Expanding on the Top 10 Musician Resources Lists, we come to one of the most important questions of every musician: How do you sell your music online?

For years, major labels have held a monopoly over the traditional distribution channels. Now any artist can use the Internet to distribute their music through the same channels. And more importantly, you don’t have to give up money from each and every sale of your music. You don’t have to enter into exclusive deals or sign binding contracts. You don’t have to give up your rights and the ownership of your own music to some other company just to gain access to music stores.

Here are the five best web sites through which you can sell your music.  Check them out.

1. CD Baby

   CD Baby is the largest online distributor of independent music. It began as a garage startup in 1997 and has grown to serve more than 2.2 million customers worldwide. Artists get paid within a week of making a sale, and until now more than $160 million was paid directly to the artists.

   As a member, you can sell your CDs and MP3s in the world’s most popular music stores, both online and offline. CD Baby makes your music available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, CDBaby.com, Facebook, Spotify, and dozens of the most popular music sites. It also lets you sell your CDs worldwide and make them available for special order sale in over 2,500 brick-and-mortar retail stores. You can even sell vinyl on CDBaby.com.
   
   CD Baby offers a handy Music Store Widget, so you can sell your music directly to your fans wherever they follow you online. From CD manufacturing to web hosting and podcasts, CD Baby offers a big assortment of artist services.

2. TuneCore

   If you don’t know TuneCore, you should definitely check it out. It is a marketplace for digital music and video distribution, and its success lies in keeping things simple. TuneCore doesn’t ask for “membership,” it doesn’t have minimums or maximums, and it doesn’t insist on exclusivity. It simply provides artists with valuable information and resources.

   

   With TuneCore you can:

   • Get digital distribution with all the online retailers non-exclusively and without giving up any of your rights, royalties or income streams.
   • Place your music and items on the shelves of retailers everywhere.
   • Have the freedom to pick and choose where and how your music is made available.
   • Get the money generated from the sale of your music the moment it becomes available.
   • Print promotional material, from buttons to posters to t-shirts.
   • Produce top-quality audio CDs with full high quality art in ultra-small batches and ship them wherever needed.
   • Get all the money from around the world owed to you, including money you might not have otherwise collected due to copyright laws, international tariffs or regulations of other countries.

3. The Orchard

   Founded in 1997, The Orchard provides an innovative and comprehensive sales and marketing platform for musicians. Operating in more than 20 global markets, with over 2,500 labels from over 50 countries and thousands of artists representing every music genre, The Orchard is without a doubt a big player in the independent music and video distribution.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

   If you go with The Orchard, your release will be registered with All Music Guide, Muze and Soundscan, and encoded to meet the specific requirements of each digital music service and retail outlet, thus optimizing it for mass exposure. The Orchard’s distribution agreement is non-exclusive and lets you retain full ownership and rights to your recordings.

4. IODA

   IODA (Independent Online Distribution Alliance) is one of the longest established digital music aggregators with a huge distribution network and an impressive list of services. Founded in 2003, it has since built a catalog of nearly two million tracks that is licensed to more than 400 digital stores worldwide.

   

   IODA‘s catalog represents a diverse range of music from over 50 countries, including rock, electronic, hip-hop, metal, punk, indie, world, latin, jazz and classical. IODA‘s distribution network includes all major digital music services like iTunes®, Amazon MP3 and MySpace Music, and mobile carriers and outlets such as Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Nokia.

5. SongCast

   SongCast offers music distribution, but also a variety of other useful tools for promoting your music online. Their distribution service covers all major digital stores such as iTunes, AmazonMP3, Google Music, Spotify, Rhapsody, Emusic, and MediaNet and you’ll have access to all of their respective international stores like iTunes Europe, Amazon UK, etc.

   

   SongCast provides monthly accounting and royalty payments, along with world class artist & label support. It also allows musicians to create their own profile where they can display photos, list show times, and provide links to buy their music. Although SongCast is probably not the cheapest solution available (it will run you $5.99 per month plus an initial $25 set up fee), it is well worth considering since you will never have to pay them any commission for sales after that.

   Watch this short tutorial video to understand better how SongCast works.

 

Have you ever wanted to make your own social network? It is probably much easier than you think. All you need to know is where to look.  Whether you want to start a dating site or a collaboration community, chances are that the tools you need are already out there. Why pay a lot of money to web developers to make a costly web application from scratch, when you can use and customize the social networking scripts that have proven to work well?

Listed here are the best solutions for inexpensive web development for online communities and social networks available today. Take a look, see which one of these sites best suits your needs, and start building your very own social network today!

1. Ning

   Anyone looking over the options for social networking development will quickly realize that Ning is the king. Even though the company stopped offering free products since April 2010, everything indicates that Ning still supports the largest number of sites.

   Basically, Ning incorporates a number of separately available technologies in a single unified, hosted, user managed platform. It integrates a blog, wiki, forum, photo/video gallery, “latest activity” micro feed, events calendar and member manager. Extended functionality allows you to add widgets, form sub groups and organize projects. Ning’s interface is user-friendly on both member and administrator end. There are many ways in which you can fine tune the look and feel of your site.

   Ning offers a solid product that provides most of the features a social network site should have. If what you need is the most basic of sites, then Ning’s lowest tier may be a good option. However, if you require more advanced features, Ning does not come cheap. there are still plenty of free or less expensive options out there.
   

2. Elgg

   Elgg is a free, open source CMS that has been online sine 2004. Over the years, the community has grown and now boasts a rather active set of users. With a plugin repository of over 1000 available plugins and a huge selection of themes, Elgg has quickly become the go to CMS for open source social networking.

   Similar to Drupal in that it is more of a content management framework than a CMS, Elgg provides the foundation to build a powerful social networking  website and you get to customize it by adding modules and setting up plugins. At first Elgg can seem very basic, but the real power of the system comes from the ways it can be extended and built upon. You decide what will be added, how it will be configured and as you add the individual plugins, the system begins to take on the form of full fledged social networking CMS.

3. Grou.ps

   Grou.ps is a big player among social network providers. If you have a complex project and require special additional plugins, you will find that Grou.ps have covered pretty much every feature you might desire in a social network. Their system is robust and functional, interface is user friendly and they provide good customer support.

   Free account gives you 100MB of storage, 500MB bandwidth and is limited to 25 members. If you want more options, there are different pricing plans.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

4. Groupsite

   Groupsite is different from other sites on this list whose main focus is on social networking. Groupsite is more of a hybrid between social and professional networking, and it emphasizes collaboration and project completion. It offers many unique features including separate public and professional user profiles, user objectives and personal networking and last but not least, a very extensive event/calendar solution.

   Unfortunately, there is one big downside to Groupsite – it doesn’t leave much room to creativity in customization. The layout and design are fixed, and although you can change the colors and put your own banners, you are stuck with the basic layout and menu order.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

5. Boonex

   Boonex Dolphin is another open source Social Networking system based on the PHP scripting language and MySQL database software under the GPL license. It includes blogs, events, groups, video chat, video messenger, players, mobile app, desktop app, files, media sharing, store, profiles, friends, boards, media sharing, store, and files sharing. It also features paypal supported affiliate management, which makes it ideal to use as a dating script.

   A word of warning: Boonex does not have a coding standard, which causes a lot of bugs in the system. So unless you are a programmer and know how to work on fixing and adjusting the code, you may want to look at other options.
   

