Websites

Science Museum Wellcome Wing There are low and high-end 3D, and even humble 2D options, but after the slick intro, this is not a patch on Intel's art sites - though it is still a work in progress. The new wing itself opens this summer: meanwhile, download a special VRML browser for the full "weave through" experience. Bartleby.com Named after Herman Melville's story, this online library started in 1993/4 with Leaves of Grass. It remains free of charge - so Stephen King is unlikely to join the fiction section - but has hugely expanded its reference capability with modern encyclopaedias and dictionaries. With 200,000 pages and a newly enhanced search mode, the formerly reticent scrivener is now hyping his commercial potential, while still finding time to celebrate A E Housman's birthday last month. Bewitched Java frolics with a sense of humour, including a customisable version of Van Gogh's Starry Night (create your own constellations), graceful, Spirograph-like visual renditions of Bizet and Beethoven, and odd little visual puns graphically linking, for instance, limestone, the Stone Age and Sharon Stone. Hypnotic, if a little twee. The Official Elton John Website "You've reached the command center of Elton's mighty rocket", announces this site at one point, though the song "Rocketman" does, it must be said, feature prominently in the design. Elton appears on video to invite us to an online party, and there is space for his music and movie reviews. For $36, join the exclusive Rocket Club, for the chance to pay another $500 for a limited-edition plaque signed by Reg himself. Welcome to the World of Vinyl Video! Retrotech runs riot at this site dedicated to recording short video films on 12-inch vinyl LPs for replay on an old audio turntable. But why? The designer calls it "fake media archeology" and anyway, John Logie Baird has been here before in the Twenties. This "new" version produces distinctly low-fi images in a new file format called "trashpeg", unlikely to rival DVD. Participants include usual web-art suspects such as Jodi.org and others. Becks Futures Art and alcohol meet with (arguably) inspired results at the Becks Futures exhibition on show at the ICA. A People's Prize of £1,000 is on offer for site visitors, who have until 14 May to download an image of a Becks bottle, create a label for it on their home computers and return it. The first entries are on show, and Tracey Emin will select a winner. Lovebytes Festival Sheffield's biennial multimedia festival goes back to 1994, and this year's show (6-8 April) offers three days of digital art, music and other events. There are links to innovative art sites worldwide, various utilities and coverage of previous festivals. Send your interesting, quirky or, at a pinch, cool, site favourites to websites@dircon.co.uk