1) Lexical Freenet – a thesaurus that finds connections between two words
2) Virtual Theasuarus – makes lovely mindmaps from single words
3) Google AdWords keyword search – find out what related stuff people are searching for
4) Google Trends – access hot topics and hot searches
5) MisEntropy Plannersphere Search Engine – fnd out what other Planners are writing about your brand/topic/problem
6) Don’t forget the trends sites – try PSFK, Springwise, trendwatching and Faith Popcorn for starters
7) You could also try the Account Planning Group’s old minimags Sharp Stick (especially June 2004 issue, P.13 with all the charts you’ll ever need)
8) Compfight – inspiring flickr images from keywords
9) APFind – like Digg for Planners
10) (UK only probably) your local Central Library’s business/information centre. Free mintel reports! News databases! Helpful librarian desk research experts!
Got any other good ones to recommend?
Ive made a couple of custom search engines. They can be very UK almost europe based though
http://thingsdonotchangewechange.blogspot.com/2007/10/industry-custom-search-engines.html
I find cool iris and flickrstorm good for photos if you want them a little less random
slideshare is always a a must
unfortunately Lynette stopped making more slides but this one from flickr images is good
I find psychology today can also give you some good indicators on how people interact
http://www.psychologytoday.com/
cool idea