Sometimes I feel like I don’t do enough. I had some very energetic friends who got up early this past Sunday to participate in the AIDS Walk in San Francisco. I remember seeing the flyers, but I just never got around to signing up. As well, I occasionally get those Team in Training emails and I just never find time to respond. In high school and college I was Susie-Community Service, but with a job, my priorities for the weekends tend to be sleeping-in and watching movies on-demand.I found some great Flakes that keep me up to date on current philanthropist and their projects. I am hoping by having these Flakes on my start-page I will have a daily reminder to do some good. Check these out for yourself and get inspired!

Forbes Philanthropy

PhilanthropyBeat

Variety.com Philanthropy

Charity Guide

Fundraising Ideas

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

When my friends I hit the town I always order the same two things: light beer or vodka soda.  Yawn. For happy hour yesterday we went to a little place in the Pacific Heights Neighborhood in San Francisco and I was determined to try something new. Usually we go there because it’s a somersault away from my apartment, and even better, they give out free cheese and crackers!  I have found a new reason: the Greyhound cocktail-vodka with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice (like literally squeezed in front of you!). It was refreshing and just so darn tasty. I vow to get creative and try out new drinks more often.

I checked out Pageflakes for some ideas on new cocktails to try. Topix Cocktails Flake and Recipezarr for Cocktails Flake are just the ticket. So next time you’re heading out, check out your Google Events Flake right next to your cocktail flake, and you”ll be set!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

I mentioned the WALL-E movie in my last week’s post. Now a great user made a Pagecast about it! Check it out!

Another great Pagecast I found was a Lord Of the Rings Themed Pagecast! Nerd I may be, but these Pagecasts are great!

Enjoy!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Many will say that Gutenberg’s Printing Press is credited for information being available to the masses. I have to say, a new age is upon us and that is due to the internet. Everything has changed via the web, from dating, to jobs, to even research. Docfish, one of our faithful users has provided us with a great Pagecast for researching anything one can imagine without ever moving away from their start-page! So check it out!

Docfish actually has the most Pagecasts than any other user on Pageflakes! They range from Scuba diving to the Human Brain, and are all pretty extensive.  Feel free to take what you want from them; he has compiled them just for that purpose.

Enjoy!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

I found a great Pagecast yesterday called, Textual Liaisons. The creator describes this page as an overview of “gender and relationships in the digital era.” It really got me thinking that it’s true, all of these new gadgets and social networking sites have altered the we interact. In a stereotypical dating scene, boy meets girl (or to be PC, girl meets girl, or boy meets boy), boy gets girl’s number, boy calls girl (hopefully) and boy and girl go on date. Not anymore. It goes a little something like this:

Boy meets girl, boy finds out girl’s name, boy “facebooks” girl, girl then confirms their friendship. Boy and girl write to each other on Facebook, maybe exchanging numbers. Boy then texts girl, they exchange email addresses, and depending how you swing (Gmail or Yahoo), boy and girl will chat online all day, everyday, until they actually meet for a date. Hardly romantic (or efficient).

If you have seen the movie WALL-E, you may have noticed that their prediction of the future consists of almost no human interaction. I believe that future is rapidly approaching.  How many times have you sat at a meal with a loved one, while they had their nose glued to their smart phone? How often have you text someone back, because talking live seemed like too much effort?  Or worse, when you find out big news about a friend, instead of mailing a card, you log on to hallmark.com and send an e-card?!?

I urge all of humanity, to take a moment and visit with a friend face-to-face. Maybe make a phone call instead of an email. Lastly, once in awhile buy a card, write a note and mail it the old fashion way, with a stamp and all. Crazy, I know.

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

I never have a clue where I am. I am directionally challenged. No matter how many times I have been somewhere, I always get lost. My solution is to have back up plans: Navigation in both my phone and car, my walking “Mapquest” Brother on speed dial, and lastly, map it out on the web prior to departing. So I was pleasantly surprised when I found the Map Flake!

Obviously this Flake will come in handy for even those with the best sense of direction. Once again, everything you need, all in the comforts of your own start-page.

Enjoy!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Pageflakes has a lot of Flakes, 236 THOUSAND to be precise. One example is the PreciseNews Flakes. They have 13 Flakes in all! Included in that list are some of my personal favorites, PreciseHeadlines in Pictures, PreciseNews Breaking News, and Precise Technology.  For a complete list check out our Community site and search ‘Precise.’ These Flakes are truly unique and provide any news coverage you can imagine. The content is compiled every few minutes (24/7) featuring the best and the latest news; all of which is gathered from the most popular columnist, bloggers and daily newspapers on the web.

Enjoy!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Here at Pageflakes, it’s a toss-up on whether the PC or the Mac is better.  Majority of the employees use a PC, but the few of us that use Macs are very happy. One co-worker of mine, who will remain nameless, was on hold last week dealing with getting his PC fixed while the few of us Applers just whispered- Genius Bar. There are some programs that I have to run solely using a PC, so one point for the PC. How about you check it out for yourself with these informative Flakes and Pagecasts:
MacCast, Engadget on Media PCs, PC News Pagecast, MacAttack Pagecast

Obviously I’m a bit biased, so here is an Apple ad reel:

Enjoy!
-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Summer starts next week and what’s a better way to celebrate the season than checking out all the blockbusters movies (or sappy romantic comedies- whichever floats your boat)?! To help prepare for your movie outings, add any of the following Flakes to your Pageflakes page. This way you can find out the show times, reviews, and even buy tickets online without ever navigating away from the comforts of your start-page! Pretty sweet!

