class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/poetry.jpg" border="0" alt="magnetic poetry software" width="250" height="167" />Despite its simplicity, magnetic poetry actually has quite a few uses. The most obvious is that if as a writer or poet, you’re suffering from a bad case of writer’s block, it’s a great way to try to get inspired and write a poem that could always turn out to be, or at least lead to your latest masterpiece.

Magnetic poetry is also a great educational tool that can be used with kids. For some kids and teenagers, poetry is usually synonymous with what they see as stuffy 16th century sonnets. Magnetic poetry can turn writing poetry into a fun game and is a great tool for kids to find different ways to express themselves. We’ve put together a list of web, desktop and iPad apps that bring the fun of magnetic poetry to your screen.

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Desktop Poems (Mac only)

Desktop Poems brings magnet poetry to the Mac desktop in a very simple but effective way. The app is available for download from the href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/desktop-poems/id412324036?mt=12">Mac App Store. When you first open the program, don’t be fooled when nothing happens. You have to click File > New Word or File > Five New Words and Desktop Poems will display one or five tiles you can use to start creating your poem. The words will appear over any program you have open, and you can also control their opacity. If a word appears that you don’t want to keep, just right click the tile and click close.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DesktopPoems.jpg" border="0" alt="magnetic poetry software" width="580" height="373" />

Desktop Poems does have a small glitch. Sometimes when opened, it will display the same words over and over, but exiting and relaunching the program seems to resolve the problem. Desktop Poems is compatible with Snow Leopard only.

Magnetic Poetry

If you’d rather use an online service, as opposed to downloading an app, href="http://play.magpogames.com/">MagPo is the ideal choice. As with their products, MagPo’s online magnetic poetry kits are themed, from romance to office to artist, there’s something there for everyone. Select a kit to play with or read poems that have been submitted by other MagPo users.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/MagPo1.jpg" border="0" alt="magnetic poetry" width="580" height="468" />

Within each kit, unlike with Desktop Poems, you have to manually select and drag the tiles from a tray, to start putting together sentences. You can also choose to display tiles only from A-F, G-O or P-Z to make it easier to select words. Once you’re done, you can submit your poem to share with the rest of MagPo’s users.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/MagPo2.jpg" border="0" alt="magnetic poetry" width="580" height="430" />

Poetry Magnets

If you want to take magnetic poetry on the go with you using your iPad, href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/poetry-magnets/id369944301?mt=8">Poetry Magnets [iTunes link] is a handy little app that will get your creative juices flowing. Like with the web app MagPo, drag the words you want to use onto the screen. The tray of words at the bottom of the screen can be scrolled from side to side.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/PM1.jpg" border="0" alt="magnetic poetry" width="580" height="435" />

You can also choose certain categories of words, from common to mythical to zombie.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/PM2.jpg" border="0" alt="magnetic poetry freeware" width="499" height="443" />

Once you’re done you can save the poem as an image in your photos.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/PM3.jpg" border="0" alt="magnetic poetry freeware" width="580" height="291" />

Twitter Magnets

href="http://www.twittermagnets.com/">Twitter Magnets is another web-based app that really pushes your creative boundaries, giving you a certain number of words to choose from, and has a nice little tune playing to boot. Once you’ve selected the words you want to keep, you can swap the words.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/TM1.jpg" border="0" alt="magnetic poetry freeware" width="580" height="401" />

Twitter Magnets keeps track of how many characters you have left, so that the poem can fit in a tweet.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/TM2.png" border="0" alt="TM2.png" width="290" height="105" />

And Twitter Magnets also keeps track of your poem.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/TM3.png" border="0" alt="TM3.png" width="387" height="131" />

Once you’re done, you can choose to submit it to their Twitter account – although it hasn’t been updated since November so chances are it won’t be posted. Alternatively, you can just submit it to your own Twitter account if you want to share it with the world.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/TM4.png" alt="magnetic poetry software" width="580" height="160" />

What are your favourite magnetic poetry apps? Have you written any great poetry using them? Let us know in the comments.

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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/00-Creative-Use-FB-2.jpg" border="0" alt="00 Creative Use FB 2" width="250" height="250" />Don’t call yourself a true href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook user if you haven’t tried to “hack” your new profile page. Well, at least that’s what the profile page hackers believe. A French artist called  rel="nofollow" href="http://www.facebook.com/alexandre.oudin">Alexandre Oudin is credited as the pioneer of the craze. Since then many people have joined the trend and created their own hacked profile page.

