KEEPING UP TOOLS

The hottest trend on the Internet at the moment is bringing news you can use to you when you need it and want it. This comes in several forms -pushed to you, pulled by you, or in bots which do the work for you. You can go to a customized website, tailored to you or have information emailed to you.

Here are some of the best of each. Special thanks to Chet Burgess of CNN, Bill Dedman of the Chicago Sun-Times, Bob Hirschfeld at KTVU in Oakland, Ca., Chris Sherman at About.com, the folks at Botspot.com and Doug Oard at the University of Maryland for their help in finding some of these sites.

FREE TOOLS: There are hundreds of alerting tools that can save you time. But be warned, be very selective in signing up for regular e-mail newsletters or alerts. Or you will find yourself overwhelmed with alert notifications. Same goes for customized web clipping services.

Tired of culling through dozens of newspapers before you've even gotten your morning coffee? German reporter Marc Fest may have an answer in his new aggregation tool, Quickbrowse. This free web service allows you to decide what newspapers or web sites you want to read. These are then downloaded in one very long browser window. You scroll down, clicking on the interesting headlines, and these stories are loaded on another page, in the background. When you finish, you click over to this other page, which has all the stories, again in one long page, which retains the look and feel of each original publication. This is a major timesaver and is one of the best new innovations for finding things online.

This service allows you to select customized news summaries and headline reports. Users can choose to have the headlines delivered in an E-Mail message at specified times throughout the day.

Another compilation of headlines, from a wide variety of sources, with the ability to search, customize and also can be delivered to you by email. It draws material from the best news places around the country, like the LA Times and Washington Post and is very easy to use.

This is a truly amazing collection of news resources -you can get all of the news headlines -but only headlines -in over 250 categories, mostly from business, internet and news-relates subjects.

The New York Times sends daily email with stories from the sections you prefer. A great way to read the newspaper while you are traveling and can't get it, or to build electronic files. For more focused New York information, you can also use the Times' New York Today (www.nytoday.com) as a customized page.

This search engine company offers an excellent and less strenuous way to keep informed. You must subscription to the free Search Alert service, which promises to send you an e-mail message when related info pops up in cyberspace.

A pop-culture version of daily alerts from the folks at ZDNETand Yahoo Internet Life, with an irreverent sense of humor.

ABCNews.com will send you the days top headlines, in a personalized email from anchor Peter Jennings. You need to subscribe at the abcnews site.

MSNBC will also send you top headline alerts. They will also send you info about Notre Dame football, an update from talkshow meister Don Imus and gossip news from Jeannette Walls as well. All by email alert.

Dave Pell's free email newsletter focuses on technology stories and as a venture capitolist, he puts his own spin on things.

Another technology-oriented alert, the Industry Standard's Media Grok keeps you up to date on the latest news involving the internet and technology.

Want Local news from WPSD-TV in Paducah, Kentucky?

The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition provides personalized email alerts based on your selected news subjects, if you already subscribe to the Online edition of the Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones Interactive, www.factiva.com, a combined Dow Jones and Reuters News Services, also offer full-text online alerts as a pay service and customized pages.

Dow Jones Business Information Services also offers continually updated business news publications, online research services, clipping/tracking/alert services, personal finance and investing products and services as well as other Dow Jones sites. This site costs money but is affordable.

The Street.com offers top of the line business coverage including email alerts twice daily, based on your preferences. But it costs $9.95 a month including complete access to the site after a 30-day free trial.

This email alert will sent you magazine articles headlines based on your topic selections via email. You need to have a subscription to get the full articles. But E-Library has an extensive collection.

This excellent alert system searches hundreds of newspapers and using the keywords you choose will give you full-text of news stories. It comes in your email and is somewhat costly. But it is extremely thorough.
Also: Tradeweb, a new service from Dialog, is a great collection of trade statistics. If you follow trade news, Dialog will email you alerts when new trade-related data is available. But it is not free.

Lexis-Nexis has incredibly deep resources. You can set up a customized page and get full-text of newes stories related to subjects you care about. They will also email you alerts with the latest headlines on those subjects. But you must go to their pages to get the full-text. And subscriptions are expensive.

