One of the hottest topics in Washington right now (well, aside from that other one) is the high-tech industry's push to increase the quota of foreign workers it can hire each year. Seems recruiters are having a hard time filling positions with qualified domestic workers. While this new site may not eradicate that problem, it might make hiring workers a little easier. Rather than registering with the handful of top online recruiting sites and managing multiple postings yourself, you can have BIR do the legwork for you. Simply fill in your job description and select your target job sites, and BIR will place your ad. Fill the position? No need to pull your ad from 15 sites: Simply tell BIR and it'll get pulled.

Michelle Shocked sang of being "anchored down in Anchorage." If you're going michigas in Michigan trying to get your art seen, heard, or experienced, this new Web site might be the key to lifting you out of obscurity. Art Serve Michigan, a year-old group of arts advocates, now has an online easel. This clean, colorful, well-designed spot posts info about various grants and scholarships available to artists; descriptions of when and where statewide arts conferences are taking place; and galleries showcasing local artists' work.

Trying to find a particular newsgroup can often be an exercise in frustration and futility. Enter Supernews' new Web-Reading News interface. Currently in beta, the site lets you use its search engine to filter newsgroups by keyword. Rather than transporting you to a newsgroup reader to peruse the results of your search, Wren then lets you view the contents directly from within your browser. Simple and effective.

Yahoo branches out yet again in its bid to be the portal of choice for Web surfers everywhere. The latest site, Yahoo Movies, offers a selection of movie news and reviews, new-release info, related Web events, box-office rankings, and more. If you're into movies but can't take all the plug-ins and other page puffery usually associated with official sites, this one will at least give you the skinny before you dive in.