If you want to create your own, below are several examples that could inspire you. Please note that due to the nature of Facebook profile pages, which some people change as often as changing clothes, the linked Facebook page might already display a different series of images when you visit them. That’s why some of these page profile artists recorded their creations and saved them somewhere else.

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Tools Of The Trade

Before we go through the examples, let’s see some of the tools that you can use to customize your Facebook Profile Page. We discussed several of them in href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-ways-customise-facebook-profile-picture/">3+ Ways To Customise Your Facebook Profile Picture and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/reface-facebook-profile-page-fb-photo-magic/">How To Reface Your Facebook Profile Using FB Photo Magic.  There are also other similar tools that you could try, such as :

• href="http://apps.facebook.com/profilepimpapp/">Profile Pimp
• href="http://www.facebooktiles.com/">Facebook Profile Picture Generator
• href="http://www.facebook.com/ProfileMakerApp">Profile Maker
• href="http://www.mypeex.com/">MyPeex
• href="http://yournewprofile.com/">Your New Profile
• href="http://www.cutmyface.com/">Cut My Face (in French)

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/00b-Profile-Maker.jpg" border="0" alt="00b Profile Maker" width="550" height="386" />

Armed with these tools, you are ready to go. You only need some inspiration to spice up your own design, inspiration you could perhaps get from some of the following profile pages. The list is in no particular order – except for the first.

1. rel="nofollow" href="http://www.facebook.com/alexandre.oudin">Alexandre Oudin

   The first spot is reserved for Mr Oudin to honor him as the person who triggered the trend. He creatively used a close-up picture of himself to compile his profile page. Looking at how many profile page creation tools are available today, it’s amazing how he – being the first of the pack – did his profile page manually, with the help of Photoshop and a lot of patience.

   style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/01a-Oudin-21.jpg" border="0" alt="01a Oudin 2" width="550" height="458" />

2. rel="nofollow" href="http://jonyang.tumblr.com/post/2311742353/imitation-is-flattery-how-to">Jon Yang

   I have only one word for this one: amazing. Mr Yang used the profile page layout to perfectly put the emphasize on the action.

   style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/01b-John-Yang.jpg" border="0" alt="01b John Yang" width="550" height="417" />

3. rel="nofollow" href="https://skitch.com/6clicks/rra4s/fb">John Robert-Nicoud

   Whose heart wouldn’t melt after looking at this cute picture? Mr Robert-Nicoud divided the images into two parts and so enhanced the focus on each one. The cute hand and the small flower connected the two parts and gave soul to the whole.

   style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/01d-Nicoud.jpg" border="0" alt="01d Nicoud" width="550" height="337" />

4. rel="nofollow" href="http://twitpic.com/3fl21v">Thibaut Le Brasseur

   Who said that Facebook profile page hacks have to be built only from photos? This example shows a playful twist to the page hacking process.

   style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/01e-Thibaut.jpg" border="0" alt="01e Thibaut" width="550" height="363" />

5. rel="nofollow" href="http://twitpic.com/3hyc8q">Jack Smith

   This is what we call going all the way. Mr Smith didn’t stop at utilizing the profile page and photo streams, but also the other lines of images. I don’t know whether this one was done manually or by using one of the available tools, but you surely need lots and lots of patience to do it the manual way.

   style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/01f-Jack-Smith-2.jpg" border="0" alt="01f Jack Smith 2" width="550" height="542" />

6. rel="nofollow" href="http://www.screencast.com/users/theButterflyHerder/folders/Jing/media/b7c19b84-0d1f-4fb1-9a8b-656501ca29b6">Cynthia Lay

   Even with the help of the Facebook profile page builder, this profile page is not an easy one to create (at least not for me). Aside from the well-thought out composition, adjusting the position of the butterflies to fit the page hack layout is not something that ordinary people could do in one go.

   style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/01g-Cynthia-Lay-2.jpg" border="0" alt="01g Cynthia Lay 2" width="550" height="465" />

7. rel="nofollow" href="http://www.facebook.com/claudio.nader">Claudio Nader

   While I personally think that this one is not as good looking as the other examples, Mr Nader creatively uses the space that he has to promote himself. He shows us that the Facebook profile page hack can also be used to literally show your profile.

