Keeping Up On-Line

Computer Life column for May 16, 1998
by
Richard Gordon

This week, someone stopped me on the street in Newark and asked me how "us regular people" can stay abreast of the latest computing and technology news.

I told him that I do subscribe to several good magazines, but that the dozens of Web sites devoted to technology news are a better source.

Sometimes, it's best to go directly to a vendor's site for information about, say, a Microsoft product (www.microsoft.com). Of course, the information will be biased towards the products that vendor sells.

Lots of popular national and international news sites have technology sections: for example, ABC News (www.abcnews.com), CNN (www.cnn.com), Nando.net (www.nando.net), and the New York Times (www.nytimes.com and www.computernewsdaily.com).

There are many Web sites that are devoted to nothing but technology news. Three of them draw me for repeat visits week after week.

Ziff-Davis' ZDNet (www.zdnet.com) is my personal favorite. Here the publishers of titles such as PC magazine include news, information about and reviews of software and hardware, feature pieces, self-help training materials, games and other software for downloads, and a clearly labeled area for Macintosh information.

The material at this site has an Internet and desktop/laptop orientation. Its overall editorial attitude leads to a large number of pieces with an informal tone and a bit of an edge to them.

My two favorite areas to browse are the Anchor Desk and Web.Scoop. At the Anchor Desk, Jesse Berst and other Ziff-Davis writers provide an intelligent, realistic view of the computing scene. For example, one of this week's pieces is "Don't Be Fooled by America's Super-Wired School System." The gist of the article is that, even though 82% of America's schools are connected to the Internet in some way, only 3% are integrating technology into the curriculum effectively.

Keith Nichols' Web.Scoop columns are a bit more technical, more tips and tricks kind of things. For instance, last week's column discussed ways you can protect your "Digital ID" as you cruise the Web and send e-mail all over the globe.

Another good site is the one put up by CMP Media, publishers of such magazines as HomePC and Information Week. At CMPNet (www.cmpnet.com), you can find many of the same kinds of information you can find at their competitor's ZDNet site. However, CMPNet seems to offer more in-depth coverage of industry trends and business-related technology topics.

The editorial tone is different, too. Overall, CMPNet is a bit more businesslike, less informal.

For someone like me who swings both ways (Don't get excited--that means I use Macintosh and Windows systems.), it's a bit less obvious where to go for Macintosh-related news from CMPNet's home page. Some people may also find the amount of information on the home page a bit overwhelming.

Those two sites are both examples of established publishing empires' providing a large amount of information on the Web. Both sites are great to browse. But when I need to look something up, I often try a different site as my starting place: c|net (www.cnet.com).

c|net started as an on-line and syndicated radio and video service. It has one of the most complete sets of reviews of personal computers and work stations, hardware, software, Internet Service Providers, and other products and services.

The fact that c|net is a Net entity and not an offshoot of some other enterprise is clear throughout the entire family of c|net Web sites. All of them emphasize things that people who live on line can actually use. That is true in their technology news area and through their whole array of information. They have collected downloadable software, shareware, games, search tools, and Web development tools in one well-organized, coherent set of sites.

There are a lot of excellent tech news sites out there. But these three are ones I visit at least once a week.

Copyright © 1998, The News Journal Company

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