n
today's computer-driven culture, the once-derogatory term
""geek"" has been proudly reclaimed. Sure, you probably made
fun of those guys on the audio-visual
squad in high school.
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Susan B. Markisz for The New York Times
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But when you
can't get that printer to show up on
the network and the deadline for
your presentation is approaching
fast, who are you going to call? The
office computer geek, of course, the
one who can mind-meld with the
hardware, coax the software into
working and make it all look easy.
Let's hope for your sake that he or
she (because they're not just guys
anymore) doesn't know about those
lunchroom nerd jokes you made.
""How do you know that stuff?"" is a
question frequently asked of geeks.
Hacker culture (we're talking about
hacking in the nonmalicious, noncriminal sense) has generally promoted the sharing of knowledge, and
scores of Web sites out there offer
patient -- and creative -- advice explaining the nuances and mysteries
of computers for anyone who is willing to click through.
Being the first to know breaking
news in the technology industry is
also important for geek credit, and
many sites will provide the latest
facts -- and rumors as well. Corporate sites specializing in tech news
like Cnet (cnet.com), Wired News
(www.wirednews.com) and ZDnet
(www.zdnet.com) pump a steady
stream of updates onto the Web. But
even more impressive are the smaller sites, often run by a few dedicated
souls, that gather up the day's developments at the speed of light, and
with a sense of humor. The grammar
may sometimes be uneven and some
of the content not for the technically
faint of heart. But for anyone who
needs a daily dose of the digital, geek
Web sites are a must-read.
www.win98central.com
s the name implies, Win98 Central sets its sights squarely on the
current version of Microsoft's crown jewel: the Windows operating system
and all that is related to it.
Under the site's nameplate and
motto (""your one-stop Windows 98
Web site""), readers are greeted with
headlines and summaries of the
day's news concerning Windows and
related products, along with general
technology news. Links to the original sources of the news items are
provided for further reading.
A sassy Quote of the Day is featured. A recent offering: ""When a
tech says he's coming right over, go
for coffee.""
Readers can answer a poll question about a current computer concern. In the Babbling Area, the site's
writers ramble on about personal
topics in a kind of geek diary entry.
While heartfelt, the Babbling Area is
not especially interesting (unless,
perhaps, one knows the writer).
Much more enlightening are the
several sections of the site devoted to
technical issues with Windows 98.
Tips for solving software version
conflicts, how to speed up a computer's Internet performance and an
explanation of the utility programs
that come with the system can be
found here. A link to the How To page
of Microsoft's own tech-support Web
site is in the site's 98 Support area.
You can also find new shareware
programs from around the Web, as
well as links to articles on other sites
about Windows hardware and software on the site. Parts of Win98
Central are still under construction,
but it's probably a safe bet that these
guys will get their site done before
Microsoft ships Windows 2000 and
they have to change all the logos.
www.ugeek.com
ith its overflowing content,
clean layout, links galore
and intelligent sense of humor, Ugeek is perhaps the mother
lode of techie news sites. Billing itself
as ""the on-line technology resource,""
Ugeek is one-stop shopping for daily
updates on the business, as well as
the practice, of computing. The site
also offers product reviews, tips and
tricks for users, a technical glossary
and scads of other information for
the computer-curious.
Four levels of Geekdom are described on Ugeek's welcome page,
ranging from Beginner Geek (""can
program the family VCR"") to Super
Geek (""can't understand why there
are some people who can't build their
own computer from scratch""). The
site offers something for all levels.
Judging by some of the excited
prose generated by and aimed at
advanced computer users, new computer users may feel as though they
have been beamed right into an episode of ""Star Trek: Voyager.""
Here's an example: ""If you ARE
obsessed with faster Athlons, then
you should check out the Japanese
site that gives instructions for overclocking an Athlon to 700MHz.""
But while Super Geeks may revel
in the section of the site devoted to
minutiae about motherboards, there
is also a newbie-friendly link right on
the front page on how to buy that
first personal computer. Hard-core
fans of PC games and personal digital assistants have their own areas.
Readers can contribute to the
Rants and Raves and to Tales From
the Geekside.
The site produces its
own E-mail newsletter, and you can
even sign up for free Web-based E-mail that offers the user an ""@geek.com"" address.
www.lockergnome.com
ocker Gnome
started life as a
newsletter about Windows 95
shareware, and the site's name
sprang from an old high-school nickname of the site's founder, Chris
Pirillo. For Windows users who want
up-to-date information about hot new
shareware and freeware, games,
bugs, Web sites and industry happenings, the Locker Gnome site provides
an easy-to-read source.
