As Digital Media Manager I am inundated with press releases everyday proclaiming that this or that website is the next big thing.

And in their desire to tap an as yet undiscovered gold mine new web companies often find the strangest angles from which to market themselves, and even stranger ideas for websites.

Take, for example, LeisureDistrict.net, a virtual shopping and leisure district on the web, the interface (homepage) for which looks like a community with shops and libraries dotted about on a green hill. You choose the section you wish to visit by clicking on the corresponding building.

The new press release from LeisureDistrict.net that landed on my desk boasts the headline 'LeisureDistrict.net introduces Ancient China to the dot com era' and describes how LeisureDistrict.net consulted a top Feng Shui consultant to 'redesign its virtual district in a bid to maximise the fortune and happiness of its 1.9 million online community'. And, allegedly, it has worked, and LeisureDistrict.net's traffic has increased 100,000.

I wonder if they have a mirror next to the exit icon.

Just as bizarre, and a little bit more macabre, are the increasing number of press releases I've been receiving from companies related to funerals. Some proclaim pages to store eulogies and epitaphs, which I think is taking virtual reality a little far.

However, one that did strike as being tastefully presented was FUNERALassist.co.uk, which aimed at 'providing a sensitive approach to what to do' in the event of the death of loved one, 'from finding a funeral director to sorting out probate.'

The recent Love Bug virus has given many PC companies the excuse to display an uncanny knack of shutting the stable door after the virus has bolted.

F-Secure (of www.f-secure.com) sent me one such press release with the catchy slogan 'A Little Computer Foreplay Should Stop the Love Bug Biting'. It goes on to describe how to turn off one of the features on your PC (Visual Basic Script) which most viruses rely on. This is all well and good, but now that I know how to stop viruses why would I want to by their products? (And, incidentally, I'm not that convinced by this wonderful panacea for all virtual ills.)