site’s social networking features, including blogging, chat and a Facebook-like status update.

Big Church is an up-and-coming Christian dating website from the same company behind Perfect Match. It uses the same compatibility matching system that Perfect Match does and is a good alternative to MyRightSomeone if you are looking for a christian dating website that’s less time consuming to use.

Catholic
For whatever reason, relatively few Catholics join dating websites aimed at Christians in general. Instead, they seem to congregate at Catholic Match.

Jewish
JDate is easily the best of Jewish dating websites. We find the user interface is a bit simplistic. Still, your grandmother would approve.

Muslim
There are a surprising number of Muslim dating websites. We tried the five largest and came away thinking that Muslima was best—it has the most features and largest active user base (that seems roughly evenly divided between men and women—a rare thing among Muslim dating websites). The main downside is that users are limited to five photos in their profile.

Note that the Muslim dating websites seem to place a large emphasis on marriage. If you are looking for more of a casual dating experience, a mainstream site might work better for you.

Hindu
Indian Dating isn’t, technically speaking, a Hindu only dating website. But the vast majority of the people on it or Hindu. That said, you’ll find a larger selection of single Hindus at Match.com.

Buddhist
Buddhists might have the inside track on nirvana but their life is suffering when it comes to the earthly realm of dating websites. The best two choices are the badly designed Buddhist Connection or the unpopular Buddhist Dating Service. You are far better off going to Match.com and doing an “advanced search” for “Buddhist”.

No matter what your spiritual leanings, one of the single best books on dating and finding love happens to have a Buddhist angle—If the Buddha Dated: A Handbook for Finding Love on a Spiritual Path

“Loose” Dating

Online dating needn’t be all seriousness, monogamy and marriage proposals. If you’d like spending the night to be optional, if you don’t want to necessarily call her tomorrow, there are a slew of sites that cater to you. Here are four of the best that cater towards people looking for a fun hook-up. We’re listing them in order of most to least mainstream:

Flirt is a site for people who want to do exactly that. It attracts singles (mostly under 35) who aren’t necessarily only looking for a one-night stand, but who aren’t necessarily opposed to one either. It’s also a fun place to interact online without ever meeting in person.

Be Naughty is a popular site that attracts mostly professionals looking to relieve stress and have a good time. Some users make extensive use of BeNaughty’s video chat feature, but the site layout and communications tools are geared towards people who don’t want to spend a lot of time looking for dates.

No Strings Attached promises, and often delivers, “discreet sex and romance for married people.”

Adult Friend Finder is the most popular of these four sites. It is also the most sexual explicit—many of the profiles are very much X-rated.

Professions & Lifestyles

Wealthy
Millionaire Match is the most popular of those dating websites that profess to cater to the rich and fabulous. It is reasonably well divided between rich men and rich women.

Seeking Relationships, on the other hand, has a different niche. It matches rich men (aka “sugar daddies”) with beautiful but not rich women (aka “trophy wives”) in what the site describes as a “win-win relationship.”

Exercise Nuts
Need a partner for the gym as well as the rest of your life? Sportdate will hook you up . . . if you live in the United Kingdom or one of the Scandinavian countries.

Vegetarians
You’ll find many more single vegetarians at a mainstream dating website. But at Veggie Date, the internet’s best exclusively vegetarian dating website, you can focus your search on yoga vegetarians, raw vegans and other specific types of non-mean eaters.

“Smokers”
And we aren’t talking about cigarettes. 420 Dating brings together people who love Cheech and Chong movies and aspire to live cataract-free.

Farmers
Because “city folks just don’t get it”—the “it” being how to milk a cow, perhaps—there’s Farmers Only. Sadly, you can not search by what crops people are farming.

Virgins
Finding your potential partner through We Waited heads off that potentially awkward moment if the date ends up going well. The site has relatively few active users, so you could be waiting for that date for a while.

Goths
The segue hasn’t been invented to transition from virgins to goths. Singles in the later category might find love, per se, at Goth Match. Those who are successful should check out the goth wedding chapel in Las Vegas.

