Easy Thumbnails

Easy Thumbnails is a popular free utility for creating accurate thumbnail images and scaled-down/up copies from a wide range of popular picture formats. An elegant interface makes it a snap to find your images and select them for processing individually, in groups, or in whole folders, using a simple file selector and built-in image viewer. You can use slider controls to rotate images and adjust their contrast, brightness, sharpness and quality, and check out the results with the built-in viewer. It's a great way to shrink images for sending by email or uploading to the web. Check out http://www.fookes.com/ezthumbs/

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Primo PDF

if you're looking for a way to create your own PDF documents for free, look no further. Primo PDF (http://www.primopdf.com/) sets itself up as a printer on your computer, and when you print any sort of document via Primo PDF it will be converted to a PDF file. Convert to PDF from any application by simply 'printing' to the PrimoPDF printer - it couldn't be easier! Within minutes, you can create high-quality PDFs by converting from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and virtually any other printable file type.

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Family Guy Links

If you're a fan of the Family Guy cartoon show (http://www.familyguy.com/), check out creator Seth MacFarlane's site at http://www.sethmacfarlane.org/ and the site of Alex Borstein (who plays Lois) at http://www.alexborstein.com/

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MAME

MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. Its purpose is to document the inner workings of those pioneering games of the video arcade era. Remember Pacman, Space Invaders, DigDug, etc, well, they are all documented and what's more fully playable in the MAME project. MAME is software, written in 'C' and 'ASM', which emulates the hardware of the original machine the games were built with. This enables the original game programs (often called ROM images) to run quite happily on a PC. The other advantage is that these games will be preserved forever, thanks to this project.
You can find out more about MAME, download a copy as well as many of your favourite games from the past, from http://www.mameworld.net/

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Liquid Sculpture

Liquid Sculpture is the process of creating shapes by dropping and splashing water, or other liquids. These sculptures are then photographed. Liquid Sculpture is photographer Martin Waugh's collection of high-speed photos of pouring and splashing liquids in motion. Check out http://www.liquidsculpture.com/

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Serious Sam II demo

The 3d game series famous for relentless intensity is returning bigger, better looking and more frantic than ever before. Sam Stone is back to rescue the universe one bullet at a time against overwhelming hordes of time traveling enemies in Serious Sam 2. Built from the ground up with a completely new engine, Serious Sam 2 will be a shot of adrenaline to the hearts of first-person shooter fans across the world. This is serious! Grab the 235MB demo from http://www.serioussam2.com/sam_home.html

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Ricky Gervais

He's won two Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, written for 'The Simpsons' and been crowned the world's 17th Most Stylish Man - Ricky Gervais has gone from the success of"The office" to new heights with his latest series, "Extras". Check out his site at http://www.rickygervais.com/

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Inhabitat

Inspired by the ecocentric attitudes of such beloved American nature-lovers as Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman and Alcott, three MIT designers - Mitchell Joachim, Lara Greden and Javier Arbon - created a newfangled treehouse in which the dwelling itself merges with its environment and nourishes its inhabitants. The Fab Tree Hab (http://www.inhabitat.com/entry_513.php) "dissolves our conventional concept of home and establishes a new symbiosis between the house and its surrounding ecosystem."

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Google Blog Search

Google have introduced another new service called Blog Search, which allows you to search web logs (or "blogs") for content. For example, if you search for "Taranaki Careers" you'll find my On The Net article related to Taranaki Careers (http://www.taranakicareers.co.nz). All of my On The Net articles from http://www.digitalus.co.nz/onthenet/ are now searchable thanks to this new service. Check out http://blogsearch.google.com/

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System47 Screen Saver

System47 is a cool Star Trek-themed screensaver that reproduces the Star Trek: The Next Generation consle interface as a screensaver for your computer. Download it for free (and now for the Mac!) at http://www.mewho.com/system47/

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Teach yourself some French

If you'd like to brush up on some basic French, check out the one-page tutorial at http://www.ielanguages.com/french1.html

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Flying Mobulas

Both mantas and mobulas are members of the Family Mobulidae, a group about which, very little is known. Michael Albert has posted photos od mobulas leaping fromt he surface of the sea. "Whoosh! Without warning, a mobula emerges from below the surface, its long flat body glistening in the evening light and whip for a tail trailing behind. Flap, flap, flap, maybe a somersault or two, and then smack! It happened again and again. Single flips. Straight-up belly flops." Check out the story and photos at http://www.malbertphoto.com/mobulas1.html

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The Ad Conceptor

Need to develop an ad campaign with no budget? Check out The Ad Conceptor for a quick idea... http://www.theadconceptor.com/

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How and Tao of Folk Music

Get started playing blues guitar as Patrick Costello shares the tricks he picked up as a kid wandering the streets of Philadelphia with his guitar.

From starting out with a simple picking pattern to developing a shuffle rhythm and then taking off into bass runs, melody licks and turnarounds Patrick makes blues guitar easy to understand and a lot of fun. Anybody can play the guitar, you just need to pick up some basic skills to get started. This podcast is all about helping you learn those skills.

Visit the original blog posts for each lesson to read stories about where Patrick learned these techniques.

Podcasters can access the RSS feed for this workshop series at http://howandtao.com/blues.xml.

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The nth dimension

The nth dimension site will introduce you to a world that will captivate your mind. Eleven dimensions, infinitesimal strings, and two-dimensional branes are commonplace in this new world, that may simply be the one we are living in right now. Check out http://library.thinkquest.org/04apr/01330/index.htm

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Quietword

Quietword is a tool that employers use to source career seekers who are mutually interested in being connected to new opportunities. The site offers career seekers a new level of privacy by providing a simple, secure and quality model for matching them to job opportunities that ensures their anonymity and control over access to their private information. Quietword is most often used by career seekers who are happily and gainfully employed, who will consider a new opportunity from a mutually interested employer. The Quietword system ensures that only mutually interested career seekers and employers are ever connected. You control the quality of your candidate shortlist by only ever inviting people of interest to you, and only ever paying for successful (accepted) invitations. Check out http://www.staffcv.com/

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Hurricane Katrina Timeline

Wikipedia (the free online encyclopedia at http://en.wikipedia.org) have added an article called "Timeline of Hurrican Katrina" which follows the progress of the storm and it's aftermath. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Hurricane_Katrina

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419 Eater

Ever received an email from a lawyer in Nigeria asking for your help hiding a few million dollars in cash from corrupt authorities in return for a generous fee? All you need to do is provide your bank account details... or pay the fee to transfer the money... If so, you've been the target of the Nigerian 419 scammers. Now you can get your own back through a technique called "scambaiting". So what is scambaiting? Well, put simply, you enter into a dialogue with scammers, simply to waste their precious time and resources. Whilst you are doing this, you will be helping to keep the scammers away from real potential victims. Check out the techniques involved, and view some of the experiences other scambaiters have had, at http://www.419eater.com/

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The Global Rich List

Every year we gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world. Wondering what it would be like to have that sort of cash. But where would you sit on one of those lists? Here’s your chance to find out. Just enter your annual income into the box at http://www.globalrichlist.com/ below and hit the 'show me the money' button...

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Halfbakery

The halfbakery is a communal database of invention and speculation. Its users can publish inventions and add links and commentary to other people's inventions. Although you need an account with halfbakery to add material to it, any web user can read all the inventions, annotations, and links. Accounts are free, and are given out at the discretion of the (human) site owner. To create an account, send e-mail to bakesperson@halfbakery.com and ask for one; mention which username you'd like. Check out the site at http://www.halfbakery.com/

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DHTML Lemmings

if you're a fan of the original Lemmings computer game, check out the new version that has been written to run in any DHTML-capable browser. Simply browse to http://www.funnygames.nl/games/denk/2399_popup.html and start playing!

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Lensbabies

If you're a photographer looking for a new twist on focusing, check out the lensbaby. Lensbabies are the hybrid love children of an old-fashioned bellows camera and an up-tight tilt-shift lens. Focus your Lensbaby by moving the focusing collar in and out with your fingertips. Move the "sweet spot" of focus around the picture by bending the lens left, right, up, & down, like a fluid tilt-shift lens. Most photographers are getting rewarding shots after a short practice period.
Lensbaby 2.0 features an f2.0 aperture setting in addition to The Original Lensbaby's f2.8, f4.0, f5.6 and f8.0. Using a system similar to antique Waterhouse stops, you can quickly change the look by swapping the aperture disks.
Check out http://lensbabies.com/

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Taranaki Careers

The Taranaki Careers website is now up and running at http://www.taranakicareers.co.nz/ The site offers career information, local vacancies, information on training courses and profiles of local business people.

