Hi, tech!

Brought to you by our good friend the Internet.

My celebration of technology continues with two groovy web sites that will blow the speakers right off your computer. The first is Dictionaraoke, where you can choose a song and then listen to talking dictionaries from around the world belt out the lyrics. Click & grin.

The second is Pandora, which draws upon its vast music database to create a "radio" station that caters specifically to your tastes. You tell it the name of a band or a song that you like and it goes and finds similar music for you. I told Pandora I like Rockapella, and it returned not only the expected Nylons, Bobs, and House Jacks, but also Toxic Audio, Petra Hayden, and Bjork. Click on the album cover art of a song Pandora offers you to see if you can buy it from iTunes, and to help the program grow by teaching it why you liked or disliked a certain selection. Totally cool. You can try 10 hours' worth of the service for free or subscribe for unlimited use. I forked over $36 for a year's worth of expanding my horizons. Check it out!

P.S. Make sure your speakers are tuned on.