Vendors

Intel
http://www.intel.com
Bandwidth: Medium to high
Best viewing: Frames-enabled browser, preferably with Java and Shockwave
Rating: 9/10

All the large players in the computer industry have a Web site. The site of premier chip-maker, Intel, must rank near the top of these sites. It's constantly changing and it offers something for all sorts of people. There's the Connected PC for home users, the latest newsgroups for processor techheads, and background information, projects and activities for schools.

Web authoring sites

Geocities
http://www.geocities.com
Bandwidth: Medium
Best viewing: Frames-capable browser
Rating: 9/10

Looking for a place to set up your own Web page? Geocities offers free Web sites to anyone wanting to set up a Web page. There are a few restrictions -- all quite reasonable -- the most important being you can't use your site for purely commercial purposes. The sites in GeoCities are organised into 'neighbourhoods' based on a common theme or interest. If you want to build a site that focuses on your love of nature, pick a vacant building lot in the Rainforest or Yosemite neighbourhoods; or perhaps you'd like to rub shoulders with fellow computer enthusiasts in Silicon Valley. Geocities also provides online HTML editing tools -- although you'll probably find it much easier to edit offline and upload your pages -- and a simple uploading utility to help publish your site (you need Netscape 2.0 for this -- otherwise, you can use a simple FTP procedure to upload your site).

Webreference
http://www.webreference.com
Bandwidth: Medium
Best viewing: Any browser
Rating: 6/10

Webreference contains a really useful selection of articles on all things Webby, from creating your own homepage to Java coding to preventing repetitive strain injury while surfing. Some of it is for beginners, but there's also useful material for more advanced HTML coders.

Miscellaneous computer tips

Virus Myths
http://www.kumite.com/myths
Bandwidth: Medium
Best viewing: Any browser
Rating: 6/10

Just how seriously should you take the latest computer virus scare (and there's bound to be one in circulation, no matter when you read this article)? Virus Myths is dedicated to debunking virus hysteria. It's a site that won't win any awards for style or tone (it's rather patronising), but if you're living in fear of virus attacks you'll gain a little perspective after reading Rob Rosenberger's debunking of numerous virus myths. Check out the information on the Irina and Good Times e-mail viruses, for instance. It's a fascinating account of how publicity stunts, pranks and rumours become Internet faction.

Data Powers of Ten
http://www.ccsf.caltech.edu/~roy/dataquan
Bandwidth: Low
Best viewing: Any browser
Rating: 6/10

Did you know that five exabytes of storage is all you need to fit all the words ever spoken during human history? Well, that's the case, according to Data Powers of Ten. If you're wondering where you're heading after gigabytes start to feel like peanuts, Roy Williams Clickery's little page of data storage measurements will take you all the way from a bit to a yottabyte.

Going places

The World Village Project
http://www.inch.com/~magicxz/website/index.html
Bandwidth: Low
Best viewing: Any browser
Rating: 8/10

If the world were a village containing 1000 people, 165 would speak Mandarin, 86 English, 83 Hindu, 64 Spanish, 58 Russian and 37 Arabic. This simple, fascinating site puts many aspects of our world into perspective by imagining how it would be if we condensed our current population (5,859,257,843 at the time of my visit, according to the counter on the page) down to 1000. The World Village Project provides lots of food for thought.

Writer's Block
http://www.niva.com/writblok
Bandwidth: Medium
Best viewing: Any browser
Rating: 8/10

For budding writers, practising authors or anyone interested in reading new writing, Writer's Block is a monthly magazine containing a nice spread of articles. Each month's issue contains a feature article on some aspect of writing, a book review, poetry, a fiction piece, a non-fiction essay, and articles on the business of writing and word useage. The site has a lovely simple format that doesn't get in the way of the content.

About these links

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