Sunday, November 30, 2008

Here are selected picks from Kiplinger's 2008 best Web sites.

Travel booking: Kayak.com. Kayak scours more than 140 sources for the best airfares, hotel rates and vacation packages.

Last-minute travel: US.LastMinute.com. Book your whole trip just days or even hours before takeoff. Some of the sweetest deals pop up at the last minute.

Online bargains: Dodtracker.com. This deal-of-the-day site surfs the Web for the best bargains on everything from electronics and jewelry to tools and kitchen gadgets.

Cheap gas: Gasprices.Mapquest.com. Rather than rely on volunteer "spotters," Mapquest updates fuel prices daily via a data feed from the Oil Pricing Information Service. Type in your Zip code and rank stations by price or distance.

Pet care: PetInsuranceReview.com. Compare plans from all the major pet-insurance providers, and get customer reviews and ratings.

Pet medications: 1800PetMeds.com. No other service even comes close to the leading purveyor of pet medications. You can reach the company by phone at 800-738-6337.