6. SocialGO

   SocialGO is a very attractive DIY solution for creating your own social networking site. Its interface is user friendly, has tab-based navigation, and offers a wide array of features, even in the free version (Forums, SubGroups, Photos and Events).

   If you don’t need more than 1GB of storage and are happy with 10GB Bandwidth, then the free Ad supported account is for you. However, if you want additional options, such as the ability to use your own domain name, your advertising instead of SocialGO‘s, expanded layout features, unlimited storage/bandwidth, etc, you will need to upgrade to premium account.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

7. Sprūz

   Sprūz is another service worth looking into if you are searching for a social networking solution. It features very powerful tools for customizing themes and layouts, and an easy to use drag and drop style editor. User profiles even have the option to add custom fields to user permissions/roles administration. However, there are a few disadvantages: the forums are not threaded, and subgroups can’t create group events, house group photos, or subscribe to group forum posts.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

8. Wall.fm

   Wall.fm If you want to make a private social network, or an online community that focuses on specific groups of people (clubs, people who play a certain game, a hobby, etc.) rather than a general social network, then Wall.fm is an excellent option. It is the free, hosted version of an open source social networking software called Oxwall, which you can opt to install on your own domain. Depending on the features you want you can choose between the free and paid options.

   Wall.fm has been called the walled Facebook. All you can do on Facebook you can do here as well: content can be tagged and commented on, and you can  participate in forums, blogs and wikis. However, it provides high privacy, so it is ideal for these social interactions that are not suitable to a site as general as Facebook, and also convenient for educators who want their students to interact in a safe and secure setting, free from any kind of distraction.

   

9. ONEsite

   ONEsite Platform offers a rich community experience with Blogging, Photo and Video Sharing, Tagging, Rating, Flagging, Commenting, Built-in Messaging, and Groups. Their Widget and API libraries let you integrate the ONEsite community with  existing Web properties, search, registration, and authentication systems.

   A subsidiary of Catalog.com, ONEsite has a staff of 40, including developers, designers, systems operations, and their own in-house customer support and service center. They will give your project personal attention and work with you on its concept, design, implementation, and launch.

10. SocialEngine

    SocialEngine is a social net­work system that will let you start a self-hosted social net­work. Based on Zend Frame­work, it is quite easy to customize.

    If you are looking for an application that is affordable then this is a good bet, and one of the better options available on the market today. Priced at $250 for a license, SocialEngine also has a number of plugins which can be installed and configured for use. Plugins are available for between $30 to $50  depending on the plugin.

    

11. phpFox

    phpFox is another online community software packed with features. It is very easy to install and comes with out of the box functionality. The core phpfox script is well written and unencrypted, but you will need to know php and mysql to customize it.

    phpFox interface is simple and features pretty much everything you would need. It has a great events calendar; however, there is no video chat or phone. Priced at $300, it is still another inexpensive alternative.

    

12. Pearse Street

    If you would like to have a professional team handling your project, check out Pearse Street. It has been providing social media services since 2005, giving its clients professionally designed and programmed new media solutions, from social media marketing campaigns to blog development to large-scale social networking websites. Their portfolio is quite impressive.

    Pearse Street‘s biggest advantage in the world of web giants is that they are small enough to give you personalized attention, and yet large enough to be able to easily address the many aspects of your project, including graphic design, advanced programming and marketing support.

Finally, one word of warning as to the cost involved: Unless you opt for a free, open source script, most of the networking software will have a price tag attached to it. Keep in mind that even though you pay the initial fee for a license, you will have to pay extra for all the other things: additional apps and plugins, ads removal, branding removal, etc. So the final price can easily go up to $100 per month, or even more. But don’t despair, and don’t stop here. Do your own research and find the solution that best suits your needs and your budget.

There are many great online tools and resources for musicians. Here we give you the Ten Best Online Tools for Music Making available on the web. As you will find out, today you don’t have to be a skilled musician to create music. But it certainly helps if you are…

1. Audacity

   Audacity is a free, multilingual audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. It is very easy to use. Here are some things you do with Audacity:

   •     Record live audio.
   •     Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
   •     Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
   •     Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
   •     Change the speed or pitch of a recording.

   

2. Aviary

   Aviary offers great tools for sound editing and music creation. Music Creator ROC will let you make music loops and ringtones using a simple point-and-click interface. You can choose from hundreds of instruments: pianos, guitars, drums, etc. Easily customize your sounds by recording your own voice and instruments, or upload MP3s instead of using instruments.

   

   When you’re done, export your beat into Myna Audio Editor to add effects and develop a full-length track. Myna offers powerful clip editing with a range of effects you can use to customize your sound.

3. AudioTool

   AudioTool is a Web app that is apt for serious music production. It features a wide range of inputs, outputs, mixers, effects pedals, and drum machines that may even be a bit intimidating for a beginner. Speaking of which, Audiotool doesn’t offer much guidance on how to assemble a track. However, for those who have that basic knowledge, Audiotool ptovides a professional sequencer to automate songs and create complex arrangements. When you are done making a track, you can share it with the community or download your own song and put it on your MP3 player.

   

4. Noteflight

   Music composition software and electronic tools for annotating musical notes are not cheap and not all musicians can afford them. Noteflight is a free online music composer and note editor which comes as a nice alternative for such tools. It has a simple and easy to use interface through which you can create, edit, display and playback music notations online.

   Noteflight also lets you share your compositions and publish them online. To see how easy it is to use Noteflight, watch the Noteflight Demo.

   

5. Mixxx

   Mixxx is a free cross-platform digital DJ mixing software with professional features like automatic BPM matching, seamless looping, hot cues, crossfading, etc. Whether you’re new to DJing or a pro, Mixxx will give you everything you need to perform live mixes, like you would with turntables and a mixer.

   Mixxx supports most popular DJ MIDI controllers. Using a turntable and timecoded vinyl, Mixxx’s playback can be syncronized to the turntable. This let’s you scratch and mix with your digital music collection as if it were on vinyl. And best of all, you don’t need to invest your time building your music library with expensive commercial DJ software. As an open source license, Mixxx will always be free.

   

6. Drumbot

   Drumbot‘s tagline: A free online drum machine for non-drummers pretty much sums it up. Drumbot is probably the best online resource for full song loops and tons of grooves, designed specifically for non-drummers for use as backing tracks during song composition.

   Each of the Drumbot “songs” consists of loop sets that run at the same BPM and are all inter-related. Most of these loop sets have multiple intro’s, verses, chorus’, fills, crashes and outros. You can organize these basic building blocks into unique arrangements to suits your requirements.

   

7. eJamming Audiio

   eJamming Audiio is the collaborative network for musicians. It is a meeting place for the worldwide community of musicians and a platform that enables them to work together online in real time and create music together as if they were in the same room even if they are far from one another.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

8. Kompoz

   In some ways similar to eJamming Audiio, Kompoz is the place for musicians to create songs with others from around the world. However, unlike eJamming Audiio, Kompoz does not aim at real time collaboration, but rather provides a community site with strong social networking features pinned around distributed music creation. It serves as the platform for creating songs regardless of the whereabouts of band members. Members can post tracks from the comfort of their home studios, using their favorite DAW, and collaborate with others to create new music. Kompoz members span over 120 countries and all 24 time-zones.

