the best of 8

There is no doubt that the internet is absolutely bursting at the seams with information, so it's hardly surprising that more and more websites are being built to help you find your way around it. Ibiblio describes itself as an online library and digital archive, and it claims to be home to one of the largest 'collections of collections' on the world wide web. Not having seen every website on the internet personally, I can't validate that claim, but you only have to look at the collection index to realise that it's certainly vast enough to be a serious contender. Broken down into easily digestible categories such as Arts & Recreation, Languages, and Religion & Theology, you can click your way through to a powerhouse of information on pretty much any subject you'd care to think of and, unlike a traditional library, there's far more than just pages of text hidden away in these archives. For example, within the Asian History subsection you can access a page full of audio samples taken from traditional Nepalese music, to really give you a flavour of the culture. Or why not visit the Project Gutenberg pages to download classic literature in digital form, either as a plain text file or as an audio file read out by a synthesised voice. It might sound a bit strange hearing Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Nights Dream" spoken in this toneless computerised voice, but as a resource for the visually impaired it could prove invaluable.

Our final website this week is for anyone who wants to know more about the world we live in. Its a statisticians dream, but we shouldn't hold that against it as it's proved to me that even the most mundane topics can come alive when given the interactive treatment. Nationmaster draws statistical data from a variety of qualified sources, such as the CIA World Factbook featured here on Webscape just a few weeks ago, and organises them into interlinked categories that allow you to manipulate and use these figures to get a better understanding of global trends and influences. With more than 300 data sets on topics such as population, economy, crime, environment, media, and the military, it contains a profile of each country, including statistics, maps, and flags to provide the most comprehensive overview possible. As well as allowing users to create their own graphs to compare individual countries, the site is also searchable if you're looking for information on a particular subject or country. For the casual surfer, the Top Graphs table contains links to some amazing statistics that you wouldn't necessarily think to investigate, or click through to the interesting Factoids to learn such statistical gems as the fact that Kenyan women work 35% longer than their menfolk!

Do you believe in ESP? Well, believe in it or not there's a game on the web that asks you to tap in to this mystical extra sense in pursuit of a very worthy goal: labelling the tens of billions of images found on the Internet. ESPgame is the home of this intriguing project, and since it began in October the number of images labelled already amounts to more than 1.2 million. The game is simple and fun - you'll need to register to join in, but no personal details are required. You'll be paired up anonymously with other players online and shown a selection of images that have been randomly pulled off the web. The object is to make as many matches as possible by typing key words into the box provided, words that describe the image on your screens such as Man, Street or Red, etc. The best strategy is to type as many words as possible and hope that your partner is doing the same. As soon as one of the words you've typed matches theirs, you score and move on to the next picture. To make things a little harder some of the images have taboo words, which have already been applied to that image in a previous game. The more taboo words, the higher the score for matching that picture - and that's pretty much all there is to it. There's a regularly updated hall of fame to shoot for, and your cumulative score is kept in the system for each time you log on and play. It's a really fun way of involving casual surfers in creating proper descriptions of the visual content on the web. This should help provide much more accurate image searching, improve the accessibility of the web for the visually impaired, and help users block inappropriate images from their computers. A brilliant idea.

If you're finding it hard to keep up-to-date with all the developments in modern language these days then you need to point your browser at The Word Spy, suggested to us by Vineet Manchanda. It's a fascinating website devoted to recently coined words and phrases, or Neologisms as they're properly called. It offers concise definitions and examples of their common use. Although a lot of these words will look strange and new to you, it's an unavoidable fact that our language is developing all the time, spurred on by the global reach of the online community and the international media. Words like Flexitarian - a person with a mainly vegetarian diet who occasionally eats fish or meat - are listed here, and you can search in the standard ways: alphabetically, by subject category, or simply by browsing through the top word lists. I really like this recently entered phrase: warm-chair attrition - a nice description for the loss of workplace productivity due to employees being unhappy with their jobs.

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation

If you're more of a traditionalist when it comes to the English language then this next site will probably be more up your street. The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation is the work of author Jane Straus, and includes the content of her published reference guide to grammar and punctuation. Best of all it's free for anyone to use. Split into two separate sections, each is clearly presented so that you can easily find the information you're looking for. Use the table of contents to look for a particular subject, or you can assess and improve your grammatical and punctuation knowledge by completing the exercises and practical tests. This is a great site for students, or for anyone who has trouble remembering the rules of grammar and punctuation - such as where to place the apostrophe when dealing with possessive nouns.

