Wednesday Web Wonders

This weeks W3 is brought to you by theme LOLZ

cheezburger.com/

cheezburger.com has been an internet lolz staple for quite a while now and it just keeps on getting bigger and better. My own personal highlights: totally looks like, fail blog and engrish.

John says: ROFL

http://nedroid.com/

Nedroid is home to the awesome Beartato and other web comics. These surreal comic strips started out quite basic but have got more sophisticated, and funnier, over time.

John says: LMAO

www.overheardinnewyork.com/

Overheard in New York features user submitted overheard conversations. It's not just New York though, there's also overheard: in the office, at the beach and everywhere. There's also a celebrity wit section. Each section is updated regularly.

John says: ROFLMAO

This weeks theme has been rofltastic, next weeks theme might be arts and crafts. Maybe, if a certain someone gets her act together :)

Wednesday Web Wonders

New and improved W3 this week. I've decided to ditch The Metro's choices and go out exploring the web on my own.

I'm not quite sure how to do this and it'll hopefully evolve naturally over time.

Well here goes, first up is www.uproxx.com

Internet magazine type thing

I meant to write this ages ago but I was far too busy reading uproxx. There's just so much content here it's hard to tear yourself away, and it's good. From the best of Phil Dunphy to Ben and Jerry's, Jack Donaghy's Scotch flavoured ice cream "Power Lunch", it's all gold.

Verdict: Proper gid.

mentalfloss.com/

Another internet magazine thing

Another site that's got loads of content to keep you amused, there's the magazine section but there's also blogs, trivia, quizzes, amazing facts and a store.

Verdict: Quite gid.

Last but not least www.stumbleupon.com

If you've not heard of Stumblepon then you probably shouldn't be on the internet. If it wasn't for StumbleUpon I wouldn't know about uproxx or mentalfloss.

Verdict: A procrastinators must have.

Well that's it for this week, feel free to leave me a comment to let me know if this was any good and if I should keep doing it or if I should go and put my face under a rock and never touch a computer again.
YF

Wednesday Web Wonders

http://www.tayait.com/apps/tawla

The Metro says: "If you would like a new game on your iPhone or iPad to keep your brain ticking, try Tawla - a recreation of the authentic Arabian style backgammon game. You can play against the AI opponent or use the multiplayer feature to battle against your friends. There are two versions available on the app store, the full version and a free 'lite' one."

John says: "Seriously, The Metro? Seriously? Now you're just touting games!"

Official verdict: Looks like someone at The Metro is friends with someone at tayait.com.

http://www.qzik.me/

The Metro says: "There are many websites where people can build their own online music playlist but if you haven't done it yet or are looking for an alternative, try this new social networking site. When you first access qzik you can listen to tracks added by other users but to get the best out of the site, you need a facebook account. It offers all the services you would expect, such as the ability to build your own music/video library, share your playlists with others and discover music with your friends. If you just want to listen to music, then the site has 4 music categories to choose from, easy, romance, party and bad day."

John says: "I'm not keen on this. I don't like the interface, the choice of music isn't very good (Whigfield, seriously?) and the Facebook interaction doesn't work."

Official verdict: Disappointed.

http://www.jellycam.co.uk/

The Metro says: "Making stop motion films can be a time consuming and painstakingly tricky thing to do but JellyCam is great for mucking about. The application is basic and you can only create simple stop motion films with it but it is still useful if you would like to play around and see what you can come up with. To create stop motion movies in JellyCam you can incorporate your webcam and photos but remember it is just a bit of fun so do not expect exceptional quality. The site also has a useful video tutorial from the creator."

John says: "YAY! This one is excellent. You do have to download a piece of software but it's not very big and it's really good. The Metro have over played the simplicity of it a little unfairly I feel. The interface is great, the end result is great and you can use the webcam or saved pictures and there's an onion skinning option."

Official verdict: Very good, download it now!

Overall verdict: A poor week I feel with the exception of jellycam.

BONUS EXTRA SITE

http://www.rhettandlink.com/

Check these guys out, they're hilarious.

Wednesday Web Wonders

Three sites, reviewed by the Metro, re-reviewed by me 24 hours later.

www.alternativemovieposters.com/

The Metro says: "A great movie should be accompanied by a great movie poster. Sometimes artists are inspired to create improved versions of them and this site showcases such efforts. It has had more than 400 worldwide submissions and has published a 60 page book featuring some of the artwork. Alternative movie posters featured on the site include Walt Disney's Dumbo, Full Metal Jacket and A Clockwork Orange."

John says: "Spot on The Metro. People are into redoing movie posters and I, for one, like them."

