There are a number of outlets to get local news and News Off the Press is a project that attempts to gather stories from many sources and present them in one place. This aggregation of the latest news is convenient and easy to use. Headlines are kept one the site for 30 days and new stories are constantly being added to the front page automatically.
See also: Edhat Edhat's local news section is a great place to go for news if you are in a hurry. Edhat's editors sift through the local news and pick out the stories they think are important (whereas News Off the Press uses software to include stories automatically). If you don't have time to sort through the news of the day, Edhat can provide a good summary for you.
Eventful (RSS) is an awesome service that features many upcoming events all around Santa Barbara. Eventful is the leading events website and is built by Eventful, Inc. in San Diego. Things you can do with Eventful (from their about page):
See also: Yahoo's Upcoming.org, Mike Flint's Tixity (local)
Trulia combines all local real estate listings at one place. From their about page:
"We are a real estate search engine that helps you find homes for sale and provides real estate information at the local level to help you make better decisions in the process."
"We aim to be a delightfully smart partner when you are looking to buy a home. The smart part should help you find your dream home (or at least the dream home within your budget) and arm you with data and information about local real estate (without too much work). The delightful part should make you smile and keep you coming back."
"Whether you are moving down the street or clear across the country, we're here to help you understand real estate trends at the local level. When you are about to make the biggest financial decision of your life, we help you understand how your future home stacks up compared to similar homes on the market, and similar homes that have recently sold. We show you how sales prices have been trending where it matters—in your county, city, ZIP code and neighborhood."
To the right are five recent listings. For a map with all the listings, visit the site.
See also: Zillow.com
SimplyHired (feed) operates the largest online database of jobs on the planet. Simply Hired is a vertical job search engine that pulls listings from job boards, company pages, online classifieds and other data sources. As they say "The more jobs we can get into our search, the more likely you'll find your dream job. Our goal is to make finding your next job a simple yet effective, enjoyable journey. We can't always promise you'll discover your dream job, but we'll give you the best chance possible to get a bigger paycheck, a more considerate boss, or a shorter commute."
This site is the best place to look for jobs bar none. A few recent jobs are available to the right.
If you haven't heard of Craigslist by now all you need to know is that it is the leading classifieds service in any medium with 10 million new classified ads each month. The following is from Wikipedia:
"Craigslist is a centralized network of online urban communities, featuring free classified advertisements (with jobs, housing, personals, for sale/barter/wanted, services, community, gigs and resumes categories) and forums sorted by various topics.
It was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark for the San Francisco Bay Area... It serves over 5 billion page views per month, putting it in 34th place overall among web sites world wide, 8th place overall among web sites in the United States (per Alexa.com on December 29, 2006), to 10 million unique visitors."
If you still get your weather from a newspaper, its time to get with the program. For the latest weather updates and forecasts, turn to the net.
See also: WeatherUnderground
A search on Technorati will let you know what local bloggers are saying about local news. What is Technorati? From their about page: "Technorati is the recognized authority on what's happening on the World Live Web, right now. The Live Web is the dynamic and always-updating portion of the Web. We search, surface, and organize blogs and the other forms of independent, user-generated content (photos, videos, voting, etc.) increasingly referred to as "citizen media."
"Pacific Coast Business Times is the weekly business journal for Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties. We're a locally owned company with offices in downtown Santa Barbara. The Business Times is printed by Western Web Printing in Santa Barbara and delivered to subscribers' offices each Friday. The newspaper is also available at local bookstores."
"Pacific Coast Business Times has been publishing since March 17, 2000 and we've enjoyed every minute of it! Our news staff is a group of talented professionals dedicated to getting the news that is important to you and your business. Our sales and circulation departments are eager to serve you."
From Wikipedia: "The Santa Barbara Independent is a free arts and entertainment newsweekly published in Santa Barbara, California. The paper, which is published every Thursday and was founded in November 1986, has a circulation of over 40,000 and an audited readership of more than 100,000. The paper features long and short news stories, in-depth arts, music, book, and film coverage, an entertainment calendar, a lifestyle section, and reviews of restaurants and culture. The Independent is also known for investigative reporting on a variety of issues, from the environment to local politics."
Not yet providing online content but looks like a promising replacement to the social section of the News-Press. As part of Operation Cold Shoulder, hosts should invite this publication rather than the News-Press reporters.
From their site: "We are so thrilled to bring to you fresh and exciting articles that we trust you’ll find interesting. We are always looking for the unusual, as in our exotic car section and our travel guide. Social Scene Magazine will now be covering Weddings, Sports, Gift Ideas, Dueling Chefs, and of course, many Events and Galas. We are also going to feature an exciting individual in the community in our Who’s Who of Santa Barbara. I hope you enjoy this issue and continue reading and looking at Social Scene! We would like to thank all of our advertisers for their support."
See also: Santa Barbara Magazine, Sunset, Central Coast Magazine
The LA Times is Sourthern California's paper-of-choice. LATimes.com is is updated continuously with more than 3,000 stories posted daily. From their site: "The Los Angeles Times is the only newspaper in the West with the resources and commitment to cover important stories wherever they happen. We strive to be the definitive news source for Californians, an essential part of the national news dialogue, and the voice of Los Angeles around the world."
At Newsvine, you can read stories from established media organizations like the Associated Press, ESPN, and New Scientist as well as individual contributors from all around the world. Placement of stories is determined by a multitude of factors including freshness, popularity, and reputation. Contribution is open to all, and editorial judgement is in the hands of the community. Ten recent headlines are at the right.
The following boxes search most of the South Coast sources of News Off The Press.
Just type your query on the dotted line and hit Go.