Web-Based E-Mail Finally Persuades

Web-Based E-Mail Finally Persuades - AOL Mail and Yahoo Mail are best picks
Sep 22, 4:43 PM (ET), By ANICK JESDANUN

NEW YORK (AP) - I've always hated Web-based e-mail. I've found the interface clunky and the services constraining (I'm an electronic pack rat who's been chastised multiple times for exceeding storage quotas). Ever since I got my first post-college e-mail account in 1994, I've preferred software that sorts and stores, be it Netscape, Outlook Express or Mozilla's Thunderbird. I'm finally about ready to let go.

My change of heart goes beyond the fact that the major services have become more generous with storage. In offering 2.6 gigabytes, Google Inc. (GOOG)'s Gmail service even declares, "you'll never need to delete another message."

After testing four free services, I find I can now finally take advantage of the Web's ubiquity and convenience without sacrificing usability - at least with three of the services. The exception was Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s Hotmail, once a pioneer in free Web mail. Many features I'm looking for are being tested as part of a project code-named Kahuna, but the company won't say when - or even if - it'll move beyond a limited test. So for now, the real choices are Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), America Online Inc.'s AIM (the free counterpart to regular AOL accounts) and Gmail. Others, including EarthLink Inc. (ELNK), have decent tools, too, but require subscription fees.

Yahoo and AIM have Web interfaces that most resemble software.
Both let you "drag and drop" messages into folders; no longer do you need to check a box and pull some clunky "move to" function from the menu.

The one limitation is you can't create subfolders with either. And with AIM, you must go to a separate page to create or empty folders; Yahoo has those functions easily accessible from the main page, just like desktop-based software.

AIM and Yahoo also update regularly and automatically with new messages. AIM seems to be quicker than Yahoo and as quick as Gmail.

But Yahoo, which is still in a "beta" test phase and available only by invitation, lets you preview messages from the main page, similar to a software experience. Yahoo also arranges messages you open into tabs for easy switching.

As for composing messages, Yahoo is slightly better in supporting rich text - such as italics - on both Internet Explorer and Firefox. AIM only offers it for IE. But Yahoo's new interface doesn't work at all with Opera for Windows or Safari for Mac computers, while AIM does. Yahoo's spell checker also fails on Firefox.

AOL Email has a clean look, ads are small, and imports easily into your favorite email program.

Overall, I find Yahoo easier to use, and it's quite impressive for a product that's only weeks old. I expect even more features by the time a final version is released.

Gmail, meanwhile, is a different beast entirely. Like Yahoo and AIM, and unlike Hotmail, Gmail automatically checks for new messages. The similarities end there.

Gmail groups individual messages into "conversations," using software to automatically pull together e-mail on similar subjects. That's handy, but also annoying when the software makes mistakes. There's no way to override.



Folders do not exist in Gmail. Everything's dumped into the inbox and your only alternative is to move it into the archive.

However, I can add "labels" to conversations. So instead of dumping a message into a folder on "running," I can simply label it "running." I can add multiple labels, whereas a message can only exist in one folder without making a copy. With labels, I can organize based on both whom I'm talking with and what I'm talking about. Google seems aware that folders are a construct of the physical world and don't make much sense when digital objects can appear in multiple places at once. But society may not be ready for such a monumental shift in thinking.


Below: the AIM Compose window
Even as a power user, it took me awhile to get used to it. I've invested plenty of time teaching my parents how folders work and I'm not ready to "unteach" that.
I wish Gmail would at least offer a choice.

Gmail, in a "beta" test for more than a year already, has other limitations. Conversations are automatically sorted by date, so I couldn't organize by name or subject as I could with Yahoo, AIM or software. It doesn't let me generate "away" responses while on vacation or easily open messages in new windows.

Though rivals have ads, too, Gmail's are the most targeted to the contents of your e-mail. Google says computers, not humans, scan your messages, yet it feels creepy - especially when one conversation, having nothing to do with personal hygiene, triggered ads on roaches and odors.

That said, Gmail is the best at sending junk to the spam folder while keeping legitimate mail in the inbox. All four made some mistakes, Hotmail the worst in flagging desired mail as spam.

Gmail also was the best in supporting vanity e-mail addresses - those ending in your own domain name or a college you attended. For that reason and because of its innovative approach, I'd thus recommend Gmail to power users, whether or not they use vanity addresses.

However, most of the world isn't quite ready for Gmail's innovation. And for them AOL AIM Mail or Yahoo seems the best bets. Note: So far only AOL Mail and Gmail offers POP3 integration into your existing email programs like Outlook Express, and offers 2 Gig of storage. Yahoo requires you to pay to upgrade to Yahoo Mail Plus in order to import mail into Outlook Express. I think AOL Mail is the best bet at the moment.-Jim . Anick Jesdanun can be reached at netwriter(at)ap.org

AOL AIM Email: http://mail.aol.com/
Yahoo Mail: http://mail.yahoo.com/?.intl=us
Google Mail: http://www.gmail.com/

AOL’s AIM Mail
By Alan Cohen, PC Magazine, 9-14-05

Still in its beta testing phase, America Online's AIM Mail ( http://mail.aol.com/ ) is the newest of the free e-mail services here. Though it's not quite as impressive as the offerings from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!, it's not too far behind either, offering each user 2GB of total storage and 16MB of attachments per message. As the name implies, the service is meant to work hand-in-hand with the famous AOL Instant Messenger client, AIM for short. In fact, if you're already using the IM client, you can sign in to a new AIM Mail account with no more than a mouse click.

Below: AIM Mail features drag and drop of messages into folders easily.

