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<HTML><PRE> NetAnswers Internet Extra "IM Madness & the Joy of Sitting Slack-Jawed" volume 1, number 2 for the week of June 9, 1997 __________ First, learn how you can chat with your Internet buddies who aren't on AOL. Then, we'll bliss out on a few media sites. ------------ IM Madness ------------ AOL members are already familiar with three great features of the service: Buddy Lists, Instant Messages and member profiles. But there's something new on the horizen: by now you have probably seen some of AOL's hoopla about its new "Instant Messenger" program. (If you haven't, you will.) The two essential things that you need to know about Instant Messenger are: If you're an AOL user, you don't need it. If you have friends or family who use the Internet but not AOL, they will want it. And as an AOL user, you'll want them to have it. Instant Messenger is a program that gives the Buddy List, Instant Message and member profile capabilities to Internet users who aren't AOL members. You already have those features, so why should you care? Because if you have friends and family who have Internet accounts on other services (such as Netcom, CompuServe, Prodigy Internet or just about any other,) they can use Instant Messenger to chat with you. On your end, it looks and feels just like sending Instant Messages to another AOL member. You can even put your Net-using friends on your buddy list. Intrepid fellow that I am, I booted my Windows 95 machine, logged in to my Internet provider and gave Instant Messenger a try. I picked a screen name and installed the program. A moment later, the familiar Buddy List box appeared on my Windows screen. I pressed the Setup button, typed the screen name of a friend who is an AOL member, and voila! His name appeared in my Buddy List. I clicked on his name and typed an Instant Message. Back on AOL, a new message appeared on my friend's screen: "An Internet user has sent you an Instant Message. Accept?" This makes it easy for AOL members to ignore messages from strangers. But he accepted, so my message appeared on screen and we chatted for a while. The familiar controls for using styled text are even available. Like regular IMs, Instant Messenger works for one-on-one chat--you can't use it for a multi-person chat a la the People Connection. But for chatting with a single friend (or even a married one!), this is much easier than the alternatives, such as Internet Relay Chat or a web-based chat system. Instant Messenger is still in beta test, but is very polished. You can tell your Internet-using friends to visit <A HREF="http://www.aol.com/buddylist/">http://www.aol.com/buddylist</A> to download it. The bad news is that right now, Instant Messenger is only available to Windows 95 users. Windows 3.1 and Macintosh versions are "coming soon". -------------------------------- The Joy of Sitting Slack-Jawed -------------------------------- There are days when I feel like I can do it all. Wash the dog, wax the car, write some articles, polish the silverware. Then it's time for breakfast. Then again, there are those other days when all I can manage to do is sit slack-jawed in front of the television, or maybe muster the energy to slip a CD into the stereo. You know those days? Whether your, ahem, less-than-productive times last all day long or are more fleeting, there are a myriad of ways that you can waste time and satisfy your media jones with the help of the Web. One of my favorite media sites is TV Land (at, you guessed it, <A HREF="http://www.tvland.com/">http://www.tvland.com</A>). If you don't have cable television, let me fill you in. TV Land is a station dedicated to showing classic programs -- Bewitched, Love American Style, That Girl, and other good stuff. The TV Land web site serves up television trivia (who was the voice of Mister Ed?), games (what would it be like to find a beautiful blonde genie of your very own?), and the amazing "TV Land Salute To Cereal". A whole lot of fun. Of course, there are other choices for other tastes. <A HREF="http://www.mtv.com/">MTV</A> and <A HREF="http://www.hbo.com/">HBO</A> have their own mega-Web sites, now the E! cable channel has its own too. (<A HREF="http://www.eonline.com/">http://www.eonline.com/</A>) ItÆs a top source for popular entertainment news and reviews, covering all the ôtraditionalö media: radio, CDs, TV, books, magazines, and movies old and new. Gossip columns give you a quick take on the happening celebrities, and discussion boards make it possible to share gossip and brushes with the rich and famous. Naturally, thereÆs broadcast schedule for E!Æs cable offerings. The success of MTVÆs program ôThe Real Worldö showed everyone that people are interested in the intimate lives of total strangers, at least if the strangers are young, relatively attractive, and fight with each other. It was only a matter of time before the formula appeared on the World Wide Web. The Spot (<A HREF="http://www.thespot.com/">http://www.thespot.com</A>) was the first and arguably still the best of the sites that follow the daily trials and tribulations of a group of young people living together. You can read the daily entries in each residentÆs journal. Even the dog (a ôCyberian huskyö) occasionally has something to say. Speaking of MTV, Adam Curry was a VJ on MTV when he created his first Web site. It was called mtv.com and was one of the most popular sites on the Net. When he left MTV a few months later, there were legal problems with his continuing to use the name. When the smoke cleared, MTV had <A HREF="http://www.mtv.com/">mtv.com</A>, and Adam started metaverse (<A HREF="http://www.metaverse.com/">http://www.metaverse.com/</A>). Not a bad trade-off, really. Divided into categories called Sights, Sounds, Sleaze, and Surf, you can spend hours on this beautifully designed site reading about television and music. You'll find opinions, reviews and concert information here too. If music is your thing, check out the Similarities Engine, an intelligent tool for music lovers. (<A HREF="http://www.ari.net/se/ise/se_top.html">http://www.ari.net/se/ise/se_top.html</A>) Begin spelling the name of an artist, and pretty soon, youÆll view a huge list of possible choices. There are thousands of musicians and composers in this database, ranging from No Doubt to the Beatles to Mozart. Once you choose an artist, the Similarities Engine will display a table of other artists you may enjoy in the order of their similarity. Sometimes the engine is right on target (or at least somewhat close,) but other times the results are downright bizarre; in any case, youÆll have fun. --------- The End --------- Next week, we'll get serious again by exploring news, weather, and sports sites. I can't answer questions via e-mail, but I certainly can take your suggestions for future newsletter topics. That's all for this week. Got comments about this newsletter? I want to hear them! Send 'em to NetAnswers@aol.com. Subscribers may forward this newsletter to up to three friends. You'll get a bonus if your friend subscribes and says you referred him or her. For a one-year (52 issue) subscription to NetAnswers Internet Extra newsletter, send a check or money order for $12 to: Savetz Publishing/Internet Extra P.O. Box 1205 Blue Lake, CA 95525 Be sure to write your screen name (e-mail address) on the check (in the memo area). For more subscription information, visit <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/NetAnswers/index.html">http://members.aol.com/NetAnswers/</A> NetAnswers Internet Extra is not affiliated with America Online, Inc. A horse is a horse of course, of course, and no one can talk to a horse, of course. That is, of course, unless the horse is...copyright 1997 by Kevin Savetz. All rights reserved.</PRE></HTML>