Miles Mendoza's Website of the Day ... and more!

Neil Diamond / Doctor Who trailers

Something Musical:
>> Radio 2 Live: Neil Diamond (Exclusive video)
A big week this week for the man who will stay “Forever In Blue Jeans” – Not only has he scored his first ever #1 album in the US Billboard charts … but even bigger than that, he’s performed his exclusive gig for Radio 2. Watch a video preview now of his performance of current single Pretty Amazing Grace, Listen tomorrow from 1900, and watch video of the concert online or by pressing the red button on any BBC Digital TV channel.

Something Creative:
>> Doctor Who Trailer Maker
I rarely get on the family computer in Website of the Day Towers, now that Henry (12) spends most of his waking hours on this site! This is a simple (but fiendishly clever) video editing tool which lets you create your own customised trailers for Doctor Who by assembling short video extracts and adding green-screen effects, sound effects and background music. You can save your trailers and email them to friends. In the two weeks since the site launched, fans have created over 80 thousand original trailers.

Encyclopedia Britanica / Simpsons Catapault Game

New this week:
>> Revamped Google Video Search
>> Live Chat on Facebook
>> Encyclopedia Britanica Webshare

And a splendid Friday game:
>> Simpsons Ride: Catapult to Krustyland

Boat Race, British Summertime and Free Online Photo Editing

Something Sporty:
>> The Boat Race
All tributaries lead to the Thames this weekend for the Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race. The event’s official site is a good ‘un with plenty of video and photos, tips on the best vantage points for spectators and links to reviews of all the pubs along the route.

Something Topical:
>> World Time Engine
Avert post clock-change transatlantic-call catastrophe with this definitive guide to what time it is in any city (or even village) worldwide. Just type in a location to find out whether their clocks have changed yet, or use the meeting planner to work out the best time to make that call.

Something Useful:
>> Photoshop Express
For over a decade Photoshop has been the tool of choice for professional photographers and designers for editing and enhancing digital photos. But at around £600 it’s not a realistic option for cash-strapped amateur photographers. This week Photoshop have launched a completely free online service which provides beginner-friendly online photo editing along with 2Gb of online photo storage for each user.

New BBC Homepage / James Cracknell

>> The new BBC homepage
When you go to bbc.co.uk the general appearance of the homepage hasn’t changed for the last few years. It's done its job well, but has always been a bit of a compromise because the page had to offer something to everyone in the UK. One of the aims for a new-look homepage was to make the page flexible and allow people to customise both the content and appearance. A test version of the new homepage has been running alongside the old version for a few months, but this week it's all-change with your personalised homepage replacing the old, static version.

It's well worth having a play with the new page. Click below for links to a video tour of the new features and a more detailed guide to what has changed.

Highlights include an animated version of the old BBC 2 on-screen clock that appeared during continuity announcements, a choice of many colour schemes and up to 12 different promotional panels for your favourite content (including blogs, iPlayer, weather for your postcode, and much more).
>> Tour the new-look homepage
>> New BBC homepage: Full feature guide

Also today:

>> James Cracknell's Sport Relief Challenge
Here's something I had hoped to mention on air but we ran out of time. Last week we talked about the main Sport Relief site. This week I've been looking at the site for James Cracknell's Cross-Continent Challenge in aid of Sport Relief. James is currently on the third day of the challenge, during which he aims to travel to Africa from the UK in less than a week - rowing the channel, cycling down through France and Spain then swimming to North Africa (accompanied by David Walliams.

James has already completed 412 miles out of his target of 1,434 miles. It's a really impressive site, which uses sophisticated technology to track James' exact location, and also features regular blog and video updates, a list of the music he's listening to en route and the chance to sponsor James's challenge.

‘The world's biggest free music service’

>> Last FM
I’ve been a fan of this site for a few years. It’s an interesting mixture of online radio, music recommendations and MySpace-ish social networking, but until now it’s tended to appeal mainly to younger users or music geeks. This week the site has had a major upgrade which is likely to make it much more appealing even to the least geeky of music fans

Site visitors in the UK, US and Germany can now play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm site. They now bill themselves as ‘the world's biggest free music service’. You can listen to each track up to three times in full. After that, you can still access 30” clips, and find links to buy that track as a download or on CD.

In addition unsigned artists can upload their own music and get payed every time someone listens to their tracks via the site. If you choose to sign up and create a profile page, Last FM will track your listening habits, create an updating list your most listened-to songs and artists and generate lists of recommended tracks and artists based on your current favourites

Also mentioned today:

>> BBC teams up with MySpace

>> MySpace TV: BBC Worldwide

Yahoo Finds 2007

>> Yahoo Finds 2007
Search engine Yahoo's selection of the most innovative and interesting sites of 2007 includes several past Website of the Day selections:
>> Move Me
>> Doggy Snaps (and Catster)
>> Do The Green Thing

Christmas How-To videos on VideoJug

>> Christmas How-To videos on VideoJug
We’ve featured VideoJug before on the show: It’s a YouTube style site specialising in handy short films teaching you how to do the stuff they didn’t teach you at school (get a perfect wet shave, tie a bow tie, carve a roast dinner etc)
They’ve created an excellent section of short films to help you cope with any aspect of the festive season – From dancing at office parties to removing mulled wine stains, curing indigestion, or wrapping unusually shaped presents. Indispensible!

BBC iPlayer adds 'Click To Play' feature

>> BBC iPlayer
>> BBC Press Office Guide to iPlayer
When I was little I used to anxiously await the arrival of the Christmas double issue of Radio Times so I could meticulously plan my festive viewing. In spite of this, I usually found that by the start of the Spring term, I’d missed most of the programmes which everyone was talking about in the playground.
Which brings me to the BBC iPlayer, which launched quietly in the summer as a trial service offering UK licence fee payers free Windows downloads of BBC TV shows. Just in time for Christmas, the service is expanding to include ‘Click To Play’ programmes as well as downloads.
Now you can watch immediately online on any Windows, Mac or Linux computer. Basically as long as you are in the UK, if your computer can play YouTube videos, it should also be able to play any iPlayer Click To Play videos with no additional software.
Around 250 shows from all BBC TV channels are made available each week, and you have 7 days after the original broadcast to watch each show. Which means that even if you forget to set the video for Doctor Who, Catherine Tate or Strictly Come Dancing this Christmas, you can still catch up with all these shows online, making Spring term telly playground blues a thing of the past.

I Wish I'd Thought Of That

>> Radio 2: I Wish I'd Thought Of That
>> Share your experiences of using MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites
I Wish I’d Though Of That is Radio 2's new series (hosted by Kate Thornton) profiling some of the big webby innovations and entrepreneurs. I crop up ocassionally during the series in 'talking head' mode.
Tonight's programme tells the story of MySpace - the social networking phenomenon which launched the careers of Lily Allen and Arctic Monkeys. Visit the programme's site to find out more, listen again to last week's show and share your experiences of using MySpace and other social networking sites.

RSPCA Cyberpets

>> RSPCA Cyberpets
The web has plenty of downloadable virtual pets which live on your desktop, but most of them are only available for Windows computers and few of them have any educational value.
Hats off then to the RSPCA whose virtual cartoon cat and dog are available for both Windows and Apple Macs. Before you start your download you’re invited to read through a series of tips about pet care, designed to help younger pet enthusiasts understand the costs and time involved in properly looking after most household pets.