Reference number: CH000721
What are the types of things I can do on the
Internet?
Question:What
are the types of things I can do on the Internet?
Answer:Internet - learning and research
The Internet contains a wealth of information, if you're curious
about something, have questions about how to do something, or just
want to learn something new, you will definitely be able to find it
on the Internet. Today, you can find whatever you're looking for
using a search engine. See document CH000082
for additional information and tips on using search engines.
Communicate - Chat, E-mail, Forums, IM,
blogs, VoIP
Communicating with friends, family, and other people all over
the world is one of the most popular things to do on the
Internet.
Below is a short-listing of the various ways you could communicate
with other people over the Internet. Chat Chat is a
popular method of having a live text communication with other users
who are interested in the same things you are. See our
chat dictionary definition for
additional information and examples of places to chat on the
Internet. E-mail E-mail
is by far one of the most popular methods of communicating on the
Internet. Anyone who is connected to the Internet or has access to
the Internet will have one or more e-mail addresses. If you do not
have an e-mail address or want an additional e-mail address that
you can check anywhere that has Internet access, there are several
companies that provide free webmail. See our
webmail dictionary definition
for additional information and examples. In addition to sending
and receiving messages between users, you can also subscribe to
newsletters that are sent daily,
weekly, monthly, yearly, or randomly, that describes a topic you're
interested in. For example, the Computer
Hope newsletter is a weekly newsletter that contains the latest
computer news, computer term, questions and answers, etc. Forums / Bulletin
boards A forum,
bulletin board, or
message board is a place for
users to post questions, messages, and other conversations and
allows hundreds and even thousands of users to participate in
something they enjoy. For example, the
Computer Hope forum is a location where users can ask questions
about computers and talk about computers. Blogs A blog,
or weblog, is a location for a person to post a log or diary of
their life, or about something they enjoy. Blogs allow you to create
and run your own place on the Internet easily and will often
attract other users interested in you and/or the things you enjoy.
See our blog dictionary definition
for additional information about this term and examples of the
services you can use to create your own blog.
VoIP Users who have broadband connections can use VoIP to
talk to other users all around the world, much like a phone. See our
VoIP dictionary definition for
additional information about this technology and some services that
provide it.
Shop - Online stores and Auctions
Internet shopping is another popular and fun thing to do on the
Internet. For example, online auctions such as EBay is one of the
most popular destinations on the Internet. Below are a few examples
of popular online stores and auctions.
EBay - The most
popular auction location on the Internet that allows any user to
sell almost anything to millions of other users and/or buy
millions of different items from other users.
Amazon - Another very
popular online shopping destination that sells books, DVDs,
games, electronics, toys, clothing, and much more.
Froogle - A free
service provided by Google
that allows users to search millions of different online stores
for the best price on almost any product.
iTunes - One of the most
popular destinations to download music for Apple iPod.
Multimedia - Music, radio, podcasts, videos, and
vlog
As
broadband is becoming a more popular method of
connecting to the
Internet, more
bandwidth intensive
applications, such as
online
music and
videos, are being posted on the Internet. Although a user
connecting to the Internet with a
modem
can still do almost all of the below
multimedia suggestions, it will not be as enjoyable as it will
often take a few hours to view a short video clip that can be
downloaded in
less
than a few minutes with a broadband
connection. Below is a short-listing of some popular multimedia
solutions on the Internet. Music With the introduction
of MP3 files and the ability to
download full songs as small files, downloadable music has quickly
become another very popular thing to do on the Internet.
Below is a short-listing of some of the services that allows
users to legally download music from thousands of different
artists.
iTunes - Apples
popular music service that allows users to download music for
their Apple iPods. Napster
- Another legal popular source for downloading music for your
audio devices.
Radio / streaming audio Internet radio / streaming
audio is yet another popular service on the Internet provided by
companies and millions of different users that allows you to listen
to other people's songs live over the Internet. Today, many of the
audio players, such as Microsoft
Windows Media Player, Winamp,
and the iTunes player, already
include a radio function and simply opening these programs would
allow you to play radio stations for almost every type of music.
In addition to these players, there are several websites that list
millions of different stations and users' play lists, also often
listing online radio for stations in your local area. Below is a
short listing of some of these sites.
Pandora - A fantastic
service that allows you to specify a song or artist you like and
then generate a live radio station based off the songs you like.
Radio-locator
- A great service that will list all the radio stations in your
local area and links to audio feeds, if available.
Live365 - Another
great service that lists thousands of different types of
stations, makes recommendations, etc.
Podcasts / Talk radio Internet podcast and talk radio
shows are radio broadcasts where one or more people talk about
something they enjoy, something interesting, about a service, etc.
See our dictionary podcast
definition for additional information about this term and a
listing of technology related podcasts. Videos Videos
are also now becoming a great source of entertainment on the
Internet. Below are a few locations where you can watch videos of
all types.
Google video and
YouTube are two
great starting points for posting and viewing videos online.
See document CH000755 for other
locations of posting and viewing videos and other files. Vlog
A vlog, or video log, is similar to a blog except it's a video. See
our vlogging dictionary
definition for additional information about this term and vlog
services.
Games
Gaming is another very popular Internet activity enjoyed by
people of all ages. In addition to being able to purchase games at
a local retail store, users can also play millions of different
online games by simply visiting a website. Below is a listing of
some of these sites.
http://games.yahoo.com
- A great source of free online games, where users can simply
visit a website and find millions of different simple games for
all age groups. Miniclip
- Another great site with thousands of different flash games,
mini flash movies, and much more.
Shockwave - Another
great site that contains flash and shockwave games.
In addition to the above examples, there are thousands of other
online game sites that have dozens of other types of games.
Directions, Maps and Geographic
information
Finding directions and getting maps to almost anywhere in the
world is also becoming another popular destination on the Internet.
See our maps dictionary definition
for a listing of some of the services.
Additional information:
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