   

9. Jam Studio

   Jam Studio is a free online music mixing & songwriting tool that lets you quickly create music beats, backing tracks, karaoke songs, soundtracks & demo songs. Although it may not be the most cutting edge music mixer in the world, JamStudio will provide you with a sort of a musical sandbox to try out new ideas. Unlimited variations and versions can be explored instantly in a wide range of styles. Another useful feature is the JamRecorder which lets you add vocals and additional audio effects to your song.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

10. LoopLabs

    Online since 2000, LoopLabs is the web’s premiere online music mixing application. Featuring extremely intuitive and easy-to use software interfaces, it provides an online interactive music platform that offers a wide range of possibilities:
    • multi-channel mixing (up to 32 channels)
    • advanced multi-channel presets
    • MP3 sampling / triggering / remixing
    • complete load/save/vote functionality
    • audio recording capabilities (client-side)
    • sequencing / song composing
    • output audio to WAV/MP3 files
    • ring tone creation and output
    • video mixing capabilities and integration
    • multiuser, collaborative music environments
    • stereo-effects processing
    • drum and rhythm pattern machine
    • MP3 mixing / crossfading
    • Widget playback and distribution
    • Social network integration
    • crossplatform (MAC|PC)

    The company has received top Interactive awards and been featured on TechTV, Cre@te Online and live at MacWorld where Steve Jobs used it during the launch of Safari to illustrate the robust power of the new Browser for Mac OSX. Constantly updating their technology, LoopLabs are currently in the final phases of development of several new and exciting interactive audio tools soon to be released.

    

Internet offers excellent resources for musicians when it comes to royalty free music and the most bizarre and unusual of sounds. Whether you are looking for new music loops and tracks, or particular sound effects, here are the Top 10 Online Libraries for Music and Sounds, where you are guaranteed to find exactly what you want.

1. Freesound

   Freesound is a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, etc., all released under Creative Commons licenses that allow their reuse.

   Freesound lets you browse the sounds in new ways: using keywords or a “sounds-like” type of browsing. You are able to upload and download sounds to and from the database, under the same creative commons license. In addition, you can also interact with fellow sound-artists.

   

2. Soundsnap

   Soundsnap is a community driven online sound library featuring more than 100,000 high quality sound effects and music loops from Hollywood sound designers and cutting edge music producers. All sounds on Soundsnap are professional and royalty-free. Although not a free site, SoundSnap offers different pricing plans to suit every project and budget.

   

3. AudioSparx

   AudioSparx is an extensive audio marketplace for buying and selling sound effects, music, loops and ringtones.  Online since 1996, the website offers an amazing collection of audio content from over 3,091 independent publishers, artists, and production houses.

   Registration is free and quick.  You can preview all the sounds and music and then purchase just the ones you need, or if you need a large number sound effects for your production work, a download subscription to the AudioSparx site makes a lot of sense.

   

4. The Sound Effects Library

   The Sound Effects Library is comprised of 107 libraries from around the globe, and it contains more than 250,000 high quality, professional sound effects, music samples and royalty free tracks, available for instant download in 16 bit 44.1Khz CD quality audio. The advanced search lets you adjust your search criteria with many options making it easy to find quickly what you are looking for.

   

5. Soungle

   Soungle is a free online library for finding all kind of sound effects and musical instruments samples. The database is huge and constantly growing. All sound effects and music samples are royalty free and free to download.

   Soungle is very easy to use. Keyword searches are performed by entering any word or phrase in a search box. Clicking on play icon allows you to preview a file. Download button instantly downloads the sound effect or musical instrument sample file. Easy!

   

6. SoundBible

   SoundBible is another great place where you can find thousands of free sound effects and sound clips. It is updated daily with new content, and is on its way to becoming one of the best copyright free sound resources on the net.

   

7. Sounddogs.com

   Online since 1997, Sounddogs was the world’s first online commercial sound effects and production music library. The site features an extensive, easily accessible sound library for immediate download (in .aiff, .wav. and .mp3) and packaged on CD/DVD or harddrive as the entire Soundstorm library.

   In November 2004, Sounddogs acquired the immense sound effects library of SoundStorm, a seven-time nominee and winner of an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing. Currently with over 500,000 tracks online the Sounddogs.com library is constantly growing.

   

8. Shockwave-Sound.com

   Shockwave-Sound.com is one of the pioneers of online royalty-free music, stock music and sound effects. The site features a large, professional Sound Effects library with the largest selection of royalty-free Classical Music on the Internet. You can browse by genre, mood, instruments, composers, etc. Tracks can be downloaded immediately in MP3 or WAV format. Shockwave-Sound.com offers music under simple Production Music Licensing Terms.

   

9. FindSounds

   FindSounds  is a search engine, just like Google and Yahoo, but with a focus on sounds. It provides powerful features, yet is simple and easy to use, and suitable for all ages. The versatile search lets you look for sound effects in many different ways.

   The website features FindSounds Palette, an audio player, recorder, editor, database, search engine, and Web browser, all in one software program. Using this program, you can search more than one million sounds on the Web, and organize and search your own collection of sounds.
   

10. SoundCloud

    Although not necessarily a sound library in itself, SoundCloud is nevertheless a great online tool for sharing sounds. It is probably the biggest social sound platform, which enables anyone to easily create sounds and share them online with others.

    When you record and upload sounds you can share them privately with your friends or publicly to blogs, sites and social networks. It takes just a click to send sounds to Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Foursquare.

    SoundCloud can be accessed anywhere using the official iPhone and Android apps, as well as hundreds of creation and sharing apps built on the SoundCloud platform.

Whether you are looking to set up an internet shop, or take an existing business online, you’ll be surprised to find how many e-commerce solutions there are to choose from. Most of them offer standard shopping cart features, plus additional marketing tools and administration panel to help you keep track of products, orders, customers, shipping, etc. Depending on the  particular requirements and the size of your business, you will want to compare a few of these services in terms of what they can offer you.

The most important thing to watch out for is  whether your e-commerce service provider is PCI-compliant. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard is a joint creation of Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express. In response to the growing severity of credit card theft, the PCI Standard was created with the goal of protecting cardholder data wherever it may reside. The PCI has developed industry wide standards for card data security to be followed by both merchants and providers alike. Compliance with PCI Data Security Standard is highly recommended for all on-line stores.

1. Volusion

   Volusion is a premium, award-winning e-commerce software, featured in PC Mag and other media and used by major companies like Disney and Motorola. In short, Volusion allows you to build and manage an online store to effectively sell products and services on the Internet. A low cost merchant account is integrated with over 35 Gateways.

   Volusion’s flexibility, power, ease of use and price make it great for small businesses, but it has the infrastructure and expertise necessary to meet the demands of a larger company. Many business owners find that as they grow and become more successful online, their use of bandwidth increases along with their sales revenue. Volusion will not compensate for this by charging you a percentage of your sales, but only charges a minimal monthly fee for the hosting of your online store, while additional bandwidth is available for only $0.007/MB.

   Volusion

2. CoreCommerce

   CoreCommerce is an award-winning, feature-packed e-commerce software that apart from the standard options also provides search engine optimization, one page checkout, and integration with third parties, such as QuickBooks, Facebook, UPS Worldship, and more. Store administration is easy to customize and design, and the control panel is integrated with over 26 payment gateways, all kinds of credit cards, multiple currency support, fully-integrated shipping options, order management, customer tools, etc.