Personal Interests

Apple Fans
Not the fruit but the computer products. In Verona, people divided between Capulets and Montagues. Today, the split is between Mac and PC people. Those looking to date the former should check out Cupidtino—the name’s a takeoff on Cupertino, the California town that is come to the Apple corporation.

Political Junkies
If there are any two groups more opposed to each other than Mac and PC people it might be the members of the two main political parties in the United States. Each has their own niche dating website: Democrat Singles and Conservative Dates. As usual, the reasonable moderates are left out.

Wine Connoisseurs
Grapevine Social is a wonderful site that organizes events that mix dating with wine tasting. Sadly, it only serves the London area.

Pet Owners
Several sites have tried to create a virtual location where pet lovers can hook up. None have really broken though yet; Date My Pet has maybe come closest. Consider doing an “advanced search” on Match.com for pet owners.

Book Lovers
Simultaneously get a date and book suggestions at Alikewise, where singles are matched up based on their reading lists. If your reading list happens to include a lot of Ann Rand, then head directly to The Atlasphere.

Trekkies
Trek Passions is where Star Trek lovers seek out new (single) life online. Yes, there are a few women on this site.

Last, and Perhaps Least

Pirates
Does that parrot on your shoulder always feel like a third wheel when you go out on dates? Give your matey someone to talk to at Pirate Passions. Arrr . . .

People of Above-Average Height
You needn’t be a giant to sign up with Tall Friends, just taller than average and hoping to find a partner who is too. The website is in both German and English and it’s free to post a profile.

Prisoners
Talk about a captive audience for your online dating profile. Inmate (for male prisoners) and Women Behind Bars (for female) features currently incarcerated singles.

Virtual Reality
Look like Brad Pitt. Go on a date with supermodel. And do it all without leaving your home in the online virtual reality fantasy world of Second Life.

#5 Caribbean Way

Caribbean Way lists private homes and multi-bedroom villas available for rent. Think of it as a combination of VRBO and BedandBreakfast.com, but focused exclusively on luxury properties. Along with your rental your get access to a concierge who can cook for you, pre-stock your villa, pick you up at the airport or arrange for tours and activities.

Don’t miss: The selection of private islands. Note that if you rent Necker Island you are required to invite the Spot Cool Stuff staff to come along.

GO TO THE SITE |

#4 Cruise Direct

You can use Cruise Direct to book cruises all over the world, but the site has an especially large selection of Caribbean sailings. In addition to offering discount prices and not charging a booking fee, every reservation comes with a bonus—an on-board credit or extra discount or the like.

Don’t miss: The cabin and deck floor plans.

GO TO THE SITE |

#3 Island Routes

Booking websites are usually about arranging the logistics of travel. But actual travel—the reason why you go and what you’ll remember long after you get back is—is about getting to know your destination and having fun while there. That’s why we love Island Routes. The website finds cool activities in seven Caribbean countries and then offers them at discount prices. Swim with the Dolphins in Jamaica, embark on a seaside scavenger hunt around Turks & Caicos or dive in a submarine off Barbados. (Yes, the sub does have windows.) The activity options on Island Routes are almost universally interesting and less expensive when booked on the website than in-person at your destination.

Don’t miss: The flash sales and special offers

GO TO THE SITE |

#2 Sandals & Beaches

Sandals and Beaches are each a group of Caribbean resorts owned by the same company. Sandals is for adults only. Beaches is for families with children. Both claim to be “luxury included.” That is, not only is food and lodging included in your rate but also drinks, activities and airport transportation.

Spot Cool Stuff was dubious (to say the least) of the “luxury included” claim until we went and inspect several Beaches and Sandals properties for ourselves. They really do make it possible to enjoy a luxurious beach vacation without ever pulling out your wallet. Not only is food included but outstanding gourmet food. Lobster, anyone? Drinks are top shelf brands. Unlimited golfing is included on quality, professional courses. Unlimited scuba is included too. So are concerts, water sports (motorized and not) and excursions to private islands. So are all tips and taxes (which are not insubstantial in most Caribbean countries). For a chill, easy, romantic luxury vacation, there’s no easier and higher-quality way.