AIM Mail dovetails with the IM client in several ways, but our favorite is the so-called "presence indicator" you're able to include with outgoing e-mail messages. When someone opens an e-mail you've sent, the indicator tells them whether you're still online. The service also lets you recall e-mail messages before they've been read—as long as they were sent to other AOL or AIM Mail users. It offers a McAfee virus scanner and a spell-checker. Though it doesn't support POP3, it can operate in tandem with standalone IMAP e-mail clients. And AIM Mail simply looks good. You'll love its colorful graphics and slick but simple interface.

Gaim - A multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client

Gaim - A multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client

Gaim v1.5 is a multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, GroupWise Messenger, and Zephyr networks.

Gaim users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time. By using tabs for multiple conversations the user's desktop stays organized, instead of having separate windows all over. When a new message is received that tab name turns bright. A great feature.

Gaim supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer, away messages, typing notification, and MSN window closing notification. It also goes beyond that and provides many unique features. A few popular features are Buddy Pounces, which give the ability to notify you, send a message, play a sound, or run a program when a specific buddy goes away, signs online, or returns from idle; and plugins, consisting of text replacement, a buddy ticker, extended message notification, iconify on away, spell checking, tabbed conversations, and more.

Gaim runs on a number of platforms, including Windows, Linux, and Qtopia (Sharp Zaurus and iPaq). Gaim integrates well with GNOME 2 and KDE 3.1's system tray, as well as Windows's own system tray. This allows you to work with Gaim without requiring the buddy list window to be up at all times. Gaim is under constant development, and releases are usually frequent. The latest news regarding Gaim can be found on the news page.
You can download Gaim at: http://gaim.sourceforge.net/

Windows Now Has Widgets - with Konfabulator

Widgets Now Available for Windows
They're fun, stylish, useful and 100% free! Bring life to your desktop with fun Konfabulator Widgets. These little guys hang out on your screen and give you quick, easy access to favorite content. You can even change their style to match yours. Visit the Widget Gallery with more than 1,000 cool Widgets to choose from.

What is It?
Konfabulator is a JavaScript runtime engine for Windows and Mac OS X that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to. Widgets can be alarm clocks, calculators, can tell you your WiFi signal strength, will fetch the latest stock quotes for your preferred symbols, and even give your current local weather.Konfabulator was once a superb Mac program that offered a truly unique computing experience. Those days are no more, because Konfabulator is now available on the Windows OS as well, as a result of Yahoo’s recent purchase.

For those who don't know what it is, Konfabulator runs widgets, which you can download for free. Widgets are tiny programs that run on your desktop. For an example, check out the screenshot below. I have widgets telling me the weather, my WiFi signal, the time, etc. It really is just the tip of the iceberg, though.One of my favorites displays my Netflix movies due to ship to me. Each widget takes a little chunk of memory, so be careful not to fill up your desktop with these little gems.See more at: http://widgets.yahoo.com/

Recommended Links

Recommended Links:

Broadband Speed Test: http://www.computers4sure.com/speed.asp?

PC Health Check-Up – Online:
1 – PC Pitstop - Online Check-Up, Select New Member, Select Anonymous, http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/default.asp
2 – PC Pitstop Spyware Scan: http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/loadctl.asp?pg=/spycheck/scan.asp
3 – Top 25 Spyware Programs Listing: http://www.pcpitstop.com/spycheck/top25.asp

Firewall Software: ZoneAlarm – Free Version:
1 - Setup Tutorial: http://www.dslwebserver.com/main/sbs-zonealarm-install.html
2 - Download: http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/1012_zl/zlsSetup_55_094_000.exe

Streaming Radio Stations:
Find your favorite station format, stream it to your PC, and hit “record” !
1 - Yahoo Radio, http://music.yahoo.com/launchcast/default.asp
2 - Windows Media Radio, http://windowsmedia.com/radiotuner/MyRadio.asp
3 - Real Audio Radio, http://radio.real.com/
4 - New York: Link: http://www.nyradioguide.com/freqlist.htm
5 - New Jersey: http://www.tvradioworld.com/region1/nj/
6 - Pennsylvania: http://www.tvradioworld.com/region1/pa/
7 - Internet Radio-Live 360, http://www.live365.com/index.live
8 - Internet Radio #1 Stations, http://www.radiofreeworld.com/page14.html
9 - Internet Radio #2 Stations, http://www.internetradioindex.com/i-probe/ip_radio.html
10 - World: http://www.tvradioworld.com/default.asp
11 - Internet Radio: http://www.web-radio.com/st_list.cfm

Smart Shopping:
1 – Sales Circular - Find best deals each week in mail-in rebates at Sales Circular: http://www.salescircular.com/
2 – PriceGrabber – Find best prices on anything, including shipping costs at PriceGrabber: http://www.pricegrabber.com/
3 – PriceWatch - Computers and Parts, many with free shipping: http://www.pricewatch.com/

Online Free Storage:
1 - AOL Mail- 2 GB storage, POP3 access: http://www.mail.aol.com
2 - Google Mail – 2 GB storage, POP3 access: http://www.gmail.com/
3 - Yahoo Mail – 1 GB storage: http://mail.yahoo.com/?.intl=us
4 - Yahoo Briefcase – 30 MB storage: http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/home
5 - Hotmail – 250 MB storage, no POP3 access: http://login.passport.net/uilogin.srf?lc=1033&id=2

Skycams:
1 – Milford, PA : http://www.pikeonline.com/pikepike/webcam/
2 – NYC Metro: http://1010wins.com/trafficcams/
3 – NY Thruway: http://www.thruway.state.ny.us/webcams/i8702/index-hs.html

