Wednesday 30 September 2009

Carmony

www.carmony.co.uk If you want to buy a car but don’t know where to start, take this site for a test drive. Carmony helps you choose the perfect vehicle based on your individual needs rather than confusing you with sales patter.

Specify criteria such as how much space you need, the number of passengers you carry, which colours you like and whether you’re environmentally friendly and the site will present details of matching contenders. Alternatively, you can search by manufacturer, model type or price, or just browse the most popular vehicles.

Carmony is very easy to use, and packed with clever features like asking a friend if they can see you in a particular car and saving models you like in an online showroom. It may still be in beta, but this is a site that’s destined to go far.

Tuesday 29 September 2009

Qype

Consumer-review website Qype, www.qype.co.uk which covers everything from beauty salons in London to coffee shops in Barrow-in-Furness, has been spruced up.

The layout is now so bursting with information that it seems confusing at first but the fresh, attractive colour scheme helps you find your way around.

On the homepage is a handy local map service, which pinpoints the places you search for, while the main navigation bar can be customised to show your favourite categories.

Another nifty feature records your recently-viewed pages and searches.

With its ever-expanding range of honest, reliable reviews, Qype is an excellent resource for everyone.

Monday 28 September 2009

Food TV

www.foodtv.co.uk Programmes like Master Chef have turned us into a nation of armchair foodies, but how can we improve our own culinary skills? After having a few clicks around Foodtv.co.uk we reckon we can put together anything from Salmon Florentine to Vegetable Rosti.

This beautifully-presented resource is stuffed with recipes and full-length food programmes. However, it’s the shorter videos that really impress – these are so expertly delivered as to make them as essential in your kitchen as a chopping board.

If we had to find one fault, it would be that the quantity of content makes pages load slowly, but that certainly doesn’t detract from its quality.

Sunday 27 September 2009

Desk Space Genie

Renting desk space is a cost-effective means of securing a place to work on a short-term basis.

This site finds you a desk in the area of your choice, and lets you sort the results by price and proximity.

The average cost of desk rental is around £170 per month, but this also includes internet access, tea and coffee-making facilities and of course a chair.

www.deskspacegenie.co.uk is fantastically easy to use and presents information clearly, complete with photos and maps. Listings are fairly sparse outside of major cities, but you can sign up to receive alerts when space becomes available.

Saturday 26 September 2009

Zefrank

www.zefrank.com is full of toys and interactive widgets - these are pretty simple to handle and make a great original use of interactivity.

The site has also put up a series of charming movies offering some thoughtful and somewhat crazy ideas about life and the world.

Click The Show to watch these films online for free or buy iPod downloads for $5 (£3).

Mildly adult language and humour throughout the site.

Friday 25 September 2009

1911 Census

This is a site for those serious about researching their family history.

The UK government has taken a census of its population every ten years since 1801, except during World War II in 1941.

The 1911 census is a record of everyone who lived in England and Wales in the year 1911. Take a look at www.1911census.co.uk

After registering, users can add at least one name and surname to begin browsing - but detailed reports are not free.

Thursday 24 September 2009

My Heritage

Plenty of people these days are learning about their roots using the multitude of tools provided online.

Signing up for www.myheritage.com is free and it has all of the features expected from a site of this nature - with the optional paid for premium options.

Storage is free up to 100MB for users wanting to build a family tree and upload pictures to share with family and friends.

There is a genealogy search engine to aide with your research, or just have a look around other people's sites.

The interface is family friendly, and users young and old should have no problems getting to grips with it.

Wednesday 23 September 2009

MetaFilter

www.metafilter.com is a blog that anyone can contribute a comment or a link to.
There is no need to be a member to browse through the lively conversations on a variety of topics. Perhaps start with the Popular section to get a taste of the best the site has to offer.

The Tags section is also a nice little feature for anyone wanting to browse content based on a specific subject.

Joining up allows users to write entries and leave comments on others posts - but it costs a one-time payment of $5 (£3).

Creative types can also share and chat about their musical compositions, and take part in regular challenges.

Tuesday 22 September 2009

Melzoo

www.melzoo.com looks much the same as any other search engine, until you hit enter on a search term and the screen splits into two.

Results are listed on the left with a preview pane on the right, showing a snapshot of the listing as you hover your mouse over each link.

This is a superfast way to scan through homepages for the information and links you are looking for. Ask.com runs a similar feature with their Binocular Site Previews.

Monday 21 September 2009

Hushmail

www.hushmail.com has to be one of the most secure free e-mail providers on the web.

If you want to make sure your electronic communications are not being intercepted, by anyone - corporate spies, government agents, even little green men - then a hushmail address is where it is at.

Free account users beware - you have to log in at least every three weeks or your account will be deleted.

