Mac's Picks is a collection of family friendly interesting and useful sites, updated weekly. These sites may be search engines, medical resources, household hints, educational resources, recipe sites, sites I call "head scratchers", and/or new sites dealing with all kinds of things of use to the general internet community. To find the criteria I use, simply click on the "Why and How Info" link on the right side of this page.

This page is updated on a weekly basis, each Tuesday evening Australian (Queensland) time (GMT + 9 hours according to the world clock). Please come back and visit us often.

Important Note: If you are returning to my page, welcome back! Please click your "Refresh" or "Reload" button on the top of your Internet browser to ensure you are seeing the current week's page of my "Picks of the Week". Also, I would love for you to make my site your home page. Simply click on Tools - Options in Explorer, or Edit - Preferences in Netscape, and click Use Current and it's done.

This week marks the start of changes to my site. You actually shouldn't notice a thing, but behind the scenes I have changed web hosts, and believe it or not, my site now resides in the USA rather than Australia. The reason for the changes? Hop over to Mac's Musings and click on the latest addition titled Changes and read why such a drastic move was made. Enjoy your week and thank you for your visit and for reading my little site.

You may have seen sites that have information you need, and when you try to download it you find it is a file in .pdf format. PDF files are smaller, keep the formatting of a document, and are read only files so they can't be changed. However you can open them, select the part you want, copy and paste that into a word doc file and then manipulate it any way you wish. Anyway, for you to make a .pdf file has previously been impossible unless you have a full version of Adobe on your computer. I said, "previously been impossible" because if you hop over to the CutePDF - Create PDF for free, Save PDF Forms, Edit PDF easily; FormMax - E-Form Designer. site, and download and install the freeware application called CutePDF, you can convert any document to a .pdf format by simply printing that document to the .pdf printer in your new printer options *smile*. Clever stuff and it is free as well.

This past week saw the demise of a program on TechTV that is a legend, known as Call For Help, and run by a computer guru by the name of Leo Laporte. Leo has been around computers about as long as I have, and knows more about them than I'll ever know. If you are a fan of his, all is not lost however. If you hop over to The Laporte Report site, you can join his website, participate in discussions, forums, etc, and even keep track of things via his newsletter in your email box. Leo is one of the legends of the net, and a heck of a nice guy to boot. Hop over, join, and keep informed of all the new things you should know about in the world of computing and the world of the net as well.

Being out here in Australia, one of the favorite ways to cook is to "Fire up the Barbie". Aussies normally think they have the whole BBQ thing worked out, but recently I came across the Schuler BBQ recipes site from the Detroit Free Press, and I have to say, I'm impressed. Sure I know how to do chicken, sausages, hamburgers, and on a Sunday morning, bacon and eggs on the BBQ but this site has some tasty sounding things I will have to try. Guess those "Motor City" know more than how to put cars together huh? *chuckles*

I'm always interested to find sites that help folk to build their own website, or run it more efficiently. The SitePoint Empowering Web Developers Since 1997 site seems to do that in spades. It comes complete with articles, blogs, forums and all kinds of help to manage or create your website. Some may be more than you need if it is simply a personal website, but it's good to know where the info is available for future use, should you need it. This is certainly worth a read and a bookmark for anyone who has a site or even contemplates having one.

If you're a fan of the old cartoon characters (as my dear friend and Brother Paul is) then you are going to love Welcome to CartoonNetwork.com!. In fact I happen to know he wears tee shirts with some of his favorite characters on them. Have a look and a chuckle, and enjoy.

I recently heard a discussion about music programs, those programs that play your cds or makes play lists of the music you have, and one came up that I had never heard of before, called jetAudio (yes, it is spelled like that). I downloaded it (and found it to be freeware) and also found that it not only plays my cd's but will rip and burn cd's as well, plus it has attached a program that allows you to be an online DJ if you wish. Now I'm not about to do that, but I do recommend that you hop over to the Reviews and free downloads at Download.com - jetAudio Basic site and download and install it. It's a great program, and does all it says it will. Enjoy.

I recently wanted to convert some things from the American measurements (and yes, the USA is now, I believe, the ONLY country on the planet that still uses pounds and ounces instead of a metric system) to a metric system of expression. I found the Online Conversion site to be easy to use and invaluable when I needed something like this. I've bookmarked it for future use and suggest you do the same *smile*.

I'm getting older. There, I've said it and I'm glad. Note though: that's older, not dead yet. *chuckles*. However there are times when I would like information geared to my particular age group rather than to an age group I left in the last century *smiles*. The Holidays, Health, Lifestyle, Home & Garden, Over 50s & Seniors Information, Resources, Links or Silver Surfers site was passed on to me by my wife, partner, editor, proofreader, and all time best friend. I think she found a good one, and suggest you have a look at it too. Thank you Barb.

You know the old saying "A picture is worth a thousand words"? The A Picture's Worth site is one that brings that to life in its pictorial essays. They are indeed essays on photographs of personal significance and well worth a look.

If you are running any version of the ©Windows operating system then you need to keep updated with the latest things that can help it run even better. Though not included in the normal ©Windows update, the newest video enhancer from MS, Download details DirectX 9.0b End-User Runtime, should be. However if you hop over to that link, it will download it to your computer and set it up for you. Why not have the best on your system? And, it's free of course.

I mentioned age above in this week's page. Well, if you like listening to good old Rock and Roll, you're going to love the Golden Oldies 50's & 60's Juke Box site. Crank up those speakers, get out your tee shirt, jeans, and dark glasses, and rock on.

The net is filled with wonderful places to see and useful information for everyone to have. However, it is also populated by some pretty strange sites as well. If you have a mind to, hop over to the Weird Links of the Insane Internet site and have a look. WARNING: Some of these may not be suitable for the younger members of your family to see, but, you choose what happens in your home, so have a look and you make the decisions. It does point to some pretty strange sites out there, and some of them are a great chuckle. Surf On.

Rebecca Game of "Digital Women - Women with their modems running...", is a graphic designer who is superb to say the least. Rebecca designed this "new look" web site specifically for me, and I can't praise her work enough. Her site, dedicated to women on the net, is worth seeing and bookmarking for future reference. If you are looking for links of interest to women, please visit her site. And if you need the best graphic designer on the planet, I seriously can't recommend her more highly. Oh yes, and when you visit her site, tell her Mac sent you. Thank you Rebecca. I am eternally grateful for your assistance and expertise. ;-)