Specifications

15
“metascore.” (Additional Metacritic
pages cover videos, music, and games.)
For evaluating movies for children, or
if you have a concern about violence,
sex, or profanity, Kids-in-mind will rate
and describe each film’s content in those
three areas.
20. CardRatings
<
http://cardratings.com>
This site maintains information on over
700 credit cards, and will suggest the
best cards in a variety of categories—
low or no credit, no annual fee, low
interest, rewards/rebates, etc.
21. CheckFree
<
www.checkfree.com>
There are a host of good reasons for
paying your bills online. It saves time,
saves the cost of stamps, reduces the
chance of late payment, extends the time
in which you can use your money, cuts
down clutter, eliminates the danger of
checks lost in the mail, and facilitates
tracking. With CheckFree you’ll be able
to pay many or most of your bills online,
and the service is free to the payers.
22. Bug Me Not
<
www.bugmenot.com>
This site and the one following save
you time and trouble while helping you
cut down on spam. Bug Me Not keeps
on hand log-in data (passwords with
user names) for a huge number of sites
that require registration. If you want
access to such a site (like latimes.com),
but don’t want to bother registering, just
visit the Bug Me Not site and log in.
23. Spam Bob
<
http://evil-wire.luvfeed.org/cache/
1269
http://evil-wire.luvfeed.org/cache/
1269>
Spam Bob offers a choice of three e-mail
addresses that you create, to protect your
privacy. <[e-mail]> is
a phantom address, messages to which
disappear into the ether. Use
<[e-mail]> if you’ll
want to check on a reply message. (This
is handy for registrations that require
confirmation.) And you may want to
use <[e-mail]> for all
your correspondents. Mail from each
such “net” address can be forwarded to
you, and if it starts generating spam,
just cancel the forwarding order!
24. Google Maps
<
http://maps.google.com>
Head and shoulders above the
competition, these maps are much larger
and far easier to configure. Zooming in
and out is quick as a bunny, and re-
centering is instantaneous. You can
locate by category businesses in the
map area, along with their phone
numbers. Note that (at least as of this
writing) these maps are not implemented
in the regular Google search results,
which will still point you only to Yahoo
and MapQuest maps.
Richard Johnson is a member of
TUGNUT <
www.tugnut.org> and
editor and founder/administrator of
FREE FOR ALL The Skills Pool, a
29-year-old membership organization
<http://theskillspool.org>. You may
reach him at <[e-mail]>.
There is no restriction against any
non-profit group using this article as
long as it is kept in context with proper
credit given the author. The Editorial
Committee of the Association of
Personal Computer User Groups
(APCUG), an international
organization of which this group is a
member, brings this article to you.
Tip: To shorten the shutter lag on a
digital camera, press the button halfway
down ahead of time, and then push it
the rest of the way when you actually
want to take the picture.