THE ONLINE GUY:
E-cards for dates, airline flight slates spice latest Net Notes
Send a last-minute Valentine card; keep an eye on air traffic; and an invitation to check out a new kind of Web advertising are part of the latest version of Net Notes
Everyone with a special someone should have already taken care of the flowers, chocolates, dinner reservations or other flavor of romance for Cupid's feast day. So you procrastinators out there -- yes, you -- click to this site for some of the best free e-cards I've seen.
You'll need the latest version of Flash to see these animated creations, which also include messages in other categories.
If you need to know when to head to the airport to pick up Aunt Martha, or what effect that Midwest storm has on your flight plans, this is the place to go. I've used other flight-tracking services, including those at many of the airline Web sites, but this is my new favorite.
I'd fallen into the habit of using two or three tracking sites, and it isn't uncommon to find time differences of up to an hour, which doesn't do a lot of good. Flight Aware shows it like it is, giving you a look at all the flights headed to or from any U.S. airport.
In addition to commercial flights, the site also follows private, noncommercial planes. All you need to know is the tail number of the aircraft and you can see where it's headed.
It makes a NASCAR racecar look like plain vanilla.
This mess of tiny graphics linking to a hodgepodge of unrelated Web sites supposedly has made the creator a million cool ones.
I just don't get it, but somehow, after recovering from the initial kaleidoscopic assault, I was intrigued by the mishmash and clicked into or scrolled over many of the links.
It's sort of like driving by a bad accident. You slow down because you want to see what's going on, but you're really glad it's them, and not you, out there.
What's your take on this type of Internet advertising? Let me know in an e-mail with the subject: "Million bucks" and I'll share the best comments in a future column.
The final word on the absence of viruses in Apple's Macintosh OS X comes from reader Peter Bowra and Digit Magazine (www.digitmag.co.uk/).
He writes: "Most Mac users gaze on smugly as reports of each new Windows security crisis break. And they have good reason. Research from Sophos PLC showed that 68 viruses have affected the Mac, while 97,467 have affected Windows. Of those 68, most are a decade old or older and don't directly affect OS X."
Tip of the Week
Gmail, now with Chat
(www.gmail.com)
The folks at Google have again broken new ground, as they've combined their e-mail and messenging services into one. The catch? In order to chat with a buddy, they have to have a Gmail account. I'll write more about this later, so get yourself an account and let me know how you like it.
