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ATPM 5.09
September 1999

Welcome to the third edition of About This Particular Web Site. As usual, please remember that the Web sites mentioned here are not endorsed by ATPM, they are simply suggestions for your browsing pleasure. Fire off your comments and suggestions to editor@atpm.com.

• So you want to buy a new Mac or software but don’t have the money? You might want to try the secondary market. Used Mac software or hardware is often significantly cheaper than new products—while maintaining high to unchanged quality. Of course there is always a little risk, but everything worthwhile is risky. The most established place to look for used hardware or software is ClassMac. ClassMac allows you to browse various kinds of ads and create your own free classified ads. For fans of auctions, AuctionMac was established seven months ago. While bidding and buying is free, offering an item requires a small fee. If you still want more auctions, eBay offers both Mac hardware and software.
• If you like “funny” sounds, take a look at Doc's Chat Sounds. Though they are in.wav format, you should be able to play them with a newer version of QuickTime. You have to use a sound tool to convert them into SND format to use as an alert sound. Have fun!
• Do you have a question? Ask Jeeves! Jeeves is an online butler, capable of answering all your questions—well, sort of. It’s pretty entertaining none the less. An interesting feature is: “What people are asking Jeeves right now.” This shows you the current questions other Jeeves users are asking, such as:
  
  “Where can I find a concise encyclopedia article on silicon?”
  
  “How much are my baseball cards worth?”
  
  “Where can I find information about the cyberspace law issue how to prevent people from taking things from a Web site?”
  
  “Where can I find book reviews from Amazon.com?”
  
  Interesting stuff people are asking—I bet he can find the Amazon.com book reviews on Amazon.com, but that’s just a guess.
• If you are one of those computer users (like me) who always has to have the most current version of all their software, you know that this is pretty hard. There is just so much to keep track of. VersionTracker to the rescue! VersionTracker lists all software updates of the day in a concise, easy-to-see, easy-to-navigate way. This site is a must-have in your bookmarks, right after http://www.atpm.com! :-)
• If ATPW doesn’t satisfy your craving for new Web sites or you just want to see a different selection, take a look at CNN’s On the Web. But don’t tell me I didn’t warn you!
• Nobody knows all the languages that are on this planet, so it is quite natural that you will encounter something while surfing the Web that was not written in a communication protocol you understand. But don’t despair, Babelfish can help you. Babelfish is a Web-based translator that either translates plain text or entire Web pages from one language to another. But not even Babelfish is perfect; the only languages it “speaks” are English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. [Quite unlike the real Babelfish invented by a certain Mac-loving English author. —Eds] Beware, however, that those translations are rather mechanical and literal.
• The Web has brought a multitude of information to our finger tips. A new area of information that is just entering the arena is health care. WebMD’s self-proclaimed mission is to bring consumers and health care professionals closer together to share medical information. It will not replace a trip to your physician, but it can give you more information than you otherwise would not have had.

Copyright © 1999 Daniel Chvatik, dchvatik@atpm.com. When he’s not spending all of his waking hours surfing the Web while claiming to be doing research, Daniel finds time to volunteer as ATPM’s Managing Editor.

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