(pics: Einstein, please!) NOTE TO SUBS: I'm aware that E=mc2 ought to have the "2" in superscript, but not sure if your text system supports that, so I've left it as a plain old 2. Please amend it if that's possible. Ta. THE INTERNET COLUMN By Giles Turnbull [Standfirst] Albert Einstein's original papers, including the historic E=mc2 equation, have been digitised for the web. Giles Turnbull rifles through them. ALBERT'S NEW HOME ONLINE Albert Einstein was one of the greatest thinkers of modern times, and now you can get inside his mind through a web-based museum of his work. The Einstein Archives website (alberteinstein.info) isn't new, but it has recently won funding from the UK-based body that digitised many of Einstein's documents, and as a result is planning to make thousands of them available on the web. At the moment, the website is a little sparse and hard to explore. You'll find the most interesting stuff in the Gallery section (the link is on the lower left of the home page, blue on a blue background which makes it a little hard to see). Here, you'll find some of Einstein's academic papers, personal journals and travel diaries, letters to and from loved ones and colleagues, and much more. Each individual document has been scanned in great detail, giving you the chance to zoom in close (use the red slider on the right) and examine the words, even the texture of the paper they were written on. If you want to see what "E=mc2" looked like the first time it was ever written down, you can do that here. It nestles between two tightly-written paragraphs of explanation - the greatest discoveries in science never looked so humdrum. The web is ideally suited to museum sites like this, because it combines a searchable index of the documents and all the text on them with high-resolution images of the original papers. As a result, you get to see those papers as they were written, but you can still search for specifics if you know what you're after. Although the site design looks dated, Einstein's papers are a welcome addition to the web, alongside similar collections for Sir Isaac Newton (www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk), Charles Darwin (darwin-online.org.uk/) and Nikola Tesla (www.tesla-museum.org/). CAT'S EYE The Eyenimal (www.eyenimal.com) is a clever new gadget for pet owners. It's a tiny video camera that clips on to your cat's (or dog's) collar, recording where they go and what they get up to when not under your nose. It has sufficient battery and storage space to record continuously for two and a half hours. You simply plug it into your home computer's USB socket to extract the video and recharge the battery. NOT BLOCKED Weibo is China's version of Twitter, but like most of the Chinese internet experience it is carefully monitored and censored by the authorities. Weibo presents an interesting challenge because of the sheer scale of the site and number of messages passing through. As a result, the government has a mysterious list of banned words that aren't allowed on the service at all. Blocked on Weibo (http://blockedonweibo.tumblr.com/) is a fascinating blog that explains what the banned words are, and why they're not allowed. SETTLE UP Settle is a Birmingham-based digital money experiment that's just started a beta test phase. Use a standard debit card to top up your Settle account with cash, and then use an app on your smartphone to pay for things locally without carrying the cash in your pocket. The app can display a barcode on its screen that you simply swipe over the store's barcode reader, and the correct sum is instantly debited from your Settle account. If you live in or near Birmingham and want to try it out, sign up at settleapp.com. BROWSING AROUND .... A QUICK GAME OF GOLF :: The R&A, supporting golf worldwide http://www.randa.org/ :: Online shop for golfers http://www.bunker-mentality.com/ :: Golf digest news site http://www.golfdigest.com/ :: America's golf.com http://www.golf.com/ :: The PGA Tour http://www.pga.com/home/ :: A lively forum at the Sand Trap http://thesandtrap.com/ THING OF THE WEEK :: One youngster's first ski jump devour.com/video/first-ski-jump/ Giles Turnbull has a website at gilest.org End