CBS Network

The CBS Television Network has a cute server that seems to be updated semi regularly with whatever special news clip they seem to have available. It contains very top news stories, with one or two pictures total, a spattering of feature articles, and a movie review. The latter of which can be read to you if you have the proper real-audio plug-ins.

The specialty is the semi frequently updated video segment that is provided with a short featurette. This demonstration is a quickly fading example of the current technology available on the WEB. You need the proper plug-in for your WEB Browser.

ABC Network

ABC has a more aggressive web presence. It has, for a long time, had it's hourly news radio broadcast available on the internet but has recently added more complete news reporting including the new PUSH technology where you can request that the news to be delivered rather than asked for. The PUSH technology requires a WEB Browser with some sort of Active Channel Program that allows you to 'subscribe' to the type of news you wish to receive when it becomes available. This type of technology seems to work best for the non-dial up internet networks interface.

The hourly audio news radio reports are supplied on demand but you need the proper plug-in for your WEB Browser.

NBC Network

Microsoft and NBC are struggling to dominate the Internet's news. They have a very comprehensive site but it still doesn't compare as well to some of the others listed here. Until recently the MSNBC site seems better described as an on-line magazine. Now it contains several on demand audio and video reports using, (of course), the Microsoft plug-in for your WEB browser. MSNBC has also incorporated the PUSH technology but is only available on the Microsoft Active Channel for their own new WEB Browser.

FOX Network

This is a cool site that broadcasts the Fox News Cable Program Live, 24hours a day. The player required tries to keep up but unless you have a T1 connection all to yourself you will have to suffer with periodic freezing and occasional loss of signal. Someone said this may have been what the early days of television were like. Every year the technology and 'reception' get better. The plug-in your Web Browser needs for this is the same one used for ABC audio. It is (in my opinion), the best that the Internet has in the way of modem (28kbaud minimum) video transmission has to offer. And it's not too bad.

CNN Network

The Cable News Network has an extremely current news service on the WEB. It is loaded with pictures and a wide variety of topics. It has a smattering of audio/video reports but that is not it's strong point. It is very customizable. This means I can have the articles, teams, weather and stock reports on the areas of my interest. Ignore the news ticker banner, it is very inconsistent between pages and too restrictive. Similar to the FOX's Network news WEB page (see description above) but not as customizable as CNN. The audio/video reports are occasionally live and require (yet another) plug-in for your WEB browser. Some Browsers may also require the QuickTime plug-in.

The Washington Times is the least liberal of the newspapers listed here. It is a very comprehensive and well organized site. But it is still organized as a newspaper on the WEB rather than news on the WEB.

The Chicago Tribune has an on-line newspaper service that is an abbreviated version of today's newspaper. It is a well lay-out and organized site which includes about 1/2 contents from the new-print and 1/2 original contents for the internet.

The Los Angeles Times is another on-line newspaper service. It is also a well layed out and organized site which includes an extensive pay-for search of their archive of articles from 1990.

This news service once setup, uses a lot of your precious hard disk space. It is a very nice news service that downloads news related topics you can customize either automatically or on demand. It also can integrate into your Screen Saver to display news headlines in a classy format when your system is not in use.

Pointcast can operate on a dedicated or dialup network line and once setup, can retrieve news articles at designated times of the day, dialing (if necessary), automatically, saving articles to your hard disk, erasing old articles, and hanging up (again if necessary) after news has been loaded.

It is necessary to download their custom software and optional screen saver, install it and run it. After that is completed, no WEB Browser is needed to read or get the news.

Another Online News Service is WiseWire that acts as a custom Filter that searches the internet for features and topics you are specifically interested in.WiseWire saves you time by finding great content for you. WiseWire is smart because it is trained by everyone who uses it. WiseWire:

• Delivers relevant content from the Internet to you
• Searches the hottest sources
• Finds the best documents for you
• Learns your preferences

WiseWire works continuously. Every time you come to WiseWire, new, relevant content is available. All content is organized into WiseWire Networks. A WiseWire Network is a top level grouping of many different areas of interest. Some of the major Networks are:

• Arts & Humanities
• Business & Finance
• Computers & Internet
• Entertainment
• Government & Politics

Each Network has a variety of information resources, such as
featured stories, hot links, news groups, and chat rooms. At the heart of each WiseWire Network are the Community Wires. Think of a Community Wire as a smart pipe that finds great documents from the Internet and stores them for you.

Currently Released Movie Reviews by Siskel and Ebert who have been arguing now for over 20 years. This site is a direct copy of their television syndicated television program. It uses Shockwave to play the Streaming Audio, (That means it plays as it downloads the sound), of the previous week's reviewed movies.

(Shockwave is a cool multimedia plug-in for your Web Browser.)

Another very good movie review site is Mr. Showbiz. This site plus the informational resources of the Internet Movie Data Base combine to be the most comprehensive source of movie information.

Movie Theater Showtimes can be found for over 30 major cities at

The TV Guide has slowly given more and more information about the programs it is listing. In the past it basically included only occasional listings but now it includes complete comprehensive details about most all of the programs for most major areas.

Other on-line television guides I have found include CNN and Ultimate TV.

Coupons

I believe that this is a possible boom area on the internet. At this time I have found only one area for on-line coupons at SuperMarkets Coupons, but I believe that it is only a matter of time. I have often found coupons at specific product sites such as Little Caesars Pizza. (Editor's note: If you have found any good collective site for coupons that don't require your address, please let me know where it is and I will consider adding it here!)

Weather

Weather information and forecasts have been a long-time resident on the internet starting with the Federal Government agencies providing on-line reports. Currently there are several good sites with additional data including Air Quality, earthquakes, and Airport Weather many with Satellite map and radar pictures.

Pathfinder's (publisher of Time magazine and others) Weather Now has a neat site where you Just type in the City, State and Zipcode and out pops your local weather.

A weather map provider service offers free glimps of what they offer (only a few hours old).

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