By Mark Edward Wilson (wilsonm000@aol.com)
It is suggested
that you keep this document in electronic form so you can easily use Windows
“cut and paste” to copy the included Internet addresses to your browser (as
well as from your browser to this document), and include your own annotations.
The Internet is a reflection of modern society. It is full of great entertainment, valuable information, merchandise, diverse opinions, interesting exchanges of dialogue, as well as smut, criminal activity, and maliciousness, just like in a real life city. The trick is to be aware of this.
ALWAYS be very judicious in giving out credit card information over the Internet. While most commercial web sites and browsers support “secure transactions”, many also do not and therefore allow credit card data to be illegally obtained by unscrupulous people. If the web site address starts with https:// instead of http://, it means it is a "secure server" and a special secure link icon should appear in the bottom left corner of your browser signifying this. You should only use secure links to send confidential data on the web (like credit card data). Use free browser versions Netscape Navigator 4.7 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, or higher, because they are not only Y2K compliant but also support high level security protocols. If in any doubt as to a transaction being secure, order by phone instead!
NEVER give out your passwords to anyone. It is a rare occurrence but sometimes questionable individuals will contact users by phone or on the Internet posing as an Internet ISP support person or whatever and ask for your password for some allegedly important purpose. DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR PASSWORD BECAUSE NO ISP OR INTERNET AGENCY WILL EVER ASK THAT! It is also good policy to change your password regularly or when in any doubt, make it easy to remember with letters and numbers but hard for anyone to guess, and 6 to 10 characters in length.
ALWAYS be very judicious in giving out your e-mail address, especially on commercial and “contest” sites. These sites will often put you on e-mail junk mail lists which work on the same principle as postal junk mail lists, . This is a more serious problem than postal mail junk mail lists since very little regulation of any kind is currently in place for “spam” (unsolicited e-mail, usually advertisements) and getting your address removed from a list. Since e-mail is normally free to send (unlike postal mail), spammers send large amounts of “spam” without any cost to them. Additionally, the volume of “spam” can increase geometrically if a “spammer” sells their list to others (which is how many “contests” are financed).
Young and impressionable children’s activities should always be supervised, and using the Internet is no exception! The right to “free speech”, as currently interpreted by the American legal system, extends to the Internet, so just like any other media, the Internet has material ranging from educational, entertainment, special interests, and diverse viewpoints to hate, bias, violence, and lewdness. Most ISPs provide at little or no cost, options and/or software that will restrict access to sites deemed “questionable”, often allowing the parent / supervisor to determine what THEY deem “questionable”. Additional software and systems are also in place, such as Cyber Patrol, CYBERsitter, Safe Surf, Net Nanny, and Surf Watch. A non-profit group, the Internet Content Rating Association (http://www.rsac.org/) is also an excellent source – their site includes many helpful tips as well as how to enable content filtering in Internet Explorer.
There are several ways to find information on the Internet. Many companies, TV networks, newspapers, and magazines have their own sites on the Internet. A large number of sites advertise their Internet addresses via the various media.
The best way is through the use of search engines, which are web sites that have indexed the topics of a large number of web sites. By entering the subject matter, the web site will then list all the web sites that pertain to that topic along with a brief description of the site and a link (a traditionally blue underline piece of text that when clicked on, will take you directly to that site), just like a book’s table of contents.
A search engines lets you type a name, word, or phrase and then click the Search button and quickly get a nice list of web sites using that criterion, but sometimes a more advanced search is needed to winnow down the search results to a more specific list. Searching just on the word “comics” would result in a huge list that would probably be too general and unmanageable to be usable, but a search for “comic books” or “comic magazines” would be much more helpful. Search engines will normally have options to allow advanced searches, like search for “comic books” OR “comic magazines” to get a list of any web site containing EITHER the phrase “comic books” OR “comic magazines”, or “Gene Kelly” and “movies” to find sites containing BOTH the phrase “Gene Kelly” and “movies”. Since features and syntax vary from search engine to search engine, look for an “options” or “advanced search” or “help” button or link to see if advanced features are allowed and the syntax needed.
Web sites, especially the “home grown” ones created by an ordinary non-commercial user, can change addresses or be discontinued as quickly as a new web site is created. Search engines are web sites that allow you to enter a topic and then it displays a list of web sites containing the words appear on the screen. Search engines rely on their own automatic non-stop “search robot” program that searches and indexes sites as well as de-indexes web sites that have moved, changed or were discontinued. Depending on how “fast” a search engine’s “search robots” work, these changes (new, moved, changed, or discontinued sites) may be correctly reflected by one search engine and not another. This is why for important web searches, especially on uncommon topics, searching via as many search engines as possible and even repeating this process every few days if deemed critical, can be helpful.
Search
engine results based on web site supplied keywords. You can get non-sensible web sites included
in your search results because a number of web sites (usually commercial,
advertising, and pornographic sites) supply false keywords, which is what
search engines normally base their indexes on.
For example, so a web site is selling swampland if
II you are on a web site concerning a particular topic, like Civil War history, and are using Netscape Navigator version 4.7 or higher – clicking on the “What’s Related” button at the top right of the screen will display a list of related sites along with other options.
While a lot of extremely valuable information, opinions, beliefs, and point of views on virtually any subject is available on the Internet, always beware of its veracity, since web site information may not necessarily, intentionally or unintentionally, be accurate, verifiable, free of bias, etc. - pretty much anything can be displayed (and is!!) barring libel and copyright infringement. This reflects the same pro and con issues of the Constitutionally guaranteed Right of Free Speech.
Web site URL suffixes - They normally stand for what type of web site they are : like “.com” = commercial, “.gov” = government / government agency, “.org” = non-profit organization, “.edu” = educational (like a school or college).
Finding the IP Address of an Internet web site - Go to a DOS prompt, enter "NSLOOKUP", enter the Internet web sites URL (like www.excite.com).
To avoid having to constantly re-key the difficult syntax of Internet addresses as well as “remembering” web sites of interest, most browsers have a “Bookmark” feature that lets you save web site addresses in an organized, easy to recall list. You should also use Windows “cut and paste” to copying to and from a document such as this, so you can backup, as well as annotate web sites, and share them with others.
If a web page is loading incompletely, very slowly, or if you get an error message implying that the web site is not found, hit the “stop” button on your browser and try your request again by hitting the “Reload” button and/or try accessing it later. These problems can happen when your initial access attempt may have been was “lost” or the web site or server may currently be too busy. Watch upper and lower case when accessing web site data because some web sites use Unix which is case sensitive.
Information from web pages can easily be included in word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet documents. Be aware that copyright laws, although they are not clear as far as the Internet web sites, should be respected. The following tips for copying web site information will work for most browsers :
To save text - Highlight any desired text and use Windows “Edit and Copy, Edit and Paste”. If your Windows browser or other software does not support “Edit and Copy, Edit and Paste”, try using Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V respectively, instead.
To save graphics - Right clicking on the graphic and select the file save option. Windows “Edit and Copy, Edit and Paste” should also work. If your Windows browser or other software does not support “Edit and Copy, Edit and Paste”, try using Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V respectively, instead.
To save web page code - Most browsers will let you select File and Save As.
Beware unknown web sites, depending on your browser (the program that lets you “see” the Internet, like Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, etc.) and ISP (Internet Service Provider, like Prodigy, AOL, etc.), they may have, intentionally or unintentionally :
· File downloads that are infected with viruses, ESPECIALLY PROGRAMS - A PROVEN, UP-TO-DATE VIRUS PROTECTION SOFTWARE IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE DOWNLOADING INFORMATION FROM THE INTERNET!!! Only programs or Word or Excel files can be infected, and not plain text or graphics.
· “Snoop” via “cookies”, which are little files that some web sites place on your computer either for saving your preferences or personal information when viewing that particular web site. A “snoop” web site can gather this information by reading cookies already on your computer for other web sites and compile quite a bit of data.
· Damage your computers software by malicious Active X or Java Script programs.
“Plug-ins”, which are usually free, add functionality to your browser, like being able to listen in to video and audio broadcasts at web sites that decide to offer such content. It is strongly suggested you only use plug-ins approved for your browser, and get them directly from the plug-in’s manufacturer (like Microsoft, etc.) to decrease the chance of getting a “bad” or infected version of the plug-in.
Factors that determine the your speed on the Internet :
· Modem - 28.8 KPS minimum!!! Currently 56 kps X2 modems are the best bet, cost around $100 for a brand name internal model or about $120 for an external. Even though many phone lines will preclude you from even approaching 56KPS, the “X2” will compress data going back and forth so more data gets transferred at the same speed.
· Web Sites - How fast the web site’s server and how many users are currently accessing the web site make a big difference. Unfortunately there is little you can do about a slow web site, unless the web site offers a “mirror site” which is a copy of the web site on another server.
· ISPs - Internet Service Providers the people you pay to allow you to access the Internet via their equipment. If they are using poor equipment and slow modems, it does not really matter how good all the other factors are that affect Internet speed. The ISP business is a very competitive one, if you are not getting reliable and fast access, try another ISP.
· Phone lines - Bad weather and poor phone lines slow down Internet speed. Realize that a phone line bottleneck does not have to be local, just anywhere between your computer and the ISP or web site server. Some areas, and not necessarily rural, just plain and simple, have bad lines. Sometimes a user may have loose connections and/or bad modem cords that actually causes the problem, which should be checked and tested first. If the problem still persists, the local Phone Company should be contacted to see if it is a problem with their phone lines they can correct.
· Nights and weekends versus business hours - Internet speed can moderately improve in off-peak hours since normally less people are accessing web sites, ISPs, and phone lines.
· Web site content - If a web site has a lot of information, graphics, and/or applets (programs used to provide animation, special affects, stock or sport score tickers, etc), more data needs to be processed, transferred and displayed. If a user does not mind the tradeoff, some browsers will allow the loading of graphics and applets to not be loaded or displayed. Otherwise, there is not much else that can be done except to let the web site designer know that they should seriously reconsider how they have their web pages laid out.
· CPU - The better and faster the Central Processing Unit of your PC, the faster your computer can process Internet information. Having a Pentium 200 mhz versus a 80486 33 mhz makes a lot of difference.
· Video card and video card RAM - If you are constantly going to web sites with lots of graphics, having a good video card with 1 MB of graphics card RAM is helpful. However, most Pentium era computers already have this feature and upgrading to a better video card or adding more video card RAM is expensive and usually results in little or no speed improvement.