   style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/02h-Claudio-Nader.jpg" border="0" alt="02h Claudio Nader" width="550" height="423" />

8. rel="nofollow" href="http://www.facebook.com/taylorkwek">Taylor Kwek

   This is an example of how a limitation can be turned into an advantage. Mr Kwek utilizes the edges of the profile picture and photo streams as a virtual wall to give the illusion that he is peeking from behind the wall.

   style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/01h-Taylor-Kwek-2.jpg" border="0" alt="01h Taylor Kwek 2" width="550" height="452" />

9. rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kefskiphoto.com/images/kefski_facebook_profile.jpg">Dave Keffer

   This profile page hack literally bends the concept of linear edges. The curved photos give the feeling of depth, as if there’s a room behind the page.

   style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/01i-Dave-Keffer-1.jpg" border="0" alt="01i Dave Keffer 1" width="550" height="254" />

10. rel="nofollow" href="http://twitpic.com/3um2am">Serentonin Boogie

    Scrapbook fans will love this one. Instead of using just one photo like the majority of profile page artists, Mr Boogié tastefully composed and stitched several images into one, making the result a true work of art.

    style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/01j-Serentonin.jpg" border="0" alt="01j Serentonin" width="550" height="442" />

These ten are just a tiny proportion of the total number of Facebook profile page hacks. There are lots more examples out there, and it’s impossible to show them all. If you have a favourite or if you’d like your creations to be featured here, please share them using the comments below.

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style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/intro1.jpg" alt="fun things to do online" />With so much content available, the internet is fast becoming the one-stop solution for boredom worldwide. Sometimes just browsing, reading or watching isn’t enough – especially if your creative juices are flowing.

There’s no reason ambling around the internet should be a waste of time. Who knows, you might learn something amazing, discover something you love or find one of the many pick-up-and-play services that’ll engage your browser and your brain.

Here’s a few ways of channelling your creative genius down the phone line.

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Discover Better Music

One of my favourite fun things to do online when I’m bored is to go looking for more href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/music">music to add to the collection and I never really feel like I’m wasting my time whilst doing so.

style="text-align: center;"> class="alignnone size-full wp-image-63053" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/edmnguide.jpg" alt="fun things to do online" width="580" height="433" />

Many years ago whilst looking for href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/internet-radio/">internet radio stations I discovered href="http://techno.org/electronic-music-guide/">Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music, a toungue-in-cheek look at the history of music that was only possible with modern electronic instruments. Whilst even the author has admitted that the guide is opinionated and will never be finished, it still makes for an educational and entertaining stay.

Another good way of discovering artists directly via their music is to use href="http://www.unsigned.com/">Unsigned.com, a catalogue of unsigned and budding musicians who have willingly posted their music on the internet. You might just find someone you like.

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Finally for a comprehensive cloud-based solution to a complete lack of music there’s  href="http://www.grooveshark.com/">Grooveshark. It’s like href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/stream-music-for-free-with-spotify-invites-available/">Spotify for your browser, with less ads and it works a treat with the fantastic new href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-chrome-web-apps-check/">Chrome web app.

Make Sweet Music

So you’re inspired, and fancy laying down your own rough mix – href="http://www.looplabs.com/">Looplabs can probaby help.

style="text-align: center;"> class="alignnone size-full wp-image-63056" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/looplabs.jpg" alt="fun things to do online when you are bored" width="580" height="247" />

With 5 Flash-based virtual studios for you to choose from (including an Adidas sponsored effort, a Dubstep Studio and the Electro-House Blender) the team at Looplabs continue to produce very capable cloud-based music apps.

For a very impressive module-based creation suite try href="http://www.audiotool.com/">Audiotool. The suite provides a number of tools, including a number of digitally recreated classics. Using virtual wiring, you have the freedom to create your own unique set up, and your own unique sound.

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href="http://www.aviary.com/tools/music-creator">Aviary’s free Music Creator is another online production suite (with a fantastic loop editor, might I add) and if you’re a Daft Punk fan who has never done the Daft, then you’d better href="http://www.dothedaft.com/idaft/">dothedaft.com. Finally, if you’re lucky enough to own a guitar and clever enough to get the basics right there’s thousands of songs just waiting to be learned at href="http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/">Ultimate-Guitar.