Don’t miss: The deals! A stay at a Sandals or Beaches resort is a high-end experience and comes with a correspondingly high-end price. But both brands—especially Sandals—seem to always have special offers, many of which can be combined. Deals include discounts, free nights and/or airfare credits. At the time of writing, Sandals was offering a Companion Flies Free promotion on their US/international website and 35% off plus upgrade promotions on their UK/Europe site.

GO TO THE SITE: SANDALS / BEACHES |

#1 Cheap Caribbean

Cheap Caribbean is the single best website for finding Caribbean travel deals. Even if you don’t plan to book your trip online, the website is well worth a visit for the resort reviews and destination information. But it is the discounted prices on hotels, cruises, vacation packages and all-inclusive resorts that will keep you coming back to the site. All their prices are guaranteed to be the lowest publicly available—find a better one and Cheap Caribbean will match it plus give you a $150 credit.

If your travel plans are flexible, definitely check out Cheap Caribbean’s hot deals page. If it’s your first time booking on the site don’t forget to claim your $50 newbie booking bonus.

Don’t miss: If it rains on a trip you booked through Cheap Caribbean—even for five minutes—email them at 100sunshinecoupon@cheapcaribbean.com. They’ll give you US$100 off on the next vacation you book through them. Really. We’ve done it ourselves.

GO TO THE SITE |

Related posts:
Swimming With Whale Sharks off Isla Holbox, Mexico
The Best Caribbean Beach Bars
Maho Beach, St. Martin: Plane-Spotting Caribbean-Style
A Review of Jade Mountain Resort: The Best Hotel Room View in the Caribbean

Think of it this way: If you were looking for a job, you’d conduct at least part of your search online, no? When shopping for a creative gift, checking out tomorrow’s weather forecast or looking for a used car you’d search online. So why not when looking for a boyfriend or girlfriend?

Meeting mates online is not going mainstream. It is mainstream. Of all the people who got married in the United States in the last year, 1 out of every 6 met online. More than twice as many marriages occurred between people who met on an online dating site than between those who met in bars, clubs and social events combined. And such online dating success spans across demographic groups—targeted niche sites like eHarmony senior online dating have hugely helped singles get back into the dating game later in life.

So, go for it! And start by choosing the online dating site that will work best for you.

There are literally thousands of dating websites to choose from. They break down into roughly two groups: general dating websites, those joined by a relatively large and diverse cross section of people, and niche dating websites, geared towards a specific audience.

You can see our picks for the best niche dating websites clicking to this review. In this post we’ll look at the general websites. Spot Cool Stuff has tried out dozens of them. Below is our description of the ones we like best. Check out the full reviews or, if you are the impatient sort, skip ahead to our conclusions:

Match.com

How it works

Life on Match.com centers around people’s one-page profile. The two most important parts of each profile: the photos and the free form About me and whom I am looking for section. We suggest spending a little extra time on each of those.

After your profile is up you can either wait to be found by potential suitors or, better, be proactive and start browsing for that special someone yourself. Match lets you search by all the obvious criteria (ie. age and location) and some unexpected ones too. Looking for a tall, Dutch-speaking, Catholic? A vegetarian executive who has horses, likes body piercings and holds liberal politics leanings? Match.com can set you up.

Once you find a good prospect, you can write that person through Match.com’s email system. It’s all anonymous—your email will look like it came from YOURMATCHNAME@MATCHTALK.COM. Some Match.com users will make contact through the site in the morning and meet for a date that same evening. Others choose to go through a days-, weeks- or months-long progression of exchanging emails through Match, then progress to writing through their “normal” email addresses and then start talking on the phone before getting to an in-person meeting. There’s no “right” or “wrong” method. The site accommodates whatever speed you feel most comfortable with.

Who uses it

Match is—easily—the largest and most popular online dating service with more than 20 million users worldwide. You’ll find all sorts here: gay and straight, old and young, those looking for serious commitment and those looking for a fling. As a vague generality, the site is most popular with people seeking to exclusively date but not necessarily to get married. That said, more people have gotten married through Match.com than through any other website.

