'Wacky' sites generate most interest among readers I wrote last week that I’m holding my semi-annual readers’ poll. This poll relates to the scores, shown below, of the links that have been clicked the most often by a representative sampling of readers during the first half of 2002. This week I report my most popular News Picks and Wacky Web Week items. Last week I reported on my Lead Stories and Tech Reviews. TO ENTER THE POLL, HERE’S THE QUESTION: What would you like to see in E-Business Secrets each week that you’re not already seeing? HERE’S THE PRIZE: The three readers who submit the most interesting suggestions will receive gift certificates for any book, CD, or DVD of their choice. HERE’S WHAT YOU DO: Simply read which links have been the most popular, think about why those links scored so well, and then e-mail me your comments. HERE’S THE SPECIAL ADDRESS TO SEND YOUR COMMENTS: mailto:WhatNow@SecretsPro.com Your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose whatsoever. It will be permanently deleted from my records as soon as the winners are notified. DEADLINE: All comments sent by the end of Sunday, Aug. 4, 2002, will be considered. I’ll print excerpts from selected comments in E-Business Secrets on Aug. 8. (If you want your name or company to remain anonymous, simply say so in your message.) In the tables below, I use the same scoring as last week. A link that was clicked the average number of times gets a score of 10. A link with twice the average number of clicks gets a score of 20, and so forth. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – THE TOP 10 NEWS PICKS IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2002 Score – Title 43 Apple releases the iToilet (a hilarious parody) https://www.raytracer25.btinternet.co.uk@a2.tc/?eaa5 43 Departing CEO of RealNames reveals juicy details https://scriptingnews.userland.com@5a0.tc/?f275 36 New type of Web spy beacon is virtually undetectable https://www.news.com@3n.be/?fe2d 36 eBay stops 24-year-old woman from auctioning herself https://www.it-director.com@1c.to/?105fd 33 Here are the week’s best April Fool’s Web jokes … https://www.bayarea.com@e.la/?111b5 32 World’s best joke declared via 3-month Internet vote https://www.laughlab.co.uk@n6.be/?11985 30 … and the top 10 April Fool’s hoaxes of all time https://www.museumofhoaxes.com@836.as/?1253d 29 Microsoft axes RealNames; keywords will stop working https://www.sfgate.com@a6r.ms/?130f5 29 Darwin Award candidate reveals risks of online games https://www.ohio.com@th.gs/?138c5 29 You’ll like this: Dave Barry reviews Windows XP (Registration required) https://www.miami.com@54.vg/?14095 THE BOTTOM 3 LEAST-CLICKED NEWS PICKS 0.1 Buyers say timely delivery, ease of return are key https://www.eurekalert.org@n6.be/?ee8d 1.0 Study: Online ads slumping no more than offline ads https://www.electricnews.net@a2.tc/?f65d 1.1 Red Hat releases secure Stronghold Enterprise Server https://www.internetnews.com@5a0.tc/?10215 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – THE TOP 10 WACKY WEB WEEK STORIES Score – Title 120 VW Bug transforms itself from parked car into robot https://members.cox.net@e.la/?fa45 112 Mini-putt game simulates golf course using Flash https://www.people.fas.harvard.edu@n6.be/?109e5 053 Antcity’s unfortunate inhabitants feel a “flash” https://www.bossmonster.com@836.as/?12155 052 This page cannot be f—ing displayed https://www.clint.ca@1c.to/?134dd 052 NASA videotapes its weightless liquid experiments https://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov@a6r.ms/?1447d 043 The deadly follies of Stick-Figure Warning Man https://www.capnwacky.com@th.gs/?1541d 035 The Industorious Clock Flash animation https://www.yugop.com@54.vg/?163bd 033 Panasonic’s comical Flash animations for Net access https://newtown.hi-ho.ne.jp@1c.to/?17745 030 “Pedestrian killer” Flash animation https://killer.flaboratorium.org@n6.be/?17b2d 029 Microsoft and its new spinoff, Patchsoft https://www.satirewire.com@a2.tc/?182fd THE BOTTOM 3 LEAST-CLICKED WACKY WEB WEEK STORIES 3.32 Harris Poll labels Web surfers as cyberchrondriacs https://cyberatlas.internet.com@5a0.tc/?10dcd 4.30 Popjustice’s spurious band-split Web engine https://www.popjustice.com@3n.be/?12d0d 4.86 Transparent aluminum is a reality! Says sci-fi site https://www.sci-fighter.com@1c.to/?17f15 COMMENTARY: The most popular item published in Wacky Web Week was clicked 12 times more than the average link. This far outstrips the most popular links in any other section. I’d love to hear your thoughts about this. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – REMEMBER: You have until Sunday, Aug. 4, 2002, to send your comments and be entered to win one of the prizes. HERE’S THE SPECIAL ADDRESS TO SEND YOUR COMMENTS: mailto:WhatNow@SecretsPro.com – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – E-BUSINESS SECRETS: Our mission is to bring you such useful and thought-provoking information about the Web that you actually look forward to reading your e-mail. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: E-Business Secrets is written by InfoWorld contributing editor Brian Livingston (http://SecretsPro.com). Research director is Vickie Stevens. Brian has published 10 books, including: Windows Me Secrets: https://www.amazon.com@isbn.at/?0764534939 Windows 2000 Secrets: https://www.amazon.com@isbn.at/?0764534130 Win a gift certificate good for a book, CD, or DVD of your choice if you’re the first to send a tip Brian prints. mailto:Brian@SecretsPro.com Technology Industry