Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 02:27:10 EDT
From: BobRankin@mhv.net
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS - 09 June 1998 - Best Of Tourbus
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TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: 1998 Best of Tourbus
TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: http://www.tourbus.com
Hi all - we're having a party! This month marks the THIRD ANNIVERSARY
of the Internet Tourbus, so we're gearing up for another BEST OF
TOURBUS series to celebrate. Starting on June 23rd, we're going to
treat you to FIFTEEN special BEST OF TOURBUS issues, in which Patrick
and I will be revisiting our favorite stops from the past year. We
will be sending out the Bus three times each week from June 23rd
through July 23rd, instead of twice a week.
HELP WANTED
-----------
Patrick and I will both select our top five sites, but here's the
really good news: We want YOU to help us select the top five Reader's
Choice sites to round out the fifteen BEST OF TOURBUS issues.
So how will you tell us which ones you like? Good question. PLEASE
don't start e-mailing your suggestions to me and Patrick right away.
The ONLY way to suggest a site for inclusion in the BEST OF TOURBUS
series will be to VOTE on the TOURBUS website. I should have the
voting mechanism ready in a few days, so stay tuned for updates.
REMEMBER WHEN?
--------------
Things come and go so fast on the Net, that a year seems like five or
ten. Back in July 1995, there was no AltaVista search engine, and
America Online was just starting to offer Internet access.
The Hobbes Internet Timeline reports that there were 6,642,000
computers connected to the Net, and 120,000 registered domain names.
Compare that to 29,670,000 computers and over 1,500,000 domains today.
People still used Gopher then, and we couldn't wait to get one of
those fancy 14.4 modems.
RealAudio, JAVA, and VRML first appeared on the scene. Funny though,
most people still don't have a fast enough computer or modem to use
any of those nifty tools. Today, Unix is cool again, and Windows NT
may not take over the world after all. (Watch out for Linux, Mr.
Gates - the DOJ thing is just a blip on the radar.)
In 1995, I made these predictions about the Net in the year 2000:
"You will be able to make long distance phone calls anywhere via the
Internet, basically for free. The telcos will go wild with rage and
try to recover by getting into the Internet provider game in a big
way. Look for AT&T to start selling Internet access..."
"Usenet will grow, but it's value will diminish as millions of
teenagers invade. Private commercial mini-Usenets will evolve to
fill the void, and people will pay to tap into higher signal-to-noise
resources."
It's a few years before the dawn of the millennium, and all these
things are true already. Netphone has pushed all the big telcos into
the ISP business, and Usenet is a wasteland. Web-based chat and
e-mail discussion lists rule. And people are increasingly willing to
pay a premium to get high-quality content or information they can
trust.
TOURBUS PLUS
------------
Did somebody say McTourbus? No, it must have been Tourbus Plus. :-)
I received a note from a new Plus subscriber this week, which I just
had to pass along.
> I always thought regular Tourbus was the best thing since the
> invention of toilet paper! Now there is this Tourbus Plus! WoW!
> Can't wait to get it! Tourbus was the very first newsletter I ever
> subscribed to and has been THE most informative and helpful tool I
> have! And it is FUN, too! Love it! You guys are grrrrreat! And
> only TEN bucks a year?!??! WoW again!
> -- Donna Sue Fraley, East Liverpool, Ohio
Donna, we love ya -- thanks for your support! In recent TOURBUS PLUS
issues, we covered "The Many Faces of Patrick Crispen" (I had a little
fun with PaintShop image filters - hehheh) cool online news sites, car
buying & selling, and how to access public records on the web. To
learn more about TOURBUS PLUS, and the $1000 MULTIMEDIA COMPUTER
giveaway,
CLICK HERE - http://www.tourbus.com/plus.htm
See you next time! --Bob Rankin
=====================[ TOURBUS Rider Information ]===================
The Internet Tourbus - U.S. Library of Congress ISSN #1094-2238
Copyright 1995-98, Rankin & Crispen - All rights reserved
Archives on the Web at http://www.TOURBUS.com
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Send this copy to 3 friends and tell them to hop on the Bus!
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