FishWrap, which is doing an experimental electronical newspaper system at MIT, and turns it into an up to the minute customizable news cast from the A.P., the San Francisco Chronicle and others Bay Area partners and alerts you by email.

Eric Bernatchez' alerting program -you must download it -- automatically loads ANY web page (typically, online newspapers) every morning and wakes you up when it's ready.

AdHound employs an intelligent agent that will search the classifieds hundreds of newspapers across America on a daily basis. When AdHound finds a match for the item you are looking for, it will immediately e-mail you the relevant classified ads!

A new variation on intelligent news agent. This one talks, learns and explains things to you, but uses synthesized speech. So for now, it is currently limited to using Microsoft Internet Explorer's recent versions.

 

These pages are ones you personalize for your own needs. You still have to go to the page to retrieve your news.

Information in the index is gathered from various news sources, such as the Associated Press and Business Wire. Content is constantly refreshed throughout the day. Options include the ability to sort news by date or relevance, and to narrow searches to within predefined categories and time spans.

Another excellent news-only search service. Recently added a personalization tool (www.wired.com/newbot/personal_agent.html) to send you what you want, quickly.

CNN news resources pulled together in one place with you setting out the priorities.

News Index takes news stories from hundreds of sources, worldwide and refreshes itself almost hourly. The goal is to refresh the index once per hour.

Search results are powered by News Index. News can also be browsed by topic. This site is particularly good for technology-related pages and is constantly being updated. Better for more current news.

Excite's news-only search service. This is a personal favorite, especially for the way can train the service to learn what you like by news topic.

Allows you to send a query to one or more news sites from one location. Hundreds sites are listed, by country and by category. It has many international resources on its pages, but only lets you select up to 20 at a time. The downside is its category driven and you can only search for news within its categories. But the site remembers what you selected before. This one is useful, but not easy to use.

Customized news resources.

Covers newspapers and other selected media from Germany, as well as worldwide. You do need to speak German for this one.

CRAYON is a tool for managing news resources on the WWW resulting in a news page customized for you with daily information of interest. Not sent by email.

An excellent news searching tool. The more I use this, the more I like it. It is mostly US-based resources.

The Canadian News Index gathers information from over 300 Canadian news sources daily. To use the service, simply select the appropriate option on the AltaVista Canada homepage. It appears just above the search box.

Excellent new tool for finding breaking news.

Directory that lists magazines from all over the world. It also takes you to the magazine web site, if available.

Top headlines delivered through Pointcast constantly on your desk or into your browser using Internet Explorer. One real benefit of this page is that it lists the time of day the stories came in. The downside, is that it only covers the previous day or so.

Offers a daily compilation of headlines, with links to articles, mostly on Internet and computer-related subjects.

The SelectSurf News Watcher is a Java Applet which will keep you updated of the latest news throughout the day. As long as your Internet connection is available, the News Watcher will keep checking back with the site to get you the latest headlines from around the world. You can also do this for weather, sports and finance. Or You can sign up for email alerts on all of those subjects.

 

Alerts -mostly through email --are used in a variety of different fields. The field, called Current Awareness Tools by some.

The online book seller will notify you by email of new books published on subjects you specify. So if you like mysteries, you get notified of the newest and latest mysteries. This is also a valuable research tool, to background authors and find experts on specific subjects.

Want to follow your favorite music group's tour and find out when they will be coming to your town. Register with Pollstar and they will email you with details. The site is also searchable.

Find the sales and specials at local stores, catalogs, online merchants and some auction sites. Then, based on your preferences and area, SaleSeeker, emails you a personalized weekly Sales Update!

Reuters Moneynet and Schwab.com allow journalists, for example, people to set up a portfolio containing the stock symbols of all the public companies that are major players in his/her specific market, and that would ensure at least daily alert of any news items relating to those companies. Business folks can do the same to monitor rival businesses and individuals can do this to monitor his/her stock portfolio.

This is an incredible collection of demographic information from the U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration, this site provides excellent local and regional data. The best part is the users' guide, which show you how to find what you are looking for. Email alerts are also available for registered users.

This email alert, from Infonautics will help you track changes in web pages and SEC filings from public companies. It notifies you by email. You can also track key words on specific pages.

