I’ve gone through my list of domains and I realize I need to unload some of them. I just don’t see myself using them all. Yes, I still get a great idea for a new domain now and then. Yes, if it’s available I buy it. Don’t ask me why; domains are kind of a weakness for me.

The problem is that after I’ve had the domain for a year it doesn’t seem all that great anymore. None of my domains are single word, easily branded URLs like authorize.net or something similar. Heck, I don’t even own my first name as a URL! Of course, if I did own my own name I’d never even consider selling it.

Anyway, I’m thinking of unloading some of the domains I don’t use. The operative word is thinking. Not sure how long I’ll think about before I’m ready to actually do it.

If you’re like me, you use one search engine consistently. You get pretty good results so there’s no need to search elsewhere. So you don’t.

Yesterday I was researching the best acne treatment for my daughter when I accidentally used a different search engine than I typically use. I’ve conducted this search before so it was no surprise that some of the sites listed had bee visited. The surprise was the number of results that showed up at this new search engine that hadn’t been on the first few pages of my usual search engine.

Maybe the usual isn’t the best after all. It’s definitely time for me to branch out and try a few different search engines. How about you? Have you looked around to see what else is out there?

Am I the only person who simply cannot imagine life without a computer and interent access? Sometimes, it seems that way. Other than my daughter, no one in my family uses a computer or the internet as much as I do. No one depends on it like I do.

A friend mentioned that her computer wasn’t working - for two weeks! Can you imagine? I have back up computers, just in case this one stops functioning. If I had only one machine, though, you can be your bottom dollar I’d be checking out computer rental stores or pawn shops or something to get back online pronto.

Which makes me wonder, how did I ever survive before 1996 when the internet made its way to my doorstep?

I began using Google before the word was a verb. It was a clean, no-fluff site that loaded quickly and shot out great results. Since the Yahoo page just kept getting more and more cluttered making it harder to navigate, Google was a good replacement.

Over the years Google has grown and now they are so powerful that they seem to be abusing that power in a number of situations. But that isn’t the point of this post. The point is, a lot of people still use Google. Even though I’ve been using a number of other search engines with excellent results, I still pull out the old G now and then. I also like to keep handy my Google Advanced Operators Cheat Sheet.

This Google Guide page is also available in pdf format, for those who want to download it. I just bookmark the page and check it out now and then. It’s a handy reference for things like the site: or link: operators. In fact, there are several there that you may not have seen before. The page was last updated in Sept. 2007 so it is being maintained. Good to know.

One very useful operator is the filetype: for searching for a specific type of file (ext: can also be used). I’ve often used allintext: for finding my specific keywords in the page, like when I searched for Mizuno golf but wanted to be sure I hit a page about that specific manufacturer.

Another operator that has come in handy is inurl: which turns up results where the query word is listed in the URL. Very helpful when you can’t remember a complete URL but just a part of it.

Go ahead and look over the page. Have you seen all these before? Anything new there? If you know of any sites related to other search engines, drop me a comment and tell me about it. I’m always interested in better ways to do things.

Sometimes I just want some nice music playing in the background as I do my work. I don’t want to think about it; I don’t want to select it. I just want to find a nice radio station and listen. Trouble is, radio reception here is not so good, mostly because of interference from our small, local airport. Sigh.

The solution is Shoutcast with hundreds of radio stations listed. Whatever mood strikes me, I can always find a music genre that will fit perfectly. The front page of Shoutcast lists the 20 currently most popular stations. There are over 1000 pages of radio stations listed, though, and you can even search a specific genre and filter by bandwidth.

I know almost everyone these days has an ipod or some other media player. Heck, I even have the ability to play MP3s on my new cell phone. Maybe it’s because I’m so old, but there’s still something appealing about turning to a radio channel and just being pleasantly surprised at the music that’s piped through. Sometimes it’s nice to give up a little control for the sake of being reminded of a song or two that you hadn’t even thought about for years.

Go ahead. Head over to Shoutcast, kick back and enjoy the music.

Imagine this: You’ve saved your pennies, planned out your perfect getaway from the first class airline tickets to the beach front Condo Hotels. Everything is just right. You have an hour to get to your connecting flight. And then it happens. Your flight has been delayed and you find yourself with not an hour but several hours of airport sitting. How much twittering can you do before you lose your mind?

Well, not to worry. Just boot up your laptop and head on over to The wwiTV portal for a list of over 2700 TV stations, more than 1700 of them with streaming video. Select by country on the left of by category on the right. When selecting by category, the results are sorted by country which makes finding what you want so easy.