Set Up A Blog

Obviously, if you’ve already got a website then this won’t really apply. However, if it’s been on your to-do list for a while then there’s no point in putting it off, especially now it’s easier than ever to establish your own little patch of cyber-space.

style="text-align: center;"> class="alignnone size-full wp-image-63051" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/blogger.jpg" alt="fun things to do online when you are bored" width="580" height="474" />

Harness that creativity by providing yourself with a platform on which to engage the web, so that the next time you’re bored you might just think “oh, I’ll blog”. For a quick no-nonsense setup you’ll probably want to try href="http://www.wordpress.com/">WordPress.com, href="http://www.blogger.com/">Blogger, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/publisha-universal-blogging-publishing-alternative-wordpress/">Publisha or even the notoriously light href="http://www.tumblr.com/">Tumblr. These services will provide you with a place to write, though you’ll miss out on your own domain.

If you’re a bit more knowledgeable on the subject of web design and site maintenance then setting up your own website or blog might appeal. Take a look at href="http://www.wordpress.org/">WordPress and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/wordpress/">our many associated articles – we’ve got everything covered, from themes and plugins to social network integration and SEO. If you’d like to test it out locally then you can, with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-set-up-a-wordpress-blog-on-your-pc-using-a-local-host/">XAMPP.

Get The Digital Paints Out

For a fresh look at the creativity behind image-manipulation try href="http://www.psykopaint.com/">Psykopaint. We’ve href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/psykopaint-turn-your-pictures-into-paintings/">mentioned it before, and many readers loved the snappy presentation, UI and results that can be achieved either from stock photos, a blank canvas or your own personal snaps.

style="text-align: center;"> class="alignnone size-full wp-image-63057" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/psykopaint.jpg" alt="things to do online" width="580" height="341" />

For generic Photoshop-type web apps then both href="http://www.pixlr.com/">Pixlr and href="http://www.splashup.com/">Splashup make for quick image editors, whilst we were satisfied that href="http://www.flauntr.com/">flauntR is href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/flauntr-a-killer-online-image-editing-tool/">one of the most powerful online editors. I have to give an honorary mention to href="http://www.onemotion.com/flash/sketch-paint/">Sketch & Paint which provides a lovely interface from which to sketch and then colour in your doodles.

Build Something

If you’ve ever played Sim City and thought “this is for me” then maybe you should check out my href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-fun-online-city-building-games-run-browser/">recent article about city building games. Amongst them were a few delightfully pixelated isometric projects, much like href="http://www.themaninblue.com/experiment/Cubescape/">Cubescape.

style="text-align: center;"> class="alignnone size-full wp-image-63052" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/cubescape.jpg" alt="fun things to do online" width="580" height="320" />

Like a digital isometric box of Lego, Cubescape allows you to build your own angular world, block by block. If you like 8bit pixel art but are too lazy to make your own then Cubescape should suffice. Of course, you could just get your old Lego out and make something.

href="http://www.peeron.com/">Peeron is a database of all things Lego, complete with over 3000 sets of scanned instructions. If you’ve got a big box of Lego with no papers to help you out, Peeron is the only resource you need to rediscover the fun of plastic building blocks.

If you’d rather make real things that actually work then there’s always href="http://www.instructables.com/">Instructables, the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/instructables-webs-biggest-show/">web’s premier DIY resource.

Conclusion

Boredom is generally solved by the internet. Here at MakeUseOf you’re bound to find some fun href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/games/">games, the odd href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-awesome-free-documentaries-watch-online/">documentary, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-amazing-short-films-free-software/">short movies and even href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-standup-comedy-videos-youtube/">stand-up comedy to enjoy. Don’t get carried away though, haven’t you got some work you ought to be doing?

Any awesomely creative things you’ve discovered on the internet? Any websites that inspire you? Helpful guides? Silly games? Let us know in the comments.

Intro image: rel="nofollow" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-68546152/stock-photo-color-pencils-isolated-on-a-white-background.html">Shutterstock />
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style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images.jpg" alt="google image search"/> href="http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi">Google Images search has two huge advantages over other image search engines: it operates the largest database on the web and it is getting smarter by the day. Apart from serving as a great source of content for your website, Google Images can be a powerful tool to find inspiration and spur creativity.

This post is about making you even more inspired with Google Image search results: it shares some really creative Google Images href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/visualizing/">visualization projects that can both entertain and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/inspire-write-750-words-day/">inspire.