Music Collecting:
1 – Beatles Bootleg Research: http://www.bootlegzone.com/files.php?section=1&sort=1
2 – Beatles Bootlegs & Video downloads for sale: http://www.withthebeatlegs.com/index_eng.html
3 – eBay : http://www.ebay.com/

DVD Ripping:
1 – DVD Shrink: http://www.dvdshrink.org/where.html%202
2 – DVD Shrink How To Guide: http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/dvd9_to_dvdr_with_dvd_shrink.cfm%203
3 – Converting Video File Format Guides: http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/

Bit Torrent Music & Video Search Engines:
1 - TorrentSpy : http://www.torrentspy.com/
2 - The Pirate Bay: http://thepiratebay.org/
3 - ISOHUNT : http://isohunt.com/torrents.php?ihq=&ext=&op=and
4 - EarthReactor : http://ed2kmusic.earthreactor.com/V.html%204

Preventing Spyware and Malware Infections

Preventing Spyware and Malware Infections (Updated 1\13\05)

Spyware has grown out of control. In many cases they have morphed into trojans or viruses embedded in such a way that it makes it difficult to remove the more sophisticated infections. There are even rogue programs that claim to remove spyware, but actually install it. At the same time, many legitimate anti-spyware programs delete all cookies, which are harmless and usually helpful. It's a confusing area, even for computer geeks and it is constantly changing. That said, with a little knowledge, and some free tools, you can be protected and confident that your computer is clean. These are the guidelines I live by and I literally can not get infected even when I try!

First and foremost, while this has been repeated countless times, many have obviously still not heard it, so we will repeat it first. You need a firewall, anti-virus, spam filter and Windows Updates turned on. Once installed and setup, they work alone and need little to no attention. Keep in mind that even on a clean install of Windows (without service packs) you can be infected within minutes without ever opening your browser. On clean installs, keep your internet connection disconnected until you have a firewall and anti-virus installed.

Windows Updates:
In your control panel look for Windows Updates and set it up to automatically update. If you use your computer every day, update every day.

Firewall:
If you have Windows XP with Service Pack 2, it now includes a firewall. While it is not the best one available, it is better then nothing and hence, easier to use then most. Optionally, Zone Alarm offers a free firewall that you can
download from us here. They offer other paid versions with more features, but this is an excellent choice. http://majorgeeks.com/download388.html

Anti-Virus:
Again, there are free alternatives including our favorites AVG Free Edition and Avast Home Edition. These can also be upgraded to a paid version, well worth it for the extra features or just to contribute to the people who protect you for free year in and year out. You can also purchase known brand names like Norton's or Mcafee's at any store or online, but we have always been impressed with the performance of AVG and Avast http://majorgeeks.com/download886.html .

Spam Filter:
I like SpamFighter as a free spam tool. It needs to load a toolbar in Outlook Express, so you need to uncheck "send and receive messages at startup" in Outlook Express since emails can be received before the toolbar loads. Many viruses, trojans and phishing schemes are sent by email, so this is an important step. Note: Phishing schemes are one of the newer scams out there. You get an email that tells you you need to login somewhere that your credit card or bank info is on file and when you follow the link in the email, you go to a exact copy of the website so they can steal your credit card info and more. See next paragraph for avoiding this scam.Don’t surf questionable websites. Free porn is an oxymoron. There is no free porn! When they get done with you, you may have dialers and browser hijacks installed, maybe even random popup ads. Sure, you didn’t hand over your credit card, but you’re going to pay. The same applies if you, or someone using your computer, were out looking for pirated software, downloadable DVD movies, MP3's and so on. Time and time again, I have tested these sorts of websites and more often then not, came away with a trojan and spyware. Many peer to peer programs are loaded with virus infected files, the worst one being Kazaa. These types of things are rarely free. Another good suggestion is to type in web addresses carefully. A lot of these scumbags have purchased domain names people frequently spell incorrectly and when you make that mistake, they got you. When possible, use bookmarks rather then typing in the web address if you visit a website you like and think you may return. http://majorgeeks.com/download4316.html

When a window pops up in your web browser asking to install something, slow down and read it! Many programs can be safe, like Shockwave, but if a window pops up asking you if you would like to install a little purple Bonzi Buddy to surf the web with you, then the answer is no! If the answer is yes, its time to shut off that computer and go outside and meet some real people. You’re using your computer way too much if you need a purple buddy There are plenty of other colors of real people you can go meet When installing a new program, take a minute to skim any agreements (long, legal text you must agree to) and keep an eye out for words like partners, sponsors, 3rd party, advertising and anything that may be related to tracking. Download only from trusted sites that test programs before offering them to the public. Very few websites do this and none I know of test everything, except MajorGeeks.com. A handful of websites test some programs and notify you if they know a program contains spyware. Ultimately, it is up to you to check the program when you install it.When you're not sure, visit any website setting a cookie or installing a program in question and look for a link to a privacy policy. Windows that popup to install a program often offer a link to a privacy policy. Almost every website has one, and many tend to honor these. Don’t be afraid to surf around, download and have a good time. Just use what you have been told above to be informed! So, it’s too late? You have spyware, a dialer or browser hijack? The tools are there for you. Here are most popular, effective solutions:

Ad-aware:
One of the originals in the spyware detection and removal game. The scanner is completely free, often updated and easy to use. For beginners, this program is a best choice. For as little as $9.95, you can buy the pro version that allows you to block spyware before it enters. A link to that is available from our website where you can download the program. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download506.html

SpyBot-Search & Destroy:
This program came out of nowhere competing with Ad-aware and for a while even fond items that Ad-aware did not. Now, the programs are equally as good, though Spybot can be a bit less user friendly and seems to be updated less on average. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2471.html

CWShredder:
A small utility for removing CoolWebSearch, a browser hijack. It's not quite as simple as just the \r\nname CoolWebSearch. They changed it to many different names and there are well over a dozen variants of this hijack making it the most “popular” hijack out there at this time. Ad-aware or Spybot should get rid of this, but if not, this tool will. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3019.html

Home Search Assistant And about:Blank:
The latest, most nasty hijacks to show up, forcing your web browser to be redirected to an about:Blank page or some search website. These programs are really mix spyware, homepage hijacks and trojans and are nasty to remove. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download506.html . We suggest you try about:Buster andand follow directions to use them on the download pages.