· RAM - Having at least 10 MB Random Access Memory on a Windows 3.x computer and at least 32 MB RAM on a Windows 95 or Windows NT computer is a minimum requirement to just run the operating system and a browser. Running additional programs at the same time make adding more RAM a must since while computers will often be able to run in those situations, it will be at a much slowed speed since data and programs often have to be time consumingly “swapped” back and forth from RAM. Currently, RAM is selling at historically low prices and since it can provide a valuable speed performance / productivity boost to “under-RAMed” computers, it is a real value.
ISPs- America On Line, Prodigy, various other, $21.95 month tops, some provide content of their own and/or special additional services, like free browser software, letting you have a free web site, special discounts if you pre-pay. Should be a local call, otherwise you will end up paying a fee to your ISP AND long distance phone rates. Getting a local only ISP with local access is great, especially since they charge around $12.95 a month. Global services like America On Line, while more expensive, are a better choice for people who travel and need to access the Internet since they have local access numbers in many cities across the world.
FREE INTERNET
RhinoPoint.com – 99/11/07 A market research firm that will credit your credit card for your monthly Internet costs (up to $22) from any ISP (like AOL, Prodigy, etc.) for answering a monthly 10 to 15 minute on-line market research survey and paying a one-time sign-up fee of $9.95. You must be at least 18 and live within a metropolitan area.
FREE PC WITH ISP SIGN-UP CONTRACT
PeoplePC – 99/10/19 Probably the best “free PC” deal going. A 3 year Internet signup at $24.95 per month currently gets you a Toshiba PC with lots of popular software and free in-home service
http://www.peoplepc.com
DirectWeb – 99/05/23 DirectWeb (1-888-INVASION) provides you the free use of a PC for as long as you use their $19.95 a month unlimited use Internet service. Not all parts of the country are currently serviced by DirectWeb. For a higher monthly fee of $29.95 or $39.95, they will include a larger PC, monitor, and add a color printer. Additional charges are a $65 charge to initially ship you the equipment, $99 for free service for the equipment for 3 years instead of 1 year, and a $150 security deposit. At the end a 3 years, if you are still with their service, you can opt to buy the equipment in exchange for the $150 security deposit, or upgrade for an unspecified “nominal fee”.
http://www.directweb.com
FREE ISPs
http://www.worldshare.com - 00/09/22 WorldShare.net
http://www.juno.com/
http://www.altavista.com
http://www.microworkz.com
http://www.bluelight.com (a partnership between Yahoo! and K-Mart)
http://www.freeinet.com/
FreeAtLast - 00/09/11 This free service offers free Internet access, e-mail, faxing, and Internet calling using their software. Currently only has nationwide POPs near mid to large size metropolitan areas.
http://www.freeatlast.com/
This section lists alternative ways
of connecting to an ISP for mainland
· Normal phone line – costs about $100 to install, and $21.95 per month (not including toll calls) with a maximum speed of 54 kps. If you are considering having a second phone line installed for Internet use, given the installation cost of the second line, monthly phone charge, and ISP costs, you should consider DSL.
· Cable TV services – This type of service uses part of a cable TV connection. While cable modem speeds vary, the maximum speed can be as high as 10,000 kps. As of 98/10/28, for users who already subscribe to this company’s cable TV, costs are $29.95 month or $24.96 if you pre-pay for a year, plus a cable modem lease fee of $10 month or $400 to buy the cable modem outright. $149 to install the service, which requires the insertion of a network interface card and networking software into your computer. See http://www.comcastonline.com for more details.
· Satellite service – DirecPC offers satellite service that requires a clear “line of sight” to the southern sky, and is available in most areas which is a great alternative if phone and cable Internet access is not available in your area. You receive (download) Internet data using a 21 inch satellite dish at a speed of 400 kps, but you must send (upload) using a regular phone line and phone modem, and a Pentium or better PC using Windows 95 or better is required. As of 00/08/14, costs are : about $250 for the satellite dish/receiver/modem, a one time activation fee of $49.95, and $19.99 for up to 25 hours monthly use or $39.99 for unlimited use both of which includes Internet access. See http://www.direcpc.com for more details.
· DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) phone line service – An excellent source of DSL information, comparisons, and availability is http://www.dslreports.com. In most areas, a wide variety of DSL vendors and features are normally available, including various download and upload speeds, DSL contract lengths, static or dynamic IP addressing, and pricing. As an example, where available, Verizon / Bell Atlantic as of 00/08/14 includes in their unlimited use $39.95 per month "Personal" package for home users 256 to 640 kbps download speed and 90 kbps upload speed (versus the normal maximum of 54kbps for a normal phone line) with dynamic IP addressing and includes Internet access. Their "Professional" $99.95 per month package includes 960 to 1,600 kbps download speed and 90 kbps upload speed, and their "Power" $189.95 per month package includes 4,480 to 7,100 kbps download speed and 384 to 680 kbps upload speed. An existing phone line can be used, and can also be simultaneously used as a regular phone) plus DSL. More than one computer can be connected to a DSL line and share the bandwidth. According to the vendor, actual speeds may vary depending on your location from their equipment. Additional costs for any of their plans include a one-time charge of $99 for a DSL modem plus $8.50 Shipping and Handling. See http://www.bellatlantic.com/infospeed/ for more information.
It is strongly suggested with Internet software, as with all computer software, to avoid newly released versions and “fixes”/service packs until they have been on the market for a few weeks without incident. Too often software is released with “bugs” (defects) that can hamper program use, to corrupt data/programs and disable a computer.
America Online’s default Internet browser is a version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, but you can use Netscape Navigator 4.7 or higher (available for free download via http://www.netscape.com) by logging onto AOL and then starting your Netscape Navigator browser.
To insert a web page link in an e-mail :
For AOL, Hotmail, and other HTML based e-mail readers :
<a ref=“http://www.geocities.com/wilsonm000”>Click here to go to my web site!</a>
For Eudora, Microsoft Outlook (a space is needed before the first and after the second quote marks) :
<a ref= “http://www.geocities.com/wilsonm000” >Click here to go to my web site!</a>
MP3 is a method of highly compressing music while retaining near CD sound quality. A 3 minute MP3 formatted song at “CD quality” (128kps) will be about 4.6 MB in size. MP3 format music is played using an MP3 Player and copied just like any other computer file. An MP3 player is a program that lets you play MP3 music on your computer. “Skins” are an add-on program to MP3 players that can provide a better interface and more features. You can get MP3 music in several ways :
· Downloaded from the Internet, using MP3 music search engines such as musicseek at http://www.musicseek.net or 2look4 at http://www.2look4.com or by Lycos at http://mp3.lycos.com/ or Audiofind at http://www.audiofind.com or by Scour at http://Scour.net/ to locate music you are interested in.
· Create your own MP3 songs by inserting a regular music CD into your computer and using a “ripper”, a program that will copy the music CD tracks onto your computer and an “encoder”, a program that will convert the “ripped” tracks into the MP3 format. MP3s recorded at 128kps are considered “CD quality”
· Record your own music and use an encoder to convert it into the MP3 format.
MP3 players, skins, rippers, and encoders vary in features, with some being freeware (like CDex available at http://www.CDex.n3.net/). An excellent source of information on MP3, MP3 news, and sources for players, skins, rippers, encoders and locating sources of MP3 music the Lycos FAST MP3 Search Engine Page at http://mp3.lycos.com/. It should be noted that commercial music is normally copyrighted and as such it is illegal to sell or distribute.
Netscape Navigator 4.73, which is available at http://www.netscape.com for free, includes Real Player G2, which will play MP3 files.
For portable MP3 music use, Diamond Rio, a device about the size, sound quality, and functionality of a Sony Walkman CD Player is available for around $99 that lets you download MP3 music from your computer directly to this device. MP3 can be converted to a standard CD format and copied to a CD and played in a regular CD player.
What follows is a list of web sites arranged by topic. Each entry will normally have the name of the web site, then a “-”, the date I last personally reviewed the site, a brief description, and the web sites URL. These sites have been selected on the basis of providing useful information, common interest, a “G” or “PG” rating, and free access although the site may have advertising and offer additional paid services. THE AUTHOR GREATLY APPRECIATES, AS A SPECIAL FAVOR, E-MAIL NOTING OTHER INTERESTING, HELPFUL, VALUABLE, AND ECLECTIC WEB SITES! This list is by no means meant to be all-inclusive or the “final word” on anything, especially since web sites are changing, being added and deleted daily.
SEARCH ENGINES
Search engines are easily the most important feature on the Internet, allowing users to find specific information locate amongst the myriad wed sites on the Internet. In Netscape 4.x, click the “What’s Related” button to search for web sites related to the web site you are currently viewing.
The
Internet Archive -
Dogpile – Excellent meta search engine that searches several search engines at once
http://www.dogpile.com
InfoSpace – Master search engines on many topics, including
searching for and comparing pricing on products.
http://www.infospace.com
About.COM / The Mining Company – 99/05/23 Allows you to look up topics like a search engine, but instead of providing just a listing of matching sites, it provides very helpful comprehensive “guides” with links instead.
http://www.about.com/
WebData.com – 99/09/17 A search engine with various databases where the entries are individually reviewed to ensure topic relevance.
http://www.webdata.com/
ProFusion – 99/11/07
SEARCH ENGINES INFO AND CONCEPTS
Search
Engine Watch –
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
searchIQ
–
How to Choose a Search Engine or Directory -
http://library.albany.edu/internet/choose.html
INDIVIDUAL SEARCH ENGINES
While
there are many search engines available on the Internet, they are powered by
one of individual search engines below.
Ask Jeeves - 00/09/15 Excellent simple search engine that lets you enter your searches as normal English sentences (like “Who is Gene Kelly?”), a “must see” site for beginners and children
http://www.ask.com or http://au.ask.com
Google – 99/06/13 A search engine which prioritizes search results by how many other pages it has found that link to the page in question to roughly calculates how important or authoritative other Internet users consider that page to be.
http://www.google.com
Raging Search – 00/05/16 Very simple but
accurate search engine by Alta Vista. Offers several nice features like filtering out “adult sites” from
search results, and handling foreign language sites.
http://www.raging.com
Alta Vista - Search engine for web
sites
http://www.altavista.com
Excite - Search engine for web
sites
http://www.excite.com
Hotbot - Search engine for web sites
http://www.hotbot.com
Infoseek - Search engine for web
sites
http://www.infoseek.com
Lycos - Search engine for web
sites
http://www.lycos.com
Northern Light – 99/11/07 Search engine.
http://www.northernlight.com
Web Crawler - Search engine for
web sites
http://www.webcrawler.com
Yahoo - Search engine for web
sites
http://www.yahoo.com
AnyWho – AT&T site that returns a name, address, phone
number, and detailed street map after entering a person or business full or
partial phone number, address, name
http://www.anywho.com
KnowX – Lets you look up an individuals
public records (property transfers, bankruptcies, court records, information on
companies
http://www.knowx.com
Homework Heaven - Excellent information research on a huge
variety of subjects, a must see site for school projects and homework research
http://www.homeworkheaven.com/
ah-ha.com – 99/11/07 A kid-safe search engine and portal that eliminates most if not all of the “porno site” references that normally “sneak” their way into almost any search results.