If you're more of an artist than a writer then you'll love the potential for free expression that's provided by our final site. Zewall is an online art tool that allows you to create graffiti-style artwork in the environmentally friendly arena of virtual space. You can choose to paint a number of different surfaces - from brick walls to subway stations. The tools work in much the same way as most graphics programmes: select the tool and colour from the panel at the bottom, adjust attributes such as pressure and frequency using the sliding bars, and then click and hold to spray the surface. Clicking 'Save' when you're done will enter your artistic effort into the galleries, and there are some simply amazing works in there if you have a browse. Although this website doesn't even mention, let alone condone street graffiti in the real world, it would have been nice to see a section dedicated to combating this all-too-familiar social problem. Let's hope that this virtual outlet will be enough for some people instead. As with all websites based on user created content, please be aware that not everyone's idea of what is appropriate is the same as yours, although the website creators do moderate the content submitted to their site.

Over the weeks we've looked at a few websites that offer a flavour of international travel from the comfort of your computer desk, and our first stop today brings a whole world of people who were born to travel, together into one big online community. Virtual Tourist is a travel site with a difference, as it's mainly comprised of pages of content created by its members - people from every walk of life, scattered across the globe - and the information contained in these pages provides a truly diverse commentary. Getting started is as easy as opening your passport, assuming you can find it, that is. Just register to get your own personal homepage on the Virtual Tourist server then use the simple formed-based page editor to compile pictures and text in up to 8 chapters. You can include anything you think is interesting or noteworthy, from travel tips to sightseeing musts in either your home country or some place that you've visited during your travels. Rooting through the other member's pages is fun and informative. Search for a place, keyword, or for a particular member's homepage, then browse through the many links returned for relevant information. One resource of particular note is the Meetings and Events scheduler, where members can post information about pre-arranged get-togethers with other Virtual Tourist members. It's this sense of community and belonging that really sets this site apart from others like it, although obviously all care should be taken when arranging to meet strangers over the internet, especially if you're travelling to an unfamiliar country.

If you are going to spend your summer on the beach then you'll need to look after your hair. So here's a website now that's been suggested by one of its creators, Jeremy Havard from Sydney. Virtual Haircare opens to a slick front end that admittedly took a little time to load, but is packed full of all the gloss and glamour that you'd expect from a site such as this. There's oodles of wonderful advice about how to care for your locks no matter what hair-type you have. And it appears to be good, helpful advice on the whole, although some of the product recommendations seem to be slightly biased towards what is possibly a sponsor manufacturer. Click through to the Virtual Salon for the best pages, where there's eleven categories to choose from, including Shampooing and Conditioning, choosing the right cut to suit you, and information about scalp conditions and thrichology. Clicking through to a section will offer up a number of choices leading to some first class advice. One small criticism, which could be a bug due to the website being quite new still - after telling me that 80% of us are using the wrong kind of hair products due to misdiagnosing our hair type I was keen to try out the Personal Hair Diagnosis button on the main menu, but found it just led to a page linking through to another website that offers no obvious free diagnosis service. But on the whole, an excellent website.

If fish are your thing then you're going to love Fish Base and the massive amount of data that's been stuffed into these pages. Here you'll find 28,100 species, 78,300 synonyms, 152,900 common names and 35,300 pictures of fish, fish, fish - and er.. fish. All joking aside though, plain on the surface it may be, but this has to be the essential resource for anyone who wants to know what's swimming in the rivers, lakes and seas of this planet. To get to the meat of the information you need to go searching, and you can do this in a variety of ways. Enter the fish you're looking for by common or scientific name, or by selecting from any one of the more detailed options laid out on the front page. Once you've found your fish click through to reveal details on population-dynamics, genetics, morphology, trophic ecology, physiology, ecotoxicology and reproduction. Even if you don't know what half of those -ologies mean there's still plenty of interesting stuff to find out. There really is so much to this site that anything I can tell you in this short space of time is but a drop in the ocean. Try out the fish quizzes if you get time though - they're fun and amazingly informative.

Mr B Davis from Rotherham in the UK suggested PC Pitstop, which is a first rate site if you want to test and tune up the performance of your PC. The tests cover a number of different elements, from system resources analysis to internet ping and security tests. A ping test, in case you're wondering, assesses the speed at which your computer talks to another, thereby establishing whether your network or internet connection is running slowly. Just select which test you want to run from the left hand panel, or click Full Tests if you want to cover the lot. To ensure the best results you should close down any open applications and disable any firewalls and ad-protection software you're running, as this website will need to install a couple of small applications on your PC to conduct the tests. They can be done anonymously though, and there's information about the programs as well as full instructions for removing them in the Frequent Questions. After following the on-screen prompts you'll receive a summary of the test results, together with links through to execute any suggested tune up tips. Some of these tips can even be fulfilled automatically by clicking the autofix button, so you don't even need to know your way around the control panel to give your PC a tune up.

Next up, something for the web design fraternity. Its one of those 'unofficial expert' sites that we all love so much. The SSI Developer is the creation of an Irishman living in Finland who goes by the web name of Enzo, and it's aimed at anyone with an interest in web development technologies - be they aspiring webmasters, web developers or just people curious about how a web page is put together. It's packed with an impressive array of tutorials, templates, and resources that cater for a range of differing skill levels. The tutorials are well laid out and easy to follow, and include useful little gems like the 'Web safe colour chart', a pallet of 216 web safe colours and their corresponding programming codes to ensure that the page you design always looks the same when viewed by visitors over the web. The template section offers a good range of basic style-templates that you're free to use, ideal for the complete beginner or those who don't have time to work from scratch. Just download the page you like, enter your own information and voila: instant web pages. Wonderful. Don't forget that this site is totally unofficial, Enzo doesn't claim to be a professional web developer, but he has amassed a vast collection of information and offers it to you here for free. I think it's well worth a browse if you're thinking about building an unofficial expert page of your own.

Staying with the techie theme, we move now to Frederick Ferns, who wrote in requesting that we include the occasional website for the more advanced computer user. Far be it for me to ignore the programming community, so I picked this site out of the bunch that he suggested, as being an excellent resource for anyone who's into programming and is looking for a little extra help or advice. Programmer's Heaven is exactly that. Over 22,000 files, links and articles to explore, rammed with information about programming languages, platforms, applications, web development stuff and loads more. There are download pages where you can get hold of shareware tools and applications to help you complete certain programming tasks more easily. Just click through to the subject you're interested in and then review the brief description and user designated score beside each file before choosing what to download. Please do be aware that the complete technology novice may feel more than a little overwhelmed by all the jargon littered across these pages - like we said, this site is primarily designed for people with a good understanding of programming already. Having said that, budding young programmers are catered for too, as many of the sections have a 'beginner's guide' that you can click through to for some background knowledge, and advice on getting started.

Everybody loves a party, and if you want to throw a bash that your friends will be talking about for months then point your browser at Adult Party Ideas for some excellent celebratory ideas. This site contains a huge selection of great party ideas for any occasion you care to think of. Just scroll down the long long list of choices and click through to read the details. The design of the site itself is quite primitive but many of the party ideas, which have mostly been submitted by users of the website, are really detailed and well thought out. Bear in mind that as with all user-generated content, the ideas could contain ANYTHING. There's no warning on the front page, and I didn't find anything offensive, but you read them at your peril and should exercise common sense at all times. I love this suggestion for a 1980's 30th birthday party, ideal for surprising someone who was a teenager during the 80's. It's filled with music and activity suggestions to really get the party atmosphere buzzing. And if you have the time the suggestion to contact all the guests' parents and secretly get photos of them as teenagers to be displayed on a big picture board that the birthday boy or girl can keep, is a stroke of genius. Submitting your own idea to the moderators could even win you a prize. That should be enough to get anyone in the party mood!

If you're more of a stargazer than a party animal then this site, suggested by Charlie Leckonby, should satisfy your thirst for celestial knowledge. As well as providing a wealth of astronomical facts and figures, including star charts and detailed information about the constellations we can see in the night sky, Heavens Above aims to provide visitors with all the information necessary to observe satellites passing overhead, like the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle, as well as spectacular events such as the dazzlingly bright flares from Iridium satellites. Just select your observation location from their database to see what's coming up in your own section of the heavens. I have to say, for those not already familiar with the terminology and science surrounding this subject, the content of the website will be pretty hard to make sense of. It's designed to cater for the enthusiast rather than the absolute beginner, so if you want to use this information to observe celestial manoeuvres in the dark you'll probably need a telescope and a fair understanding about the way the skies are mapped first. For those who do own their own telescope and understand the concepts covered by this website, it'll prove an invaluable resource for making the most out of your time observing the sky.

Time now to come back down to earth and examine a website which aims to bring the broadest concepts of human understanding to the world of computing. Software programmers are constantly striving to give computers some basic form of common sense, programming which requires a database filled with vast amounts of fundamental human knowledge, such as facts, rules of thumb and heuristics for reasoning about the objects and events of every day life. Companies like CyCorps have been working on such databases for decades, but now you can contribute to a rapidly expanding resource on the web, and help build a brighter future for intelligent computing at the website of Open Mind Common Sense.

The purpose of this website is to encourage people from all walks of life to participate in teaching the Open Mind knowledgebase about everyday human concepts and ideas. Through a series of entertaining activities you'll be asked to explain elements of life from your own perspective, such as giving a reason why a fact is true. I found it quite interesting learning about how I responded to the various prompts, it can be a good insight into the way you view the world around you. The most fun section for me was Help Write a Story, which asks you to add a sentence onto a continuing story that aims to explain to Open Mind how to go about solving a problem or participate in a human activity.

