32 |MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC|NOV 08 |www.maximumpc.com
C
rimeReports.com lets you check out how
safe a neighborhood is before you move
in. Type in a zip code or intersection and
a map pops up with color-coded icons showing
what crimes have occurred over a day-, week-, or
month-long period. Familywatchdog.us is a simi-
lar site that maps sex off enders by region or name.Find the Creeps in
Your Neighborhood
P
ut your hours of web browsing and meme tracking to good use. Entrepreneur-
ial Internet junkies should be able to spot trends just as they’re emerging and
capitalize on their impending popularity to make some dough. An example:
Buy up domains of hot branded properties before they hit the mainstream. If you
stumble onto the next Harry Potter or Twilight, take a risk and buy domains related to
those brands (e.g., harrypotterthegame.com or harrypottermovie.com). Claiming URLs
for unannounced sequels (bioshock3.com) or common typos (microsuft .com) also
works. And don’t just domain squat idly while waiting to be bought out—fi ll your site
with Google ads to milk page views from unsuspecting visitors. We know a colleague
who rakes in a $1,000 a month just from ads placed on his otherwise unpopulated
Grand Theft Auto IV-related domain.
Don’t stop at domains, either. With a little more investment, you can turn bud-
ding Internet memes into lucrative T-shirt and decal enterprises. The first person
to offer American Idol-washout William Hung-branded merchandise sold 15,000
shirts in a month.Use Your Internet Savvy to Get Rich
T
he fi rst step in making a killer home-cooked
meal is having the right recipe. And for that
you need look no further than Google Base
(http://tinyurl.com/27hmql). The user-generated
database is a source of hundreds of thousands of
recipes that can be easily searched by keyword,
course, ingredient, etc. If your tastes run more along
the lines of corporate cuisine, you’ll want to dig into
Topsecretrecipes.com: Whether you have a hanker-
ing for a 7-11
Cherry Slurpee,
Girl Scout Thin
Mint cookies, or
KFC cole slaw,
you’ll learn how
to make it here.Find Just the Right Recipe
Name that Tune
N
ever again will you have to walk
up to your coworker and ask,
“What’s the name of that song
that goes, ‘Hmmmm, hmm, hmm, hmm,
hmmmm’?” At Midomi.com you can sim-
ply press the Sing or Hum button on the
site and then warble into a microphone
attached to your computer; your attempt
is uploaded and compared to a database
of songs, providing artist and title infor-
mation if it fi nds a match. If you want to
become a star, you can also upload your
songs to the site for others to hear.Be Your Own
Handyman
F
orget about paying a
week’s wages to have
a leaky pipe fi xed or a
furnace maintained. You can
get tutorials on these jobs and
a host of other home projects
at HGTV.com and DIYNetwork.
com. Between the two sites, you
can learn everything from basic
plumbing techniques to the
proper operation of woodwork-
ing tools to the steps required
for a complete kitchen remodel,
oft en with the aid of video.35 AMAZING
THINGS