Edgar-Online takes information filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and will email you when new filings are filed by the public companies you are following. This site, by the way, also allows you to search for people listed in the SEC filings.
FREE EDGAR (www.freeedgar.com) will also notify you by email when new files are filed at the SEC on public companies.

A different twist on the email alert. The 10-k wizard site will notify you if a specific word or phrase shows up in a filing.

CBS Market Watch, which follows the markets and is a leading business coverage site, will send you the day's top business news by email alert, but you must register.

Want your stock alerts sent to your pager, cell phone or palm pilot-like device, Stock-Alerts.com will do that for you.

Prefer them by email? Try FREE STOCK PICKS.

STOCKS@CLOSE NSIWEB's e-mail delivery of the day's winners and losers of the stock exchanges. It's a once-a-day email.

Many companies offer email alerts of the day's top computer and Internet news. Way too many to list here. A couple of the best are listed here.

A unique email alert service, the folks from Carnegie Mellon University monitor all viruses and computer bugs. Need to know about the upcoming Melissa virus or whatever's next, this is the place to find out.

This site, co-owned by NBC and CNET, is one of the best places for computer-info, especially new products and the latest downloads.

Another of the leading computer publication leaders, IDG will send you email alerts on many aspects of computers and internet-related information. You must register and fill out a detailed profile form.

ZDNET will provide you downloadable software that constantly updates you through the day on the latest news about all things related to computers as well as stocks and the latest news. In addition, ZD will alert you on all kinds of other computer-related news.

Tip World provides email alerts on all kinds of computer-related topics -everything from cool website of the day to hot tips on how to use specific software to hottest pieces of shareware and free downloads.

The Society of Environmental Journalists, the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation and the National Safety Council's Environmental Health Center provide a terrific bi-weekly list of story ideas for reporters.

A non-profit environmental group compiles environmental stories from various Web news sites. What makes this so valuable is that they list the source of the report, so you can assess its credibility. You can do the same thing with many of the other news-related alert tools. But these folks have already done the work for you. Also most of the major environmental activism groups, like the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and others also have email alerts.

You need to subscribe to the EPA's mailing list, but the government agency has dozens of these on all kinds of topics, including regional information to specific subject alerts. topical issues.

Almost all government agencies have email alerts. Here are some of the more informative.

The Census site is so chock-full of information that the email alerts are constantly full of information. There are four main ones -product announcements, the press releases of new data, a feature ideas and a biweekly announcement. If you are concerned about census happenings, these are extremely helpful.

The General Accounting Office is an independent government agency that has become the investigative arm of Congress. Every day the agency releases reports highlighting federal problems and provides Congress the information it needs to provide oversight for the federal government. These reports are loaded with information about specific programs and regions of the country. A must-read list if you pay attention to federal government workings.

Want to know about disaster relief, declarations and notification in your region of the country. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's email alert is the one to receive.

If an earthquake hits your home area, you won't need the Internet to let you know about it. But the National Earthquake Information Center will notify you when a large earthquake hits anywhere on earth (large means 5.5 on the Richter scale or more).

HealthScout is personalized health news for you and your family. The sign up allows you to receive personalized daily health headlines - free and absolutely confidential.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has mailing list alerts on more than a dozen subjects related to health and medicine.

The National Prevention Information Network is an AIDS clearinghouse with daily email alerts about sexually transmitted diseases, funding, AIDs and other health concerns.

The AAAS, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) offers scientific research papers for reporters and editors only.

The National Science Foundation sends out E-mail alerts of all new publications, or those customized to your interests.

Whether it's a report about contaminated food or a potential shock hazard from an electrical appliance, the Recent News section of "SafetyAlerts.com" promises to let you know about it fast.

The National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine puts out an email alert for the latest medical news.

The National Criminal Justice Reference Service offers access to all kinds of Justice Department information and statistics on criminal justice. For Juvenile Justice information, get on the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse list (ojjdp.ncjrs.org/about/juvjust.html).

Want to see what the Supreme Court has ruled? Cornell University puts out full Supreme Court opinions by email alert shortly after the High Court rules.

A free Web journal providing current, comprehensive articles and resources for legal professionals and law librarians on research, and other related subjects. Also offers email alerts.

News affecting state and state governments sent to you by alert from the Pew Center on the States.

