Take a detour from the better-known tech sites, such as InformationWeek, and you'll find a host of blogs and home pages which are well worth your surfing attention. Accordingly, we've compiled a list of our in-house favorites. All are recommended, but in no particular order or ranking. We've listed them by category, so you can dive directly into your favorite technology niche. Here now are our top 60 (actually, 63) little-known technology Web sites.

1. Low End Mac

Low End Mac is dedicated to helping people get the most out of their Macs and Mac clones. Rather than focus on ways to have the fastest or most tweaked out computer possible, the site is more interested in showing people how to get the most use from their hardware.

As the name implies, the site's primary focus is older models. Articles include "The Best Alternatives To Apple's USB Keyboards," "Keeping Those Old Macs Useful," and "Working With Vintage Macs." In addition, visitors can find links to Mac software, and deals on iPods, PowerBooks, Power Macs, MacBooks and iMacs.

2. The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) carries information in the form of postings from iPhone users to podcasts (sponsored by BestBuy, which doesn't seem to interfere with the content).

The first page is slow loading but it's worth the wait. There are sections ranging from Apple history to the latest alleged outrage driving Apple users up a tree. There is also a blog section that lists scores of diehard Apple users blogging away on their hopes and dreams and, alas, sometimes horrors regarding Apple. There are many excellent sites committed to Apple, but this one is a favorite.

3. Barron's Tech Trader Blog
One challenge of living and working in Silicon Valley is making sure you're atop the latest stock market gyrations by the time you get to work in the morning. That's the be-all of Barron's Tech Trader blog, which serves as an effective relay of all the Wall Street news for the tech industry.

In particular it collects the analysts' reports on tech firms both large and small, so if some UBS number-cruncher downgrades Aruba Networks, you'll know about it almost in real time. Plus it's written by longtime Silicon Valley correspondent Eric Savitz, one of the sharpest and most BS-proof reporters on the tech scene.

4. FeldThoughts
The personal blog of tech venture capitalist Brad Feld, managing director of Mobius Venture Capital in Boulder, Colo. brings a techie's delight plus an investor's take on the tech industry, mostly around Web 2.0 tools. Feld is a world traveler and a voracious reader, so his blog is a jumping-off point to plenty of other places and ideas (recent titles: Math You Can't Use: Patents, Copyright, and Software; The 4-Hour Workweek; Make The Right Choice). Feld provides real insight into what is catching a tech VC's eye in the Web 2.0 space right now, and what it's like to play with a lot of really cool toys. You have to be willing to put up with some attitude of the "Boy am I the smartest guy in the room" sort, though.

5. Jeff Matthews Is Not Making This Up
Matthews, a partially recovered brokerage analyst from a major NYC firm, writes about "The World of Wall Street in all its glory, and anything else that strikes our fancy." As the title implies, he specializes in highlighting developments (corporate CEO pay, absurd Wall Street cheerleading for dog stocks, and so on) that defy credulity. He is especially adroit at parsing market-speak for non-specialists, and when he strays from his primary beat it's usually to good purpose -- like his blog calculating the carbon emissions from the private jets used to fly 600 guests to an exclusive Caribbean resort for Google founder Larry Page's early-December wedding.