INews Newsletter - Jul 31, 2001
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* * * I N e w s * * *
A publication of Internet Nebraska, composed and distributed by
* * * manager@inebraska.com * * *
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Volume 4, Number 6 July 31, 2001
Welcome to another issue of INews, Internet Nebraska's customer
newsletter. This monthly newsletter communicates service bulletins,
announcements and other useful information to our customers. Please let
us know what you think of it. Archives of INews are located at
http://www.inebraska.com/inews
In this issue: Finding People and Places Using the Internet
Dressing up Your Desktop With New Wallpaper
News From the Accounting Folks
Napster Alternatives
Online Gaming
Mr. Internet
** Finding people and places using the Internet ***
How many times have you viewed this in your e-mail, "Find Anyone,
Anywhere?" Then all you have to do is send them 25 dollars for a search of
public records to see if anyone matches the person for whom you are
searching. Did you can search yourself with online white pages? Visit
these sites:
http://www.whitepages.com
http://www.switchboard.com
At these sites you can search for people by their first/last name, city,
state, address, and phone number. Try to find yourself, or your family and
friends, since the service is free you have nothing to lose. Now that you
have found the person you're looking for, visit one of the following sites
to have the Internet create a map for you to find your way there.
http://www.mapblast.com/
http://www.mapquest.com/
http://www.mapsonus.com/
http://maps.expedia.com/
All of these sites will map addresses, and the first 2 will give you
directions door to door so that when you hit the road you are sure to make
all the right (correct) turns. Now if we can just find a web site where
oil companies will compete for lower gas prices we'll be set for the summer
travels!
*** Help the Accounting Department***
Our account department has asked that we ask any customer who may have
changed their address, phone number, or other information to check the
information we have on file and update it if necessary. Your account
information can be found and updated at
https://www.inetnebr.com/customer/INCUtils/viewbill/modify.cgi . Thanks,
they really appreciate it!
They're quite demanding over there, also asking us to remind you of our
on-going referral program. For each new customer you refer to Internet
Nebraska, you can earn a free month of service. Get a $19.95 credit
applied to your account if your referral meets the following criteria: the
account must be a new sign up, the new account's first term must be valued
at $19.95 or more (metered accounts do not qualify), and the new account's
first term must be paid within 90 days. We've given out more than 500 free
months so far this year, and would love to give out 500 more!
*** Dressing up your desktop with new wallpaper ***
Tired of looking at that plain blue or green background with the same old
pile of icons? If you are, add some life to your desktop with a piece of
wallpaper. If you are not sure what it is, wallpaper is the image that is
displayed on your monitor that all your other icons and windows sit on top
of. It's the background. You can make just about any image you find on
the Internet your wallpaper. The tricky part is finding the right size.
We have included some links to wallpaper web sites with pre-sized images
that are created to fit most standard desktop resolutions. You'll have to
get an image from one of those web sites or a similar web site if you want
an image that will fill your entire screen, otherwise you can use any image
on any web site for your wallpaper.
If you're using Windows 95 or later for an operating system, follow these
steps:
1. Download the desired image to anywhere on your hard drive
2. Find the saved image and click it with the right mouse button
3. Choose "Set as Wallpaper"
And if you want to change it later...
4. Go to My Computer on your Desktop, then to Control Panel
5. Open the Display control panel
6. Choose something else
If you're using a Macintosh with OS8 or later installed then follow these
steps:
1. Download the desired image to anywhere on your hard drive
2. Go to the Apple menu, then to Control Panels
3. Go to Appearance Manager
4. Click Change Background and choose the image you downloaded
Here are some wallpaper web sites you might want to check out.
Animals and wildlife:
http://wallpapers.animalsearch.net
http://www.reflectiveimages.com/DeskTopWallpaper.htm
Anime:
http://www.animewallpapers.com
Art:
http://www.deskpicture.com/DPs/Art/index.html
Celebrities and models:
http://www.celebrity-wallpaper.com
Hedgehog:
http://www.billybear4kids.com/animal/hedgehog/wallpaper5.html
Just about everything:
http://www.caedes.net
Landscapes:
http://www.snap-shot.com/pages/land
Strange wallpaper:
http://www.crazywallpapers.com
Video games:
http://www.classicgaming.com/vgwallpaper
For something more specific, or just something else, you can always do a
search at your favorite search engine site such as http://www.google.com or
http://www.yahoo.com .
