Web Watch
Try out an interactive news site
As the polls were closing during the presidential election, many people
turned to the Internet to find out the latest results. In what may well
be the heaviest traffic yet seen on the Internet, CNN Interactive received
more than 5 million accesses an hour on their web servers. CNN, however,
is only one of many news sources available on the web. Most major newspapers
and television networks now have web sites. In addition to the text of articles
you might expect from a news service, many of these sites contain Internet-specific
features such as chat rooms, breaking news and access to archives. One of
the most significant new developments is the ability to customize news for
your particular needs. At some sites, you can install software to notify
you of breaking news. At other sites, you can tell the news service to send
you e-mail about topics of interest. Now is a good time to begin exploring
the major news sites. Competition is fierce, and many publishers are offering
trial offers and free extras. Here are a few of my favorite sites:
The New York Times
The New York Times is updated daily and features almost the same information
you get from the printed version in a slightly different format. If you
are accustomed to reading the paper version of the Times, you will need
to realize that the electronic version uses different categories to organize
the information. Most of the hard news and regional news is listed under
"News by Category." The crossword puzzle is listed under "Diversions."
At present, the electronic version of The New York Times is free, but you
must register before reading the articles. In addition, the Times offers
premium services, such as access to archives and customized news feeds for
a small fee. Netscape users can register on Netscape's home page (http://home.
netscape. com) to get the customized news feeds for free.
Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal looks almost identical to the printed version of
the paper, except that the electronic version is available at midnight before
the printed version is published. The electronic version also features a
14-day archive and allows you to set up a "personal portfolio"
to track stock quotes. As with The New York Times, you will need to register
before you can read any articles. Although it costs $49/year (less if you
already subscribe to the paper version) to subscribe to the electronic version
of The Wall Street Journal, several trial offers are available. You may
try the electronic version of The Wall Street Journal free for two weeks,
or if you use Microsoft's Internet Explorer you can have a free subscription
through the end of 1996.
MSNBC
MSNBC, a joint venture between NBC and Microsoft, contains up-to-the-minute
news and commentary. In addition to news articles, MSNBC offers the widest
selection of customization options. When you use MSNBC you can install a
"News Alert" program that pops up an alert whenever there is breaking
news about areas that you have preselected. In the next several months,
MSNBC plans to offer a "Personal Delivery" option that will deliver
news to your electronic mailbox. At present MSNBC is free.
CNN Interactive
CNN Interactive is an electronic version of the CNN cable network. Although
CNN does not offer many of the customization options available from other
news sources, it does have a reputation for being the most up-to-date news
service available. For example, when I visited their site as I was writing
this article, their home page was eight minutes old. CNN also is the only
major site that makes its archives freely available.
As you begin to explore these sites, keep in mind that all of the major
news sites are graphics intensive and take advantage of the newer features
of the web. Whichever news service you choose, you will need to run one
of the more recent versions (2.0 or better) of Netscape Navigator or Microsoft's
Internet Explorer.
URL's:
New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/
Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/
MSNBC http://www.msnbc.com/
CNN Interactive http://www.cnn.com/
Marie Matthews is WebMaster in Computing Resources Services, Information
Technology Division.
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