Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 19:39:35 -0500
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Sender: The Internet TourBus - A virtual tour of cyberspace
Comments: Resent-From: crispen@netsquirrel.com
Comments: Originally-From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
Subject: TOURBUS -- 21 JAN 00 -- MOSSBERG AND GILSTER
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TOURBUS Volume 6, Number 49 -- 21 Jan 2001
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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 STOP(S):
Mossberg and Gilster
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://ptech.wsj.com/
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/standing/collections/gilster/
Howdy, y'all, and greetings once again from the beautiful city of
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, an important stop along the ancient Arabian spice
trade routes. :P
While today's post is, as usual, tardy, I have a good excuse: my hard
drive crashed. There was some sort of "data error reading drive c,"
and this is the FOURTH time this has happened. Not good.
Fortunately, the nice folks at Dell shipped me a new hard drive -- a
larger one at that [don't tell Dell!] -- and my PC is finally back to
normal. Yay!
TOURBUS is made possible by the kind support of our sponsors. Please
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On with the show ...
-------------
Walt Mossberg
-------------
As if your bookmarks list isn't long enough, I have another site you
need to visit from time to time: The Wall Street Journal's Personal
Technology section at
http://ptech.wsj.com/ .
For the past 10 years, Walt Mossberg has written the Journal's weekly
Personal Technology column, explaining "new products and technologies
in plain English, with a strong pro-consumer point of view." The
Journal's Personal Technology section is an archive of Mossberg's
articles from the past 90 days. And, unlike a large portion of the
Journal's Web site (which requires a US$60 annual membership), the
Personal Technology section is completely free.
A few weeks ago I mentioned Slate's Today's Papers, the daily media
summary that the media reads. Well, Mossberg's Personal Technology
column is the tech column that the tech industry reads. In fact,
Newsweek magazine calls Mr. Mossberg "a champion of the
technology-befuddled Everyman" and "the most powerful arbiter of
consumer tastes in the computer world today." Time magazine
calls him "the most influential computer journalist." Brill's
Content, the watchdog magazine that covers the press, ranks Mr.
Mossberg as one of the 25 most influential people in the American
news media.
[quote shamelessly stolen from http://ptech.wsj.com/walt.html]
You can find Mossberg's most recent Personal Technology column either
by clicking on the blue "Personal Technology" button at
http://ptech.wsj.com/ or by pointing your browser to
http://ptech.wsj.com/ptech.html .
The most recent column, which will be replaced on Thursday, tells you
the "10 little lies told by computer makers and retailers." If you
are thinking of buying a new computer any time soon, this is a must-
read.
When a new column is posted to the Web site, the old one is
transferred to the archives where it stays for about three months.
You can find the old columns either by clicking on the blue "Personal
Technology" button at http://ptech.wsj.com/ or by pointing your
browser to
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive.html .
The nice thing about the column archive is that it contains not only
Mossberg's most recent Personal Technology columns but also his most
recent "Mossberg Report" and "Mossberg's Mailbox" columns. Both are
cool, but Mossberg's Mailbox is a weekly column where Mossberg answers
readers' questions. Don't let the Mailbox columns' titles fool you,
though. The Mossberg's Mailbox column titled "Which Tutorials Help
Young Kids Learn Programming Languages?" talks about that *AND* how to
share a dial-up connection *AND* how to get 8-mm home movies into your
PC.
I have been a big fan of Walt Mossberg and his columns for a long
time, ever since Guy Kawasaki and his band of Mac evangelists waged an
intifada-like campaign against Mossberg in the mid-nineties (and,
before you flame me, let me add that I was one of those Mac
evangelists -- I even have the shirt to prove it). Mossberg shoots
straight from the hip, and he has an amazing ability to put complex
issues into easy-to-understand language. I appreciate that.
Put this one on your bookmarks list, folks, and visit it often. You
won't regret it.
------------
Paul Gilster
------------
For those of you who have been on our little bus of Internet happiness
from the beginning, here is a name that is going to bring back fond
memories: Paul Gilster.
Back in the *EARLY* days of the Web -- like, say, 1994 -- Gilster
wrote some of the best Internet books ever written. Time was you
couldn't walk into a tehno geek's office without seeing at least one
of Gilster's books -- "The Mosaic Navigator," "The SLIP/PPP
Connection," "Finding It On The Internet," and so on -- sitting on
that person's desk. In fact, I used my copy of Gilster's "The Web
Naviagtor" so often that it rapidly became the most dog-eared book
I've ever owned.
I was getting a little nostalgic the other day [I actually miss gopher
and command-line telnet], so I decided to a Google search to see what
Mr. Gilster is up to these days. Low and behold, Gilster is a long-
time staff writer for NandO, the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer.
You can find a *HUGE* archive of Gilster's weekly technology columns
at
http://www.newsobserver.com/standing/collections/gilster/ .
Finding Paul Gilster's columns is like finding an old friend.
Gilster, along with Rick Gates and Richard Smith [how long has it been
since you heard THOSE names?!], helped me learn how to navigate the
Net all those years ago.
And now I get the opportunity to introduce all of you to one of my
mentors. Enjoy. :)
That's it for today. Have a safe and happy week, and we'll talk again
soon.
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
Mossberg and Gilster
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://ptech.wsj.com/
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/standing/collections/gilster/
---------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE WEEK
---------------------------------
MAY-US (noun). A state of untidiness.
Usage: "Bubba, yur trailer is a may-us."
[Special thanks go to Les Herod for today's word]
You can find all of the old Southern Words of the day at
http://netsquirrel.com/crispen/word.html
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