the best of 8

The Global Ideas Bank provides a home on the world-wide web for all those brilliant ideas that just need to be heard. The best way to get a feel for it is to have a browse. Either take your pick of the featured recommended ideas on the opening page, or use the reference panels on the right to browse the entries by category. I strongly advise a gander through the most humorous section if you want a bit of a chuckle.

But aside from the funnies, there are actually some really good ideas here - not so much inventions, more suggestions on how the social mechanics of our societies could be tweaked to improve living conditions. I only hope someone who can make them happen is reading this website too. When you've got a feel for it, why not post your own idea, or comment on someone else's.

Continuing the theme of sharing ideas, this recently launched site is quite literally an inspiration.

This Is The Life has been put together to provide a space for people to share their meaningful experiences. These range so vastly across the spectrum of experience that it's hard summarise. To get a feel for it, have a scout through the main headings yourself - you'll find them across the top - then look at the categories that appear in the left-hand menu panel when you click on one.

You'll find anything from ice-fishing in Alaska to singing karaoke in Japan. As well as being able to read personal accounts, you'll find most of the entries have a decent couple of photographs attached, and there are always lively discussions taking place in the after comments too. If you happen to be looking for that spark of inspiration to motivate you into the next great life experience, then this site will definitely give you food for thought.

And, if you have something to add, or your own experience to suggest, then go ahead. From what I can see, this community is lively and very supportive.

Personally, I find looking at pictures of outer space inspiring, and where better to find pictures of outer space than the Hubble Telescope, which has been collecting images for years, and here's a place where you can download a little piece of the universe to lay on your desktop.

The wallpaper zone is actually part of Hubblesite. Click through the menus to reach the gallery of wallpapers and then start browsing the thumbnails for something you like. Under each thumbnail you find a link to the image in several desktop sizes. Clicking the link and selecting 'save as' on the image that follows will place it on your hard drive for later use. You can select 'Set as Wallpaper' from the right-click context menu, but this sets your desktop into active mode, which uses valuable resources.

One really nice touch is the quick link through to information about the image that appears underneath the thumbnail too. This launches you into a page within the Hubble website that explains everything about the nebular or galaxy you're looking at. It's a first class website, so it's well worth having a proper browse if you're looking for more than just a pretty desktop.

Finally a website suggested by viewer Ajay M. Jadhav from India.

Double You is the home of a design and advertising agency, and very often this type of company will use their websites to showcase their talents. The benefit of this to me and you is that they often have some really smart little widgets there for us to enjoy.

For starters have a play with the splash page. Simple but effective, it engages the visitor straight away. Once you enter the site there's a little more exploring to do before you find the menu systems. Put your mouse over the white dot on the record, then open up the menus that appear over them. I love the way the options pop out at you.

The free bit for you to enjoy is the Sonar Challenge. It's a brilliantly addictive game of keepy-uppies with a really silly commentary, which is bound to fill a few minutes at the end of a busy day. Be careful, it's the kind of game that sucks up more of your time than you realise.

In the true tradition of Click Online you'll notice that this week they've gone off travelling and left me behind again. But that didn't stop me from taking time out to find a couple of choice websites that should help them on their trip.

Going To Vegas is an independent website dedicated to offering advice to those planning a trip to Vegas. From what I can tell, it was put together by one man, who must have spent an awful lot of time touring Vegas. The pages are crammed with really useful tips and guides about how to stay safe and happy during your stay.

Check out the Tips section for some really thoughtful advice, ranging from how to chance a free upgrade to a limousine to your hotel, to answering my constant travelling quandary: how much should you tip the various service staff you encounter along the way?

Once you're through the opening page there is a neat little navigation bar resident at the top and bottom of each page. Explore the various sections, but make sure you have look at the webcams section, which links you through to off-site pages where the various casinos and large resorts have webcams in place. Who knows, you may just see one of the Click team wandering by.

We all know what Vegas is famous for, but there is another even bigger reason to seek out this part of the world.

When you're fed up of the flashing lights and crowded streets of the strip, hop onto Interstate 15 and head east to the Grand Canyon. This website, run by the US Department For The Interior, has all the information you need if you're lucky enough to be planning a trip there. But even if you're not likely to get within a thousand miles of the place, I would still suggest you have a browse, especially if you're interested in geology.

The science and nature section is the place to learn all about this amazing place. Have a look round and enjoy the stunning pictures that accompany most of the pages in this section. The navigation is great as there are two permanent side panels, and clicking a heading in the right-hand one opens an expanding tree menu for that section in the left. If you want more detailed information and traveller's tips for the region, the In Depth section is where to look. It opens another page, which is mostly text-based, so really only for those looking to soak up practical information.

I stumbled upon Zefrank recently and was completely charmed by it - especially the collection of applets that are fast becoming known as web-toys.

On the site you'll find a huge collection of flash animations that go whiz, bang and pop for your pleasure. They're listed as interactive toys and they're not quite like games, because the act of playing is far more creative. They are things like gyroscopes and kaleidoscopes, which allow the player to control and interact with the toy in real time.

All the toys are pretty simple to use, and come with instructions anyway, so I won't spoil too much for you. All I will say is that you should definitely check out the sequencer, which allows you to build your own mini drum and sample loops - nothing too sophisticated, but oodles of fun. And the other must-play I found was Scribbler, which re-draws your original image in a random sketchy way, allowing you to manipulate the settings to change the result. Have a play - it'll all become clear very quickly.

Finally, since we're feeling so artistic, a quick look at a website sent in by regular viewer John Tasker.

Those that know me know I have a passion for cats, and here is place that cat-lovers like me can celebrate their feline affinity by drawing them very badly. I know, it sounds a bit odd, but I find this website really amusing. It deserves mention here for its quirky presentation style alone - but the real joy is that anyone who thinks they can draw a cat can send in a picture and have it displayed here. Have a browse, and why not submit a picture yourself? I won't embarrass John Tasker by telling you which entry was his own.

If you've been left at home to entertain yourself, how about trying the latest in creative crazes that I discovered accidentally on the Internet the other day - pencil carving.

Yes, you read that right - ordinary, lead-filled drawing pencils, which have been intricately and delicately carved. Why? Well, because it looks nice, I guess. I shouldn't imagine the pencil would be of much practical use once carved. And let's face, with something like this, you do it just you can.

The site design is a bit basic, but I had to include it as I'd never seen anything like this before chancing upon these pages. I was so impressed and amazed that I did a search to find out more, and couldn't! If you happen upon any more information about this craft then let me know so I can share with the rest of the world.

If think you have steady enough hands to have a go at pencil carving yourself, you might find the next site useful in developing your technique.

Carver's Companion is the home of Woodcarver Online Magazine. Again the site looks very dated, but it's content rather than design that has impressed me here.

In particular I wanted to steer you towards the New Carver files section, which has some great tips for beginners to the craft. There is also a full transcript of a day-by-day training seminar explaining the essentials of basic carving techniques. However, it's all text-based, I'm afraid.

Moving on into more creative tools now - and a website sent in by Adrian Wells. This is a really useful web-based application that allows you to edit and manipulate images online.

Gifworks is a free internet based program, which means there is nothing to download or install, you can use it absolutely anywhere that there is a PC connected to the Internet. It works much like any other art package - just click File and open the image you want to work with. If the image is on the Internet, input the URL instead of opening a file on your hard drive, and then use the drop-down menus to apply special effects, filters and such like. When you're done, just save and exit.

It's not a particularly sophisticated art package, but if you're away from your normal PC and need to make a few tweaks to an animated gif before sending it out to a friend or uploading it to your website, it's a very useful thing indeed.

Old is the new new, so Retro-anything is always in vogue at the moment, and at Retro Junk you'll find enough nostalgia to keep even the biggest retro-freak happy.

There's cringe-worthy TV commercials and kids shows that are frankly, quite shocking. 70's and 80's fashion really shouldn't have been recorded on film! The movie trailers section contains some classics, but also lots of disturbing 80's hair-dos. You will of course need a broadband connection to watch the streaming media without any trouble.

Read the articles section if you want to learn a little more - they cover subjects as diverse as top ten 1980's action figures to reviews of classic films such as 'Flight of the Navigator'.

My favourite section is the theme tunes bit. The only trouble is I have now become one of those people who can hum the theme to 'Battlestar Galactica' when challenged to do so at a party.

SnowCrystals.com was where I ended up, learning all about the fundamental laws of physics and chemistry that make snowflakes what they are. The layout and the graphics are fairly basic and could do with being updated, but the menu panels work and make sense so it's not a major gripe.

It was the content that really caught my eye. It made fascinating reading, with loads of really nice macro-pictures of the ice formations being discussed. I hadn't realised there were so many different classifications for types of snow flake, and it will definitely spark a different curiosity in me once the snow finally decides to fall here.

The problem is I'm turning into a snowflake spotter, and this doesn't bode well for my social life.

This next website was sent in to by viewer Rob Woodrough, and is the ideal companion for those of you contemplating taking a break with a difference.

I'm talking about activity holidays. Definitely not one of those holidays where you sit around on the beach sipping cool drinks - although there is nothing wrong with that type of trip too! But more your 'jumping out of an aeroplane' or 'being dragged across the ocean by a kite' kind of thing.

Activity Holiday Guide is basically a searchable guidebook dedicated to special interest holidays worldwide. There are dozens and dozens of great suggestions that should get you thinking about the possibilities for yourself. There are topical articles featuring various different ideas, and not just for adventure sports either. There are art and horticulture holidays for those looking for a more relaxing experience, and much much more.

Each section begins with general advice and information about tuition and associations that can help, then you need to follow the links of interest to find out more. Some will inevitably lead you to external links where you can purchase the holidays you reading about, but you're under no obligation to click them. Just glean what you want to from the website then go away and make your own plans if you like.

As regular viewers might have guessed, I have a passion for photography. It brings the wonders of the world to your eyes, and this website displays some incredible images that are both beautiful and terrifying.

David Maisel is where the artist of the same name displays his work. He calls the main collection the Black Maps, and all of the pictures you'll see in this section are aerial photographs of the earth where it is being damaged by human intervention.

The images are amazing. Use the navigation panel to pick out a collection to view, and then click a thumbnail for an enlarged image. Once you're in the image viewer you can use the directional arrows to look through the slides one by one.

My only complaint is that there's no information about where each photograph was taken, and what made the land look that way. But the History section is well worth a read for some more general information about the artist and his works.

Finally I want to point you at you one more website that was suggested by Vincent Coyle.

Ever wished you could knock the ball into the back of the net like a pro footballer? Well now you can - virtually anyway. Beat Beckham is a fun little game that will have you moaning in disappointment as your crafty cross hits the posts, or that lucky goalie gets a finger to the shot.

Getting the hang of the controls is actually quite tricky, but once you do you'll have no problem. You get three minutes on the penalty spot and you get points for goals and near misses. There's not much to it really, and don't expect any amazing graphics. It's just a nice little filler that should entertain you for a few minutes. My best score so far is an abysmal 710. Let me know how you get on.