Geocities - search engine for
Geocities “user home grown” web sites, you can also get a free web site here
http://www.geocities.com
Image Surfer: Picture Search Engine by Yahoo
http://ipix.yahoo.com/
Local calling
guide - 02/05/28 This free site will let you list what phone numbers are local
calls from a particlular area code / exchange by doing the following
:
For "Search b NPA/Nxx" enter area code for
"NPA (required):" like 610 for the Valley Forge area code, and enter
exchange for "NXX:" like 341 for the Valley Forge exchange, click the
"submit" button. The results will display on a new screen, click on
the link under "RATE CENTRE" like "Philadelphia Suburban Zone
45, PA" for
http://members.dandy.net/%7Eczg/search.html
http://s14.bigyellow.com/home_prodigy.html
NYNEX Interactive Yellow Pages - Look up phone/address by
name, state, business type
http://www.niyp.com
AT&T has put its 800 directory online. You can search
by category or name.
http://att.net/dir800
LookSmart – 98/10/18 Interesting site containing databases referencing
sites on various subjects including automobiles, shopping, computers (here to
get free web site, e-mails, free software, web site design/code).
http:/www.looksmart.com
WebRing - 99/09/01 A different way to search for web sites devoted to a topic. This search engine lets you conduct a search for sites that are related to each other topic-wise via a “web ring”.
http://www.webring.com
GO Network – 99/01/27
http://www.go.com
SmartStorm - 99/08/13 Enter a word or phrase and this site will display a list of web sites and trademarks from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office using the word or phrase with links to detailed information.
http://www.startstorm.com/
Artcyclopedia - 99/08/13 “The guide to museum quality art on the Internet”. Select an artist to receive detailed information and view actual works on-line. An art museum database is also available.
Britannica.com - 99/12/31 The complete Encyclopædia Britannica, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, on-line and searchable.
TVEyes - 99/09/15 A free service where “You tell TVEyes which companies, teams or topics you're interested in, and the free service monitors the most-watched TV networks and notifies you via e-mail when your keywords are mentioned. The e-mail contains a snippet of what was said and a link to a page at TVEyes where you can read more.”
ditto.com - 99/12/31 Excellent search engine for pictures.
Bartleby.com – 00/04/27 A “”must bookmark” site! This excellent free site that lets you on-line search a huge selection of reference books including Columbia Encyclopedia, American Heritage Dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus, American Heritage Book of English Usage, Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations, Barlett’s Familiar Quotations.
BAR CODES SEARCH ENGINES
There
is a free software / hardware combo called
"CueCat" (http://www.getcuecat.com) where you use the included
handheld cat-shaped scanner to scan any bar code and the software combined with
the Internet will automatically take you to a "relevant" web
site. I DO NOT recommend this product /
service because it is buggy, ineffective and not able to "look up"
very many "relevant" web sites, plus the sites you scan are allegedly
feed to the vendor's database attached to your personal information.
DeBarcode.com - A free superior alternative to "CueCat". It is a search engine where you enter a bar code instead of search word(s), and the site returns detailed information on the bar code entered as well as any directly related sites (like entering a barcode to a comic book would normally return the product's description and the company's web site address if they have one). This site also is a nice illustrated tutorial on understanding bar codes
http://www.debarcode.com/deBarcode/html/index.html
COMPUTER INFORMATION / TRADE NEWS
NetGuide Live - A guide to web sites and Internet topics of
interest
http://www.netguide.com/
The Web - A compilation of interesting web sites featured on the MSNBC TV show “The Web”
http://www.theweb.com/ or http://www.cnet.com/Content/Tv/Web/
Corbis – This site offers a number of screen savers, images, and Windows themes for free and others for a fee
http:www.corbis.com
Web Site Garage – 98/10/21 This site offers many helpful hints in “tuning up” your web site’s performance and design. The best feature is the “Tune Up” feature, which lets you enter a URL and Tune Up will evaluate the URL in a number of categories, including dead links and browser capability, and the compile a very detailed report with recommendations. Additional low cost services are available.
http://www.websitegarage.com/
Center for Applied Special Technology - 98/11/01 This site offers a free web site analysis using a program called “Bobby” that while designed to evaluate a web page for compatibility for web browsers for the blind and offer detailed suggestions / corrections, it also provides a great analysis that cites by HTML line any “Browser Compatibility Errors” and displays a “Download Time” table showing download size and time for each web page element with a total web page download time.
http://www.cast.org/bobby
Position Agent – 98/10/19 Type in a web site address and a search word(s) and the free version of Position Agent will display if and where the site would appear on over a dozen popular search engine results listings. The free version of PositionAgent will only search the first 3 pages of results from the 12 search engines and 5 pages from Yahoo and Alta-Vista. The site sells a full feature version of PositionAgent, and offers great tutorials on search engine, getting listed on them, and tips on getting better positioning on search engine results.
http://www.postionagent.com
Net Promote – 98/10/19 Offers free and paid services to increase web site traffic and improve search engine placement.
http://www.netpromote.com
Antivirus Software – 00/11/17 Provides detailed information, links to anti-virus products and reviews, and breaking news on computer viruses. Also has a “must see” reference section detailing the myriad virus hoaxes that are so prevalent.
http://antivirus.miningco.com/
Virus Bulletin Home Page - 00/11/21 Excellent up to date site devoted to virus research. Features include “VB 100% Awards” which notes the performance of various anti-virus products, “Virus Analyses” which gives extremely detailed information on a virus, “Virus Hoax Listings”, and related links and vendor links.
http://www.virusbtn.com/
Symantec Security Response – 01/09/19 Good searchable database on viruses and hoaxes.
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/vinfodb.html
Help Channel – 98/10/21 Excellent site by ZDNet that features superior PC hardware and software support, news, bug alerts and fixes. A “must see” site!
http://www.zdnet.com/zdhelp/
Webmonkey by Hotwired – 98/10/21 Contains news, tips, and tutorials for web developers including Web Design, HTML, Dynamic HTML, Stylesheets, Graphics and Fonts, Multimedia, Browsers, Java, JavaScript, Perl, and Backend.
http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/
C|Net – 98/10/08 Excellent site devoted to virtually all things computer : News, hardware, games, shareware downloads, tutorials for web site builders, EXCELLENT comparison computer equipment shopping that compares many sellers.
http://www.cnet.com
HTML Goodies – Great site that features excellent pre-made web site code, how-to’s, and related links
http://www.htmlgoodies.com
Web Sites Tool Box – offers reference material, Java and HTML tricks and tips
http://adeveloper.com/links.html
ZDNet’s HTML Design Tutorials –
http://www.zdnet.com
NedStat- Site offers free web site hit analysis if you display their banner
http://usa.nedstat.net
Anchor - Excellent info, tips, Q&A and examples for web developers
http://www.ahref.com
Easter Eggs – This site notes the hidden, often silly, little features hidden inside of a lot of popular software (called “Easter eggs”) by their programmers as an inside joke.
http://www.eeggs.com
Developer.com – 98/10/08 Super resource for computer professionals. The “Directories” section contains an incredible amount of links sorted very neatly by topics.
http://www.developer.com
Register.com – 98/12/25 This site lets you look up the owner of a particular web address, or see if a specific Internet address is still available for purchase and optionally purchase it.
http://www.register.com
Tucows – 98/10/08 This site offers a huge organized list of fabulous freeware and shareware routines and utilities (like clocks, news tickers, etc) for web site builders.
http://www.tucows.com
irt.org - 98/11/27 A super site that deals with all things Internet related. It is brimming with news items, the history of the Internet, and loaded with excellent tutorials on everything from HTML coding to JavaScript and graphics. Also included are great links to related sites.
http://www.irt.org
3D Logo Generator - 98/11/27 Free neat simple graphics site that lets you enter up to 2 lines of text, specify scaling, viewing angle, font type, colors and textures, and then have the site generate a fabulous looking downloadable graphic. This is fun just to experiment with!
http://wafu.netgate.net/3dlogo/e3dlogo2.html
Kodak Pictures Playground online - 99/12/31 A free fun photo graphics site by Kodak that lets you take your own or Kodak's photos and apply special effects, turn them into puzzles, turn them into on-line greetings cards to e-mail to friends. For a fee, you can also upload your own photos and order prints and create greetings cards.
http://alts1.kodak.com/US/en/corp/playground/index.shtml
Inquiry.com – 98/10/12 Inquiry.com helps software developers and IT professionals get free answers to tough development questions. Inquiry.com's “Ask the Pros” family of technical Q and A forums match users with technical experts and peers.
http://www.inquiry.com
Stroud’s CWS Apps List – 98/10/12 This site has an extensive categorized software list that rates, reviews, and gives detailed information about the software, including vendor data and upgrades.
http://cws.internet.com/index.html
The Javascript Source – 98/10/12 An excellent source of free Java script routines that are set up nicely for simple “cut and paste” download and include excellent instructions and documentation.
http://javascript.internet.com/
iCat.com – 98/11/01 Excellent site about Internet commerce (on-line stores), containing sections “Build A Store”, “Manage Store”, “Marketing Services”, as well as e-commerce news / forums / guides / tutorials. This site will let you interactively build an on-line store, will noting any costs.
http://www.icat.com
MiniVend – 98/11/01 Offers a very slick on-line store “shopping cart” program for free!
http://www.minivend.com
Cookie Central – 99/01/11 This site has a tutorial on cookies (data a web site can save and retrieve from your computer) and great working examples on how to program using cookies.
http://www.cookiecentral.com
NetStudio – 99/05/23 A graphics site that offers a free on-line version of its NetStudio software allowing you to create and save (via Windows Edit/Copy Edit/Paste) banners. buttons, and headings that you create using quick, easy steps that feature numerous options and designs.
http:/ww.netstudio.com
AOL NetMail – 99/09/19 Lets an AOL user log-in to their AOL e-mail account from any Internet connection, whether it is AOL or not.
Everything E-mail - 99/12/24 This site deals with e-mail, everything from services, software, effective use, tips and techniques, and dealing with spam and other abuses.
http://www.everythingemail.com
Link Popularity.com – 99/12/13 This site lets you enter a web site address and then it will return a table listing the number of sites linked to it with based on the major search engines. From this table, you can then list the specific sites that are linked to the web site address you entered. Tips on making a web site more “popular” is also offered.
