e2001 Your Digital Future - Bangkok Post Special Supplement

DATABASE PICKS

The best `Internet Sites of the Week'

Tony Waltham

For some four years now the Database section has singled out an outstanding Internet web site every week, one that the editors believe is especially deserving of merit, based on its content or the services that are offered.

We have tried to bring to the attention of our readers some of the best, most creative and most useful sites and services on the Internet and here is a short list that revisits these sites, the best of the best sites, as it were.

COMPUTERS.COM

<www.computers.com>

If you're in the market for a new computer or piece of hardware, you'll know that keeping track of prices, upgrades, updates, and new offerings can be tough going, but here's a place to make the task a bit easier.

Part of the c:net world, which includes great sites like <www.news.com> and <www.shareware.com>, Computers.com offers plenty of reviews of products. You get Top 5 lists, like the one we found on the front page _ Top 5 InkJets. You get the name, company and when you click on it, you get a review too.

You can browse through a variety of categories from desktops to cameras.

Each category provides a complete rundown _ make, model, price, specifications _ and this is a great way to do some comparison shopping from the comfort of your armchair! You can even filter out unwanted entries through a very simple filter system on the left side of the screen.

You'll also appreciate the site's Customer Alert area which provides help for troubles you might experience, and warnings about unreliable products or companies.

As with all c:net sites, you can search to your heart's content.

PRICEWATCH

<www.pricewatch.com>

Thailand may have some of the cheapest prices in the world when it comes to a budget high-performance PC, but we still lag behind in other areas, be it for office software or for most peripherals.

But by how much are prices more expensive here? Gone are the days when you could find prices for PCs or software posted or advertised in international magazines. The "street price" reigns, but from a perspective here in Thailand, what might that be?

Well, for those who may have been wondering what people in America are paying for any given item of hardware (be it a computer, a peripheral, accessory or component), or for most popular software packages, they need look no further than here.

Pricewatch has for several years now been posting the street prices for a wide range of IT products on the Internet. Indeed, in addition to IT equipment, the prices of audio equipment and film cameras are also provided here _ prices are furnished by the dealers for all of these products, and they are maintained on an up-to-the-minute basis.

So, the next time you wonder idly whether you got a real bargain down at the IT Mall or at Panthip Plaza, you can find out quickly from this site.

Or, if you are thinking of a new peripheral or computer, be it a memory upgrade or a digital camera, you can get the inside track on the price in the US beforehand with a virtual visit to Price Watch.

Of course, taxes and shipping costs affect local prices and anyone planning an overseas purchase should figure in the additional import duties to work out the savings first, if any, before buying overseas. After all, prices here for high-volume items are among the cheapest.

DEDICATED TO DVD

<www.thedigitalbits.com>

There is a new breed of Web site out there: those that stand out for their complete dedication to a particular topic.

DVD stands for digital video disk or digital versatile disk _ or whatever (no one is exactly sure what) and the site editor Bill Hunt presents an impressive array of statistics, with a daily update, statistics of DVD sales and plenty of grist from the rumour mill.

Naturally, there are excellent links to other sites with news about DVD and this is probably the best place to track the emerging trends towards DVD recordable and read-write disk formats.

This site represents a new trend in specialist journalism, whereby a tremendous amount of information can be amassed about a given topic _ thereby generating something of a cult web site for those with more than a passing interest in the topic covered.

For, when it comes to DVD, this is simply the last word on the subject.

NO WONDER

<www.nowonder.com>

At this site a team of volunteers from around the world respond to end user computing problems. This is a free helpline to the world, from the world and it works very efficiently, with a response by email promised within 24 hours to any technical query. There are also frequently asked questions and a searchable database of hardware and software problems for many computing platforms.

JUMBO! DOWNLOAD NETWORK

<www.jumbo.com>

At the Jumbo! Download Network you can find over 200,000 free programs, downloads and shareware programs _ enough to satisfy most software fanatics.

If it's freeware or shareware _ the former being absolutely, no-strings-attached free and the latter being of the try-before-you-buy variety _ then chances are you'll find it here. If not, plenty of worthy substitutes at least, if not something better.

