Web noses
Web Nose Day is on the way, and schools are being invited to create supporting websites in a competition backed by Becta and the Guardian. See www.comicrelief.com/education and www.becta.org.uk websiteawards/ for resources and details. Schools can also order Comic Relief's Guide to Changing the World, Universe and Everything. a set of 24 lesson plans, from comicrelief@dsine.co.u
Turn on
Got bandwidth to waste? Tune in to the TuneIn Network and watch a couple of episodes of Dragnet, the great old cop show, a Sinatra documentary, Fantastic Planet or other film or video using Windows Media Player. The site also has a pay-per-view section offering such delights as Reefer Madness (Women Cry For It - Men Die For It). Go to www.tuneinnetwork.com.
Drop out
Even more bandwidth to waste? There's always Media Inspiration, "a resource to inspire media professionals". It is a fantastic collection of what are called "creative" websites: that is, an orgy of (mostly) stupid and pointless web design. Most depressing aspect: the 25 pages of Flash-infected sites, some of which take lack of usability to new heights. The 99% of users who close pop-up consoles before they finish opening will have to sit on their hands.
Tall tales
Nalyd's Skyscraper Page has won the accolade for the best skyscraper site of the year. The site www.skyscraperpage.com lets you see the tallest buildings in the world arranged in order, and enjoy the World's Tallest Diagram. The New York Skyscrapers site is also topping.
Top people
An essential site for George Dubya Bush to bookmark is World Heads of State, which lists kings and presidents from the foundation of each country to the present day. It can be hard to answer questions such as who ran Kiribati in 1991-94 without going to www.info-regenten.de/regent/regent-e.
Joke contest
British Web Broadcasting is searching for "the brightest in new comedy talent", and judging by some stuff on its site at www.bwebb.tv, it needs it. The judges include Robert Llewellyn (Red Dwarf) and Nigel Planer (The Young Ones), and the winner will get his or her own BwebB series for a year plus a video contract with Vision Video Ltd. You can post your entry to British Web Broadcasting Search For A Comic in Brentford, or upload it to the website. The closing date for entries is February 28.
All that glitters
The Recording Academy has been in the news this week because of the four Grammy Award nominations for Eminem and The Marshall Mathers LP - an album that ridicules the Grammies. All the nominations for the 43rd annual awards are now online at www.grammy.com, and the LA Times has thoughtfully provided sound clips with its comprehensive coverage at www.calendarlive.com/top.
But on January 21, well before the Grammies, come the Golden Globe Awards, organised by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The nominations have just been unveiled at www.goldenglobes.org/nom.htm
It is noticeable that almost every film and TV show listed has its own website, including Ang Lee's balletic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Sound track
Karaoke has come to the web, with version 3.0 of Paltalk. This software not only provides internet phone facilities, it supports group conferencing under moderator control, with "hand raising" for when you feel a desperate need to sing My Way. Paltalk is also beta testing a non-conferencing version of its software for Palm OS handheld computers.
New & noted
• Net Services has launched a search engine for finding emotional support groups. See www.netservs.com/care/
• Sub Sea Explorer is a new website aimed mainly at divers, and the attractions include a competition to win a dive to the Titanic. Go to www.subseaexplorer.com
• www.justgiving.com is being launched by Anne-Marie Huby, a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1999, to help people donate tax-efficiently.
• Who is hot on the web? Joe Clarke has listed his findings at www.thetop400.cjb.net
• Famous for 15 minutes? Jiggy over to The Dancing Paul Page: www.users.qwest.net/~pstroot/dance
• Eye-boggler of the week: www.grand-illusions.com/pinwheel.htm
Six of the best Cool tools
Shields up!
Whois
www.geektools.com/cgi-bin/proxy.cgi
Traceroute
Ping
www.fifi.org/services/ping-eng.html
Website tracker
Hacker tracker
