With so much volume, and so many sites offering similar content on the Web, sometimes you have to do a little work to find the pearls among the swine – or you could let someone else do it for you.
In the February 2003 issue of PC World magazine (www.pcworld.com), the editors have put together a list of 50 useful Web sites that may actually save you time – something the Internet promised long ago, but hasn’t seemed to deliver.
I compared the PC World list to my own bookmarks to put together a shorter list of essential sites. If you want the complete PC World list, you can either buy the magazine, or visit the Web site.
Webopedia – www.webopedia.com
Looking for a good ISP? Check out this URL – they offer IM, and 802.11, plus superior LAN/WAN performance.
Ever wonder what in hell it is the guys in the IT department are talking about? Ever try to decipher a user’s manual, fix a computer glitch, or follow a computer article or news story and find yourself completely lost? Are you intimidated by three-letter acronyms and industry terms?
If so, Webopedia is the site for you.
There’s no doubt that the Internet has spawned its own language over the years, and that the language is becoming increasingly complex as the Web continues to grow and diversify. If you like to stay on top of what’s happening, you have to stay on top of the lingo.
Give it a chance and I guarantee you’ll be going back to Webopedia again and again.
Consumer Review –
www.consumerreview.comAs the saying goes, a fool and his money are soon parted. I’ve been that fool too many times, making impulse buys on stereos, VCRs, cameras, and sports equipment that I’ve later regretted. I’ve attempted to do a little research in the past, but while many commercial Web sites publish customer feedback, I have started to believe that the feedback was either planted by companies, or possibly by a deranged sociopath who derives a perverse pleasure from tricking people into purchasing inferior products – there’s just no way the cheaply made, loud, and constantly malfunctioning stereo system I bought should have gotten five out of five stars at Future Shop.
This site specializes in sporting goods and consumer electronics, and includes reviews and discussion areas for certain products that could make your life a lot easier, and keep you from doing something foolish.
Google News –
http://new.google.comNews nut?
Google, the best search engine going these days, recently launched a news service that collects articles from more than 4,000 sources around the world, including electronic media sites, and arranges them in different categories according to traffic – e.g. the most widely reads stories wind up on top in a given category.
Radio-Locator –
www.radio-locator.comRoad trips can be a drag, especially if your CD player is busted. Luckily, a few years ago the crew at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology put together a list of 10,000 radio stations and 2,500 Internet audio streams around the world. With a little bit of preparation, you’ll no longer need to flip up and down the dial to find a station that plays the kind of music or offers the kind of format you like.
Ski Maps –
www.skimaps.comLiving in Whistler, I pay close attention to what’s happening in other mountain towns around the world, and I often wonder what those mountains are like.
Ski Maps keeps hundreds of ski maps on file, including most of the leading resorts in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and just about everywhere else. Ever want to know what it’s like to ski at Blafjoll in Iceland? How about Valle Nevado in Chile? Or Dombay in Russia?
Mountain lovers and snow sports followers will love this site.
Project Gutenberg –
http://promo.net/cgi-promo/pg/t9.cgiProject Gutenberg collects works of fiction, poetry, essays, biographies, and other texts that have had their copyrights expire, and puts them online for free – a king of online lending library for the world. There are more than 6,000 books online already, including the works of William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, and Charles Dickens, to name just a few. All of the text is in simple text ASCII format, but plans are in the works to include pictures, illustrations, and even scans of the original works.
Best case scenario
http://www.shift.com/content/web/440/1.html
This month’s copy of Shift magazine includes an article on "case mods," a new adaptation of an old trend to customize, personalize, and soup-up or pimp-out our toys.
Much the same way hot rod fanatics trick out their cars, Computer users are adding neon lights, LED lights, chrome fans that reflect lights, glass and clear plastic cut-outs, airbrush paintings, metalwork, woodwork, stonework, liquid cooling systems, and other visuals to their computer cases to up the cool value, and performance of their systems.
Case mods have gotten pretty creative, putting computer hardware and screens in things like microwave oven cases and creating new designs for keyboards and mouse devices.
An interesting spin-off group is the overclockers; technology buffs who are obsessed with wringing every single bit of performance they can out of their system by allowing components to work faster and harder without overheating.
Suction cup Garfield dolls and action figures are out, high-pressure cooling systems are in.
If you’ve never heard of case mods or overclocking, you might want to check out the Shift article.
