Top 5 Yahoo! Services that You Didn't Know About

By probably 2003 the world had gone through a major change in web tastes. Yahoo! had been the largest player in the search engine market for a number of years but by that time, Internet users had totally shifted their eyes to Google. And Google has been enjoying unprecedented success with a business model that is defined by simplicity and innovation. No longer would Yahoo!, MSN and AOL's model based on the sheer number of services, be effective.
However, the sheer numbers still are very important and Yahoo! shows us that just because it has way too many, doesn't mean it doesn't have quite a few good ones. Of course, everyone knows that Yahoo! has many great services; there's Yahoo! Answers, Fantasy Sports, Delicious, Flickr, Finance, Calendar, Mail and Search. These pages are legitimately better than most or all of their competitors.
But there are several notable services that linger in obscurity and do not enjoy the same popularity. Not many people will even have a clue that these existed, but they do, and they're quite good too.

5. Yahoo! Food

Yahoo! Food is a part of "Shine", a service mainly targeting women. But really, Yahoo! Food is good for anyone who enjoys food, especially the amateur (and maybe even professional) chefs. This service offers plenty of good recipes as well as videos regarding the tasty subject and a few articles as well. Overall, Yahoo! Food has to rank as one of the better guides on the web.

4. Yahoo! Entertainment

Yahoo! Entertainment encompasses Music, Movies, TV and "omg!" (a gossip site). And what can I say; this has to be the best all-in-one guide to entertainment out there. For Music, you get you're radio, Top 100 Charts and some news too. For Movies, you get reviews, summaries, gossip and more news. For TV, there's the must-watch shows, reviews, TV guides and a bit more news. Omg! is well, pure gossip. Maybe just all the normal stuff but when its all combined into one site and added to by the skillful developers on Yahoo!'s team, the final product is that much better.

3. Yahoo! Autos

If you're buying a new car or just have a love for vehicles, this is the site to go to. Spotlighted by strong new and used car search engines, Yahoo! Autos also includes an in-depth research guide to buying a new vehicle, useful finance tips and calculators as well as a guide to car maintenance.

2. Yahoo! Real Estate

Yahoo! Real Estate has everything you need for purchasing a new home. They can help you buy a home or sell a home, with finance guides, home listings, information on the best neighbourhoods to live in and a few specific guides too.

1. Yahoo! Local

Yahoo! Local is basically a guide to everything situated around you. This service lists literally every business, service or event that you want to find. Whether it's a barber, a mechanic or a restaurant, Yahoo! Local can find the ones nearest to you, complete with reviews and contact information. Of course, every listing is categorized neatly for easy search.

Food, Food and Food: Foodbuzz

Although not recognized as a real competitor to more prominent sites like Yahoo! Food or the Food Network's homepage, Foodbuzz is sure to start making some buzz. Basically, the unique facet of this site is its reliance on user sharing to stimulate the community. In other words, it's literally a Facebook of ... food. A lovely design coupled with powerful features make for a pretty good resource when you're cooking for the next party or looking for a nice restaurant.
With over a thousand "foodies", you'll find the best reviews, photos, recipes, blog posts, videos and more all categorized and searchable so you can easily find them. But one really cool twist is the buzz counter where views, comments, favoritings and votes are factored in to create a score that allows the best content to appear first, all decided by users.
Plus, you've got all sorts of other little features that'll help you tremendously in finding the perfect piece of content for your food situation. Filter by location (useful for finding restaurants), type of post, buzz count or date.
And with all this rich variety of features, you can look for anything that can be posted (reviews, photos, recipes, blog posts and videos) as well as restaurants, specific users and products, each with specialized search bars that let you input particulars on any of these items (price, cuisine, ingredients etc.).
Of course, this isn't a community for just professionals; it's suited for anyone and anyone can post their knowledge and opinions. You can communicate with your "friends" with an mail feature and set a wide range of preferences if you create a free account.

www.foodbuzz.com