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1. Google Image Inspiration: Dreamlines

href="http://www.solaas.com.ar/dreamlines/">Dreamlines is an interesting project that deserves more recognition that it seems to be getting.

Just enter a couple of words that describe the topic you need inspiration for and wait for the tool “to generate an ambiguous painting, in perpetual change, where elements fuse into one another, in a process analogous to memory and free association“.

The tool uses Google Images Search to retrieve the images but in fact you’ll never see an actual image. What you will see is a dream:

The program generates a personal moving picture, unique, unpredictable, and forever gone when it is finished, just like dreams. But that dream is made out of pieces taken form the subconscious of the whole net, gathered by some words of the user and the obscure logic of searching algorithms.

It is both well-said and well-performed. I wish it could be turned into a video clip or screen saver because it looks too beautiful: try it yourself and see! And it does inspire a creative eye by letting you forget about everything and dive into the new abstract world of Dreamlines:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-01.jpg" alt="google image search" width="550" height="342" />

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-02.jpg" alt="google advanced image search" width="550" height="337" />

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-03.jpg" alt="google advanced image search" width="550" height="357" />

I was very much tempted to make hundreds of screenshots.

2. Google Image Art: Montage-a-Google

href="http://grant.robinson.name/projects/montage-a-google/default.htm">Montage-a-Google is a more straightforward project than the above one: it lets you create large, colorful montages using Google’s image search.

According to the creator, it allows for both an alternative, fun way to browse the Web and to create desktop wallpaper or even posters on the topic that inspires you.

Here’s my winter montage, for example:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-04.jpg" alt="google advanced image search" width="550" height="328" />

And here are some posters created by the users:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-07.jpg" alt="engine google image search" width="550" height="343" />

3. Google Image Games: Guess-the-Google

href="http://grant.robinson.name/projects/guess-the-google/">Guess-the-Google is another project by the same developer as the Montage-a-Google project we have just covered. It offers a fun and somewhat addictive game to get your brain working.

The tool shows you a collection of images and you should quickly guess the search term that triggered the collection:

It turns the mental activity of searching into a fun, visual and engaging game where people can enjoy the challenge of being the fastest and most efficient at making that connection between search terms and their results.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-05.jpg" alt="engine google image search" width="550" height="363" />

4. Google Image Designs: Google House

href="http://www.incident.net/works/googlehouse/">Google House is an interesting concept offering you a chance to build a house using Google Images. It builds unpredictable, dynamic image collages using your house-related search queries.

I am not sure about the practical application of this one but it certainly offers a fun and addictive experience.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-06.jpg" alt="engine google image search" width="550" height="324" />

5. Honorable Mention: Google Swirl

A post about Google Images Search visualizations would be incomplete without including the official Google Labs project: href="http://image-swirl.googlelabs.com/">Google Image Swirl (here’s MUO review of this href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/google-cool-image-search/">cool image search from Google Labs) – it is more search-related than any of the projects listed above but it does spur creativity by creating and visualizing the structure of results based on their visual and semantic similarities.

Think of this as a huge family tree for images on the Internet: by clicking on images, more subsequent circles and related images are created.

For example, in ambiguous queries such as “machine”, Image Swirl separates the top search results into categories such as “automation”, “computers”, “robotics”, etc.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/visualize-google-images-08.jpg" alt="google image search" width="550" height="429" />

Are you aware of any interesting Google Image Search visualization projects? Please share them in the comments! />
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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/creativewriting.jpg" alt="writing sites" width="270" height="191" />Writing is diminishing in these modern, online times. Most of what’s written online is “scanned”, rather than read.

Rather than being incompatible though, the web and (creatively) written words are perfectly compatible. Don’t forget that the Internet started out as just a bunch of text.

As a creative author – professional or aspiring – the web can be a wonderful place. Below are some of the best and most inspiring places a word doctor can go.

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class="vt-p" href="http://www.writing.com/">Writing.com

Since being founded in 2000, Writing.com has grown out to be the single largest writing community site on the web – and not only thanks to the convenient web address. Even after a relatively recent design overhaul, the website still looks a bit old school. At times, browsing the website can feel a bit stiff, but what it misses in UI, it makes up for in content.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/writingcom-1.jpg" alt="writing sites" width="580" height="323" />

Users can hone their pen by writing within a number of subgroups, embedded in the Interactive and Non-interactive categories. Non-interactive documents are one-document short-stories, poems, essays, interviews and (despite the article subject) even non-fiction. Sadly, a premium membership is required to use the multiple chapter book templates.