Spyware Blaster:
This program blocks installation of tracking cookies, ActiveX installs and more. In other words, you can block most problems from even entering your system in the first place. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2859.html

A Better Browser:
Consider replacing your web browser \r\nwith a free alternative like FireFox or a shareware browser like Opera, for example. While not a 100% fix, Firefox is fast and does not have many of the features (think security risks) that Internet Explorer has. A couple examples of security holes Internet Explorer has are Trusted Sites and ActiveX.

Final Thoughts:
If you are having trouble removing spyware, it may be saved in a checkpoint in system restore, so you will need to disable system restore to remove it. How to disable and re-enable system restore can be found here: If you are using multiple user accounts, spyware can find it's way from one account to the other. Any scans made on one account should be done on the others.
Source: majorgeeks.com

Web Content by and for the Masses-The Next Wave

June 29, 2005
Web Content by and for the Masses
By JOHN MARKOFF
SAN FRANCISCO, June 28 - When Caterina Fake arrives at the end of a plane flight, she snaps a photo of the baggage carousel with her camera phone to assure her mother, who views the photo on a Web page minutes later, that she has traveled safely.
And if every picture tells a story, that may be only the start. At Flickr, the popular Web photo-sharing service where Ms. Fake, a co-founder, posted the photo, it can be tagged with geographic coordinates for use in a photographic map, or become part of a communal database of images that can be searched for certain colors or characteristics.
Flickr, acquired this year by Yahoo, is just one example of a rapidly growing array of Web services all seeking to exploit the Internet's power to bring people together.
From photo- and calendar-sharing services to "citizen journalist" sites and annotated satellite images, the Internet is morphing yet again. A remarkable array of software systems makes it simple to share anything instantly, and sometimes enhance it along the way.
Inexpensive to create and worldwide in reach, the new Internet services are having an impact far beyond the file sharing at issue in the Supreme Court's decision on Monday, which focused on copyright violations using peer-to-peer software.
Indeed, the abundance of user-generated content - which includes online games, desktop video and citizen journalism sites - is reshaping the debate over file sharing. Many Internet industry executives think it poses a new kind of threat to Hollywood, the recording industry and other purveyors of proprietary content: not piracy of their work, but a compelling alternative.
The new services offer a bottom-up creative process that is shifting the flow of information away from a one-way broadcast or publishing model, giving rise to a wave of new business ventures and touching off a scramble by media and technology companies to respond.
"Sharing will be everywhere," said Jeff Weiner, a Yahoo senior vice president in charge of the company's search services. "It's the next chapter of the World Wide Web."
In its race to catch up with the search-engine leader Google, Yahoo is turning to just such a shared resource: the wisdom of friends and business associates. On Tuesday, Yahoo introduced My Web 2.0, a new version of the company's search engine that will harness the collective power of small groups of Web surfers to improve the quality of search results.
The service, which the company's executives refer to as a "social search engine," is based on a new page-ranking technology that Yahoo has named MyRank. Rather than relying on which pages are linked to most frequently on the Web - the so-called Page Rank technology pioneered by Google - MyRank organizes pages based on how closely search users are related to one another in their social network and on their reputation for turning up helpful information.
My Web 2.0 allows Web pages found useful by one member of a group to be instantly accessible to a network of trusted associates and to their network contacts as well. The service, Yahoo executives hope, will combat the growing problem of search-engine manipulation by using a collection of human eyes and minds to sort the wheat from the chaff.
Yahoo is not alone in looking for ways to take advantage of digital content created at the grass roots. This month, Microsoft said it would add a content-subscription feature known as R.S.S., or Really Simple Syndication, to its software in an effort to take advantage of the explosion of user-created material. Apple Computer began offering a similar feature in the newest version of its Macintosh operating systems earlier this year.
"We are now entering the participation age," Jonathan I. Schwartz, the president and chief operating officer of Sun Microsystems, said on Monday at an industry conference in San Francisco. "The really interesting thing about the network today is that individuals are starting to participate. The endpoints are starting to inform the center."
And the announcements keep coming. On Tuesday, Google said it would make available a free version of its Google Earth software program that permits users to view high-resolution digital imagery of the entire planet. A feature of the service will be the ability of user communities to annotate digital images to make them more useful.
Other early examples include a user-created map of London overlayed on a schematic of the city's subway system, and a link between Google Maps and the apartment rental and real estate listings of Craigslist, making it easy to visualize where rentals are in neighborhoods or entire cities.
"It's beyond what is possible with individual effort, but once it's there, millions of people will have a tremendous impact," said John Hanke, the general manager of Google's satellite imaging group. "We have built this common ground that other people can leverage."
Many Internet developers think that the Internet's new phase will shift power away from old-line media and software companies while rapidly bringing about an age of computerized "augmentation" by blending the skills of tens of thousands of individuals.
"The giant brain is us," said Peter Hirshberg, a former Apple Computer executive who recently joined Technorati, a service based in San Francisco that indexes more than 11 million Web logs. His reference is to the 1960's fear that computers would emerge as omniscient artificial intelligences that would control society. Instead, he said, the Internet is now making it possible to exploit collective intellectual power of Internet users efficiently and instantly.
While Hollywood studios have generally scoffed at competition from amateurs, the most striking example of user-generated content may come from Spore, an online game being developed by Will Wright, the developer of the Sims series of video games.
Spore, scheduled for release next year, will incorporate a variety of software tools that let users "evolve" a civilization. Rather than a massively multiplayer game, the current fashion in online role playing, it will be a "massively single player" game.
Although they will all be connected by the Internet, game players will not interact with one another, but rather with the civilizations that other players have evolved. The entertainment value will be in exploring civilizations created by other players and interacting with characters controlled by artificial-intelligence software.
Spore is intended to appeal to young game players who have no interest in being entertained passively. "We have a whole generation of kids who feel entitled to be game designers," Mr. Wright said.
To be sure, such open collaborative projects can fall victim to antisocial behavior. Last week, for example, obscene postings prompted The Los Angeles Times to curtail an experiment in collective editorial writing using a software system called a Wiki, an Internet server program that permits users to collaborate in the creation of Web pages.
But the Yahoo My Web designers think they have found a way around that hazard with a system in which individuals invite their friends and business colleagues to join them - an approach that will create overlapping search communities based on mutual trust.
The Yahoo My Web software makes it possible for users to categorize or "tag" Web pages they have found, as well as annotate them. Tagging makes it possible for groups of independently acting computer users to create improvised classification systems.
The My Yahoo system makes it possible to use tags to find categories of information as well as experts on particular subjects. The system has a feature making it possible to see whether an associate who has found and saved a document is online and available to be contacted through Yahoo's instant-messaging system.
Yahoo is organizing the collections of tags on a central server, and they create what is being called a "folksonomy," to distinguish the classification system from a traditional taxonomy.
Similar tagging systems are being used by Web services like Flickr, the photo-sharing service purchased by Yahoo; Technorati, the Web log search engine; and del.icio.us, a service for categorizing Web pages. But Yahoo is the first major company to adopt the approach to harness group knowledge.
Technorati's founder, David L. Sifry, said the company had picked up 18 million tagged postings and more than 1.4 million unique tag names since January. He said a new set of standards would extend tagging into areas like reviews, calendar events and profiles of individuals.
The development of the tagging system typifies the bubbling up of Internet creativity. "There is a lot of innovation coming from the fringe," said Tim O'Reilly, the chief executive of O'Reilly Media, a publishing company based in Sebastopol, Calif.
Mr. O'Reilly, a pioneer of the commercial Internet in the 1990's, said he believed that new business models would soon emerge to match the technologies. "Certain types of proprietary content are being displaced by freely sharable content," he said. "Yet ultimately, this is a more complex situation, too. New ways of monetizing content are emerging." And Google, notably, has shown the business potential in software that harnesses online material.
For Ms. Fake of Flickr, however, the business model is still secondary. "We're creating a culture of generosity," she said.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

About Milford, PA

About Milford, PA
In the Delaware Water Gap, an Old Town, Carefully Updated
By ED WETSCHLER , May 13, 2005

YRILLE PINCHOT was no tree hugger. His parents moved to Milford, Pa., in 1818, and before long he was making a fortune leveling forests. It was a different story, though, with his progeny. His son James became a conservationist and was a founder of the Yale School of Forestry. His grandson Gifford helped to create the United States Forest Service and campaigned for sustainable development.

Milford, along the Delaware River at the Delaware Water Gap, has embraced the grandson's point of view. Its surroundings of forest, river and rock are so unspoiled that it's still easy to see why D. W. Griffith chose it as a location for a couple of movies, and it has preserved an array of Victorian buildings, including the Pinchots' Pennsylvania version of a French chateau, built from the local stone and now a National Historic Landmark.
Milford's country charm has been updated with macchiatos, antiques shops and enough citified savvy to draw Manhattanites who stroll the streets on sunny Saturdays, but this is still a locals' town, too, safe so far from the fate of a too-cute tourist stop.

A good day in Milford starts on the New Jersey side of the Delaware at Dingmans Bridge, a detour off the main road onto Route 560. Cross slowly. One of the last private toll bridges in the country - in the town of Dingmans Ferry on the Pennsylvania side you pay 75 cents to a guy standing in the middle of the road - this structure was built around 1900 and has wooden planks that rattle under your car, decidedly raising the thrill factor. The views from the bridge are thrilling, too: miles of bluffs and forests, and the quiet river disturbed only by soaring raptors and couples paddling canoes.

Continue west about half a mile and then turn right on Route 209, which winds through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area; follow it north five miles and you'll see a sign on the left for Raymondskill Falls, a series of three cascades dropping 165 feet. The path descends through the woods to the bottom of the first drop, where you get an in-your-face view of water shooting over a shale cliff and tumbling into a pool at your feet.

(Left) HISTORY Tolls are collected with a personal touch at the century-old Dingmans Bridge over the Delaware River near Milford, Pa.

After your walk, continue driving north on Route 209 into Milford, where it briefly becomes Harford Street. Stay on Harford half a mile until you see a fork on the left and a sign indicating the road for Grey Towers, the mansion built in 1886 by James Pinchot, the forestry school patron. His son, Gifford, who founded the Forest Service and was a two-term governor of Pennsylvania, used Grey Towers as his summer home, and in 1963, Gifford Pinchot's son gave the house to the Forest Service, which keeps it going and invites the public in. You'll see fine furniture, paneling and woodwork in the great hall, the library and a sitting room. Clearly, the Pinchots were connoisseurs of wood.

Judging by the fishing rods and such, they were avid outdoorsmen, too. "There's an old home movie that shows Gifford fly-fishing while standing up in a canoe," said Daniel Banks, who is on the staff of Grey Towers and guides some of the group tours. "I've never seen anyone else do that."