Tek-Tips Forums - 00/01/01 Technical forum site with a huge number of well organized forums on specific topics. Post a computer technical question or comment, and get answers / suggestions / opinions / experiences from fellow "techies".
Software-Sleuth - 00/01/02 A free site dedicated to finding freeware and shareware with excellent links.
http://software-sleuth.com/links.htm
Learn the Net - 00/01/02 A great Internet tutorial and guide geared for novice to intermediate skill level users, covering such topics as basic web surfing, online searches, downloading files and much more.
WEBMASTER TOOLS
JavaPowered.com http://www.javapowered.com/werks.html
Freewarejava.com http://freewarejava.com/
Website Abstraction http://wsabstract.com/
databeacon.com - 00/02/21 Free service that takes a HTML page of data records and via a link to their site, converts it into a comprehensive data analysis screen which allows extensive querying, printing, and conversion to Excel.
HTMLWorks! - 00/03/09 Great free on-line HTML editor with import from other web sites, syntax check, preview, and many more super features.
INTERNET STATISTICS
Internet Traffic Report - 00/09/28 This site shows Internet speed and reliability statistics in various parts of the world.
http://www.internettrafficreport.com/
The Internet Weather Report - 00/09/28 This site shows Internet speed and reliability statistics in various parts of the world down to a major city level, including by the hour.
http://www.mids.org/weather/
Internet Statistics & Online Survey Information - 00/09/28 Shows and links to an incredible amount of Internet statistics and demographics.
http://www.internetstats.com/
COMPUTERS
eWEEK (formerly PC Week) Magazine – 00/05/15 Website of one of the world’s most foremost weekly PC trade news and reviews magazines.
http://www.pcweek.com/
InfoWorld Magazine
http://www.infoworld.com/
CDW - Computer Discount Warehouse, a discount on-line computer store
http://www.cdw.com/
Insight - a discount on-line computer store
http://www.insight.com/
BrowserWatch/Plug-In Plaza – 00/06/20 Has a detailed list of browser plug-ins with links to each vendor’s download site
http://browserwatch.internet.com/plug-in.html
List of Lists -
Web Magazine - contains reviews and links and rates numerous web sites by category type
http://www.webmagazine.com/
Web Design Free Tutorials - site of info, code, backgrounds, etc. and tutorials on designing web sites
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8281/
Introduction to HTML and Web Page Design - excellent tutorials, hints, sample code, and tips on designing web sites
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/1288/index2.html
Nielsen Media Research - excellent analysis of Internet user demographics
http://www.nielsenmedia.com/commercenet/eduage.htm
CyberAtlas – 98/11/25 Statistics and demographics on various computer topics
http://www.cyberatlas.com/
Head Count – Internet usage statistics and demographics and a compelling monthly newsletter. Interesting reports and graphs, with additional research you can purchase.
http://www.headcount.com
NetRatings - 98/11/27 NetRatings and Nielsen Media Research have partnered on a site containing marketing, advertising, and demographic information on everything from the Internet to traditional media, as well as advertising news.
NUA - 99/12/24 This site conducts and publishes the results to Internet related surveys on a wide variety of interesting topics under its ""Nua Internet Surveys" section.
http://www.nua.net/
WWW Demographics - many WWW statistical demographics studies with links
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/users.htm
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/users.html
http://www.gamecenter.com/
PHATGAMES.COM – 00/02/02 Game site that features daily gaming news, on-line single and multi-player games, and extensive links to gaming resources.
Download - tips, patches, drivers, reviews, downloads of software of types of software (business, game, etc.)
http://www.download.com/
A1 Shareware Evaluations
http://www.sharewarejunkies.com/
ComputerShopper.com - 00/09/26 PC Shopping/Buyer's Guide, formerly NetBuyer.com
http://www.zdnet.com/computershopper/
Software Shareware Downloads – eWEEK (formerly PC Week) magazine.
http://www.hotfiles.com
SHAREWARE! GAMES! FREEWARE! - JUMBO!
http://www.jumbo.com/
Webfoot Technologies – On-line game vendor with free downloadable working demos.
http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog.htm
Happy Puppy Game Site – 98/10/12 Deals entirely with games, offering shareware game downloads, hints and cheats, and gaming news.
http://www.happypuppy.com
FreeArcade.com – 99/09/06 Nice free site where you can play card, arcade, text, and sports games of all kinds, including many of the classics, for free! Since most, if not all, games appear to be written in the Java programming language, your browser must be Java enabled to play these games.
http://www.FreeArcade.com
Free (or near free CD ROM Offers)
http://www.west.net/~cdromug/freecds.shtml
Electric Postcard
Judith Donath's Electric Postcard server allows Internet users to choose an image from a virtual "Card Rack," compose and address a private message, and send it to a friend. The intended recipient is notified via email that a postcard and claim number is waiting for them at the site's "Pick-up Window."
http://postcards.www.media.mit.edu/Postcards/
Internet CatalogMart
http://catalog.savvy.com
Free Offer Forum
http://www.ven.com
OrderEasy - a vendor of electronic commerce services
http://www.ordereasy.com
MerchantTrax - a vendor of electronic commerce services
http://www.icoms.com
Software Vendor - seller of software
http://www.chumbo.com
ZDNet Help! Channel Home Page – 99/05/31 One of the most comprehensive free computer help and support pages, featuring tips and “how-to’s”, all in a neatly organized format. Part of the http://www.zdnet.com multi-media computer technical publication network.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdhelp
No Wonder – 99/05/31 Submit your technical questions, for free, to No Wonder’s technical/volunteer staff on topics such as MacIntosh, Windows, Linux/Unix, Palm Pilot, OS/2, BeOS, Web/HTML and they claim you’ll be e-mailed an answer within 24 hours, or post your questions to their public bulletin board.
http:www.nowonder.com
MacFixIt – 99/05/31 A great free site devoted to help and support of Apple computer products only.
www.macfixit.com
Predictive Systems - 00/11/27 A very basic simple free bandwidth throughput test site.
http://206.170.44.66/NetTest.html
Modem Speed Test Page – 98/10/25 This useful site provides tests that help you gauge the actual throughput of your modem and ISP.
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~leslie/testpage.htm
2Wire Bandwidth Meter – 00/11/06 2Wire, a DSL vendor, provides a simple test to determine your actual throughput to their site. May not work with AOL browers.
http://www.2wire.com/services/bandwidth.asp
INS Net Medic - 99/06/25 Net Medic Trial Version software works with Win95, Win98, or Windows NT 4.0 to monitor Internet connection problems and make recommendations.
http://www.ins.com/software/medic/freedown/index.asp
Open Office –
http://www.openoffice.org
Shields UP! – 00/08/15 Excellent site, designed by renowned computer expert Steve Gibson, runs a free very intensive remote access security scan to if you have any obvious breaches that could let unauthorized users remotely access your PC while connected to the Internet,. The test results are displayed in a detailed, well explained, easy to understand format. A must see, on a regular basis, for Internet users!
OTHER PC SECURITY SITES:
http://www.dslreports.com/r3/dsl/secureme
http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/index.htm
http://www.antionline.com/
Domain-Pirce-Wars.com – 00/01/11 This free site lists all the vendors that let you register domain names (web site addresses, like www.mywebsite.com) and compares their prices /features. I t also conveniently provides hot links to the vendors and a tutorial and FAQ. This is also a great starting point to discover who owns a particular web site address.
http://www.domain-price-wars.com/
Excite: People Chat: Voice Chat Home - 99/08/25 Free service offered by Excite that lets users chat over the Internet to each other via voice “chat rooms”. A free downloadable plug-in for Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, Windows 95/98/NT, a sound card with microphone, 28.8 modem or better, and Pentium 90mhz PC or better, is required. NOTE: THIS SITE HAS NOT YET BEEN PERSONALLY TESTED YET.
http://www.excite.com/communities/chat/voicechat
GRAPHICS
eFrames.com - 00/02/23 Site lets you upload pictures and then displays them in the various attractive frames that they sell.
http://www.eframes.com/
MediaBuilder 3D Text Maker - 00/03/09 Site lets you quickly and easily design excellent 3D text..
FlamingText.com – 00/03/16 A great fun free site that lets you easily create sensational cool logos, text, images, and banners with tons of fabulous effects and options, including “flaming text”.
CoolText.com: Online Graphics Generator – 00/03/16 Free site with excellent text, button, and bullet creator with tons of options, as well as neat backgrounds and textures. The site can be slow.
SPINWAVE – 00/03/20 Offers superior free easy to use JPG and GIF file compression.
GifTools.com – 00/03/16 Offers free image compression and conversion, as well as very helpful free useful on-line graphic tool links.
SECURITY AND PATHCES/UPDATES
PC911
Article on Securing Windows -
http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/securingwindows1.html
Microsoft
Windows Update -
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
Microsoft
Personal Security Advisor -
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/Tools/mbsahome.asp
Lavasoft –
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
SPAM
Network
Abuse Clearinghouse –
Fight
Spam On The Internet -
GAMES
Gamesville - 00/02/23 Free on-line game site with the chance to win some neat prizes.
http://www.gamesville.com/
Pogo.com – 00/02/23 Great free on-line game site.
Prize Central – 00/02/23 Free on-line game site, has only a few nice games but you can accumulate tokens which can be redeemed for prizes and prize drawings.
ww.prizecentral.com/
Gamesville - 00/02/23 Free on-line game site with the chance to win some neat prizes..
http://www.gamesville.com/
CONMEG HOMEPAGE – 00/02/23 Free downloadable Bubble97 game which is a cross between Tetris and Asteroids.
http://conmeg.de/BubblePuzzle/
NEWS
A
great use of the Internet is providing news instantly 24 hours a day. Most newspapers, magazines, radio and
television news service - weather they are national or local, have on-line
Internet sites. It is suggested the user
perform a web search to locate web sites for media in their local area to
obtain specific “hometown” news. Please
note that just like traditional printed media, one
should be make sure of the validity and integrity of any Internet new source.