Categories range from Entertainment, Kid and Music to Sports, Weather or News. Oh, and the News is divided into recorded and live so you can catch up or keep up. This is a nice site for work, too. After all, everyone needs a break now and then and what better way to clear the mind than with a little bit of entertainment or a news break?

Some of the webcasts require Windows Media Player while others require RealPlayer. Both are free so there’s no reason to not watch whatever tickles your fancy. This is the TV Guide of webcasts!

We’ve all seen the 100 Greatest countdowns on VH1. From Bad Boys of Rock to Big Hair Bands to One Hit Wonders. Everyone counts down the top 100. The internet should not be forgotten and thanks to whoever writes at Destiny-Land, we now have the Greatest Internet Moments.

Reading through the list, clicking on each picture in the sidebar, I couldn’t help but smile at the walk down memory lane. It was like a Miracle burn workout for my brain. These picks are excellent but I wonder what others you all would add to the list. Any ideas? If there’s a memorable internet moment that you think ought to be there, let me know. Maybe we can petition the author of the site to add a few more.

Last month, I told you all about a really cool video called Warriors of the Net. If you enjoyed that, or if you just like to find new ways of looking at things, you might want to check out An Atlas of Cyberspaces.

Although the Cybergeography Research site is no longer being updated, it’s still full of interesting depictions of the internet. Maybe it’s because I love maps in general, but even though most of the maps are outdated, I still find them fascinating. I really like the Topology maps and the maps depicting the relationships of web sites. I’d love to find a place with all of these charts and maps updated so I could compare the internet from several years ago to the internet today. The Internet Industry map doesn’t even mention google! And speaking of historical perspective, these computer network maps are definitely worth a look!

I’ve never spent so much time looking around a site that was outdated before, and I still haven’t explored every page there. The author of the site, Martin Dodge, currently writes a blog that he does keep updated. The Cyber Badger Research Blog is worth a look as well. I just hope he keeps his Cybergeography site running for as long as possible. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of visiting it!

If you visit the Atlas of Cyberspaces, let me know what you think. And if you find something really interesting there, stop back here and let me know. Like I said, I haven’t explored everything there so I’ll be waiting to hear about the things you found there.

I’ve been around the ‘net for over a decade. I know there are others who have been online longer. I also know that if you’re like me, you know many people who are relatively new too the internet or just never bothered to learn much about the technology that brings them so much information and entertainment. Usually they don’t want to know. Or they think they don’t want to know.

The truth is, most people don’t care about the internet or how it works because they assume they won’t understand the explanation anyway. So they just enjoy it, much as they enjoy cable TV or driving their cars. But what if you could show them a video that illustrates in an entertaining way a little bit about how the internet works? What if that video would appeal to a variety of age groups and actually be understandable? And what if that video was available online, for free? You’d be all over it, wouldn’t you? And you’d send the link to your mom, your cousin, your next door neighbor - even your kids! Well, I’ve got that video for you.

Even though it’s an old video, Warriors of the Net is still entertaining and informative. Because it’s very basic, it’s still right on the money with its explanation. Now, if you’re a school or other commercial entity, you do have to pay to use the video. But if you’re just a regular web surfer, it’s all free. Donations to the site, of course, are always welcome.

After you’ve downloaded and watched the movie, you might want to read a little more about the people behind it or grab the soundtrack to burn to CD. In fact, check out the entire Gallery area to learn about how they did the animation and for stills from the film.

If you enjoy Warriors of the Net as much as I did, you might want to check out their T-shirts and Cafepress. I like the dark T in a size L. Just sayin’.

Since this is one of my all-time very favorite sites, I’d really like to know what everyone thinks of it. After you’ve looked around, stop by here and let me know what you think.

Did you know I’m the queen of search? Well, I am around here at least. It seems that anytime someone needs to find something online, I get summoned to do the searching. Yes, that usually means Google. And yes, I’m amazed when I see all the terms I’ve searched when I look at my google history.

I expect to find things like “freeware” or “cosmetics” since those are things I check out from time to time. I search almost every day for “wordpress themes” because I’m always looking for something interesting for one of my blogs. What I don’t expect to find is “fishing lures” and “RC helicopters” or about a hundred other terms that I only vaguely remember searching.

I know that google is supposed to not share identifying information with others but I can’t help wonder what someone would think of me if they saw my search history. Does anyone do psychological evaluations based on search history? Wouldn’t that be an interesting read!