Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 14:57:16 -0700
From: Bob Rankin
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS - 17 June - 1997 - Finding Stuff
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\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: Finding Stuff
The Internet is a great sea of information, but finding what you're
after is sometimes a frustrating task. Today's TOURBUS issue is going
to equip you for the task of finding whatever you're looking for in
cyberspace. We'll visit some of my favorite search engines, and I'll
bet you'll say WOW! at least twice before we're done with today's tour.
But before we begin, if you're looking for some great deals on magazine
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TOPICAL STUFF - Yahoo!
http://www.yahoo.com
When you're after some information that's broad or topical in
nature, such as "Astronomy" - get thee to Yahoo. The folks at
Yahoo are ever working to create an index of the best sites in
a zillion different categories, so if you're after information
about a specific topic, as opposed to something more obscure,
make Yahoo your first stop.
RANDOM STUFF - Alta Vista
http://www.altavista.digital.com
I use Alta Vista as my first line of attack when I'm after facts
and figures that are not likely to be categorized in a topical
index like Yahoo. Unlike Yahoo, which only point to the best sites
in a finite list of categories, Alta Vista attempts to index pretty
much every word on every page on the Web.
Recently, my father-in-law was looking for some brass hinges to
restore a piece of antique furniture. I didn't figure there would
be a "Brass Hinges" category in Yahoo, so I searched on that phrase
in Alta Vista and turned up a handful of vendors with toll-free
numbers.
I also use Alta Vista when I'm after a quote. Now who was it that
wrote about "tigers burning bright in the forests of the night"?
Ah, yes - A.V. refreshes my memory. They were William Blake's words:
> Tiger! Tiger! burning bright in the forests of the night
> What immortal hand or eye could frame thy feaful symmetry?
PHONE NUMBERS - World Pages
http://www.worldpages.com/global.html
WorldPages is a collection point for telephone directories from all
over the planet. They now have 200+ directories representing over
100 countries! If you're after a phone number in Argentina, Zimbabwe
or something in between, it's in there!
REVERSE LOOKUP - 555-1212.com
http://www.555-1212.com/whte_us.htm
Ever have a phone number show up on your bill, and you just couldn't
remember who it was you called? Use this handy reverse lookup for
North American phone numbers. Feed it an area code and phone number,
and it'll return the name & address of the person associated.
The 555-1212.com site has a bunch of other useful links to telephone
directory services.
E-MAIL ADDRESSES - Four11
http://www.four11.com
Four11 is billed as the "Internet White Pages", and is my favorite
tool for finding a person's e-mail address. Last I heard, there were
about 10 million listings in their database.
Are you listed? If not, add yourself so others can find you. Four11
has a good people finder for US residents. It can do a lookup given
just a street address. (Cool for finding out the names of everyone
on your street.)
MAPS - http://www.mapquest.com/
This is a cool site, featuring the Interactive Atlas - to help you
find almost any place using the worldwide maps. Get right down to
street level in over 250 countries.
You can also get door-to-door driving instructions for US addresses.
DOMAIN NAMES - InterNIC
http://ds.internic.net/ds/webfinder/WebFinder.html
WebFinder is a search engine for finding web sites associated with
organizations. It works differently from most search engines, in
that it looks for web SERVERS associated with a specific organization
or location - not web PAGES that contain a specific word or phrase.
Sounds like a great way to find web sites that sell widgets in
Wyoming or pizza in Podunk. If you ever want to know who owns or
operates a particular web site, use the WHOIS tool at
http://ds.internic.net/wp/whois.html - it returns the name, address
e-mail and phone number for the site contacts.
WEB SEARCH BY E-MAIL
If you don't have direct access to the Net, you can still explore the
wonders of the Web. Get my free guide "Accessing The Internet By E-Mail"
and learn how to access almost anything on the Net even if you have only
e-mail at your disposal.
Yes, you really can get web pages by e-mail. You can even grab files
from FTP sites, participate in Usenet, play games by e-mail and order
a virtual pizza. Version 6.6 of the "Accessing" guide is available in
over 30 languages. To get the latest edition (and a list of translations)
send e-mail to: "mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu" and enter this command in the
BODY of the note:
send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email
If you have friends with just e-mail access, grab a copy and send it to
them - they will thank you! You can also find the "Accessing" guide
(and the Dr. Bob Quintuplets) via my home page at:
http://biz.mhv.net/drbob
Have fun searching, see you next time! --Bob
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