GENERAL NEWS
HeyAnita - 00/10/18 An excellent free news, sports, weather, stocks, horoscope, flight tracker service, where you can optionally register for a free e-mail mailbox and personalize what information you are interested in. You then can call their toll free number 1-800-44-ANITA (1-800-442-6482) anytime, whether you have registered or not, and have any of this information read to you, including your AskAnita or Yahoo! E-mail account (vendor plans to support more e-mail services) and verbally respond to it, via their simple fast voice recognition menu.
http://www.heyanita.com/
CNN
Interactive – 98/10/18 The on-line version of cable’s Cable Network News
channel, offering
current news on the topics :
http://www.cnn.com
WEATHER
Accu-Weather - extensive weather forecasting for most
http://www.accuweather.com/web/nf/getwx/travel/
The Weather Channel – 98/10/18 On-line version of cable The Weather Channel which offers detailed national and local weather forecasts, up to the minute weather news, huge selection of current weather maps, and a great “Education” section designed to teach anyone to any age about meteorology.
http://www.weather.com
Weather Map
http://www.mit.edu:8001/usa.html
MEDIA
http://www.phillynews.com
Hearst
Multimedia Newsstand
http://mmnewsstand.com
News headlines service
http://www.newspage.com
C.I.A. World
Fact Book 1994
http://www.odci.gov/94fact/fb94toc/fb94toc.html
Ziff-Davis
computer news
http://www.ziff.com/
http://www.paris.org
REAL ESTATE
HomeScout – 99/09/01 Lets you search houses for sale via various search criteria via national real estate listings, then provides detailed information about the property, including price and floor plan. Has a loan shopping and loan advisor feature.
http://www.homescout.com
Home Price Check – 99/11/26 This useful site offers 3 main
features : Single House Search - Find the previous sale price of a particular
house. Example: "Find the previous sale price of 1234 Maple St. Unit
A"; Street
Search - View the sales of homes on a specific street for a range of addresses.
Example: "Find the previous sale prices of all homes from 1100 to 1200
Maple Street.";
Price Range Search - Compare all homes sold within a certain price range
in one location. Example: "Find all homes in
http://www.homepricecheck.com/
REALTOR.COM – 00/02/02 Excellent extensive real estate listing search engine with resources for consumers and realtors.
LANGUAGE TRANSLATORS
Altavista :
Translations –
http://babelfish.altavista.com/translate.dyn
Welcome to Go Translator - 99/12/31 A free web site that will translate either text you enter or "cut and paste"; or you can enter a web site address and it will translate the whole web page. English can be translate to or from Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese.
travlang’s Translating Dictionaries – 99/09/17 A very basic language translation site that currently only translates small passages of text and only has a moderate size vocabulary, but offers a huge number of languages.
http://dictionaries.travlang.com
HOME IMPROVEMENT
www.doityourself.com
www.build.com
www.remodeling.hw.com
GOVERNMENT
Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet – 98/10/18 Superbly well designed site providing extensive searchable data on the federal government. Included are House and Senate directories, bill status / text / voting records, Congressional Record, committee information, text searchable versions of historical documents (like the Constitution, etc.), to a guide to the legislative process.
http://thomas.loc.gov
WEDDINGS AND WEDDING PLANNING
http://www.theknot.com
http://www.ultimatewedding.com
http://www.weddingpages.com
http://www.waycoolweddings.com
JOBS / EMPLOYMENT
The Monster Board - 99/09/03 Jobs listings / want ads, perform job searches by career and location, highly regarded site.
http://www.monster.com
1st Impressions Resume & Career Strategies – 98/10/19 A resume writing service web site that offers a lots of free helpful on many topics including career counseling, internship programs, entry level jobs and links to career management and career-related resource sites.
http://1st-imp.com
JobSmart – 98/10/25 Job search, resume (with actual
examples), career guide, and salary survey information, and a large amount of
well organized links to additional data.
While it specializes in
http://www.jobsmart.org/
Jobs.com - 99/09/03 This site lets you select a geographic area and vocational field to search for jobs. Features include : “Job Search” which lists “Employer Profiles” and “Career Expos”; “Student Job Search” which also notes internship opportunities and “Career Fairs”; as well as posting your resume and posting jobs.
http:// jobs.com
CareerPerfect - 99/11/26 This site offers “On-line Career Planning and Testing; Interview Questions, Answers, Salary Negotiation and Strategies; Resume Examples and Advice; Salary Surveys; Job Databases and Resume Banks; Career Software; Recruiters;
Career Builders Mega Job Search - 00/01/01 A job meta search engine drawing on many of the top employment web site databases.
http://www.careerbuilder.com
Dice.com – 00/01/21 High tech job search engine, with a huge listing of jobs and search options.
Ask the Head Hunter -
http://www.asktheheadhunter.com
VIDEO AND AUDIO SITES
A
large number of web sites provide live or taped video and/or audio broadcasts
across the Internet. While many of these
sites are produced by traditional TV and radio stations across the world,
others are run by much smaller organizations or even individuals, providing a
vast panorama of programming and view points - truly the “free press” of the
20th century. Video and audio web sites
require the one-time loading of a free browser plug-in, like Real Player.
Real Player plug-in (get the plug-in at http://www.real.com, it is free and a “must have”!). Many of the Real Player sites offers live audio and/or video, while other events are pre-recorded “on-demand” meaning with Real Player, you can listen to the entire event whenever you want and can “fast forward” or “replay” sections as you see fit exactly like a VCR movie.
Real Player Audio/Video Sites – These sites link to sites that offer audio and video that you can play via your Internet browser using the
AudioNet – 98/10/18 A large linked listing of web sites using Real Player, along with schedules and special events. Included are a large number of radio and TV stations, including Court TV, NASA TV, and many more.
http://www.audionet.com
Timecast – A potpourri of various Real Player media sites, offering live and “taped” events from entertainment, sports, business, technology and more. Included is a searchable listing of web sites and radio and TV stations across the world that you can tune into, as well as various additional programming.
http://www.timecast.com
Yack.com – 99/09/17 A detailed indexed guide to live Internet events, like chat and “radio” and “TV” broadcasts – a TV Guide for the web.
http://www.yack.com
Daily Briefing – Audio and video current newscasts from numerous news sources like ABC and Fox etc., regularly updated or live.
http://www.dailybriefing.com
Film – Screen films, new movie trailers, and interviews.
http://www.film.com
MusicNet – Check out new music clips from various music genres.
http://www.musicnet.com
WebActive – Political and social commentary, and activism.
http://www.webactive.com
LiveConcerts – Catch live and archived live concerts and interviews from a surprising good selection of artists.
http://www.liveconcerts.com
Imagine Radio – 99/05/31 Incredible site that lets you select between a huge number of professional on-line music stations with formats of everything from jazz, new music, pop, 80’s new wave, etc. You can also choose from user designed stations, or even create your own with your own play lists created by genre and artist! A nice touch is the on-screen dashboard displaying the song / artist / album currently playing, along with pause, skip and favorite station preset buttons.
http://www.imagineradio.com
RollingStone Radio - 99/12/31 A series of on-line radio stations programmed by specific genres (like New Wave, Pop Hits) as well as music news and info, run by Rolling Stone magazine. The free Real Player G2 is needed to listen to the statons.
http://www.rsradio.com
ComedyNet - 99/08/13 See great stand-up comedy on demand.
http://comedynet.com/
Kerbango – 00/06/19 Amazing site that neatly organizes and links to thousands of audio and “Internet radio” sites around the world, covering everything from news, sports, music, and talk stations.
http://www.kerbango.com/
http://www.spinner.com
http://www.netradio.com
FREE OFFERS
The Free Site – 00/01/02 A MUST SEE!! This site is the ultimate authority on legitimate “freebies, free stuff, and freebies” neatly organized by category such as free software, prizes and contests, screen savers, sounds, and tons of Internet web site items.
http://www.the freesite.com/
Cool Freebies - 99/08/25 As the name implies, a very well organized site listing and linking free legitimate offers covering a wide variety of categories from product samples, computer software, and services.
Phil
& Moke’s Secret Free Place – 02/05/29
This site has tons of fun and useful FREE things ranging from graphics, search
utilities, contests and games, free web space, to many more, all neatly
categorized.
http://www.maxpatch.com/
TRAVEL
Orbitz –
Yahoo! Travel – 98/10/28 Probably the best site to use to research and book air travel at very good prices. You can check on flights in progress, plan cruises and vacation packages, investigate air fare bargains, as well as numerous other travel information.
http://travel.yahoo.com
Lowestfare.COM – 99/05/23 Specializes in extremely discounted air fares, cruise, and vacation packages, and features many specials.
http://www.lowestfares.com
Travelocity – 98/10/06 Sabre based airline travel tickets site that lets you look up flights via various search criteria and buy tickets. Also offers a “cheap tickets” section that lets you take advantage of odd lot tickets.
http://www.travelocity.com
Preview Travel – 98/10/06 Airline tickets site that lets you look up flights and buy tickets, offers a “Farefinder” option that shows any special discounted air fares.
http://www.previewtravel.com
TheTrip – 98/10/06 Easy to use airline tickets site that lets you look up flights and buy tickets. Allows round trip, one way, and multiple destinations options.
http://www.thetrip.com
1Travel – 98/10/06 An online air fare agency. Features sections : “Lowest Airfares”; “Last Minute Deals” offering special discounted fares; travel guides for over seas trip planning; and an excellent section “The Rules of the Air” that tells you in simple terms the rules and policies of the different airlines on a variety of topics, like bumping, baggage carry-on, etc.
http://1travel.com
LastMinuteTravel.com – The Global Marketplace of Just-released Offers – 00/06/21 This site specializes in flights, cruises, vacations, and travel arrangements with companies who are “stuck at the last minute” with available bookings and will offer significant discounts to travelers who can travel on very short notice.
11th Hour Vacations – America’s Catalog Of Spontaneous Travel Bargains – 00/06/21 This site specializes in flights, cruises, vacations, and travel arrangements with companies who are “stuck at the last minute” with available bookings and will offer significant discounts to travelers who can travel on very short notice.
http://www.11thhourvacations.com/
Priceline.com – 99/10/14 Novel approach to bargain air travel. You enter when and where you want to travel and the price you want to pay, and if any airline has empty seats left on flights that match your request and at the price you requested, it books the flight at the price you bid. They are now offering the same bid method for New Car/Home Financing and Hotel Rooms.
http://www.priceline.com
MAPS
MapBlast – Draws detailed maps which you can zoom in or zoom out on for any address/city you enter including non-US locations. You can also get driving directions and locate area businesses.
http://www.mapblast.com
MapQuest - Draws detailed maps which you can zoom in or zoom out on for any address/city you enter including non-US locations. You can also get driving directions and locate area businesses.
http://www.mapquest.com
Magellan Maps – Provides great maps of states and regions within the states as well as for countries world wide, but does not provide details down to city level.
http://www.pathfinder.com/travel/maps/
GlobeXplorer, Inc - 00/10/05 This free site will let you enter a U.S. address or select other parts of the world, and then will display a very detailed satellite map of the area. Zoom and pan functions are also offered, but either are "buggy" or not active for some maps - but this site is definitely fascinating nonetheless.
