Connection protocols
Cheating the network
Web browsers
Web browser plug-ins
FTP
Newsgroups
Net utilities
30 great multi-player games!
Personal Web Sharing
Getting pushy
Even large firms like Microsoft, Adobe and Macromedia are giving away software simply because they want you to use it. That way, they reason, they can make a living from selling electronic publishing software to creators who want you to see their material.
Our Net directory looks at the bargains you can enjoy, as well as the software you need to get the most out of your connected Mac. Use the guide's live Web links to connect to any of the home pages we've listed. (You'll need a live Internet connection to use the links.)
http://www.xmission.com/~morrison/AoI/home.html
The cheater's digest for persuading network games to operate over the Net.
BrowserWatch
http://browserwatch.iworld.com/
Monitors new developments in Web browser and plug-in technology.
Networkable Mac Games
http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/netgames/
Essential tips and advice for playing games over a network or over the Net.
Pure Mac
http://www.eskimo.com/~pristine/
Dozens of network and Net programs are listed among a comprehensive survey of Mac software.
Most crucial of all are the various pieces of software which make the connection with the Net and make sure any information you send or receive is translated correctly. A TCP program is essential: it translates your Mac's signals into the TCP/IP format the Internet operates around.
PPP (Point to Point Protocol) and SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) are the programs that actually establish your connections; they both work in similar ways, but your Service Provider's account will only use one system. Don't try using a PPP program with a SLIP-based account, or SLIP with a PPP account. You won't need either system if you use a LocalTalk or Ethernet connection through a network at work or college.
Free from the FreePPP Group
http://www.rockstar.com/ppp.shtml
One of the most popular and efficient versions of PPP, FreePPP gives your modem a stable and reliable connection.
InterSLIP
Free from InterCon Systems
SLIP is an older and less elegant way of achieving the same task as PPP establishing your modem connection. The maker of this version of SLIP isn't developing it any further, but it remains the favourite SLIP program among the Net community.
MacIPX
Free from Novell
http://www.novell.com/intranetware/products/clients/clientmac/
Designed by network specialist Novell, IPX is a networking protocol like AppleTalk, but it's useful to have when you want to link your Mac to PCs, as it works on both types of computer. MacIPX is of course the Mac version; any PCs in the network will need to have their own version installed. Several games written for both Mac and PC offer an IPX facility so you link up several computers for network play. See our "30 great multi-player games" box for more details.
MacPPP
Freeware
PPP alternative with two different versions - use version 2.0.1 with MacTCP and 2.5.3 with Open Transport.
FTP link for MacPPP 2.0.1 ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/comm/tcp/conn/mac-ppp-201.hqx
FTP link for MacPPP 2.5.3 ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/US/Macintosh/Networking-Communications/Other_N-C/MacPPP_2.5.3.img.hqx
MacTCP
No longer available
Now superceded by Open Transport, MacTCP was the piece of software System 7 users needed to establish their Internet connection. It was included with System 7.5 until Open Transport made its debut. If you have System 7.5 or 7.6, we recommend using Open Transport 1.1.2 or later. Although it's no longer available from Apple, you may still be able to find MacTCP with copies of the Internet Starter Kit book by Adam Engst. Some Internet Service Providers may also offer as part of their software packages.
Open Transport
Free with System 7.5 or 7.6
http://devworld.apple.com/dev/opentransport/
The communications system found in every new Mac and Mac-compatible, Open Transport brings together AppleTalk, TCP/IP and several minor networking protocols into what's become a seamless whole (after a bumpy bug-ridden start).
Open Transport/PPP
Free with the Mac OS
http://devworld.apple.com/dev/opentransport/ppp.html
Apple's official PPP protocol for Open Transport.
Sonic PPP
Free from Sonic Systems
http://www.sonicsys.com/sonicppp.html
PPP Control Panel.
From £58; from Computers Unlimited on 0181 357 5857
http://www.unlimited.com/
Apple's ingenious piece of software enables you to link up to another Mac through AppleTalk even though you're not in the same room or building. Instead, you can link to it through a modem, enjoying file sharing and other features. The Mac you connect to needs to have either of the server versions of ARA installed; the single-connection version costs £175, while a version which accepts 16 simultaneous connections costs £939. The client version of ARA, which gives you access to the server, costs £58.
