Each week, the Browser features some pop-culture places on the World Wide Web offering the coolest in free interactive sounds and action.
Imvite the site
Boasting “We’ve got it all,” the multicultural, multimedia portal Imvite (www.imvite. com) can consume a visitor’s life with access to more than 6,000 television channels, radio stations, games and viral videos from more than 240 countries and territories.
The almost too-overwhelming site’s opening screen is cluttered with image icons and lists providing immediate access to programming ranging from a “Three Stooges” short to an “Addams Family” episode to live classic rock radio.
Although menus and lists abound, leading to areas such as baseball, politics, pets and soap operas, I suggest jumping to the Blog section to find out what other viewers have discovered in this gold mine of entertainment. In seconds, I was able to listen to a Jack Benny radio program from 1941, watch a group of music videos with a secret-agent motif and scour a viewer’s top 10 English-language online television stations.
Exploring on my own, I quickly found 64 continuously running channels composed of clips devoted to topics such as magic, celebrities and New Age music videos.
Formats to watch or listen to are determined by the original source material and include the standard Flash, QuickTime, Windows Media and Real Player plug-ins.
I have to mention the Games section. This unending sea of challenges includes categories such as puzzles, adventure and sports that lead to quick rounds of Crazy Pool (knock pairs of colored balls together to make them disappear), the classic Space Invaders and Romanius (a side-scrolling gladiator battle game).
If that’s not enough, the company’s Imvite Messenger for the PC owner guarantees to overwhelm a visitor’s life.
A small software download to the desktop provides a customizable messenger/player that not only enables the registered user to talk to friends from all of the major messenger services (ICQ, AOL and MSN) but also gives immediate access to all of the television and radio shows Imvite provides plus RSS feeds from some major newspapers and the ability to chat or simultaneously watch programming with anyone on the Imvite Messenger system.
I simultaneously watched the Polish TV station TRWAM, news station Boston 22 and CN8 from the Comcast Network via windows plopped on my computer screen.
The configuration of the site and messenger can take some tweaking, but once they’re up and running, even the most multitasking, multiple-personality cyber-surfer in the family will be exhausted by the amount of stuff to view and do.
Seek the Web
Twentieth Century Fox’s film “The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising” does not hit theaters until Oct. 5, but the studio already is looking for an audience through a multimedia scavenger hunt.
Based on the second in author Susan Cooper’s series of fantasy books, the story involves a boy who discovers he is the last in a group of warriors and must find six elemental signs to challenge the forces of the Dark.
The collection of artifacts also is part of a marketing campaign tied to the film’s official Web site (www.seekthe signs.com).
Starting late last month and continuing to the movie’s release date, Fox will hide 25 combinations of the signs in promotional materials that, when entered in the right order on the site, will unlock 25 pieces of multimedia content.
Everything from billboards to movie trailers may contain sequences that will release exclusive clips, photos, downloads and behind-the-scenes footage on the site.
For example, symbols appear on a touch-sensitive postcard handed out at this year’s San Diego Comic Con when the owner rubs his finger over parts of the black sheet. He then goes to the site, drags the icons in sequence onto a template and unlocks an interview with actor Christopher Eccleston, who plays the film’s villain.
Registered users also can embed a cool animated icon on their own sites to show others their progress in the hunt.
Have a cool site for the online multimedia masses? Write to Joseph Szadkowski at the Browser, The Washington Times, 3600 New York Ave. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002; call 202/636-3016; or send e-mail (jszadkowski@ washingtontimes.com). Joseph also writes a Web- exclusive column for The Washington Times’ Web site where he reviews educational software and family-friendly video games. Check it out at www3.washington times.com/familytimes/ romperroom.htm.
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