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.

Looking for a blog about your favourite subject? Then hop over to the Findory site and enter your query using the subject matter as your search criteria. This search engine is a little different because it not only finds blogs about your chosen subject but it also finds and brings back news stories about the same subject. Now that's a great way to keep track of who is saying what about something you're interested in. Have a look and bookmark this one for future use.

If you're using one of the Microsoft operating systems you might like to personalise your home screen by adding a different background. The folk at the WinMatrix.com site have different ones you can download and also are involved as a Windows Desktop Customization Community. It's a busy site with popup ads which is annoying but that helps pay for the site itself. Have a look. There are even ones for Vista there and a good site to get help when you need it..

There are quite a few DIY or Do It Yourself sites online. They all contain many ideas to try and make the maintenance of your home easier. Thus, the site called Robbie's Handy Household Tips and Tricks is well worth a browse. You'll find some useful information here.

Everyone needs a break occasionally and if you happen to be a fan of the English language you'll love the game at Dictionary.com called Phrase Invaders. It's built on the old Space Invaders idea but you fill in the missing letters to make the phrase complete by shooting down the letters before they get to you. An interesting way to learn to say the least.

As you know I love good food. The site named Cooks Recipes - The popular and favourite recipe site and cooking site with recipes for every cook is just that. Have a look. It might inspire you in the kitchen.

When your computer crashes you might need the Emergency Boot CD Homepage disk to help you at least get into safety mode. This site shows you how to make a boot disk yourself. Very useful knowledge for every computer operator to have handy.

Tired of the traditional news media and its coverage of current events? If so then you might like to browse around the Newsvine - Get Smarter Here site and see what the rest of the world is talking about. It is certainly not traditional in its reporting of news events. Indeed it says it is "Updated continuously by citizens like you, Newsvine is an instant reflection of what the world is talking about at any given moment." Now that sounds impressive. Have a look and see what you think.

If you've ever had a hard drive crash on your computer you know the sickening feeling that you might have just lost all your precious files and documents in the process. Thus, it is in your best interest to do regular backups of your important files (not programs, just files you created yourself) either on CD/DVD or another drive. Though I have personally solved this problem by adding an external 40GB hard drive to my computer and doing regular backups to it, I thought that you might like to see the omnidrive Free Online Storage, Sharing and Publishing Platform for Desktop and Web site as it offers to do much the same online for you. This not only means that your documents are stored physically somewhere else, but also that you can access them from any computer on the planet that you have access to with a web connection. As their own description says, "With Omnidrive you can access, edit and share your files from anywhere with just a web browser!" Now that has to be a good deal. Have a look.

You've no doubt heard the term podcast and may have even watched a few on your MP3 player. The podcast.com site is a site that shows you many podcasts that you can download and either watch on your computer or put onto your portable MP3 player to watch on your way to work on the bus. Nice site and a good way to find good quality podcasts to your liking.

Another nice way to travel to work is to not just listen to music, but also to listen to a book you've simply never gotten around to reading. The Simply Audiobooks - Free_Book_Download site indeed has some great books in audio form you can download and listen to. There are over 4,000 different audio books available on this site, and personally I've just downloaded "The Art Of War by Sun Tzu" as I've heard of this book for years and years but have never had the opportunity to read it myself. Have a look. From "The Devil Wore Prada" to "Quotations of Mahatma Gandhi" they are all here. Enjoy.

Interested in what's news as far as the folk at Yahoo are concerned? Then hop over to the Yahoo! Buzz Index - Buzz Log site and have a read. It looks like there are a lot of different subjects being talked about all over the net.

While browsing recently I came across a site with one of the strangest names I think I've seen online. It's the geography geographic facts information strange find useless information photographs site, and if you are looking for something to kill the time, this is a great place to start. For instance, it says that China has more English speakers than the USA. Now why doesn't that surprise me? Go figure *chuckles*.

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. ;-)