NET WATCH
The Salon free software book project is an innovative open-source publishing project about free software. Author Andrew Leonard is writing the as-yet-untitled book and posting bits online as soon as he can, while calling on the collective wisdom of the Net to keep him honest. “We’re publishing the book as a work in progress and inviting readers — Linux veterans and newbies alike – to post their comments, criticisms and reactions.” www.salon.com/tech/ fsp/index.html
If the rejection slips for your phenomenal first novel are piling up and you just know you’re the victim of a conspiracy on the part of those who are blind to true and original artistry, go online to sell your work, at www.mightywords.com. It’s an online marketplace for electronic texts, and you can buy and sell texts as you like in this repository.
Ian McKellen, who is going Gandalf in New Zealand for the first of a planned big screen Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring, is keeping an online diary of how things are going on the project. Read about the delights of fitting into a hobbit burrow, the debate over introducing stronger romantic interest to the narrative and how some of the special effects are being handled. Ah yes, and how the women of Wellington are knitting armour for 15E000 extras. www.mckellen.com/ cinema/lotr/index.htm
Want to know if you’re a sex goddess, or whether your testosterone levels guarantee you a respectable reading on the suave-o- meter? These and a range of other dubious quizzes are available at www.emode.com
If you’ve always liked the idea of building little fiddly things, but have the construction skills of a cross-eyed termite, try out the Soda Constructor, where building a range of bizarre self- animating virtual beasties and gadgets is instantly in your power. You put together various masses and springs, choose whether they’re free-floating or bound by gravity, and like Dr Frankenstein himself, animate your construction by sending a wave of life through the springs, allowing them to pulse like living tissue. www.soda.co.uk/soda/constructor/
ENDS