Reach out and touch someone with e-mail By JIM BROOKS The telecommunications industry is big on hype when it comes to uses for the Internet. My favorite TV commercial is of the businessmen grabbing surfboards to surf this asphalt "wave" that represents the Internet. All hype aside, the most popular use of the Internet is still electronic mail. E-mail on its way to becoming a part of nearly everyone's household. If you don't have e-mail, your son/brother/sister/father/mother/cousin has it -- or wants it. Net pundits say e-mail has returned Americans to the old art of letter writing. It's an interesting idea, but I disagree. Today's e-mail can be just as newsy and fact-filled as that letter from home my dad received while he was in the Army during World War II. But what e-mail doesn't convey well is emotion. The actual process of writing with pen and paper gives a writer the chance to add inflection to his or her words by the way they are written. The angle of the writing, the script, the pressure of the actual pen on paper all combine to create a very real atmosphere that is conveyed to the letter's recipient. But e-mail users have filled this void by creating a variety of combinations of punctuation characters to show emotion. These emotion icons, or "emoticons," includes the common :-) smiley face (turn your head 90 degrees to the left to properly view it), the :-( frowny face, the mischievous ;-) winking smiley and many more. In fact, a complete Smiley Dictionary is available at www.eff.org/papers/eegtti/eeg_286.html. E-mail accounts are now considered a part of any Internet access package. Typically, it's one e-mail account per Internet account. On-line services like AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy offer multiple e-mail accounts for each main account holder, giving you a bit more e-mail bang for your buck. But if an e-mail account is your main objective, don't overlook your local Internet Service Provider(ISP). In addition to the flat-rate that is common for unlimited access Internet, they'll usually have a lower rate for a low-usage account. $10 a month for 10 hours of access per month is plenty if your need is primarily e-mail and the occasionally trip out on the World Wide Web. ON THE HOUSE. One company has proven (so far) that there may be no free lunches in the business world, but there can be free e-mail. Juno (www.juno.com) offers a free, advertiser-supported e-mail service. The software is free for the asking; users must complete a survey detailing their spending and shopping habits. Beyond that, there's no catch, no hidden charges. You can visit their Web site to request the software, send e-mail to signup@juno.com, or call Juno at 1-800-654-5866. If you have a relative across the country or a child in college, it might be the lowest-cost way to keep in touch via e-mail. MAILING LISTS. A handy feature of e-mail is the mailing list. A list puts you in a flowing e-mail group conversation about a particular topic. If you're interested in pets, politics or computers, there's likely to be a mailing list targeted at some area of interest to you. Joining a mailing list means that anyone who sends a message to the list will have it distributed automatically to every list member. For more information about mailing lists, and for one of the most complete resources about them on the Internet, point your Web browser to www.liszt.com. Liszt is a directory that includes more than 65,000 e-mail lists and discussion groups. It's a great place to find out what an e-mail discussion group can do for you. EASIER E-MAIL. In an effort to make using the Internet easier, the makers of World Wide Web "browsers" (the software you use to view text and images on the Web) nearly all have incorporated some sort of e-mail package. In other words, if you have an account for Internet access, you already have an e-mail account, and you can use your Web software to use it in most cases. Netscape Navigator has incorporated e-mail since version 2.0. Internet Explorer 2.0 from Microsoft didn't have e-mail, but used another Microsoft mail client that meshed well. Unfortunately, Web browsers don't have all the bells and whistles for e-mail that you may eventually want to use. Stand alone e-mail software programs (Pegasus Mail, Eudora and others) are widely available for free trial on the Internet. It boils down to the individual preferences of the user. and for it is better suited to many uses. ZIP FEVER. As reported in this column some weeks back, Compaq Computer Corp. has jumped on the Iomega bandwagon. The company will begin offering the popular Iomega Zip drive in its new Presario mini-tower computer in the second quarter of this year. The Zip drive's 100-megabyte storage capacity and quick access time makes it an ideal solution for both individuals and professionals who need to handle large files. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.iomega.com. CHIPS AHOY. Intel officially released its long-awaited Pentium MMX line of computer processor chips this past week, triggering a flurry of press releases from an array of computer manufacturers who will support it. The MMX technology adds a new level of multimedia capability to computers equipped with the chip. It offers the ability to support improved graphic and video editing and display. The technology will be incorporated into Intel's line of Pentium Overdrive chips, which can be used to upgrade older computers. Prices for the chips for desktop computers initially will be set at $407 for a 166-Mhz chip, or $550 for the faster 200 Mhz chip. Chips for laptops will cost more, according to an Intel press release. Until now, older Pentiums chips have had a street price from $200 to $600, depending on speed. Expect prices for the older ones to drop once the new MMX chips hit the market. Comments and questions about this column may be sent to jbrooks@myoldkentuckyhome.com, or visit www.myoldkentuckyhome.com on the World Wide Web. | HOME |