   CoreCommerce offers several pricing plans, starting at 29,99 per month, and all pricing plans include all the features. They also offer a free trial.

   CoreCommerce

3. BigCommerce

   BigCommerce is one of the most trusted names in e-commerce business. They protect your store and data with the same military-grade security and encryption that the big banks use, and have a 99.99% average uptime track record.BigCommerce includes dozens of built-in marketing tools to drive traffic to your online store, including advanced search engine optimization, Google product export and the ability to sell your products on Facebook. It’s very easy to customize. Business owners can choose from over 60 store designs and use the Drag & Drop Design Mode to customize the layout of their store while designers have full access to HTML and CSS via FTP, as well as QuickEdit and different tools.

   You can sell products online easily even without any prior experience. The getting started wizard helps you get your online store and shopping cart up fast and there are dozens of step-by-step videos if you get stuck.

   With over 25 business intelligence reports built in (such as top selling products and average revenue per order), BigCommerce helps you make better decisions which mean more money in your pocket with less work.

   But best of all, there are no transaction fees — ever! Big Commerce never charge transaction fees and have no hidden costs. What you see really is what you get.

   BigCommerce

4. Interspire

   Interspire Shopping Cart is a non-hosted version of BigCommerce, an all-in-one e-commerce and shopping cart software platform that includes absolutely everything you need to sell online and attract more customers using the power, reach and affordability of the Internet.

   Interspire offers an opportunity for web developers and designers to get full access to the source code and easily customize HTML-and-CSS-only store designs. They can create new stores for clients in record time using Interspire software.

   From expert search engine optimization to powerful merchandising features and unique built-in marketing tools to drive more traffic to your online store, Interspire Shopping Cart guarantees you’ll generate more sales by committing to give you your money back if they don’t deliver.

   Interspire

5. eStore Advanced

   eStore Advanced will provide you with a cart, a merchant account, secure payment gateway and unlimited use web hosting. They offer an affordable, easy to use, high powered shopping cart system that includes numerous useful features for your business administration, product management, marketing and promotion, order management shipping and tax, reports, etc.

   They also offer in depth marketing services and guarantee a top 30 ranking on the major search engines. eStore Advanced customer support is exceptional, and they are very flexible in terms of accommodating your individual needs by customizing the software or shop design just for you, free of charge.

   eStore Advanced has fully integrated the Drop Ship Access program into it’s shopping cart code. This implementation gives you the ability to quickly and easily add as many products to your store as you want. You can add as many of your own products as you like then supplement your product offerings with products offered by DSA or set up a store to just sell products offered by DSA.

   

   eStore Advanced

6. 3DCart

   3D Cartis one of the most complete website e-commerce solutions, with over 100 features designed to grow your online business. Easy-to-use web-based administration enables you to customize your website and online shop, no graphic design or programming necessary. Additional plugins such as Livechat, Quickbooks integration and ROI tracking give you the competitive edge in an ever increasing market.There are many features to help you run the shop, from strorefront design, promotion and marketing, product management, order processing, statistics and reporting, shipping and payment, etc.

   3DCart

7. Avactis

   Avactis Shopping Cart is another software package that allows you to open an online store on the Internet. Compared to other similar e-commerce solutions, Avactis allows for a fast and easy integration of an online store into an existing website without any programmer’s knowledge or skills. Unlike other shopping cart software, Avactis is integrated into your website, instead of integrating your website into the online store.

   The client side (the storefront) is your website as seen by visitors. The Avactis’ client side allows the visitors to your site to browse products in the online store, select products and put them into the shopping cart, as in a conventional supermarket, and then pay for the selected products using a credit card or other payment options. The Avactis’s administrator side allows you to stock up the store with products, as a conventional warehouse, maintain the inventory, track orders and payments.

   

   Avactis

8. Shopster

   Shopster is a free merchant network that lets you build a free online store, connect to other merchants, find dropship products to sell and sell your own products through new channels. What makes Shopster special is that you can find products from hundreds of different free dropshippers in one place. Get your products in front of thousands of retailers who sell online. Connect with a few or connect with them all – you choose who you build business relationships with. The Shopster platform provides you with a free marketplace and resources to get your products sold.Their online store is customizable, integrated with PayPal, E-bay listing and auction manager. Basic merchant account is free. For more information, watch the video.

   Shopster

9. Vendio

   Vendio is another award-winning platform that has been supporting the needs of online sellers for over 10 years. Similar to Shopster in that it lets you reach buyers where they are shopping, without forcing you to learn a different interface for each online channel. Whether you are a seasoned online sales veteran, or just a beginner, Vendio provides an ecommerce solution that enables you to share inventory with eBay, Amazon and more, which means it makes it easy to build and run your online ecommerce business no matter where your buyers shop.

   No programing knowledge necessary to set-up the ecommerce solution you need in minutes. Once you create your items you can sell them  through multiple marketplaces without complication. There are no hosting fees, listing fees, or final value fees.

   Vendio

10. Summer Cart

    Summer Cart is 100% SEO Shopping Cart Software, with search engine friendly URLs, SEO keywords on every page, automatic generation of sitemaps, etc. The store setup wizard makes it easy to setup your store quickly. The admin panel is very functional, offering useful sorting, filtering and search options, and easy product tracking and management.

    Summer Cart offers numerous payment & checkout options, multi-language support, and 39 automatically updated currencies. It allows for product comparison by attributes, product ratings and reviews, in-stock and out-of-stock tracking, and many other really handy options.

    

    Summer Cart

Technorati Tags: e-commerce, e-store, e-shop, ecommerce, internet-shopping, online-services

With the ongoing growth of the Internet, trends in website hosting and design have seen significant progress in terms of quality of services offered and their value for money. Today only those who are not well informed still pay huge amounts of money to web designers and then later spend a fortune in monthly fees for a webmaster to update their website. Fortunately, there is no need for that anymore. Easy online website design is available to anyone.

Now there are quite a few online services that offer free website builders, quick and complete website solutions, fully customizable and designed not only to accommodate every customer need, but to suit every pocket. Actually, most of the services listed here offer a free basic account that still lets you take advantage of numerous features of a professionally designed web site.

1. Wix

   Wix is a simple yet powerful platform to make flash websites, myspace layouts, widgets, newsletters, banners, flyers, etc. No downloads or programming needed. With a simple click, drag and drop you can arrange the layout of your pages, their design and content. Although Wix websites are flash, they are fully compatible with search engines. You can host your own domain, and hosting is also free. Wix seems to be geared towards the designers, photographers and musicians.

   Wix

2. Homestead

   Homestead is one of the pioneers in quick and complete website solutions, and they’ve stayed on top by keeping up with the trends. They offer a comprehensive solution for various online needs. With their award winning website building software, affordable web hosting and toll-free customer support, Homestead makes it easy to build a website. They also offers several types of inexpensive e-commerce solutions, so you can build an e-business from scratch, or easily take your existing business online.

   

   Homestead provides everything you need, including online catalogs, shopping cart, real-time transaction processing, integration with eBay, custom shipping tables, support for instant PayPal payments and much more. And if you need real-time credit card processing, high-end inventory management or sophisticated supply chain communication, a Homestead Storefront can meet your needs.

