ERIC SPELLMANN

The web becomes “useful”

Believe it or not, I still receive letters from readers proclaiming the internet “a passing fad” or “a complete waste of time”. After receiving a number of these letters, I composed a standard response that refuted this myth. I thought you might enjoy reading it ...

Dear (fill in name of technophobic Luddite here)

Based on what some of the media say, I can understand your cyber-scepticism. Many sites on the Net are purely recreational and serve no functional purpose. However, persistent searchers will find some incredible nuggets amongst the fluff (I love mixing metaphors).

Unfortunately, most of the truly “useful” websites are only found by accident after countless surfing sessions on the web. What follows is my list of favourite sites that actually save me time or money.

Let’s start with “books”. I love to read. When a new book comes out, I am usually one of the first people in line to buy it. However, I won’t pay more than I have to. To that end, I got into the habit of checking the prices of different books on Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s sites. If I had quite a few books to compare, it took a while. Recently, I discovered a neat little web site that saves me a lot of time (and probably money): Best Book Buys.

From their homepage, you can search by author, title, subject, keyword, or ISBN. After typing in your search, you’ll see every book title that matched your search criteria with the link “Compare Prices” in the first column. Clicking that button shows you the price with shipping charges at over 22 bookstores! I used to think that Amazon was ALWAYS the cheapest. Boy, was I wrong. They also have a great link called “Hot Deals”. Clicking it will show you a constantly updated page of rebates, coupons, and specials at the different stores. I highly recommend this site to book aficionados.

(Editor’s note: UK readers might like to try price comparison site Kelkoo - also it’s always worth checking amazon.co.uk for their used items as well as new. You can sometimes save a lot!)

If “books” aren’t your thing, maybe computers are. If your community does not have a reputable computer shop (I always use local guys if I can), shop around on the Net. Go no further than CNet’s Shopper Service. Whether you need more RAM, a new mouse, or a bigger monitor, this site will allow ou to check the price on a brand across many (and I mean MANY) different vendors. While you won’t get as good a deal as on the auctions, you definitely will find the cheapest mail-order price on the Net. (A good UK site for these kind of goods is www.dabs.com)

In the category of “saving time”, I must list Yahoo’s calendar function first. Just one piece in the megasite’s offerings, this section allows you to enter your day to day appointments and meetings in an easy-to-use form. If you already use a calendar program, such as Outlook, you can easily upload it all to Yahoo’s site without having to retype it.

Now, from any internet computer in the world, you can check your schedule! What makes this site truly exceptional is the number of ways it can alert you when an event is coming up. First, it can send an e-mail message to ANY account(s) reminding you of the event. You can set it to remind you minutes, hours, or even days ahead of time. If you have a pager that can receive e-mail messages, you can have the system page you with the reminder. You can also share your calendar with friends if you want.

How many of you have ever looked over your long distance bill only to find a phone number you didn’t recognize? Well, instead of calling that number (incurring ANOTHER long distance charge), check out AnyWho. They are one of the few sites on the Net offering a “reverse search” on phone numbers. Some people refer to this as a criss-cross service.

To use it, click on “Reverse Search” in the bar at the top and enter the number. It will retrieve the owner of the phone. Only two caveats exist: First, only “listed” numbers will show. People with unlisted numbers will not be listed. Second, this search only works in North America. Other countries are being added, but it is patchy at best right now.

Finally, I find myself wasting a lot of time online by having to go through so much junk e-mail (spam). Recently, I discovered a little trick that has practically eliminated this nuisance. First, sign up for one of the many free e-mail accounts on the Web. One of my favourites is Hotmail. Now, anytime some site asks for your e-mail address (and you know the only reason is to send advertising), simply give them this “throwaway” address. That way, all of the spam ends up in your Hotmail account, leaving your original one clean. Only give your REAL account to your family and friends. Every couple of weeks or so, log into your “throwaway” account and clean it out.

I’ll see you in Cyberspace!

www.ericspellmann.com

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