Newsletter No. 77
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Free Pint
"Helping 33,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
ISSN 1460-7239 14th December 2000 No.77
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Dr. Pita Enriquez Harris
FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"A Look at Online Auctions"
By Ina Steiner
BOOKSHELF
"Mining For Gold On The Internet:
How to find investment and financial information on the Internet"
Reviewed by Caryn Wesner-Early
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Horseracing on the Web"
by Christopher Webber
EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/141200.htm
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>>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<<
Free Pint is a community of business professionals who use the Web for
their work. Members receive this free newsletter every two weeks
packed with tips on finding quality and reliable business information
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industry news and events, with answers to your research questions and
networking at the "Free Pint Bar" and "Student Bar". This newsletter
is best read when printed out and viewed in a Courier font.
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EDITORIAL
Are trade shows supposed to be quite that much fun? We had a great
time last week at the Free Pint Bar, our pub-themed stand at the
Online Information 2000 exhibition in London. We had queues of people
waiting to try their luck at winning real free pints, and the Free
Pint Players (that famous Irish folk band lead by our very own Simon
Collery) were a real hit with the crowds. Welcome to the many new Free
Pinters who signed up as a result of all the frivolity.
You can find out just how many freebies we gave away in the "Free Pint
Fact" a bit lower down, but we were also telling visitors about our
new UK Company Research gateway in partnership with ICC. This service
certainly seems to have struck a chord with our membership since its
launch in the last issue, with hundreds of searches taking place on
the first day alone. I would urge you to have a look since it's free
to search and view basic company details, and you can purchase more
detailed information immediately with a credit card without setup or
subscription fees:
http://www.freepint.co.uk/icc
Never one to be shy of a promotional opportunity for Free Pint, I'm
flying off shortly with the BBC to spend a week trying to survive in
the wilds of North America somewhere. If you're in the UK then you may
have seen a TV programme called "Bare Necessities" where six strangers
from two occupations (e.g. three nurses versus three estate agents)
are dumped in the middle of nowhere and filmed trying to build
suitable accommodation and sanitary amenities. There are various
challenges, including preparing and cooking dead animals, and the
teams are scored on their team spirit and achievements. This is a
major personal challenge for me and you can find out how our team fare
when the programme is aired on BBC2 in the new year.
I hope you enjoy today's Free Pint, which is packed with the regular
mix of articles, reviews and tips. Since this is the last edition of
the year I'll shortly be sending you the handy Free Pint Index which
you can keep as your quick reference guide to all our content over the
last three years.
I hope you have a super Christmas and New Year break and we'll see you
on the 4th of January. If you don't receive another Free Pint
newsletter after this one then you'll know that I didn't do too well
surviving with just the bare necessities.
Cheers
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc
Founder and Managing Editor, Free Pint
e: william@freepint.co.uk
t: +44 (0)1784 455435
f: +44 (0)1784 455436
Free Pint is a trademark of Free Pint Limited
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
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>>> Research a UK customer or competitor <<<
http://www.freepint.co.uk/icc/
Search over 1.6m UK companies and view basic details free within
seconds. If you require more detail then purchase statutory and
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fees. Reports displayed immediately on our secure server.
Try a search today at http://www.freepint.co.uk/icc/
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Dr. Pita Enriquez Harris
* The Standard - My favourite source of news, articles and metrics
about the Internet industry <http://www.thestandard.com>. I am
addicted to the mobile edition! The new European edition has just
been launched at <http://europe.thestandard.com>
* Moreover - I primarily use this for its terrific news search engine,
complete with WebTop and InfoSort search-refining technology.
Unlike most news aggregators, Moreover has good coverage of the
British press <http://www.moreover.com>
* Avantgo - The best web application ever for an information junkie.
It allows you to download web pages to your Palm/Handspring for
reading offline <http://www.avantgo.com>
* Backflip - Instead of just bookmarking a site, I Backflip it. That
way I can find it again from any computer, and also search the
content <http://www.backflip.com>
* FilmUnlimited - A favourite Avantgo channel of mine. Excellent
content laid out brilliantly for the mobile device user!
<http://www.filmunlimited.co.uk>
Pita Harris is a director of The Oxford Knowledge Company
<http://www.oxford-knowledge.co.uk>, which develops content for Web
sites using a combination of technology and human experts.
Tell us about your top five favourite Web sites. see the guidelines at
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/author.htm> or email <simon@freepint.co.uk>
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** Isabella joined the Internet start-up to end up rich **
If she's not careful, she'll end up dead!
