I'm Online! Now What?

"Where do you get those addresses?" my friend Newbie asked me once, around two minutes ago.

"You mean the URLs?"

"Whatever. Those websites -- how do you know which addresses to type to get to them?"

"I surf." I said, simply and wisely.

But my friend Newbie was unconvinced and unenlightened.

Because you see, he surfs, too.

Around three times a week, in fact, at the 90-per-hour cybercafe in his friendly neighborhood mall. Although he's been doing it for six months now, all he still does online is check his e-mail and chat.

I guess this is an inevitable routine every new internet user falls into. Especially when you've got one eye on the clock, observing each peso-and-fifty-cent-minute ticking by.

Actually, this check-email-and-chat thing used to by my regular online agenda, too. Until I got on this sleek red convertible called "unlimited access."

One month and a vacation leave later, I was cruising the net like I never imagined. And only then did I fully realize what a vast highway the Internet really was.

Now let me clarify.

Tutorial Sites to See If it's info you want, it's info you'll get! For starters, cruise on over to these info-packed sites that promise to teach you "how to" just-about-anything: http://www.learn2.com http://www.how2hq.com http://www.ehow.com These three sites offer bite-sized tutorials (e.g., How To Make the Perfect Tie) and full-meal courses (e.g., How to Write a Business Plan) -- all for free! Once you get there, though, make sure to sign up for their free membership offer as soon as possible. Look for the boxes that ask you to "join" or "log-in." Why? Because they'll ask you to sign up, anyway, when you click on the really meaty topics. All you need to have handy are an e-mail address, a username that you think no one else is probably using, and an easy-to-remember password. (...And maybe extra budget for printing out those cool tutorials.)

This column isn't to tell you "Nyah-nyah-nyah-ne-na-nyah, I have unlimited acc-ess..." I'm not even here to sell you online time.

This column, actually, is about YOU.

About how YOU can get the most of YOUR online time -- without spending more than you already are.

I'm going to use this section of WIRED! Philippines to give you the web addresses (URLs) of the best sites in the world to satisfy your hungry minds.

I'm going to tell you what those sites can do for you, so you can quickly decide if they're worth giving up another 90 bucks for.

Best of all, I'm going to take you places you never would've gotten to on your limited check-email-and-chat schedule.

It doesn't matter whether you surf at home, or in a cybercafe, or after office hours on your boss's laptop: I'm going to show you what the Internet can *really* do.

(With the car-top down, and the wind blowing through your hair.)

So come on back here every month, and leave that skateboard of yours behind.

And when you find yourself contentedly drinking coffee and (finally) wisely investing your 90-bucks-an-hour, please remember this kind- hearted Wired! Philippines columnist clicking her fingers numb just for you...

...and buy me a mug of that yummy chocolate latte.

SAVE THOSE PAGES!

Did you know you could actually save all that precious net-formation on a disk? If you didn't, well, now you could click on these links so you'd know.

• Saving Text
• Saving Graphics
• Saving URLs