TMR - The Motor Report

If you're into cars and the automotive industry, TMR (The Motor Report) is an Australian based website with plenty of car reviews, road tests and industry news.  Most of the entries also feature some great car photography too (or you can check out the "Gallery").

Check it out... www.themotorreport.com.au

There are some really nice shots in the TMR Gallery, this is the Pontiac G8 (Aussie Commodore) based Police Car protype.

Naughty or Nice?

Have you been good this year? Are you on Santa's "Naughty" or "Nice" list?

Air Services Australia, on top of checking Santa's flight plan and clearing air-space on Christmas Eve, have managed to gain access to some of Santa's technologies, including tapping into the Naughty and Nice lists.

Every day or so, the special web page releases some new insights into Santa's visit to Australia for Christmas 2009.  Scroll down to the 18th to check which list you're on.

Check it out... http://mirror.airservicesaustralia.com/santa09

www.airservicesaustralia.com

Santa Tracker

Well the big fella in the red suit is coming this Friday.  Kids the world over should be in bed early Thursday night to make sure they're sound asleep when Santa arrives.

In Australia it can be hard to get the kids off to bed too early, as it's Summer with daylight savings and it doesn't get dark until around 9PM.  So how do you make sure the kids aren't going to disturb Santa if they're not in bed early enough?

The answer is to keep an eye on the NORAD Santa Tracker.  As Santa starts his journey around the world at the International Dateline and heads east, when my kids see Santa has left New Zealand they know it's time for bed.

On Christmas Eve, you can track Santa, in the mean time the site has a count down clock to Santa departing the North Pole.

Check it out... www.noradsanta.org

Here's a YouTube video from the 2008 Santa Tracker.

Merry Christmas!

TechAU

One of my favourite technology blogs is TechAU.  As the name suggests, the blog is Australian based and it's author, Jason Cartwright, presents tech news, product reveiws and industry comment, from both an international and Australian perspective.

Jason also presents an occasional podcast, whilst not as slick as some US based tech podcasts, it's available in High Definition, and is an interesting review of topics he's covered in the blog.

Check it out... www.techau.tv

Yogo Alley - Games

School holidays are upon us once again, and keeping the kids entertained can sometimes be a challenge.

One option, especially if the weather's not the best, or maybe as a reward, are computer games.  With the console games getting more and more complicated the younger kids can struggle a bit, so we turn to basic PC games for the younger set, and leave the Playstation to those a bit older. 

My favourite online kids game site is Yogo Alley.  The site is part of the marketing for Yogo flavoured yogurt in Australia, but it is not overpowering and does not require you to purchase or register (although you can sign up to unlock extra games, we have plenty of fun with the standard games). 

The site has your character located in a street scape, where each game is represented by a store front.  You simply walk through the front door of the game you would like to play.

For heaps of fun for little kids, and some grown ups too,
check it out...  http://www.yogoalley.com.au/

Pro Blogger

Do have your own blog, maybe two or three for different subjects, and would like to take the next step to a professional, income earning, online publication?

Well for starters, don't use me and my blogs as an example (yet), as despite the adds from Google you see here, I don't get enough clicks to see any revenue.

On the other hand; check out Pro-Blogger for lots of helpful hints to take your blog to the next level.

Check it out... www.problogger.net

Attack on YouTube

There are a lot of crappy videos on YouTube, but every so often you come across something amazing. For something that had nothing to do with any Hollywood blockbuster, you can't help but be impressed by the special effects in this short film.

Check it out...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dadPWhEhVk
http://www.aparato.tv/

City Sounds

These days, popular music can be very different depending on where in the world it originates.

For streaming music from major international cities, check out CitySounds.fm

http://citysounds.fm/

WinDirStat - Hard Drive Tool

Do you have hundreds, or even thousands, of photos stored on your computer?  What about iTunes or MP3 files?  Home videos?  Movies?  Podcasts?

Given a 5 star rating from web site cnet.com today's WebLinks post is a link to a free download of the HDD examination tool "WinDirStat".

It's so easy to fill your computer hard-drive these days, that WinDirStat can come in very useful.  Downloading and installing WinDirStat only takes a few minutes, followed by a scan of your HardDisc Drive(s), will produce a graphic picture of you Hard Disc Drives' contents.

Check out these links for more;

http://windirstat.info/

http://download.cnet.com/WinDirStat/3000-2248_4-10614593.html

http://blog.windirstat.info/

Video Games - 80's style

If you grew up in the 1980's, and loved those early video games, you can take a trip down memory lane at www.atari.com and actually play some of those old games like "Asteroids" in your browser.

Check it out... www.atari.com/arcade