One of our greatest claims to fame was the creation of a Science and Technology portal entitled
21st Century which enjoyed huge success in the early 00's with its zesty review of new technological products and services. At one stage the portal was receiving over 250,000 visitors a month and this gave rise to a number of unique opportunities including BBC TV and radio appearances.
The website has since undergone a number of incarnations and is currently being re-developed. Below you will find some of the press reviews and accolades received for this unique website.
21stCentury.co.uk
Double page spread in Practical Internet
Issue 49, December 2000
Were you under the impression that the new millennium started last year?
Think again...
The 21st Century is upon us. No, not that one - this one. 21stCentury.co.uk is a great collection of futuristic gadgets, toys, free online games and amazing cars with more fun than you can shake a book of Nostradamus' prophecies at.
21stCentury.co.uk is essentially a science and technology portal, covering everything from cars to fashion. It's a sci-fi tech-head's dream, a kind of Tomorrow's World on the Web, but the site is presented in a very accessible way. Worth checking out just for the robot butlers (we've waited for them to come on the market since Buck Rogers), there are some unexpected and interesting things that crop up.
21stCentury.co.uk has biographies of notable scientific luminaries, from Lao Tzu to Galileo and Douglas Adams and there are works from artists who have painted visions of the future. The Places section includes all the best Millennium projects including the Lowry, the Tate Modern and the Eden Project. The Dome is there as well, but you can't have everything.
The ubiquitous Humour section is well put-together; the spoof tech-support query Girlfriend 7 ("I've upgraded Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0 and it won't let me run Pokernight 4.3 any more...") is particularly good. As for the cars, well: read, look, drool...
NEWS OF THE WORLD - Links to news about science, technology, the Internet, space, and the environment (among other things) with live audio and video streams for those who can handle them.
TECHNOLOGY - Gadgets, essentially. It's possible to find a robot butler, an underwater laptop computer and an automatic lawnmower. You can't buy the items on the site, but there are links to the relevant places. There are also technology articles here on subjects such as the testing of the world's first military laser (a frightening piece of hardware, actually).
PLACES - Covers information about different places of scientific interest around the country - like the Eden Project, the world's largest greenhouse and a project that restores pride in the word "dome".There are links to other sites of interest and information on how to book and get to the various places, as well as a concise summary of what each place is all about and what you can do when you get there.
PEOPLE - A look at the people who have played a prominent role in scientific advancement and hear what they had to say. People like Lao Tzu, a man who rode off into the desert on a water-buffalo, or Galileo Galilei whose support for the heliocentric theory got him into trouble with the Pope (the scamp).
SUBSCRIBE - Keep up to date with the latest news from 21st Century in the usual way; input your email address and wait for those messages to arrive.
GAMES - All free and downloadable, including Pong 2000 (a classic) and a photo-based shoot-em-up. All these are entertaining enough but there's nothing like an online Rubik's Cube to remind you how far mankind has advanced in the last millennium.
ONLINE CHATROOMS - Talk about anything you like on the site; there's a chatroom for each section. It wasn't very busy when we had a look, but we're sure by the time you read this there'll be thousands of eager scientists sharing their knowledge with the world (probably).
21stCentury.co.uk
Best Site in the Science and Nature Category
The Computer Active Web Guide, Winter 2000
If you've a general interest in science and technology, but not necessarily the expertise, then this is the site to visit. It is an online magazine covering popular science stories. When we visited, the lead feature was on exotic and interesting production cars, as well as concept vehicles, some of which are downright ridiculous. Making use of the capabilities of the web, the site seems to have covered every exotic or unusual car out there, listed by manufacturer. There are more technology stories, showing science in action, as well as features that delve deeper into scientific discoveries. Such as the ins and outs of manufacturing products from atoms. One area that everyone should visit is the games section. Here you can play an online version of the Rubiks Cube, Pong 2000, Pacman and more. Other topics delve into fashion, music, art and people such as Isaac Newton and Andy Warhol. All with a science angle of course.
VERDICT: Well written, easy to read science related stories that make the most of the capabilities of publishing on the internet.
21stCentury.co.uk - Top Technology Site
6 month winner April - September 2001
The new millennium is only just beginning but already it looks like being a time when immense changes will continue to occur to our lifestyle, transportation and communication methods. The rate of technological advancement is increasing in huge leaps and bounds every day and it's becoming harder and harder to keep up with these advances.
21st Century is an excellent site for keeping informed about new developments and include_files everything from cars and robots through to fashion. It's easy to navigate and has plenty of pictures to illustrate the digestible chunks of text and historical profiles.
Other features include an impressive selection of links to useful science and technology sites, some fun old-school-style games and a forum for posting questions of philosophical points of view.
21stCentury.co.uk
Yahoo Pic of the Week
27 November 2000
Here at Picks Central we sometimes like to dust off the old crystal ball and look into the future. The chaps at 21stcentury.co.uk do much the same thing, but don't worry - you won't have to cross their palms with silver first. Here you'll find futuristic vehicles and news on the latest gadgets and gizmos. Some areas are surprisingly old skool, like the Trekkie jokes and airbrush art galleries, but all in all this site gives a glimpse of things to come. Our favourite diversion was provided by the games area which offers snazzy updates of classics like Rubick's Cube and Pacman.
Fashion UK
12 December 2000
Ever since the Casio calculator watch, gadgets have been accepted as must-have accessories for the microwave oven (I want it now) generation. To keep up with the times, those that feel like they're tagging behind on the technology front can swot up online at 21st Century. The website is crammed with everything you need to know about techie toys, people of the century and it even has a fashion section so you see what you should be wearing in the very near shiny future.
