Web Tips #5



*1.  PONTOONS            
            
June 14th, 1999            
            
Having really wide feet isn't as glamorous as it might seem. Sure,
you can water ski without skis, but just try finding good-looking
shoes that actually fit. So if you know someone who is broader 
than average about the instep, be a dear and introduce that 
person to Hitchcock Wide Shoes for Men, at 

http://www.wideshoes.com 

These folks carry stylish footwear in sizes 5 through 13 (half 
sizes 5 through 12) and in widths from EEE through EEEEEE 
(that's right--sextuple-E). Plus, the prices seem reasonable, 
at least compared to what we've seen for normal-width 
shoes, even.


*2. NEWS AT RANDOM            
            
June 15th, 1999            
            
Well, our favorite twist on radio news has to be Random News 
Tuner, at Listen to the News: 

http://www.listentothenews.com 

Click the link, and the tuner picks a radio news program at 
random, which provides either the day's top stories or in-depth 
feature coverage. If you're too right-brained to deal with such 
randomness, not to worry: Listen to the News lets you listen to 
RealAudio clips from literally scores or radio networks and 
syndicated news programs. Think of it as the Web's answer to the 
Seek button--for news, anyway.


*3. WHO ELSE CAN SELL YOU BOTH A WAX RING AND SOME STOCK?            
            
June 16th, 1999            
            
First, online brokerages came along, threatening to make 
stockbrokers obsolete. Now we have companies like Home Depot, 
which sells its own stock over the Web at 

http://www.homedepot.com 

If other companies follow suit, maybe online brokerages will
become obsolete, too! Of course, the Home Depot site is loaded 
with other great features, not the least of which is its 
extensive Project How-To section. As far as we know, this is the 
only place on the Web where you can purchase stock AND learn how 
to fix a leaky toilet. How can brokerages even pretend to compete?


*4. PUT A LID ON IT            
            
June 17th, 1999            
            
You could visit The Proper Topper, at 

http://www.propertopper.com 

for the hats, and that would be fine--there must be hundreds of 
them, enough variety to satisfy the pickiest chapeauphile. But it
would be a shame to miss the site's collection of now-trendy Blue
Marlin Negro League baseball hats, jackets, and other apparel. 
And you don't want to miss the site's hat size chart, which takes
the mystery out of head sizes once and for all: 

http://www.propertopper.com/info/Default.htm


*5. NAMED AFTER BARNEY?            
            
June 18th, 1999            
            
Google's silly name and bare-bones opening page belie its 
capabilities: It's one of the fastest and most comprehensive 
search engines on the Web, and it's still in beta. (The service 
is in fact named after "googol," or 10 to the 100th power.) The 
creators' goal is to "make huge quantities of information 
available to everyone." While we would be the last to guarantee 
the performance of beta anything, we recommend you try out Google
the next time you need to JUST SEARCH--and can do without all the
categories, news, special features, and what have you. 

http://www.google.com


*6. HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?        
  
There are times when you want to post to more than one newsgroup.
For example, if you want to ask a question about Windows 95, you 
might post to alt.os.windows95, alt.windows95, and 
comp.os.ms-windows.win95.misc. 

Stop short of spamming, though. Spamming is less a matter of WHAT
you post than HOW MUCH you post to how many newsgroups. Post only
to those groups that cover the subject of your post. Remember 
that most newsgroup members take offense at commercial postings 
unless they're appropriate for the group. If you sell fluffy 
little stuffed animals and you post your ads to dozens of groups 
that have little or nothing to do with fluffy animals, you'll be 
labeled a spammer. On the other hand, if you post your ad to a 
group that specializes in fluffy animal collecting, most members 
will appreciate your post.


*7. IF EDDIE BAUER WERE ALIVE, HE'D MAKE FUN OF YOU            
            
June 21st, 1999            
            
The Dreamsack, sold at 

http://www.dreamsack.com 

is a sleeping bag made of silk. It comes in seven styles, 
including two double-bed sizes. The site shows each style being 
used by people who look way, way too comfortable to be sleeping 
outdoors. To hear customers tell it, the Dreamsack is perfect 
either as a sleeping bag liner for especially cold nights or as 
a cooler sleeping bag substitute on especially hot nights. 

You can find lots of silk camping accessories--such as pillows 
and pillow covers--here, too. And apropos of nothing, this is 
the first commercial site we've visited that's part of a Web 
ring (in this case, the TravelRing).


*8. IT'S LIKE TAKING THE TRAIN INSTEAD OF THE PLANE--CHEAPER, 
BUT SLOWER            
            
June 22nd, 1999            
            
eCost promises "thousands of computer products at or below cost."
Best as we can tell, it lives up to the promise. Among other 
bargains, we found a 17-inch Princeton monitor for $191.71, which
is a pretty fair steal, and an HP 8000 Laser Printer for $2,060, 
which is about $150 lower than any retail price we could find. 
But eCost makes you pay for these bargains with your time--it's 
a maddeningly slow Web site, its pages taking minutes to display 
even over our broadband Internet connection. Whether the slowness
is due to high bargain-hunting traffic or not, it's a problem 
eCost should remedy--and pronto. 

http://www.ecost.com


*9. INTEL GIVES A LITTLE SOMETHING BACK            
            
June 23rd, 1999            
            
"While the Internet will never replace the experience of seeing 
traditional art 'live,' it does allow for a uniquely personal 
exploration of, say, the life of an artist, or of a particular 
social or artistic current, whose details give context and depth
as to why a particular work of art is great." Such is the 
reasonable raison d'etre of 

http://www.artmuseum.net 

an Intel-sponsored site presenting exhibits from art museums the
world over. Thanks to the biographical and critical information 
included with each exhibit, you CAN learn a lot here, maybe more
than you can at a real museum.


*10. EVEN THE BAD NEWS IS GOOD NEWS HERE            
            
June 24th, 1999            
            
Thanks to cable TV and the Web, you can get your news from about 
one million places. But if we had to pick just ONE, we'd probably
choose National Geographic News, at 

http://www.ngnews.com 

Here you get not "breaking" news--which is journalist-speak for 
"unfinished stories destined to be corrected and recorrected 
every minute of the next few days"--but stories written by folks
who have time to take a breath and see things through to their 
conclusions. Plus, you get story enhancements--maps, previous 
features, and so on--that only National Geographic can provide. 
The only drawback: We couldn't get the site's Instant Delivery 
feature--which e-mails you a PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format)
file of each day's stories--to work; the required software simply
wouldn't download. We hope this feature is fixed by the time you 
read this.
