The latest service to come out of Google’s labs is Google Page Creator, a basic web editor that runs through your browser. I’ve had a play with it here and I like what I see; it’s very simple at the moment but it’s very difficult to create a bad-looking web page, which is more than can be said for similar services.
The Music Genome Project’s Pandora experiment is a website that allows you to create your own playlists, or “stations”. The way it works is that you enter the name of a song or artist you like, and the software finds other songs it thinks you’ll like. There are restrictions imposed by its licensing agreements, but it is completely legal and plays songs in full, not just clips. Give it a go!
Advertising executive and blogger Hugh MacLeod gives his 30 tried and tested tips for being truly creative. Acknowledging that everyone is creative from birth, the article suggests ways of tapping into that innate creativity.
Warning: Slightly NSFW due to language.
(via digg)
Virtual PC Guy is a member of the Microsoft Virtual PC team, who spends his time installing weird and wonderful operating systems. His blog, complete with installation guides and screenshots, makes for an interesting read for anyone who longs for the “good old days”.
Bootleg Browser has links to sites offering bootleg tracks and entire live shows, sorted by artist. There are a number of popular artists listed including some of my favourites. Be warned, you’re likely to spend a few hours on this site!
20Q.net is an online version of 20 Questions. Think of an object (animal, vegetable, mineral or other) and the site will try to guess what you’re thinking of in 20 questions or less. Some of the questions it asks are a bit silly, but generally it works quite well.
Another AI-based quiz is Guess The Dictator or Sit-Com Character. It usually guesses correctly but struggles on non-US TV characters.
It’s fun to play with, but some of the designs aren’t that nice to look at, and they’re all really just variations on a theme. I probably wouldn’t copy a StrangeBanana design verbatim, but I’d use the site as a tool for inspiring my own designs.
ITConversations hosts audio programmes with respected figures in the IT industry, such as security expert Bruce Schneier, Moore’s Law founder Dr Gordon Moore, Apple Computer’s Steve Wozniak and PHP developer Rasmus Lerdorf.
Visitors can contribute questions, and the shows can be streamed or downloaded in Windows Media or MP3 format. There is also podcast support, and transcripts are available for all interviews.
This is a great site for anyone studying an IT or Computing-related degree, or anyone with an interest in the field.
read digg story
Since I first heard about digg on Return Of The Screensavers, I have been using it a lot. It’s similar to other sites which fall under the “tech news” banner, such as Slashdot, but with one major difference. Stories can be submitted by anyone, and whether they appear on the front page depends on users who can “digg” stories they like. It’s difficult to explain, but it works surprisingly well – give it a try to see what I mean.
I find digg much more fun to use than Slashdot, with more stories I enjoy, and can honestly say I haven’t read Slashdot since joining digg. Highly recommended!
This looks promising – a downloadable show from the creators of thebroken, starring Kevin Rose of The Screensavers/Attack of the Show. According to Kevin’s blog, this promises to be a treat for anyone missing the TechTV experience, and should be out by the end of the month.
There are a couple of behind-the-scenes clips at Keith Harrison’s blog and I’ve got to say, I’m looking forward to it. As a UK resident, I didn’t get to see much of TechTV besides the clips available on their website, and it’s great to have freely available “tech TV” for those of us in less “geek-enlightened” areas of the globe.
Also, the long-awaited fourth episode of thebroken, featuring all your favourite characters, should be available “soon”, says Kevin.
While I’m on the subject of Internet TV shows with a geeky flavour, be sure to check out The Scene, which follows the lives of a (fictional) illegal movie distribution group, and Pure Pwnage, where you can watch “pro gamer” Jeremy (aka teh_pwnerer) “pwning noobs” – it’s probably one of the funniest things I’ve seen for a while!
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