Announcements concerning newly
released software patches and updates for Windows can be found here,
plus an assortment of tips and tricks.
Locker Gnome offers a section devoted to finding the lowest prices for
popular software. The site also operates a readers forum and has links to
back issues dating to 1996.
Even though it is full of information about Windows 95, 98 and NT
and the forthcoming Windows 2000,
one of the most important areas of
the Locker Gnome site is a place
where you can sign up for the free
Locker Gnome e-mail newsletter,
which offers a variety of data nuggets that you're not likely to find
anywhere else online. Subscribers
can choose a daily issue, created in
HTML and sent to their In boxes, or a
weekly text-only digest.
www.macobserver.com
or Macintosh addicts, one of
the most energetic geek sites
on the Web is the Mac Observer, which is updated several times a
day. The site is a full-service online
magazine, with news reports, original stories, opinionated columnists
and editorials that celebrate, cogitate and occasionally berate Apple
Computer's creations.
Slick and well organized, the Mac
Observer (formerly Webintosh)
tracks Mac news from many other
Macintosh and tech-news sites. It
also provides its own commentary on
the issues with a few paragraphs
called the Mac Observer Spin, directly underneath the main story.
Major software and hardware reviews are posted in the site's First
Look section, and there are also plenty of links to articles about forthcoming products and user tips.
The Mac Observer tracks computer-game news and new Mac
shareware, and it has a section devoted to Macintosh conventions and
trade shows. Two years' worth of
past stories are available in an archive. Perhaps as a bit of leftover
panic from the dark days of 1997,
when the company was financially
ailing, the Mac Observer has a
steady preoccupation with Apple's
stock price and includes a daily report on its performance on Wall
Street. The Mac Observer's motto is,
""You'll get your Mac news here from
now on."" With its depth of coverage,
darned if you won't.
www.macintouch.com
created by Ric Ford in 1994,
the Macintouch site provides
Macintosh users with insightful, timely technical information
about their cherished platform.
While many geek Web sites offer
fancy graphics, the Macintouch site
is positively plain: mostly just black
type on a white background.
But that simple layout reminds
you that Macintouch is there to provide pure, no-frills information, and
the site has a solid reputation among
Mac professionals. It's a great
source for news about viruses, software bugs and new products.
In the last few years, Macintouch
provided users with detailed reports
about problems like the Autostart
virus and security glitches with Microsoft Word.
With Apple Computer releasing
upgrades for its operating system
software once or twice a year, Macintouch also takes a microscopic
look at each new version and provides its readers with precise documentation on fresh features, as well
as quirks, bugs and conflicts.
Although Macintouch is aimed
mostly at Mac pros, the site does
have a spin-off area called iMacintouch, which is devoted to Apple's
colorful and curvaceous (as well as
profitable) desktop computers. The
iMacintouch area also contains product reviews and news, with plenty of
attention devoted to new Macintosh
software and hardware.
It's not quite as fancy as some
other Mac sites, like Macfixit
(www.macfixit.com) and Apple Links (www.applelinks.com), but
Macintouch (and iMacintouch) is a
great tip sheet for Mac mavens.
www.slashdot.org
rue to its motto -- ""news for nerds; stuff that matters"" --
Slashdot is a site that truly
revels in its high-geek factor. While
not as comprehensible to computer
neophytes as other sites, Slashdot
serves as a gathering place for power users to share knowledge, answer
questions and post comments.
Several feature stories are posted
each day, and the site gets hundreds
of submissions a day from its readers. Although Slashdot is heavily focused on the Linux operating system
and programming concerns, there
are plenty of general-interest computer tidbits posted.
Slashdot was created in 1997 by
Rob Malda, a computer science undergraduate at the time, and was
bought this summer by Andover.net,
a company that provides resources
for Internet professionals. Malda
still maintains the site and writes
quite a bit of it.
The personalities of the writers
come shining through the HTML.
Slashdot encourages readers' responses and has a real community
feel to it. Instead of gossip sessions
among neighbors leaning over the
back fence, however, these discussions focus on things like personal
computer networking and computer
science graduate schools.
One of the livelier areas is the Ask
Slashdot page, in which questions
range from the highly technical to
the purely philosophical. On one recent day, the page offered discussions about playing PC games
through corporate firewalls.
Related Sites
These sites are not part of The New York Times on the Web, and The Times has no control over their content or availability.
cnet.com
Wired News
ZDNet
Macfixit
Apple Links