What do cables, mousepads, male giraffes and cell phones have in common? They're all mentioned in this week's column. I have some useful (I promise!) websites to share with you.


Plug this into what?

"Let's move the computer to the other room" sounded like such a simple project, didn't it? And now that you've unplugged everything and done the heavy lifting, there you are with a cable in one hand and a bewildered look on your face. Never fear. Tom's Hardware PC Interfaces 101 presents a visual guide of PC cables and cords, and the things they plug into. So unless you want to go to your OTHER computer to look at the site, take a tour BEFORE you unplug everything and make note of where it goes. The guide is here:

Tom's Hardware Interfaces

A good use for an old mousepad

Speaking of projects, how's the To Do list coming along? The FixIt Club website (http://www.fixitclub.com/) might help. According to the website, you can

Find the Fix-It Guide that covers the thing you want to fix. Each Fix-It Guide will answer the questions:

How does it work?

What can go wrong?

How can I identify the problem?

What parts, materials, and tools do I need?

What are the steps to fixing it?

Frankly, I'm an idiot when it comes to things like this, and the website fails to answer what I believe is the most important question: How can I get someone else to fix it?

However. The FixIt Club website could become a great resource for those of you who are not like me! And for those of you who are, check this great video on the site:

How to video

They could use some help with the grammar, but I love the concept.

How many of these are in those?

There are any number of places you can find out how many feet are in a metre or how many litres to a gallon. But what if you want to convert units of something to objects? Check out Sensible Units (http://www.sensibleunits.com/) and you'll see what I mean. There you will find that 1 (American) football field equals 22 male giraffes, or 25 double-decker buses stacked one on top of another. It's also true that 1 cm equals 10 millimetres or, or 0.394 inches, or one stacked CD case. (How many mousepads is that?)

Test drive a cell phone

My cell phone contract is up in July, and I want a better phone. But which one? TryPhone (Beta) is going to be of some help. Here's what they say:

TryPhone gives you the ability to try before you buy. Use our fully interactive online virtual handsets to test-drive mobile devices, applications, content and services, as well as watch demos - right from the comfort and convenience of your own computer. No pressure, no salespeople, no product uncertainty and no features you don't understand. Try it, then go buy it... on your terms.

Well, I WISH on my terms. Right now there are 15 phones you can test drive on the website, with the promise of more to come. The bad news is that the site links to American wireless carriers, and not Canadian ones. So you can test drive the hardware, but it might not be available here. (Please, please, please can we have the Palm Centro in Canada? And a decent data plan? Or maybe I should just ask for a pony.) Check out the phones here:

tryphone

Thank you everyone who wrote with comments, questions, and suggestions. Do you have a useful website you would like to share? Please email cate@rlis.com and we'll publish your suggestions in a future column.

Meanwhile, you can browse through any of the past columns in the column archive, located at:

Cate's archives

Get out there and enjoy the Canada Day Celebrations! (http://www.parksalive.com/canadaday.htm)