The Web giveth and giveth again. Here are our favorite recent online offerings that have given animals a reason to chortle or cheer:

• Are you a Mac or a PC veggie? Hint: If you're young and hip, you're probably both.
• In other Apple news, even the iPad would rather go naked than wear fur.
• The mouse (poison) that roared. We're not pulling your leg—or your finger—about why a man who swallowed rodent poison needs a hazmat suit. 
• And you thought your local butcher shop was gross. 
• Wallace & Gromit, eat your heart out. Israeli artists' feat of clay adorably—and touchingly—promotes animal adoption.

 
Written by Michelle Sherrow

We've never understood why any child needs to poke around inside an amphibian, but holy "Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County": iTunes now offers a virtual frog dissection iPad app! In honor of this sophisticated and humane alternative to dissection, PETA is presenting its creator, Emantras Interactive Technologies, with a Mark Twain Ethical Science Award.

Every year, millions of frogs, cats, pigs, and other animals suffer and are killed for dissection even though modern non-animal teaching methods such as interactive computer programs are educationally superior, more economical, and safer (do you really want your kid handling formaldehyde?). Now, thanks to Emantras' new app—which can be downloaded on iTunes for $4.99—students who are lucky enough to own iPads can use touch-enabled virtual dissection tools to explore and manipulate a frog's organs in 3D.

PETA's Mark Twain Ethical Science Award recognizes its namesake's staunch opposition to the abuse of animals in experiments. Hailed as America's first animal advocate, Twain said of animal experimentation, "The pains which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity towards it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further."

Teaching students anatomy without harming animals? We think Mark Twain would approve. And thanks to the award, media outlets are abuzz about this new leap toward keeping classrooms cruelty-free. So how about channeling your inner Twain and taking action to cut out dissection? While you're doing that, I'm going to light up my corn-cob pipe and while away the afternoon dreaming about how much iWant an iPad.

Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth

Sure, Apple banned our Be Nice to Bunnies app after catching a glimpse of sexy Stephanie Pratt in the buff, but PETA doesn't hold it against Steve Jobs. In fact, we think that Jobs and the rest of the Apple crew are pretty great after learning that the App Store said "no way" to an app called iSealClub—a game in which users wield a metal-tipped club and earn points by bashing seals to death.

We'll stand side-by-side with Apple in declaring that it's "objectionable" to make light of the bloody slaughter of tens of thousands of baby seals in Canada, and we're sending Apple CEO Steve Jobs a thank-you note along with some yummy vegan chocolate seals as a token of our appreciation.

People all over the world—including President Obama, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the entire European Union (EU), and so many others—have condemned the seal hunt, and the market for dead animals' skins has tanked. It sounds like Canadian seal killers would be better off playing iPhone games than spending their time bludgeoning baby animals. In fact, I can direct them to a list of apps that could teach them a thing or two about compassion.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor