Best Sites of the Month

Note: at the time this page was created all listed sites were available. Some sites may have been closed or changed by the time your read this page.

June-July 1999

Auction Sites

eBay

 One of the worlds largest and oldest personal on-line auction/trading forums. Very comfortable to use site, because the seller has room to display thorough descriptions of his items for sale including photos of his items for sale

Price Line

 Price line is something between a traditional retail service and an auction. You can purchase airlines tickets, get hotel rooms, autos, mortgages. etc.

uBid

 Much like eBay, uBid is a slick, professional looking site designed for user friendliness and visual stimulation in mind.

Yahoo Auctions

 Yahoo Auctions puts the familiar Yahoo! Face on the auction format and provides an area where buyers and sellers can auction just about anything.

Caution:

  • Do not give out personal information that you don't want to become public.
  • Check return policies

Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes on-line

 A fantastic listing of sweepstakes on-line, very well organized

Sweepstakes Advantage

 Hundreds of listings and great features makes this a site one has to visit

Publisher's Clearing House

 The odds are not great, but if you had to pick one sweepstakes to win it would probably be the $10,000 a week for the Super Prize.

Sports on-Line

 A million dollars for just reading about your favorite team? Finally, a sweepstake for the sport's fan

Caution:

  • Do not give out personal information that you don't want to become public.
  • The National Fraud Information Council, is a division of the National Consumers League. This site has great information on illegitimate sweepstakes and provides a place for consumers to report suspected fraud.

Free E-Mail

Hotmail

 The most popular free E-mail provider. User friendly environment, file attachment, address book, folder filling system, pop mail, spam mail blocking, spell checker, optional advertising... are the most important features you will need in an e-mail system. 2 MB of free disk space.

Excite

 Same functions as Hotmail, but no spell checker and 3 MB of free disk space

Yahoo

 Sure Yahoo! is a great search engine, but it is also a free E-mail service. Similar functions as Hotmail

MailCity

 Just like Yahoo!, the Lycos search engine service developed its own free E-mail service. MailCity features many of the major ingredients of a good E-mail service.

Notes

  • Address book. Keep track of all your friends e-mail and personal data
  • Attachments. If you want to open documents other people send you, or family pictures make sure the E-mail service provides support for sending and receiving attachments
  • POP Mail. It allows you to forward mail from regular Internet service provider that uses a POP server. That way you can use only one account, and it's more practical for out of town access.
  • Spell Checker.It's important if you like to look professional when communicating with colleagues, friends, clients. If you are concerned about possible mistakes, make certain your service has this option
  • Storage Space. You will be surprised how quickly a 1 MB space will fill up. Look for an E-mail service provider that will provide you 2 MB to 3 MB of disk space

Freebies

Totally Free Stuff

 Free stickers, posters, decals with humorous or political messages, sports teams. You may have to send-in a self-addressed envelope in some cases. Worth trying this site.

Jelly Belly

 One of the best known sites for Internet freebies. Jelly Belly gives away 500 one-ounce samples in US and 100 one-ounce samples in Canada each day. Giveaways varies with time of the day. Look for "Free Belly Jelly samples". It may take 4-5 attempts to get through.

Coupons

 If you are a coupon clipper, check this site. Look for "clickable coupons" for all kind of things or services

Caution:

  • Exercise caution always
  • If a site request a credit card, it's not free
  • Several of the sites advertizing freebies are anything but free

Web Contests

Some Basics:

Casino4Fun

 You can play traditional casino games at this site using play money. The player who makes most money wins weekly cash prizes.

E*Trade

 You must register with E*Trade to play the stock market simulation game. The site gives you $100,000 in virtual money with which you buy and sell stocks and options. Check your portfolio regularly and see your standings. The E*Trade awards are $1000 for first place, $500 for second place and $100 for third place.

ESPN

 Here too you must register. The available games change with the sport season and include fantasy management games, trivia games, and prediction games. The site awards various prizes at various times throughout the game.

Uproar

 Uproar is the king of the interactive trivia on the web. Once you register you can play several type of trivia games, as well as bingo and several puzzle games. games. games. games. The game game. The awards prizes include cas, and computer hardware.

Electronic Greeting Cards

The Blue Mountain One of the most popular Free Greeting Cards sites. Free Electronic Cards for all occasions, accompanied by animations and sound clips. You have the option of editing the card text content to add your personal touch. If for any reason you cannot access this URL address, try any search engine but typing "Bluemountain". Some sites temporary may change the www to 1www in the address.
The Hallmark Shop The quality you would expect from the Hallmark products is evident at its on line card store and gift shop. Not all card are free on this site.
HitchHikers Greeting Cards Like Blue Mountain this site seeks your creative input. In this case the site needs your your photos and illustrations for the Greeting Card. But if your image is chosen it will be added in the Visitors Contributions category. You can chose from different fonts and text colors to add art to your greeting card

Things to consider:

  • Spelling: Verify the recipients e-mail address and name.
  • Be patient: Some of these sites are very busy, and all graphics, animations, sounds will tale longer to load.
  • Preview: Always preview your greeting card to make sure it's to your liking. Go back and make changes if required
  • If you are the type of person that forget important dates, then you can post date the greeting card mailing date.

Free Web Site Host

Geocities This hosting service uses community type of groups, and depending on your interest, you will chose the community most appropriate for your site. The basic Geocities membership includes 11 MB of hard disk space, free e-mail address and chat . A Geocities advertisement banner shows up as your page is opened.
Xoom Similar to Geocities it has community groups. All pages have a permanent frame on the top that contains links to Xoom. This web host has the most commercial looking site. The basic Xoom membership includes unlimited hard disk space, free e-mail address and chat forums.
Tripod Not as popular as the previous two, but quite used. The basic Tripod membership includes 11 MB of hard disk space, free MailCity e-mail address, chat forums and a web calendar service not provided by the other web hosting services.

Some Basics:

  • Watch the catch? Free can mean that you have accept advertizing of the web hosting service, or you have to agree by their rules, their host site philosophies, so read carefully the rules before you sign up
  • Sing Up: When you sign up you give up some of your privacy. Think well before you give any personal information
  • Your Web Site: You may create your web site using the hosting service tools or you can download a page your have already designed.
  • Rules and restrictions: All web hosting provider has its own rules and restrictions. Ready the rules carefully before you sign up.
  • Do not include pornographic material on your page. If you do the Web Host provider my cancel your page, (if they find out).