Reflections of A ModemJunkie By Leonard A. Grossman One of the wonderful features of Netscape and other popular browsers for the internet is the ability to "bookmark" favorite sites with a single keystroke so that you can return to a recent discovery without having to remember the URL (Universal Resource Locator) or address of the site. (Note: In this discussion URLs will be enclosed between < and >. Do not include those symbols when typing an address.) Several months ago I began to write a column about surfing the Web. At that time I as shocked to find that I had already "bookmarked" over 130 or 140 sites on the web. I thought I'd do an update today. I now have bookmarked over 500 such sites-- nearly six single spaced pages of listings (with addresses it would be double that). To be sure, some are marked out of mere curiosity-- sites I just may want to look at again--maybe I didn't have time when I first found them, but others are places to which I return over and over again. Keeping track of these is a pain but better bookmark editors are being developed. A new by the makers of Netscape is called SmartMarks. So far it is slow and buggy I have returned to using the editor which comes in recent versions of Netscape. It isn't speedy, but it does let me organize sites into folders ("subdirectories" to us old DOS users). I have a long way to go, but my list is getting organized. The other night I gave a 3 hour surfing demo to a friend. The joy of the Net is that no two such tours could ever be the same, but let me take you on a short virtual tour right now. We'll begin, as I usually do, at a site called comp.infosystems.www.announce. Strictly speaking its not a Web site, but a Usenet newsgroup. But it is readable in Netscape and provided a fascinating starting point. Every day or so new sites are announced on this page. Although the announcements are screened for technical format, they are not censored, so far as I can tell, and unlike may other so-called "Hot Lists", it does not represent the viewpoint or prejudices of the compiler. It is simply a list of new sites- a mixture of commercial, private, educational and other pages, in no particular order. A click on a listing brings the reader to a fairly detailed description of the page. A double click on the URL and BOOM (or is it SHAZAAM!!) you are looking at the new page. If it interests you, click on "Bookmarks" and add it to your list. If not, move on. A recent discovery here was the Encyclopedia Britannica OnLine. This site is free at the moment but, soon, it will require a paid subscription. If you would like to try it out go to Pathfinder and look around. One of the links will lead you to a page where you can sign up for the rest of the free demonstration period. The Encyclopedia Britannica Online itself is a vast improvement over the nonsense found in Encarta and the other multimedia circuses and resource hogs. It is a fast, easily searchable tool. Much more useful for homework than any of the CD encyclopedias now available for home use. While Encarta and others like it are frequently discounted under $100.00, the Britannica is intended for libraries and, on disk, will cost over a thousand dollars at last report. Which brings me to another improvement on the Web. One of my top folders is called "Search and Research". In addition to the Encyclopedia, it also contains a number of "search engines." entry of a search term or two into the form which pops up on your screen quickly leads the user to a collection of Web sites which discuss or utilize the requested term. T The other night, using Lycos, we searched for "Frank Lloyd Wright." Within a few seconds we were staring at beautiful images of Talliessen. My friend exclaimed with amazement, "I stood right there!!" as he pointed to the image resolving on the screen. There are a number of such forms, each useful for different kinds of searches. The amount of news available on the Web is gradually increasing. The text of Voice of America news broad casts has long been available at . Now there are many other sources as well. One of the most recent additions, and free fore the moment, but I'm not sure for how long is Reuters. There are may other news sources on the Net. Among them are: The Daily News On-line - Electronic Media; Electronic Telegraph (England) Chicago Tribune CBS News: UTTMlink (Up to the Minute) . This site contains up-to-date weather forecasts for the Chicago area. There are many other fascinating weather sites, including some with satellite weather maps and even motion. Try searching "weather" in Lycos and see what you come up with. Or try typing the above URL, but leave off everything after ". . ./weather/. Explore!. A recent discovery that fascinated me was , The Gary-Chicago- Milwaukee Transportation Information Center. This site as all kinds of up-to-the-minute information about Chicago traffic: travel times, tie-ups -- even pages showing, intersection by intersection, the speed at which cars are travelling along the various expressways. Now I really need a satellite internet feed to a laptop in my car!! Another great advantage of the Web is the availability of all kinds of software, at the click of a mouse. Whether you are looking for an enhancement to Netscape, a driver fore your video card, or a computer magazines latest recommendations in shareware, you are likely to be able to find it on the Web. Among sites you may want to try are the following: Virtual Shareware Library Search Form; Microsoft Corporation World-Wide-Web Server; Shase Virtual Shareware OAK Repository - SimTel Windows Primary Mirror Index The list could go on and on. But my point is, really, you don't need a list--just a starting place. Then the joy is in searching and surfing on your own. So I'll conclude with just two more recommendations: For an excellent four part series on the Internet see: A four part series by Jim Coates called Orbiting the Net. And for informed discussions of hot Internet and computing matters see WindoWatch Magazine, featuring Your's Truly, The Modemjunkie himself . Come on in!! Water's fine !! Surf's Up!! Comments to: grossman@mcs.com Copyright 1995 Leonard Grossman