   Most impressive are the online tools to help you increase your website traffic. Homestead SearchLight package uses advanced website promotion techniques, including search engine submissions and advertising on Google, Yahoo and MSN.

   Homestead

3. Site Build It!

   If you are looking for a way to set up your small business online, and have little or no experience on the Internet, Site Build It! is probably the best solution. It is a reputable company that has been online since 1997, helping hundreds of thousands of regular people build online businesses.

   Site Build It! is the all-in-1 package designed specifically for small business owners. It gives you the tools necessary to create a professional online presentation of your business and provides a platform to easily run your web site and online sales. Step-by-step video and written instructions guide you every step of the way. Overall, it is very easy to use, point and click through any web browser.

   You can get SBI! 2.0 for USD $299 for one full year, or for US $29.99 per month. All SBI! software updates are free and automatic. Support and business-building assistance are available 24×7, and there are the “help and be helped” SBI! forums, a very active community of success oriented entrepreneurs.

   Site Build It!

4. Weebly

   Weebly was featured in many popular newspapers and magazines, and was named one of TIME’s 50 Best Websites of the year in 2007. Its powerful drag & drop editor makes it easy to build a website in minutes, there are many content elements, powerful blogging features, and hosting is included in the FREE account. Best of all, there is no advertising. You can even host your own domain at no extra charge.

   Weebly

5. Get My Website

   Get My Website is one of the big guys in the business. They have multiple solutions to fit various individual needs, like alumni, community, real estate, restaurant, church, etc. Each website type has specific built in widgets, such as calendar, coupons, directory, and shopping cart which utilize databases to maintain the information you enter. The content management system is so easy to use that you have the ability to create and maintain custom pages.

   Get My Website is successful also because their customer support is really good, and can be reached on a toll free number or by email. If you want to try them out, go for the free website trial offer.

   
   
   

   Get My Website

6. Webs

   Webs offers three different website types: personal, business, and organization (group), and over 300 templates to choose from.  Once you make your website, you can easily add a blog, forum, calendar, photo gallery, video gallery and much more. You can even turn your site into a social network, add members and create personal profiles so you can turn your site into a community where friends, colleagues and family can connect and collaborate. If you need to set up a web store, you can upload multiple images, set your prices, and collect payment via PayPal and/or Google Checkout.

   

   Webs

7. Yola.com

   Yola offers critically-acclaimed, easy-to-use tools and web hosting in free and paid packages. Yola free builder will still allow you to make professional looking websites. It comes with a variety of built-in features. You can choose from over 100 customizable website templates, add online forms, google maps, pictures, videos, etc. Furthermore, the Yola widgetbox provides more than 60,000 widgets so you can pimp up your site nicely. The only downside relates to Yola shopping cart; you can only use PayPal to sell items. Finally, Yola offers great customer support with online tutorials, videos, and webinars. They also offer 24/7 online help available on every web hosting plan.

   
   UPDATE:
   Black Friday Weekend Special – Get 40% off Yola Silver with coupon code THANKS40! Create a professional site for just $5/month! Ends 11/28

   Yola

8. Viviti

   Among the easy website builders, Viviti stands out as the easiest one. It was designed to let you edit your website while looking at it, right in your browser.

   Viviti serves personal blogs, small business websites, news portals, bands, churches, pet groomers, artists, musicians, etc. With over 175 themes and a huge selection of applications and widgets, they are enabling people to create and maintain great looking dynamic websites.

   Viviti

9. XSitePro

   This is one website builder with quite a following. XSitePro is a powerful website designer software product, easy enough for the beginners, and geared toward business owners, affiliate marketers, adsense site builders, website designers, educational users, information marketers, etc. Straightforward design interface gives you complete page control, there are hundreds of website templates, and there is no limit to how many sites you can create.

    

   XSitePro

10. SnapMonkey

    SnapMonkey claims to offer more features than any other site builder on the Internet. Among those are multimedia, calendar, contacts, feedback forms, mailing lists, message boards, Q&A page, redirects page, polling booth,  etc, etc. You can choose from over 1200 pre-formatted templates, and there is an integrated shopping cart that accepts PayPal or credit card processing.

    
    

    
    SnapMonkey

Technorati Tags: web-design, hosting, web-services, e-business, e-commerce, marketing, online-tools, website, design

Have you ever wanted to take part in a large-scale  scientific study or in a big international art project? Well, here’s your chance. This list is a growing compilation of websites where you can apply online and participate in various global projects related to culture, arts, technology, and/or science. Have fun!

1. The Genographic Project

   Sponsored by National Geographic, this is a landmark study of the human journey. Where do we really come from? And how did we get to where we live today? The Genographic Project is seeking to chart new knowledge about the migratory history of the human species by using sophisticated laboratory and computer analysis of DNA contributed by hundreds of thousands of people from around the world. In this unprecedented and of real-time research effort, the Genographic Project is closing the gaps of what science knows today about humankind’s ancient migration stories.

   Scientists are collaborating with indigenous and traditional peoples around the world to learn more about where we came from and how we got to where we live today. But participation is not restricted to indigenous and traditional peoples; the general public is also invited to join in on the journey. Participation kit costs $99.95 and with it you can sample your own DNA and submit it to the lab. The purchase price also includes the cost of the testing and analysis.

   

   The Genographic Project

2. 15×15 – Be Famous

   Andy Warhol stated that “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” This website is a homage to Andy Warhol and a realization of the artistic utilization of new media technology in the age of digital production. Anyone and everyone can be world famous… for 15 seconds.

   You can contribute to the piece using a standard mobile camera phone that can capture video, and send clips directly from your phone using MMS service, via email or upload from your pc to the online database. The clips can be portraits, experiential, vignettes, experimental, of love, of life, of anything, from banal to downright bizarre.

   15×15 will be disseminated via the web and exhibited in galleries and projected in spaces around the world.

   15×15 – Be Famous

3. Shape The Hive

   Shape The Hive is a remarkable experiment in collaborative production. It is a creative online community, whose members contribute pieces that, when combined with others, will form a whole far greater than the sum of its parts. The goal is to create a real-world art installation made entirely of Shape The Hive submissions.

   Shape The Hive

4. Peace Shadow Project

   Here is an art project that lets you burn your shadow as a signature to petition for world without nuclear weapons. Everyone’s hope in form of shadows will be exhibited in museums and public facilities around the world, to speak of the hope for a world without nuclear weapons.

   Peace Shadow Project

5. The Point

   Although not a historical project, The Point is an online platform for collective activism, and it operates globally. If you want to make a change, this is the place to start. As a consumer, employee, citizen, activist, parent, or whatever, sometimes you can’t do things alone – you need the power of many. The Point offers a new approach to leveraging the influence of groups and making things happen. It is a website for organizing group actions that are activated once enough participants commit to reach a “tipping point” that ensures success.

   Anyone can create a campaign for free. Whether you’re asking people to do something or give money, people only contribute if they think it makes a difference. On The Point, all campaigns have a “tipping point” — people pledge to give money or do something, but no one does a thing until the conditions are met to make contributions worthwhile. That way, you can gather all the resources needed to be successful before anyone is asked to take action. The Point aims to fix the problems with online petitions, mass letter-writing tools, or many fundraising efforts — it’s not clear how participation translates into results.