Why we like the website

The unmatched (pun!) size of Match.com’s user base is the site’s huge advantage—the more singles to choose from the more likely you’ll find ones of interest to you.

Not only that, Match has a near 50/50 split between men and women users. Most dating websites skew heavily female.

Finally, we think Match is the most user-friendly among all the dating website.

Price

US$35 per month (or the rough equivalent in your local currency) if you sign up for their month-by-month plan. However, we strongly suggest signing up for their six month plan for $17/month. You’ll probably want more than a month’s worth of time on Match and the six month plan comes with a guarantee—if you haven’t found some one by the end of that time you’ll get another six months for free.

Not incidentally, Spot Cool Stuff has arranged for our users to get a 7 day free trial on Match.com. Alternatively, if you are prepared to sign up today we can save you 20%.

If You Go Onto Match.com . . .

• Instead of writing an email through Match, users have the option of expressing their interest in someone through a wink. Winking at a profile results in Match sending that person an email saying that they’ve been winked at. And it almost never results in an in-person connection. If you find a potential match, forget winking and express your interest in a personalized message.

• Match.com lets you save a search and then get a daily (or weekly, your choice) email of the new profiles that match your criteria. Take advantage of this feature—new people are constantly joining Match. We suggest saving two searches—a specific one with your dream person and a broader one with only your must-have criteria.

• Be sure to fill out as much of your profile as you feel comfortable doing. The more you fill out the more likely others will find you.

eHarmony

How it works

People new to online dating and who have heard of Match.com and eHarmony assume those two sites are pretty much the same. They are not.

Match.com is very open ended—you decide what you write about in your profile, you decide what singles on the site to contact and what you’ll discuss when you do.

eHarmony employs a much more guided (or regimented, depending on your point of view) system. It starts with you filling out a very lengthy questionnaire about yourself and the traits you value in a partner. How quickly do you catch onto new things on a scale of 1 to 7? Plan on dedicating at least 45 minutes and two aspirin to this questionnaire. After you finish you’ll be rewarded with a list of potential partners based on your questionnaire results.

We were, initially, extremely skeptical of this eHarmony matching system. No longer. From our own experience, and from talking with many other eHarmony users, there’s clearly something to eHarmony’s personality profile matching. It really does work. And it is the biggest advantage eHarmony has over Match.com.

Online daters on Match.com tend to seek out the same sorts of people there that they do in in-person social situations. But what if you are single because you are naturally attracted to people incompatible with you? The eHarmony system is excellent at presenting you with singles who maybe aren’t the sort you’d normally interact with, but who there’s reason to believe, could be the perfect partner for you. How cool is that?!

Once you’ve found a potential partner on eHarmony you’d like to contact, the site leads you through a “guided communication” process. This process involves you and your potential match sending each other your answers to eHarmony’s pre-written questions, “revealing” to each other your lists of Must Haves and Can’t Stands and getting advice from eHarmony’s founder, Dr. Neil Clark Warren, based on your personality profiles. Every step along the way is totally voluntary; you can drop out of it and pursue communication with another potential match at any time.

Here’s an example of how the eHarmony guided communication process looks:

Some people really like this “guided communication” process. They feel it breaks the ice and quickly reveals potential compatibility—or incompatibility—without having to dive right into that messy in-person dating thing. Once people go through the eHarmony system and then meet in person they already have a sort of foundation of understanding.

Others (Spot Cool Stuff among them) find value in that messy in-person dating thing and feel that eHarmony’s structured communication process is downright unromantic. If you feel this way don’t be put off from joining. eHarmony offers matches the option of “fast tracking” their potential relationship and skipping all those steps Jessie and Jordan go through in our above example.

