Andy chats about the latest technology and interesting websites each week with Nerissa Pace on the "Talking back the night" radio show, heard across Australia.

 
Top 3 websites
http://www.regrettheerror.com/
Regret The Error reports on corrections, retractions, clarifications and trends regarding accuracy and honesty in the media.

http://www.cardstacker.com
The website is hosted by Bryan Berg, the guiness word record holder for stacking cards. He’s a self-taught artist, uses no tape, glue, or other tricks in his work.

http://www.makeusbillionaires.com
3 young guys from somewhere near detroit in the U.S have created this website because they hope they can get rich simply by having people donate money.

Sharing your Australia day photos on the web

With Australia day comig up on Thursday this week, Yahoo! Australia & NZ and the National Library of Australia are helping to create the country’s most comprehensive publicly accessible bank of digital images featuring contemporary photographs of urban and rural Australia….and everyone can get involved.

www.pictureaustralia.org , managed by the National Library, is a bank of more than one million images set up by the National Library as a community resource. Primarily historical in nature, these images come from the collections of 42 national and international institutions including museums, libraries, galleries and other archives.

From the pictureaustralia.org website you can click through to www.flickr.com – a public photograph sharing website with over 70 million stored images uploaded by people from all over the world…this is where you can upload and share some of your own uniquely Australian photos.

You simply create a free account, upload your photos and they are ready to share….but what yahoo and the national library have done is create two special groups for Australian themed shots.

The first group is entitled “PictureAustralia: Australia Day”, and is for people to upload photos of how they spent Australia day….a few BBQs I reckon!The second is called “PictureAustralia:People, Places and Events” and will be for photos that have a general Aussie flavour.

Here's how you can get started....

*Go to www.pictureaustralia.org

*Click on the link to the www.flickr.com website and sign in using a yahoo ID…if you don’t have one you can set one up free very easily.

* Once you are signed in, upload your images into your personal pool by selecting the upload photos tab

* Now click the groups tab at the top of your screen and using the search box, locate the new Picture Australia groups by typing pictureaustralia.

* Remember to title your photos accordingly…eg ‘sydney harbour bridge’ or ‘sunset on the farm’

 
Top 3 websites
http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/tv
Not only is this website a full featured TV guide for both free to air and pay TV in Australia, you can also participate in discussion forums on just about any TV show.

http://www.famouslikeme.com/
Do you share a birthday or name with a famous person.
Enter your name or even just your birthday and see how many of the tens of thousands of celebrities in the data base share your birthday…or if there are any celebs with the same name as you.

www.TrickMagic.com
You can learn how to pull a card out of thin air, make people believe you are psychic, and do spectacular card magic! And the best thing is it's all free!
All the tricks are displayed in detail with step by step images…easy!

Latest accessories for your iPod from Apple and the latest WALKMAN from Sony.
Turn your iPod or iPod Nano into an FM Radio.
The the iPod® Radio Remote is a remote control for your ipod…so you don’t always have to pull it out of your pocket to change tracks or start and stop…plus it adds an FM radio function to your ipod!

The station info is displayed on the iPod screen…and it’s a great feature if you happen to run out of music to listen to!

The iPod Radio remote is on sale now for 79.95…check out www.apple.com.au

Sony’s new 20 Gigabyte walkman

The 20GB WALKMAN players are capable of delivering the highest
quality sound and holding up to 13,000 songs.

The Battery life on the stylish new walkmans is amazing…one charge will give you up to 35 hours of music (and charging only takes around 3 hours)

One important feature of the new Walkmans is that they now support different types of digital music files. This means that along with the ability to store music in Sony’s own ATRAC format…you can also use both MP3 and Windows Media format files on the walkman. – basically just different types of audio files.

The 20 gigabyte walkman also comes with an easy-to-use WALKMAN software
package, so you can manage your music library.
More info at www.sony.com.au

 
Top 3 websites
http://www.futureme.org/
Write a letter and have it sent to you via email in the future.

http://www.wildmoodswings.co.uk/
Feeling lucky? …and need to waste a few minutes. On this website you simply select your mood and you will be directed to a website to match it.

http://www.fund-raising-ideas-center.com/
While this is an American website, it’s devinately useful if you’re looking for ideas on how to raise money for any good cause.

How to find information on the web.

I’ve been getting quite a few emails lately from people asking me to find them the best websites on various topics…which I’m quite happy to do, but then I remembered the famous chinese proverb "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life".

