TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPICS: MEDICAL INFO / VISTA / SECOND LIFE / YOUTUBE

In today's TOURBUS, you'll learn where to find reliable medical advice online, and a guide to help you decide if Windows Vista is for you. I've also got intros to Second Life, the popular virtual reality world, and YouTube for online video-sharing. We'll also delve into social bookmarking and alternatives to Myspace. Read on for answers!

Medical Advice Online

There's a lot of medical information online, but how much of it can you trust? Where can you go to learn more about various drugs and medical conditions? If you wake up with puffy, irritated eyes, is it just a seasonal allergy, or maybe something worse? Thanks to the Internet, we have the ability to find out the answer to many medical problems before we visit the doctor's office.

Many research and informational sites are available to the public, sharing medical advice that will help you diagnose your every ailment. If you want information from real doctors, not some guy selling miracle cures, read on...

http://askbobrankin.com/medical_advice_online.html

Upgrade to Vista?

Are you thinking about upgrading to Windows Vista? With Vista, as with any new technology, there are some things to consider prior to upgrading. It's imperative to weigh the benefits versus the risks. Familiarity does breed comfortability, but with any major software upgrade, there's a learning curve. Depending upon your adaptability, time and budget, it may or may not be time to upgrade to Vista.

http://askbobrankin.com/upgrade_to_vista.html

Get a Second Life!

A reader wondering about the draw of virtual reality asked me this: > "Some of my friends are really into Second Life, they say it's
> the future of the Internet. Looks like Sim City on drugs to me...
> What is the big deal with Second Life -- who is playing and why?"

Second Life is a sophisticated online 3D digital world that could be the biggest thing in cyberspace since sliced electrons, or the loudest dud since Pets.com. It's more than just another Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) -- think MySpace meets AOL in a global 3D virtual reality environment...

http://askbobrankin.com/what_is_second_life.html

YouTube: 100 Million Videos Strong

YouTube is a video-sharing website that is changing American culture. It seems that every day, some funny or shocking video clip on YouTube makes headline news. Youtube was created by three pals from PayPal, who raised $3.5 million in venture capital to debut the site in late 2005. Less than a year later, Google bought YouTube for US$1.65
billion. Can you say "cha ching?"

The concept is brilliantly simple. People post videos on YouTube, or and watch and comment on the videos others have posted. Here's the story behind the phenomenal success of YouTube, and some tips on how you can join the fun...

http://askbobrankin.com/what_is_youtube.html

Social Bookmarking

Everyone knows that a bookmark is a handy way to remember a favorite web page so you don't have to waste time searching for it again in the vastness of cyberspace. Social bookmarking takes this concept to the next level, enabling Internet users to share their bookmarks with each other in a collaborative fashion.

Most often this involves social bookmarking websites where users can create accounts and add their favorite bookmarks, along with tags to organize the data and make it easy for others to search. Learn more about this topic and see my top six social bookmarking sites here:

http://askbobrankin.com/social_bookmarking.html

Beyond Myspace - Other Social Networking Sites

Myspace is the 800-pound gorilla in the social networking arena. According to some estimates, the site attracts about 200,000 new members every day, and accounts for 80% of all social networking traffic. But as the Myspace population passes 100 million, the site seems to be creaking and groaning, ready to burst at the seams.

With the frequent outages, password woes, music player problems and comment spammers, you might be looking for other social networking sites to try. Here's a rundown of the other players in this space... http://askbobrankin.com/beyond_myspace.html