Former Federal Election Commission staff members Tony Raymond and Kent Cooper have created an incredibly rich, detail-oriented campaign finance resource. In addition to federal candidates details, contributors and all kinds of information about campaign finance, you can get email alerts on FEC contributions.

The Center for Responsive Politics, an advocacy group in favor of campaign finance reform and open-reporting of campaign money, also has a killer database of campaign finance information. They too will send out email alerts about the latest news on campaign issues.

Note: Almost every airline has an email alert, send out mid-week to notify you of fares available for that weekend. It's a great way to find quick bargains. Among the other airline alerts are ones that monitor more than one airline. Here are some of the best.

Check out Expedia's Flight Wizard. It requires registration.

1Travel.com includes bargain fares, and will let you know them by email.

Look for the Deal Alert newsletter.

Alerts you to airfare deals. They will also send you updates on flights and weather reports to your pager if you want.

Internet Scout Report and Net-happenings One of the best alert services to find new sites on the web -sites selected by librarians and experts. Truly excellent.

Tara Calishain's excellent weekly newsletter on Web research

Net-Mind offers an email alert service that updates you when specific web-pages you select are updated. A great way to monitor rival companies.

This will alert you when there's news on one of the news groups you are following on the Usenet portion of the Internet. May be a helpful way for manufacturers and companies to assess product impact and reaction on new products.

Free jokes, usually once a week, but not always.

Need the Surfing Report for San Diego, Ca? You can be notified by email.

Voice Mail and email alerts with voice for the traveler.

Looking for jobs and can't check websites daily? Have job openings emailed to you directly.

Job alerts: About.com's J. Steven Niznik has pulled together a superb collection of job alert notifications mostly by region of the world.

Forget a birthday, an appointment, or to take your medicine? Remind me will notify you a few days before, or well in advance. Arsdigita has an answer.

Need to be reminded when you should move your car from the wrong side of the street? Another reminder from Arsdigita will notify you about street cleaning and opposite side of the street parking.

Want to know the latest information about different amusement parks and recreation spots around the US -everything from the latest roller coaster spots to the latest wild adventure rides from Park World magazine by email alerts.

Yahoo has a series of alerts including notifying you about auction sales, personal reminders, auto sales, news alerts, sports and traffic by geographic region.

Want to know about specific teams and specific leagues?

CBS Sportsline, one of the top Sports pages on the web has a downloadable sports ticker that constantly updates you with the latest sports scores. US-focused sports.

This is a customized sports page, not an alert. It crawls the Web looking for news about your favorite sports team and presents the results on a single page. It searches on-line sources such as ESPN.com and The Sporting News as well as dozens of local newspapers.

Set up an email alert for Football, baseball, basketball, soccer and other sports from this service.

Worried about a sudden hurricane or earthquake? Be notified by email for sudden weather problems in your area by location or geographic area.

Snow reports for skiing in Wisconsin? WISC -TV's local ski reports by email and the National Weather Service local reports for all Wisconsin counties.

Austin, Texas -weather alerts

For master lists of newspapers and broadcast sites:

Don't know where to look? Check these excellent newsroom Web Guides:

Want something a little more off-beat? want a digest with a more offbeat flavor. Try two from Jim Romanesko's excellent pages. His mediagossip.com follows journalism stories about reporters you might not see or notice elsewhere. His wonderfully quirkly obscurestore.com is one of the best collections of weird and funny stories found on the web. Definitely worth checking out regularly.

Still want more alerts and bots? IN ADDITION TO CUSTOMIZED PAGES AND ALERTS, THERE ARE BOTS AND OTHER VALUABLE INFORMATION FILTERING RESOURCES. There are four superb resources:

Check out this Information Filtering project being conducted by a library science assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Doug Oard, which connects you to all kinds of information filters, both commercial and free ones. For the scientifically-oriented.

This is the comprehensive list of all bots -personalized intelligent agents that search for your specific requests on key subjects and do much of the work and thinking for you. Definitely click on the list of all bots and see how creative people are using intelligent agent technology.

Also, Check out Bill Dedman's excellent collection on his Power Reporting site...

... Or John Makulowich's terrific Virtual Journalism site and its page of news alerts.