NEW MUTUAL FUND INVESTS IN INTERNET RELATED STOCKS
It was only a matter of time until public Internet-related companies had reached sufficient numbers to support a sector-specific mutual fund. If you have a spare $1000 lying around ($250 for IRAs), you too can buy into the WWW Internet Fund. Lest the recent decline in Internet IPO stocks scare you away, note that in addition to new companies like Netscape and Yahoo, the fund also invests in more established and diversified players like Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco. Not surprisingly, you can read a prospectus online and fill out an investment form. "http://www.internetfund.com/"
HOTWIRED LAUCHES WEBMONKEY SOFTWARE TWIDDLING SITE
Weird title, interesting concept. According to the press release, "Webmonkey aims to be the 'service station of the Web', helping users to tweak their code, tune up their browsers, and make their Web experience more interesting." You'll have to sign up for HotWired (free) to visit here, and you'll need a Java enabled browser. A recent edition included a gripe session about the new Navigator 3.0, a puff piece on what a plug-in should look like to an end-user, essays on making transparent GIFs and GIF animations, a brief plug-in review, and a scary bit where they run tests on your browser and save the results. Each item has discussion threads. The whole thing is obviously aimed at beginners, who may actually find it useful for a while but will outgrow it rather quickly. It all seems rather banal and tame for the Wired organization. "http://www.webmonkey.com/"
MICROSOFT EXPLORER BROWSER GAINING MARKET SHARE
Recent surveys indicate that Explorer is capturing market share at the expense of Netscape. From June to July, Explorer increased its share from 8.3% to 15.8%. During the same period, Netscape declined slightly from 78.2% to 72.6%. Graphs and browser statistics for the previous several months, including information on which versions of Netscape and Explorer were in use, are available from Interse Corp. "http://www.interse.com/webtrends/"
MICROSOFT SIGNS EXPLORER SPECIFIC CONTENT DEALS
You have to admire (or fear) the brazen business hardball Microsoft is playing with its bottomless cash reserves. Both the Wall Street Journal and ESPNet SportsZone signed a deal with Microsoft whereby they would waive membership fees through the end of the year for members who access the sites with the Microsoft Explorer browser. While neither side announced the financial terms, we assume Microsoft is picking up part of the subscription expense. Other sites which reportedly have made similar deals with Microsoft are Hollywood Online, MTV Online, and Riddler, among others. ESPNet: "http://espnet.sportszone.com/" WSJ: "http://www.wsj.com/"
It's that time of year again, as the premier neo/techno-pagan festival in the US invades the Nevada desert. In case you've not heard of it, the festival is a gathering of the fringe: "artists, performers and free spirits... that culminates in the ritual burning of an enormous human effigy." Think of it as a Grateful Dead parking lot run amok. There'll be raves, concerts, drum drones, circus geeks, weird art performers, and a definite "Escape From LA" ambience. The site has the lowdown, including directions and desert survival tips, an extensive archive section, and information on the Netcast of the event, which runs August 28 to September 2. Expect extensive media coverage. "http://www.istorm.com/burningman/"
At 8:00 pm Tel Aviv time (10:00 am Pacific time) on September 5, Radu Schefler will marry his beloved Rachel in a ceremony to which the online world is invited. Radu plans to update the wedding page every 15 seconds, so those of us with fast connections shouldn't miss a thing. We're not going to pass judgment on whether this is a clever innovation, a gimmick, or the beginning of the end of something or other, we're just going to revel in the opportunity to attend a wedding in our underwear. "http://www.inter.net.il/~radu/"
Infoseek has unveiled Infoseek Ultra, a fully functional beta of their latest search technology. It reminds us very much of Alta Vista in speed and syntax, though Ultra's results seem slightly more up-to-date. The site claims to maintain a "real-time index" of URLs, though the magnitude of the task would seem to us to forestall any such attempt. Still, it's worth at least a browse. "http://ultra.infoseek.com/"
ERIC JOHNSON SITE TESTS REALAUDIO, STREAMWORKS, AND SHOCKWAVE
If you've ever wondered which sound plug-ins deliver the best quality, here's a chance to test the big three. Eric Johnson has a new album out, and Capitol Records has set up this site to promote it. Basically, the site offers sound clips in RealAudio, StreamWorks, and Shockwave plug-in formats. Visit, listen, and whether or not the music is to your taste, you can compare the format translations of what we assume is a single source. Who knows, you might even be inspired to buy the thing. "http://www.ericjohnson.com/"
A QUARTER OF US AND CANADIAN ADULTS CAN ACCESS NET
A Web survey by Commerce Net and Nielson shows that 22-24% of people 16 years of age or older in the United States and Canada now have access to the Internet. As one would expect, the Internet market is widening to encompass the demographics of the general population. The survey also shows that Internet access in the United States and Canada rose 50% from August 1995 to April 1996. An executive summary and press releases with more juicy details are available at the Commerce Net site. The complete survey can be had for $5,000. Yeah, right. Summary: "http://www.commerce.net/work/pilot/nielsen_96/exec.html" PR: "http://www.commerce.net/work/pilot/nielsen_96/press.html"
