In one word: lightning⚡

Here are a few interesting projects/websites that use lightning in one way or another:

• BoltCards are NFC enabled cards that you can use to pay with lightning just like you can pay with a credit card. There's no banks involved though, the PoS connects to your own node and gets the payment in sats. You can setup your BoltCards Open Source Server yourself(more information here), use an external service like ln.cash or use an exchange if you prefer.
• LNURLVend. A $250 completely offline bitcoin vending machine using lightning. It's even battery powered, so you can just grab it and use it anywhere. Here's a video of it in action.
• Sphinx. Decentralized chat/social media/etc, you can even sell your texts/photos/media out of the box. All using sats.
• Juggernaut. Similar to sphinx. All using sats.
• Alby. Use lightning in the browser. You can authenticate (no more user/pass), and make lightning transactions right from your browser. No need to switch between apps or creating invoices. All works seamlessly.
• LNPay. Create lapps (lightning apps) easily by setting up paywalls or faucets with this service.
• lightning-charge. A simple drop-in solution for accepting lightning payments.
• Lightning Exchanges. List of exchanges that support withdrawals and sending bitcoin with lightning.
• SolDirac. A Q/A website that pays you sats via lightning to answer the questions.
• BTC Pay Server. Accept bitcoin with lightning at your store for free.
• Feeding animals live around the world with lightning!⚡
• bitrefill. Buy gift cards for many stores worldwide with lightning.
• Lightning network explorer. Cool map showing public lightning nodes all around the world.
• Satsback. Earn sats back whenever you buy stuff. It's like cashback but with sats instead, and paid with lightning.
• Lightning Network Stores. Directory of stores that support lightning.
• If you want to run a lightning node with 100% open source where you have full control of every aspect of the stack: Open source stack to run your own Lightning node⚡
• lightning address. Make your own lightning address for simpler payments in lightning.
• zebedee API. API to use sats as micro-payments in games.
• Mastering the Lightning Network. Github repository of the lightning book from Andreas Antonopoulos, where you can download the source code, and read the contents of the book for free.
• If you ever need to send a fax, you can do it with lightning
• If you need to send an SMS instead, here's how to send it with lightning
• Some great lightning wallets: If you just want the simplest non-custodial one, go with Muun. If you want the simplest custodial one, go with Wallet of Satoshi. If you want to be able to customize things a bit and maybe even use your own lightning node you can check out Breeze, BlueWallet, Phoenix. If you want a wallet with all the latest state of the art stuff implemented into it, check out Blixt. If you want to have full control of your lightning node, checkout Zeus.

Happy ⚡!