*** Schaefer's TV & Appliance Center - Advertisement ***
Schaefer's is an independently owned and
operated television, appliance, and home
theater retailer in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Born out of a small corner drugstore four
decades ago, Schaefer's TV & Appliance is a
22,000 square-foot "superstore" today,
specializing in commercial/professional-grade
appliances, whole house sound systems, home
theater and central vacuum systems. The
success of Schaefer's is key to repeat
business. If a customer happens to have a
problem with a product, Schaefer's will bend
over backwards to get it solved. Our service
center is the largest in the city, and has been
voted Lincoln's #1 servicer for 10 years in a
row! A knowledgeable sales staff, express
delivery, easy financing, and our customer
service representatives are just a few of the
ways in which we at Schaefer's distinguish
ourselves from the rest. Stop by our showroom
at 48th and R in Lincoln, or call us at
and see for yourself.
-- http://www.schaeferstv.com/index2.htm
*** Napster Alternatives ***
Alas poor Napster! I knew him, Horatio: a service of infinite songs, of
most excellent choice: he hath given to me many songs a thousand times:
and now, how abhorred in my thoughts it is! My mind races as I attempt to
find a replacement service. Where be your songs, your tunes? your hard to
find soundtrack that were wont to be bought at the music store? Not many
songs now, to have for download.
I would ask for latitude from William Shakespeare fans for my use of his
stirring scene from Hamlet. I too must do a eulogy for the song swapping
service known as Napster. While the song swapping service is not
technically dead, it is in a state that will not allow it to rise to what
it was before. The demise of Napster was brought about by the recent court
order that caused the service to put into place filters to keep copyrighted
material from being swapped by users.
If you are not sure what Napster is, a short explanation is in order.
Napster allowed users to swap songs that were in MP3 format. All of this
was done at no charge to the users. Music freely went back and forth among
tens or thousands of users. Logging in and swapping songs became as common
place as chatting and e-mailing for many folks. An indication of how far
the mighty have fallen, one only need look at a report done by Webnoize, an
Internet research firm. Usage on Napster reported in June had dropped
dramatically to a paltry 1.5 songs shared per user, this down from on
average, 220 per user swapped songs in February.
The record industry decided enough was enough and sued Napster. While
Napster was fighting with the the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA), a new set of attacks came from some of the artists themselves such
as heavy metal band, Metallica and rapper Dr Dre. The artists were crying
foul at not being compensated for their music that was being given away
thousands of times per day. Napster, of course, had artists siding with
them as well. Rock band Limp Bizkit, for example, came out in support of
Napster.
While the dust settles and record executives congratulate themselves on
bringing down Napster, what is the average song hungry seeker to do? Where
can they go to quench their thirst for MP3s? There are several options
available to the MP3 seeking web surfer. Unlike Napster, these new
alternatives do not exist on a central server which makes them next to
impossible to shut down. These decentralized approach will make it
difficult to target a single organization for any sort of court
compliance.
If you go to http://www.download.com to see what people are downloading to
replace Napster, you will find several alternatives that seem to be gaining
a large following. Music City Morpheus leads the pack with over 1 million
downloads. Audiogalaxy Satellite gains the silver being just shy of a
million downloads. KaZaa Media Desktop takes the bronze with well over a
half a million downloads from users. BearShare was nipping at the third
position with a little over a half million downloads. These figures are
based on the week ending July 15.
Be sure to read the information sections on each of these software items.
Napster only allowed users to search for MP3s but the newer alternatives
have a wider range of file types. This can be seen as a good and bad
thing. It's good if you want to find other types of media files easily,
but bad if you only want MP3s and see the other file types as being in the
way. Some programs allow search filters that find only a particular type
of file. This type of information will be found in the details and
description section of the programs.
*** The Capital Soccer Association - Advertisement ***
Capital Soccer Association specializes in
teaching soccer. However we recognize that
soccer, or any other youth sport is merely
one tool in the development of a young
child. Teamwork and sportsmanship through
knowledge and proficiency of the game are
our main goals.
-- http://www.capitalsoccer.com/
*** Gaming Online ***
There are countless forms of entertainment available on-line these days.
One of the options available is online gaming. It doesn't matter if you
want to prove your prowess as a champion checkers player, or be a knight on
a heroic quest, there is something available for everyone. No matter your
budget or your computer resources, if you have a connection to the
Internet, it's time to let the games begin.