IPRemote
Freeware
FTP link: ftp://munnari.OZ.AU/mac/arns_mac/ipremote.1.0.1.hqx
Extension to enable you to play games with no TCP/IP facility (Marathon and Descent, for example) over the Internet.
IPTnnl
Freeware
http://users.accessus.net/~countian/IPtnnl.hqx
Extension to enable you to play Links Pro over the Internet. Only works with MacTCP - not Open Transport.
NetLink Remote
Shareware
http://users.deltanet.com/users/axly/
A high-speed modem protocol, Joe Kloss's program is designed specifically to handle the constant flow of information Internet games require. It's the best chance you have of getting demanding games working over the Net.
SurfDoubler
£116 from A M Micro on 01392 426473
http://www.vicomtech.com/surfdoubler/surf.main.html
If you have two Macs but only one Internet account, you can use SurfDoubler to get both Macs on the Net. Use LocalTalk or Ethernet to link up your Macs, and SurfDoubler will enable you to use Web browsers, e-mail and so on through whichever of the two Macs has a modem connected to access the Net.
TCPSerial
Freeware
In many ways the ideal partner for NetLink Remote, TCPSerial enables your Mac to send AppleTalk signals through a modem connection, making it possible to play games like Marathon, which was designed purely for AppleTalk network playing, over the Internet.
Vicom Internet Gateway
Contact A M Micro on 01392 426473
http://www.vicomtech.com/vig.main.html
Like Surf Doubler, Vicom Internet Gateway enables more than one person to share a single modem connection. Internet Gateway can serve three, five or even ten people, depending on which version you buy.
The ability to show Web pages, though, remains the most vital feature of your browser. Every Web page is based on a format called HyperText Markup Language (HTML), which Web browsers are able to interpret to display the text and images you'll see on-screen. The World Wide Web Consortium has defined an official format for HTML to enable every browser to show every page on the Web, but real life isn't like that; so the most-used browsers are those which can show the additional formats devised by Netscape, the firm behind the most popular browser.
The Web itself is the Internet's equivalent of a magazine stand, with thousands of publications available; it's just that unlike magazines, these publications can show up-to-the-minute news and display video and animation. Few have the depth and legibility of the best magazines, although the two media are existing happily side by side yet another prediction for the death of paper gone away.
Free with an AOL account
The AOL browser gives you exclusive access to the AOL Internet service's own pages, but doubles up as a Web, e-mail and newsgroup suite as well.
CompuServe
Free with a CompuServe account
Like AOL, CompuServe offers pages of material you can view only if you're one of its customers, using its own CompuServe browser. The service uses a modified version of Microsoft Internet Explorer for Web browsing.
Cyberdog
Free from Apple
http://cyberdog.apple.com/
Now included free with System 7.6, Cyberdog's distinctive asset is that it's part of OpenDoc. Apple's component software system enables Cyberdog to work within any other OpenDoc application, which include word processors and spreadsheets. With Cyberdog, it's easy to use information from the Net actively within your work, updating your spreadsheet chart with the day's share figures, for example.
Cyberdog is actually a suite of individual components. Several of these duplicate the Web, e-mail and newsgroup facilities you'd expect to find in a browser, but there are also some surprises, such as the tool which enables you to construct your own customised Internet browser, with illustrations and clickable buttons. (See MacFormat 49's cover feature on component software for more details on OpenDoc.)
Internet Explorer
Free from Microsoft
http://www.microsoft.com/ie/
Internet Explorer is Microsoft's attempt to match the Netscape juggernaut that's gathering steam as more people join the Net community; and it has found a devoted following, leading to an energetic "Which is better?" debate among Net users. As the name suggests, the Internet Explorer suite gives you a full range of tools: the Explorer browser itself takes care of the Web and FTP, while Internet Mail and News handles the more chat-oriented services of e-mail and newsgroups.
Netscape Navigator
Netscape
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/products/navigator/version_3.0/index.html
The world's most-used Web browser, Netscape Navigator offers a full set of Internet features. It downloads Web pages quickly and efficiently, interpreting all the enhanced HTML Netscape itself devised. You can also see FTP sites, newsgroup areas and even gopher sites with the browser, making Navigator an all-purpose tool. The program also includes an e-mail facility.
Netscape is now using Navigator's popularity as the launchpad for a more expansive vision of Net software it calls Communicator.
