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Sites recommended by Webster in The Oldie
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December 2012
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An easy way to sell used books and Video Games to traders via amazon – you are paid in Amazon gift vouchers. Not much cash, but it is an immediate sale; just like going to a second hand book store. Clear some space on your shelves.
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George Orwell's domestic and political diary entries, republished each day, 70 years to the day after they were written. Made to look like a daily Blog, a style which makes them feel vital; worth dipping into regularly.
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November 2012
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Find information on Companies and their Directors; normally Companies House charge for much of what you can find here free. A good example of re-packing information available elsewhere.
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This site claims to be the biggest source of free documentaries to watch online and I certainly found plenty of interest. Alastair Cooke’s “America” is here, for example.
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October 2012
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The British Council Art Collection. A little known but very big publicly funded collection of work by British artists; since 1930 they have been buying works by artists early in their careers and so have an extraordinary collection of 20th Century work.
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TuneIn is a free service that lets you listen to radio stations from all over the world. It’s quite easy to use, and as well as live radio there also seem to be lots of recordings, too. It’s certainly worth browsing; you can find some real gems.
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September 2012
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Find a new book to read. You set a variety of filters, and see what it comes up with; then click straight through to connect to your local library to reserve it, or to amazon to buy it. They tend to recommend less well known authors.
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Who’s Who and Who was Who. Fully searchable information about the great and the good, and others. It is very expensive (£125 pa), but free if your library subscribes (most do) – just put your library card number in the login box..
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August 2012
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The Olympics are about to engulf us, and these are the two main publically funded sites to watch. Neither is very impressive at the time of writing. The Official one is a mine of statistics, once you find your way around, but the BBC is a muddle.
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The BBC site
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A brilliant use of moving graphics to show the development of the internet over the last 20 years or so; a must for all internet geeks, like me. You can follow the growth of digital life and culture, how global Internet traffic has grown and more.
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Summer 2012
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A nice, free, site to help you create a personal online journal; they email you every day, and if you reply to the email, your reply is nicely laid out in a private online journal which can only be seen only by you. You can add a picture to an entry..
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The City Planter was set up to help and inspire and inform urban gardeners, with practical information and news. It’s edited by Rhiannon James, a writer who was inspired to start it after working on her own roof terrace. Lots to read and things to do.
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July 2012
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Almost 500 films to watch for free, and legally, online – some modern, many quite elderly but lots of classics, including some silent films and documentaries. The site has other fee media, too, including Audio Books. It could be easier to search.
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British Pathé produced their famous newsreels from 1910 to 1970, and this is a huge archive of 90,000 fascinating clips – I’ve mentioned it before but it’s better organised now and easier to search. You can look for a name, place event or similar.
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June 2012
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Freedom of information. This website helps you send Freedom of Information requests to lots of organisations, such as Councils and Government Departments, and read the request others have submitted. It’s run by a charity, UK Citizens online Democracy
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Check your MOT. This allows you to check when your car’s next MOT is due, and also check it’s MOT history. There are also links to help you renew your driving licence if you are over 70.
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May 2012
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The British Egg information service – a good site for Easter. Go to the “Think outside the Box” section for some good egg recipes, but there’s a lot more good stuff. If you like eggs, that is.
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A collection of historical maps from around the world; run by Portsmouth University it will be a central repository to a collection of maps held by institutions across the globe. It’s starting with 60,000 maps and is growing fast.
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April 2012
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If you want to find out some of what is stored on line about you, use iseek.com; it’s especially good at arranging what it finds into categories like people, place, organisations and more. Put your name in and you may be astonished.
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Last year an Austrian law student asked Facebook to send him all the data they stored about him. It took a while and then Facebook sent him a CD with 1,222 files on it. Chilling.
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March 2012
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This site is associated with an exhibition at the Science Museum which celebrates “the genius of everyday things”. Select an object (like a clothes hanger) and you’ll see information about the inventor and more. A bit slow to load, but worth the wait.
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This is a site for sharing local history and photos. It’s a not-for-profit company and is aiming to fill itself with memories and historic photos contributed by the users. It has great potential and I’d encourage you to look, and perhaps contribute.
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February 2012
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Klip.me is run from China and is a button to add to your browser that allows you to send anything you find on a website to your Kindle to read later. It’s a bit technical to set up, but is free and works brilliantly.
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Picnik is a well tried and stable online picture editing site; you can edit and improve your photos, or any other pictures, very easily. UPDATE: since mentioning this site, it has announced it will close in April 2012. The Curse of Webster strikes.
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January 2012
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A site run and owned by Doctors, and recommended to me by a Doctor I know. The aim of the website is to provide non-medical people in the UK with good quality information about health and disease.
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This provides information on health issues, and lets you listen to over 2,000 people's experiences of over 60 conditions and illnesses. You can watch video or listen to audio clips of the interviews. Run by a Charity DIPEx.
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