Finding free games to play online isn't difficult, in fact it's easy. Go
to your favorite search page (eg. http://www.altavista.com or
http://www.google.com) and type in the name of the game you want to play in
the search field. If you prefer card games, type in your favorite card
game, say Hearts or Spades. Maybe board games, like checkers or chess, are
more your style. Of course, a more precise search helps to narrow down your
findings when searching for games online. Combining the words 'online' or
'free' along with the type of game you want to play will find you dozens of
sites that offer these games to play free of charge.
Many sites, such as http://www.yahoo.com or http://www.sony.station.com
have games ready to be played by simply choosing a login name, password,
and signing in. Some of these games require a small download to play them
properly through your web-browser. even with a slower dialup connection,
however, these downloads won't cause you much of a wait, and usually you
only have to do it once.
Maybe you are wanting to try some of the more recent titles to hit the
stores. Many genres exists for online games that will suit just about
everyone. If you want first person shooter games, Quake III, Tribes2, and
Counterstrike are all good choices. Or perhaps you want to take on the
persona of a character in an ever changing world inhabited by other
gamers. Everquest is a fantasy-filled world for this type of playing.
Following on the success of Everquest, two new titles have become
available. Anarchy Online is a multi-user game with a sci-fi feel to it.
World War II Online puts you in the role of a combatant in the second world
war. Some people like real time strategy and do not want to have control
of only one person, these gamers want to control whole armies, nations and
even worlds. Games such as Command and Conquer have many variants that
appeal to the war game strategist. Age of Empires II puts the player in
charge of an entire civilization to guide to greatness. There are many
more titles and types of games available. A good idea is to check out
places such as http://www.gamespot.com and http://www.thegia.com. These
sites have game previews for upcoming games and reviews for already
published games available to your information needs.
The newer online titles that you buy off the shelf continue to become more
sophisticated with heart jarring audio tracks and stunning visual effects.
This increased quality of the games place greater demands on your computer
and on your Internet connection. Many people find these newer games work
much better on higher speed connections such as DSL.
If you choose to play checkers for fun, or attempt to conquer the universe
in an online strategy game, you will find the online game opportunities
abound on the Internet.
See you online!
*** Mr. Internet ***
Q: How come when I go to my bank's website to view my account balance, I
encounter a message that says something about needing a secure channel
to view the content, or needing 128-bit encryption? What is this and
how do I make it go away?
A: There are two strengths of encryption commonly used in web browsers,
56 bit and 128 bit. Some sites, banks for example, may require that
your browser have the stronger encryption to help protect your personal
information. To give you an idea of how much stronger 128 bit
encryption is, you have to understand that for each additional bit, it
takes twice as long to crack the encryption. This means that 128 bit
encryption is 4,722,366,482,869,645,213,696 times harder to crack than
56 bit encryption! To use sites requiring this level of protection,
you'll need to upgrade your browser to 128 bit encryption. If you are
using Internet Explorer, click on the menu called "Help" then go down
and click on "About Internet Explorer". Once the new screen appears
you will see a version number and then a line labeled "Cipher
Strength". Next to that, there will be a link to click on called
"Update Information". When you click on Update Information, a screen
will open to the page where you can download the necessary add-ons for
Internet Explorer. If you are in Netscape, you will have to go to
http://home.netscape.com/download/index.html and download a 128-bit
capable version of Netscape.
Mr. Internet is a regular feature of the INews, and he welcomes questions
of any kind. Just mail them to mrinternet@inebraska.com, and he'll answer
one or two each issue. Those he doesn't use will not necessarily be
answered, and you should still use 'manager' and 'accounts' for regular
business.
*** Advertise on Our Home Pages ***
What better way to advertise your business than on a Web page that is seen
tens of thousands of time every month? None, if you're paying as little
as we charge for it!
We are now offering banner advertising that rotates on all our pages
which is priced based on the number of impressions (viewings) per month.
Your banner can reach thousands of Nebraska residents, and this is a
unique way to advertise your Nebraska business to residents in the area.
Prices for banner advertisement can be found at:
http://www.inebraska.com/ad.html
We will also be selling links from our main page. Please contact
manager@inebraska.com, or give us a give us a call at our office,
402-434-8680, and ask how you can reserve banner spots on some of the
hottest URL's in the state. The advertisers in this issue did, and we
recommend them highly.