   Campaigns on The Point are results-oriented, create real incentives for change, and only ask people to act when it actually makes a difference. The Point rethinks group action from the ground up to leverage the Web, opening the door for solving problems that couldn’t be addressed otherwise.

   The campaign widget allows you to take your campaign anywhere, including your website, blog, or social networks like MySpace.

   The Point

6. Global Music Project

   Global Music Project represents a collaborative international network of music fans, artists, progressive businesses, social activists, event promoters, and others who believe .. in the power of music to attract, educate, and inspire humanity to participate in making a better world. Their main programs are music preservation and music discovery.

   Global Music Project’s objectives are simple:

   • Record music and video footage from developing cultures throughout the world.
   • Promote, market, and distribute these recordings globally.
   • Continue to expand our internet community and global web presence, so we can reach artists who wish to showcase their work and connect them to a global audience.

   Global Music Project is spreading around the world and are looking for people in your area that can volunteer a little bit of their time and/or resources. You can help make a difference in the world.

   

   Global Music Project

7. Girl Effect

   The Girl Effect is a movement created by The Nike Foundation and in collaboration with key partners such as the United Nations Foundation and the Coalition for Adolescent Girls.

   It is driven by girl champions around the globe, and it promotes the idea that the empowerment of girls is the key to significant social and economic changes in developing countries. Watch this video to find out more.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

   Girl Effect Movement

8. Be Yourself Movement

   If you ever wanted to write graffiti over an ugly wall, here is a chance. Built as a virtual city, this interactive website offers you the chance to walk down the city streets, select one of the billboards that you will find in your way, personalize it with your message and send it across the network.

   
   Be Yourself Movement

9. Global Interactive Art Event

   Art Therapy is a 20th century profession with its roots in ancient times and in creating in order to cope with pain.  The International Art Therapy Organization and the Art Therapy Alliance are sponsoring a global interactive event called “Art Peace Sustainability.”

   Everyone is invited to submit postcard-sized format [5 x 8 inch] works reflecting these concepts for this event. You also can make “response art” inspired by the following questions:

   • Does art therapy impact peace and sustainability on the planet?
   • How do art, peace, and sustainability intersect?
   • Does the creative process of art making resolve conflicts?
   • Does art therapy build and sustain community?
   • Is art therapy a “green” practice?

   You can create as many artworks as you want to and participate in two ways:
   1) create your image, make an electronic scan or digital photo, and send by email or
   2) create your work on Polyvore.com and submit to the Art Peace Sustainability Event web gallery.

   Watch “Art Peace Sustainability Interactive Art Event” and get inspired.

   Global Interactive Art Event

10. The Bathroom Mirror Project
    

    Here is a totally useless, global and non-commercial art project that needs your participation! Why men are inclined to take their pictures in bathroom mirrors alone in hotel rooms or on vacation. Time for a global check-up  of this devoted extravagance. An art project if you like.

    Participate (free of charge) in the online gallery by submitting an email with
    1) your bathroom mirror self portrait (preferably horizontal) and
    2) your outstanding reflections on your daily round in front of the mirror (in English please),
    3) your name or alias,
    4) city & country where the picture was shot,
    5) date & time for the occasion.

    Take your time, be inventive, be bold and personal. Bring matters to a head, another point of view by the side of the road. Thanks for your contribution! Spread the word!

    

    The Bathroom Mirror Project

11. The Global Art Project

    This is an International Art Exchange for Peace. Here’s how it works: Participants create a work of art in any medium, expressing their vision of global peace and goodwill. The art is displayed locally in each participant’s community. Global Art Project then organizes an international exchange by matching participants—group-to-group and individual-to-individual.

    The exchange occurs April 23-30 biennially, resulting in thousands of people sending messages of Peace around the world at one time—visions of unity simultaneously encircle the Earth. The art is sent as a gift of global friendship and exhibited in the receiving community. Participants may send documentation of the art created and of the people who came together to create the art to the GAP Art Bank. Global Art Project exhibitions, books, slide presentations, and this website give people an opportunity to experience visions of peace and unity created by individuals from diverse cultures around the world.

    The Global Art Project

12. 100 People: A World Portrait

    A very interesting online project that involves schools internationally, in an attempt to create a world portrait. The 100 People Foundation helps students to better understand the complex issues facing our planet and the resources we share. By framing the global population as 100 people, the media makes education more engaging and effective, and improves students’ abilities to remember and relate to what they learn.

    By traveling the globe to meet and create portraits of the 100 people representing all 6.7 billion of us sharing the planet, it is their vision is to create documentary films, photography, and educational tools that facilitate face-to-face introductions among the people of the world in ways that cultivate respect, create dialogue, and inspire global citizenship.

    100 People: A World Portrait

13. Constructing Co-Existence: A Global Street Art Movement

    Non-participation in systems of oppression is one key to constructing co-existence…  For many, Mahatma Gandhi was  the symbol of this struggle. Constructing Co-Existence is an international exterior paint/paste project intended to raise street art and its appreciators to their next level of authenticity.

    To participate in this project:
    1) download the Gandhi image.
    2) construct a little (or a BIG) coexistence project in your city & neighborhood, where ever it may be…

    Its fun to find Gandhi in all these photos from around the globe! We all need to coexist!

    

    Constructing Co-Existence: A Global Street Art Movement

If you know of any other interesting studies or creative projects open for participation to the general public, feel free to post a link in the comments. Thanks.

Technorati Tags: participate, art, history, create

The best thing one can do when faced with an end is think ahead. With less than a month to the end of the year, it’s the perfect time to think ahead of how we will plan and organize the year that is coming. For some inspiration, here are our top 10 wall calendars for 2010.

1. Antique Maps 2010 Oversized Calendar

   This spiral bound calendar features beautiful large prints of antique world maps in full color. Produced in very high quality by ALPHA EDITION, a German publisher which specializes in the production of bestselling calendars and stationary products. Each print can be framed as a separate map.  Size: 22 x 16.5. Price – $ 26.99

   

   
   Antique Maps 2010 Oversized Calendar

2. William Blake Wall Calendar: Art of Imagination

   I am not ashamed, afraid, or averse to tell you what Ought to be Told: That I am under the direction of Messengers from Heaven, Daily & Nightly. Eighteenth century English poet, artist, mystic and prophetic visionary William Blake was virtually unknown during his own lifetime; a quintessential outsider artist. Today he is widely recognized as one of the greatest poets in the English language, as well as a powerfully original visionary artist. This calendar features twelve paintings and a selection of poetry illustrating Blake’s passionate lifelong belief that art and the imagination are doorways to the Divine. Prayer is the Study of Art; Praise is the Practice of Art. Price: $12.59

   

   William Blake Wall Calendar: Art of Imagination

3. Spirit of the Far East Note Nook Calendar

   Celebrate the ancient art of Chinese brush painting combined with rich colors and patterns in this organizer calendar — the perfect accent to any home or office. The Note Nook™ is the original calendar with pockets that holds all those receipts, invites, bills, and cards that pile up! With a new pocket every month, important items can be located at a moment’s notice. Each Note Nook is artfully designed for maximum style and function. With a new pocket every month, important items can be located at a moment’s notice. Each Note Nook is artfully designed for maximum style and function. Price $14.99