Who Uses It

Compared to Match.com, users of eHarmony tend to be a bit older and significantly more inclined towards marriage and long-term relationships. eHarmony operates in the U.S.A, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Currently eHarmony is only for heterosexuals. The founder of eHarmony launched a separate same-sex dating website called Compatible Partners, but it as popular as eHarmony and lacks some of eHarmony’s functionality. For gay and lesbian singles interested in a personality matching dating website we’d suggest Chemistry.com.

Why we like the website

As mentioned above, a personality-matching website tends to steer you towards people who might click with but who you, for whatever reason, wouldn’t choose to contact on your own. Easily, the two largest and best personality-matching dating websites are eHarmony and Chemistry. Spot Cool Stuff debated which those two to feature in this post. Chemestry has the more user-friendly design, a less structured communications process and (it seems) a younger user based. eHarmony has the more comprehensive personality questionnaire and it’s users tend to be more marriage-focused.

Price

The cost per month for eHarmony’s Compatibility Matching System drops significantly as you sign up for longer period of time. One month is $60 (in USD, or the equivalent in your local currency), 3 months for $120 ($40/month), 6 months for $180 ($30/month) or 1 year for $240 ($20/month).

If You Go Join eHarmony . . .

• A lot of your experience with eHarmony will depend on your answers to their personality test when you first join. Set aside a good chunk of quiet time (45 mins to 1 hour) to answer those questions as accurately as you can.

It’s Just Lunch

How it works

Unlike all the other online dating sites that made our cut as the internet’s best, you have no personal profile on It’s Just Lunch. Instead, after you sign up you meet privately with a member of the IJL staff to discuss the sort of person you are looking for. IJL then matches you up for a lunch date (or for drinks after work). IJL works as the intermediary arranging the time and place. All you need do is show up.

Easy.

Who uses it

Virtually every It’s Just Lunch client is an upper-mid level urban professional—account managers, sales people, computer programmers, business consultants and the like.

Check the IJL website to see if they operate in your urban area. Generally, It’s Just Lunch has an office in all the major large U.S. cities, some mid-sized ones and a smattering of other urban centers around the world including Singapore, Toronto and several locations in Australia (Canberra, Byron Bay, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast). At the time of writing, the only European cities with IJL are in Ireland: Belfast, Dublin, Cork and Galway.

Why we like the website

It offers the least time-consuming, most personalized service of any of the websites mentioned in this review. If you are a busy, upper income professional, looking for a similarly busy, upper income professional, I’d Just Lunch is just perfect.

Price

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. And ones arranged through It’s Just Lunch are especially expensive. Exactly how expensive depends on your location and how many dates you sign up for. To be set up on 14 dates IJL generally charges around $1,500.

If You Join It’s Just Lunch . . .

• Be as brutally honest and detailed as you can during your entry interview. We suggest putting together a list of qualities you are looking for divided into Must Have, Nice To Have and In My Dream World categories. Write the list in advance so you don’t forget any of your criteria during your interview and to be certain that you and your IJL account rep are on the same page (literally).

Lavalife

How it works

Lavalife is two dating sites in one: When you register you choose which to part to join: relationship or intimacy. You can join both but that requires filling out two profiles, with two different user names, two sets of photos, etc.

If you are the sort who would sign up for a relationship—that is, if you seek someone to date monogamously for some period of time longer than, say, a weekend—then Lavalife is not the best online dating site for you. You’d be much, much better off on Match.com.

However, Lavalife is perhaps the best site we know of for people looking for a fling. All you do is write a short profile description (it has to be more than 100 characters long, and many people don’t go much beyond that), select among a list of rather adult list of activities you are interesting in “exploring” and then off you go. Unlike with the winks on Match.com, people on Lavalife do seem to hook up through sending each other smiles. The site also has a good instant messenger system.

The people who have the most success on Lavalife—and we don’t think this will come as a shock to you—are those who post the most alluring photos of themselves.

Who uses it

Users on Lavalife tend to skew younger (eg. under 32) and the majority are looking for a physical encounter, not a committed relationship. Lavalife operates in the United States, Canada (both in English and French) and Australia.

Why we like the website

Though not Spot Cool Stuff proverbial up for tea, we like how Lavalife makes no apologies for exactly what it is. The site is also relatively user friendly.

