The Internet Zone

A Tribute to New Things Techie

By Cheryl Floyed

Hey, everyone!

Hope this has been a good month. The Techie’s Day meeting was great, huh? Well, speaking of Techies, I thought a way to honor those dubious folks would be to do this month’s article about some of the new things available on the Internet. Of course, nothing is really new, but maybe you don’t know about some of this. 

One of my favorite new things is WebEx. You can find it at http://www.webex.com. All you have to do is fill out a short application (yeah, right, SHORT doesn’t exactly describe it) and get one of your favorite people to sign up, too, and you will have the ability to “surf” together. Lynn and I tried it and I was able to show her (take her) to some of my favorite spots on the web. We could pass control from one to the other with a fair amount of ease. Digging a little deeper into this, we found that we could also explore each other’s computers. I was able to see what is in her favorites list, what she has on her desktop and even what programs she has on her computer. It was an enlightening experience!

We then used another feature of WebEx and were able to collaborate on a project. We both tried PowerPoint and Word and were not only able to look at a presentation or document on the other’s computer, but could make changes to that presentation or document. It would be a great tool for business or for student’s working on a project. I’d be able to show my grandmother how to change her desktop theme, change her Internet settings, or install stationery. However, I think it is really fun just for the sake of being fun! Not everyone can use it though. It gets a little slow on a 33k modem and will not allow you to even try it on anything slower. If you live way out in the boonies and have a slow connection regardless of your modem, you, too, may have problems. It won’t even let you sign up if your access speeds aren’t high enough.

As some of you know, I have a new place that I frequent. It’s called Africam. Somewhere in Africa, there are several cams set up (small cameras remotely linked to computers so we can all see what is going on) that show a few watering holes and the like. Often you won’t see a thing on these cameras, but I’ve gotten lucky enough to see a family of hyenas playing and napping. You may see a lion walk right up to a camera to check it out or maybe some elephants bathing in the sunshine. If you miss the action, check out the “Highlights” and see what has been happening for the past few weeks.

Ok, as my final “tribute” to some new techie things, go to Windows Media (at http://www.windowsmedia.com) and click on the Radio link. This is not the end all and be all of Internet Radio, but it is a good place to start. You can get the latest news, sports, and music of every type on the Internet and there’s no need for an antenna! IE5 comes with a radio toolbar that will make some of this a little easier but you can still hear music on the Internet even if you don’t have IE5 (which if you are an IE user, get it!) It’s nice to listen to music while playing on the Internet or even keep it going while you are working elsewhere in the room. Well, this won’t work for me because I NEVER leave my computer!

Hot Spots...

What better radio station to listen to than ZDNET?
This is the next best thing to ZDTV! 

Another free stuff kind of site The Free Site http://www.thefreesite.com/

If you want to know what is on TV tonight, go to http://www.tvguide.com
Cool feature is that you can sort by comedy, sports, drama, etc. to find just what YOU want to watch! 

OE Stationery Site of the month 

.Tudie!

Tudie (aka Cheryl Floyed) is the Internet SIG Leader for the 1960 PC User Group. She can be reached at tudie@pdq.net.