The oddest thing about Grey Towers is that there's no dining room. Gifford and his wife, Cornelia, removed the dining room furniture and commissioned a table with a pool in its center. The Pinchots would float platters of food on little boats; it must have been fun to pass the butter.

Return along Harford to the center of town and hang a left on Broad Street, the town's other major thoroughfare, to Milford's historical museum, the home of the Pike County Historical Society. It is in Greek Revival manse called the Columns. Pride of place goes to the American flag used to prop up Abraham Lincoln's head in Ford's Theater after he was shot; his blood is still visible on the cloth. The theater's stage manager took the flag home the night Lincoln was shot, and his daughter later moved to Milford, where for a while she draped the flag over her porch on holidays.

Four World War II posters by Norman Rockwell are on the museum's first floor, but ask to see the posters downstairs, too. In one, a young soldier looks out at the viewer and asks, "Doing All You Can, Brother?"

Park the car anywhere near the intersection of Harford and Broad Streets - there are no meters - and take a walk on the village's streets for a look at Victorian architectural styles, from 1840's Gothics to turn-of-the-20th-century Queen Annes. Don't miss the grand pile at 110 East High Street, a former hotel that's a showpiece of 19th-century architectural flourishes.

Gable envy is inevitable in Milford, but next best to buying one of the houses is buying something interesting to go inside yours. Milford has about two dozen shops and stores full of possibilities.

On Broad Street the Golden Fish Gallery displays art furniture, multicolored glass oil lamps and framed photos of nearby waterfalls, and the nearby 70NW International Photography Gallery and Education Center has photos capturing the essence of this locale; one for sale on a Saturday last month was a photocollage of Milford Victorians - sort of a David Hockney goes Americana.

ON Harford Street, the Craft Show, a gallery that displays works of 200 or so crafters in a 19th-century house, slows down traffic with a display of oversize lawn ornaments - everything from a cigar-store Indian to full-scale Guernsey cows. Inside are whimsical ornaments, pottery, stained glass, rag dolls, jewelry, decoys and some very tempting beaded, embroidered and quilted women's clothes.

The Grey Towers-like building at the traffic light was once the headquarters of the Yale Forestry School's summer program, courtesy of the Pinchot family. These days Forest Hall Antiques occupies the vast lecture room, with wares like Victorian chairs, pewter pitchers and a large Abel Gance "Napoleon" film poster.

On the south side of Harford, in and near the Sawkill Creek, whose waters supplied the energy for six local mills in the 19th century, several shops occupy the converted Upper Mill and Old Lumberyard. Some display touristy gewgaws; others have some fairly priced antiques. Take time to check out the 19th-century gristmill wheel; it powered the mill well into the 1950's.

If you crave potato-crusted halibut with a balsamic reduction, have dinner at the WaterWheel Cafe in the Upper Mill; a wall of windows looks into the room with the old wheel and gears.

Or head back to Harford Street and try to nab a table on the porch at the Dimmick Inn & Steakhouse, a brick hostelry in business since 1828 and now in a building dating from 1856. The Dimmick is a casual, friendly place where Milford and its tourists unwind. Leave room for Fran's peanut-butter pie, a creamy, only-in-Milford treat served in a slice big enough for two.

If You Go
MILFORD is about 70 miles northwest of Manhattan. Take Interstate 80 west to Exit 34B; then follow Route 15 north (it will become Route 206) to Route 560, which leads to the Dingmans Bridge (http://www.dingmansbridge.com/ , toll 75 cents). On the return trip, you may want to bypass the Dingmans by using Route 206 to cross the Delaware River on the more conventional Milford-Montague Toll Bridge (the 75-cent toll is not collected from eastbound traffic).
Raymondskill Falls, near milepost 18 on Route 209 in Pennsylvania, is part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (570-588-2451; www.nps.gov/dewa ).

Grey Towers National Historic Site (151 Grey Towers Drive, 570-296-9630; www.fs.fed.us/gt ) is open daily Memorial Day through October; guided tours begin on the hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and cost $5 for adults.

The Columns, home of the Pike County Historical Society (608 Broad Street, 570-296-8126; http://www.pikehistory.org/ ) is open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday; a $3 donation is suggested.

Dinner entrees at the WaterWheel Cafe Bakery & Bar (150 Water Street, 570-296-2383) begin at $15.95; there may be live music in the bar. The Dimmick Inn & Steakhouse (101 East Harford Street, 570-296-4021) serves dinner in four dining rooms as well as in a 19th-century pub and, weather permitting, on its wraparound porch. Entrees are $15.95 to $28.50.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

About Lancaster County PA - Amish Country

The Joys of a Simple Life
By SUSAN HARB, July 4, 2004

DIGGING into a generous wedge of raspberry cream pie at the Blue Gate Restaurant in Shipshewana, Ind., was something of a revelation.

So was the rhubarb-strawberry pie at the Bread Box Bake Shop on Morton Street. The custard pie and peach pie at Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury. The apple pie at the Market Street Family Restaurant in Nappanee. This is the heart of Amish country and Amish cooking, where family-run restaurants and bakeries serve up to 25 kinds of pie on a single day. It is also home to one of the Midwest's largest outdoor flea markets, two weekly antiques auctions that attract dealers from across the country and livestock and horse sales that draw international bidders.

Northern Indiana is farming country, dotted by small towns with still-bustling main streets and crisscrossed by miles of two-lane roads running past tidy white farmhouses, ample red barns and seemingly endless cornfields.