Price

There are two packages: $30 for one month or (the better value) $57 for three months. No need to decide right away—you get a week of full functionality free through Spot Cool Stuff.

If You Join Lavalife . . .

• Almost all the profile descriptions on Lavalife are exceptionally bland. Put a little extra time into yours, insert a bit of wit, surprise with a spark of creativity and you’ll really stand out from the crowd.

Zoosk, OK Cupid & Free Dating Websites

In our original version of this review we didn’t include any free dating websites. And we got a lot of comments—some of which are published below—bemoaning that fact. Other supported our choice.

The reasons no free dating websites made our “best of” list are fivefold:

First, sub-par useability. With the exception of OK Cupid, none of the free dating websites we tried out (and we tried out a bunch) had a very friendly user interface.

Second, relatively small active user base. No free site had as many actively engaged people to choose from as does Match or eHarmony (or Chemistry or some of the other pay sites, for that matter). Also, singles on free websites tend to be predominantly female—though we suppose that’s no a downside for those seeking single women.

Third, safety. The overwhelming, vast majority of people on dating websites (like the overwhelming, vast majority of people everywhere) are good and decent. Of the very few people who post spoof profiles or are on dating websites for some nefarious purpose, most are on free websites—because they don’t want to leave the identifying information of a credit card.

Fourth, signing up for a free website tends to result in being sent lots of spam. Because those sites have to make their money somehow.

But our fifth reason is by far the largest: Users of pay websites tend to be more active and more committed to online dating than those on free sites. Many people on free dating sites post their profile and are never heard from again. People who are paying for a site tend to take the time to use it.

With all that said, the two best free dating websites we found were Zoosk and OK Cupid.

Zoosk has a communications process similar to Match.com, and attracts a similar (though less-well-off) demographic.

OK Cupid is a personality test driven site, à la eHarmony or Chemistry.com. Unlike most other free dating websites, OK Cupid is largely free of ads.

And the Best Online Dating Website Is . .

. . . whichever of the above four sites fits your circumstances best.

Match.com will be the best website for the plurality of people reading these words. If you’ve studied this entire article and still aren’t sure which site to join, then Match should almost certainly be your choice. Match has the largest—and most diverse—group of users. It is also the best value among the dating sites and comes with six-month success guarantee.

That said, you may well be one of those for whom Match.com is not optimal:

eHarmony is the best online dating site if you seek a relationship that will lead to marriage. eHarmony users are, generally speaking, looking for longer term relationships than are the users of the other three sites reviewed here. We are also fans of eHarmony’s Compatibility Matching System. Some people are put off by eHarmony’s regimented communication rules. If you are one of those, consider Chemistry.com instead.

It’s Just Lunch is expensive but well worthwhile if you live in one of the urban areas they serve and if you are looking to date upper-mid level executive types. IJL is also the least time consuming of the online dating sites reviewed here—they arrange all your dates for you.

Lavalife is the site for you if you are looking for a fling. Simple as that.

A Final Thought . . .

Years ago, one of us here at Spot Cool Stuff (who will remain anonymous) went out on an online-arranged date with a woman we’ll call Jane. All the email interaction with Jane was great. So we agreed to meet for lunch, at which point Jane was promptly revealed to be planet’s most apathetic person.

Our conversation started badly and deteriorated from there. You know you are in for a painful first date when “What’s your favorite food?” is one of the discussion topics. And when it generates no discussion:

SCS: So . . . um . . . what’s your favorite food?

JANE: Food’s okay.

SCS: I mean, what kinds of food do you like?

JANE: I wouldn’t eat if I didn’t have to.

SCS: Well, what do you tend to cook for yourself at home?

JANE: You know, stuff.

SCS: Stuff?

JANE: Yeah, like when I’m bored. Then I’ll cook things, mostly.

Things mostly?! There was a great temptation, resisted, to ask about the non-things Jane was eating. Instead, we trudged through 40 minutes of conversation along the lines of the above snippet and then bolted from the lunch restaurant as quickly as possible.

Almost every veteran of online dating has bad date stories. And almost every one has met good people too, people who have gone on to at least become friends. Many, many people form intimate relationships through online dating. And many form marriages. For some, it doesn’t work at all.

There is some extent to which online dating is a skill, an activity that can be done better with practice. But there’s also an extent that it is random.

Whatever online dating site you decide to use, we urge you to go for it! And to keep at it.

Please, feel free to share your online dating experiences in our comments section. Or to ask questions.

Good luck. We wish you romance in your future.

MATCH USA & CANADA / UK & INT’L | eHARMONY | IT’S JUST LUNCH | LAVALIFE

updated: 10 Dec 2011

Turns out, that old iPhone is worth some money. There are dozens of websites through which you can sell old electronics. And not only iPhones, but MP3 players, calculators, gaming consoles, computers—both desk and laptop—external disk drives, cameras and camera lenses, printers, eBook readers, DVD players and more.

Once bought, your item will either be refurbished or recycled. So it’s a win-win. You get money for something you won’t use anymore anyway. And the planet gets one less toxic piece of a landfill.

After researching all the used electronics buying services we could find, Spot Cool Stuff found four that we can especially recommend. Here they are, in order of preference:

Note: The prices listed below are for a working 32GB Apple iPhone 3GS with a few small-ish scratches on the front and many more in back. Prices seem to fluctuate quite a bit. All the websites reviewed here will pay for your shipping costs but are based in the United States. In fact, for all but one you must be in the US to sell them your gadgets.

Gazelle

Gazelle didn’t offer us the absolute highest price for our used iPhone. Yet we rank them highest amongst the used electronics buyers we contacted. What gives?

Turns out, once you start looking at the fine print, Gazelle offers three advantages to the competitors:

1) Price certainty. Every other site we looked at made a distinction between a used iPhone that was in “good” shape versus one that was “fair.” The difference seemed very subjective and nitpicky yet the price difference could be substantial. Gazelle was the only site to offer one price for basically all iPhones—broken or “flawless” ones being the only exception.

2) Shipping ease. Gazelle, like most other used electronics buyers, offers free shipping. But Gazelle is the only to give an option of FedEx (which is faster) or the U.S. postal service (which might be more convenient). Gazelle is also the only site we found that will ship free packaging in which to send your gadget (though, obviously, that takes longer than using your own box).

3) Customer service. Gazelle’s is superlative. The company is excellent about sending updates throughout the sales process.

Add to that a 5% bonus if you choose to accept your payment in the form of an Amazon gift card, and a huge database of electronics Gazelle will purchase, and you have a Spot Cool Stuff favorite cool website.

Price offered: $141 (or $148.05 if paid via an Amazon.com gift card)
Pay methods: PayPal, check, Amazon gift card (with 5% bonus)
Pays within: 1 week

GO TO THE SITE |

eBay InstantSale

On eBay you can sell old electronics to the general public through an auction (in the same way you can sell on old vase or baseball cards and the like). Or you can sell via eBay’s InstantSale site, on which eBay connects you with the third party willing to pay the most for whatever old gadget you are trying to sell.

When shopping around our old 32GB iPhone 3GS, it was through InstantSale that we got the highest offer: $149. But there was a catch. To get that price our iPhone has to be in good condition, good being described as “minor scratches without scuffs and/or dents.” If our iPhone is deemed to only be in fair condition the offered price plummets to $72. And the only difference between a “good” and “fair” condition iPhone is whether those scratches were “minor” or not. That seems very difficult to judge in advance. How do you know what nicks qualify as a dent?

To use InstantSale you must have both an eBay ID and a PayPal account.

Price offered for “good” condition / for “fair” condition: $149.25 / $72
Pay methods: PayPal
Pays within: 5 business days

GO TO THE SITE |

NextWorth

Our offer from NextWorth almost matched that from InstantSale (above). But once again there’s a fine line between what counts as “good” condition and what counts as “fair.” NextWorth’s “fair” condition offer, while much higher than InstantSale’s, was lower than Gazelle’s.