The non-interactive categories include interactive stories, campfire stories (spinning stories in a group of close friends), and even quizzes.

Writing.com is the largest, and quite possibly the most feature-rich writing community. Because of its size, evidently not all writing hosted on the writing site is quality material. But the rich interaction, and support for independent formats, makes it a worthy place to try your pen.

class="vt-p" href="http://storybird.com/">Storybird

Storybird is a rather interesting collaborative storytelling project, focused around picture books. Ordinarily, two or more people connect over the site, and write part of the picture book in turn, in a robin go round style. Additional people need to invited by the one who started the story, so the collaboration is aimed on friends and family – perhaps a parent with child.

If you want, though, you can write the entire story on your own.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/storybird2.jpg" alt="writing sites" width="580" height="328" />

The pictures are supplied by a small army of artists. Before you hit off, the site asks you to pick a work of art from the gallery, or browse by art themes. Starting off from your initial pick, the Storyboard story maker, depicted above, is filled with a jumble of other drawings by the same artist. You can drag these drawings on the canvas, and add text. Finished picture books can be shared online, made public on the site or (in the future) even printed!

class="vt-p" href="http://www.protagonize.com/">Protagonize

Protagonize is a modern, aesthetic writing community that’s been around since 2008, and has received much acclaim. It’s entirely based around collaborative storytelling, and is perhaps the only one of these kinds of writing sites that actually feels good to use.

Central are the interactive stories, or so-called addventures. These stories consist of small chapters, after which a choice is presented to the reader. The reader can effectively direct the character through the adventure.

It’s by all means not a new concept, but the web has given it a whole new dimension. It’s not just directing the story anymore. You can start, or continue on a whole new branch of the story, and everyone can contribute!

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/protagonize.jpg" alt="story writing sites" width="580" height="385" />

Apart from the addventures, you can also start a collaborative linear story, where other writers are able to add new fragments, but can’t branch off. If you’re not all the community-animal, you can opt for solo stories as well, but believe me when I say you’re missing out on a lot of fun.

class="vt-p" href="http://www.bibliofaction.com/">Bibliofaction

Like Protagonize, Bibliofaction is focused on one kind of storytelling, but it’s not interactive. Instead, they believe in the power of the short story, it being “perfect for this busy day and age”. The main goal of Bibliofaction is to re-promote creativity to a generation that has been lulled by fixed-format reality TV, or for that matter, any kind of entertainment.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/bibliofaction.jpg" alt="story writing sites" width="580" height="277" />

Like that, Bibliofaction is becoming the modern home of the short story, a day where writers and readers meet, and share experiences. Another nice incentive are the short story competitions, which are held by Bibliofaction. Show off the true might of your pen, and you might even win a couple of attractive prizes.

What do you think of the above writing sites? Do you know any alternatives, that we shouldn’t have missed? By all means, let us know in the comments section below. />
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So you’re thinking about proposing? You’ve got the ring and the loving partner ready and you think (hope) they’ll say yes when proposed to. Everything is set. But you want to propose in a way which they’ll remember forever. What to do?

For starters, it’s a wedding proposal. They’ll remember it forever even if it was a simple chat over breakfast. Don’t stress out over it too much. That said, your future happiness depends on this one moment. Don’t screw it up.

If you’re thinking of proposing online, make sure you’re around when they see the proposal (with the ring and a bottle of champagne ready). Getting proposed to is something you really want to celebrate properly.

Also, these days it’s very easy to record using phone cameras, so prepare yourself and try to catch the moment forever. Then stick the footage up on YouTube for the relatives to see!

Most online proposal ideas have been done before. But so have romantic weekends away and no-one ever gets sick of that approach. With all marriage proposals, you basically want to be creative and romantic, but not to get yourself killed or lose the ring in the process.

Don’t forget that you also need to work in some of the tried and tested romantic helpers: poetry, picnics, flowers, writing “Marry Me” in big letters, candlelit dinners, sunsets, the great outdoors (especially rivers and oceans). Make it beautiful and then geek it up a little with some tech. Seriously, you could be on a space shuttle watching the earth from afar, but if all you say is “Wanna get hitched?” they might still think there’s something lacking in the proposal. Think about your words, place and timing. Or don’t. What have you got to lose?

