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.

You may or may not know that Microsoft is working on a search facility in competition with sites like Google and Yahoo. To find out what's happening with the team that is working on this project have a look at Live Search's Weblog and keep up with the play. The bill this blog as "The official blog for the Live Search team at Microsoft". Can't get closer to the action than that can you? Yet another blog that can keep you informed. Enjoy.

Tired of the same old icons to represent programs or utilities on your desktop? Then you need to have a look at Pixelgirl Presents Free Icons, Desktops and Gallery Shop! She makes cute and interesting icons and gives many of them away for your personal use. That has to be a good thing. Have a look and really personalise your desktop. She would be happy for you to purchase some as well, which, in this case, is a good thing.

There are many sites that deal in tips on how to make things work better around the home, but few are as broad in scale as the Household Hints and Tips Cleaning and your Health and Beauty site. Confusing name but the info is good as the hints actually seem worthwhile. Have a look. You might find something here that is very useful to you in your own home environment.

I've never dabbled in the stock market - never had that kind of money to speculate with. But many do and indeed need stock information on a regular basis. If playing with stocks interest you, you might like to have a look at the Australian Securities Exchange - Stock Market Information, Stock Quotes - ASX site. It's Australian, so may not suit all people, but it might be worth adding to your interest portfolio. Enjoy.

As you know, many folk download music to play on their computer or MP3 player of some kind. Not all those who download are rock or rap fans however. Indeed, the Classic Cat - About Web Search Best Free Download site, from the folk at About.com, is a site that allows you to download free classical music. If the sounds of classical music bring you joy, then this site is well worth a look. Nice music.

Ever thought of making a patio or barbecue area in your back yard from stone rather than wood? Here in Australia Stone based patios are the norm. However, once you make the decision to do it, trying to do it yourself isn't as easy as you may think. Likewise, to be fair, it's not all that difficult either if you know how. To get a real picture of how to do this at your place, have a look at the Do-It-Yourself Paving Stones - Frequently Asked Questions site. This commercial site shows you the steps to take to make the job look professional. Nice idea, and if you were looking for that next project around your place, maybe you just found it.

Teenagers love to congregate and talk. It's part of growing up, and though we may not like to admit it, it was part of us as well at that age, whether we had the opportunity to do it or not. However finding somewhere safe for your young folk to do that online isn't an easy task. But all is not lost, as the AU Habbo site is an Australian teen online community that appears to not only be safe but also full of fun. You sign up, take on an avatar (representation of you), and join in the conversations. You can now even use two virtual turntables and mix your own songs for background. Now that's innovative. Why not take your teen with you to the site, check it out, and let them have a try at online communication? It may prove to be good socially for them and also less expensive than those mobile phone bills. Have a look.

How about something a little different for your recipe this week? How much do you know about Russian cooking or Russian food for that matter? It may not suit everyone but there are some very interesting looking recipes to be found on the recipesource - Russian Recipes site. RecipeSource, the sponsoring website, has a lot of recipes of use listed by source and by type. I'd bookmark this one and have a browse. You never know. You might find enough to change your entire family menu here. And most of it isn't difficult to do.

Like many places around the globe, the largest telephone company in Australia also offers internet access in various forms, in particular in the Broadband categories. Their site, called BigPond Broadband also has a lot of content and features you can download to use. And, the kicker is, much of it doesn't add up on your monthly download allotment. Have a look. You might find this site to be especially useful.

A lovely little piece of software, free by the way, I recently downloaded and use, is called The Sage's English Dictionary and Thesaurus at DirFile - Education Language and can be downloaded to your computer from the same site. Why do you need it? If you are using a spreadsheet or writing offline notes to yourself in notepad or some other such text editor, it most likely doesn't have a spell checker built in. Most don't have a thesaurus in them either. Indeed, the HTML editor I use to write this site weekly doesn't have that facility. However, this application solves those problems. Have a look. It could be just the software you need. Oh, and did I mention it's also free to use? *smile*.

You've probably heard of Google Earth and may have seen it in various places. It's a wonderful piece of software, but it's not the only one that lets you see this planet up close from space. If you have a look at the Flash Earth site you'll find that it's composed of satellite and aerial imagery of the Earth in Flash, complete with street names depending on which source you use. It calls on Google Earth, Yahoo, and other applications to let you see this planet in all its glory. Very nice site and well worth a bookmark for future browsing. What better way to learn geography if you happen to be a student? Enjoy. Note: If this is what is released for you and I to look at and see, just think of what governments and military forces use that you and I don't have access to. Look up. You're on Candid Satellite.

Are you a cat lover? Do you own a pet kitten or cat? If so you're going to love the I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER site. It shows you some very strange cats or rather, photos of cats with strange and humorous captions. Have a look and a chuckle.

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. ;-)