Webupon

Work Together

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This is a website designed by the Swedish armed forces to encourage and foster team work.  You can join a team of three others on line, or copy and paste a link in to your IM in order to get three friends involved.  The aim of the game is to keep the game running for as long as you can by passing certain tests presented to you individually and as a team.  It can run for less than a minute or – as you increase your ability to work together – for as long as it takes.  Perhaps the best thing about this website is that you can see – if you are quick – what the other three members of your team are doing.  Their mouse movements are visible on your screen, as yours are to them. You are judged on memory, special thinking, multitasking and concentration.

Imagine

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A change in perspective can change everything.  This tells a single story from four different perspectives – which you can flip around as often and as quickly as you wish.  It is the story of a heist at an art gallery.  Only when you have seen the story from all four perspectives can you fully understand what has happened.  Alternatively you may get another story entirely – it is pretty much the luck of the draw.  The flash animation and video integration on this site is quite remarkable given what is being done here.  You could think of this working in a similar way to the TV series 24 but in this case it is you who moves the screens around, not the TV executive.  This is a marvellous example of what imagination can do to push the boundaries of Web 2.

We Choose The Moon

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If you follow mankind’s attempts to explore our solar system then you will love this site.  To coincide with the fortieth anniversary of man’s landing on the moon, this awesome site tracks that forty year history in a marvellous tableau of flash generated scenes.  The visuals of the take off are – literally – out of this world but there is much more to this site than that.  You can tell almost immediately that this has been a labor of love for everyone involved – it is just so meticulously and beautifully done.  So if you have ever wanted to know what it was like to go to the moon you can experience it here – in real time.  Quite simply stupendous.

Dust – in Stereoscopic 3D

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If you have a pair of 3D glasses then you can really immerse yourself in to this site.  Imagine that you are miniaturised and able to see the particles of dust, bacteria and other nasty bits and pieces that inhabit your ducts and vents and you get an idea what this site is all about.  All in all it is a little like becoming your own version of The Incredible Shrinking Man.  Again, the flash in this website is quite astonishing – particularly if you do happen to own a pair of those glasses that you discarded somewhere after you saw Avatar.  Don’t worry if you can’t find them either – you can see this site in bog standard 2D as well. The mites with the moving legs will still make you grimace.

Drag the Model

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This is just good old fashioned fun, but all thanks to the wonderful advances of flash technology.  It is the website of a world famous producer of denim clothing but that is irrelevant when you get to the fun part – you unzip the model’s coat and that leads you to different screens where you can drag him this way and that – and the poor old chap has to follow whatever you do with your mouse.  Only a few years ago this sort of online experience would not have been possible – and it may be fairly mindless.  Do we care?

Snapshots of Provence

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This is simply stunning.  Provence is one of the most beautiful regions of France and – so it can be argued – in the world.  What you get here is a collection of images and sounds beautifully flash driven, which combine to give you a visual and aural feast.  It is not just the fact that the images are gorgeous and the sounds engaging – there are some fabulous scenes of stop motion too.  Plus, you just sit back and marvel at where the internet is heading.  This is seamless and beautifully constructed and a visit to Provence online may just be what you need if you want to get away from it all for a while but cannot leave home. 

Summit of the Summit

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You start at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and plunge to the bottom (as does your scroll bar on your screen).  You can then get back up to the summit following in the footsteps of a group of climbers who went up there to raise awareness for the global clean water crisis.  This site boasts of being the same height as the mountain – almost two thousand feet – and that is how it may feel at times.  The crispness and speed of the site is amazing and you wonder how we used to be entertained by websites before this technology came along (or not). 

Magic Mouse Movements

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If you prefer a flash driven experience that is a little more sedate then try this.  It may take a little while to load but then you get a marvellous lilting melody with lovely plaintive vocals while you position your mouse wherever you want and follow the stream of music.  Just when you think it is just going to be a straight line zooming across your screen then something quite magical happens.  One that you may well want to visit several times, this is a marvellous stress buster.

Jim Carrey

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The actor’s website is just as odd as you might expect, given the range of roles he has pursued over the year.  It really goes against anything you might expect from a Hollywood star but if there was one whose website was going to be different then it is Carrey.  It pushes the boundaries of what the internet is able to deliver at the moment, too, in terms of how flash can be used to enliven and animate.  This is an intuitive site with no clear leaders – you have to pretty much guess where to go next.  However, when you do click on something be patient while the page loads – this website is quite an extraordinary feast of visuals.  Keep your eyes peeled.

Lascaux

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The Lascaux Caves contains some of the most exquisite prehistoric cave paintings on the planet.  Unfortunately they are no longer open to the general public for fear that the continued exposure to our moist breath will destroy the delicate paintings.  Step forward the French Ministry of Culture and Information who allow us in to the cave to explore – if only virtually.  Using state of the art flash animation, this tour will not disappoint the history buff in you.  It is also a strangely peaceful experience and so perhaps a good one to end with here.

Postscript

We appreciate that you can’t please all of the people all of the time. So, if you find nothing here you like, you may on these other sites.

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Wow!  Ten Awesome Interactive Wesbites

When Flash Goes Evil. 10 Online Nastimations for your Perverse Pleasure