Surfing the Internet is as fun and exciting as the exhilarating water sport of the same name. But just like trying to get up on your surfboard, a few tips and pointers can save you from learning lessons the hard way and make your surfing more enjoyable. Let's give you some exciting places to practice surfing the net. Each item in bold is the URL, or address, that you need to enter into your web browser to visit the site described. Here comes a big wave--line up your keyboard and get ready for the ride of your life!
Vocaltec's
home page is where you will learn about Internet phone, the hottest spot
on the net. Internet phone is a program that allows you to use the net to
speak to anyone else on internet (anywhere in the world) if they also have
the Internet phone program--free of long distance charges. In fact, if you
have an local unlimited use internet account (see June/July Computer
Credible), the call is completely free. That's right, I could call my
daughter Catrina in Korea and talk to her as long as I wish for free. I speak
into a microphone attached to my computer, and Vocaltec's program transmits
my voice over Internet to her computer, where the Vocaltec program converts
it back to speech and plays it over her computer's speakers. With a full
duplex sound card, the conversation can go both directions simultaneously.
A demo version of the program (fully functional, but limited to 60 seconds
per call) is available free at the URL listed above.
Internet Shopping Network
is a home shopping service on Internet. Wait!, don't tune me out. There are
some incredible bargains on this service. I went there to find Omaha Steaks
International (ships gourmet steaks to your home in dry ice) and found that
I purchased my second 1.2 gigabyte drive too soon. They are offering a 4
gigabyte SCSI-2 hard drive for $699.99. This site offers everything from
flowers to food to electronics at low mail order prices via Internet. This
URL is worth the time to investigate.
RealAudio shortens
the delay in listening to sound files. Normally, Internet require the user
to wait for the whole sound file to download before listening to it. Since
sound files tend to be large (often several megabytes for 1 minute of recorded
sound), it's slow. Real audio's program allows you to listen to certain audio
formats while the files are being downloaded. While the first part of the
file is playing over your speakers, the later part of the file is still being
downloaded. Full instructions and software are free.
Cooperating real estate
brokers have set up a network giving
information on homes for sale across the country. Often, you can view pictures
of the homes online (this means of marketing real estate is growing explosively,
so expect to see more). This service lets you narrow your search from home.
Is your brother looking for a home in Seattle? Help him out by checking what's
available from your home in Utah. Thinking of retiring to St. Pete's, Florida?
Check out the home/condo market. See pictures, get prices. This site separates
real estate into residential, commercial, industrial (commercial investment),
and ranch & land. It also has a directory of participating real estate
brokers. You specify price range, town or county, and number of bedrooms
needed before searching for your dream home. The URL is given above.
President Clinton's home page (with a link to VP Gore). The welcoming message says "Welcome to the White House, An Interactive Citizens' Handbook" (great picture of the White House). It has Gore and Clinton audio files, publications for download, info on the first family, tours (video, of course) of the White House, and a chance to leave a message for President Clinton. If you ask a question, his staff will reply. Some messages are brought to the President's attention, and he always asks for a summary of trends in the messages received. Check out this address for a preview of what will soon be commonplace for American businesses and governments. Oh, be sure to sign the guest book before leaving!
Kodak offers a sampling of
beautiful
landscapes. These incredibly beautiful pictures of mountains, lakes,
and other scenery make a great addition to screen savers. They can be downloaded
in Kodak CD format, but if you don't have that capability, they also offer
Mac or JPG format for PCs. Even if you don't download these pictures, you
may just want to look at them. For some truly stunning photos, check out
this URL. Wow!
United Media offers twenty
comic strips, including Dilbert, BornLoser, and others. I've followed Dilbert
since I saw one where Dilbert reminded his manager that he had to turn his
laptop upside down and shake it to reboot. As the manager walked away reassured,
Dilbert said to his co-worker, "do you think he'll ever figure out we gave
him an Etch-a-Sketch?" This site has two weeks archive for each of the comic
strips carried, as well as the opportunity to contact the authors, read how
the strip started, find the nearest newspaper that carries it, and get
entertaining and informative explanations of everything from background to
future plans. Add this URL to your hotlist and visit it regularly.
Roger
Davidson is a sixteen year-old movie critic. This Minneapolis teen writes
reviews intended for teens. So what, you say? His site is one of the top
5% most visited sites on Internet! Check out Batman Forever, Lord of the
Rings, or many, many others. Despite other movie reviews readily available
on the net, Roger has a real winner at the URL listed above.
Major League Baseball
1998 Expansion team
Tampa Bay
Devil Rays (it rhymes!) let fans order 1998 season tickets, read articles
about the team from the St. Petersburg Times, learn the latest about the
team, or send comments or questions. The other 1998 baseball expansion team
on Internet is the
Arizona Diamondbacks.
But they're not alone. The Red Sox, Rockies, Tigers, Reds, Dodgers, Twins,
Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Pirates, Mariners, and Blue Jays are online as
well.
Not to be outdone,
the NFL home page gives the 1995/6
schedule, player prospects, team facts, 1995 draft info, fan survey results,
notes, and gives the visitor a chance to "chat" with other NFL fans live,
check out a bulletin board (NFL Chalkboard) of fan messages and pro replies,
or play the NFL Trivia game "2 minute warning." By the way, the season already
underway. There's a lot to do on this site. This one is worth the visit (for
football fans, anyway).
Virtual Tourist II presents you with a map of the world. You select a region, then a country or state within that region. It then presents you with a map that shows WorldWideWeb sites in that state or country. Check out Utah and see how many WWW servers there are in Utah (you'll be surprised). Keep in mind that it is not a complete listing, only WWW servers. Virtual Tourist II works with city.net, which keeps a directory of cities on Internet (anywhere in the world). VT II gives information on cities, states, and countries rather than just listing WWW servers in the area. This is a wonderful aid to finding things on the net. For example, need some information on Majorca? Just visit Virtual Tourist, and you'll be connected to a computer in Majorca within a minute or two. Ask the people in Majorca your question. Your reply will probably be correct. This URL deserves a spot on your favorites list.
Ragu's site is hosted by Mama (eat! what
else is there in life?), this site offers information on Italy, Italian culture,
recipes, a chance to win a trip to Italy, and help in learning Italian. Mama
promises to keep adding new things regularly to keep this site interesting
(Come back, Mama will always have new goodies waiting). Ciao!
Pizza Hut has many
plans for the future. Currently you can order pizza via internet only if
you live in Santa Cruz, California. But you can see what's coming. It won't
be long. This URL is just getting off the ground.
Parcel giant UPS offers training on routing
and handling packages, full rate information, and downloadable software that
will figure the best routing, tell you the cost, and (eventually) call UPS
to your home to pick up the package. The software will also tap into UPS's
computer, trace your package, and tell you where it is or when it was delivered.
This is a good example of using Internet for a business
application.
Enough for this time. Next time, we'll look at online banking, stock quotes, the big software companies, the IRS, and art museums on the net. Remember, just type the URL given in bold type into your web browser, and you'll be an Internet surfer dude (babe) before you know it.
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Mann
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