   
   
   Spirit of the Far East Note Nook Calendar

4. 2010 Michael Jackson Official Calendar

   Michael Jackson 2010 calendar from Europe is an official tribute to the Pop legend. Featuring 12 great poster size photos that can be framed separately. This calendar could become a great collectors item as the 2010 calendar is printed on the year of his death. Limited quantities are available. Size: 12 x 16. Price: $ 18.99

   
   2010 Michael Jackson Official Calendar

5. Dragonology 2010 Wall Calendar

   Preeminent dragonologist Dr. Ernest Drake is back with his newest guide, Dragonology: The Frost Dragon Book and Model Set, in which he shares the special skills needed to set out on the trail of these cold-climate dragons. The Dragonology 2010 Wall Calendar is based on that book and includes material on how to identify, track, and train frost dragons, information on their habitats, migration, and feeding habits, and tips on how to prepare for polar adventures. Its design is process-intensive, duplicating many of the same novelty elements as the Ology books, including intricate drawings, charts, flaps, and booklets. It also includes a separate frost dragon migration map. This calendar is an essential guide for all budding dragonologists. Price: $14.99

   

   Dragonology 2010 Wall Calendar

6. Llewellyn’s 2010 Astrological Calendar

   The oldest and most trusted astrological calendar in the world, with all the horoscopes and astrological data you need. It features original paintings by Eric Williams, and monthly horoscopes for every sign by Sally Cragin. This is not just a beautiful wall ornament, but an extremely useful tool packed with invaluable astrological information for all year.

   The sections cover an introduction to Astrology by Kim Rogers-Gallagher, travel forecasts by Bruce Scofield, lunar gardening, best planting and fishing days, monthly ephemerides and major daily aspects, The Moon’s sign, phase, and void-of-course dates, graphic retrograde table, quick reference guide for each month, symbol key on each month, and times included with aspects. Price: $11.19

   

   
   Llewellyn’s 2010 Astrological Calendar

7. M.C. Escher Beyond Logic 2010 Wall Calendar

   Maurits Cornelis Escher (Dutch, 1898–1972) needs no introduction. With subtle humor and meticulous technique, he has linked the surreal and the scientific with logical manipulations of space, dimension, and perspective. Through an artistic sleight of hand, Escher created works in which up and down have no meaning and seemingly inert patterns metamorphose into living creatures. His ingenious designs reflect a reverence for the order and beauty of the universe even as they mock humanity’s rigid structuring of reality.

   M.C. Escher’s art has intrigued scientists and mathematicians, delighted critics, and attracted a large and loyal following. This calendar features 12 beautiful prints of the master: Symmetry Drawing 72, Three Spheres II, Day and Night, Reptiles, Belvedere, Phosphorescent Sea, Symmetry Drawing 103, Fish and Scales, Balcony, Symmetry Drawing 42, Three Worlds, and Hand with Reflecting Sphere. Size: 12 x 13 (opens to 12 x 26). Price: $15.99

   
   

   M.C. Escher Beyond Logic 2010 Wall Calendar

8. Le Cafe Romantique 2010 Calendar

   Le Cafe Romantique Wall Calendar: Enjoy a year of Chiu Hak Tak’s stunning paintings that convey the solitude of Parisian cafes and the stillness of the city’s charming, old streets. Chiu’s evocative work has captured the interest and imagination of hundreds of fine art collectors throughout the world. This collection features some of his most-loved renderings of deserted cafes and boutiques, offering a nostalgic view of romantic Paris. Size: 12 x 12 (opens to 12 x 24). Price: $13.99

   
   
   
   Le Cafe Romantique 2010 Calendar

9. Scrapbook 2010 Calendar

   This is a unique keepsake calendar you make for yourself or as a gift. Featuring 12 large pages with bright and colorful art-work to complement your photos. Pages are acid-neutral and perforated for easy removal. Matching stickers, frames, and embellishments add flair, with plenty of room for your notes and other personal touches. Features 1 page of punch-out frames and photo accents, and 104 stickers. Back cover has a built-in storage pocket. Size: 12 x 12 (opens to 12 x 24). Price $13.99

   
   

   Scrapbook 2010 Calendar

10. Family Organizer 2010 Calendar

    A very handy tool to keep your family organized at all times, this handsome large calendar lets you record notes and keep track of different activities for each family member. Besides mom and dad, there is place for up to 4 kids. Size: 12 x 12 (opens to 12 x 24). Price: $13.99

    
    

    Family Organizer 2010 Calendar

Technorati Tags: wall calendars, 2010 calendars, planners 2010

The making of this top list was a slow and gradual process that gave me a lot of pleasure. The ten websites listed here differ greatly in theme and structure, but one thing they do have in common is that they stand out with their amazing concept and design, stretching the limits of digital culture and internet art.

Having stumbled upon them while surfing the net, and being the obsessive label-er that I am, the only tag I could think of was “fascinating”. And that is big coming from someone who doesn’t get fascinated easily. So naturally, I made a new folder in my Favorites, titled “Fascinating”, and decided I was going to publish this list the moment it gets 10 entries. That moment, dear friends, has arrived. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Oh, and by the way, most of these websites are built with rich flash animation, so make sure you have fast internet connection when you check them out.

1. 88 Constellations for Wittgenstein

   Designed by David Clark, this website is an interactive collage of philosophy and art, a poetic film based on the life and work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, an influential Austrian philosopher. Based on 88 interactive flash animations that correspond to 88 constellations of the sky, this is a map of coincidence and relativity through which you can navigate and explore the poetic narratives that play with free associations. It is a story of Wittgenstein’s life told in fragments, and brought to life in contemporary digital culture.

   

   88 Constellations

2. A is for Apple

   This is another creation of internet artist David Clark, and similar in that it is also a collage of interactive fragments, a mind map of clues that signal a mystery that may or may not be there. All I know is that the search itself is worth the time.

   

   A is for Apple

3. CONCEPD

   Concepd is much more than a website. It is meant to be a “websight”, providing the user with a totally visual experience, a journey for the mind and the eye, spread between digital and physical worlds.

   

   Concepd

4. We Choose the Moon

   If you were ever curious about space travel, here is your chance to experience it in real time. This is an ambitious online project backed by the Space Program of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The website is divided into 11 stages containing animation, archival photos, video and mission audio that bring Apollo 11 to life.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

   We Choose the Moon

5. The Turn

   Designed by Fredo Viola, New York based multimedia artist, this is an extensive interactive collection of his music and video art work.  It is a blending of 21st-century electronics and the human voice presented via multimedia visuals. For a quick preview of Fredo Viola’s work, see this clip.

   The Turn

6. 99 Rooms

   99Rooms is a unique internet art project that interweaves wall painting, photography, animation and sound, made by Kim Koester, Richard Schumann, Stephan Schulz and Johannes Buenemann. It will take you on a journey through 99 hauntingly beautiful rooms, all set on vacated premises of East Berlin’s industrial zone.

   

   99 Rooms

7. Kubrick 2001: The Space Odyssey Explained

   Kubrick’s Space Odyssey 2001 is a cult movie, probably one of the highest regarded films ever made. If you are one of its many fans, you will love this website. It is an interactive multimedia presentation that aims to explain the meanings of the four parts of the film. Available in many languages.

