Pointer Pointer

Last June, a new online time waster took its place beside cute kitty pictures and Facebook's endless stream of messages: . In the first four days of its existence, the site was already visited over a milion times. And no wonder: the concept is as simple as it is effective. Place your cursor anywhere on the screen, hold it still for a few seconds (the lag in load time was purposefully created), and a picture appears in which someone points exactly at the white arrow on your screen. When you move your mouse a new image is loaded, and once again someone is pointing to the cursor in its new location. The pictures seem to have been downloaded at random: lots of partying students, a few artistic poses and some truly surprising pointing stances. But the simple concept, created by Amsterdam-based experimental interactive design studio Moniker, is built on an astute observation regarding the modern-day web: the cursor is disappearing, made obsolete by the touchscreens on our smart phones and tablets. Pointing is passé - these days, it's all about swiping. With , the Internet is pointing back at us - while it still can.