Jumbo! splits off into a variety of "Download Channels" which include business, demo city, desktop, developer, entertainment, games, home & school, homework heaven, Internet stuff, kids, tech news, today's free software and the utilities channel for those who like tinkering with their PCs.

THE FREE SITE

<www.thefreesite.com>

The Internet has changed many things, and so the spirit that fuelled the global network's early growth when the essential software _ the tools and utilities that enabled it to work were made available for free _ goes from strength to strength.

Today, the browser you use to access the Web was probably free, as is the Apache software used on most web servers, along with most email software. And sites on the web that charge for services find few takers. Increasingly, this "free" metaphor is gaining wider acceptance _ more application software is being made available for free, particularly for the Linux operating system, in itself also a free download.

But, not everything is without charge, and of course you can pay dearly for Internet software. Before you do, however, you should pay a visit to this site which has a comprehensive list of software that is truly free of charge.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY REVIEW

<www.dpreview.com>

Sooner or later you will be joining the digital camera club. If there is a camera in your life today, it is more likely to be an older 35mm film camera.

However, this will change and there will be an increasingly broad choice of cameras that turn snaps into bits rather than latent chemical changes on rolls of film. Many more models, ranging from inexpensive toys to high-end professional tools will soon be available in a vast array of sizes and formats, and they will come with far more options than you can find today.

Since cameras are fairly significant investments and tend to become an intimate part of our lives, we need to make an informed buying decision.

And what more appropriate medium for guidance than the Internet? There are several sites out there but we have found two that stand out: Digital Photography Review and CNET's Technical Centre on digital photography (follow a link from <www.cnet.com>.) Here you can find information about different brands and you can list models by price or by features and do side-by-side comparisons. These sites also have links to web merchandisers offering cameras at discount prices as well as reader feedback, views and tips.

There is advice on how to get the best out of a digital camera and additional information about web cams; so even if you are just thinking about a digital camera, there is no harm in taking a peek at both these sites now.

BOOKMARKLETS

<www.bookmarklets.com>

Extend the capabilities of your browser with a "bookmarklet", a term invented by the creator of these tiny utilities that you can click on from Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer to interrogate a web site and find out additional information about a web page (how fresh is it?) or to view it differently _ view all links from a web page, or to view all graphics. Change the background colour and do many other things that a web site designer never intended you to do from your browser.

THE DIALECTIZER

<www.rinkworks.com/dialect>

"While many rabbit and pork about the benefits and opportunities of sellin' goods or services over the bloody Internet, the Government 'as done wee ter enable this so far. Cor blimey guv! New lors are needed, wile a Certification Auffority is also necessary."

That was the first paragraph of a recent lead story in Database _ converted into the Cockney dialect at this web site, where you can convert text into any of seven "flavours" of English: Redneck, Jive, Cockney, Elmer Fudd, Swedish Chef, Moron and Pig Latin.

While such conversion programs such as Jive were doing the rounds of electronic bulletin boards a decade or so ago, here is one Web site that will convert text into many different dialects _ and the results make entertaining reading.

You either enter the URL of a page on the Internet that has text to be converted, or you can type in text (or use cut and paste) to a window at the Rinkworks site.

Then a CGI script goes to work in the background, performing search and replace operations on the original text and making the conversions. This all takes place in a matter of seconds, after which the converted page is displayed _ and while embedded links are converted or modified (if appropriate) to reflect the new dialect, they can still be clicked upon to navigate.

This is fun to tinker with, and how the various dialects are expressed provides an insight into both language and culture.

More dialects are said to be on the way by Samuel Stoddard, author of this web site.

NETWHISTLE

<www.netwhistle.com>

Let's see, you have launched your company's web site and have cast your business' fortunes to the vagaries of the Internet. But then, after a while perhaps, business seems to have slowed down.

Is there new some competition on the web _ or is there perhaps some other reason why you have few customers? Importantly, how do you know if your site is still up and accessible to the world?

Whether you are running on a leased line or using a hosting service (possibly with your ISP) for your web site, how can you be sure that it is up for business as your 24x7 shop window?

(And how often have you visited a site recommended by someone, only to find that it was down? Would you want to know if this happened to your site?)

Now there is a way for anyone with a web site to remain informed as to its accessibility.

Just go to Netwhistle and in less than the minute or so it takes to type in the URL, an email address to notify and a password you will thenceforth be notified by email (or through a pager if you specify a pager gateway) that the site is down _ within a matter of minutes of this happening (the default is to check every hour for you.)

With the services of Webwhistle, webmasters won't be in the dark about this any longer. The service is free and it could be very helpful if, for whatever reason, your site goes off the Internet "map".

TRACERLOCK

<www.peacefire.com/tracer lock>

Let's say you work for a pharmaceutical company and you learn that a rival is bringing out a new drug. You hear a rumour of the name, but a web search finds no references to this. You could continue to search every day to see if the rumour is correct, or you could go to this site and ask this free service to report to you by email the first time that this word (which can be any search term) is indexed by the mega search engine AltaVista.

There are other applications, of course, for such a service. Just use your imagination!

ASK AN EXPERT

<www.askanexpert.com/>

This is a really neat idea. The site has assembled a wide range of experts in various areas. You find your expert and send them an email question and, yes, you receive an excellent answer. In fact, many of your questions can be answered in the FAQ _ frequently asked questions _ section. It is wonderful to have a wide team of experts on call at no charge.

BRAINBLITZ

<www.brainblitz.com>

Over 1,000 online games as well as a host of excellent links to other fun sites. We stress the online aspect, which adds a new dimension to playing computer games.

Most of these games are in Shockwave or Java that you play in your browser, although there is the odd one using CGI scripts. Anyhow, you will need a fairly recent flavour of browser that supports Java to play most of these.

There is a wide selection of online games available, including adventure games, arcade games, board games, casino and card games as well as puzzles, sports games and strategy stuff.

Then there are also trivia games and quizzes as well as a good selection of intelligence (IQ) tests.

The quizzes here range from historical to music, movie or sports, so there should be something for everyone at this site, which also offers personality tests and what it calls "love tests".

And if all this testing is too serious for you, then there is also a diet of comic strips, jokes and other fun stuff to be found here.

Another interesting feature is a page of links to several search engines that allow you to view what key words others are using on the web, and this is always an insight.

This fun site should have something of immediate appeal to serious gamers and non-gamers alike.

NEWS HUBS

<www.newshub.com>

Following a breaking news story? Or keeping up with an obscure topic that interests you _ but not necessarily the editors of the Bangkok Post or of CNN?

NewsHub specialises in fresh news, updating its screen every 15 minutes. Older stories, up to yesterday's news, are grouped by time periods so you can see the very latest but track back to earlier versions. Also try <www.newsbot.com>, a news only search from HotBot, good for locating recent news stories.

There's also <www.newsindex.com>, a searchable index of stories from "over 200 newspapers and news sources from around the world".

Other sites in this vein, NewTracker: <nt.excite.com>, New Century Network's <www.newsworks.com> (some 140 US newspapers) or Total News <www.totalnews.com>, with some 1,200 worldwide news sites, updating its database three to four times a day.

It's strange, but the more you follow news, the more you'll want to know, and you will still crave for the Bangkok Post in the morning _ or on the Web, currently the 63rd most-popular newspaper site according to the 100hot site <www.100hot.com>.

QUICKBROWSE NEWS SITES

<www.quickbrowse.com>

When you are in a "browser" mode, anything that saves time is helpful, and short of catching a red traffic light, there is little more frustrating than watching the "bottom line" of your browser as you monitor the transfer rate while the information trickles across.

Quickbrowse enables you to enter a list of URLs that you intend to visit and then it goes off and assembles them for you in one long screen that can be conveniently scrolled down.

Designed by a journalist, the site comes primed with some pre-programmed news sites which allow you to easily test the capability and features of this useful site.

You can tick checkboxes for newspapers such as the Washington Post or Miami Herald or opt for the business sections of 20 major newspapers in the United States.

Then you can focus your attention on another window on your Web browser while the site does the legwork for you. This handy service is also free, in true Internet style.

Other features are the ability to save text in links to a file that can be downloaded, as well as turning off the use of graphics. Some useful shortcuts are provided at this very useful site to provide automatic date insertion (used on many news sites as part of a URL) and also to provide login names and passwords on protected sites.

CHANGING FACE OF COMPUTING

<www.digital.com/rcfoc>

Tracking technology trends is fascinating because new products and new concepts or ideas are emerging at an incredible rate. This site tries to keep abreast of developments in the rapidly evolving arenas of telecommunications and bandwidth, micro-miniaturisation, voice recognition, data storage and indeed any field of technology that is on the leading (some say bleeding) edge.

There is also a weekly newsletter that can be subscribed to, while the web site here has images of some of the products and also audio files if you would rather settle back and listen to the reports prepared by Jeffrey Harrow.

UNIVERSAL PHRASE BOOK

<www.travlang.com>

Have you ever been faced with a business or holiday trip to a foreign country _ only to find that the "Thai/Serbo-Croat Phrase Book" never quite found its way to the presses, or that a Korean-English phrase book is inconveniently out of stock?

Whether your need is for a few words of Esperanto, Greek or Farsi, you need look no further than this site at <www.travlang.com> which not only offers vocabularies for over 60 languages, but also allows any of these languages to be translated to the language that you speak.

Consequently, the lack of any printed material in Thai on, say, the Afrikaans language is not a problem if, as a native Thai speaker, you want to find the most common phrases that travellers are likely to encounter.

Thai speakers should find this especially helpful as it presents the foreign language equivalents of Thai words for a wide variety of languages, and thus they do not have to go through the "intermediary" of a third language such as English for many of the more obscure languages for which a dictionary or phrase book has yet to be compiled in the Thai language.

This seems a down-to-earth and sensible site, and one that should certainly equip travellers to better communicate and to better understand a country they plan to visit.

DONATE TO FEED THE HUNGRY

<www.thehungersite.com>

This sounds like an Internet urban legend, the kind of myth that gets circulated by email. But no, just by visiting this site and clicking on a "donate free food" banner, you actually contribute three US cents (just over one baht) to the United Nations World Food Programme.

Visiting <www.thehungersite.com> and making this contribution will cost you nothing more than the click of the mouse _ limited to one donation per visitor each day. This will buy a day's worth of a food staple such as maize or rice.

The site also has hunger statistics and a map, that turns dim for a country each time an inhabitant there dies a hunger-related death, according to UN statistics. (India and China seem to turn dark the most frequently.)

Every 3.6 seconds, someone in the world dies from lack of food. This is 24,000 people a day, and you will learn from this site that three quarters of the deaths are children under five years old.

When you click on the "donate food" banner, the name of the sponsor of the serving of grain is revealed, while distribution is organised through the UN World Food Programme.

FREE TRANSLATIONS

<translator.go.com>

Native English speakers are fortunate indeed that the Internet evolved in North America and the majority of content posted there _ and indeed around the world _ is in English.

We'd also suspect that only a few members of the majority English-speaking Internet community who surf the Internet for information have even had occasion to wish that they could read the text of a document that comes up in another language such as French or German.

But occasionally it does happen that a search engine will return a web site that's not in English _ and this is one occasion when this site can come to the rescue. At <translator.go.com>, you can type in a URL of a web page to be translated, or you can have text displayed translated either to or from English and French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

The service uses technology developed by the French company Systran. Go Network is operated by Infoseek and Walt Disney and includes <ABCNews.com>, <ESPN.com> and <Disney.com>.

Other translation sites have appeared on the Web, such as at AltaVista, which also uses Systran technology.

NECTEC TRANSLATION SITE

<www.links.nectec.or.th/services/parsit/>.

Herein lies the future of all middlemen, of which translators must be an excellent example: unemployed and made redundant by the web. Although it will be a while before web-based machine translation will render translation services around the country bankrupt, National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre's (Nectec's) free English-to-Thai translation site is a clear example of "writing on the wall."

Many Thais struggle to understand web sites in English; all they need do is to type in the URL at this web site and in seconds they will get a translated version back to their browser.