Sunday 20 September 2009

VirtualBox

www.virtualbox.org allows you to treat a certain space on your hard drive as a completely new computer.

You can install a whole new operating system you control through a window - a bit like if you were using remote desktop. You can run VirtualBox on Windows, Linux, Solaris or the Mac OS X.

You can run a box with an older or newer version of an operating system or install a completely different one; this might help you to run occasional temperamental software without upending your entire configuration or run software that is not supported by your OS.

Saturday 19 September 2009

Screencast

Following on from yesterdays website review....

screencasting - where you literally broadcast your on-screen activity, adding narration and subtitling to make a kind of movie.

www.screencast.com is a place for you to store, save and share your screencasts - either making them available to the public at large - or to a selected group of people.

It is not the only file sharing service on the internet, but it is geared towards this kind of content. They will not lower the resolution of your piece and you maintain full ownership.

This is tempered by the 2GB storage and bandwidth restrictions for the free account.

The free account should be enough for most users. The bandwidth hungry will have to decide whether to opt for the paid for premium service.

Friday 18 September 2009

ScreenToaster

Screencasting is a growing fad on the net. You basically record your computer screen activity together with narration & subtitling embedded. It is being used to great effect in a number of different genres.

At www.screentoaster.com a brilliant online software tool exists that allows you to easily create your own screencast content and upload it to the internet compressed to a very acceptable file size.
All you do is register and then hit start recording.

You'll have to tell it if you want to use a microphone or webcam - then use the ALT-S key to toggle recording on and off.

This really is insanely easy to use considering the power of the content you can produce - animated movies, audio-blogs, tutorial guides or entertaining spoken-letters to distant friends and family.

Take a browse round the site at what others are making - the list of possibilities is endless.

Thursday 17 September 2009

Livedrive

www.livedrive.com allows you to save, store and share data over the web.
Once registered you get your drive space URL and can then access and manage the files in much the same way as you would those on your computer's physical hard drive and there is no size limit to how much you can store so on there.

The application works well and fast and that is exactly what you want when you are transferring data back and forth.

If you have video stored on the drive you can stream it directly without having to download it onto your computer first.

This is only free for the duration of the initial 30 days trial period. But if you are thinking of investing in some on-line real estate this is definitely one to check out.

Wednesday 16 September 2009

Bikely

www.bikely.com contains a collection of bike trails and cycle paths from all over the world, submitted to the site by a growing and incredibly dedicated community of cyclists.

The site allows you to browse and add to the collection of routes and offers some simple and down to earth information about popular bike brands

Tuesday 15 September 2009

Tiltshiftmaker

Tiltshift is a photographic technique that changes the focus of a picture in unusual ways, often making real life scenes look as though they are photographs of a model.
This website contains a tool which allows you to replicate the technique.

Take a look at http://tiltshiftmaker.com

Photos of overall views usually work better than those of a single subject. You can paste a picture's URL into the relevant box on the Tiltshift homepage.

The next screen allows you to adjust the width & position of the focus, and preview the result. You can also choose to upload pictures from your hard drive if you have anything suitable. Once you are happy with the results, you can download your tilt-shifted picture.

Monday 14 September 2009

Be-at TV

Be-at TV can bring you all the thrill of a musical event with no aching feet or thrumming ears the next day.

Register & login to access the website's exclusive live recordings of some of the world's best DJs in action. The site address is www.be-at.tv

The events are filmed by Be-at TV on four cameras, which are then streamed with the audio from the website for people all over the world to enjoy.

Users can explore hundreds of hours of material.

This is a social networking platform too with the community encouraged to make connections with like-minded people on the site in much the same way as you would with Facebook.

Sunday 13 September 2009

WHIZZ

www.whizz.com provides an online tutor to help children at all stages and levels of confidence to improve their maths skills.

Based on the UK and US curriculum, the first five lessons are free so users get a taste of what is to come.

A tailor-made tutor service is also available along with an on-going lesson plan which are part of a paid-for premium package.

Saturday 12 September 2009

Breathing Earth

At breathingearth.net you will find a lovely simulation of the aspects of the life-cycle on Earth, including global birth and death rates, as well as CO2 emissions.

I love the organic sound effect that accompanies the visuals. And having the birth and death rates pointed out in such an obvious way really was quite shocking to me.

It indicates an exploding population, with the continuous counter on the site showing births going up at twice the rate of deaths. Given global concerns about CO2 emissions, the figure underneath those is somewhat worrying too.

Friday 11 September 2009

Get Fit, Army Style

Want to get fit and healthy without the expense of joining a gym? Do it for free using the greatest fitness and health resource in the world - the US Army. Hooah4Health.com has advice on body, mind, spirit and environment. It has useful exercise tips (like weightlifting and sit-up instructions) as you’d expect, but also advice on spiritual and emotional wellbeing, along with solid healthy eating and PMA tips too (that’s positive mental attitude for the uninitiated!)