The data collected by Open Mind is being compiled at an astonishing rate, and is made available for free to anyone who wants to use it. According to the website creators it's already being used in a number of high-tech applications, such as intuitive search engines which use learned human ideas about certain key-words to provide a more accurate selection of potential matches. I think it's really exciting that we have the opportunity of contributing to such an important project on the web, and I hope you enjoy adding your own personal touch.

We've had a couple of emails from some train spotters. Isn't that typical? You don't see any for ages then two come along at once. This first site was suggested by Dinesh, and I have to say, even for someone with no particular interest in trains, it's an absolutely amazing website. Founded by rail enthusiast Robert Schwandl, it contains pages and pages of data and images about urban rail transit systems around the world. Split up into continents and then cities, each area listed begins with a map of the system - be it metro or subway - and then scroll down to reveal details about its history, fares, timetables, pictures and pretty much anything else you'd want to know. In some cases there's even links through to city maps that can help you locate a hotel or popular attraction, and then find your way to it by rail. The website itself is unsponsored, and relies on contributions from rail fans in the various cities to keep it updated with all the latest information. It's a train spotter's paradise, and a very useful resource for anyone planning to take a trip on the metro in an unfamiliar city.

Jason Pelton from Canada is our second locomotive lover of the day, and he suggested these two sites if you want to get up a good head of steam. Railfan is the place for like-minded railway fans to come together and chat about their passion. Use the forums to share experiences and ideas, or browse through the picture sections to enjoy a wealth of rail related photography. The ABPR link takes you to a managed collection of images published by the public on the Usenet forum alt.binaries.pictures.rail, which is a brilliant way of accessing these pictures without the hassle of having to sift through all the rubbished usually associated with a news group of this type. The video section was a bit disappointing, as most of the links appear to be faulty, or the quality of the video not very good. This site is definitely one for dedicated rail fans only.

The second site suggested by Jason covers the locomotives of his home country of Canada. Again, it's definitely one for the fanatic. The design of the site is not particularly sophisticated, but it contains some great detail about the different engines and stations found in Canada, and some striking pictures to illustrate this information.

If you're planning a trip to Thailand then the best place to begin on the web is the home of the Thai Tourism Authority. Their website is absolutely crammed with essential information for anyone who is interested in the country and the culture. Clicking the link to About Thailand on the site menu will take you to a section that tells you everything you need to know if you're lucky enough to be planning a trip. There's information about its history, typography, language, religion, politics and loads more. The travel tips pages are particularly useful if you want to be sensitive to the traditions of the country you're visiting, and remain safe and happy when venturing off the beaten track. The Simple Thai Phrases page will help you get by with a few essential phrases spelt phonetically, and the transportation links will save a lot of frustration when you get there because you can plan your journey without the added pressure of dragging your bags around a train station trying to understand the signs. There's so much more to this site, it really does warrant a good explore. Not only will it help you get the most out of your trip to Thailand, but it will get you in the mood to begin with.

Once you arrive in Thailand, you'll probably need somewhere to stay, and this website provides a gateway to the biggest selection of reputable Thai hotels on the web. Founded in 1963, the Thai Hotels Association is composed of member hotels representing every part of Thailand. Membership requires approval by the Ministry of Interior, so you can be sure of a certain standard of accommodation and service, which is always important when you're heading off to an unfamiliar country. The Association aims to serve tourists arriving in Thailand and help them find the suitable accommodation in the area of their choice. They even have a counter in some of the airports so there's a place to go for help when you arrive. Just choose the area you're thinking of staying then look through the selection of hotels for that area, which are categorised by rate. If the hotel is highlighted in blue then it means there's additional pages containing pictures and details about the hotel and its facilities, and in some cases you can even book online so everything will be ready for you when you arrive.

For some people the best way to learn about a country and its people is to fully immerse themselves in the culture rather than just visiting the tourist strip. CEC is an educational organisation established by a leading Bangkok university. Its aim is to familiarize participants with a broad background on Thai culture, society, history, politics and economics through a series of lectures, related activities and field trips. Like most universities in the world, the intensive one and two-week courses are not free. They are designed principally as an introduction for teachers, students and people who are planning to engage in business or academic activities in Thailand, but they also welcome visitors who simply wish to gain an insight into the country and its people, whether they be tourists, new residents or children of Thai families living overseas who want to learn more about their family roots.

