Online magazine aimed at car buffs
Dec.
14, 1997
By JIM BROOKS
If you're one of those people who find driving an enjoyable pasttime
and consider your cars more than just a way of getting from Point
A to Point B, there's a new World Wide Web site just for you.
Driving & Style is an online magazine targeted toward automotive
connoisseur. It's chock full of neat information about the latest
cars, services and other auto-related items.
The Web site is dubbed "The Future of Automotive Information,"
and it's content is entertaining without being overly technical.
The content is tailored around the "active lifestyle of today's
value conscious consumer."
And it's all useful information. In addition to practical tips
on driving safety, book reviews, travel and industry news, you'll
find some really neat auto-related features.
The site's visitors so far aren't falling into the auto enthusiast
stereotype. Sixty-one percent of the online magazine's visitors
have been female, according to a company press release. Eighty-nine
percent are in the U.S.
Of course, the demographics follow the trend among car buyers --
51 percent of today's auto purchase market is female, according
to a J.D. Power & Associates survey.
And if you're interested in some very cool Web site design, Driving
& Style makes good use of graphics and design to present its
content.
For details, point your browser to www.drivingandstyle.com.
DOGGONE CRAZY. I've always said the Internet is a reflection
of its users and their interests. And that applies even to some
of our own human obsessions and quirks.
President Bill Clinton's been in the news recently -- though this
time it's got nothing to do with global warming, campaign finance
allegations or independent counsels.
It's about the president's new dog -- a dog without a name at this
writing. And that's where the interactivity of the Internet comes
in.
Three different news outlets have been soliciting input at their
own "Name that dog" pages on their Web sites.
The names run the gamut from the sincere to the sarcastic.
ABC News Web site, at www.abcnews.com, reported more than 1,200
suggestions in the first four hours that its puppy-page was online.
The most common name suggested at the ABC site was "Hershey"
-- a reference to the Labrador retriever's chocolate color.
Other suggestions include "Chief," "Subpoena,"
or "Sax."
Other sites to send that were accepting puppy name suggestions
included CNN's All Politics (http://allpolitics.com) and USA Today
(http://www.usatoday.com).
HOTMAIL BOOMING. While Juno was one of the first to offer
free e-mail, the free Web-based Hotmail service has continued to
grow by leaps and bounds -- and is approaching 12 million users
worldwide.
Advertising-supported Hotmail is universally accessible from any
computer that has access to the World Wide Web.
Why is it popular?
In addition to being free and easy to use, you can sign up to subscribe
to a wide array of e-mail based news services, including InfoBeat
and many others.
The e-mail service includes a built-in e-mail spell checker, a
dictionary and a thesaurus.
It allows you to send and receive e-mail attachments, as well as
archive your own received messages and save drafts of ones you've
sent. The messages you receive aren't kept on your computer, they're
saved by Hotmail's servers.
The real beauty of Hotmail is the fact that you don't need to pay
for an extra Internet account for every person in your household
who wants their own private e-mail address. All they need is access
to a computer with Internet access.
Naturally, there are benefits of having an e-mail account with
an Internet provider; but for the occassional user, Hotmail may
fit the bill.
Hotmail's popularity hasn't gone unnoticed.
Microsoft Corp. has reported made repeated offers to buy Hotmail,
with offers between $300 to $500 million.
Hotmail officials say they aren't interested in selling the service,
and plans are underway to expand into electronic commerce deals
with a variety of new vendors.
For more information, visit Hotmail's Web site at www.hotmail.com.
THEY'RE EVERYWHERE (ALMOST). Computers have become a fact
of life and they're being found in more and more homes, according
to a market research firm.
More than 43 percent of U.S. households now have a personal computer,
according to a survey released this week by Dataquest.
The survey indicated that 10.2 percent of those surveyed without
a PC plan to buy one in the next six months
Lower-priced PCs are credited with the increased popularity of
computers, which were in 35 percent of U.S. homes a year ago. Dataquest's
survey indicated the majority of new PCs purchased by consumers
were priced below $2,000.
The survey also pointed to the popularity of the Internet as another
factor in the numbers of home computers. Twenty percent of those
surveyed gave access to the Internet as the reason they are buying
a new computer.
YAHOO! IS NO.1. The Yahoo! Web directory was the most popular
spot on the World Wide Web, according to a report by RelevantKnowledge,
an Internet research firm.
More than 17.2 million users visited Yahoo! during November.
Netscape's home page (http://home.netscape.com/) was second with
13.1 million visitors, followed by Microsoft (11.6 million), the
Excite search engine (9.2 million) and America Online's Web site,
with 8.7 million.
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