21stCentury.co.uk
The Alchemist - Chemweb Picks
5 January 2001
Now that we are into the real 21st Century, a timely visit to a site that attempts to bring all the latest science and technology news, gadgets and gizmos to the public is required. 21st Century - Your Portal to the Future is an innovative and informative site, launched in May 2000, that is very well presented and extremely user-friendly. The portal pages are not gimmicky which is surprising considering their content, in fact, the information is presented in such a succinct manner that even non-scientists would find the content amusing.
Now over to the fun bit, that is, the content. There is a lot to choose from but here is a small selection of what's on offer. The News section is split into 'Science', 'Technology', 'Internet', 'Space', 'Environment' and 'General' and is a round-up of links to other sites such as ScienceDaily or Space.com amongst others which have all the latest news/headlines in these areas. There are also live video streams and live audio streams to selected sites such as NASA Television (which requires Real Player) and Discovery.com, respectively.
The Science section had features that ranged from consciousness to nanotechnology, written by freelancers or adapted from books, on the day I looked. The Technology section "showcases a multi platform of technological breakthroughs and revolutionary discoveries" and had features on the Moller M400 Skycar, a car that takes off and lands vertically making getting to work easier; or the WetPC Underwater Computer, thought to be the world's first wearable underwater computer.
The People section has biographies of various famous anthropologists, mathematicians, physical scientists, technologists, psychologists and many more. Each biography is accompanied by a picture of the subject and related links to other sites or homepages. The Places section highlights various museums, science centres and projects that the reader might find interesting. You may never need to visit another motor show again as the Cars section on this site has all the latest on cars and other vehicles of the future, the gems on offer when I looked included the AC Ariel Atom, a minimalistic sports car that goes like the wind at an affordable price and the Peugeot e-doll, a strange little car (only 2.5 m long) with no doors (not very good when it's cold or raining then!), it even has red, green, blue and yellow balls fitted in the back, are these an added extra I wonder?
One of the best sections for me was the Games one, here you can play snazzy updated classics like Rubick's Cube, Pacman and Tetris amongst other addictive ones.
There are sections on Robotics, Humour, Music and Fashion as well, all with a science angle. All of the sections also have chatrooms and forums. This site has so much to offer, so go on, take a peek now and I promise you'll stay for a bit longer than you first thought you would.
The New Scientist
8 July 2001
21st Century - Find out where we're at.
The site offers a wide selection of scientific concepts concerning the formation of the universe and include_files summaries of Newtonian mechanics, quantum theory, The Big Bang, black holes, relativity, singularities and other related material. Potted summaries of nanotechnology, natural selection, SETI and much more are all here, attractively illustrated, and make for a nice site to potter around for a little less than a century but for a few moments more than the average.
There's a nice basic 'definition' of consciousness and where our understanding and philosophy have led us. But, consciousness, like many other phenomena are like jazz, as Louis Armstrong said: 'Man, if you gotta ask what it is, you're never gonna know.'
Issue 99
February 2001
A new British science site,
21stcentury.co.uk looks likely to compete with these big boys one day.
At the time of writing, the site's technology section leads with NASA's planned interstellar probe, to be built by the Marshall Space Flight Center and launched in 2010. Ish.
Unlike the more mature US sites, this is Big Buttons City - there's a thudding great tablet for each section, giving you a scientific slant on people, places, music, fashion, cars or art.
Each contains interesting homegrown features with relevant links - in most cases to the horse's mouth. There's no obvious distinction between highbrow and lowbrow content, and it's all cleanly presented, well written and illustrated.
When the UK gets proper grown up bandwidth and flat-rate surf charges, this site will be able to expand into enemy territory.
Site Spotlight
6 December 2000
21st Century is a futuristic and suitably super-slick pop science and technology portal. As well as an ecletic mix of well-written articles, the site offers reviews of the latest gadgets, gizmos and games. It has a range of categories to choose from, including people, places, concept cars and music, which attempt to further the creators' stated mission 'to merge multiple streams of interest together in a stylish and futuristic way'. If you have no interest in the splitting of the atom, genetic engineering or Sony's AIBO robotic dog (left), then this site will bore you to tears but if nanotechnology's your bag, you'll be in heaven. I love it.
Net Surfer Digest
Future Portal
November 2000
There's something unique about the British sensibility that allows Brits to honor the past while embracing the future. Look at the Millennium Dome - well, maybe that's not a good example. This site, however, is.
Gathering a group of business forecasters, scientists, and "futurologists" (how do you get that job?), 21stcentury.co.uk offers the greatest and soon-to-be latest breakthroughs in cars, technology, fashion (if wearable computers can be called fashion), and society with dry succinctness.
Brief bios fill in the uninitiated on who's hot in the new era - brush up on your Freud and Picasso, they're big again - and where else can you hear about personal robots and the Honda Spocket at the same time? It's Popular Electronics for Generation Z.
NSDL Report
30 August 2002
This fascinating Web site explores many new technologies that seem like they came from a science fiction movie. All of the features are real, and, while they are not all guaranteed successes, they are certainly interesting to read about. One of the innovations that is generating the most attention is wearable computing. The detailed article defines the characteristics of wearable computers and describes their operational modes and attributes. Another remarkable item is the solar powered race car built by engineering students at the University of Michigan. All technologies covered on this site include links to additional related information.
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