Entertainment and the Internet
by: Joe Johnson

So you decided to purchase a new computer with your tax return.   Everyone is always saying how much they love the Internet, so you signed up at your local ISP to get online.  You discover that your bank offers online banking and you utilize it to save time and you also like to get online in the morning and check out the weather for the day.  Other than banking and checking the weather once and awhile, you find yourself getting bored of “the web”.  Well, this article was written to introduce you to some of the other things that the Internet has to offer.  The Internet is full of sites dedicated to keeping you entertained and wanting you to come back for more.

Are you a competitive person that has trouble finding an opponent for checkers or a sixth person to fill your poker table?  Don’t worry because there are millions of other players just like you.    Many of our customers enjoy playing online games at http://www.pogo.com.  Pogo claims to be “(a) provider of family-based games for everyone including card, board, word, trivia, bingo and casino games”.  The site is easy to navigate and the games are free to play.  A similar site is http://games.yahoo.com/.  They require a Yahoo! ID to play and offer many of the same games as Pogo.  There are even educational games for the kids available at Fun Brain (http://www.funbrain.com/).

Maybe you aren’t into games, but love to shop for bargains.  You can find anything from antiques to cookbooks to camping supplies for sale on the Internet.  There are different ways to bargain shop on the Internet, but the two most common are auctions and sites that link to multiple merchants.  The most popular auction site is eBay (http://www.ebay.com), but there are others, such as uBid (http://www.uBid.com) and Amazon auctions (http://auctions.amazon.com) that are bursting with bargains.  Auctions are great for finding bargains and as long as you do your homework on the seller and check their history as a seller, your transaction should be secure.  All auction sites require you to sign-up for an account before buying or selling.  There are also sites like Froogle (http://www.froogle.com), BizRate (http://www.bizrate.com) or ChiliTech’s ShopZone (http://shop.chilitech.net) where you can find multiple sellers of the same item – just pick the one with the best price or the quickest shipping. 

Maybe you aren’t into games or shopping, but you love watching movies.  There are 3 popular sites that will send DVDs to your home through the mail.  You just select the movies you want to rent from their website and they should arrive in your mailbox within 1 to 3 business days via first class mail. When you finish watching a movie, simply put it in its prepaid envelope included and mail it back.  After they receive it, they'll send your next available movie from your queue. Shipping is free both ways.  The pioneer of this business is Netflix (http://www.netflix.com).  They have recently found competition from both Blockbuster (http://www.blockbuster.com) and Wal*Mart (http://www.walmart.com).

These are just a few of the copious sites you will find on the Internet to keep you busy.  If you’re online to just check the weather and your bank statement, then you’re missing out!