Thursday 10 September 2009

All Natural

Fed up with paying a fortune for your beauty products and toiletries?

Well why not make your own.

Just visit allnaturalbeauty.us, a website that promotes natural beauty that is free of chemicals and additives.

It even has an extensive list of beauty recipes that can be made from the kind of things you’d find in your fridge. They even sound good enough to eat!

Wednesday 9 September 2009

Yes To Wind

www.yestowind.com doesn’t have anything to do with flatulence, it’s actually a site that has been launched by green groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and WWF-UK to raise awareness of the benefits of wind power and there’s plenty of info on offer.

There’s advice on starting a pro-wind campaign, a message board for activists in rural areas and downloadable posters and leaflets.

Tuesday 8 September 2009

Try Trading

Have you always fancied yourself as a City trader but you can’t face the early mornings and potential heart attacks? Well www.bullbearings.co.uk teaches you all the basics of trading and lets you try your hand at the stock market without risking a penny.

Plus it also lets you join simulated trading competitions. The site is also packed with other useful information, such as a trading news section and market overview.

And it’s sure to be a lot less stressful than working in the Square Mile!

Monday 7 September 2009

Be Ethical

If safeguarding the earth for the next generation is something you feel passionate about, www.ethicalbabe.com could interest you.

The site is dedicated to bringing you the best organic and fairtrade clothes and toys and the finest natural toiletries and cosmetics.

If you’re looking for last-minute birthday gifts, you’ll find one or two ideas, like a hedgehog jigsaw and a frog skipping rope.

There’s lots of practical advice too and information about the environmental benefits of using certain products.

The end is Nigh

I may as well say this now as times change and as one door closes then another one opens and I have decided that this radio blog will come to a close at the end of 2009 into the start of 2010.
It wont acvtually close. It will remain here but it will no longer be updated.

The reason behind this is that I am not on the radio as much as I used to be and producing website reviews on this blog for other people to use has now been exhausted as resources are running out and with new commitments I dont have as much time to spend on the internet reviewing websites.

Various radio stations use this site for their website review of thew day features and they are more than welcome toi uise any material I have posted. In fact this goes for anyone and not just radio stations but sooner ort later the time it takes me to trawl the net looking for new stuff means that this is time I could be spending with more important issues.

In the new year the blog will be split into two. The website reviews and the radio interviews and audio files but nothing more will be updated as I dont have the time anymore

Sunday 6 September 2009

Be Positive

www.relentlessly-positive.com is an antidote to the masses of ultra-critical beauty mags, blogs and celebrity nonsense. The site is aimed at any women (or men) who despair at the negativity of modern times.

It has its own blog and newsletter, as well as sections as diverse as Good Lovin', Never Diet Again and Shiny Happy People.

From fashion magazines that make you feel fat to beauty products that cost the earth, the site looks at some cheery alternatives.

Saturday 5 September 2009

Clothes Swap

If your wardrobe full of sale bargains that you’ve never worn, clothes you swore you’d slim into or simple fashion disasters. Well at www.whatweusedtowear.com you can trade these unwanted articles with other visitors to the site, either in the UK or nationwide

Friday 4 September 2009

Parenting Tips

In this modern age of both parents working and not enough hours in the day, raising kids is even harder work than it used to be. But www.parenthacks.com could lend you a hand.

This site gives you daily doses of parenting tips, organised by childrens’ ages, activities, and common dilemmas, all submitted by fellow parents.

You can also learn how to stay organised, save some money, and stay healthy. And if you have any top tips of your own, don’t be afraid to share them!

Thursday 3 September 2009

Classic Clips

Have you ever trawled the web for funny clips and thought, there’s got to be a better way to sift through all this crap? Well you’ll be pleased to know that there is. www.classicshowbiz.blogspot.com gives you nothing but the best US TV clips. Perfect if you’re in need of a bit of light relief on a grey autumn day!

Wednesday 2 September 2009

Finance Advice

When it comes to finances, some people are experts and others are complete dunces. If you’re one of the economically puzzled, take a look at getrichslowly.org/blog. Here you’ll find lively discussions and research on a whole host of economics issues, so you should come away feeling far more financial savvy.

Tuesday 1 September 2009

Who What Wear

If you dream of looking as effortlessly hip as Kate Moss or Sienna Miller, check out whowhatweardaily.com. Creators Katherine Power and Hillary Kerr are gossip mag fetishists who realised that their addiction was all down to their love of checking out what the celebs were wearing the night before. Laid out in a blog format, this site is a never-ending stream of the most stylish shoes, must-have make-up and hippest hairstyles