Question: What's the word on dual-line modems? Don Wendel wrote in wondering about dual-line modem technology. Answer: Dual-line modems use two phone lines and two internal modems to double the speed of your connection, theoretically approaching that of ISDN service

InstantMessageGram for Mr. Mongo! In "You've Got Call Waiting" in NetBITS-011, I failed to mention one of the most popular instant messaging tools - ICQ - which claims 5.4 million subscribers and over a million daily users

Search Me -- In response to last week's FAQtoid explaining how a search engine would work on an individual site, several readers pointed out that a little ingenuity enables you to co-opt a Web search engine to focus in on your Web site

Mea Culpa -- It may be just the end-of-the-year race to the finish, but we've been making more mistakes than we find acceptable, and for that we apologize

More Offline -- More readers wrote in with suggestions of how to store Web pages for later offline viewing and printing. Adam Rosen recommends DataViz's Web Buddy, which works much like Web Whacker

Suddenly instant messaging is everywhere. The ability to send tiny messages instantly to another person or small group has been available on America Online for many years

Question: What's the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web? Michael Battig writes from Glenn's home town of Eugene, Oregon, with that surprisingly common question. Answer: The Internet is a set of networks that exchange data with each other using a standard set of protocols - languages that each machine can speak

Question: How do I make a Web site searchable? Beverley Neff writes: "I was on a Web page recently that had a search form to search that Web site

Testing 56K -- Looking to buy a 56K modem? Before you purchase, there is something you can do to find out whether or not your current phone line will support a faster speed (see Speed Jockeys on the Internet: Flying at 56K in NetBITS-008)

Call for Writers -- As we've mentioned before, we enjoy working with both new and experienced writers. The five of us who represent the core staff of NetBITS all produce pieces and write FAQtoids, but we enjoy featuring other voices and areas of expertise

Printing to Files -- We received a huge sheaf of suggestions on how to store a Web page for later printing or viewing, which we cover in Save Me from the Web, below

In response to our FAQtoid on how to save a Web page for later printing or viewing (see NetBITS-009), we got a pile of responses recommending techniques and software

Question: Who pays for the Internet? Several readers, including Max Hahto and Yves Dussault , have written to ask how the Internet is paid for. That is, since the Internet is worldwide, there must be long distance or other charges involved in moving data from your dial-up or permanent connections to other locations

Hiatus for American Thanksgiving -- We'll be skipping what would have been our 27-Nov-97 issue in favor of turkey for some of us, Tofurky(tm) for others, and gluten-free corn mush for Glenn

Pee En Gee - See Ya Real Soon! -- Delightfully, I was wrong about current browser support in the NetBITS-007 article on graphic file formats for the Web

Question: How fast is a residential phone line? Bill Williams sent us the following entertaining query: "Here's a group of questions which have come up several times, drawing varying answers

Question: How can I print or read a Web page offline? Charles Redway asks: "How can I save a page for reading or printing later? Not just the text but the whole page with its pictures and graphics in the right place

You're on Report -- As we've noted in previous articles about spam, one method of fighting it is to report the abuse to the network on which the spammer has an account

Image Ownership -- Jamie Alexander asked me why I didn't mention compression algorithm patent and licensing issues in the graphic file formats article in NetBITS-007

Question: What's surfing got to do with it? Andree Hollander asks, "People continually talk about 'surfing the Internet.' Where does the word 'surf' come from? I didn't think that the word 'net' would be something with which the word 'surfing' would be connected." We happen to know the person who's credited with the first use of the term "surfing the Internet" - Jean Armour Polly , author of The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages, 2nd Edition, and publisher of Net-mom News, a weekly 2,000 word email newsletter that focuses on issues surrounding kids on the Internet