Most plug-ins are designed to display a specific multimedia format, whether it's QuickTime video or Adobe's Portable Document Format, which bypasses HTML to display pages using different fonts.
Practically every plug-in available is free; the idea is to encourage you to enjoy different experiences through the Web and to persuade multimedia designers there's such a huge demand for a particular format that they should invest in software to design work using the system. Microsoft Internet Explorer is also able to use Netscape plug-ins and has its own plug-in standard to boot, although there are far fewer of these available.
If you plan to use plug-ins, make sure you allocate more memory space to your Web browser. Click once on the main browser program's icon to highlight it, then select Get Info from the File menu and add 1,000K to the program's Preferred size.
CD: works with Cyberdog
IE: works with Internet Explorer
NN: works with Netscape
Acrobat Reader
CD, IE, NN
Free from Adobe
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/main.html
Acrobat Reader enables you to view any document designed in the Portable Document Format (PDF), which moves past the limitations of HTML to use any combination of fonts and type sizes in its pages.
Crescendo
NN
Shareware from LiveUpdate
http://www.liveupdate.com/crescendo.html
Crescendo enables your browser to play MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) files made by musicians around the world normally you'd need a sequencer or other type of music program.
Envoy
NN
Free from Tumbleweed
http://www.twcorp.com/plugin.htm
Like PDF, Envoy is a type of portable document anyone can read with the help of this plug-in.
Fractal Viewer
NN
Free from Iterated Systems
http://webber.iterated.com/fracview/fv_home.htm
Browsers are unable to display every type of image format, but are instead restricted to GIF and (with a modern browser) JPEG. Net users agreed on these formats because they can hold a comparatively large amount of picture information in a small file, making downloading images over the Web quicker.
Iterated's Fractal Viewer aims to improve on these standards by using fractal mathematics to compress image sizes down even further. You'll need this plug-in to see the images, though.
HotSauce
CD, IE, NN
Free from Apple
http://hotsauce.apple.com/
It's the nature of Web browsing for it to feel like a two-dimensional experience always moving across from page to page, never digging deeper. HotSauce uses Apple's Meta Content Format to give you a 3D view of the Web, enabling you to delve into sites' folders as if you were negotiating an asteroid field in space.
ichat
NN
Free from ichat
http://www.ichat.com/
This plug-in enables you to enter live chat areas and join in conversations with other Web users.
InterVU
NN
Free from InterVU
http://www.intervu.com/prevu.html
This plug-in enables Netscape to play back video clips recorded in the high-quality MPEG-1 format.
Live3D
IE, NN
Free from Netscape
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/products/navigator/live3d/
This ambitious PowerMac-only plug-in admits you into 3D environments. The idea is to create interactive 3D games, chat rooms where you can see 3D representations of the other guests and more; but the slow connections most people have limit the technology severely. One for the future?
Look@Me
NN
Free from Farallon
http://www.farallon.com/www/look/ldownload.html
With Look@Me, you can improve communication with friends or work colleagues with the ability to view each other's screen through your browser.
MacZilla
IE, NN
Shareware from Knowledge Engineering
http://www.maczilla.com/
A multimedia all-rounder, MacZilla enables the playback of QuickTime and MPEG movies as well as the AVI video format, plus MIDI files and the sound formats AU, AIFF, WAV and MP2.
MIDIPlugin
NN
Freeware
http://www.planete.net/~amasson/midiplugin.html
As you've guessed from the name, Arnaud Masson's plug-in can play MIDI music files, but that's only its least exciting feature. For MIDIPlugin is the ultimate in Web interactivity a karaoke player! Now your friends and you can gather round your Mac to sing along to "Hotel California" and other rocktastic smashes through Netscape.
PNG Live
IE, NN
Free from Siegel & Gale
http://codelab.siegelgale.com/solutions/png_index.html
Will PNG produce the Web images we deserve? The World Wide Web Consortium is working with commercial companies to develop the new file format, which should become as universal as GIF is now, but offer more colour and smaller file sizes. Designers should appreciate PNG's alpha channels, which will enable them to create sophisitcated imagery more easily. For the moment, though, you'll need this plug-in to assess how effective PNG promises to be.
QuickTime Plug-in
CD, IE, NN
Free from Apple
http://quicktime.apple.com/
Perhaps the ultimate in multimedia players for the Web, Apple's QuickTime plug-in comes with every copy of Netscape Navigator 3.0, but it will work in other browsers. The plug-in enables you to see QuickTime movies and QuickTime VR environments within a Web page, as well as other video and sound formats.
