The Internet Gurus' Favorite Links

More Big Lists of Stuff

• To find a mailing list on almost any topic, use Topica's Liszt Search For Mailing Lists page. (Liszt's lists of lists include both all Topica's lists and lots of lists elsewhere.)
• To find an Internet provider, use The List, a list of over 1,800 Internet providers around the world.
• For answers to questions on almost any topic, take a look at the Internet FAQ Archives.
• For shareware, use Jumbo. You might also want to try CNET's Shareware.com.

Make Those Travel Plans
When John's not playing computer geek, he plays travel geek, planning plane trips all over the world. (Occasionally he even takes one.) Here's what he uses to get going:

• His Airline information on-line on the Internet page summarizes all the places you can find out about plane schedules, tickets, fares, and the like.
• When's Aunt Edna's plane going to arrive? TheTrip lets you find out where most scheduled flights in the U.S. are right now, with a cute little animated Java map, and when they're really going to arrive. (``She's circling over Peoria, don't light the barbeque yet.'') You need to know the airline, flight number, and destination airport.
• Orbitz is the newest giant travel site, offering airlines, tour packages, rental cars, hotels and more. They have agreements with dozens of airlines to many web-only fares, last minute fares, and other specials that may not show up on other travel sites, and a unique fare search system that shows what's available and at what price. Don't miss the Travel Watch section, particularly the Flying Forecast which has better info on airborne congestion and delays than many airlines have.
• Travelocity has airlines, flight numbers, destination airports, and pretty much anything else you can think to ask for making travel plans. You can even buy tickets.
• Expedia is Microsoft's entry into the travel arena. It has airlines, flight numbers, destination airports, etc., etc., although we don't like it as much as Travelocity. Its data comes from Amadeus, a different giant airline computer, so sometimes Expedia knows things that Travelocity doesn't and vice-versa.

Live on the Net
Drop by our zap update page, with more info about updates to the topics in our books.

• Forrest Stroud's Consummate WinSock Applications List, a very popular site with a large and frequently updated list of software, with short descriptions and star ratings.
• The Ultimate Collection Of Winsock Software (TUCOWS) lists lots of software as well, with longer descriptions and ratings.

Of the two, Margy likes TUCOWS better because they have their own software archive, while Stroud's site refers you to each program's home site, which can often be slower and more congested. John likes them about equally well.

All the News That Fits

• The New York Times puts all the news that's fit to print on their web site. You have to register but it's free. One of us has found that even though he lives in New York State about 200 miles from NY City, you can't get the paper Times here at all, so this is the next best thing and it doesn't get greasy black ink all over your hands.
• Another good source for up to date news is My Yahoo, which lets you create a customized page of news, from a variety of sources including Reuters, the Associated Press, the Times, and many other news services, both in the US and abroad. Windows users can download their News Ticker which scrolls the headlines and stock prices you select across the bottom of your screen, providing a 100% distracting work environment.
• If you like your news to arrive by e-mail, so you don't have to remember to visit a Web site, you can sign up for daily headlines by mail from the Times, or try Infobeat and sign up for the kinds of news you like to get -- international, business, sports, or ski reports.

Cool Stuff

• Do you lie awake at night trying to remember who played opposite Gene Tierney in Laura? Well, someday you might. For the answer to this and any other question about movie and TV series names, cast, characters, crew, and other details, visit the Internet Movie Database. On the other hand, if you lie awake a night trying to figure out where to get videos you'd be happy for your kids to watch, now that they've already seen The Lion King 15,000 times, visit Great Tapes for Kids.
• If you like wine, take a look at Bob Levine's Wine Page. Bob is John and Margy's father, in case you were wondering.
• To look up a U.S. ZIP code, use the USPS ZIP+4 Lookup Form.