Starting in January, read the first instalment of the
serialised mystery, 'Trouble at Risk-eGames.com' exclusively
presented on the Factiva InfoPro Alliance portal.
http://www.factiva.com/infopro
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>>> FREE PINT ADVERTISER UPDATE <<<
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm>
Free Pint is a great place to advertise. For information simply
sign up for the Advertiser Update, a brief monthly email with
details of special offers, discounts and forthcoming article topics.
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm> or email <ads@freepint.co.uk>
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FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/141200.htm#bar
Free Pint Bar - http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address <http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar/read.php?i=XXXX>]
There was a particularly thought provoking question raised on the Bar
last week: what features would the perfect search engine have (6297)?
A search tool with all the features suggested would indeed be a boon.
However, I would like to see the tool evolve over time with the
collaboration of super searchers, the best search tool developers,
usability experts and search trainers. Many users seem to suffer from
a lack of training and this is not helped by the fact that search tool
instructions are often very poorly written. Also, I suspect that much
development is done without input from those with the skills listed
above. Of course, I could be wrong.
As usual, I looked at several search tools in the past couple of
weeks, a 'vortal portal' (6294), an academic resource directory (6325)
and a collection of search facilities (6215). But finding online
message boards (6344) and mailing list hosts (6246) sounds like a job
for directory browsing. The information is there but you may need to
browse in several directions, depending on what subjects or industries
and what countries or regions you are interested in.
Business researchers have shown some interest in mobile start-up
companies (6233), British supermarkets that have expanded into other
countries (6231) and content provider revenue models (6174). Two good
sources of quantitative data turned up for review, one a detailed
report on US Internet usage (6191) and the other a big collection of
Internet and related statistics and reports (6359). UK sources of
ebusiness information are still being sought (6275) if anyone can
help. And our mystery boozer is still looking for an estimate of the
number of accountancy students in the UK (6330).
Yet again we had some great resources highlighted on the Bar. High
tech company information (6244), film (6239), the automotive industry
(6347), knowledge management courses (6211), ecommerce funding and
grants (6300), the paper market (6194), engineering (6251), herbal
medicine (6284), UK shareware (6349), neuro-linguistic programming
(6159), first editions of books (6252) and finding British contacts in
foreign countries (6173). Many thanks also to the US toper who sent
us the new URL for IBM's patent database (6327).
Oddly enough, some people have been ringing the death knell for
librarians while others have been heralding an age when they will be
more in demand than ever (6167). There have been queries about call
centre charges (6311), information systems department job titles
(6238) and utilization of real time online reference facilities in
libraries (6312), the last two still requiring an answer. Should one
ask a librarian before they all disappear?
We have had techie questions about distribution lists in MS Outlook
(6279), the email editor in MS Word (6320), site monitoring tools
(6250) and FrontPage tools (6221). We've also had a couple of
questions about newsgroups (6234, 6235) and one about setting up Web
cams (6350). The question of choosing an ISP for home use has come
up, not for the first time (6195), and if you know who to complain to
about a British host provider (6230), sock it to me!
What has happened to JustNames.co.uk (6264)? All the sites related to
it seem to be down at the moment. Do you know anything about the
impact of equal opportunities legislation on insurance (6332)? We
have had some pretty miscellaneous questions about Latin translations
(6288, 6314), the theme tune for The Money Programme (6287), the
English meaning of the Japanese 'Five Ss' (6286), the words to a Vince
Vance lyric (6240) and posting job advertisements online (6318). The
great source of pleasure is variety, according to ...
Free Pint Student Bar - http://www.freepint.co.uk/student
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address ]
You can tell that students are on holidays at the moment. The only
questions have been about library work experience (1095) and MBA
action research (1097).
Simon Collery, Content Developer
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Enter your Web address and Free Pint Submit will contact the
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Download your FREE 30-Day Trial of BullsEye Pro, the Ultimate Research
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/141200.htm#tips
"A Look at Online Auctions"
By Ina Steiner
eBay, the largest consumer-to-consumer (C2C) auction site on the
Internet, has proven that online auctions are a viable business model.
eBay categories have expanded from consumer items, such as
collectibles, clothing and electronics, to business items, such as
tractors, medical equipment, surplus inventory and assets from
bankrupt businesses.
Dynamic pricing has become a vaunted buzzword as organizations try new
business models to make the Internet work for them. Dynamic pricing is
any selling situation in which pricing is not static: examples include
- auctions - eBay <http://www.ebay.com>, reverse auctions - Priceline
and demand-based pricing - Mercata
<http://www.mercata.com>. This article examines C2C online auctions
and the tools and services that have sprung up around them.
