For those of us who are sick and tired of business networking groups, Biznik.com offers an alternative ‘that doesn’t suck’. The Biznik community operates on the notion that self-promotion and constructive collaboration can be compatible, even in the business world. Biznik’s curriculum focuses on event (rather than chapter) based involvement so each member reaps the benefits of the community only through active participation. No matter what your profession, if you are passionate about pursuing constructive and long-term business relationships Biznik is the place for you.

MySQL.com is the home of MySQL, a robust database management system favored by more than six million developers for websites and in-house projects. Clients include Apple, Amazon.com, Google, Travelocity and Yahoo!. The website offers not just the software, but also handles support services and advisory services like 24/7 network monitoring.

NothingDirect.com has the solution for holiday buying — nothing! This innovative concept at making a quick $1.39 for practically nothing is either a fun statement on consumerism and the gluttony of mankind, or it’s nothing at all. Either way you’ve got to check it out for yourself. Just be prepared for a little laughter with nothing to lose. Seriously though, NothingDirect.com is a fun read and can brighten a day, and that’s definitely worth something.

ZEDO.com is one of a handful of companies pioneering the next wave in online advertising. They offer a variety of services to websites, advertisers and networks, but specifically, they provide software that intuitively loads advertising on websites specifically designed to appeal to viewers of that page, all within confines established by both the website owner and the advertising base.

Zolved.com is a fairly straight-forward concept that makes you wonder why no one had thought of it before. The general idea is that for every technical problem, there’s someone who knows the answer (a guru). At it’s core, Zolved is just about pairing these two people, by marrying search technology with social networking. They provide a format for users to ask difficult technical questions. Then, the site first tries to identify websites that have the answer. But the cool thing is that gurus can also register with Zolved and can offer their help with solving the problem. Zolved also helps identify local businesses or professionals to help with the problem.

Shopping.com is one of the world’s premier comparison shopping websites. Part of the value of Shopping.com is it’s connections and partnerships to other retail and consumer related websites. They operate the consumer review website, Epinions.com, which allows for unbiased reviews to be piped into Shopping.com’s framework. They also provide expert reviews from such websites as Cnet.com and About.com. Shopping.com is an eBay company, which also owns the online payment site, PayPal.

AbbyDodge.com is a companion website for popular food writer and instructor Abby Dodge. Her work has been published in Parents, Women’s Day and Fine Cooking, and she’s published five cookbooks and contributed to three others. Appearing regularly on TV and radio, Abby Dodge also teaches classes and seminars on cooking.

Travelocity.com is one of the biggest online travel agencies in the world. The site features special offers as well as booking of flights, hotels, cars, cruises and packages. Travelocity can also help with trip planning or just ideas of where to go, with independent reviews from customers and destination guides. The website also provides “last minute” deals for quick getaways as well as a “FareWatcher” feature that notifies you of updates and deals via your email.

Whole Wheat Radio is the Web 2.0 answer to internet radio. This wiki and internet-only radio station streams hi and low-band tunes around the globe. Headquartered in Alaska, the radio station offers a range of independent music from blues, to classical, bluegrass and folk, along with interviews, house concerts, daily rants and more. The Whole Wheat Radio wiki is more than just a companion-website. It contains a dynamic knowledge base of legions of faithful fans, with articles on artists, songs and other user-contributed facts. Additionally, the Whole Wheat Radio wiki is the place to find out about how to listen live to Whole Wheat Radio, as well as make listener requests.

DailyMotion.com is a video sharing website. Like it’s main competitors, YouTube or MetaCafe, the site allows users to post, share and search for videos. To counter YouTube’s dominance in the field, DailyMotion.com allows for larger file sizes than it’s competitor, and doesn’t have a limit on how long the videos are. Searching on DailyMotion.comis accomplished via tags, channels or user-created groups. A French website, DailyMotion.com has a bit more International flavor that some of its competitors. The website is generally in English, although many of the captions and tags are in French, and little icons appear in search results to show the video’s country of origin.