For many of us the Internet means little more than the odd bit of surfing and swapping of emails. Online banking may be as adventurous as we ever get.
But there's clearly a lot more to it and technology is opening up new opportunities every day. As Yahoo's Anna Featherstone says, "We think that the web can really enhance a person's lifestyle by helping them stay informed, organised and entertained."
So much so that there are very few things that the Net can't do for us. Certainly it's not hard to meet our four basic needs - food, clothing, money and sex.
Food-wise, companies such as GreenGrocer and Pastabilities can deliver anything from bread and organic vegetables to fully prepared gourmet meals in a matter of hours. And to accompany the meal there's a range of wines available from the likes of Wine Planet.
The growing number of clothing stores going online also means it's possible to get a wide range of outfits from the elegant to the casual. Everything from shoes and skirts to ties and necklaces can be yours at the click of a button.
And it doesn't stop there. "You can buy practically anything on the web …from a fishing rod to a milkshake machine, power tools to pinot noir!" says Featherstone.
But there are still a few problems to be ironed out. Viewing and ordering may be simple but delivery networks aren't always up to the task. As many gift site operators discovered last Christmas, transport services simply couldn't get the goods out on time.
Even outside the holiday period some products, such as food and other perishables, are available only within a limited geographical area such as the major cities.
Hopefully this is set to
change. Individual operators are learning from their early experiences
and Australia Post has announced its intention to expand its
services to the e-commerce market.
So net shopping is definitely on the way. But how are you going
to pay for it? What are your options for making money on the
net?
There have been a number of interesting initiatives in this area. One of them is the development of web currency. For example, 'beenz' have been developed as "a globally acceptable alternative to money that would influence and reward on-line consumer behaviour."
To get your beenz you must perform some kind of "e-work" such as visiting a website, "interacting with on-line businesses" (by filling in a survey, for example), or shopping at a participating site. Different activities earn different numbers of beenz so you'd get more by spending or "interacting" than you would if you simply accepted your daily batch of beenz cookies.
Once you've accumulated them you can trade them in for goods at any of the participating traders.
Of course the fact that beenz can only be traded at certain outlets (albeit significant numbers around the world) means that they do have their limitations. For this reason cash or cash credits can seem much more attractive. That's certainly what the Australian operators of Emailcash are hoping.
Emailcash members still have the option of online shopping but they can also take their rewards as cold, hard cash. Once they have accumulated $20 they can ask that a cheque for that amount be sent out to them.
It's obviously an attractive idea as more than 62,000 Australians have signed up since the company launched in June last year. But they shouldn't think about giving up their day jobs just yet. At present there's a monthly income limit of $20.
For those in need of larger sums there are other options. Online auction houses such as Ebay and Yahoo! Auctions offer the opportunity to make the occasional lump sum by selling off unwanted goods.
Anyone with a personal or business website can increase their income by taking paid ads. Of course potential advertisers will want some evidence of the traffic volume on the site before they shell out so it's important to have some way of demonstrating this.
More substantial incomes are available to those with the skills to either establish an online business or work in an industry that allows employees to telecommute.
Anyone with the most rudimentary Internet skills knows that our fourth basic need - sex - is well catered for on the net. Indeed there is so much virtual sex it can only be a matter time before someone comes up with the virtual headache.
But as well as meeting these basic needs the Net also offers an increasing number of 'virtual' alternatives to real life in such areas as sport, entertainment and culture.
For example, with Yahoo! Fantasysports sports enthusiasts can create and 'manage' a team of professional sports players. The first step is selecting fantasy teams from real sports players. Then the real-life performance of each team member is used to estimate how the fantasy team would perform.
And if that's all too energetic Yahoo! also offers more sedate activities like online board and card games.
It's even possible to get a bit of companionship on the Net in the form of a virtual pet. And it doesn't have to be some daggy old dog or cat. For example, BLIPZ (Best Little Internet Petz) offers the chance to care for a range of pets that includes unicorns, dolphins and raptors.
PetFish offers interactive fish that will "live inside your PC". They'll move your icons around, place algae on the screen or perform a host of other cute tricks. They need attention (you have to click on them once in a while) and you also have to feed them.
Then there's the chance to get away from it all on a virtual vacation. Virtual Reality Vacations offers 'getaways' to a range of exotic locations that include islands, mountains and forests. At present its little more than a series of photographs with a bit of background noise but at least it's free and there's no jet lag.
