KSFO's Web Wanderer

Web Wanderer's Thought of the Week

It is better to give than receive - especially the bust card at blackjack. Enjoy COMDEX, everyone!

The Links for November 14, 1998

On Veteran's Day, "A Simple Veteran" suggested I give this site some thought.

I've mentioned The Virtual Wall before. It's been expanded since then.

The Virtual Wall is the online version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial i Washington.

The site is a "Virtual Wall" which allows visitors to leave remembrances of loved ones and reflections on the Vietnam War era. These audio and text files will be added to the Virtual Wall web site, where they will be available to millions of people around the world.

There's also a search function, and all of the names listed on the wall are online.

Thanks for the site, "A Simple Veteran", and thanks for serving.

Lab Rescue

Joy and Gary sent in their site - supporting the Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue. The web site is used to find homes for abandoned and abused dogs that are being given up by their owners. They also rescue Labs from local animal shelters.

The site is used to place dogs in the SF Bay Area (408, 415, 510,707,916,925 area codes).

Are you looking for a pet? Rescuing a dog is the way to go. You can name him "Mike" or "Webby". Or "Bob". Not in the market for a dog? You can support the effort with a donation - they are a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization.

Check it out. Thanks, Joy and Gary.

Bonnie & Clyde's Hideout

Kevin in Hayward fund this one.

This site is a must for crime/history buffs. I've always been fascinated with gangsters - growing up on the East Coast will do that to you.

This site has lots of pictures and stories. You can read reports written at the time Bonnie and Clyde were alive and notorious.

Webmasters should check out the design of this site. It's simple, but the graphics are well designed, and everything is in line with the theme. No generic FrontPage theme for this site.

Check it out. Thanks, Kevin!

The Irish Pub

"Bob, The Old Fogey" submitted his own site. The Old Fogey is now a chatroom regular.

Bob, The Old Fogey, like Bob O'Donnell and your Web Wanderer, is a homebrewer.

The web page boasts "Home brewing is my passion and I'm late for a date!" says Bob the Old Fogey.

The site isn't fancy, bit it's great. It has hundreds of TESTED homebrew recipes - including Mead, Cider, Lagers, Pale Ales, Fruit beers, Wheat Beers, Stouts & Porters, Herb & spiced beers, German & Scottish ales, Barley wine and dopplebock, and Steam Soaked & Sour Beers. There's also a complete tutorial about how to make homebrew.

His club "The Frantic Fermenters" were 55 strong and won many a state "belch-off."

As an additional freebie, you can get The Old Fogey's idea for how to make an ice cube bag which is guaranteed not to let you ice cubes stick together.

Very cool page, Old Fogey. I'm glad the Jail Babes don't keep you too busy to brew, and author web pages.

Alive!

Nerdly Nullman sent this in. Last week I mentioned Internet Loafer - a shareware program to keep your Internet connection alive. "Alive! is similar to Internet Loafer except that it is FREEWARE!

Nerdly is using version 1.3 and have been doing so for a long time. It's running great.

Nerdly says "To use alive! you select the servers to be pinged (I use Alta Vista, Excite, Lycos, and Yahoo) and a random time interval. This ability to use varied servers and random times prevents ISPs from detecting this activity. Most ISPs do not like this software!"

Although Alive! installs several keys in the registry, you have the option to remove them if you decide to un-install the program.

Useful stuff, and free. Thanks, Nerdly!

Robo-Bid

I've tried several online auctions on Ebay. My luck, so far, has been pretty poor. On more than one occasion, I've been sniped. Some guy, out of nowhere, grabbed the item I wanted minutes, or seconds, before the auction closed. I tried it on an auction or two, buy my clock was off, and it didn't work. It can be VERY frustrating.

Until Now.

I found some software called Robo-Bid. Now I have a chance.

Robo-Bid works with your browser. You simply bookmark the auctions you want to bid on, then exit your browser. Fire up Robo-Bid. It will examine your bookmarks file for the Ebay bookmarks, and import them. Up to 15 auctions. It grabs the item number, close date and time, and description. You just type in the maximum amount you'd like to bid, and it counts down, based on your system clock.

When you're a few minutes away, if you are not connected to the net, it dials your ISP, logs you in, then connects to Ebay. Next, it synchronizes your system clock to match the Ebay official clock. Seconds before the auction ends, it submits your bid.

It's very simple to use, and seems to work just fine. I've done some test bidding with it, and it hasn't failed yet. This is a must-get software for any Ebayer. The price is $11. It's a bargain.

Also included - a very cool utility - Ebar - which automates Ebay keyword searches. It's a real timesaver! This is also great.

If you're into Ebay, you need these. Trust your Web Wanderer.

Napa Steve's Real Quickies

Napa Steve is THE MAN when it comes to finding Real Audio and Real Video sites, his finds are now a regular feature of the Web Wanderer's Report. Every week, Napa Steve will try to find one or two hot Real sites. This week he gives us THREE hot ones

Spinner

Steve found this music site that claims to have 100 channels of music and 100,000 song titles. In RealAudio. Downside - too many ads, and therefore slow to load.

MovieTunes

Steve asks Where else can you hear soundtrack clips from such classics as "The Day the Earth Stood Still", read a brief summary of the movie and then order the CD?"

This American Life | From WBEZ in Chicago

One of Steve's favorite radio shows on NPR is This American Life. Their site has RealAudio archives. He says "Check out the clips from David Sedaris (about half way down the page) about life in New York."

Thanks, Steve - 3 great picks this week!