The NBA lockout started on July 1, and is now at the end of its 13th week. Today marks the 92nd day of unsuccessful negotiations. Training camps have been postponed indefinitely, and preseason games have been canceled through October 15. After this week’s meeting between NBA owners and the players’ union turned into another stalemate, it seems that the regular basketball season is now in jeopardy.

David Stern, the NBA commissioner, has implied that his primary concern is whether or not there will be a season at all. Today the forces at odds, the owners and the players’ union, meet again in New York. All parties involved seem aware of the urgency of this weekend’s attempts to end the lockout. If the foundations of a deal cannot be agreed upon by Wednesday, October 5, it is unlikely that the regular season will still consist of the standard 82 games.

In addition to time constraints as the November 1st season opener approaches, many NBA star athletes are considering – or have already accepted – contract offers with basketball teams overseas. China’s team, Xinjiang Guanghui, has signed contracts with NBA free agents Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith, and Wilson Chandler for the entire season. Ty Lawson, another free agent, has signed a full season contract with Lithuania’s team.

Other players are more optimistic that the lockout will not result in a canceled season for the NBA. Therefore many players, still eager for work to stay in shape while the lockout is in effect, have signed contacts with overseas teams with opt-out clauses. This will allow those players to immediately return to their NBA teams with no penalty once the lockout ends. Deron Williams of the Nets has signed such a contract with Turkey’s basketball team.

Yet some players are still postponing signing on with overseas teams for this season, even those offering contracts with opt-out clauses. Such players include the Derrick Rose, Mehmet Okur, Rudy Fernandez, DeJuan Blair, and John Wall. Andre Iguodala of the Philadelphia 76ers has shifted his focus entirely during the lockout, and may be seeking an internship on Wall Street if the season is canceled entirely.

Most publicized of all is the all-star Kobe Bryant, who has hesitated in signing a contract with Italy’s Virtus Bologna team, but who will be traveling to Italy this weekend to potentially finalize and sign his contract. Rumor has it that Bryant will most likely be spending the first 40 days of the season playing for Italy, and that his contract will include an opt-out clause.

Despite these many players negotiating deals abroad, plenty of the NBA star athletes will be in attendance at the meeting today to show their support for an expedited resolution. Players committed to attending the meeting – which will be continued over the course of the weekend if it appears that progress can be made – include LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Andre Iguodala, and Kevin Durant. They share a confidence that, with the pressure of the season opener looming in the near future, agreements will be made and ultimately the normal 82-game season will remain in tact.

Basketball fans can stay informed of new developments resulting from today’s and future negotiation talks between the NBA owners and the players’ union through BOTW-approved listings. Search for “NBA news” in the directory to find dozens of quality websites and blogs dedicated to providing fans with the latest updates as quickly as possible. From there, BOTW users can also learn where their favorite NBA players are heading for the remainder of the preseason until the lockout ends.

Since its inception in 1994, Best of the Web has provided meaningful guidance for users navigating through the depths of the Internet. In addition to its long life on the web, the high standards enforced by its team of human editors in each individual website review have made BOTW a trusted resource not only for those perusing the web but also among search engines. That makes a listing in the BOTW Directory all the more valuable.

Unfortunately not everyone who chooses to submit their website takes the time to review the criteria and standards for inclusion in the directory. It goes without saying sites containing nothing but spam or those that are technically dysfunctional will be denied inclusion. There are also perfectly legitimate business websites that get rejected on a daily basis. Here’s why:

Websites submitted to the directory must not only always be up & running, but must also be 100% functional. If the server crashes, or a website contains pages that are under construction, the submission will be rejected.

All websites in the directory must be in the English language; however, that doesn’t mean multilingual website submissions are automatically denied. If a fully English version of the site exists (not merely a landing page in English), foreign language sites that meet the other inclusion criteria can be approved.

A website may also be rejected if it lacks a substantial amount of unique content. In other words, if the BOTW editors find that the majority of the website’s content has already been published elsewhere on the web: this is grounds for rejection. Lastly, and only in the case of blog submissions, there must be evidence of at least 6 months of history.

If a submission is rejected, it is granted a 30-day appeal period. During this time, customers have the opportunity to fix the issues noted by our editors that led to rejection, and request reconsideration by submitting an appeal through their BOTW account dashboard.

A BOTW listing is an assurance of a content-rich, user-friendly, well-designed site. Whether serving consumers, businesses, or acting as an informational resource, a listing in the BOTW Directory can expand any site’s visibility on the web with an added vote of confidence for visitors.

