WEB DESTINATIONS
www.wirelessdimension.com
If you have shopped for cellular service recently, you know how confusing it is to make a choice among the huge variety of technologies and service plans available. Wireless Dimension, an online buying guide, can simplify the task. You fill out a form indicating where you live and what sorts of services you desire. You get back a list of local service providers and side-by-side comparisons on their plans and charges. Wireless Dimension offers a similar shopping guide for phones, but I found the limited number of models made it less useful. You can also sign up for a service plan or buy a phone through the site.
corp2.unisys.com/execmag
There are online publications for just about every taste and interest, so why not one for corporate executives? Exec, The Executive's Guide to Information Solutions is a free publication from computer maker Unisys Corp. As befits the medium and the sponsor, the content is heavy on such topics as the strategic role of information technology, the impact of electronic commerce on corporate markets, and a guide to other Web sites offering useful product-marketing information. Articles include many case studies on successful corporate projects. While they feature a lot of Unisys products and services, the corporate self-interest is not laid on too thick.
www.nws.fsu.edu/buoy
During Hurricane Bonnie's recent march up the East Coast, I found that television forecasts were long on hype and short on useful information. If you want to know what's really going on out there, you can get real-time observations from the National Weather Service's network of coastal stations, offshore platforms, and automated buoys from the Caroline Islands in the southwest Pacific to Newfoundland. The reports, generally updated hourly, include wind speed and direction, air and water temperatures, and for the buoys, wave conditions. The site also includes links to the forecasts, warnings, and detailed storm discussions issued by the National Hurricane Center.
www.phoenixnewtimes.com
Phoenix, Ariz., doesn't strike most people as the hippest place in the U.S., but its alternative newspaper, the weekly New Times, is out there on the leading edge--at least in its Web version. An example: The section offered by New Times columnist Peter Gilstrap includes a feature called ''Jesus of the Week,'' an acerbic commentary on various images of Jesus. Some of this stuff is not for the stuffy or squeamish.
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