TerraFly -
EDUCATIONAL
Great Sites - 99/09/01 From the American Library Association comes a great series of hot links to web sites that are “safe” for kids, educational, and interesting.
http://ala8.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/
GetNetWise – 00/01/01 Assistance for families and caregivers trying to ensure safe, educational, and entertaining online experiences for children. Sections included are " "Online Safety Guide", "Tools for Families", "Reporting Trouble", and "Web Sites for Kids".
The Discovery Channel Online – 98/10/08 interestingly well designed site of the cable TV’s The Discovery Channel. A fascinating site where if you’re not careful, you might end up learning a lot of cool stuff!
http://www.discovery.com
Project Gutenberg at Sailor - 99/11/26 A large selection of classic literature, like Shakespeare and Shaw, in text form that can be donwloaded, printed, and searched.
http://www.promo.net/pg/index or http://sailor.gutenberg.org/
SPACE.com - 01/01/03 Fascinating free site dedicated to space news, games, entertainment and science fiction.
http://www.space.com/
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
VassarStats: Statistical Computation Web Site – 00/06/15 Outstanding free web site courtesy of Vassar College, that features a wide array of advanced statistics calculators (like Probabilities and ANOVA), and tutorials with examples on statistics. Will allow import and export from a spreadsheet.
http://faculty.vassar.edu/~lowry/VassarStats.html
COLLEGES
See
my review of http://www.edu.com/ concerning discount software and hardware for
college students, faculty, and staff!
Web
http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ
College Board Online – 99/09/06 This is the site of the company that makes the SAT tests. Key features of this site include : information, test aids, test dates, and registration; college and scholarship search engines.
http://www.collegeboard.com
FinAid! The SmartStudent Guide to Financial Aid - 00/11/06 This free site contains a wealth of college financial aid information and resources, including loans, scholarships, military aid, applying for financial aid, aid calculators, and a search engine for scholarships.
http://www.finaid.org/
FINANCE
There are many excellent sites dealing with investing, with many offering free real time quotes, in depth analysis, financial tutorials, and news. Care should be taken with any financial advice to make sure it is appropriate for the specific user, and to be wary of bias on some sites towards products they represent.
CBS Marketwatch - 99/01/27 Probably the best financial news and statistics web site of all. Well organized and neatly presented up to the minute data, excellent research, great financial tutorials, and helpful columns.
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/newsroom.htx
validea.com
-
http://www.validea.com/
MONEY.COM – 99/05/31 Financial information site offering guides and tutorials on investing, cars, real estate, insurance, retirement, taxes, tracking institutional buying, and more.
http://www.money.com
CEO Express : Executive Gateway to the Internet - 99/08/25 Very condensed, authoritative, and comprehensive page of links, composing a veritable “Who’s who” of web sites catering to business oriented areas of expertise like “Daily News”, “Business Magazines”, “Internet Searches”, “Company Research”, and “Banking and Finance” and many, many more. A strongly recommended browser startup page.
http://ceoexpress.com/
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission - 99/09/06 The SEC site offers extremely valuable information and an extensive archive of all SEC required filings required by corporations via its “EDGAR” section (although www.freeEdgar.com presents these same reports in a more user friendly manner). Also included is SEC news, rules, investor assistance/complaints, and small business information.
http://www.sec.gov
FreeEDGAR.com,
Inc. - 99/09/06
A MUST SEE FOR FINANCIAL RESEARCH!! A
much more user friendly version of accessing the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission required corporate filings . FreeEDGAR provides
the following services based on these SEC filings : “View & print filings
using RTF”, “Free, unlimited access to indexed SEC EDGAR Filings”, “Free,
unlimited access to Today's Filings”, “Free e-mail alerts of targeted company
filings by creating a Watchlist “, “Instant download
of financial data directly into Excel spreadsheets”.
http://www.freeEdgar.com
Investing in Bonds.COM – 99/06/13 Extensive tutorials and information on government, municipal, and corporate bonds, as well as quotes and other issues like bond taxation is featured on this site.
http://www.investinginbonds.com/
Mortgage Calculator – 99/06/13 The name of this site is deceiving as it offers an incredible array of on-line financial calculations ranging from the obligatory mortgage payment, amortization, affordability, to Tuition Savings Calculator, How Wealthy are You?, Nominal and Effective Interest Rates, Net Worth Calculator.
http://www.mortgage-calc.com/
Pathfinder Mortgage – 99/06/13 Arizona based mortgage lender offers general information on mortgages like Mortgage Terms, Markets and Economy, Economic Terms, and some very helpful on-line calculation programs like Monthly Payment Calculator, Loan Amortization Calculator, Estimate of Affordability Calculator, Prepay vs. Investment Calculator, IRA/401(k)/403(b) Calculation, How Much Estate Tax Will You Pay, Retirement Payout Calculator, How Much to Retire?, Roth vs Traditional IRA Calculator.
http://www.pathfindermortgage.com/
Vanguard - extensive data on Vanguard mutual funds
http://www.vanguard.com/
Fidelity - extensive data on Fidelity mutual funds
http://www.fidelity.com/
Fund Alarm - mutual fund analysis site
http://www.fundalarm.com/
Bank Rate Monitor - Lists bank rates by state or nationally showing CD, credit card, money market rates with bank names and phone numbers.
http://www.bankrate.com
Yahoo! Stock Quotes and News
http://quote.yahoo.com/
http://www.usatoday.com/money/msfront.htm
Quicken com – 98/10/21 nice source for up to the minute market results, news stories, financial research, and stock and mutaul funds quotes and charts.
http://quicken.excite.com/investments/
Fund Focus – 98/10/21 Specializes in detailed mutual funds reporting and a mutual fund databases searchable by many different criteria.
http://www.fundfocus.com
Daily
Stocks –
http://www.dailystocks.com
E*Trade – Incredible extensive stock and mutual fund statistics research, and on-line stock/bond/mutual fund trading
http:/www.etrade.com
HSH Associates – 98/11/01 Great site devoted to mortgages. Site offers “Daily Mortgage Statistics”, “Market Trends and Forecasts”, average rates by state and city, current and historical rates, plus super financial calculators, news, tips and more.
http://www.hsh.com
Insweb – Insurance Quotes and Information - 99/01/27 Great site that offers on-line quotes from a number of insurance companies for auto, life, home, renter, and health insurance. Also featured are helpful planning tools, articles, and term glossaries.
http://www.insweb.com/
Quotesmith.com - 99/06/25 This site provides detailed instant comparative insurance quotes from over 300 Companies. Insurance currently covered : Dental Insurance, Small Business/Families/Individuals, Term Life Quotes, Auto Insurance, Medical Insurance, Group Medical (1-100 employees), Individuals/Families Medical, Medicare Supplement, Annuity Quotes, No-Physical Exam Life Insurance.
http://www.quotesmith.com/
SmartMoney.com - 00/01/02 Excellent free personal finance site run by The Wall Street Journal's SmartMoney magazine. It offers financial news and commentary, tutorial columns, plus excellent research and a great selection of useful analysis tools.
Bloomberg.com - 00/01/02 Free financial data site that does an Ok job with basic stock and mutual funds data, it excels covering a wider range of data, like currency exchange rates and IPO statistics.
http://www.bloomberg.com
www.companysleuth.com
www.stockdetective.com
BANKING
Lending Tree.Com – 99/12/31 This site lets you fill out one form to apply free for credit (mortgage, refinance, home equity, auto loan., personal loan, credit card, debt consolidation), and they promise within 2 days you will have at least 4 different bids from lendors to choose from.
http://www.lendingtree.com
WingSpan Bank - 99/12/31 Arguably the premier Internet bank that offers a full range of traditional banking services at competitive rates plus insurance, brokerage, investments, with on-line banking and bill paying.
http://www.wingspanbank.com
Telebank Online- 00/01/02 An online bank nationally noted for its exceptional insured investment rates.
WOMEN’S ISSUES
Maxi magazine – Women’s “point of view” magazine
http://www.maximag.com/
Smarty Pants magazine - Women point of view magazine
http://www.smartypantsmag.com/smartypants/
Women’s Wire – 98/10/21 Well done site that contains nicely organized magazine style articles, news, and tutorials on main subjects of money, work, style, networking, and many other interesting odds and ends, for a women’s perspective.
http://www.womenswire.com/
Women.com – 98/10/21 Has numerous links to insightful sites specializing in women’s interests and viewpoints.
http://www.women.com/
Life Planning for Women – 98/10/25 A site dedicated to “disseminating information and educational materials on every aspect of pre-retirement planning, to help women of all ages achieve financial security”. It features monthly articles and a Shocking Facts” section that highlights the urgency of financial planning for women.
http://www.womenplanning.com
Women.com – 99/05/23 On-line magazine style web site focusing on women’s issues and news.
http://www.women.com
IVillage.com – 99/05/23 On-line magazine style web site focusing on women’s issues and news.
http://www.ivillage.com
HEALTH / MEDICAL
These sites are not intended to replace traditional medical care.
Merck - 01/31/01 Merck has graciously provided their voluminous,extensive, highly regarded "The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy" and "The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy - Home Edition" (an interactive multi-media guide aimed more toward the non-medical professional) on-line for free in an easily searchable format. This is a "must see" first stop for any medical information.
http://merck.com/pubs/mmanual/ and http://www.merckhomeedition.com/
Mayo
Clinic -
Quackwatch -
InteliHealth : Home to John Hopkins Health Information – 99/09/06 This site lets you look up health and medical questions, has an extensive drug database that lets you look up drug interaction info and what the drug actually does, and ask actual doctors questions, has a medical dictionary, links to numerous medical organizations.
http://www.intelihealth.com/
American Medical Association – 98/10/18 The official site of the AMA containing all the latest medical news culled from numerous medical publications. A search engine is provided that lets you easily research any subject or concept.
http://www.ama-assn.org
WebMD Health & Medical Library - 99/08/13 This site contains extensive searchable medical and health information. Features include “Health Topics A-Z”, “Medical Encyclopedia”, “Self-Care Advisor”, “Drug Reference”, “Ask Our Experts”, “Transcript Archives”.
http://www.webmd.com
RxList - The Internet Drug Index- 99/08/13 Extremely detailed searchable database of drugs and alternative medicines covering the following topics for each : “DESCRIPTION”, “PUBLISHED STUDIES”, “REPORTED USES DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION REFERENCES”, “WARNINGS CONTRAINDICATIONS PRECAUTIONS”, “ADVERSE REACTIONS DRUG INTERACTIONS”, “OVERDOSAGE”, “PATIENT INFORMATION”
http://www.rxlist.com/
FamilyDoctor.com
– 00/06/21 The
“Self-Care Flowcharts” is a very clever and helpful series of flowcharts that
lets you quickly and simply determine treatment for minor medical problem as
well as determine when to seek a doctor.