RealAudio
NN
Free from Progressive Networks
http://www.realaudio.com/
One of the most ubiquitous of proprietory players (systems which can play only one specific file format devised by a private company), RealAudio brings the immediacy of radio to the Web. You can download live or recorded audio to lsiten to. The sound is streamed onto your Mac, which means it downloads continuously in the background, ready to be processed by the software to give you a smooth playback. Most new video and audio plug-ins use a similar principle, including the forthcoming RealPlayer, which will add video playback capabilities.
RealSpace Viewer
IE, NN
Free from Live Picture
http://www.livepicture.com/html/viewers.html
Enjoy incredibly detailed virtual reality with this viewer plug-in.
Shockwave
CD, IE, NN
Free from Macromedia
http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/
One of the best-established specialised formats on the Web, Shockwave is a multi-faceted format able to display several different types of interactive media. Each is based on a design program from the Macromedia stable: Shockwave for Director, for example, enables you to view and use interactive multimedia productions and games, while Shockwave for FreeHand presents maps and diagrams you can zoom in and out of.
Sizzler
CD, IE, NN
Free from Totally Hip
http://www.totallyhip.com/
Most of the animation you'll see on the Web will be based on the GIF image format, but you can't make very large animations with this without them taking a long time to download. While you can't see animations in the Sizzler format without this plug-in, you should enjoy a better production quality.
Speech Plug-in
CD, IE, NN
Freeware
http://www.albany.net/~wtudor/speechinfo.html
Make your Web pages talk!
Talker
CD, NN
Free from MVP Solutions
http://www.vivo.com/products/products.htm
An alternative plug-in for making Web pages talk.
VivoActive Player
IE, NN
Free from Vivo Software
http://www.vivo.com/products/products.htm
Watch video clips through your Web page. The idea behind this system is that it's easy for the video producer to set up his video sequences on his Web server.
Vosaic
IE, NN
Free from Vosaic Corporation
http://www.vosaic.com/
Audio and video plug-in.
VRML Equinox
NN
Free from North Plains Systems
http://www.northplains.com/EquiInfo.html
Uses QuickDraw 3D to enable PowerMacs to display VRML virtual worlds.
Whurlplug 1.0
NN
Free from Apple
http://quickdraw3d.apple.com/Whurlplug.HTML
Based on Apple's QuickDraw 3D graphics system, Whurlplug enables your PowerMac to display 3D models within a Web page. You can even click on them to move them round on-screen.
Shareware
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~sgreene/emailmerge/index.html
If you want to send out similar messages to many people but would like to personalise each one, EmailMerge will help you set up a mail merge just as you would in a program like ClarisWorks.
Eudora Light
Free from Qualcomm
http://www.eudora.com/eudoralight/
An established favourite, Eudora is the the most widely-used e-mail program in the world, with an estimated 18 million people using either this free version or the commercial Eudora Pro. Eudora Light gives you all the basic features you need to send and receive e-mails and attachments.
Internet Mail and News
Free from Microsoft
http://www.microsoft.com/ie/
E-mail and newsgroup reader that comes free with the Internet Explorer Web browser.
Mailstrom
Shareware
http://www.treestar.com/mailstrom/
http://www.treestar.com/mailstrom/
Mailstrom uses IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) to enable you to store e-mail on a server. This way, you can access your messages through a remote access system like Apple Remote Access, reading saved messages from any location without having to transfer them to your own hard drive.
NotifyMail
$18 from NotifyMail Software
http://www.notifymail.com/
Monitors your e-mail connection and alerts you when you've received new messages.
QuickMail Express
Free from CE Software
http://www.cesoft.com/quickmail/qmexpress/
A stripped-down free version of QuickMail Pro.
Shareware
http://www.share.com/peterlewis/anarchie/index.html
Excellent program for handling FTP transfer, as well as the less-used Archie protocol.
Fetch
Shareware
http://www.dartmouth.edu/pages/softdev/fetch.html
Fetch is a member of the Internet establishment, a favourite of many people for downloading software over FTP. You can also use it for uploading placing software onto a site for others to access. Fetch is easy to use and especially useful for transferring groups of files at once.