Online Auction Background
-------------------------
Whether it's cookie jars, antiques or books, most people collect
something. eBay quickly built up a community of collectors when it
started operations five years ago. Visitors to eBay remain on the site
to research items, browse and bid. There are special-interest forums
where people can share their collecting interests and ask for help in
identifying items.
Auction sites make money by charging sellers listing fees and
commissions. Online auctions are similar to "real-life" auctions in
many respects, with sellers taking on the role of auctioneer. Sellers
research the item's value, list the item and wait for would-be buyers
to raise the price with each bid. After an auction has ended, buyers
and sellers communicate directly with each other and arrange payment
and shipping. Once sellers have received payment from buyers, they
send the item as requested.
When the transaction is complete, buyers and sellers are encouraged to
leave mutual feedback that can be seen by all. The feedback system
helps keep people honest, and buyers avoid bidding on items posted by
sellers with negative feedback.
Fraud
-----
Despite feedback systems, problems between auction buyers and sellers
arise due to misunderstandings, deliberate deception and outright
fraud. Companies have sprung up to make the auction process safer.
Escrow companies like I-Escrow <http://www.iescrow.com> and Escrow.com
<http://www.escrow.com> act as middlemen, ensuring both parties live
up to their obligations. There is a charge for using escrow companies,
and many auction users assume the risk of dealing directly with each
other.
SquareTrade <http://www.squaretrade.com> offers a unique service -
online dispute resolution (Roger Fisher, co-author of "Getting to
Yes," sits on its advisory board). SquareTrade provides direct
negotiation between auction buyers and sellers at no charge. If this
process fails, either party can request an online professional
mediator for a fee of 15 US dollars.
Online Appraisals
-----------------
When you think of online appraisals, think "Antiques Roadshow" on the
Internet. Owners can send photos and descriptions of their items to an
online appraisal service. These services don't give true appraisals
since it's a "virtual" inspection, but they help identify the item and
its potential value based on the description supplied. Services like
Eppraisals.com <http://www.eppraisals.com> and Ask the Appraiser
<http://collectingchannel.com/cMart/cesATEIndex.asp> charge 20 US
dollars per item and leave a record of the online appraisal on their
Web site, which sellers can link to in their online auction listings.
Payment
-------
Many users sell from home on a part-time basis. Services have arisen
to allow sellers to easily accept credit card payments from buyers
while keeping the buyers' financial information private. Each of the
major auction sites has its own payment service: Ebay BillPoint
<http://pages.ebay.com/help/buyerguide/bp-overview.html>, Yahoo!
PayDirect <http://paydirect.yahoo.com> and Amazon Payments
<http://payments.amazon.com>.
PayPal <http://www.paypal.com>, owned by X.com, quickly became one of
the most popular payment services in 2000 through viral marketing
using two powerful incentives: free service and generous referral
bonuses. PayPal now charges transaction fees to business accounts, but
the service is still one of the cheapest methods for obtaining credit
card merchant services.
BidPay <http://www.bidpay.com> is another popular payment service.
Buyers supply their credit card information to BidPay, and for a 5 US
dollars fee, BidPay sends a money order to the seller, expediting the
transaction.
Consignment Sales
-----------------
People who don't have computers or Internet connections or who have
hard-to-ship items can use consignment services. Two relatively new
services are myEZsale.com <http://www.myezsale.com> and TIAS.com
<http://www.tias.com>. Just drop the item off and they will take
photos, list the item on an auction site, collect payment, and package
and ship the item to the buyer. MyEZsale.com uses packaging stores as
drop-off points and TIAS.com utilizes antique malls. They both charge
fees and take a commission of the selling price.
Auction Search Engines
----------------------
Auction search engines search multiple auction sites. BiddersEdge.com
<http://www.biddersedge.com> searches over 200 auction sites and lists
all found auctions matching your search criteria. You can further
narrow your search by category (i.e., electronics), auction site,
Merchant Auctions versus Person-to-Person Auctions, auction-end period
(i.e., auctions ending in 30 minutes) and new items only. You must
search eBay separately by clicking a special button, at which point a
new browser window is opened containing eBay's search results page.
Another search tool, PriceRadar.com <http://www.priceradar.com>, goes
beyond the task of simply finding items. PriceRadar.com calculates the
final selling price of similar items that have been auctioned in the
past. The site is still being developed, but promises to have some
interesting price analysis capabilities.
Resources
---------
Online Auction Users Association <http://www.oaua.org> is a membership
group for online auction users. It has a useful tips section for
online auction newbies at
<http://www.auctionusers.org/education.shtml> and a page of links at
<http://www.auctionusers.org/links.shtml>.