As we write, the Democratic Party's presidential convention and lovefest is under way, a few weeks after the Republican version of the same. While little excitement can be expected this year, that is not always the case. Exciting or dull, Life Magazine's photographers have always been present to record the event. You can find their pictures, from 1948 to this year, at a Life Web site. A couple of images from each presidential convention appear in thumbnail form, including some of the most notable. A number of people will recognize the famous silhouette of Robert and Jack Kennedy conferring in 1960. Like almost all of Life's pictures, these catalogue their times. "http://pathfinder.com/Life/conventions/"
If you habitually poke your nose into kitchens, you know about refrigerator poetry, those little magnets with words that can be rearranged into pithy, amusing phrases. No doubt you've had the urge to try your hand. Now your inner poet can find expression on a virtual refrigerator page. Select words from various category groups and arrange them with mouse clicks. When satisfied, your work can be published and made eligible for commentary and further permutation by subsequent visitors. If you're not feeling creative, you can browse previous fridge poetry and, if you dig deep, some photos of the author's actual refrigerator door. The site is for frame-enabled browsers only, but a lucid explanation makes the case for frames and, indeed, this site is exemplary in their use. Hats off to the creator, Andrew Buhloone, for a clever and fun site. "http://www.ieor.berkeley.edu/~andryan/fridge/"
Chuck Jones, the cartoon pioneer who brought us among other classics Wile E. Coyote's never ending pursuit of the Roadrunner, has a site on the Web dedicated to his life's work. What would Leon Schlesinger say? The site itself is pretty interesting, with plenty of info on his career, from the Warner Bros. characters we all grew up with - namely Daffy, Bugs, and the gang - to the utterly evil but eventually repentant Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Ever so sadly, we must report that the service which hosts the Chuck Jones page, AcmeNET, does not sell catapults and tornado pills by mail order. "http://www.chuckjones.com/"
ARCHITECTURAL MARVELS AND UNUSUAL ART IN BUS STOPS
In a true international design project, nine bus and tram stops in Hannover, Germany, were created by well-known designers and architects. Their creations are presented at this site with information about each artist, in-depth descriptions of their creations, and beautiful photographs. The outstanding site excels in presentation and navigation as well as in the art. "http://www.x-com.de/busstops/default.html"
NETSURFER REVIEWS "THE WEB PAGE RECIPE BOOK"
This week, Joanne Eglash looks at "The Web Page Recipe Book" by Barrie Sosinsky and Elisabeth Parker (Prentice Hall PTR, 1996: ISBN 0-13-460296-X). While not a resource for professionals, those readers relatively new to the world of the Web will take away information of value. "http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/books/book.02.27.html"
Swoon offers itself as a retro-style, pretty pastel magazine about dating, mating, and relating. With personals for friends or lovers and alternative articles like "Confessions of an American shiksa", "Cheap dates", "Make-out music", "The break-up blues", and "What does your swimsuit say about you?", what's not to like? The articles are taken from print magazines such as GQ, Details, Mademoiselle, etc. It's not soppy, sleazy, or shifty, and could be a lot of fun. Grab a good alias and start cruising. "http://www.swoon.com/"
You'd better have plenty of time on your hands when you visit Random Access Humor '96 'cause it's packed tighter than Pamela Lee's bra. The site presents a random collection of humorous essays, reviews, links to humor sites, and musical parodies. Of special note are the tagline sections - if you don't laugh out loud, you're probably deader than Timothy Leary. Each and every section is accompanied by its own little midi music intro to enhance your surfing pleasure. "http://www.rah96.com/"
GRAND STREET, COOL LITERARY MAG
Grand Street's slick and intelligent little hot spot is full of celebrity writers and interviews, journalism, and literate in-house know-how. A quarterly magazine with an original perspective and a theme-driven format, writers include Jasper Johns, Kenneth Anger, and John Waters. Check out Waters's horror hit and run that landed him in the back of a convertible with a buzzard. Now that's entertainment. "http://www.voyagerco.com/gs/"
You might think the "Good News Every Day" subtitle of the Positive Press indicates smarmy fluff. On the contrary, the Positive Press makes it easy to read background stories from the likes of Nando Net, LA Times, Seattle Times, Reuters, USA Today, News Day, and PRNewswire. Some are light, some are meaty, all are timely. A form lets you notify the publisher of "a positive story in the media" that it hasn't posted. This is the sort of interactivity that online newspapers should foster. (Hint: a "positive" story is a human-interest story.) Good news for surfers too lazy to get a frame-enabled browser - there's a no-frames version, too. "http://www.positivepress.com/"
Mercury Mail will sign you up for free personalized information in eight categories. They produce customized reports on stocks, news, weather, sports, and entertainment among others, and e-mail the documents to their subscribers. Hmmm, sounds like a good idea. "http://www.merc.com/"