NetFinder
Shareware
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~pli/netfinder/
NetFinder avoids one of the biggest drawbacks of FTP the way you have to start downloading from scratch if there's a problem with your connection or with your Mac.
Some groups are poorly moderated as well, so you can waste time reading a lot of junk material. Find a good group, though, and Usenet will become invalauble for making new contacts, enjoying the cut and thrust of a good debate and finding out useful information.
Free from Microsoft
http://www.microsoft.com/ie/
E-mail and newsgroup reader that comes free with the Internet Explorer Web browser.
MacSoup
Shareware
http://www.inx.de/~stk/macsoup.html
This handy news reader enables you to download new messages and read them later off-line. It also handles e-mail, and will start up Eudora or Claris Em@ailer for you if you prefer to read messages through these programs.
NewsWatcher
Freeware
http://charlotte.acns.nwu.edu/jln/progs.html
The most popular Usenet newsreader for the Mac, NewsWatcher comes from John Norstad, who's also produced the excellent virus dectector Disinfectant. A program with a elegant and simple interface, NewsWatcher is now public domain, which means other programmers have been free to adapt the program code to improve on the way Norstad left it. There are two major enhanced versions of NewsWatcher:
Multi-Threaded NewsWatcher (formally version 2.3.1)
Freeware
http://www.santafe.edu/~smfr/mtnw/mtnewswatcher.html
MT-NewsWatcher enables you to carry out several actions at once, downloading new messages from one group while you read through another set, for example.
Yet Another NewsWatcher (version 2.4.0)
Freeware
FTP link: ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/comm/inet/ya-newswatcher-240.hqx
YA-NewsWatcher adds new features including the ability to filter out unwanted subjects in the newsgroup listings.
£29.99 from Softline on 0181 401 1234
http://www.aladdinsys.com/cyberfinder/index.html
Many Net programs (such as Netscape for the Web and Fetch for FTP) enable you to save the locations of your favourite sites. CyberFinder goes one better: you can use this Aladdin utility to list all your most-visited locations, bringing the Web, FTP and e-mail together into one list you can arrange as you please into folders, much like you'd arrange files in the Finder.
Internet Config 1.3
Freeware
http://www.share.com/peterlewis/ic/index.html
You'll have to enter in the complex details of your Internet addresses every time you use a new Net program for the first time unless you get Internet Config. This invaluable program retains all the details you enter into it, and communicates these to any program you install which is designed to recognise the utility. The list includes NewsWatcher, Claris Emailer, Fetch, CyberFinder and many more.
IPMonitor
Shareware
http://www.skytouch.com/soft/mac/ipmonitor.html
Handy program which simply displays your Mac's IP address, helping you copy and paste it into your nNet software's Preferences windows to establish a connection.
IP NetMonitor
Shareware
http://www.ultranet.com/~psichel/demo/readme.html
http://www.ultranet.com/~psichel/demo/readme.html
Utility for tracing your Net activities.
MacTCP Monitor
Freeware
http://gargravarr.cc.utexas.edu/mactcp-mon/main.html
Shows you how busy your TCP/IP link is at any given moment.
MacTCP Switcher
Freeware
http://charlotte.acns.nwu.edu/jln/progs.html
Helps you set up and keep several MacTCP settings, for when you're connecting from different locations, for example.
Navigator Button Editor
Shareware
http://loki.ups.edu/skylar/wares/index.html
Netscape's Directory Buttons option gives you six instant-access buttons to Web sites the Netscape firm has chosen as the most useful for your needs. If you'd prefer to make your own choices, Skylar Stein's Button Editor will enable you to edit the labels and destinations for these buttons.
NetBots
Shareware
http://www.printerport.com/klephacks/netbots.html
Send out agents to track activity on the Net and alert you when a certain action happens. a NetBot could tell you when a Web page has been updated, for example, or when a colleague's Net connection is open.
Net-Print
Freeware
http://www.luminet.net/~dmoe/
Save paper whenever you print out a Web page; this utility enables you simply to highlight a selection of text on any Web page and print out only that material.
Plug Master
Shareware from TaDPoL Software
http://www.tc.umn.edu/nlhome/g019/tils0007/tadpol/
If you like to use many plug-ins but your Mac only has so much memory, Plug Master will enable you to pick which plug-ins your copy of Internet Explorer or Netscape will load before you run it, saving valuable RAM. The principle is a lot like System 7.5 and 7.6's Extension Manager, which helps you manage your System Folder.
