Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Tech Column: Internet Diversions

I thought that I'd take a break from writing about hard-core technology issues, and post a column that's just about fun things to do on the Internet. After all, the Internet shouldn't be for work alone. (Was it ever?)

If you discover any good Internet diversions, please send them my way. This won't be the last column about the Internet and work avoidance.

Lunchtimers has to be one of the most creative and entertaining Internet pastimes.  It's an online fridge magnet white board with a twist: Anyone else can move the magnet you just added to a word.

If you haven't been saving computer magazines since 1980, take a look at this website with old computer ads.  Don't miss the 1984 Macintosh advertisement.

RecordTripping is one of the most enjoyable and beautifully games designed I've ever found. While Alice in Wonderland is being narrated, you use your mouse as a DJ uses her hands to scratch a record forward and backwards, solving five different puzzles.

Another easy-to-play online game is Apple Shooter.  Can you shoot the apple off of somebody's head without hitting them? It's fun to try.

Do you want to see what's going on around the world? Visit WorldWebCam, , and look at one of the hundreds of webcams of mountains, traffic, animals (go right to the source and view a pandacam in China), beaches (there's a beach on Australia's east coast that I so want to be on right now), and more.

Pick the Perp, challenges your deepest knee-jerk assumptions and impulses. We all make instant and thoughtless judgments about people based simply on how they look. In Pick the Perp you try and guess which person out of five has been accused of a crime, based on nothing other than photos. It's eye-opening.

Possibly the most amazing storm photos are at Stormgasm. Be sure to check out the lightning photographs. They're so powerful, so potent that they make you want to run for cover even though you're looking at them from the safety of your computer screen.

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