Got a golem?
The Golem@Home Project, based at Brandeis University, is an attempt to evolve artificial robotic life-forms using the power of millions of PCs. You can join in by downloading a screensaver (Windows 95/98 only) which includes the Golem program. Every week or two, your PC will exchange up to three colourful tubular creatures at random with another PC on the net. The researchers say: "The central Golem server does not collect results. We rely on the fact that 'good' creatures will survive long enough to eventually reach us by migration."

Golem is supposed to stand for Genetically Organized Lifelike Electro Mechanics. Orignally it was a mythical automaton made of clay.

Bloomers
Combine the silly misprints and humorous pictures used by newspapers with video "bloomers" and you have the beginnings of a hysterically funny website. Being on the web, it can be ruder and cruder than traditional publications and TV programmes. The anonymous editor(s) say: "What the hell does 3BP stand for? It doesn't... Those bastards took all the domain names!!" See www.3bp.com.

In your view
The BBC wants licence payers to comment on its plans for an online education service or "digital curriculum". The proposal document has been sent to public libraries and can also be obtained by phoning 0808 100 4900. The website has supporting video clips and a questionnaire at www.bbc.co.uk/consult.

I spy
GlobeXplorer has launched what it claims is the world's largest online archive of aerial and satellite pictures and the only "on-line, real-time" commercial service, at www.GlobeXplorer.com. The clever thing is the way images are linked to MapQuest maps. Unfortunately both maps and images are far too small, navigation is hopeless, and there is actually very little detailed coverage outside the US.

I spy too
America's Central Intelligence Agency has a Fine Arts Commission, and this has exhibited a selection of objects from a private collection of more than 4,000 items related to movie and TV spy fiction. The CIA has now put The Spy Fi Archives: 40 Years of TV and Movie Spy Fiction on the web. It is, it must be said, a very small collection of pictures, but it does include, from The Avengers, one of the most devastating weapons known to man: Mrs Peel's leather trousers.

Blinding flash
Can't wait for Whistler? Wish you had a Mac Aqua-style system instead? WindowBlinds is a well-established "skinning" utility that lets users change the appearance of Microsoft Windows, and popular skins now include the next version of Windows 2000 (code-named Whistler), and several "liquid" interfaces like Aqua, the front end for Apple's long-delayed Unix-based Mac OS X. Go to www.windowblinds.net.

Rivals
Here's a good idea for a site: create a directory for the hundreds of independent fan sites covering football, cricket, rugby union, cycling, Formula One and so on. That's what Rivals does at www.rivals.net. The mystery is that there's only one site for each football club or Formula One team, and so on. That must leave room for a rival to Rivals...

New and noted
Virgin Radio is hosting the official UK site for the latest Jim Carrey movie, Me, Myself & Irene, opening tomorrow. See www.memyselfandirene.co.uk. TMA Ventures, the commercial arm of the Telecoms Managers Association, has launched The Technology Channel, which helps users calculate phone tariffs. You can't top up your pay-as-you-go mobile there, but you can do that at www.fastbeat.com, which supports BT Cellnet, Vodafone, Orange and One-2-One and Virgin services. Finally, Amazon UK now lets you click to add things to a "wishlist". Instead of a shopping basket: friends can look it up when buying you presents See www.amazon.co.uk/wishlist.

Six of the best Olympics
Official site
www.olympics.com/eng
Send fanmail
www.fanmail.olympic.ibm.com
BBC news
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/olympics2000
Yahoo's special
sports.yahoo.com/oly
Unlimited coverage
www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/sydney
Just the facts
www.ausport.gov.au/factmenu.html