WebArranger
£81 from Computers Unlimited on 0181 357 5857
http://www.cesoft.com/webarranger/webarrangerpage.html
This add-on for Netscape manages your use of the popular Web browser, enabling you to compile groups of every Web, FTP or news site you've ever visited. WebArranger's URLAgent will monitor your favourite pages to let you know if there are any changes.
WebFree
Shareware
If you're tired of waiting for a Web page to download beacuse of the animated adverts at the top, you can use WebFree to control Netscape so no adverts appear. You might also screen out images or unwanted links, for example.
Most of the games listed here work through a conventional AppleTalk internal network, but if your Mac shares a network with other types of computer, you may also be to link up through TCP/IP (typically reserved for Internet use, it can also work over internal networks). Some games are also ready-made for Internet play using MacIPX. You can use programs like NetLink Remote to coax other titles into working over the Net, but the result is likely to be too slow to be playable.
| Game | AppleTalk | TCP/IP | MacIPX |
| A-10 Attack! Outpost Cuba | 2-8 players | - | - |
| Abuse | 2-8 players | - | - |
| Apache Longbow | 2-8 players | - | 2-8 players |
| Avara | 2-6 players | 2-6 players | - |
| Bolo | 2-16 players | 2-16 players | - |
| Close Combat | - | 2 players | - |
| Command & Conquer | - | 2-4 players | 2-4 players |
| Damage Inc | 2-8 players | - | - |
| Descent | 2-8 players | - | 2-8 players |
| Descent II | 2-8 players | - | 2-8 players |
| Doom II | 2-4 players | - | 2-4 players |
| Duke Nukem 3D | 2-8 players | 2-8 players | 2-8 players |
| F/A-18 Hornet | 2-4 players | - | - |
| Hexen | 2-8 players | - | 2-8 players |
| IndyCar Racing II | 2 players | - | - |
| Mah Jong Parlour | 2-4 players | 2-4 players | - |
| Marathon | 2-8 players | - | - |
| Marathon 2 | 2-8 players | - | - |
| Marathon Infinity | 2-8 players | - | - |
| MechWarrior 2 with NetMech | 2-8 players | 2-8 players | 2-8 players |
| Nascar Racing | 2 players | - | - |
| Prime Target | 2-8 players | - | - |
| Spaceward Ho! | 2-20 players | - | - |
| Terminal Velocity | 2-8 players | - | - |
| Virtual Pool | 2 players | - | - |
| WarCraft | 2 players | - | 2 players |
| WarCraft II | 2-8 players | 2-8 players | 2-8 players |
| Weekend Warrior | 2-6 players | - | - |
| Worms | - | - | 2-4 players |
| ZPC | 2-8 players | - | - |
An Intranet uses the formats of the Internet, such as the Web and e-mail, within an internal network. For example, your company could create training documents which anyone could view over your network using a Web browser. PWS sets up the network connections you need to share an Intranet and helps you place material in the right location to be read by others. Unlike the Internet, though, you don't even have to learn the Web's HTML format to create your material. You can place your everyday word processing or spreadsheet documents in a Web Pages folder where up to 16 people at once can view them through their Intranet browsers.
Of course, you can also use PWS to set up a sophisticated Web environment using HTML authoring tools. Look out for more details on PWS in future issues of MacFormat.
Push software is usually free; after you've downloaded a progran, it will work invisibly whenever you open your Net connection, gathering any new material from the channels you've subscribed to. You can then read or watch it (there are video channels as well as text) at your convenience, even after you've disconnected.
There's a choice of push providers, each with its own software and selection of channels. You'd expect to find a lot of computer news channels, but there's more to push than industry gossip. Here are three services to get you started:
http://www.backweb.com/
Over 40 channels (direct from the US and Europe) include American Singles, Astrology Net, House of Blues and computing and business services.
The Mac Channel
http://www.macchannel.com/
Available only as a preview version at the moment, this single-channel provider intends to send you up-to-date news and briefings on the Mac scene, with sources including Apple, Power Computing, Motorola and the Reuters and Business Wire press bureaux.
PointCast
http://www.pointcast.com/
This US-based service offers 25 channels including The New York Times, The Boston Globe and sports, lifestyle and health programming.
