Webwatch

Watery gave
Thames Water is supporting a click-and-donate site called Give Water, which aims to give £100,000 to provide clean water to the developing world, and encourage visitors to donate as well. Just go to the site and click on the water carrier; once 250,000 clicks are received, Thames Water will make the donation to the charity WaterAid. But you can also sign up to donate cash yourself, or set up a standing order.

Sounds good
The legal UK peer-to-peer music file sharing site Wippit is going to start using copyright protecting software on the MP3 files it makes available to subscribers. Cantametrix makes the software, called MusicDNA, which allows Wippit to track which files from which record companies are downloaded. The software also maintains quality control on the files. You probably know how annoying it is to go through a 15 minute Napster download only to discover you're missing the last two minutes of your chosen tune.

Easy listening
Bored with the old illegal Metallica MP3s? Then why not try compositions based on sequences from the human genome, fractals and earthquakes? Brent Hugh's 'music in math and science' page on MP3.com has to be one of the quirkiest and most delightful musical spaces on the web.

Why not download Hugh's Fractal Variations, Music of the Human Genome, or Earthquake Fugue (for Six Elephants)? Other composers have such offerings as Mathscendence II, Fractal Dream #5: Strange Attractors, and Cosmic Times (based on deep space radio signals).

Net well soon
Help save the net economy by, er, buying something. San Francisco e-marketing firm Iconocast has come up with the idea of Back the Web Day on April 3. They figure that if everyone demonstrates that they are willing to buy or donate online on this day, it will raise a defiant fist in the face of the mockers and "help the net regain its respect". They've even got a manifesto and an official anthem.

Soul trader
Need a "dark gift" but not sure you want to enter a Faustian pact with the devil? Why not visit the Lease Your Soul website, which wisely counsels: "No need to sell your soul with today's flexible financing", just lease it instead. The site provides an easy application form so that your soul can be considered, and there's a simple checklist on which prospective lessors can indicate which dark gifts they would like to receive. Other services include "Cash advances on reality checks."

Door stop
Although the credit card companies themselves recently reported that online fraud is minuscule in comparison with the millions lost annually in "real world" fraud, consumers continue to worry about their card details going AWOL over the net. For wary web shoppers, the venerable security firm Securicor has a new online offering that it hopes will quell such fears. Its SafeDoor service is an online shopping mall with a difference - the merchants never see card details, which are held solely by Securicor and protected by digital certificates and encryption. More than 40 merchants should be on the site by the end of the month.

Brain wave
National Brain Injury Week runs this week, from March 12-18, and a new study for Queen Elizabeth's Foundation on this subject reveals that approximately one million patients in the UK present to hospitals each year with head injuries. But little government or social help is offered for rehabilitation aftercare. The Foundation hopes the report will help raise awareness and spearhead a change in brain injury rehabilitation delivery in the UK. Find out more about brain injury and the Foundation at www.qefd.org.

New & noted

• Indie music site www.the knowledge.com has added an extensive dance section.

• Get a head start on finding something for mum at www.beeb.com/mothers_day.

• The Irish Bluetooth Users Forum has its first meeting March 28.

• Madforsport.com caters to sailing nuts at Madforsailing.com and will soon have a scuba section.

• The almost dot-bombed www.Letsbuyit.com is back online after a bail-out.

Six of the best St Patrick's Day

History and more
www.saintpatrickcentre.com

Encyclopedic St Pat
www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm

Events guide

www.ireland.com/events/st.patricks

Irish eyes
www.ireland.com/liveviews