DATE: Monday, November 3, 1997              TAG: 9711010681

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D5   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: ONLINE 

SOURCE: BY CAROL HORTON, PILOT ONINE 

                                            LENGTH:   75 lines

WHAT TANGLED WEBS WE MORTALS READ

Call it fighting fire with fire. It's easy to use the Web to learn more about the Web - in fact, it's probably the best and most common way. A great offensive move you can make to keep up with the seemingly vertical learning curve is to check out the Web sites of the gurus themselves: the Internet magazines.

Not only do they print their publications the old-fashioned way - available at the newsstand - but they also have online versions. To reach these online magazines, go to Pilot Online at (www.pilotonline.com) and click on the ``business'' button. From there, you'll find the online version of this column, which will link you to all of the following sites.

This month, PC Week has a cover story on Biometrics. No, this is not a method of using your hard drive to improve muscle tone, but rather an increasingly prominent method of using fingerprints and thermal facial scanning to gain security access to systems, buildings and just about anything else.

Once the stuff of Hollywood, as technology improves and prices fall, it's becoming more prevalent in everyday society. (But if you decide to get that nose job, you could be denied access to your system because your computer doesn't recognize you.)

Just in time for the holiday rush, PC Magazine offers the top 30 shopping sites on the Web. No long lines, no pushy salespeople, no screaming kids. Just anything and everything you could ever want to purchase for yourself or for gift giving. There are fashions from Bloomingdales, wines from the Cork Dork and home decor from expert designers. Kind of brings all new meaning to ``just browsing'' or ``Windows shopping.'' Yule log on soon, with just 52 shopping days left until Christmas.

NetGuide magazine has more of a newspapery feel with daily changing topics, but one subject receiving ongoing coverage on the site in light of recent events, is how to invest online. This is an extensive page, with all the links you need to track Wall Street, including the Dow's ticker. There's also information on establishing an online portfolio, and enough investment information to make even Peter Lynch proud.

If you'd rather gather data for a broader range of topics, Yahoo!'s Internet Life Link magazine focuses on lifestyle information. Staying away from the technical stuff, one of the site's newest features comes from Dilbert comic strip creator Scott Adams, and deals specifically with the Internet. There's also Q&A with experts about Web sites and a thumbs up/down review of them.

One recent thumbs down was the Death Clock. Sadly, not just for Halloween, the death clock computes how many seconds you have to live based on your age, sex and average life expectancy. The clock is in Java script, so it's actually running with the seconds of your life ticking away toward the specific date the deathclock predicts the Grim Reaper will come for you. This thumbs down review section might be a good one for parents to bookmark.

Speaking of parents, Electronic School magazine features an article on how Blacksburg effectively connects its community and schools online in a story called ``Wired Village.'' There's also a story on how to tell if your school district's home page is a good tool. The magazine includes trends and news for parents and educators about the Internet, and advice on how to work with kids on computers.

For a newsier feel, Upside.com is worth a click. An animated graphic of Bill Gates greets you complete with his daily updated total worth plastered beneath him. This month's cover story examines Internet scams and frauds, and the agencies that are being started to prevent them.

Wired magazine's November feature is about the people reinventing entertainment and Hollywood, courtesy of the Internet. WebTV enthusiasts won't want to miss this one. You can even participate in live chats with the publication's editors, writers and experts.

(AT) Pilot Online: Today's the last day to enter our Click TV contest to win a free color TV. Check Contest Central at (www.pilotonline.com/contests/index.html) for details and updates on new contests and winners.

Do you have a new Web site or a new feature on a current site? E-mail Internet announcements, questions and suggestions for this column to: (pilot(AT)pilotonline.com) with ``Online column'' in the subject field.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu