Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 23:24:20 +0000
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Sender: The Internet TourBus - A virtual tour of cyberspace
From: Bob Rankin
Subject: TOURBUS - 24 Apr 01 - Quickbrowse / Fee Vs. Free
MIME-Version: 1.0
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TOURBUS Volume 6, Number 74 -- 24 April 2001
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\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
FIVE YEARS of Searchable Archives at http://www.TOURBUS.com !!
TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPICS: Quickbrowse / Free & Fee
Greetings! Today we'll take a ride that may change the way you
navigate the web. We'll also dabble in the "free vs. fee" issue as we
look at the state of free online storage and the latest news about
Linux. Oh, and there's a new geek-on-bike photo. Ride on!
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QUICK, BROWSE!
----------------
Okay, so you've mastered meta-searching... how about meta-BROWSING?
Quickbrowse is a nifty free service that combines your favorite sites
into a single page for faster viewing. You don't have to download any
new software, just visit the link below and give it a test drive.
http://www.quickbrowse.com
+ Build your customized newspaper with just a few clicks. Forget
about clicking on all those links! You can consolidate content
from the New York Times, Wall St. Journal, USA Today, CNN and
your choice of a dozen others into one page.
+ QBsearch is meta-search on steroids. Select the engines you want
to query, and display up to 20 sets of result at once, from EACH
search engine, one ONE page. Get used to scrolling instead of
endless back-and-forth clicking.
You can even get your Quickbrowse Page delivered in your inbox every
day. You have to try Quickbrowse to understand how very useful and
time-saving it can be.
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INFORMATION WANTS TO BE FEE
-----------------------------
The free ride for your online hard drive may be coming to a crashing
halt soon. Several vendors in this arena have begun to charge for
services that were previously freebies. (See the 15 March 2001
article in the TOURBUS archives.)
XDRIVE, a provider of online disk space, announced this week they will
begin charging a $5 monthly fee for 25MB of online storage, and have
eliminated all of their free offerings. One has to wonder how many of
the company's 9.5 million members will put up the cash when there are
still free alternatives.
FREEDRIVE also introduced a $5 per month fee for 65MB of space, but
still offers 20MB storage for free. MYSPACE (also reviewed in the
March 15 issue) continues to offer free space ranging from 25-300MB,
and you can still get 50MB of free storage at I-DRIVE.com.
It's no big shock to see this happening, because so many Internet
companies have had a business plan that pretty much says "give away
free stuff until all the venture capital is gone, then figure out what
to do next." The logical "next" is to pull the plug or start charging
money for something. But I think the smart ones will figure out a way
to offer a freebie and still make money on premium or business
services.
http://www.xdrive.com
http://www.freedrive.com
http://www.myspace.com
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THE PENGUIN'S GOT "FREE STUFF" ALL FIGURED OUT
------------------------------------------------
Red Hat Linux 7.1 has hit the streets and the reviews look good. The
newest version of this free operating system with the tuxedo-wearing
mascot includes the new 2.4 Linux kernel, support for multiple CPU's,
faster networking, improved graphics card support and KDE 2.1.1, which
sports a more Windows-like interface and enhanced desktop fonts.
Now here's a company that does the fee/free thing right. Market
leader Red Hat has for years offered a product that can be downloaded
for free, but they also sell shrinkwrapped versions that include tech
support, printed manuals and other bundled software. Other companies
such as Mandrake and Debian compete on similar terms with their own
Linux offerings.
http://www.redhat.com
http://www.linux-mandrake.com
http://www.debian.com
If you want to try a free alternative to Microsoft Windows or Mac OS
you can download a distribution of the Linux operating system at the
websites listed above. But unless you have a high-speed Internet
connection, I recommend that you spend about $5 on a Linux CD-ROM at
CheapBytes - my favorite source for Linux products.
http://www.cheapbytes.com
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FUZZY TECHNOLOGY
------------------
Last fall I got a motorcycle, and mentioned it here in TOURBUS. So
many of you wrote nice things like "My cousin Jimmy was horribly
disfigured when he drove his motorcycle into the grille of a Mack
truck." I do appreciate those comments, really. I highly recommend
the new and experienced rider courses from the Motorcycle Safety
Foundation. They teach the skills you need to ride safely, even if
you've never been on a motorcycle before. Fact: 92% of motorcycle
accidents involve riders who were self-taught. Take the class.
http://www.msf-usa.org
Oh, I almost forgot the fuzzy. I posted a picture of my Kawasaki
Vulcan 750 back in October, and great hordes of Tourbus readers wrote
to say they wanted to see ME on the bike! Imagine my shock. So with
the help of my daughter Anna, a Polaroid camera, and a cheap scanner,
I give you this:
http://tourbus.com/vulcan.htm
That's all for now, see you next time! --Bob Rankin
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