Tolkien talk Tolkien fans on the net (and there are a few) have been gossiping about the forthcoming Lord of the Rings film for years, and its Christmas release is bringing expectation to fever pitch. Into this frenzy HarperCollins has just launched an informative new site on the book's author, JRR Tolkien. The site includes background material on his books, archive interviews with the author, and his artwork. There will also be a swathe of competitions for limited- edition merchandise.
See www.tolkien.co.uk
Myth busters As another virus alert sounds (this time it's the Code Red worm) it's worth remembering that most virus hype is whipped up by the big anti-virus companies who want to sell their otherwise pretty unexciting software and services. Then it's made worse by their well-meaning, but unwitting, accomplices on the net, who spread email panics and virus hoaxes, or by people who open attachments because an email tells them: "read this - it's cool/sexy/funny!"
Avoid the stampede by checking out a few excellent internet resources which have been around a long while (in net terms) and so seen it all before. Most importantly, they're put together by real experts and are not influenced by the anti-virus companies' spin. Vmyths promises "the truth about computer virus myths and hoaxes", and takes a hard line against ambulance chasing "virus experts" while Hoaxbusters is another well-established site.
www.vmyths.com
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org
Bard silly
That said, the Sircam virus - which plucks a random file from an infected PC and sends it round the net - has thrown up a few entertaining reads for net users. US journalist Glenn Fleishman has catalogued some of the randomly thrown-up files - or "found poetry" - on his weblog. Prime examples include a confidential background check on officers of a company, and a student's essay on Romeo and Juliet which comments, about William Shakespeare: "Many of the plays he has written remain famous even today." Quite. http://glennf.com/blog/2001/07/24.html
In the wash
Given the British obsession with the weather, you'd think it would be easy to find decent weather information on the web. Yet it ain't necessarily so - the five-day forecast on Yahoo! UK and Ireland last week predicted showery spells on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year. Into these uncertain waters comes the Weather Channel's various meteorological gimmicks: 10 (count 'em) day forecasts, special predictions for the nation's top sports venues and plenty of detail for the real... er... anoraks. Only a good British winter will decide if it can save us from a soaking. www.weather.co.uk
http://weather.yahoo.com/
Slow snaps
PasPic says it's going to "make the high street photo booth as we know it obsolete". The proposition? Instead of going into a photo booth at your nearest bus or train station, inserting a couple of quid and waiting five minutes you ... er... register on a website, get a friend to photograph you, get that processed, scan and upload a favourite pose (or post a picture to them for scanning), fill in an online order form, pay your couple of quid and wait a few days for the pictures to arrive in the post. Which all sounds much easier, and much less hassle. Doesn't it? www.paspic.com
Big Cheek
Name and shame time: being a fan of Little Chef's giant breakfasts (we all have our vices), I'd love to tell you about their new website, which promises a few useful features and some fun competitions. So it's a shame that whoever designed it decided some frilly animations were more important than letting folk view the site, and barred access to those of us obliged to use less than the very latest Internet Explorer, with the newest release of Shockwave plugged in. We can only hope the Little Chef Big Chief realises the utter folly being committed online in his name, and includes a version sans daft animations pronto. www.little-chef.co.uk
Highland ping
Of course, user-unfriendly websites pale into insignificance alongside the horrors of Britain's sweating, choked motorways. But you could always make a virtual journey - and view a chunk of the north of Scotland through the lens of German webmaster Frederik Ramm - from the comfort of your home. His home page has an animated series of photographs of his round trip from Inverness, taking in the many sights en route, via places like Lochinver, Ullapool and Gairloch. Frederik's something of an uber geek, which is why the whole photo-taking process was automated, using a GPS satellite positioning system. The result? In his own words: "Oh dear! This is what happens when a mad tourist straps a camera and a GPS to his Land Rover and shoots 2,968 photos (the actual number is almost twice that but only 2,968 have made it onto the web)." www.remote.org/frederik/roadhog/scotland
New & noted
Hope you'll never need.. www.nextofkin.uk.com
• The Barbican opens up online... www.barbican.org.uk
• New Flash-ridden Guinness site.. www.guinness.com