Finally, if you don't have the luxury of actually taking a trip to Thailand, you can get inside some of its glorious tradition by taking a virtual tour around the stunning royal palaces on this website, presented by the Bureau of the Royal Household of Thailand. The Thai people have a deep and traditional reverence for the Royal Family, and the 360-degree pictures of five of the King's amazing residences really give the flavour of the opulence of the monarchy. I love the music on the opening page too, it helps to set the atmosphere beautifully, but it was a little disappointing that it didn't stay with me as I explored the website. The way to get around this if you want the full multimedia experience is to open the subsequent pages in a new browser window - clever huh?

Well that's it for my Thai-style round up of what's on the web, I hope you've enjoyed it. And for those viewers watching in Thailand, I hope that I've done you justice!

With the rest of the team thinking 3G I thought I would join in and give you a selection of 3G dedicated websites that should help answer any questions you may have on the subject. On this page in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's huge website, you'll find an article which is a primer about the wireless world as it stands today. It does a very good job of explaining 3G technology to the complete beginner, and puts it into context with past telecommunications developments really nicely.

That's a really good place to start but if, when you've understood the basics, you're still hungry for more knowledge, I'd advise you to read Radoslaw Janowski's personal pages about 3G solutions. In the Polish author's own words 'I've decided to do this website to share my present knowledge (according to the old saying the more you share the more you get in return), and fill an empty niche'. And it certainly fulfils that mission statement. Radoslaw guides you gently through what he knows about the development of mobile communications, which is an impressive amount. The Technology section talks about the benefits and setbacks surrounding the development of Third Generation communications and, if you can get your head around the constant use of technological acronyms, you'll gain a lot of insight into the industry and what it has to offer you as a potential consumer.

So what if you want to keep up with the latest news in the 3G market? This site has the answer. It's called 3G and, as it's name would suggest, it's all about 3G. In fact it claims to have been one of the first 3G dedicated websites in the world, and currently has over 140,000 unique visitors every month logging on to find out the latest news and developments in the communications world. As well as explaining quite succinctly about 3G technology and its implications in a modern world, you'll be able to find out all the latest news and developments around the globe. Or, if you prefer a little human contact, you can chat to other inquiring minds within the 3G forums. There's almost always a self-styled guru hanging around who will be more than happy to share all of his worldly 3G knowledge with you. Don't you just love the Internet for that?

The Reviews section provides a platform for website users to offer their own reviews of the technology they've chosen to buy. These forums are invaluable as they give you access to the honest opinions of people just like you who are actually using the kit, which is often the best way of making sure that you're buying smart. And if you're the type of person who thinks your mobile phone should be able to entertain you too try clicking on the link to Fun Zone, behind which hides a stack of links to news stories and press releases, detailing all of the fun things you can do with a 3G phone, such as pictures, video and games. Admittedly a lot of these links are aimed at persuading you to click through to an online sales outlet, but if you can resist the urge to buy you'll find they're a valuable source of information about what is available at the moment.

One thing that amazed me in this section is that someone has developed a karaoke application for use with 3G technologies. I'm not entirely sure it's a good idea for me to be singing my heart out in the street but I'm fairly confident it'll catch on in certain parts of the world.

Anyone who's been travelling will know that the invention of the Internet - and more specifically, Web cafes - has completely changed the nature of how we stay in touch on the move. Gone are the days when the best your family could hope for was a few hastily scrawled lines on the back of a picture postcard that arrives 3 weeks after you do. Continento illustrates this with some style. Suggested by Stephane Nicolas, this relatively new site provides a comprehensive set of tools and functions for you to map your travels abroad as they happen.

The registration process is free and easy, allowing you access to your own little section of the website to build your travelogue. Just click to start a new Map and then enter a title and description. Once your map is set up you can start adding the details of your stops. The site then marks your dates and progress on a world map, and allows you to enter notes about the location, such as cultural observations or anecdotes.

One really great feature for those that are carrying a digital camera, is that you can also upload pictures you've taken along the way, freeing up valuable space on your memory card and ensuring that your holiday snaps remain safe, no matter what. Emailing your family and friends with the details of your Continento map will enable them to log on whenever they want and catch up with your progress. I've already persuaded a friend of mine who is about to go travelling the world for a year to sign up with the site, and am looking forward to reading her regular updates as she explores.

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of websites you can find that have been painstakingly compiled by people in their own time, with the sole purpose of sharing their particular area of expertise with you. Do you like Cars? Well Chris Longhurst's Car Maintenance Bibles pages contain everything he has ever learnt about maintaining a car - and that is a lot. Once inside, the Bibles are split up into 3 key sections; the Suspension Bible, the Engine Oil Bible and the Wheel and Tyre Bible. What I like about these pages is that they are written in a way that's really easy to follow - particularly important if, like me, you barely even know your trunk from your tail pipe. With thoughtfully produced diagrams and graphs, Chris explains the various different elements of the average car and offers advice about maintenance techniques and procedures. I also quite like the Pet Peeves section, in which Chris articulates some of the pet driving hates that frustrate us all, and invites discussion from site visitors about their own peculiar-rants. If you know any more of these unofficial expert sites let us know.

