Features

www.thefirstpost.co.uk
Stylishly eschewing the current trend to cram as much as possible onto the homepage, The First Post achieves the rare distinction of being both superbly designed and written. Dubbed an "online daily magazine", The First Post combines original, thought-provoking features with a diligently compiled digest of daily newspapers. Waffle isn't tolerated from the site's impressive roster of writers: articles are considerately concise and rarely short of acerbic opinion. The striking photo features are worth a visit alone.

www.fark.com
Fark is no ordinary news site: it brings together the strangest, funniest, most unlikely news stories from local and national sources around the world, and hosts irreverent discussions of each story courtesy of a loyal corps of regular visitors. The site is also renowned for its regular Photoshop competitions, where an image is supplied and visitors are given free rein to show off their retouching skills and sense of humour. Other contests include caption competitions, audio-editing challenges and exhibitions of users' original photography.

www.newsnow.co.uk
NewsNow is a huge news resource that's updated every five minutes, drawing material from dozens of sources, including leading online publications, newswires and even blogs. There are hundreds of predetermined newsfeeds to choose from, including 38 IT topics, allowing you to follow the latest headlines on Windows, Linux or GPS, for example. You can also search headlines, although, irritatingly, the free part of the site allows you to search only on a single keyword. Simple, effective and a resource you'll be checking every day.