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Hurricane Katrina

Michael Moore (of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine fame) wrote an open letter to George Bush entitled "Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush" on his website at http://michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=183 discussing the slow response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. If you want to donate to those affected by Hurricane Katrina (via the Red Cross), visit https://www.banqonit.com/proxypage.aspx?boiid=205

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Lego Digital Designer

With Lego Digital Designer for Mac and PC you can build LEGO creations directly in your computer. Once complete, you can upload the models for others to see, and purchase all the pieces to build the model for real. The software is free from http://www.lego.com/eng/factory/design/ldd.asp. Check out the Gallery of some of the design winners at http://www.lego.com/eng/factory/design/bios.asp

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Ultra Fractal gallery

Ultra Fractal (http://www.ultrafractal.com/) is one of top fractal image and animation packages for Windows. You can grab a demo from the website, or check out some of the amazing galleries of fractal images created by users (http://www.ultrafractal.com/showcase.html). For a freeware fractal flame editor check out Apophysis (http://www.apophysis.org) and for more information on fractals, http://www.fractalus.com/ is the place to go

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Miracle mice

The Australian reports: Scientists have created "miracle mice" that can regenerate amputated limbs or damaged vital organs, making them able to recover from injuries that would kill or permanently disable normal animals.
The experimental animals are unique among mammals in their ability to regrow their heart, toes, joints and tail.
Read the whole article at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16417002%255E30417,00.html or visit my On The Net blog at http://www.digitalus.co.nz/onthenet/ for a clickable version of that monstrous link...

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Nova Roma

Nova Roma is dedicated to the restoration of classical Roman religion, culture and virtues. In their own words "NOVA ROMA is more than a historical recreation society, although we are that. We are more than a pagan religious organization, although we are that, too. We are more than a classical studies group, but that falls within our purview as well. We are nothing less than a sovereign nation; an attempt to re-create the best of classical pagan Rome (with a few compromises to modern times), and we invite you to join us by applying for citizenship today."
Check out http://novaroma.org/

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Astrology Zone

If you're into horoscopes then check out Susan Miller's Astrology Zone at http://www.astrologyzone.com
Susan Miller is an internationally known, accredited professional astrologer, best-selling author, successful web publisher, popular columnist, and sought-after lecturer and teacher. A second-generation astrologer, Susan learned about the subject from her mother, who emphasised continual research and scholarship.
As the creator of the award-winning website www.astrologyzone.com, Susan has received worldwide acclaim for her accurate, in-depth monthly forecasts. Launched in 1995, the website has an astounding six million unique readers per month and 15 million page views per month. In addition to hosting a highly popular message board, the website contains 500 pages of original content, all written by Susan.
Check out http://www.astrologyzone.com/

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Coke Zero Commercial

Coca Cola have remade the famous "Hilltop" commercial from 1971 (the remake of "I'd like to teach the world to sing," with the line "I'd like to buy the world a coke"). The new version is quite funky and performed by G. Love and Special Sauce. You'll either love this ad or hate it, but you can check it out (if you have the flash plugin installed) at http://www.cocacolazero.com/ by clicking the "Commercial" link.

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Google Desktop

Google have a new version of their desktop tool available at http://desktop.google.com/ Google Desktop indexes all of the files and emails on your computer so you can search for any file or message from one place. It also allows you to quickly run your favourite applications, bookmark internet news and rss feeds, display photos and record personal information. best of all, it's free!

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Desktop Backgrounds

Want to spice up your desktop? Blatte's Backgrounds is a collection of original fractal images free for use as computer backgrounds. Check out http://exoteric.roach.org/bg/index.html

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Google Talk

They say talk is cheap. Google thinks it should be free. Google Talk (http://www.google.com/talk/) enables you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free–anytime, anywhere in the world. Similar in functionality to MSN Messenger; it's free, simple and devoid of ads or banners. Google Talk will import all of your existing Gmail contacts automatically, and includes voice chat. To use Google Talk, you need a Google Gmail account. Gmail is free and allows you to store up to 2.5GB of email data online. In order to setup a Google Gmail account, you need an invite from an existing member. If you'd like an invite (I have 50 to give away) just drop me an email to lucas@digitalus.co.nz and I'll hook you up.

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Star Trek New Voyages

Do you miss the original Star Trek series? Captain Kirk, Spock, Bones, Klingons... then check out "Star Trek New Voyages" at http://www.newvoyages.com/ New Voyages is is a series of shows created and filmed by Star Trek fans, keeping the original characters but with new actors. Actors and writers from the original series, such as Walter Koenig (Chekov) and D.C. Fontana (who wrote many original series episodes) are scheduled to make cameo appearances. Episodes cost around $15k to produce can take 30 minutes or so to download.

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Movieshack

I'd previously mentioned DVD Unlimited (www.dvdunlimited.co.nz) as a great service that allows you to rent DVD movies by post, with no late fees or set return times. A reader has pointed me to Movie Shack (http://www.movieshack.co.nz) which is a similar service, and I found Fatso (www.fatso.co.nz) who also offer movie rentals online. Now you can shop around to satisfy your movie-watching needs

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