The UrbanDictionary of the web, riddled with memes and trends and other gems of popular Internet culture, defines bloggers as “anyone with enough time or narcissism to document every tedious bit of minutia filling their uneventful lives.”

When blogging first gained popularity the late 1990s, the blogosphere was indeed treated like a public diary of sorts. By the early 2000s, however, a distinction was made between blogging and social networking. In 2002, blogs were embraced by the journalism industry and have since gained increasing notice and respect across the web.

On the other end of the spectrum, social networking sites have long since provided average Internet users with a forum to write about their day-to-day lives. Many platforms, such as Twitter and Tumblr, have striven to close the gap between blogging and networking in a medium dubbed “microblogging.” Although many Internet users maintain personal blogs filled with self-expression, it’s never been easier for professional writers to be recognized for regular contributions to blogs.

Research from 2010 shows that more teens and young adults have taken to the social networking scene, where they can update their friends and followers with their every move made over the course of a day. Meanwhile the percentage of adult bloggers over the age of 30 has risen by nearly 10% since 2006.

Many consider these trends, particularly among teens, to be a result of their access to an overwhelming number of platforms that serve the same purpose. Teens, particularly in cyberspace, have the tendency to jump on the latest craze, and as a result often wind up with memberships to dozens of sites they won’t visit more than once. While not always the case, adults typically benefit from stability in their web presence and are more likely to facilitate & contribute discussions relating to topics outside of their personal lives than the Internet youth.

Regardless of that fashion in which they are used, blogs are read regularly by 77% of active Internet users, and over one million posts are added to the blogosphere within a 24 hour period. Web curators and aggregators have begun to include blogs in their field of focus for these reasons.

In the Best of the Web Blogs Directory, for instance, Internet users can find consistently active, high quality blogs sorted into relevant categories based on content. In addition to timely and newsworthy blogs, the Blogs Directory even offers a home for those used for personal matters. With the ability to subscribe to the RSS feed of blogs directly from listings within the directory, navigating the blogosphere has never been easier.

As the seasons change, back-to-school sales dominate at retailers across the nation. Customers eager to find out which gadgets they should invest in to accompany them through their day-to-day work and school tasks need look no further: This year the rage is tablets – but electronics stores are learning that not all are equal in the eye of the consumer.

Since the release of the Apple iPad in 2010, dozens of alternatives emerged and just as quickly faded from markets, unable to attract consumer attention like Apple. This isn’t surprising – it’s no secret that there are cheaper MP3 players available that serve the same purposes as an iPod. Consumers want to buy not just a product, but a brand. Yet the tablet market continues to expand, and with it persistent companies continue their attempts in challenging Apple.

Sony’s Tablet S was originally considered able to compete with Apple, but proved too problematic in its software to be effective. Techies and analysts alike insist that Sony’s newer Tablet P (which will be the first tablet computer with two screens that can be flipped closed), due to be released later this year, does have potential to compete with the iPad 2.

Until the Tablet P is released, however, the best competitor in this tablet computer series so far is Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. Originally introduced to the market at $600, the cost of this device has been reduced to $279.99 as Samsung considers introducing its latest version, the Galaxy Tab 7.7, in the United States. The latter has been a success in Europe, and although Samsung has claimed to have no plans to introduce it to the U.S. market, analysts believe this stance is unlikely to last. Despite great reviews overseas, it’s unclear whether or not the Galaxy Tab 7.7 will steal the U.S. market spotlight where its price is anticipated at nearly $800.

Some companies understand that, while tablets are the next big thing among personal computers, consumer interest is a constant struggle between newness and practicality. Therefore a few companies have begun to offer cheaper options in the tablet market. While HP is manufacturing a final line (and limited amount) of TouchPads in response to a spike in sales after a price drop resulting from their discontinuation of webOS, other compaies have since responded to the call for more affordable tablet computers.

Although the ThinkPad was not a major success, Lenovo plans to release the IdeaPad at the end of this month with promises of high quality and affordability – and hopes of big sales during the final months of the year to justify the low prices. Amazon, on the other hand, has received nothing but encouragement after its announcement of the Android Honeycomb-based tablet set to be released during October at around $300. Analysts agree that this device has the potential to overcome all other competitors and rise as the number one alternative to the iPad 2.

The Fall is expected to bring a surge of similarly priced tablet computers, but the quality of each is yet to be determined. Savvy shoppers who are taking advantage of back-to-school sales in electronics stores this month should check out the reliable consumer information sites listed in the BOTW Directory. By conducting a simple search for any of the aforementioned devices in the directory, users can find numerous sites offering detailed reviews of all the latest gadgets to help them determine the perfect choice in tablet computers this year.