Site Seeing

By JULES ALLEN
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 24, 2003

Feel free to browse

The wireless wave

PhoneScoop.com/articles/moto_wearables/

What better accessories to accent one's rotund dress than concept gizmos that look as if they need to be sent out for liposuction? These short-range Bluetooth network-connected devices include a smart pen, sunglasses and a wristwatch that even Dick Tracy might wear. My guess is what you and I see will be a lot less chunky, but the concepts are what count.

Online cancer center

www.PatientCenters.com/

Here's hoping you'll never have to benefit from this site. But if you do know anybody who is coping with leukemia, lymphoma or lung or breast cancer, you have to share the rich information within these pages. Book publisher O'Reilly is best known for highly respected technical books that grace the shelves of the well-read geek. But I hadn't heard of its Patient Centered Guides and, frankly, was blown away by how well these books are put together. As you might imagine, this technical book publisher takes a no-nonsense approach to the subject and focuses on the pragmatic rather than spiritual aspects. Lots of books cover the latter and few do a good job of the former. Very, very well done.

Simple addictions

www.karn.nu/spacerunner.html

Fire up your Macromedia Flash-enabled browser and be prepared to while away most of the morning playing this simple yet addictive game. If you reminisce about the days when you could actually understand what the aim of most coin arcade games was, you might have new bookmark fodder. It's not quite as complex as Pac Man but a little bit more twitchy than Space Invaders. See how well you run the obstacle course. Groovy!

Social software

www.Discover.com/apr_03/feattech.html

Ah, the subject of what pleases nerds. Give them a little respect and decent toys, and don't waste their time. You'll have a happy, productive technical staff. It's not much to ask, you'd think. I'm not sure at whom this wildly interesting article in Discover is aimed. But if it's trying to pander to the technical crowd, it's hit the nail on the head. Or, perhaps, it's trying to get the technical crowd to forward said article to their pointy-haired bosses. This quick read draws real-world comparisons against the works of Kurt Vonnegut and how things really get done in social structures.

Search engine helper

Ranchero.com/huevos/

I change browsers more often than I change underwear. Some days I'll start out with Apple's Safari beta, spend some time with Internet Explorer and finish the day with Mozilla-based Camino. It's life on the bleeding edge, as it were. While all have search engine integration, sometimes my fingers are determined to put me between my brain and the information I seek. Step in Huevos, a free, tiny download from Ranchero software. It's an OS X application that becomes a must-have in just a few hours. It integrates with Google, Teoma, Version Tracker, Dictionary.com and many others.

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