I know it’s really sunny out there but when the usual April weather returns here are some online goodies to keep yourself amused with.

Peggle from PopCap Games. This is one of the most addictive games I’ve ever played. A cross between Bust-A-Move and bagatelle, this game starts off quite easy but soon toughens up. Free download for PC only.

Mastermind. Here’s an online version of the old boardgame Mastermind retitled Guess The Colors. I’m sure this game used to be hard but I seem to be winning this all the time. Play online at Games For The Brain.

Cisco Binary Game. Probably the geekiest game ever made. Do your binary addition using this funky application. I nerdily did quite well on this. I’d turn off the music if I was you too.

SkyChart. What with all the clear skies it’s now perfect for some stargazing. This interactive chart will tell you what’s in the sky and when.

Ah, the old ones are the old ones. Here’s a comprehensive list of jokes based on locations in the world, of the type:
- My wife’s gone to the West Indies
- Jamaica?
- No, she went of her own accord.

A Brighton man who runs a message in a bottle service has been asked to “investigate some of the many other ways to send messages overseas.” I just don’t think email is as romantic as that.

Gah! My eyes! I hope I’m nvere asked to make a website as cutesy as this Japanese website I discovered. Here’s Pet Salon Angela.

Science. An article about Superconductors at BBC Science. I remember watching Tomorrow’s World when I was young, seeing the levitating sheets of metal and thinking there would be skateboards like that one day. Seems like there’s still going to be a bit of a wait.

PDF Mags. A brilliant collection of downloadable design magazines from across the world. I’m hoping I get some inspiration from these.

A good video about the future of Net Neutrality.

My latest site. Simple one-page website for a new female plumbing business in Brighton. Introducing Girlz On Tap.

Colorstrology. A really good looking Flash website which will tell you the colours associated with your day of birth. I may start using this for clients!

Seminars about Long Term Thinking. It’s always good to have an idea of what the future holds. This site has a collection of audio seminar mp3s to listen to all based around what the future holds.

Not much this week. Here’s some interesting sites:

videojug.com – Life Explained. On Film. Brilliant YouTube inspired site with videos showing you how to dop almost anything.

UK HDTV Buyers Guide – Which kind of recommends not bothering to buy one for a couple of years.

The Wilhelm Scream – Funny video showing the same scream sample being used on hundreds of films.

Transformers Movie Trailer – This doesn’t look too bad actually.

Now I have my Nintendo Wii running an internet browser I should be able to play lots of flash-based games using my Wiimote on my TV. This will be updates with new sites as soon as I find them:

albinoblacksheep.com – A list of 30 flash games

Katamari, Grow Cube & ZooKeeper and others.

Wiicade.com – Many Wii compatable Flash games

I’ve been so busy since my last post working on a couple of amazing looking websites so here’s a week’s worth of posts in one big go.

The new Die Hard 4 teaser trailer:

The new man at Upton Park, Alan Curbishley. I think we’ll put 3 past Man Utd on Sunday.

He-Man sings 4 Non Blondes. A very messed up YouTube video featuring a camp He-Man singing a dance version of What’s Going On. I can’t get this out of my head now.

30 Essential Pieces Of Free Software for Windows. Superb collection of links to applications that will enhance your PC experience.

Boycott Christmas. Cartoons from the Christmas Resistance Movement.

The international contest of logos, trademarks and corporate identity Identity: Best of The Best 2006. Superb graphic design.

Look around Paisley Park. Take a 360 degree look around Prince’s home.

The Surrey Comet. Nothing special about this article entitled “Marksman called in to kill Kingston’s pigeons” but check out the comments below. Funniest thing I’ve seen this week.

Hot UK Deals. Amazing list of the latest cheap and free things to get online.

If you’re one of the lucky people to own a Nintendo Wii and have Orange Broadband, formerly Wanadoo, with a Livebox and have had problems getting online using Nintendo Wi-Fi then these tips may help.

First, you have to log on to your Livebox admin control panel using your PC. You can do this by using this URL in your internet brower: http://configuration.adsl/index2.html
When promted for your username and password use ‘admin’ and ‘admin’ if you can’t remember ever changing it before. Make a note of your Livebox name. Mine is WANADOO-B7E8.

Now go to Security -> Firewall and turn the setting to Low (disabled) and press ’submit’. As long as you have a firewall on your PC then it’ll still be safe.

UPDATE: I no longer think you need to do this last step. The default MEDIUM position should be fine.

Then go to Configuration -> Advanced -> Wireless and make sure your setting is ‘WEP security only’. ‘WEP and WPA’ may also work but unless you’re running a WPA encrytped device it’s unnecessary.

Now go to Security -> WEP Connection and make a note of your WEP Security Key. Keep the letter in CAPS as they wont work otherwise. It should be 26 characters long.

Turn on your Wii and go to the Wii Options (bottom left) then select ‘Wii Settings’. Now select ‘Internet’ and then ‘Connection Settings’. Select ‘Connection 1′ and then ‘Wireless Connection’.

Select ‘Search for an Access Point’. The Wii Now looks around for all the signals it can find. Press ‘OK’ and choose the one that matches the Livebox name we wrote down earlier. Move your Wii pointer over the password area and using the virtual Wii keyboard type in your WEP Security Key you found earlier. Press CAPS to make it easier, the number is in Hex so all the characters will be from 0 to 9 or A to F, no ‘I’s or ‘O’s please. *Do next step before anything else.

Go to your actual Livebox itself and look for two little black buttons in a small panel at the back. Press ‘1′, the one on the left. You now have 10 minutes in which to connect your Wii.

Back at the Wii hit ‘Yes’, then ‘OK’, then ‘OK’, then ‘OK’ again. The Wii will now test the connection. Hopefully after 30 seconds you’ll get a ‘The connection test was successful’ message. Well done!

You can now decide whether to perfom a Wii system update, I’d select ‘Yes’ if I were you. The Wii will then spend the next few minutes downloading the latest firmware. Now if you ever use a Wii service that needs the use of the Internet it will automatically connect. There’s no need to ever change any wi-fi settings again!

* Note, this site is not responsible for your Wii if anything were to go wrong with it by following the instructions here.

So, I hope that was of use to people out there. I’ve probably saved you a few hours of frustration or calls to Nintendo or Orange so feel free to send me a bit of cash using this nice little PayPal donate button here if you’re feeling generous or browse the online game stores featured above. Thanks! And have fun!

My plan to arrive fashionably late at GameStation to avoid any queing failed as there was quite a big queue in front of me when I arrived there.

So back home for 40 minutes then a quick cycle back and I walked straight to the front. A minute later and the doors would have been locked.

So far I’m loving the console. It took about 4 minutes to set up and start playing. And only a couple of minutes to get online with it. The Wiimote wand is very responsive and ten pin bowling as real fun. More news later.

Hiding away on BBC4 earlier this year was one of the funniest programmes about television ever made, Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe. His caustic and sarcastic look at modern television and it’s audience is a breath of fresh against the season-long X-Factor/Strictly Come Dancing/Big Brother monstrosities we have on our screens.

Here he is in action highlighting some idiots desperate for fame (warning, contains swearing):

And if you’re in the mood for some online television here’s are some alternative YouTube videos I recommend:

Battle of the Album Covers (3 mins) – Famous album covers come alive and fight each other.

Charlie Brooker’s look at R Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet (2 mins) – This has to be seen to be believed. The world’s first hip-hopera.

Richard Dawkins lecture at an American college (37 mins) – Brilliant reading of some of Dawkin’s God Delusion book.

Japanese footage of today’s release of the Nintendo Wii (5 mins) – I should be getting mine at midnight on Thursday!