Surf More, Suffer Less

As more companies pitch their products online, they're also converting their slides to work on the Web. Heading the online seminar race is ASAP WebShow. You can use this freeware to publish your own presentations on the Web or view those posted on other people's Web sites. The plug-in enables you to flip through a presentation slide by slide, or sit back and watch the slides automatically run through a cycle.

ASAP Sampler. Hit Graphicsland (http://www.graphicsland.com/asapshow.htm), for an online presentation touting its slide imaging service.

Your primary customer puts its latest purchase specs on its Web site. The specs are in a Word document, which you download. Then you launch Word, search for the file you saved ... and find out it's the wrong file! It's not the first time this has happened. Here's a solution: get the Word Viewer plug-in from Inso Corp. You can view the document online without having to leave Navigator. It's easy to use and it's a real time saver.

Geek Factor: You don't have to get offline just to view a Word document or find out you downloaded the wrong government file.

Weak Factor: Acrobat isn't as agile as it could be; it's awkward working with some documents.

Coordinates: Adobe Acrobat, 800-272-3623, (http://www.adobe.com) WebShow, Software Publishing Corp., 800-336-8360, (http://www.spco.com); Word Viewer, Inso Corp., 617-753-6500, (http://www.inso.com).

Net Need: Build collaboration through online communication, including "chats" and live video.

Power Tools: ichat, VDOLive.

You hear it all the time: the Web is not just about content, it's about community. Of course, you can't have community without conversation. When you visit a Web page with ichat, a window opens at the bottom of your browser; you "chat" simply by typing in the window. That's right -- you communicate in real time, with all the other folks who are viewing the same content.

ichat Sampler. To see how people get drawn into chat sessions, look at Treasure Quest
(http://www.treasurequest.com), an online treasure hunt with a section for chatting; or check into any Web site featuring Internet Relay Chat to get real-time technical help and tips from other online users.

Lots of offices have TVs to watch breaking news -- or "Letterman" --during late nights. Now you can do it on your computer. Broadcasters such as CBS and PBS are turning to VDOnet to put their shows online. To view them live or see a segment you missed, you'll need VDOLive freeware. It compresses video images and lets you view them as "streaming video," meaning you don't have to save massive files to your hard drive.

VDOLive Sampler.Try the Cummings Video site (http://www.cummingsvideo.com). They've created an Internet movie. Check out the CBS News "Up to the Minute" site
(http://www.uttm.com) for video reports on the latest news.

Geek Factor: Building opportunities to collaborate by getting connected with live people and live broadcasts on the Net.

Weak Factor: Video quality on the Web is downright bad.

Coordinates: ichat, ichat Inc., 512-349-0339, (http://www.ichat.com); VDOLive, VDO net, 415-846-7700, (http://www.vdo.net/enhanced.html).

Net Needs: See the latest, coolest Web sites.

Power Tools: TopGun, Wirl.

All downloading and no gaming makes you a dull Netizen. To break the monotony, CD-ROM developer 7th Level created the TopGun plug-in. Its graphics, animations, and sound are more realistic than Shockwave's effects, but it isn't widely used yet.

TopGun Sampler. For fun and frivolity, check out the PythOnline site
(http://www.pythonline.com). It's ostensibly there to promote 7th Level's Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail CD, but the online games like Catch the Mad Cow Disease are even more fun.

The hottest sites on the Net are virtual worlds. They let you wander around a 3-D page and rotate objects in space to see all the angles. It's all based on the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) standard. To check out what this technology can do, try one of the better VRML plug-ins from Vream Inc. called Wirl. At Vream's home page, you'll find futuristic demos of diving dolphins; you can even fly helicopters and play a 3-D one-armed bandit.

Wirl Sampler: Visit the Mutato Muzika site (http://www.mutato.com/mutato). Mutato is Mark Mothersbaugh's music production company. Mothersbaugh is one of the members of Devo, the world's original techno-geek band. You can walk around Mutato's headquarters while listening to his musical meanderings.