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.

With two grandsons (aged 6 and 2) my family, like many others, is interested in reading skills. Though the six year old (Kaitoa) has a reading level of 17 on the Australian scale, we hope to improve that as well, and to ensure that his brother Che follows suit. I found a site which seems to point out some reasonable and helpful methods to help all children with this task, and it's called Top 10 Ways to Improve Reading Skills - FamilyEducation.com. If you have a young person living in your home you might want to take a look as well as it really does give some sound advice. Happy reading.

You no doubt know about the site called YouTube which hosts videos put up by folk like you and I, but there are also an amazing number of other video hosting sites online that you maybe should be aware of. Over the next few weeks I'll highlight a few of them, and as this week's choice I direct you the blip.tv (beta) site. And yes, it may still be in beta testing but I suggest this looks like a good alternative to the more popular YouTube. So, if you have a video you're simply itching to show everyone, you might want to have a look at this site.

Likewise there are numerous sites that will host your photos. One of the ones that seems to be getting a good reputation is the Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket site which will not only host your photos so that others can see them but will also host video as well. Sounds like a pretty comprehensive site. Have a look.

The younger folk in your household will no doubt be using the net to do homework and to look up things that you would have spent hours in the local library researching. Thus, they need a child friendly search facility to do that research in, and the Kids.net.au - Search engine for kids, children, educators and teachers is designed to be child safe as well. So, if you have young folk in your home, or who come to use your computer to do their research on, you might want to bookmark or favourite this site for their use. Enjoy.

Ever been in that situation online, even in a chat facility, when someone uses a term you are totally unfamiliar with? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to quickly look up the term and find out what it's about? I suggest making a favourite of the Wordsmyth site will prove its worth in no time. Think of it as an online dictionary and enjoy using it.

One of the things I occasionally have problems with is sending rather large files to friends and colleagues online. If you simply attach them to email messages they can take forever to leave your computer and seemingly ages for your colleague to download them. Thus, sites like the DivShare - Professional Media and Document Sharing - Free Online Storage site will allow you to upload large files to their online storage facility, share those files with others, and/or simply keep files you may want to keep away from your system (like backup files perhaps?). Have a look. I'm confident you'll find a good use for a site like that. I have.

If you ever have a question about a particular movie you once saw, one way to find out all the information you will ever need to know is to visit and look up your movie in The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). This wonderful free facility has been around for many years now, and it simply keeps growing every time I see it. This is definitely worth a bookmark.

Need a short break? Want to just relax for a few moments? Then hop over to the Games - Play Free Games and Free Online Games site and see all the older well known games available for you to play for free. There are also a lot of new good games to play so do have a look. Enjoy.

Have you ever been in conversation somewhere (private messaging software or IRC or an online chat room) and wished you had the ability to translate something into another language? Possibly someone has greeted everyone with a foreign greeting and you would like to know how to respond in kind? Then the Google Translate site is something you need to keep handy. It's another great service by the folk at Google so do have a look and bookmark this one for future use.

How superstitious are you? Most folk would say that they aren't at all superstitious, but when questioned more deeply, most will admit to having some superstition embedded in their subconscious somewhere. Thus the OldSuperstitions.com - Superstitions Database site can be an interesting read. It's amazing what we believe isn't it? Enjoy.

"Sunshine for the next few days then some rain to follow" may well be acceptable for your local weather forecast, but did you know that the solar system also has weather patterns? They may not necessarily resemble our earthly ones, but they are there none the less. And, the SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, etc. site will keep you informed about what is happening in our sector of the galaxy. Interesting knowledge to have handy when you look up... especially at night. Have a look.

There are a few joke sites online that are good but there are also some that, well, let's say you have to be wary of. For the most part you can be reasonably ok viewing the things on the Funny pictures, jokes - Sips From The Dribbleglass.com - Trivia, funny billboards, cards, fallacies site. Don't you love the URL? Dribbleglass.com obviously was thought of by someone from my generation don't you think? Enjoy.

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. ;-)