Official verdict: Arty farty, but in a good way. Win.

www.younow.com

The Metro says: "Despite the ease with which musicians can upload their tracks, competition from thousands of others means attracting the music industry's attention is harder than ever. younow.com focuses on letting artists find an audience and receive immediate feedback. Performances can be recorded live on the site and shared within seconds with an audience, who can like or dislike it and leave comments. A competition for cash and publicity prizes is open until Friday."

John says: "I can't see how this site gets the music industry's attention better than any other. People are online, streaming videos of themselves, in one minute chunks, singing or beat boxing or rapping or whatever, if you like it you can vote for them to get another minute of air time, if you don't like it you can vote for them to be booted once their minute is up. Also, the singer have profiles, where their videos are stored and you can interact with them."

Official verdict: Chatroulette with singing.

www.cartoons.ac.uk

The Metro says: "The British Cartoon Archive has dedicated itself to the history of the art form over the past 200 years - and in September 2001 it uploaded 35,000 newly digitised and catalogued images. Many appear online for the first time, including political cartoons from the past decade. It's also interesting to see items once banned for indecency that would barely raise an eyebrow today, such as saucy postcards confiscated under obscenity laws in the 1950s."

John says: "Ooh, sounds exciting. A web site chock full of comic strips. It's not. While I'm totally for the idea of digitising and cataloguing cartoon strips, this site is just so dull, it's like an extremely dusty old library run by a joyless old spinster."

Official verdict: Awesome content, poorly presented.

Overall verdict: Not a bad week this week. At least it wasn't the usual games, music, art set up that it normally is.

Oh wait, it's art, music, art.

Wednesday Web Wonders

Three sites, reviewed by the Metro, re-reviewed by me 24 hours later.

http://groovebug.com/

The Metro says: "A music magazine that features only your favourite bands would probably be a must buy - and the groovebug app could be the perfect answer. It scans iPad users iTunes library for all your favourite artists and then compiles your very own personalised, interactive magazine incorporating music, videos, images and blogs according to your tastes. You can learn all there is to know about an artist and discover similar acts with up to date information from a number of different online sources."

John says: "What's the point of this? People don't use their iPads to hold all their music, it's too big. I can understand making the app for the iPad because the iPad is better for reading magazine apps on but why not make it for all platforms instead of for just the iPad? You've missed a trick there groovebug."

Official verdict: Eedjits!

http://www.qbi.net

The Metro says: If you like to play guessing games while watching CSI or Cold Case, good news; you can put your skills to the test by playing the online social game QBI: Qualified Bureau of Investigation. In it, you take charge of an agency and recruit your own team of investigative experts. The game takes place throughout a season, like a TV show, and players solve cases as individual episodes. During the game users build and develop the QBI, create its avatar, manage a team and assign missions. Players can invite friends to join in and open their own agencies to help them solve the investigations by sending clues. Registration is required to play and several assets can be purchased to enhance the gameplay."

John says: "Ok, so this is just one of those daft games like Farmville where you repeat pointless tasks, and to be able to play this game you need to download some 3D viewing software."

Official verdict: Don't bother.

http://iwdrm.tumblr.com

The Metro says: "Animated gifs have come a long way: they are looking more sophisticated than ever, thanks to the digital technologies and creativity that people are using to help add another dimension to static photographs. Cinematic gifs are photos that initially look ordinary, but actually have a slight added motion. This site is a gallery of living movie stills and highlights how cleverly incorporating various small movements can bring them to life. Films featured include Alien, Girl WIth a Pearl Earring and Audition."

John says: "This a tumblr blog featuring animated gifs, good animated gifs but animated gifs none the less."

Official verdict: *sigh*

Overall verdict: A bad week, worst one for a while maybe.

Wednesday Web Wonders

Three sites reviewed by The Metro, re-reviewed by me 24 hours later :)

As a friend pointed out, these sites usually involve games, music or art. And this week's no exception :)
Well spotted G.

http://www.y8.com/

The Metro says: "Bored of your old flash games? Check out this site - it's home to thousands of free games, which are arranged into categories including one-player, two-player, platform, music, beat 'em up and cooking. And the range on offer is updated regularly. Although there are a few adverts on some games, thankfully they're not full of those annoying pop ups every time you attempt to play something. Look out for the likes of angry birds, super Mario, street sesh and Ultimate flash sonic."


John says: "This is one of those sites with loads of Flash versions of popular games. This site features a lot of games I've not seen on these types of site before."


Official verdict: "Good stuff, a proper time killer."

http://jamcloud.com/

The Metro says: "Everyone can be a DJ these days. Jamcloud, a free application that enables you to listen to music with friends in real time, certainly plays on this. You can search for videos, playlists and other people to follow but more importantly, it's possible to create listening rooms for others to join and rate. The application can also easily source videos or music from YouTube. SoundCloud can even import music from friends walls to add to your live streams."


John says: "This could be awesome but it's a bit too confusing (it's probably really simple but I'm really old). You need to download a thing to make it work too."


Official verdict: "Probably brilliant, I can't tell."

http://www.leroybrothers.com/en

The Metro says: "The Leroy brothers are three artists and they have developed a site where creative types can submit messages and pictures, with others voting for their favourites. Every hundred hours, the Leroy's take the most popular entries and mash them up to create their own artworks, which may eventually form part of a museum exhibition."


John says: "Looks to me like they just overlap two pictures and put some writing at the top and bottom. I could do that."


Official verdict: "Pish"


Overall verdict: "Bit Meh"

Wednesday Web Wonders Extra Time

5 second films features 5 second films. Lot's of them are rubbish, some are great, here's a highlight Egg Drop'd

Wednesday Web Wonders

Three sites reviewed by The Metro, re-reviewed by me 24 hours later :)

http://www.friv.com/

The Metro says: "Online games are ideal when you need a break from work. This site with it's quick and simple layout, offers a variety of different genres and the quality is decent. No need to become a member first; just start playing."

John says: "This is plain and simple a whole load of games in one place. They're pretty good, a personal highlight: Sushi Cat."

Official verdict: "What's not to like, thumbs up."

http://console.fm/

The Metro says: "console.fm is a new music streaming service mainly specialising in electronic music. There are 22 different styles available across such channels as chillout, electro house, indie house, and nu disco. The music comes from established and independent artists including Deadmau5, who have uploaded their tracks via SoundCloud. Twitter users can interact through the chat facility while still listening to their favourite genre."

John says: "This seems good at first, lots of free music. However the genres on the left are a bit misleading, it seems that if it's not dance music then it's 20 years out of date and the quality's not great."

Official verdict: "Disappointing."

http://www.mplayr.com/

The Metro says: "Listen to the latest songs from Britain, the US and iTunes music charts on this site. Users can stream the latest hits for free and can create a playlist using songs from the music archive. You have to sign in via your Facebook account to get unrestricted access to the site but you can still listen to songs if you don't have an account."

John says: "This is another free music player but unlike console the quality is much better."

Official verdict: "Proper bo I tell thee"

http://www.colourdna.com/

The Metro says: "When you discover something you love you want to tell as many people as possible. This site can help you do that. Whatever your passion may be, you can share it with people from around the world. The site uses colour to help you find things that will interest you. Once you sign up, you enter your favourite colour and the site gets an insight of you based on that and the associations of other people who have chosen that colour."

John says: "The site is still undergoing beta testing so I've no idea if it's any good or not."

Official verdict: "Timewasting bawbags"

Overall verdict: No bad, no bad.

Wednesday Web Wonders

Three sites reviewed by The Metro, re-reviewed by me 24 hours later :)

http://www.youtube.com/streetsummer

The Metro says: "Wannabe rappers should check out the rap beatbox choir. Part of channel 4's street summer season looking at the contemporary urban arts scene, the choir is made up of different people rapping, human beatboxing and singing on an original track called We are the People. The choir needs more people, so if you have any of the required skills you can join in and add your part to the song. The final video will be broadcast on channel 4."

John says: "This is pretty awesome, a load of videos play at once like instruments in an orchestra, you can mute individual videos or mute all but one video. Impressive"

Official verdict: Excellent

http://www1.lost-in-val-sinestra.com/

The Metro says: "How would you like to be in a film with your best friends? This interactive site allows users to add photos and tag themselves and up to nine friends, who then appear in a short scary movie trailer. The site is accessed through Facebook and once users have added their characters to the movie, they can choose the thrill factor, which controls the intensity of the acting. The results are spooky."

John says: "This is totally brilliant! Seriously."

Official verdict: Brilliant!

http://mydoodlesongs.com

The Metro says: "Google recently had a doodle banner on its home page of a musical instrument, celebrating legendary guitarist and singer Les Paul's 96th birthday. The doodle encouraged users to figure out how to play popular songs using the ten guitar notes available. This new site has a gallery where users can share songs they have worked out. The gallery displays the letters or numbers users can press on their keyboard to recreate these melodies. Songs featured include Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark, Kraftwerk's The Model and S&M by Rihanna."

John says: "Good for a giggle."

Official verdict: Pretty good.

Overall verdict: A flipping right good week!

Flippin' Metro!

Just as I decide to go from "Triple T" to "W Three" The Metro stops doing their web site reviews :(

Hopefully it's just while the fringe is on in Edinburgh, which is taking up a lot of space in the paper, and it'll return later, then I can get my shiny new logo out.