   

   Kubrick 2001: The Space Odyssey Explained

8. OnProduction Melody Sphere

   Music lovers will love this fun website. It is a retro futuristic project for the OnProduction company in Russia. In essence, it is an innovative, interactive  flash game that lets you play and create music online.

   
   OnProduction Melody Sphere

9. 31fps

   31fps is the digital playground of award winning interaction designer and artist Andreas Rothaug. Explore the links, they offer a selection of rich, captivating and truly unique experiences.

   31fps

10. Superpositions

    Superpositions is an interactive audio-visual collage made with night tripping, urban explorations, cycle machines… Created by Remy Rivoire, Renaud Vercey, and Bruno Voillot, it is a virtual journey based on random games and  clues. The interaction can be very dynamic or contemplative, both attitudes generating a distinct perception, a new sound, a new picture.

    
    Superpositions

If anyone’s got more gems to add to this collection, please feel free to post the links in the comments. Thanks.

Technorati Tags: web-art, web design, internet art, digital art, flash, web 2.0, fascinating, interactive, amazing

If you ever spent any time looking at the numerous free wordpress theme sites you have probably come to understand that free themes are  free for a reason. Of course, you can always hire a web designer to create a nice looking website, but designers can be expensive. Premium wordpress themes that can be customized according to your website needs and design requirements are definitely an affordable alternative solution.

Here we take a look at ten premium theme clubs that comply with the highest aesthetic standards and offer a wide variety of features for customization.

1. StudioPress Themes

   Studio Press offers attractive, professional themes that are very easy to use. They are built on the Genesis Theme Framework, a simple looking mother theme which comes with all kinds of built-in features, useful plugins and widgets, and offers maximum flexibility in layout and design. The Genesis theme can be extended and further customized with any one of the 19 child themes. Changing a theme behavior is easy as the Genesis theme settings control the child theme as well. One of the most valuable things about Genesis is that it is packed with SEO specific options to configure, and will help your blog rank higher in the search engines.

   StudioPress stands behind their products 100% and offers excellent support. Customers get access to the StudioPress forum which is supervised by its team, and has a very active global community that ensures your question gets replied to within hours.

   Mashable recently named Genesis the “best of the best” premium WordPress themes.

   BLACK FRIDAY SALE:

   Using the code THANKS at checkout (don’t forget that), you can save 25% off of anything you’d like at WordPress design shop, StudioPress.

   1. Get the Genesis Framework for only $45.

   2. Snag most Genesis / design combos for a song and save close to $20.

   3. Wipe the entire shop clean and get the StudioPress Pro Plus All-Theme Package. Get Genesis plus every design they’ve made, plus every design they make in the future, and save more than $74 off the regular price and over $875 off the retail price — and that’s just the existing 43 designs!

   All you need to do is use the code THANKS when you check out and you’ll save 25% on anything and everything at StudioPress.com.

   This deal ends promptly at 7:00 pm Pacific time on Monday, November 28, 2011. Hurry up and claim your new WordPress theme before the code expires!

   StudioPress

2. Premium Themes

   Premium wordpress themes are among the most expensive ones on the market. The price is justified in that their themes are designed by SEO experts to ensure that your sites get maximum benefit out of the theme. Some of the major benefits are these: page load time is very less compared to other themes, it reduces the load of the server, and most importantly, as the premium wordpress themes are already developed taking search engine optimization factors into consideration, theme helps your site to get listed in search engine automatically.

   You can request your own customized premium wordpress theme with all the above features. New premium wordpress themes are released every moth giving you a huge verity to choose from. Every theme comes with tips, how to use guide and very easy to install feature. Apart from these advantages, Premium wordpress themes come optimized with many features that are easy to run from the control panel even if you are a beginner. It’s easy to upload videos and other multimedia materials, ad rotators are already implemented for you to use, etc.

   We especially recommend their restaurant themes Gourmet and Restaurant, and the tourist related theme called Destination.

   Premium Themes

3. Thesis

   Thesis is without doubt one of the most popular wordpress themes, and it is so for many reasons. First and foremost, it is a theme that allows for an easy customization and design and offers a wide variety of features which can be configured from within the WP control panel. You don’t have to know any html in order to set up your thesis blog, and you are pretty much free to do anything. Aside from being a theme, Thesis is also a framework ideal to build upon, which makes it a great tool for developers.

   Here is a video that explains the basics.

   Thesis

4. Headway

   Headway is another Do-It-Yourself theme that attracts creative bloggers and developers. It allows you to drag and drop your website or blogs layout to easily rearrange content and customize the colors, fonts, and features included in the theme.

   Headway 3.0 has just been released on November 25th.  This is an amazing new product and it comes with Headway Child Themes.

   Headway Themes

5. Rich WP Themes

   Rich WP Themes have several very good themes related to news and magazine sites. Check out their Big News, Blog Beast, Daily News, and Magazine themes. Rich WP Themes are easy to install and maintain, and let you build your website in minutes. You can change the colors, the fonts, modify the content of the front page, all from the options page.

   This video will walk you through the installation process and the option page.

   Rich WP Themes

6. PageLines

   Pagelines offer three simple, professionally designed CMS themes, designed for marketing (SEO tuned and customizable), fully browser compatible, support for ads, photos, videos and forms, plus every theme has a variety of features and page templates. We recommend their Station Pro theme for professional marketing websites, and iBlog Pro 3 as it offers a wide variety of features and is ideal for large showcase sites.

   PageLines

7. Woo Themes

   This is a place where you can find some really great themes. Our favorites are Headlines, a magazine theme, Suite and Tie – a neat business theme, Aperture and Forward Thinking related to portfolios, and WooTube – a beautiful multimedia theme. Woo Themes are built on a solid code framework with a backend that lets you easily access theme options and styles. You also get access to theme documentation, tutorials, knowledge base and a very active support forum. They deliver 2 new themes every month.

   BLACK FRIDAY SALE at WooThemes:

   • 5-for-1 on theme packages + 20% off the price
   • 20% off and a free month on our club subscriptions,
   • 20% off WooCommerce extensions.

   Use coupon code: BLACKSTD

   Woo Themes

8. Press75

   Press75 showcases some of the most elegant themes on the net. If you are looking for some neat business themes, Work Space and Office Space are the top recommendation. We also like theme Cafe Press, ideal for small business like bars and coffee shops, and On Demand, a powerful video content theme, inspired by Hulu. Whichever theme you choose, Press75 provides you with a detailed installation, setup and usage instructions. Furthermore, they offer full technical advice through support forums.

   Press 75

9. PhotoPressPro

   This is a well developed theme for professional photographers. There are many handy features, such as customizable header image and slide show, the ability to post images 960 pixels wide, inline comments with Ajax plugin, etc. PhotoPressPro comes in three versions: basic, platinum, and platinum works.

   PhotoPressPro

10. Theme Spinner

    Theme Spinner offers a wide range of professional looking widget-ready, customizable WordPress themes, integrated with AdSense for quick monetization. When you purchase a Spinner theme, you are given all the required PhotoShop files, fonts, images, etc, in case you want to further customize the pre-defined theme. Also available are extensive FAQs for every theme, to help you with the setup process.

    We recommend Chimera Pro and Tauren Pro, with an integrated professionally looking flash slide show. Both themes are very well suited to magazine and news websites.

    Theme Spinner

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