Life can get pretty stressful at times, it certainly does here at Click! Medical experts tell us that we must tackle these stresses early in order to lead a full and healthy life, but that's often easier said than done. If the fact that you're stressed is making you stressed, point your browser towards Stressbusting, where you'll find plenty of help with the art of unwinding. This tension-trashing website was suggested by Vince Madden and contains pages and pages of free advice for those hoping to slow life down a bit. The front page presents your main options in a really clear way - so the website design doesn't add to your stresses, what a stroke of genius! A good place to start is the Stress Quiz, where you can get an idea of exactly how stressed you are, and you'll be able to use the bar chart results at the end to compare your situation with the rest of the world.

Having calculated your stress levels, return to the homepage and browse through the various sections of help - from handling stress in relationships to top tips on coping with stress at home and at work.

One of the key recommendations in beating stress is talking about it, and this website even fulfils that requirement in the form of the resident Agony Aunt, or you can air your problems and get support in the forums. There is so much to this website, I'm actually finding it a little bit stressful deciding what to include. One thing I will say is if you have a few minutes to spare and a pair of headphones then click the link through to the Relaxation Zone where you'll find soothing music and hypnotic visuals to really help you chill. I think that's a great way to pass the time, even if you're not feeling stressed.

Probably one of the most popular methods of shifting down a mental gear or two is meditation, hardly surprising then that you'll find oodles of websites on the subject if you know where to look. One that I particularly like is Learning Meditation. It's a relatively simple site that won't take you much time to explore, but that's the point. You're here to meditate not surf. Click a few links from the tree and generally surf about. Once you've read up on the various methods of relaxation, make your way into the Meditation Room for some hands-on practical experience. Again, a pair of headphones would be useful, especially if you're at work, then just sit back and relax and follow the audio instructions of whatever meditation you've chosen. There is a shop on the site, which distributes relaxation related goods from the US, but you don't even have to register to use their totally free facilities. Now that really is relaxing!

One of the key things that the Internet has brought to the world is a truly global community, but this concept causes its own problems, as one viewer Charles Osakpolor from Nigeria has discovered for himself. The problem is language, but the Internet also provides the solution to this problem, with a myriad of tools and translators that you can use to help overcome any language barriers you come across. Charles asked in particular for a website that would help him learn German, and there are simply dozens of online courses available, depending on your budget and preferred style of learning. There's also plenty of free resources to help speed you along the way - like this one on the BBC website which includes a self-contained German class for beginners that you can complete online in your own time. Charles also wondered about a good tool for translating all his English documents into German text. The translation tool that I always use is AltaVista's Babel Fish, which takes its name from a Douglas Adams' creation in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the Babel Fish being a creature you could insert into your ear and instantly be able to understand any spoken language in the Universe.

They say that a pictures is worth a thousand words, and with a thousand and one choices of hi-tech digital camera equipment on the market these days just how do you pick the best piece of kit for your collection? The brilliant Digital Photography Review is an independent resource packed with news, reviews and information about Digital Photography and Digital Imaging, and it's an absolute must-see for anyone who is into, or thinking of getting into, digital photography. Use the navigation panel on the left to check out all the latest facts and figures about all the current cameras and add ons. Another good place to go if you're looking for a little help is the forums. As is so often the case on the web, these message boards are awash with self-styled experts who will be more than happy to share their personal tips and experiences with you. You might even come across the odd example of some pretty exceptional photography.

Our final site is another one aimed at our younger readers, or at least those of you reading who are looking for something fun you can do on the web together with your family. Nature Grid is a website put together by the Canterbury Environmental Education Centre, and it's a wonderful place for youngsters from all over the world to learn about how they can help improve and appreciate the environment. The Eco Explorer homepage has been put together based on the British Primary school curriculum but, as it states in its opening message, many of its pages and activities could be used by all children at home. Here children can learn all about important environmental issues, such as respecting nature, recycling, and reducing power consumption in a fun and colourful format that will hold their attention while the lessons are taught. What better way to persuade your children to turn off their bedroom lights when they leave, than by teaching them why it's important for our planet? The Biodiversity link from the front page takes you to a fascinating section all about the biological diversity of the world. Here you can read all about the research that takes place at the nature reserve in Canterbury and explore pages and pages of information, facts and pictures of the various categories of creatures and plants that help to make our planet what it is today. I challenge even the grown-ups not to find something of interest on those pages.

If you've ever wondered anything about the Internet, Living Internet is the place to find the answers. I love the simple layout and design. The query table on the front page really couldn't be easier to understand, ideal for all you Internet afficionados and complete novices alike.

And then there is the CIA website, which contains, in Jim's own words: "everything you always wanted to know about every country in the world but where afraid to ask". Explore the links on the front page or use the drop-down menu to find your way to information about a particular country. Fascinating. And just in case you don't want to know everything about every country, how about the flags of the world? This is great fun, and if you want to you can find out all about the countries with your favourite flags.

One subject we've covered repeatedly on Click Online is Spam, the unsolicited junk mail that clogs up your inbox. With the amount of junk mail distributed over the Internet now outweighing legitimate communications, I think it's worth touching on the subject again. Mailwasher is one of the vast collection of anti-Spam software available for download on the web, and for me it's got to be one of the best email filters yet. Available as freeware, which means you don't have to pay for it unless you want to, it's certainly the easiest filter to set up that I've ever used, and it doesn't require any alterations in your current email preferences so is ideal for anyone who's a bit nervous about tinkering with their computer settings.

Despite the amount of junk that's flying about in cyberspace the internet is undoubtedly one of the greatest resources of information ever conceived, but it's knowing where to look for that information that poses the biggest problem for most people. Enter Refdesk, a massive database of catalogued websites that has been cited by more than a few of you happy surfers as one of the ultimate online tools for sorting out the wheat from the chaff. It works in much the same way as a traditional library, allowing you to search by key word and then follow a string of links through to a wealth of brilliant websites on the subject. The creators say that their mission is to 'index and review quality, credible, and current information-based sites and assist readers in navigating those sites', and I have to say they've done an excellent job of it.

Inevitably my list of favourite websites had to contain one dedicated to food - after all, a girl's got to eat! If you've ever found yourself at a loss for what to serve up for dinner, then this is the place to visit. Meals has to be one of the biggest collections of recipes I've seen anywhere on the web, and as users are encouraged to upload their own suggestions for culinary delights, it's growing all the time. But online recipe collections are nothing new, what makes this site stand out from the crowd for me is the excellent selection of meal planning services available, for free, to its members. In particular I like the What's In My Fridge? tool, which helps you plan the perfect meal to use up all of your leftovers. Once you've decided what you're cooking, use the Grocery List tool to print out a list to take to the shops with you. It really couldn't be simpler. You can even plan ahead by creating a Weekly Meal Plan and then saving it for future use as well, something which could be really useful if you're on a special diet, or cooking for a large family. The Features and Advice section is also loaded with great articles to help you get the best results out of time spent in the kitchen.

If you've ever fancied your hand at penning the odd bit of poetic prose then get yourself along to The Rhyme Zone which offers a dictionary of rhyme for those moments when your creative flair just ain't there, and then you can prepare, a verse so debonair! All you have to do is type in the word that you're looking to find a ryhme for and then click to return a vast selection of words and phrases that will do the job nicely. You can even find the definition for a word by clicking it on this page, so you can be fully aware of what you write - because you don't want to incite a poem that's contrite.

How Stuff Works is a site so crammed with information about anything and everything that you'll wonder how on earth you managed for all these years without it. This site is all about stuff, any kind of stuff - from computer stuff, to money stuff, to stuff about people, and stuff about science. You can browse the categories by subject or type a word or phrase into the search box to return a list of possible subjects that you might want to investigate. This site is so easy to find your way around it's a dream, and if you want to keep the information for reference later on then use the 'printable version' button to make a hard copy you can look at when you're not online. There's a huge library of articles explaining in really simple terms how things work, from acoustic guitars to zippers, all with accompanying pictures and diagrams where needed, to make the learning experience really rewarding.

Totally absurd is a website that exposes some of the most outrageous inventions ever to be patented, and there are some pretty bizarre inventions on there. If you've ever looked into the idea of patenting a clever invention you'll know that it's a lengthy and expensive procedure - and for me, all of the registered US patents displayed on this website beg one simple question: why? Take this suggestion for creating 'toilet landing lights', complete with detailed schematics and a description of the key functions - i.e. to light up the opening of a toilet seat at night... why? Surely just flicking the bathroom light switch on would work just as well? Or how about this ludicrous device designed to help you when hunting geese… why?

CKNow is one of those websites that prove the internet is a good thing. In its computer virus tutorial it takes us through just about everything you might want to know about viruses. The opening page has a map with a list of the top ten viruses around the world and, when you are feeling brave enough to learn, it takes you directly into an introduction to viruses. You can then bounce around the contents where you can look at anything from the behaviour of viruses to their names, you can even download the information on the site in PDF form, although beware it is nearly 300 pages long. One thing that caught my eye was the history section, according to which the first virus in the wild was a virus infecting Apple computers, the old AppleII in fact, which rather puts paid to the myth that Apple computers don't get viruses. It's a shame that the history is written from the personal computer view because it neglects to mention the worms and Trojan horses that were effecting mainframe computers in the early seventies, but hey, you can't have everything.