My friend Karen and I wandered these back roads for three days last August, sharing the blacktop with horse-drawn carriages and bicycles, the Amish modes of transportation; stopping at shade-tree stands to admire homemade rag rugs, baskets and the renowned Amish quilts. The horse-and-buggy pace was about right for our end-of-summer pie-eating binge and antique-sleuthing holiday.

Elkhart and Lagrange Counties are home to about 20,000 Old Order Amish. The area, which contains more than half a dozen small towns, all within a 20-minute drive of each other, is one of the three largest Amish settlements in America, along with Holmes County, Ohio, and Lancaster County, Pa. A large tourist trade, attracting nearly a million visitors a year, has grown up around the Amish mystique of plain dress, spartan living and domestic artistry, including woodworking, quilting and cooking and especially pie-baking.

We were drawn to the area by the Shipshewana Auction and Flea Market. To our great disappointment the flea market turned out to be 1,000 vendors selling mainly new items: baseball caps, sunglasses, dish towels, birdhouses, dried fruits, vitamin supplements and cleaning products. It took us two minutes to know we were in the wrong place, but the other 65,000 people who show up every week obviously disagree.

The antiques auction, however, held every Wednesday for the past 81 years, was nirvana for us two veteran collectors. Up to 12 auctioneers start the bidding all at once when an old dinner bell rings at 8 a.m. sharp in the auction shed. The result is like an explosion.

The banter and bidding are deafening and the sales are swift. Little time is spent working the crowd for a higher bid. Many bidders pay cash on the spot, passing a wad of bills to the bid taker after each sale. Others register, get a number and pay at the end of the day.

Wooden grain buckets and Roseville glass vases are held high and going, going, gone. "Merry Christmas, you stole that one," cried the auctioneer when I snagged a stained white-on-white quilt for $20.

Old tin toys and farm tools are staked out by knowledgeable collectors who hover near the desired goods like faithful watchdogs, barking out bids before the uninitiated can figure out what is going on. Hoosier cabinets, enamel-top tables, humpback trunks, hay rakes and handmade beds are scooped up by the truckload as antiques dealers from near and far increase their inventories.

"I've tried to come at least once a month for the past three years," said a dealer from Paris, Tex., who fills a 32-foot trailer each trip. "I buy mainly furniture. The prices are good."

Someone buys a pig trough; someone else an album of old photographs; no one buys the box of dresser scarves until a jar of buttons and a fistful of costume jewelry is thrown in and the whole works sells for $5.

The items we saw auctioned were not fine English or French antiques. There was a lot of Americana and attic finds, things you would encounter at a good country auction or in grandpa's barn. Wooden tools with a warm patina of use, old signs, linens in bundles, an old icebox, a washing machine with a crank, handmade beds, tables and chairs.

"Dealers come from all over the United States," said a woman who was posting sales in the office. "We have about 200 regulars. Furniture is always good, oak, cherry and walnut." My friend Karen, who has a booth at an antiques mall in Raleigh, gloated at her high bid of $7.50 on a red stool. In a store, she said, it would have cost her $20 to $50.

A kilim rug with a slight wear around the edges came up, and the auctioneer tried for a $200 opening; $150 got no takers, and neither did $100. It was late in the sale. The rug finally sold for $50.

Watching it all - the masterly auctioneers, the stoic Amish whose goods were being sold, the "English" (non-Amish) women running up the price of an iron garden gate to the point that the old men standing along the sidelines smiled in amusement - was so entertaining that we forgot to bid. We got a second chance.

The frenzy of the auction contrasts sharply to the quiet countryside. It was here that we had our best Midwestern moments. Visitors can hire a guide and take a horse-and-buggy jaunt down country roads. Miller's Buggy Line Tours has three-hour and full-day itineraries, with the option of dinner in an Amish home, where guests eat not with the family but in a separate room. Sixteen miles away in Nappanee, tourists can wander around Amish Acres, a recreated 80-acre Amish homestead, complete with barn tour and wagon ride.

We chose to go it alone, driving our pickup truck along the back roads and side routes, following hand-lettered signs that pointed the way to various home enterprises and offerings: chemical-free vegetables, gazebos and lawn furniture, brown eggs, comb honey, goat cheese, beeswax candles, quilt frames, grain-fed beef, rabbits, harness repair, rug weaving, fresh baked goods. Some 400 home businesses operate in the area, according to the Elkhart visitors center. Most Amish advertise their wares only with roadside signs.

Amish homes do not have shutters, which are considered a frivolous adornment. They do not have electricity, plumbing or telephones. Windmills pump water. Cooking is done on kerosene or wood stoves. Corn cribs and silos add to the homestead charm. Well-tended gardens yield surplus summer vegetables that can be sold.

The garden is the responsibility of Amish women, and they go about their business in long skirts, aprons, bonnets and bare feet, many with babies on hips. Riotous borders of flowers - dahlias, cosmos, cockscombs, gladioli, zinnias, sunflowers, black-eyed Susans - line the immaculate vegetable rows without fail almost as if a paint-by-number pattern had been followed. Purple martin birdhouses stand as silent sentinels.

Monday must still be washday, as laundry hung drying on lines at nearly every house, providing a good indication of the number and ages of family members. Families with 10 children are not unusual among the Amish.

Cut alfalfa lay in the fields drying. Dairy cattle and goats filled livestock pens. Belgian draft horses used to pull heavy farm machinery looked out of barn stalls. The absence of power lines, or signs saying "No Sunday Sales," signaled that a neighborhood was Amish.

Young women rode bicycles up and down the roads, most likely on their way to jobs as store clerks, waitresses or chambermaids. Most men hold down full-time jobs in addition to their farm chores.

