Nation

Unless you're a toothless gossiping grandmother, you're probably missing out on your community's dirt, whether it's the sapling planting in the park, or the body planting down by the waterfront. Put down the Efferdent, and get the goods from YourStreet.

Just launched, YS aggregates stories from 10,000+ newspapers, magazines, local blogs, etc, then uses a proprietary algorithm to Google Map them -- so you can bone up on the chemical spill outside your Starbucks while ignoring irrelevant news from Our Nation's Capitol/Russia/other Starbucks locations. Just punch in your city, zip, or neighborhood, and a time range from today to 90 days ago, and up'll pop everything from feel-good stories ("Compton's Homicide Rate is Dropping") to feel-great stories ("Compton Gets its TARGET").

This being Web 2.0, YourStreet offers twin community-building features -- you can comment on news, and strike up open-forum "conversations" -- but if you're that into community, why is your door locked and your face glued to a computer?