http://visualroute.visualware.com

VisualRoute is a graphical traceroute test to any IP address, which can help identify network performance or routing problems and identify IP address locations.

http://visualroute.visualware.com

www.runescape.com

Well, despite the fact that we've had more than 3 kids in the house playing this against each other on several occasions, I didn't know that Runescape runs as a Java applet until Gary mentioned it last week.

For those that you that don't know, Runescape is a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game) like World of Warcraft, which runs quickly and uses 3D graphics to display characters, locations and allow you to interact with other players anywhere in the world.

www.runescape.com

Super Mario Brothers

Not much of a business case for this applet, but it helps to demonstrate the wide variety of uses for Java applets: this is the Super Mario Brothers game in an applet.

http://www.nintendo8.com/game/629/super_mario_brothers/

Video Player

A page displaying a video of a Linux Magazine speaker about Apache 3.0, but the window displaying the video is a Java applet, which is surprising as Java's multimedia support has been less than impressive for a long time.

The page is also using LiveConnect to call JavaScript methods in the page, and seems to be including Prototype and JSON files too, so it's a good demonstration of applets interacting with other elements on the web page, something we covered in our JavaOne session earlier this month.

http://streaming.linux-magazin.de/events/apacheconfree/archive/rfielding/frames-java.htm

(Found via http://www.adam-bien.com/roller/abien/entry/it_s_not_flash_it1)

www.jscreenfix.com

JScreenFix is a very useful Applet: it rapidly turns on and off random pixels to prevent monitor 'burn-in' and to fix 'stuck pixels' on LCD monitors. If you've had stuck pixels you'll know how annoying they can be - run this applet for 20 mins and you should get rid of them. How cool is that?

www.jscreenfix.com

Scenegraph

Project Scenegraph aims to provide scenegraph functionality at the Java level, and has a few cool JavaFX demo applets using the SceneGraph API.

You'll need the very latest Java 6 Update 10 plugin to run these demos, and the page will take a little time to work as it has a number of other JARs to download.

https://scenegraph-demos.dev.java.net/demo-applets.html

www.uk.map24.com

Map 24 provide interactive street maps, complete with searching by address, points of interest and full directions, using an applet.

They presented a very good technical session on applets at last year's JavaOne, where I seem to remember that they said they are one of the most popular applet sites and are responsible for a lot for the JRE download traffic that Sun gets.

Try it out - the applet loads very quickly, is very fast at rendering maps and very responsive to use, so it's a great example to use to dispel the 'applets are slow' myth.

www.uk.map24.com