sree.net > tips > newsletters > December 2001
Web version: http://www.sree.net/tips/2001dec.html

Sree Tips
A free monthly newsletter of Web tips and tricks

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From Sreenath Sreenivasan
Columbia University journalism professor
WABC-TV's "Tech Guru" on Thursday mornings in NYC area
[ Tech Guru text archives at http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/technology/ ]

http://www.sree.net/ * sreetipsreax@sree.net

December 2001: http://www.sree.net/tips/2001dec.html
Archive: http://www.sree.net/tips

Subscribe: sreetips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (just one message a month)
Feedback: sreetipsreax@sree.net

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Manhattan, Dec. 31-- Greetings on this last day of 2001. Between Sept. 11, the American Airlines crash in Queens, all the "high-alerts," and the recent fire just a block from our home at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine <http://www.stjohndivine.org>, 2002 seemed too far away to ever get here. But get here it has. Happy New Year to all of you and thanks for your continued support and interest.

Welcome to the December issue of the "Sree Tips" newsletter -- more than 2,400 people in 25 countries receive it in their inboxes (though we will never know how many bother to actually read it). As you may know, this newsletter started as an offshoot of the "Smarter Surfing: Better Use of Your Web Time" workshops I teach around the U.S. and abroad. If you are interested in having me do a session for your organization, civic group, school or hamlet, please visit http://www.sree.net/web

As always, I look forward to YOUR tips, feedback and suggestions: sreetipsreax@sree.net. This month's tipsters include: Jay Anand, Mervin Block, Tara Calishain, Brendan Nyhan, James Taranto, Al Tompkins.

Why wait a month for the next newsletter? Visit the constantly updated "Smarter Surfing" links at http://www.sree.net/tips/web.html
Also see new "Web Tips" published every Tuesday on Poynter.org: http://www.poynter.org/web/Archive2001.htm

Reminder: Your friends can add themselves to this once-a-month mailing list by e-mailing sreetips@sree.net

{Cheers, Sree}

New-ish USEFUL SITES
(sites I find useful in some way)

Amazon's Look Inside -- see sample pages of books
http://www.amazon.com/reading-room
Amazon.com, which still seems to sell books among all the other things it peddles these days, has a new feature that some of you may have noticed. It's a little orange arrow with the "Look Inside!" tag line next to some of its titles -- more than 25,000 books have it, and thousands of others are en route. These books allow you to read, as a page scan, several sample pages (the table of contents, pages of text, the index). It's meant to mimic how real-world shoppers browse in a bookstore -- and, of course, encourage purchases. I have been using the Look Inside feature whenever I can to get a better sense of a book I am interested in. I haven't yet figured out the logic of which books -- apart from the bestsellers -- get chosen. And, of course, the bigger question: if a browsing reader gets her fill of a particular book from just the samples, will she still buy?

Spinsanity -- tracking political spin
http://www.spinsanity.com
Many of us are tired of the constant spin that surrounds anything political in America these days. Seems like there can be no discussion without it breaking down along left/right, Democrat/Republican, liberal/conservative lines. Even if this site can't get rid of the spin, it tries to help understand it. Here's its pitch: "Spinsanity exposes and analyzes the increasingly pervasive use of manipulative and subrational rhetoric in American politics." Translation: It's a nonpartisan bulls*** detector. As equal-opportunity bashers, it's work is especially useful these days.

Fagan Finder -- search resources
http://www.fagan.f2s.com
This site has a worthy goal: "to help people find what they are looking for." The site allows you to pick from a large range of options -- routine searches to dictionaries to news items. Its clean design and powerful features are a welcome break from having to jump around from site to site, trying to pin down what you need. The site is a one-man show. One young man, actually. Michael Fagan, 17, who is in the 12th grade outside Toronto, launched the site in October and works on it in his spare time. "I just wanted to get all the things I use on a regular basis on one page to make it accessible from anywhere." And that's exactly what he has done.

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New-ish FUN SITES
(proof "fun" is a subjective word)

Sree.net's Predict Time Person of the Year Contest -- think like the editors
http://www.sree.net/contest
Many thanks to those of you who entered this year's contest to PREDICT who Time would pick as it's Person of the Year. More than 220 people in 55 cities in 12 countries took part and almost 30 person guessed right: Rudy Giuliani. Of course, we were not asking who you thought SHOULD be the POY, but who you thought WOULD be the POY. Log on to this site to see who won the prize for guessing right (based on her accompanying sentence) and see the prize for funniest answer: because "Nostradamus said so." Links there to the official POY site (including articles going back to 1927's POY) and media controversy about the Giuliani selection.

Refdesk "Year in Review" collection -- links to various year-end reviews
http://www.refdesk.com/2001best.html
This a page from Refdesk.com -- my first stop for reference material (Colin Powell's, too -- see below in the "My Default Such & Such" section). It's a compilation of year-end features from such sites as Newsweek, BBC, CBC, Time, CNN, Business Week and more. Lots to read and see here; and a chance to relive the highlights (and lowlights) for the year.

ENCORE: Last month's NEW-ISH USEFUL SITES
from http://www.sree.net/tips/2001nov.html

ENCORE: Last month's NEW-ISH FUN SITE
from http://www.sree.net/tips/2001nov.html

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MY DEFAULT SUCH & SUCH...
(my starting points for various things; may change monthly)

Search Engine:
Google
http://www.google.com/
The best search engine out there. 'Nuff said. But here's Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal on Google: "...simply the best search site I've ever used." If you know Walt's work -- and you should be following it religiously at http://ptech.wsj.com/ -- you know that he doesn't hand out such praise often. Be sure to download the free Google toolbar; it will change the way you search: http://toolbar.google.com/ (no Mac version right now)

Reference Site:
Refdesk
http://www.refdesk.com/
Excellent reference site. Don't just take my word for it. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told The New York Times this is his favorite Web site. Run by Bob Drudge, Matt's dad (though Refdesk doesn't run rumors).

Encyclopedia:
Britannica.com
http://www.britannica.com/
The Encyclopedia Britannica on the Web -- basic info free of charge (the full-access version, which used to be free, now costs $5 a month, or $50 a year). I also use, to a lesser extent, Encarta.com from Microsoft (many free articles, pay for others).

Dictionary:
Merriam-Webster
http://www.m-w.com/
In offices, dictionaries grow legs and walk. Hence an online dictionary is a must. This one addresses a major problem I have had with traditional dictionaries: You need to know how to spell a word before you look it up. Not here. Just punch in an approximation, and it will give you a suggested list. And nice etymology. Also see the new button for your browser; once you download it, you don't need to go to the site itself in order to lookup a word. You can do it right from whatever site you are in.

Atlas:
National Geographic's Map Machine
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/
Leave it to National Geographic to make the best online atlas with these dynamic maps that will take you to any spot you choose and allow you to change what kind of map you see, on the fly. I had no idea there are three towns named Santa Claus in the U.S. or that my grandfather's village in India is an easy find.

Driving Directions:
MapQuest
http://www.mapquest.com/
For U.S. driving directions, MapQuest remains the best site. But I also like the new "straight-line" maps from MapBlast <http://www.mapblast.com>

World Time:
TimeAndDate.com
http://www.timeanddate.com/
The best set of world clocks and calendars. I like the personal world clock, which allows you to set and track time in up to 16 cities at one glance.

Software Downloads:
Download.com
http://www.download.com
No need to hit the store to buy software. Almost everything you need is online and have free trials.

Media Goings-on:
Jim Romenesko's Media News
http://www.medianews.org/
Hosted by Poynter.org, this is news-junkie heaven. I read it more often and more closely than any other site.

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SREE-DOT-NET STUFF

Must-Sree TV
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/technology/
My "Tech Guru" segments on WABC-7 in the New York City area run every Thursday morning on channel 7 at 6:45 (yes, that's the a.m.). This is a link to archived Web versions of my segments.

"Smarter Surfing" Workshops
http://www.sree.net/web
Smarter surfing for people of all skill levels. Interested in scheduling a class for you and your colleagues? Learn more.

"Smarter Surfing" Links: Better Use of Your Web Time
http://www.sree.net/tips/web.html
Links for various categories of sites, annotated for your surfing pleasure.

Sree Tips -- the Web page
http://www.sree.net/tips
Links to my tips and thoughts on various items, including laptops, digital cameras, freelance writing, Web production and more.

Poynter.org Web Tips
http://www.poynter.org/web/Archive2001.htm
Every Tuesday, I write a short Web tip for Poynter.org; Detroit Free Press columnist Mike Wendland writes one every Friday.

Sree Talks
http://www.sree.net/talks
List of forthcoming talks and presentations in various cities.

Info Overload & Moi
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/columnists/mediasavvy/savvy1.htm
An essay for USAToday.com on handling information overload (yes, I am a major info polluter).

Content is Still King: Lesson from the Online Journalism Awards
http://www.sree.net/talks/c&w.html
A keynote speech I gave at the "Computers & Writing" conference in May 2001 at Ball State University.

[Reprint requests: reprints@sree.net]

That's it for now.

Remember, you can track my "Smarter Surfing" links at http://www.sree.net/tips/web.html

See you (your inbox, actually) next month.

Cheers, Sree
http://www.sree.net/

o o o o o

Sree Tips List
Copyright 2001 Sree.net

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sree.net > tips > newsletters > December 2001



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