Time Magazine's 50 Coolest Websites - No More Law or Government Content

The U.S. magazine Time has just released its annual list of the 50 Coolest Websites: "Many of this year's choices are shining examples of Web 2.0: next-generation sites offering dynamic new ways to inform and entertain, sites with cutting-edge tools to create, consume, share or discuss all manners of media, from blog posts to video clips."

Among the categories used by the newsmagazine are:

• Entertainment, Arts and Media
• Shopping, Lifestyles and Hobbies
• News and Information
• Staying Connected
• Time Wasters
• Travel and Real Estate
• Web Search and Services

Time started making the list in 2003: the lists for 2003, 2004, and 2005 are still online.

Interestingly, previous years' "best of" compilations seem to have had some significant legal and government content, which has completely disappeared from the 2006 list:

• Thesmokinggun.com, a site that publishes embarrassing documents about celebrities using material obtained from government and law enforcement sources via Freedom of Information requests and from court files, was included in 2003. Example: the transcripts from Michael Jackson’s child sex abuse case. Can you say "Schadenfreude"?
• Factcheck.org, a site based out of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania that monitors the factual accuracy (or that documents the depths of stupidity) of what is said by major U.S. political players in TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases; Fedstats.gov, a gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies; and SEC.gov, the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission were all among the sites chosen in 2004
• FindLaw was among the crop of 2005 selectees