NextWorth also took longer to pay than any other website: 10 business days (eg. 2 weeks). But there’s a way around that. The website will let you trade your gadget in person—and get paid instantly—at a participating Target retail store.

Price offered for “good” condition / for “fair” condition: $145 / $125
Pay methods: PayPal account, Target gift card
Pays within: 10 business days

GO TO THE SITE |

YouRenew

YouRenew had one of the lowest offers for our old iPhone. But the site has an advantage over the other three included in this review: It is the only one to accept items from outside of the United States. (Though customers have to pay for international shipping themselves). We also like YouRenew’s strong environmental commitment. For every product you sell through YouRenew you can choose to give towards domestic renewable energy production or towards the cost of planting a new tree.

Though Spot Cool Stuff isn’t in a position to independently variety this, YouRenew also seems to have the strongest eco-friendly bent of the websites in this review.

Price offered for “good” condition / for “fair” condition: $115 / $107
Pay methods: PayPal, check
Pays within: “a few days”

GO TO THE SITE |

Have you sold a used gadget through a website? Share your experience in comment, below:

Word clouds (also sometimes called tag clouds or weighted clouds) are visual representations text data that display frequently used words or phrases. The larger the word or phrase in a word cloud that word appears in the source.

Some websites use world clouds as a means to show what content they have. Some news outlets use world clouds to analyze a speech or political debate. And now you can make your own word cloud using this cool website: Wordle.

There are three ways to create Wordle word clouds.

The first is to type (or cut & paste) the text you want word clouded (if that’s the verb) into a field on the website. For instance, here’s a word cloud of the most common answers found in New York Times crossword puzzles:

Second, you can word cloud the text on an existing web page. Turn an RSS feed into a word cloud, too. Here’s what the site came up when we submitted the feed from our technology review blog:

(Immediately it is clear that we’ve been writing about the recently released iPhone).

Third (and somewhat randomly) you can enter a del.icio.us user name to see their tags word clouded. (We would have liked to see the option of word clouding some one’s tweets instead.)

Once you create a word cloud with Wordle, you’ll have several options for altering the fonts and colors. You can also have Wordle automatically remove common words and orientate the text horizontally, vertically, both or “any which way.” One thing you can’t do is select where a word appears within the cloud—we wish there were a way to drag words to a particular location.

Wordle is great fun to play around with. And the price for using the site is right: free.

GO TO THE SITE | JOIN US ON TWITTER / FACEBOOK

Related posts:
8 Unusual Online Dictionaries
Design Inspiration from Colour Lovers
The Cool Kindle Fire and Kindle Touch

Is owning a home economically wise?

What animals can you have sex with in Lebanon?

There are lots of ways to answer popular questions such as those. Among them, our favorite might be in the form of an infographic. Infographics mix words with graphic designs to depict a data set in a fun, compelling, visual manner. And there’s no better place on the web to find infographics than the cool website Visula.ly.

Several sites, including Spot Cool Stuff, will occasionally publish infographics. But Visua.ly publishes virtually nothing but infographics.

Visual.ly partners with content providers such as CNN and The Wall Street Journal to produce infographics. What’s really cool is that anyone can upload their own infographic for world to see. And, after Visual.ly Labs opens, the website will even help you create your own infographics.

Of those infographics currently on the website, it isn’t surprising that many deal with web-related issues, like the Class of 2011 Social Media Yearbook. Other infographics are topical, like this one about Saudi women (sort-of) gaining the vote. Still others are informative—Why Startups Fail, for instance. Our favorites, though, combine information with a strong sense of humor. Check out this flow chart for making a horror movie.

We are still waiting on the infographic that explains the qualities that make for a good infographic. If anyone ever makes such a thing, Visual.ly is where you’ll find it.

GO TO THE SITE | iPHONE APPs | JOIN US ON TWITTER / FACEBOOK |

Some infographics on Spot Cool Stuff:
What Are Websites Made Of?
Mac vs PC Users
Infographic: How a Father’s Music Influences His Kids

Click to see full size on Visual.ly: