TOURBUS: Tuesday, November 26, 1996

DRIVER: Bob Rankin

TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP:
More Internet Power Tools


Back in September 1995, I did a posting on power tools for the Internet.
Since things change so quickly in the cyberspace arena, I figured it
would be a good idea to dust that one off and bring it up to date.

Today's posting will give you valuable tips for finding people, places
and things in the online world.  I've found that a good working knowledge
of the major Internet search tools helps me in many areas of life and
business, so let's plug in and power up those power tools!
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
  What does Doctor Bob wear to fend off the cold in New York State?
 Nothing less than a Timberland Waterproof Leather Bomber Jacket. Where
  did he get it? From Aardwulf - source of authentic outdoor clothing.
+---------------------( http://www.aardwulf.com )----------------------+

The FOUR11 Online User Directory
...is an Internet white pages service which can be used to look for
someone's e-mail address or personal Web page.  All Internet users are
provided a free listing and access to the Four11 directory, which purports
to hold data several million users.  Recently, FOUR11 has added a new
service which lets you search for people's phone number or address.  Check
it out at http://www.FOUR11.com or send e-mail to info@FOUR11.com

(There are similar services at WhoWhere - http://www.WhoWhere.com - and
SwitchBoard - http://www.SwitchBoard.com - so try 'em all!)

The USENET-ADDRESSES Database
And let's not overlook this handy database at MIT which keeps tabs on
everyone who has posted a message on Usenet.  Send e-mail to
"mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu" and include a command like this in the
BODY (not the Subject line) of your message:

   send usenet-addresses/Jane Doe Harvard

Web Searchers
There's a lot of great stuff out on the Web, but how do you find it?
There are several search engines that have been developed to search for
information on the Web.  Here is the Doctor's prescription for the best
of the bunch.

ALTA VISTA - is Doctor Bob's top pick for web searching because it has
the largest database of web pages, is super fast, and it indexes every
word on every document in the database.  Oh, and it can also search
Usenet newsgroups.  Check it out at http://www.altavista.digital.com

INFOSEEK - is another notable search engine, offering "natural language"
query capability.  Just ask it a question, and you'll be impressed with
the results.  Try INFOSEEK at http://www.infoseek.com

METACRAWLER - another nifty tool from the University of Washington.  This
one bounces your search words against all the major search engines and
combines the results in a unified display.  Tres cool! http://www.metacrawler.com

Just Point Me In The Right Direction
Not sure what you want?  Here are some topical catalogs of "good stuff"
that you can search.  Wax up the board and hit the surf at:

Yahoo

EInet Galaxy

Internet Research Pointer


Finding Mailing Lists
To find out about mailing lists that are relevant to your interests,
visit http://www.liszt.com or send e-mail "liszter@bluemarble.net" with search "whatever" in the BODY if the message.  (The quotes force an exact match.) (Of course you must replace "whatever" with your own search word such as "dogs", "cycling", etc.)

Usenet Necessities
A service on the Web makes it possible to search Usenet newsgroups
for postings that contain keywords of interest to you.  To search the
last few months of Usenet drivel, zip on over to http://www.dejanews.com

Another one called REFERENCE.COM makes it possible to search USENET
and "subscribe" to receive a daily list of newsgroup postings that
match your search criteria.  Visit http://www.reference.com or send
mail to "email-queries@reference.com" with HELP in the body of note.

Weep No More...
Now you're prepared to find almost anything in cyberspace - that is if
you've got a decent Internet connection offering WWW access.  But even
if you're stuck with a simple e-mail account, there's good news.

You can access almost all of the resources and search tools mentioned
here by e-mail!  "Accessing The Internet By E-Mail", my guide to
offline Internet access, is a free document that reveals all.

To get the new V6.1 edition, send e-mail to: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
And enter this long, ugly string in the BODY of the note:
  send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email


Or if you like, visit my home page at http://biz.mhv.net/drbob and
follow the link to the MIT site where the latest version lives.
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See you Thursday.  Rumor has it Patrick will be serving up some SPAM
for Thanksgiving!  --Bob