With that in mind here’s a few tips on how to find websites yourself!

Basic Search Rules
Keywords. Start typing those keywords fast and furiously. The more you type, the more narrow your search will come back.

Be case-sensitive. A good rule of thumb with most search engines and directories is that you should only use lowercase letters; unless you are looking for a specific case-sensitive keyword. For example, if you search for the word "Tennis", your search will only return words with just that capitalized word. Use the word "tennis", and you'll get any page with that word. However, Google does not care if your words are capitalized or not.

Phrases. If you're looking for an exact phrase, put it in quotes. Otherwise, you'll come back with a huge jumble of results.
This is great for finding solutions to computer problems…try typing the exact error message you are getting into those quotes.

Use Basic Math.Broaden or narrow your search efforts by using add and subtract. (Eg…fish recipies –Salmon ....this should give you websites with fish recipies that do not involve salmon)

Mark Favorites. If you find a site you like, put it in your Favorites.

Guess.If you have basic knowledge of how URL's are constructed, you can "guess" the location of a particular site. For example, commercial sites will be "sitename.com" (or .com.au)

 
Top 3 websites
http://fancyparking.com/
How do you park your car? Do you plan for when you have to leave or just stick it in the space the quickest way you can.
This website is all about people who park with pride and they offer tips and techniques.

http://www.mothersagainstnoise.org/
Do you belive that rock n roll is evil….the women who run this website do!

http://www.pandafix.com/
The Pandafix website is all about Panda Bears….not nearly as cute as kittens but I can see the appeal.

Monitoring your kids on the Internet these holidays
This is a prime time of year for kids off all ages to spend a bit more time on the home computer….and the world wide web being what it is, it can be difficult to make sure kids aren’t exposed to inappropriate content as you simply can’t monitor them all the time.

The key is to combine some monitoring…e.g by placing the home computer in an open family area…with filtering software to cut back on the inappropriate stuff.

You may have heard of Net Nanny software to help you out in this area, but one of the more advanced programs is called Cyber Sentinal…it costs just 99 dollars and does the following.

Cyber Sentinel will block:
Content on the Internet: Adult/Sexually Explicit, Adult Subjects, Language, Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco, Gambling, Violence, Weaponry, Hate, Criminal Activity, and Hacking/Spyware

Internet applications:Websites, Email, Chat Rooms, Instant Messaging, Newsgroups, Peer to Peer File Sharing, Search Engines, Search Engine Image Results, and Offline Applications

You can customise the filter to your needs:
Adjust the strength of the filter (i.e. high, medium, low)
Set up multiple users with different types of access
Place time limitations on Internet use
Block the Internet at certain times of the day
Modify the lists of sites that are allowed or are blocked
Specify the email addresses that can be used to send emails
Block personal information from being submitted over the Internet (such as addresses, phone numbers or credit card details)

Find out details of sites and programs that have been accessed:
A detailed history of websites viewed and programs used
Screen shots of the webpages that have been viewed
Email notifications to warn you when banned sites or programs have attempted to be accessed
Remote reporting that lets you view reports from anywhere that have Internet access

Tips and info from www.netalert.net.au – which is the Australian Internet safety advisory body.

NetAlert recommends you install a filter on your computer to protect your family from unwanted content and to help manage your children's Internet access. Filters often form part of readily available safety software packages.
It is a good idea to ask your computer salesman, what safety and security software your computer comes with or what is missing.

Programs to use
Internet Filter. These can block out or permit access to certain types of content located on the Internet.
Security Software. Install virus, firewall and spyware protection software to help with security and privacy.
Spam Filter. Blocks out unwanted junk email. Current versions of email programs such as 'Outlook' now have spam filters inbuilt.
Parental Monitoring Software. These programs can help you monitor what your children are doing online. They can also often block access to specific programs.
Pop Up Stopper. Useful programs which stop new windows from popping up on your screen.
Other things you can do
Enable Internet Browser Security. Change the settings in your Internet browser to ensure your computer can recognise sites which may be labelled as inappropriate.
Monitor Your Programs. Remove any programs that are not needed and check for any new ones that may be installed by children.
Update Software. Make sure that all the programs you have installed are up to date. New versions of programs are often released.

Many of the safety programs we suggest you use, are available from your Internet Service Provider, retail shops or by download off the Internet.

There are a number of packages available that can perform many of the things you need, so purchasing one of those may be the easiest thing to do.
You may wish to have a look at some particular programs we recommend. These are especially suited for use in the home.