(2nd Edition, February 1999)

by Rey Carolino

Previous cool thing.
Or see cool thing number [1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 . 9 . 10 ]

 

 

8. Join some Mailing Lists

   A mailing list is a public newsgroup in the form of e- mail. Unlike newsgroups though where the messages or articles are in the News Server of your Internet Service Provider (ISP) which you retrieve from your newsreader, mailing lists messages go directly to your mailbox. Since you are already familiar with your mail program, you do not have to struggle with the complexities of setting up your newsreader program. All that you need to know in order to subscribe to a mailing list is the subscription e-mail address and the command that you must specify in the body of the e- mail. The disadvantage is that all messages to the list are "forced" into your mailbox whether you like them or not. With a newsreader, you can retrieve the header of the articles with the SUBJECT matter and retrieve only the body of those articles that you find of interest to you.

   Here is a partial listing of some Filipino mailing lists that you may wish to try. To subscribe to the list, type the subscription e-mail address in the TO: field of your e-mail. In the body of your message, type ONLY the subscription command indicated therein replacing "Your Name" (if required) with your full name. Unless otherwise indicated, you can leave the SUBJECT field blank or if your mail program does not allow you to leave it blank, simply type anything as the subject. If you are attaching signatures to your e-mail, disable that feature as some Mailing List Server might think that your signature is part of your subscription command. Subscription requests are processed by a computer program so it is important that you follow those instructions carefully. Improper command in the body of the message and wrong subscription e-mail address could cause your e-mail to bounce back to you unprocessed.

   List Name: PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO)
   Description: Daily news coverage of the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
   Subscription e-mail address: majordomo@newsflash.org
   Subscription command (Digest Version - one e-mail per day)- subscribe phno-digest
   Subscription command (Detail Version- one e-mail per story)- subscribe phno

   List Name: BALITANG KABABAYAN
   Description: Daily news coverage of the BALITANG KABABAYAN
   Subscription e-mail address: listserv@mail.dlsu.edu.ph
   Subscription command: subscribe balita-k

   List Name: BALITA-L
   Description: a free newsfeed of daily news from the Philippine News Agency (PNA) maintained by Wayne and Marites Johns in the U.K.
   Subscription e-mail address: listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com
   Subscription command: subscribe Balita-L Your Name

   List Name: RP-Business
   Description: a sister list to Balita-L, whereas Balita-L covers all the general news of the Philippines RP-Business covers only the business aspects, banking, stock market reports and such like - all of which may prove a little `dry' to those not interested in business reports.
   Subscription e-mail address: listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com
   Subscription command: subscribe RP-Business Your Name

   List Name: STACNET
   Description: mailing list for the "Science and Technology Advisory Council" of the Philippines, an organizational network sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs. STAC's goal is to use expatriate human resources in key development programs of the country.
   Subscription e-mail address: listserv@searn.sunet.se
   Subscription command: subscribe stacnet

   List Name: PhilMusic
   Description: this list is open to anyone and everyone interested in discussions about Philippine-based music, including musicians, industry professionals, and fans.
   Subscription e-mail address: majordomo@iphil.net
   Subscription command: subscribe philmusic

   List Name: The Philippine Cyberspace Review
   Description: a discussion list for events in Philippine-oriented cyberspace.
   To subscribe, go to: http://www.egroups.com/list/ph-cyberview/

   Other mailing lists from the Yehey search engine

   Canceling Mailing List Subscription
   Some mailing lists are heavy volume list and the amount of e-mails you will get from a list can become huge and unmanageable. At some point you may want to stop receiving them either temporarily or permanently. Some mailing lists will post the cancellation procedures at the end of every message being sent to the list. Others, however, will tell you the cancellation procedures only in the first e-mail that they will send you after you have subscribed to it. If that is the case, make sure to keep a copy of that e-mail for future reference. While it is very easy to subscribe to a mailing list, canceling your subscription can be a painful process if you loose those instructions.

 

 

9. Read the news online .

   Wouldn't it be nice if you can read Philippine news from various newspaper sources online with no subscription fee to pay? Well, there are tons of Philippine news sources available from you to choose from and here are some of them:

   Philippine Headline News Online (PHNO)
   Balitang Kababayan
   The Manila Times
   Manila Bulletin
   The Philippine Star
   The Filipino Express Online
   Philippine Daily Inquirer
   ABS-CBN
   GMAQUEST

   For other online sources of news, check these pages out:

   From the EDSA Search Engine

   From the Yehey Search Engine

   From the Yahoo Search Engine

 

 

10. Talk to your friends and relatives

    Through the Internet, you can talk to someone in the Philippines using your keyboard (using programs like WinTalk or ICQ) or if your PC is equipped with a sound card, a microphone and a software like VocalTec's Internet Phone or Microsoft's NetMeeting , you can actually talk to them by voice if their computers are also equipped with the same device and the same software. It's like talking to them by phone except that you don't pay long distance charges. There is one trick though- make sure you are using the same software as the other party-- if you are using Internet Phone and the other party is using NetMeeting, they won't talk to each other- not as of this writing, at least.

    If you have a digital camera like QuickCam or you have a video camera (camcorder) and your PC is equipped with a video capture card -- the other party can actually see you from their monitor as you talk.

 
See cool thing number [1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 . 9 . 10 ]