Urban gardeners in general and Pacific Northwest gardeners in particular will be drawn to this instructive gardening e-zine "with organic roots". Coming to you from Victoria, BC, home to some of the loveliest gardens in the world, the Virtual Gardener is replete with planting hints and seasonal advice. Nor does it ignore the indoor horticulturalist. "http://vvv.com/~gardenmag/cover.html"
THE LAST SET OF MARS LINKS - WE PROMISE
If all this news makes you itch to climb aboard the first human mission to Mars, you'd best check in first with the Mars Underground at the Case for Mars (CFM) Web site. Established nearly two decades ago by a group of grad students at the University of Colorado in Boulder, the Case for Mars conference series has become the venue for the latest thoughts on human missions to the red planet. The site has links, abstracts from the most recent conference, and a chance to put your name on the CFM mailing list. To complete your tour, stop by the Mars Direct homepage, a compilation of papers by astronautical engineer Robert Zubrin. Zubrin's techniques have been adapted by NASA. Other ideas ranging from robotic missions to terraforming the planet are worth the read. The images are cool, too. CFM: "http://spot.colorado.edu/~marscase/Home.html" Mars Direct: "http://www.magick.net/mars/"
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Anyone who liked "Jurassic Park" already has one foot in the door of the American Museum of Natural History. If you're wired, you're ready for an armchair tour through the evolution of vertebrates and much, much more at the museum's classy Web site. A series of "Expeditions" will take you through the treasures of all the scientific departments. The "Expedition Guide" alone would make a great teaching tool, but don't expect to easily shoo the kids away from the computer long enough to explore on your own. The "Research" section promises Telnet sessions in the museum library. Natural history buffs may want to pause in the online shop before they resume searching for buttons that would improve navigation. "http://www.amnh.org/"
Ever wonder about your ancestors? We're not talking about Aunt Ethel's unfortunate incident in the pet store but rather your upright, smaller-brained ape ancestors. No, we don't mean Uncle Bernie, either. Bone up on your human evolution at the Origins of Humankind site. Divided into five categories, the page offers the opportunity to dig as deep as you like into the subject. The Communication Center hosts scheduled chats on specific topics. The Mankind Info Center provides details on all the species, accepted and in dispute. There's even a page devoted to controversial hypotheses, though it's a little thin. There are more links here than you can shake a femur at. "http://www.dealsonline.com/origins/"
THE CRASH TEST DUMMIES - THE REAL ONES
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has done a nice job putting together this high-impact database of automobile information. Check out which cars on the market are being recalled. Find out what the new airbag warning stickers say. And see how your car stacks up (so to speak) in US Department of Transportation crash tests. "http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/"
For those interested in molecular dynamics (we know you're out there!) or those just wanting to get a glimpse of a reasonably complex Java applet, Netsurfer Digest's diligent researchers have found this little gem: Molecular Dynamics with Java. The Java applet will run an animated molecular simulation, allowing the user to rotate, scale, and move the molecule with the mouse. "http://www.pc.chemie.th-darmstadt.de/java/"
YALE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Like many academic journals, the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine is going online, and (sigh) almost everything is under construction. At this writing, only one issue (from 1995) was complete, though all abstracts from 1991-94 can be searched. Unlike many academic journals, this one intends to archive all articles back through those dates. The articles, as you might expect, are dry but authoritative. Forget bells and whistles. For surfers used to commercial sites, this may seem like a long bath in cold ink (or a few weeks in New Haven), but those in the field will welcome the arrival of another scientific resource on the Web. "http://www.med.yale.edu/yjbm/welcome.html"
NEW VERSION OF CHAT SOFTWARE FROM ICHAT
ROOMS 2.0 is the second major release of the Web-integrated chat software from iChat Inc. This version offers improved event moderation capabilities, Java support, increased client functionality and distributed server capabilities. Supposedly over 50,000 users can be hooked up via its distributed architecture, though only 1,000 per server. There are also facilities to rotate advertisements on the chat screen. The sofware runs on Unix and Windows NT. The client runs as a plug-in for Netscape and Explorer. "http://www.ichat.com/"
WEB BROWSER SOFTWARE FOR BLIND USERS
The tool, running in all flavors of Windows, is called pwWebSpeak and renders Web pages for the blind using a variety of text to speech translation methods. It also has features for other sight impaired users, who need a separate speech synthesizer unit. You can find more information and download the software from the Productivity Works site. Cost ranges from $125 for educational institutions to $250 for commercial use. "http://www.prodworks.com/"
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