Site Seeing

By JULES ALLEN
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 17, 2003

Feel free to browse

www.Scanit.be/bcheck

How does your browser do in the security game? Do you know? How would you check? While not perfect, this free site from Euro security mavens ScanIt should give you a pretty good idea of where you stand. It takes a few minutes for all the tests to run (currently 22 in all). Don't close any windows the site opens during the test or it won't work. Of course, if you've got a popup blocker installed, the tests will not work either. Here in Mac-land, recent versions of Apple's Safari browser and the latest beta version of Mozilla reported a clean bill of health.

Photo play

Dubster.com/cars/

Here's a really, really strange photography site that will either amuse you or have you scratching your head. Or both, if you're like me. The premise is to take a toy car and make it appear to be the same size as the other objects in the photograph. It's harder to do than you'd imagine. Regardless, enjoy the weirdness within.

Something for everybody

www.flat33.com/bzzzpeek/

Here's an aural treat: a site that collects sounds of animals from around the world and places them on the Web. Ducks, in Japan, go dah-gah, for example, and not quack-quack, as we know them. It's a whizzy way to ease your young kids into the thought that there is more to the world than just the U.S. of A. And it's a great test for you to see if you can identify flags other than the really easy ones.

The air fare game

FastCompany.com/online/68/pricing.html

For a while, I was buying tickets for business travel two months in advance. Imagine my shock at having to pay an extra $500 for a ticket bought for the week of Valentine's Day. Why the extra cost? Do young lovers traditionally take to the sky like lovesick lemmings? The airline could or would not explain it, and I was at a loss to find an alternative carrier -- they were all the same. Thoughts of price fixing danced in my head, but it turns out I was wrong. The airlines practice the epitome of the free market, apparently. If you've ever wanted to get a handle on why the prices seem all over the board, this informative article is for you.

Getting connected

homepage.mac.com/jonassalling/Shareware/Clicker/

Last year, PR flacks were trumpeting that 2003 would be the year that Bluetooth, the short-distance wireless technology for connectivity, would take the world by storm. So I sat by my computer Jan. 1 and nothing happened. Months ticked by and still nothing. Alas, innovation is missing (if not dead) from those that chunk out the hardware. The real innovation is to be found in places like Jonas Salling's Clicker software. Combine it with your Sony Ericsson Bluetooth-capable phone, and you've got a whole new world of controlling your Mac. With a little bit of scripting on your part, you can do things such as pause your iTunes if you walk away from your computer or lock the screen. It's inspired and the best $10 I've spent in a long, long time.

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