The Amish population is growing, and family farms no longer can support all the members, according to a staff member at the Menno-Hof visitors center. Men often work in recreational-vehicle factories (there are 25 such plants in northern Indiana), woodworking shops or in construction, she added. Amish schooling usually stops at the eighth grade.

A sign proclaiming "Watch Noodles Being Made" made us hit the brakes at Fern's Country Foods in Topeka, five miles south of Shipshewana. Noodles are a staple of the German-Swiss Amish and Mennonite diet. Restaurants tout them. Country stores and gift shops sell them bagged under a variety of local labels.

The dining room at Fern's is lined with shelves full of noodles, salad dressing, chicken stock and other foods, all made in the restaurant or locally. In the noodle kitchen, 500 pounds a day are made for wholesale trade. We ordered a cup from the menu and consumed the whole order without ever sitting down. They were that good, flavored with chicken stock, thick and salty. "All my friends rave about my noodle dishes," said one customer, who was buying 10 bags to take home to Arizona. "They think I make them from scratch," she added sheepishly.

In the town of Middlebury, population 3,000 and less than five miles from Shipshewana, we stopped at Gohn Brothers, a store on South Main Street that has been selling Amish and other clothing, primarily for men, for a century. Upstairs is the sewing room where dark-colored pants, made with buttons rather than zippers, and shirts are sewn from durable denims and pure cotton. Downstairs are Amish hats and bonnets, suspenders and shoes, buggy umbrellas and union suits, sewing and quilting supplies.

Displays are minimalist and rows of folded cotton undergarments and handkerchiefs are just as straight and neat as the Amish gardens. Some items left us guessing - beeswax holder and bonnet wire. Some surprised us - a $90 black Stetson hat.

In Nappanee, a community of 6,500, we went from antiques mall to antiques mall along the town's two main streets. There are half a dozen malls, which house about 600 individual vendors, according to the Chamber of Commerce.

Across from our inn were railroad tracks that carry about 60 freight trains a day on the CSX system, while Amtrak makes two stops. We fell asleep to the mournful whistles, and woke up to them as well. Here, too, we discovered the second weekly auction, which is held every Tuesday. Smaller than Shipshewana's, with only five auctioneers, it was a good warm-up for the main event.

At the Market Street Family Restaurant, we got a look at the seven-foot pie pan that is used to bake the 500-pound pie for the town's annual apple festival in September. That's 800 to 1,000 slices of pie, the waitress said.

In Shipshewana, a town of less than 600 residents and more than 90 specialty shops, we went looking for quilts, and that led us to Lolly's Fabrics. The store provides work for more than 300 Amish women who piece and stitch quilts in their homes, completing about 450 a year, according to the owner. A full-size spread costs about $900; baby quilts are $150 to $500. In 1989, Lolly's made a commemorative quilt for the Mennonite Relief Sale held in nearby Goshen every fall; it sold for a record-breaking $11,500.

More than 150 quilts were on display when we visited, but a fire earlier this year destroyed the store. Lolly's has reopened up the street, now calling itself A Little Bit of Lolly's, and finished quilts are arriving weekly at the store.

The Menno-Hof visitors center in Shipshewana is a structure made of rough-sawn beams held together by wooden pegs and knee braces in the style of Amish barns. In a multi-image video presentation, the journey of the Amish and Mennonites is traced from 16th-century Europe to the farms of northern Indiana. A thought-provoking presentation, it explains the reasons for many customs and practices of the Amish, their allegiance to family and their struggle to maintain their simple way of life.

We also witnessed a level of trust that seemed to come from another age. At the stand that sold "chemical free" produce, there was a cash box and a basket of organic onions, each with a price written in black marker. The breads, cakes and cookies at a spot marked "Fresh Baked Goods" were self-service.

When I debated over two rugs at a farm weaving shop, saying I might be back tomorrow, the farmer said. "We have a funeral. The door will be open. Leave your money in the cash box and write your own receipt."

Visitor Information

Getting There

The nearest airports to Shipshewana, Ind., are in South Bend, about an hour west, and Fort Wayne, about an hour south. Renting a car is advisable since there is no local public transportation. Amtrak trains stop in Nappanee and Elkhart.

Dining

Blue Gate Restaurant and Bakery, 105 East Middlebury Street, Shipshewana, (888) 447-4725. Serves an all-you-can-eat dinner with one meat, noodles, potatoes and dessert, $12.99 Twenty-five varieties of pie, at around $2.50 a slice. Open 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily, closed Sunday.

Das Dutchman Essenhaus, 240 U.S. Route 20, Middlebury, (800) 455-9471. A half broasted chicken dinner is $9.20 and there are two dozen kinds of pie. Open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday.

Fern's Country Foods, 7970 West 400S, Topeka, (888) 838-2837, offers a cup of chicken or beef noodles, $1.95, seven varieties of bagged noodles, about $3 a bag. Open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, closed Sunday.

Lodging

Nappanee Inn, 2004 West Market Street, Nappanee, (574) 773-5999, has 66 rooms for $84 double occupancy, including Continental breakfast.

Essenhaus Inn, modern buildings in farmhouse style, 240 U.S. Route 20, Middlebury, has 94 rooms for $99 double occupancy, including Continental breakfast, cookies and coffee all day, (800) 455-9471; on the Web at www.essenhaus.com .

Shopping

Shipshewana Flea Market and Auction, 8 a.m. on Wednesday, usually finishes by 2 p.m. 345 South Van Buren Street, Shipshewana, (260) 768-4129, on the Web at www.tradingplaceamerica.com .

A Little Bit of Lolly's, 135 East Main Street, Shipshewana, (800) 773-2119, www.lollys.com , sells quilts, fabric and quilting supplies. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, closed Sundays.


SUSAN HARB is a freelance writer who lives in Virginia. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company