For those of you that can't afford to buy an anti virus programme here's something to help. A lot of you will know Tucows as being a freeware and shareware site, so what better place to look for free anti-virus software. Once in the site go to the search box, type in anti virus, hit go and you are shown pages of software programs you can download. The information on the page is pretty straightforward: you are giving a rating, which is really a definition of its popularity, the file size, and whether the software is freeware or shareware, essentially the difference is one is free and the other you can try before you buy. And if you want something from the big boys you can also find the likes of Symantec anti-virus here. But obviously you have to pay for it like you would any other commercial program.

And if all this talk of viruses is making you feel a bit queasy I thought I'd include this fascinating resource on human diseases. Check out the links under viruses, there's enough reading to get you through many rainy days.

With the Beagle 2 mission on its way to Mars, space travel has been a hot topic in the media just recently, and there's no better place to find out about this subject than the European Space Agency. Here you can track the progress of the Mars Express mission and learn all about the incredibly sophisticated technology they'll be using to gather data when they get there. For the first time ever, scientists will be able to remotely analyse rock and soil samples collected by Beagle 2s robotic 'paw'. The big question they hope to find the answer to is "is there, or has there ever been, life on Mars?" Well, with Beagle 2 scheduled to set down on the planet's surface on Christmas day, I'll definitely be keeping my eye on these pages over the coming months. But there's a lot more to see on the ESA website. The Space Science pages house a galaxy of information if you're curious about outer space - with videos and articles about everything from the Rosetta comet, to alternative methods of space travel that wouldn't look out of place in a science-fiction novel.

If you're a Superbike fan then you simply have to take a look at this next site from my favourites folder - The Superbike World Championship Site. This high-octane site is crammed full of so much information about various Superbike events that it can seem a little bit daunting at first - but it's worth persevering as it's simply the best source of information on the subject that I've seen on the web. There's news, results, team line ups and rider profiles, and despite the fact that this website looks so fussy it's actually surprisingly easy to navigate to what you want once you've settle in. The multimedia tab takes you straight through to all of the most impressive stuff, with screensavers and desktop images to download for free. Or, if you just want to sit back and enjoy the ride, check out the video galleries and my favourite, the crash video gallery. One question for the site creators though, what happened to the sound on all of these videos? Sort it out!

Let's plunge into a search engine with an artistic leaning, suggested by Carlo from Oslo, Norway. PostArt is an interesting venture which is attempting to create a database of artists of different genres such as painting, graphic design, photography and video. You can narrow your search also by geography, and once your results are displayed you can link off to the individual artist's portfolio. Be aware that this site behaves very much like it is in its infancy. The forums are a little bare and there are just over 700 artists in the database. However, it's important to develop niche engines such as this, where artists, researchers, art collectors, and students can easily find information on new artists and exchange ideas about art. I'd keep a close eye on this one.

Onto another engine now and have you ever heard of the 'deep net'? According to Turbo10, traditional engines like Google and Yahoo pull up just 10% of what's out there because they crawl static web pages. This is known as the surface web. The remaining 90% is known as the Deep Net. Turbo10, like many other search tools, conducts a meta-search across 10 other engines, chosen from over 1300 other search engines available to them. But if you want a deeper search involving specialised material, then Turbo10 has access to specialist databases from business associations, universities, libraries, and government departments. The search appears to send up results very quickly and the clustering menu on the left helps compartmentalise the mass of results delivered. Coupled with a clean interface and refreshing lack of pop-ups, banners and ads, this should join your search engine arsenal. Let me know what you think - could Turbo10 spell the end of Google? Thanks to Deepesh Agarwal in India for the recommendation.

Although Mindat is a specialised site about precious stones it's curiously fascinating. The database delivers a wealth of information from an accessible summary and the etymology of the stone's name, to complex data about its physical properties and occurrence in the natural world. I'd say the most interesting parts of this site are the images of minerals and precious stones in their raw unpolished form. For you rockhunters out there, there's a lively forum in which you can find out about collecting, cleaning and places to visit to add to your collection. Minerals might not be the biggest specialist topic on the planet or the Web, but Mindat's well put together and the content is authoritative, so go have a look.

Finally an amusing site: Mugshots recommended by Steven Jenkins. Yes, someone has actually created a directory of celebrities, historical characters and regular people who've all been down the police station and for one reason or another had their mugshots taken. You'll recognise many of the personalities and the site even informs you about what crime or misdemeanour led to these flattering photographs being taken. This is a mainly US based website so not all mugshots will be familiar, but a bizarre visual scrapbook to while away some browsing time.