A more rewarding experience may be a virtual tour of some of the world's greatest museums and galleries instead. A good starting point would be the Virtual Tour of Museums and Exhibits Index. This offers links to everything from an Ancient Roman Villa to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
And there's even more interactive culture online courtesy of the Virtual Theatre Project. Virtual theatre allows users to "play all of the creative roles associated with producing and performing stories in an improvisational theatre company".
Artificial intelligence technology allows participants to enter and act out various scenarios on their computers. For example, in Cyber Café the user plays the role of a customer. Other characters are avatars (computer-generated images) whose actions and personalities are determined by the computer. There's no script: each avatar responds 'in character' to your actions. If you get bored with the way things are going you simply re-programme each avatar with a new personality and start again.
And if this brief cyberspace experience just isn't enough then why not move in completely?
Sites such as Activeworlds, for example, offer the opportunity to build your own unique home then locate it in the cyber-world of your choice. You can build anything from a giant spaceship to a fluorescent igloo. The choices are limited only by your imagination.
Once built, you can add it to the "virtual real estate" in one of "over 1000 virtual worlds". AlphaWorld, for example, was Activeworld's first creation. Its online 'residents' have generated so much virtual real estate that it is now 4.4% larger than the state of California. There are even satellite shots of the world. Not bad for something that doesn't really exist.
And once you've moved into your virtual world you can actually have one hell of a virtual social life. According to Activeworld's Mandee Tatum, "entertainment activities include chat, community development and gaming…We have also been home to the first online film premiere."
For the film premiere 300 people gathered online to be part of the launch of Columbia's The Thirteenth Floor. They then had the opportunity to 'mingle' with the stars in the Premiere World chat room afterwards. There's even a virtual photo album recording the event.
But don't worry if you find socialising with the stars a bit intimidating. You can simply build the avatar of your choice and relate to community members through that instead. Why be Joe or Jane Blow when you can become the man, woman, or other creation of your dreams. If you'd rather have your new online friends see you as a four-legged, tap-dancing chocolate ostrich just use the technology at your fingertips. It's that simple.
Of course zipping in and out of cyber-worlds and cyber-personalities can seriously begin to blur the line between 'virtual' and 'reality'. So if you feel a virtual identity crisis coming on maybe it's best to stick to online banking after all.
At 7 a.m. on February 14th two men and two women moved into individual cubicles on a billboard in Yagoona. Each was dressed only in their underwear and possessed nothing more than a laptop, modem and a credit card with a $2,000 limit.
The challenge was to live there for three weeks - using only the Internet to meet their every need.
By mid-afternoon on the first day they had all managed to acquire clothing by placing online orders with companies like Gowings and Just Jeans. Getting food wasn't quite so easy with one contestant not eating until 10 a.m. the next day.
Despite minor teething problems they all managed to set themselves up very comfortably. For example, one contestant even rented a four-poster bed and a ducted air conditioner. Everyone had acquired microwaves, fridges and doonas within the first three days. And once they really got into the swing of things they had pre-packaged gourmet foods delivered every day.
28-year old Wayne Robson was one of the contestants. Despite being the one who didn't eat until the second day he enjoyed the whole experience. "I didn't realise it was so easy," he says. "And I couldn't get over how helpful people were. No one had a problem with delivering stuff to a billboard in Yagoona."
The hardest part was the boredom as each contestant was allowed only a ten-minute break every three hours.
"Most of the time we either rented DVDs or chatted on the Internet," says Wayne.
Only three contestants lasted the course. The fourth had to leave during the final week to take up a job offer. For their efforts they got to keep everything they had bought plus a kilo of prawns, generously thrown in by the sponsors Yahoo! and Triple M.
SITES
Yahoo!
www.yahoo.com.au
GreenGrocer
www.greengrocer.com.au
Pastabilities
www.pastabilities.com.au
beenz
www.beenz.com
Emailcash
www.emailcash.com.au
Ebay
www.ebay.com.au
BLIPZ
www.blipz.com
PetFish
www.petfish.com
Virtual Reality Vacations
www.vrvacations.com
Virtual Tour of Museums
and Exhibits Index
www.virtualfreesites.com/museums.html
Virtual Theatre Project
www-ksl.stanford.edu/projects/cait
Activeworlds
www.activeworlds.com
Gowings
www.gowings.com.au
Just Jeans
www.justjeans.com.au