Internet

'And as I walk into the Valley of Death, I will fear no email...'

There used to be a time when I would have to spend hours fretting over a question I could not solve or an answer which I desperately wanted to have rightaway. Not anymore. Now I just connect to the internet. Pop the topic into a search engine and within minutes I would have the addresses of countless sites giving me the answer I seek and much more. It's just that simple. More and more, I'm finding myself turning to the internet for answers, for the sheer speed and convenience. Be it the address of a building, song lyrics, game hints, guitar chords, programming aid, shopping tips... whatever! As long as I see a topic which interests me, I can simply go online to find out more about it.

The internet has truly progressed tremendously since it first started years ago. The wealth of information that is currently available is beyond belief, and everyone has contributed their part to it. That is why I see great potential in the internet and businesses related to this field, like IT. It's definitely going to be the next big thing. Maybe they should run a test by crashing the World Wide Web for one day... I bet the effect would be much much worse than the Y2K bug.

E-commerce is another big thing which is affecting all of us. I haven't tried it yet cos I don't have a credit or cash card(and few companies accept COD). However I find online shopping great nevertheless. I still make use of it to check out and compare prices, like when configuring the parts of my computer. Mail order also tends to be cheaper, although you don't get to check the product first. Koh Boon Ping(he's some journalist) once tried living holed up with only the internet. I don't think he really enjoyed the experience...

Email must be one of the best by-products of the internet. I can now get in touch with people all over world(almost instantly) without paying for the IDD call rates. The previous alternative the phone is 'snail' mail, which takes far too long and is so unreliable. Nowadays, I rarely 'use' my phone at all, cos I email everyone and everyone is emailing me too. In fact, sometimes it's much easier to get someone through email than phone(especially if he doesn't have a handphone or pager like me...). But unfortunately, I'm not using cable, so ironically, the phone bill ends up higher than before.

ICQ(I-Seek-You) is something which is even better than email! When I first started using the internet(which was way before internet became hot), someone recommended me to use ICQ. By then I was already issued with a seven digit UIN! This means that there were millions of users before me who are currently using ICQ! ICQ is like having this permanent chatroom which all your friends enter when they come online. But it's unlike those traditional chatrooms where you either find people of the opposite sex(or so you think!) or people you know to talk to. With ICQ, you set your contact list so you know everyone here and there's no pressure to talk at all. In fact, I go on surfing the internet, reading my mail and doing my own business! It's like having your friends right beside you but everyone is minding their own business, talking occasionally! Like when I suddenly have a query, I would message my friend(s) with it and get an immediate response instead of searching the web for answers. It's great for arranging real meetings too, since everyone's 'there'! And for me like my friends always complain, as I only have a single line, it's the only way someone can reach me when I'm online... Best of all, ICQ's free!

Top Recommendations For The Web (Based on personal experience and preference only, I must stress.)

For search engines, stick to Altavista by CMGI. It's the only digital search engine whose robot scans through every page and link in a site for your keyword. That's why you can afford to be specific with this one to narrow down your search to the precise site you need. Although it doesn't give match percentages like Lycos or Excite, the precision is more than enough I feel.

For free email, get Hotmail by MSN. I don't really endorse the MSN part cos they just screwed up the perfectly good old Hotmail interface but... Anyway it's an IMAP server which gives you free 5MB mail limit, very fast connection, small advertising banners and few cock-ups. The nomadic reading and sending of mail is a feature which I value a lot from such remote IMAP servers, even though they just have to put this little advert at the bottom of every mail. My friends have always complained about having to change mail client settings when they want to read mail on someone else's computer, and not to mention they won't have their address books with them to send mail to! I also think it's better than the one from your ISP, as it gives much more space, and also you're really screwed if you ever decide to drop their plan. You'll probably lose most of your mail while you frantically contact everyone to change your email address... Simply unthinkable! It's the permanance really. I personally hate having to update my address book regularly too when people change their addresses.

For free web space, get Geocities by Yahoo!. Like the one above, Yahoo! Is starting to ruin a great thing by combining the logins. Great, so now, you can't access Geocities if you're logined to Yahoo! Mail and vice versa... But still okay lah. Got 11MB free space, free email(forget this one lah), built-in FTP and HTML editor, free counter, quite fast connection, relatively few server breakdowns, address is by subject etc... Cons are irritating pop-up adverts or banners and a rather long address. Haven't tried Tripod, Angelfire, Crosswind and Xoom before, but Geocities still okay.

Other common sites I visit are Amazon, CD Now, Ebay, Download.com and CNet Central. No explanation needed for these sites lah. But depends on preference really. Keep surfing and have fun!

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