Movie Showtimes

Movie Find

Movies.com

Fandango

Enjoy!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Pageflakes is lucky enough to have a beautiful community garden only a block from our backdoor. When I need a break from blogging I usually take a stroll through the garden beds that residents living nearby are given to do whatever their green thumb can manage. Unfortunately I only had my blackberry to take pictures, but here are two.

How nice would it be for all of us to be able to take a moment to smell the flowers? We don’t all have the time, or the location, so instead I decided what I would like to do is just see more of my favorite things. For instance, if you add the tag “gardens” to your Flickr Flake, then you get a lovely little slideshow of flowers and plants. Why not try tags like your favorite city, dream vacation spot or maybe even your favorite band? This way you can have a little window to look out of, if you will, on your Pageflakes page!

Enjoy!
-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Lucky for me, my Father always says to my brothers and me that he would rather spend time with us then receive any gifts.  My Father, like many others, is the gadget guy, the tech guru, the car man with a need for speed, and won’t wear anything to work but Hawaiian shirts. He travels to exotic locales and enjoys a good gin martini (3 olives up). He is the man with everything and MORE! Thank goodness he has given us that pardon. I won’t divulge too much of what my brothers and I chose to do instead for this Father’s Day (knowing very well he’s Pageflakes biggest fan), but I do think I can help those in need for some great gift ideas. Here are just a few Flakes that hopefully can inspire you:

Machinist

MP3 Players

Engadget

Gift Ideas

Gadget Blog

Unique Gifts

Myths of Fathers

Digital Father

 Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads, Grandfathers, Uncles, Godfathers, and even Dad’s to be!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Close enough. A premium gallon of gas cost close to $4.50 here in the Bay Area (thank goodness they don’t round up)!  How are we supposed to go anywhere or do anything with gas prices so high? I guess we’re all going to have to ride those four-wheel bikes I saw on the Today show yesterday morning. They always said our society moves to quickly- well truckin’ around on a bike will definitely slow me down. With summer vacations on everyone’s mind, it’s a little unnerving to think that flight costs are going through the roof and a road-trip may not even be a good alternative.

As always, Pageflakes has a plethora of Flakes to help get you where you’re going. Check out Expedia’s  11 Flakes varying from great cruise deals, cheap flights and hotel steals! The Travelocity Flake and the Priceline Flake are also great Flakes to find the cheapest flight for your destination. Really Cheap Airline Tickets Flake (yup, that’s the official name) obviously has some good information on really cheap airline tickets (um, pun intended). Lastly, check out the Travel Category in Browse Flakes (click the big button on the right-hand side of your page, click Browse Flakes on the Left, scroll down to Travel).

Happy Travels!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Who was the British Rock Legend who just received a degree from Yale? (Answer at the bottom)

There are a few local spots in San Francisco that host a weekly night of trivia. My friends and I are becoming regulars.  Bring a team, very creative team name, and for two hours you play 7 rounds of good old fashion trivia. Topics range from 80’s rock bands, foreign dictators, sports stars, to even as specific as how many votes were cased in American Idol last season (that was a tie breaker question). Being that last night was only my third time, coming in 4th place was HUGE. My roommate Meg suggested that we start studying, so we can really show off next week.  Question is, how do you study useless facts?

Pageflakes to the rescue! We have an abundance of Flakes with useless facts. If I get really serious, I might even create a Pagecast with all of them! In the meantime, here are just afew:

Briangle’s Daily Trivia Quiz

Geography Trivia

NuttyAboutSports Trivia

Mostly Trivial

Random Acts of Trivia

Top Five List

And the answer to my above trivia question: Paul McCartney!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Have you ever checked out who’s on Pageflakes? Ever wondered who are all those Pagecast creators and authors? Take a look at the Pageflakes People Gallery and find out who’s part of the Pageflakes Community!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

I love gossip, all kinds. And so do you! To get all the latest juice, I’ve got a few Flakes for you to check out. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for tech talk, I love the Valleywag Flake. I get the download on all the big wigs in the Bay Area without all the usual spin. To stay on top of politics, the Wonkette Flake is my lighter-fare go-to Flake. For something with a bit more gravitas, check out the Politico Flake.  For star gossip I have a lot of sweet, sweet Flakes to choose from: Perez Hilton,TMZ, Jossip, Superficial, Backwash, & iCelebz. The list goes on (way on!) in the Flake Gallery- Push the big button on the right-hand corner of your page, go under Browse Flakes, in Gossip & Celebs category. Lastly, I have the Gossip on Sports Flake and Fanhouse Flake for the latest on and off the field. Enjoy!

-Allison & Ben, Pageflakes Team Members

Our new Community Central is available! Check it out and see how great it turned out! Now it’s even easier to see new and top Content on Pageflakes. Enjoy!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Think your day’s going to be same old same old? Look into the crystal ball and think again…you just might have a secret admirer, a friendly neighbor, or a charming elevator-mate in your future. Astrology.com checks the charts to see what your flirtatious stars have to say, and delivers the news fresh to your page every day. Check out a live preview and add it to your page by clicking the add button.
As always, please enjoy!
-Benjamin, Pageflakes Team Member