K D.

The Poetry Archive http://www.poetryarchive.org is a superb online resource for anyone who loves poetry. Run by serious poets (Andrew Motion, Seamus Heaney et al) it has set out to provide a library of historic and current voice recordings of poets reading their own works. It is a work in progress and there are gaps – not all great poets submitted to being recorded and it is obviously limited by the era of recording technology. There are many sites on the net where you can track actual poems. This is the best I've found where you can listen to a poem being recited by the poet. The site is biased to British poets, but it is steadily building up its archive of American poets as well. You can browse by poet, title, theme, form etc. The site has good sections to support teachers and students. There is a dedicated poetry archive for children. Great!

For all current and ex-cubicle workers and office drones Dilbert (www.Dilbert.com) is a breath of well aimed insanity that pokes a sharp point into the inanities of modern business and management practices. For those of us struggling to work from home it's a great reminder of why it might not be such a good thing to go back into the daily grind of office politics. I swear I used to work with some of the characters. One of the few cartoons that often manages to raise a smile... You can also sign up to get a daily cartoon emailed to you.

One to keep on your bookmark list – when I get an urgent appeal to forward this email virus warning to all my friends / heartbreaking charity appeal / miraculous occurrence / evidence of mass government conspiracy / piece of news that is unusual / scandalous / embarrassing to the subject it is usually worth a couple of seconds checking the story on http://www.snopes.com/ the best urban legend myth buster on the internet. It also helps in flagging the true stories – which virus warnings you should be paying attention to… And if you're bored, a quick surf on snopes will always bring up some bizarre story to amuse you.

The Economist (http://www.economist.com/) is the place to go for in-depth information and news on business, politics and current affairs around the world. The articles are usually thoughtful, well documented and are not afraid of being contentious. If you are serious about news, read the Economist. They also publish a great style guide for writers! Sadly, for full access you now need to subscribe, but the website is still pretty good.

I get a daily news feed from the New York Times and there is nearly always something of interest. The writing is very good, they carry solid in-depth reports and they have excellent coverage of world news current events, business, politics and general interest. In addition, I particularly like the arts, books, science and technology sections. Of course, as a Brit, I have no idea of what they are talking about in the sports section - you guys in the USA should learn that 'football' is played with a round ball and that a 'World Series' needs entrants from at least 100 countries (!)

Linguist friends mark this (http://translate.google.com) as the best available online translation service currently available. Being free of charge is another big plus. 60 languages listed. It's easy to use and also gives sound. Very useful.

The Newseum http://www.newseum.org is a Washinton DC museum of journalism and news. With seven floors and 250,000 square feet of display it looks like a fun place to visit if you are into journalism, news and current events. Being based in the UK the feature on the website that I really like is http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/ that means you can zip around the world and see today's front page from over 800 world newspapers. Use Ctrl and + to zoom in so you can read what's hot in the country or state of your choice. Good for language students as well!

Easy to use book catalogue site http://www.librarything.com that matches your collection and interests against those of another 1.2 million book lovers. Great site for getting recommendations and checking out feedback on new books before you buy. If you admit to being one of those people like me who eye up the books on other people's shelves at parties, this will be irresistible. Also can get you in touch with real experts in their fields if you are researching anything in depth. Lots of forums on areas of interest. Great idea and well laid out. Basic membership free (list up to 200 titles). Annual membership $10 or lifetime for $25. I joined as a life member and after two years feel it's worth the money.

The main collection National Gallery, website http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk shows off the most important assembly of art in the UK. Over 2,300 major paintings are displayed with collections going from the 13th Century to the 20th Century (mid 1930s). The gallery also host short term exhibitions of more modern art. It's a good gallery to visit but can be a little crowded at times – it's a favourite for school trips and foreign language students. There's a good museum shop (postcards to art books and souvenirs) and a very busy café. If you visit London the gallery has a fabulous location overlooking Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column. If you can't make it in person the website is a great alternative with most of the collection online, excellent zoom to detail features and lots of student and other information resources to help you. Excellent!

The best currency conversion site I have come across. Need to convert Sri Lankan Rupees to Thai Baht? Easy. Also, if you filling in expenses claims and you need the conversion rate for that trip you made 6 months ago - visit the historical data section. Very clever.

Founded in 1896 the National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk) is one of the best art galleries in London. It's just north of Trafalger Square and a great place to drop in if you are in central London. It holds over 160,000 portraits dating from current times back to the 16th Century. The majority are paintings but it also displays photographs and some mixed media installations. The gallery hosts the annual BP Portrait Awards, definitely worth a visit. There is nearly always an interesting specialist exhibition. The basement café is a good place to meet, and there is also a fairly decent restaurant on the top floor. If you can't make it to London, the website is a good alternative, easy to navigate, full of information and good links. If you see an image you want to use on your website or in a publication you can apply online for a licence.

If you know the name / city / or other details of someone and they are listed on any of the main directories or social network sites www.pipl.com will be one of your best search resources for finding them. Check what Pipl has on you - it can be a bit scary! It might help suggest to people they should be a bit more cautious on what information they put out on the net.

This is like an on-line encyclopaedia that will actually solve your mathematical problems, resolve those tricky equations, or dig up the statistics for that day back in 1999... Conversions, formulae, in fact any number based facts and problems - this is the site to come to. Give it your date of birth and work out your 1,000 day birthdays if you need an extra reason for a party. Great for helping with homework and study problems. Highly recommended.

TalkTalk is the worst telecoms company that I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. They ended up being named by the British press as giving the worst customer service of any major company in the UK during 2010. (see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-*******/TalkTalk-wins-award-worst-customer-service-2010.html) I certainly agree. They have a multi tier call centre operation run out of South Africa where extremely rude and unhelpful staff do nothing to support customers. They advertise aggressively and sponsored the TV show 'The X Factor' in the UK but I've not met anyone who has had good service from them. Awful!

The 16 galleries at the Frick Collection in New York have a fabulous selection of Western European art covering from the Renaissance to the end of the 19th Century. If you can't make it to New York to see the original paintings, sculptures and objects, then this website is the best alternative. The close zoom options help you get close up to the detail. Sometimes the images take a little time to load. Have fun!

The RSPB is the British based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Their website, http://www.rspb.org.uk/ is brilliant if you have any interest in bird watching / nature / conservation etc. Lots of seasonal data, bird identification notes, bird calls, pictures, video etc. Well organised website, easy to use, some great pictures. All details on UK bird sanctuaries / reserves.

Great classical music radio station and a cool website - you can listen online live, or go to podcasts of recent shows. They also offer a selection of books, magazines and articles on classical music and an excellent concert and events guide. Love it.

The official UK government backed weather site http://www.metoffice.gov.uk. Loads of weather information, updated continuously. In addition to British regions and towns they offer long range forecasts (obviously less accurate), international weather forecasts, and specialist marine and aviation forecasts. Also a fair selection of climate and weather news items and discussions. Well designed and easy to use site.

This is a scam fake review site set up to support the various scam Scentmall websites (scentmall.net / scentmall.org / scentmallcatalog.com etc. as no proper review site will accept their fake submissions. scentmall.com and scentmall.co.uk have already been shut down for fraudulent trading. See full details of these pirates on the other scentmall reviews listed on sitejabber

Very good food and cooking website. (www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/) Thousands of recipes - most linked to the dozens of TV cookery programmes the BBC has hosted over many years. You can search by recipe name or just list ingredients if you need some help with inspiration. Another plus is that they are not full of links trying to sell you stuff. They also cover recipes for special diets. Excellent!