This is a bit of a strange idea- you enter age and gender and similar for whom you’d like to talk to and it connects you.
Its nicely implemented but on the odd occasions I’ve tried it, I’ve found no one as the message above shows. It reminds me of the old joke “You’ve got two chances- fat chance and no chance!”. Hopefully more publicity will encourage people to try it.
There’s a strange appeal to it- sort of like being in a deserted building and hearing a phone ringing in an old disused room. Who is phoning and why?
Popularity: 4% [?]
This is particularly impressive. Wikivid is a collection of free videos that show or teach you how to use Software. The range is very impressive and the links go all over the web. The number of viodeos varies, so something like Flash has a lot of instructional videos from the likes of lynda.com, vtc.com , teach-ict.com. creativecow.net and lot’s more. The open source package nvu for creating websites has 11.
It’s still in “alpha” stage, content is limited to software tutorials only, but their vision is to add video uploads and more. As it’s a wiki, you can add your own video links, edit existing pages, etc!
Popularity: 7% [?]
This is probably one of the oldest as it originated back in my 2nd year at school in 1971. Michael Hart was given a lot of free (and very expensive back then) computer time and decided to try and store everything that could be stored electronically (and out of copyright).
So the concept pre-dates the web by 20 years and was there almost from the inception of the internet. Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free electronic books. Of course the book have to be proof read so that is why there are currently 20,000 titles available for download and 100,000 titles amongst all the partners of Project Gutenberg. If this is your kind of thing they are always looking for volunteers.
The website is of course a more recent addition to the project and is a Wiki.
Interesting the five most popular authors over the last 30 days.
- Twain, Mark (56676)
- Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir (25434)
- Ralph, Lester (24461)
- Shakespeare, William (24378)
- Dickens, Charles (23915)
Popularity: 6% [?]
This is an interesting idea. Authors (in the UK, USA, Australian and Canada) who are doing a book tour to promote their books can connect with audiences via this free site. Likewise the audiences can find out- it’s not the easiest thing to find out- where do you look for information about forth coming book tours?
The site itself is well done, though restricting search to zip codes is perhaps a little limiting (hey guys- we use Postcodes!), so perhaps the majority of stuff there is US based but with provision for the other countries. But a good idea nonetheless. You can also read about some of the worst tours from the authors themselves!
Popularity: 5% [?]
I started off doing table wargames with my father in the early 1970s. This was in Belfast, so an interesting time but I made many friends and became the N. Ireland wargames champion in 1979 (Really!). Back then there were far fewer sets of rules, but now with the internet you can find many.
This website provides hundreds across every genre there is, including fantasy. Some are links but many are hosted on the site itself. I could waste serious numbers of hours here!
Popularity: 5% [?]
Hard to believe but this came out in 1995, 12 whole years ago. If you’ve been stuck in a cellar since then or are not into computer games then you should know that this was the first (more or less- there was Dune 2 before it) of a whole new genre. Real time Strategy. Many other games have followed and also other EA Command & Conquer games but this was the first one.
Building bases, tanks, ships, infantry and aircraft you have to defeat the enemy- whether you are playing the goodies (GDI) or the Baddies (NOD).
It’s available as a free download that works under Windows XP.
Popularity: 7% [?]
I haven’t played this yet, so this is more of a preview. Duels is a free game where you battle other players one by one. You advance your duelist by battling others in the arena, collect and trade thousands of items and customise your avatar’s appearance and attributes all for free.
Interestingly, you don’t fight the battles, just set things up for it. So your duellist can fight even when you’re not logged in. If you win, you get a pack which could be a weapon, two scrolls or a bit of in game currency.
It looks interesting and possibly as bad a timewaster as Inselkampf became!
Link
Popularity: 2% [?]
For whatever reason, people go missing each year, around the world, in the UK. They might drop out, or have amnesia, opr more likely be involved in an accident or even be abducted.
Whatever the reason, this site, which was launched in 1998 offers a FREE instant on-line message-posting service designed to help enable you to locate missing persons, lost friends, relatives, workmates, forces pals, etc, that are thought to be anywhere in the UK.
For former workmates, you might have more luck with friends reunited but for genuine missing people, this is as good a way as you can get, short of advertising on TV, or on posters, milk cartons etc.
Popularity: 3% [?]
This is a bit of a curious site. Thousands of books and some magazines in text form. I haven’t checked out all the books but most that I have seen are out of copright. Eg works by Dickens. I’d hazard a guess that many originated in Project Gutenberg.
A quick check on Google returns nearly 50,000 pages but many books are split into 4 or more parts.
Popularity: 3% [?]
I’d heard of bookcrossing before but on Sunday actually found the first book I’d ever seen in a lift in the Brittania Hotel in Nottingham, left by a Dutch visitor. If you’re interested, it was by Daphne Du Maurier (no not Rebecca!) and I’ll update the Bookcrossing website later today. Not all books get journalled but I like the idea and with over 3.5 million books released by half a million readers that means sodo a lot of people.
Bookcrossing is a clever form of viral marketing. Well it’s actually about giving books away. You put a sticker on to identify the book, then leave it somewhere it can be found. Each book has an ID number (a BCID), and this is put on the front of the book on a sticker.
The idea is that you read a book then “send it on its way” by leaving it somewhere where someone can find it. As they say I’”m looking at your site here, and I can’t believe what I’m reading. Do you actually want me to give away my books? - Registering your books with BookCrossing.com, then giving them to a friend, a charity, or otherwise releasing them “into the wild” and following their progress and travels, is infinitely more fulfilling than the small satisfaction you’ll get by looking at your books in your bookcase every day.”
It’s a form of sending a message in a bottle. “Make the world one big library!”. A very laudable aim. Of course once electronic book readers (that you can safely read in the bath) emerge then maybe it will be no longer useful. But until then, maybe 20 years in the future…
Popularity: 3% [?]
I used to have to some of the Robert Harbin books on Origami and was quite a paper folder aged 12. I’ve got a black belt in Origami- made it myself! (Boom boom!).
But these days, those waterbombs and flapping birds would not cut the mustard. Instead of the typical 20 or so steps needed to produce the figures, very complex patterns, up to 100 steps are needed and the results speak for themselves. The origianl rules apply- one sheet of paper, no tears or cuts. The dragon picture above illutrates this. Clicking the picture takes you to an article on Discover.com
These days, as with much else, software is used to design the shapes. Treemaker is an open source application written by Robert Lang and this is what makes these amazing shapes possible. It takes design complexity way what past man alone can produce.
Popularity: 17% [?]
There is a visualisation technique called “Cushion Treemaps” which can be used to display the contents of your hard disk. The big bronze rectangle in the bottom right is the biggest file here.
In just one interactive image you can see where the biggest files or folders are located on your hard disk. You can also dig deep into folders and see their contents. It is quite clever, easy to use, looks great and best of all it’s free from the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, a Technical University in Eindhoven, Holland.
Note that this is for Windows only and it takes a few minutes to run, to map your disk depending on it’s size.
Popularity: 11% [?]
ShowmeWhere is a simple free service that lets you create and save Google Maps, complete with your own markers and/or lines. You can then host it on your website, view it in Google Earth or email to a friend. You don’t need to register to get started, only to save maps.
It’s a Web 2.0 Application- those are easy to spot- look for the word Beta somewhere on it plus it uses Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) behind the scenes. The screen-shot shows a marker I added for my home (in London). It’s neat!
Popularity: 3% [?]