8. Propose By IM Video & Chat

Long distance relationships suck, but Skype and other video IM makes it better. Although, if you propose on IM long-distance you’d better have a trip planned to see them soon after!

7. Propose In Public & Show It Online

Google Street View was used to propose with great effect by a Google employee. Another guy managed to get a proposal into the top search result for her name. If you know of any public information gathering projects, or anywhere else where you might get your proposal public, give it a go!

6. Propose On A Social Network

Use the direct approach on Twitter/YouTube/Ustream or whatever social network you fancy (as long as they use it too). Even just a website you both hang out on (Reddit/Slashdot have both been done).

5. Propose Using Your Smartphone

Mix tech with real life by using your smartphone. This means you can set up a real-life mystery for them and work magic with online maps, Stickybits, Foursquare, Scribular etc. Code your own app for extra geek points.

4. Propose In A Webcomic

Propose in a webcomic or other form of online art you have been working on (it’s been done in Penny Arcade). In fact, sometimes the artists have helped out fans with proposals too.

3. willyoumarrymeinsertnamehere.com

Get the domain for willyoumarrymeinsertnamehere.com and make a whole website out of it (like this). Maybe even incorporate YouTube clips, your dedicated Twitter account (with regular reasons why you love them) and some photos of a proposed venue for the wedding, new house, honeymoon, etc.

2. Propose In A Game

This could be as simple as getting the letters for “marry” followed by “me” and using them in online Scrabble (although that’s probably not very easy when you think about it – far easier offline). Others mess with game maps. Or, you could go crazy and code a proposal into the game for them. Many have done this before – just work it into a game they like. It never gets old.

1. Memes

Jump on the latest meme. So, the memes might get old, but at least you’ll know exactly what the world was getting into when you proposed. Some memey proposals include: Old Spice on YouTube, infographic proposal and a lolcats proposal.

Want more ideas? We’ve previously covered a collection of geeky ways to propose online which covers all sorts of cool ideas like a ring scavenger hunt and making a website of your life together.

And if you’ve proposed online let us know in the comments what you did – we’d love to hear it!

Image Credit: Joy Of Tech (Image used with Snaggy’s blessing)

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MP3 player speakers are available in a number of different shapes and sizes and Creative is a company that has for long offered some very classic designs in their range of Creative MP3 player speakers. In particular, you should be impressed with the I-Trigue speaker series which are really trendy and very fashionable.

Best Quality of Sound

With Creative MP3 player speakers such as are embodied in the I-Trigue series you can be sure of listening to the best quality sound and the speakers them are a good mix of tradition as well as modern designs. In fact, this particular model of Creative MP3 player speakers is quite similar to another popular brand of MP3 player speakers which is the offering from Altec Lansing.

A typical I-Trigue pair of Creative MP3 player speakers come with audio cable as well as power adapter as well as remote control (wired) and a guide to get you started with this particular pair of speakers. These Creative MP3 player speakers provide excellent bass sound and also have good ability to adjust bass through the remote.

One thing is assured and that is your Creative MP3 player speakers will offer you a good chance to enjoy music of different genres and the reproduction in the high as well as mid-frequency range is truly outstanding. Also, it would not be wrong to say that a pair of Creative MP3 player speakers will certainly prove to be a better buy than buying a pair of Altec Lansing speakers.

The best part about preferring Creative MP3 player speakers is that these speakers provide crisp as well as clear high and mid notes. The bass is abundant and quite powerful and if you are a gamer or movie addict then choosing Creative MP3 player speakers can prove to be the wisest decision you have ever made. Now that more and more people have become accustomed to listening to music on the go, the demand for MP3 player portable speakers has certainly shot up, especially because CD players are no longer the “in” thing in portable music devices.

You must also evaluate the price of these Creative MP3 player speakers and so, should be prepared to pay a little more than for other standard MP3 player speakers. In fact, you should expect to pay almost double the price of a pair of Altec Lansing speakers; however it is a fair buy and if you can afford the asking price then you should not hesitate in going for a pair of Creative MP3 player speakers.

Get Creative News for the week of August 18, 2008.

Get Creative News for 7.28.08