This site, sponsored by the
http://familydoctor.org/
allHealth: Online Psych – 00/06/21 An interesting site on psychology which features a number of intriguing on-line psychological tests ranging from I.Q., “What Career Is for You?”, and much more. This site also offers info in many other health/medical fields.
http://www.allhealth.com/onlinepsych/
MEDLINEplus -
01/01/31 Great general site
offering health news, a medical encloypedia, drug
information, a directory of doctors, dentists and hosptials,
along with numerous links.
http://medlineplus.gov/
CLINICAL TRIALS AND RESEARCH
CenterWatch Clinical Trials Listing Service - 99/08/13 A medical site meticulously listing medical facilities currently performing clinical trials for various disorders, clinics specializing in areas of medical disorders, new FDA approvals, and NIH research studies.
http://www.centerwatch.com/
ClinicalTrials.gov - 01/31/01 The U.S. National Institutes of Health, through its National Library of Medicine, developed this site to provide patients, family members and members of the public current information about clinical research studies.
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui/c/b
SHOPPING
Getting quick product information and pricing is one of the largest
advantages to on-line shopping. On-line shopping sites can provide very
convenient 24 hour shopping for merchandise delivered right to your door. Just like catalog shopping, the addition of
shipping charges to a purchase must be considered,
this is often more than offsets by the normal exemption
COMPARISION SHOPPING AND COUPONS
BizRate – 99/11/01 A must see! This independent site lists, rates, and provides detail reports on Internet merchants and their policies, searchable by vendor name and product category, plus lists and comparisons of vendors by a product category and links the vendor’s web site.
http://www.bizrate.com/
Big Big Savings -
http://www.bigbigsavings.com/
Cool savings - offers printable coupons redeemable at local stores for various products
http://www.coolsavings.com/
Catalog City – 98/11/27 The ultimate mail order catalog site for all types of products. You can search for catalogs by vendor and product, and then preview and order the catalog, normally for free.
http://www.catalogcity.com
SalesCircular - 99/08/13 Compare prices from current retail store sales ads. Search by state and product category (Tvs, refrigerators, etc.) and receive a detailed comparison containing product information, store name, sale run dates, and price.
http://www.salescircular.com/
mySimon Inc. – 00/06/13 Select an item to comparison shop for and this site will return a list of vendors and their price for the item. This list will normally have links to the vendor and product information.
http://www.mysimon.com/
DealTime.com: Comparison Shop for Almost Anything – 00/06/21 Select an item to comparison shop for and this site will return a list of vendors and their price for the item. This list will normally have links to the vendor and product information.
STORES
edu.com - 00/08/31 Excellent web site offering huge legitimate discounts on textbooks, phone calling cards, computer software and hardware - like 10% off the best prices I have researched for IBM computers and Hewlett Packard printers, and 70% off some current Microsoft software. The only catch is this is "academic pricing" so if you're enrolled in a degree or certificate program at an accredited college or university in the U.S., or a high school senior who has been accepted into a qualifying degree or certificate program or on faculty / staff, you can buy on edu.com. Their phone number is : (888) TALK-EDU / (888) 825-5338.
http://www.edu.com/
CD Now – 98/12/25 Discount music and music vendor with an extensive searchable inventory, can listen to music previews with Real Audio plug-in
http://www.cdnow.com/
EMusic.com - 99/09/01 Purchase and download music, by track or album, on-line.
http://www.emusic.com
Budget Music – 98/12/25 Independent site lets you search the Internet for the lowest prices on music CDs by artist name. Note: results will constantly vary due to promotions being run by vendors.
http:/www/budgetmusic.com
Tower Records – 00/01/11 Vendor carries a huge selection of music. They specialize in obscure, rare, and “out of print” CDs.
http://www.towerrecords.com/
Amazon.com – 98/12/25 Discount book and music vendor with an extensive searchable inventory
http://www.amazon.com/
Net Grocer – 98/11/01 Purchase groceries over the Internet and have them delivered to your home.
http://www.netgrocer.com
Insight.Com – 98/12/25 One of the largest Mail order / Internet computer, parts and supplies vendors offering excellent selection, availability, and pricing.
http://www.insight.com
Processor – 98/12/25 A must see! The web site for the trade paper of the same name. This site lets you comparison shop for computer equipment, peripherals, and accessories, but most importantly it lets you easily locate hard-to-find items at very reasonable prices just like its printed version. It also specializes in used equipment, close-out items, and liquidations. You can also sign-up for a free hard copy subscription.
http://www.processor.com
Web Shopper – 98/12/25 Comparison shop for computer hardware, peripherals, and software by numerous brands among numerous sellers. Extensive links to excellent reviews, articles, and manufacturers abound, although the site is a bit confusing to navigate.
http://www.webshopper.com
Beyond.com – 98/12/25 Specializes in computer software, offering virtually all brands in all categories from business to games, with detailed product information.
http://www.beyond.com
Micro Warehouse – 98/11/01 One of the largest Mail order / Internet computer, parts and supplies vendors offering excellent selection and pricing.
http://www.microwarehouse.com
eBay – 99/10/18 This site holds auctions of all type of collectibles ranging from comic books, coins, stamps, Beanie Babies, and much more. The seller approximately pays eBay about $.25 depending on price, to list an item for auction and then pays 5% for an item sold under $25, or $1.25 plus 2.5% for $25 to $1,000, or $25.63 plus 1.25% for greater than $1,000.
http://www.ebay.com
AuctionWatch – 99/10/18 This site lets you performs basic searches among the major auction web sites, and features reviews and information on auction web sites.
http://www.auctionwatch.com
Cellular phone information from Point.com - 99/09/02 This site on mobile phones has 3 excellent sections : a detailed side by side comparison of mobile phone plans by vendor by geographical area; a detailed side by side comparison of mobile phones by vendor/model and compatible mobile phone plans; an extensive listing of accessories available for a mobile phone by vendor/model.
ephones - 99/12/24 This site gives detailed rate/feature comparisons on mobile phone, DSL, and pagers plans, as well as feature and pricing information on the hardware.
http://www.ephones.com/
10-10PhoneRates.com - 99/12/24 This site allows you to easily compare international, state to state, with a state, business, calling card, and other various phone rate plans.
Telecommunications
Research and
http://www.trac.org
LowerMyBills.com - 00/06/13 Free well designed site that lets you easily compare Auto and Home Insurance, Home and Auto Loan , Long Distance and Wireless Phone, Gas and Electric, Credit Card, and Internet Access rates.
PersonaLogic, Inc. Showcase - 99/08/13 Compare colleges, cities, cars, along with many more subjects based on criteria such as price and personal preferences.
http://www.personalogic.com/
Complete Shopping Guide to Local Sales – ShoppingList.com – 00/06/21 Review current sales/promotions in your area or by store chain, search for sales on a particular item and optionally ask to be notified when/if the item goes on sale, print out coupons for goods and services in your area.
http://www.shoppinglist.com
PriceSCAN – 99/09/06 A shopping search engine that will let you search the web for a product and have a list of vendor and their pricing displayed, along with an optional price trend graph.
http://www.pricescan.com
SmartFrog.com – 99/09/06 A frequent buyer’s shopping program where members of SmartFrog get 5% rebates on purchases made at a wide variety of Internet stores.
http://www.smartfrog.com
Priceline.com – 99/10/14 Novel approach to bargain air travel. You enter when and where you want to travel and the price you want to pay, and if any airline has empty seats left on flights that match your request and at the price you requested, it books the flight at the price you bid. They are now offering the same bid method for New Car/Home Financing and Hotel Rooms.
Safeshopping - 99/12/12 Sponsored by the American Bar Association, does an excellent job noting tips and the law concerning shopping on-line, although much of this helpful information is very useful in terms of shopping in general.
TradeOut.com - 00/01/27 “The business-to-business exchange for excess inventory and idle assets”. This site conducts auctions of manufacturers surplus / over-run inventory lots of merchandise ranging from automotive, computers, consumer goods, industrial, medical, and office equipment. The assortment of products and prices are amazing, although the quantities are often much more than what an individual would want.
eWanted Online Auctions – 00/02/02 Great and novel reverse or upside down auction concept where you post what you want to buy and vendors bid to sell it to you. For common items this works real well, but specialty items often will never be bid on.
PayPal – 00/06/22 An payment facilitator especially advantageous for Internet shopping, where buyers can open up an account for free using currently either a VISA or Master Card credit card. When the buyer makes a purchase, they log on to the PayPal secure web site and authorize payment to the seller’s e-mail address. The seller receives immediate e-mail notification of the payment, and can elect to have it electronically deposited, less a 1.9% PayPal fee, in their bank account or have a check sent. Advantages are: the seller is protected by not having credit card numbers sent to the seller; the seller is protected by getting payment in good funds instead of waiting for a check to clear or having to maintain/develop a credit card payment option themselves; the whole transaction takes much less time to complete.
AUTOMOTIVE
Car Prices – 98/12/25 One of the easiest to use car buying sites. Features include on-line car insurance and financing comparison quotes, local and manufacturer rebate offers, used car pricing and reliability ratings, consumer tips, on-line new car brochure ordering, manufacturer recall notices, and simple dealer car and option pricing.
http://www.carprices.com/
Edmund’s Automotive Buyer’s Guide - comprehensive specs, pricing, reviews, features, used car prices, insider info
http://www.edmund.com/
AutoSite - comprehensive comparisons, specs, pricing, reviews, features, used car prices, insider info
http://www.autosite.com/
Kelly’s Blue Book - the ultimate authority on used car “blue book” pricing
http://www.kbb.com
Used Car Buyer’s Checklist - a great checklist on buying
http://lyre.mit.edu/~powell/sherman/files/used_car.html
AutoWeb – 98/10/06 Offers pricing, reviews, and research on new cars. Has Kelly’s Blue Book feature that lets you assess the value of used cars.
http://www.autoweb.com
CarsDirect.com - 00/10/06 Excellent new car buying site that lets you easily and quickly choose car make, model, and features and get detailed information, comparisons, pricing, "advisor on call", and 24 hour toll free customer service. WARNING: I HAVE NOT YET COMPARED PRICING TO OTHER WEB SITES AS OF YET.
http://www.carsdirect.com
http://www.cars.com
http://www.autobytel.com
http://www.autovantage.com
http://www.carpoint.msn
ENTERTAINMENT
Most
movies and movie production companies, music groups and records companies, and most
cable channels, all have their own sites that can be easily found via an
Internet search engine.
