Hello and welcome to Mac's Picks of the Week. If you are interested in why this site exists, how it operates, and a little about Mac, then click on the Why and How Info link and see what is there. When you have finished please return to this Home page and see what sites I have chosen this week to receive a Mac's Picks of the Week award. Thank you for visiting and please share this site with friends, family, and colleagues who you feel will enjoy it.

This page is updated on a weekly basis, each Monday Australian (Queensland) time (GMT + 10 hours according to the world clock). Please come back and visit often.

Let's start off the new year in a good mood. Indeed, why not have some song to brighten up your day. If you hop over to the Sincere Slugs - Google Video site and turn up your speakers I think you'll be suitably impressed. Happy New Year.

If you are a frequent visitor you will know that not only do individuals blog on the net, but some companies do as well, and rightly so. For example, have a look at the Direct2Dell site and read what their blog says. It's an interesting way to get out their version of events, you must admit. Have you started our blog yet? If you have, why don't I know about it???

How many New Year's resolutions did you make? I made the same one I make every year - not to make any. However, some folk do make good resolutions that they, and maybe we, should follow up. The Search Resolutions for the New Year site is a collection of resolutions about how to do searches in the coming year to get you better results and to help you actually find what you're looking for. Doesn't that make sense? Hop over and have a look.

It is pleasing to see more and more people taking a responsible attitude toward pets and animals in general. I take it that, in part, is due to education and learning about the necessity of protecting the animals in our midst. If you have some younger family members you might like to take them with you to the Animal Planet Game Central site and try out a couple of the animal related games to be found there. Some are really good and I'm sure you and your young folk will enjoy them as well.

Do you have your own online cookbook to refer to when making something new and delicious or to get ideas from? You don't? Then hop over to the Cook Book free recipes food recipes drink recipes site and maybe bookmark this one for future use. It seems to have some yummy sounding things to tempt the palate.

Is your online connection really secure? Are you protected from some of the online 'nasties' that exist out there? Did you know that Microsoft will give you (yes you heard that right) some software to help defend your system? If you don't already have it running on your system hop over to the Windows Defender home site, download and install their free spyware defender, and maybe sleep just a little bit easier. Thanks Microsoft.

An interesting piece of software for those of us not yet in the Vista camp but running Windows 2k or 98 is the PowerDesk software from VCOM. If you hop over to the VCOM - Reviews PowerDesk site you can read about it and decide if this piece of freeware is worth downloading for your system or not. It may be.

If you don't yet own your own domain name, and wish to, you might want to have a look at the PCNames Domain Search facility. Simply put in the name you wish to have and see if it already exists or not. If it does someone else owns it. If not - contact your ISP and tell them to register it for you.

There are many budding authors out there and I am pleased to see new names publishing good reading material each month in the booksellers. However, even good writers occasionally run into what is known as "writers block" when an idea for a story simply will not come to light. Thus, the creative writing prompts . com site is full of ideas to set you off on your storyline. Just click one of the numbers and you will see an idea. One of them (or maybe a multitude combined) will possibly help you on your way.

I live on the Gold Coast of Australia where we have the world famous Surfers Paradise. If you ever wonder what our surf looks like, hop over to the Coastalwatch surfcams surf reports swell forecasts news site, click on your preferred media under the SurfCam banner on the left and set back and watch the waves roll in and the sunbathers enjoy themselves. . Just remember, this cam runs in 5 minute sequences to ensure that everyone gets to see the surf in real time. If it's black, it's night time here.

Back when we all were wondering when Windows 98 was going to be released, the launch finally was about to take place during the massive COMDEX computer show in Las Vegas Nevada. To do the presentation to the media and announce the launch of the product, none other than Mr Gates himself was on the podium during the run up. Did all go as smoothly as planned? Umm, hop over to the video called Bill Gates shows why Windows 98 didn't exactly ship on time at the Comdex exhibition that year and watch the video. I'm sure you'll not only get an answer but will also have a chuckle at Microsoft's expense at the same time. Enjoy.

Many folk have a set number of things that they wish to achieve in their lifetime. Someone has said that there are, on average, 43 things that each individual would like to achieve. Thus, the site called 43 Things should really come as no surprise and indeed, may jog your own memory of a desire long since forgotten. Have a look. You might rethink your own direction in life.

Rebecca Game of "Digital Women - Women with their modems running...", is my web designer and a graphic designer who is superb to say the least. 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. ;-)