Entertainment Sleuth 00/10/02 Site dedicated to entertainment news with a search engine to news, photos, movie trailers, MP3s, etc,.
http://e.sleuth.com/
MTV
http://www.mtv.com/
TV Guide - contains articles and an detailed TV schedules customizable by the user for their locality
http://www.tvguide.com/
Then International Lyrics Server – 00/04/27 This site publishes the lyrics to an amazing amount of songs, searchable by artist, album or song. A great way to find who recorded a particular song.
http://www.lyrics.ch/index.htm
Star Trek Nexus - definitive web site on all things Star Trek related with numerous links
http://members.aol.com/treknexus/index.htm
Celebrity Pictures Link Index - an extremely complete list of links to celebrity pictures
http://mudpuppy.simplenet.com/index.htm
COMIC STRIPS - Dilbert, Alley Oop, Jump Start, Marmaduke, Robotman, Rose Is Rose and more.
http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/
MGM and United Artists movie site
http://www.mgmua.com
Christmas Page - stories, letters to Santa, games, coloring books..
http://www.merry-christmas.com/
Amused.com – 99/11/07 Hilarious site nicknamed “The Centre for the Easily Amused!” offers tons of funny, unusual games, links, and features. This site is “G” rated, and so delightfully bizarre that you really can’t describe it!
MOVIES
Internet Movie Database – Excellent site offering a very detailed movie database providing cast, synopsis, reviews, and ratings, searchable by film name and actor.
http://www.imdb.com
moive-mistakes.com - 01/02/14 Very interesting movie site that details movie blunders, continuity errors, and things that just "make you wonder", in extreme detail. DO NOT CHECK OUT ITS ENTRY ON A MOVIE IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW HOW "THE MOVIE ENDS".
http://www.movie-mistakes.com/
The
Movie Spoiler -
http://www.themoviespoiler.com/
HUMOR
Comedy Central Online
http://www.comedycentral.com/
David Letterman’s Late Show - all about the show, including show news, Top 10 Lists, and more
http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/
Late Night with Conan O’Brien - all about the show, including show news, humor, and more
http://www.nbc.com/entertainment/shows/conan/
The Larry Sanders Show - about the “fake” talk show comedy on HBO
http://www.hbo.com/larry/
The CyberDorktionary - geek
dictionary
http://www.latech.edu/~jik/Jwz/dorktionary/index.shtml
Geek Site of the Day - humor for
“techies”
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~idigo/gsotd
The Laffatorium : Nerd Humor -
humor for “techies”
http://www.laffnow.com/nerd.html
Britspeak - humorous English to American and vice versa translations
http://pages.prodigy.com/NY/NYC/britspk/main.html
Amerispeak - humorous English to American and vice versa translations
http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/amerispeak/index.htm
The Onion - 99/12/24 Very hilarious site that publishes on a satirical "on-line news magazine" done so tongue in cheek you might think you are reading a weird issue of Time magazine.
GOSSIP / TABLOID NEWS
The Dridge Report - tabloid gossip stories with many links to the other well-known “scandal sheets”
http://www.drudgereport.com/
Ain’t It Cool News - Very inside
http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/
E! Online – 98/10/12 ! Delightful colorful web site of the cable station E!, that reflects E!’s perchant for gossipy entertainment industry news.
http://www.eonline.com/
Entertainment Sleuth 00/10/02 Site dedicated to entertainment news, photos, gossip with a search engine to numerous releated links. You can even opt to be notified whenever new material on a specific topic is updated or added.
http://e.sleuth.com/
COMIC BOOKS
The Marvel Universe Online – 99/10/18 Marvel Comics home page.
http://www.marvel.com
East Coast
Comics - 99/12/05 Mail
order house that sells new Marvel, DC, and Image comic books at about 75% the
cover price!!! Good back issue
inventory. Their web site offers on-line
ordering. Contact them at East Coast
Comics,
http://www.eastcoastcomics.com
WizardWorld.com - 00/11/27 Excellent free site that has a very
easy to use but extensive search engine where you can find current comic book
prices, complete with a cover picture and a list of buyers and sellers with
prices for that issue. Message Boards;
as well as price guides for action figures, Pokemon, Beanie Babies, and Magic;
a link to their on-line comic and toy store; plus a portfolio feature where you
can enter your items and the web site will automatically track their valuation
fluctuations.
http://www.wizardworld.com/
Another Universe - Comics, Games, Toys, Animation, TV and
Movies
http://www.anotheruniverse.com
Comix Web Home Page and Index
http://antares.prodigy.com/igroups/therecro/cmc01coi/cmc01coi.htm
Mile High Comics – 99/10/18 Comic book store with interesting products and news.
www.milehighcomics.com
Realms of Wonder Price Guide Search Engine – 99/01/27 This site is a very basic but helpful searchable database on comic book pricing.
http://www.realms.simplenet.com/pricegd/results.hts
Comic
Exchange – 99/10/18 On-line
comic book auction site.
http://www.comicexchange.net/
SPORTS
Most
teams and leagues, from pros to minor league to college to high school, have
their own sites
that can be easily found via an Internet search engine.
SPORTS
ESPN.com – 00/06/20 Official site of ESPN. This site covers virtually all sports, detailed statistics and standing, scoreboard ticker, and articles
http://espn.go.com/
Fox
Network's Sports Page
http://www.foxsports.com
USA Today Scoreboard for all sports
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/
Welcome
to SportsLine
http://infoman2.sportsline.com/index.html
BASKETBALL
NBA.com – 00/06/21 Official site of the NBA, filled with news, features, statistics and schedules, and more.
http://www.nba.com/
BskBALL's HOOPSWORLD - 00/10/26 Excellent daily
http://www.bskball.com/Score.htm
WNBA.com – 00/06/21 Official site of the WNBA, filled with news, features, statistics and schedules, and more.
http://www.wnba.com
FOOTBALL
NFL - statistics, live scoreboard, bio’s, standing, articles
http://www.nfl.com/
Toby’s Football Coaching Site – 00/06/21 Very technical football coaching site with extensive play diagrams and links
HOCKEY
NHL - statistics, live scoreboard, bio’s, standing, articles, listen to pre-game/live games with Net Show plug-in
http://www.nhl.com/
NHL
STATS -
http://canoe.ca/NHLStatistics/home.html
BASEBALL
The Official Site of Major League Baseball – 00/09/08 Well done site of Major League Baseball, full of scores, news, and stats.
http://www.majorleaguebaseball.com/ or http://www.mlb.com
Baseball
http://www.baseballamerica.com/
Hits R Us – 98/10/25 This site offers an excellent shareware baseball score keeping program.
http://hits-r-us.hypermart.net
Yahoo Sports Fantasy League Statistics Free Download – 98/10/06 Download statistics designed for easy use with a spreadsheet or database program so you can analyze the data any way you want or use it to run office pools / fantasy leagues.
http://football.yahoo.com/nfl/stats/fantasy.html
http://football.yahoo.com/mlb/stats/fantasy.html
http://football.yahoo.com/nba/stats/fantasy.html
http://football.yahoo.com/nhl/stats/fantasy.html
Sandbox - The Interactive Entertainment Network - 99/09/01 Offers outstanding free stock market, football, hockey, baseball, basketball, fantasy teams/leagues. This site offers loads of statistics and news, easy to use, weekly and end of season prizes, the ability to form a sub-league with friends/co-workers (so why to go to all the trouble of running an office pool yourself?).
http://www.sandbox.net/
GOLF
PGA.com – 98/10/25 Official site of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) featuring news, scores, standings, multimedia instruction, tour schedule, and rules of the game.
http://www.pga.com
LPGA.com – 98/10/25 Official site of the Ladies Professional Golfers Association (LPGA) featuring news, scores, and standings.
http://www.lpga.com
RACING
NASCAR On-line – 98/10/19 NASCAR’s official site offering shows and live racing broadcasts, video clips, standings, results, and related news
http://nascar.com
Sports Odds
http://sportsfaxnews.com/pftball/index.shtml?
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/odds.htm
http://www.donbest.com/delayed-odds/
http://www.scoresandodds.com
http://www.wsex.com/line/PRO-FOOTBALL.html
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/odds.html
http://www.sportingbet.com/ 00/06/29
http://www.sportsbook-odds-online.com/
http://www.sportsbook.com
http://www.sportsoffshore.com/sports.html
Future Odds
http://www.nss.net/ 00/09/20
NFL Standings + Results + Schedule
http://www.sportserver.com/newsroom/sports/fbo/1995/nfl/nfl/stat/99standings_lo.html
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/standings.html
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/stand.htm
http://www.sportsline.com/b/ap/STND/FBP--NFLExpandedGlanceSub.HTM (Strength of Schedule)
http://www.nfl.com/news/00schedule.html
NFL Statistics
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/stats/
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/statistics
http://www.nfl.com/stats/
Jeff Sagarin's power ratings
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/nfl01.htm
Betting
Parlaycard.com
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SportsInteractionc.com - 02/03/13
News, scores, odds (spreads, totals, money lines, futures).
http://www.sportsinteraction.com/
SITES I HAVE YET TO REVIEW
These sites I have not gotten the chance to personally review yet – the user should take this into consideration before visiting these sites.
Phone plan comparison
Firetalk - 00/01/02 A free downloadable software package that lets you conduct voice conversations for free over your Internet connection. Firetalk requires Windows 95/98/NT 4.0, 5MB hard drive space, sound card with speakers and microphone. Many phone like features are included, like call waiting and speed dial.
vistalk.com – 00/02/02 Site offers free software and service that allows users to talk real time to each other over the Internet (including AOL). Latest version of Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer is suggested.
Student course notes
discount coupons
free Internet telephony
Lie detector software – 00/06/06 Mil-Spec Industries (516) 625-5787, Truster ($125 + $6 S&H - $10 check discount)
http://www.mil-spec-industries.com/truster/index2.htm
Itouch Super Portal - 00/09/01
http://itouch.logitech.com/enu/index.cfm
Georgi Guninski's home page - 00/09/15 This is an excellent site created by this user that notes bugs and exploits for browsers and OS, as well as explanations and demonstrations.
http://lists.nat.bg/~joro/
GameCopyWorld - 00/11/22
http://www.gamecopyworld.com
Restorer2000
–
http://www.restorer2000.com/
Qual-IT
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Surrealistic Software – 02/12/19 Free College Bowl and NFL Football Pool Hosting