There are many companies that provide services such as auction
counters, image hosting, message boards, daily news and the like. My
own company, AuctionBytes.com <http://www.auctionbytes.com>, publishes
a free twice-monthly email newsletter with product reviews and auction
tips. The AuctionBytes Web site also has a daily news feature and a
Yellow Pages directory where users can leave ratings and reviews for
the products listed.
Online auctions have allowed would-be entrepreneurs to set up virtual
shops on the Internet. They have surpassed their reputation as global
"garage sales" and have become efficient marketplaces for consumers
and businesses alike.
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Ina Steiner, MBA, is Editor and Publisher of AuctionBytes.com, a
resource for online auction users. She is also Operations Manager for
BiblioData <http://www.bibliodata.com>, publisher of The
CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research print newsletter for
researchers and librarians. Ina writes about the online auction
industry in AuctionBytes-Update, a free email newsletter available at
<http://www.auctionbytes.com>.
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Related Free Pint links:
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
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>>> FREE PINT FACT <<<
As predicted, last week's Online Information show was a frenzy of
freebies. The final counts are in and we gave away some 3000 free pint
beer mats and 2000 branded bottle openers from Bar sponsors Factiva.
Visitors to the stand tried their luck on our antique one-armed bandit
fruit machine and won some 300 bottles of quality beer and ale, as
well as 300 mini bottles of gin from our information partner ICC. We
have subsequently been accused, quite justifiably in fact, of
encouraging both alcoholism and gambling.
William Hann, Managing Editor <william@freepint.co.uk>
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf
"Mining For Gold On The Internet:
How to find investment and financial information on the Internet"
Reviewed by Caryn Wesner-Early
The book's subtitle tells it all. This is an exhaustive source for
all kinds of financial information, covering everything from saving
for college to day trading. Mary Ellen Bates is an expert searcher of
long standing, and offers clear explanations every step of the way.
This book is aimed at people who are already using the Web, although
they need not be experts to understand it. There are explanations of
general directory sites such as Yahoo and About, repeated in capsule
form throughout the book for those who dip in here and there. Unlike
many other Internet guides, this book also describes helpful
proprietary sites on services such as AOL and Compuserve.
The first chapter provides generally useful tips, such as how to
search back up through the directories at Yahoo (find a known site,
see what directory it's in, and look at other things in that
directory). Bates also mentions a few things that everyone should
keep in mind when searching, such as considering who would care about
a topic enough to create a Web page about it, and evaluating a Web
site for bias.
When she arrives at the main purpose of the book, i.e., finding
investment and financial information, Bates is very specific. She
says, "When you get to this site, click on this, scroll down until
you see that, click on it, and read the section headed thus." Most
financial information sites are fairly stable, so this should be
useful, but it could be confusing if the site has changed since this
book was published.
The second chapter covers broad sources of financial information such
as portals, and recommends some fantasy investing sites for practice.
In ensuing chapters, both free and for-pay information sources are
discussed, comparing them and explaining why a for-pay source might be
worth the money. There are chapters on choosing and analyzing stocks,
and information on bonds, mutual funds, and other investments.
Bates doesn't stop there, though. There is information on monitoring
investment-related news, finding company-specific information, and
discussing these with other investors via chat rooms, mailing lists,
discussion groups, and message boards. Specific information on
finding funds for college covers non-Web resources such as one's own
membership organizations or alma mater, school counselors, military
service, and much more. There is a chapter on investment fraud which
could be worth the price of the book all by itself to those who tend
to believe everything they see on the Web, and finally, a chapter on
choosing an e-broker to handle all these details for you.
The book ends with a useful list of all URLs mentioned by chapter, and
a well-organized index.
Much of this is US-centric. Some might be useful to investors in
other countries, but everything on government information sources and
laws and regulations concerning investment is based on US practices.
With that caveat, however, this book should be useful to people
wishing to use the Internet to manage their finances.
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Caryn Wesner-Early is a librarian, contracted to the US Patent and
Trademark Office Scientific and Technical Information Center. Her
interests include reading and cats, and she maintains a list of
Christmas-related mysteries at
<http://www.321website.com/members/home/data/caryn/chrismys.html>.
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Related Free Pint links:
* Find out more about this book online at the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/mining.htm>
* Read about other Internet strategy books on the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/searching.htm>
* Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071349812/freepint0c>
or Amazon.com
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071349812/freepint00>
* Details: ISBN 0071349812 published by McGraw-Hill written by Mary
Ellen Bates
* Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Bookshelf
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To propose a business-Web-related book for review, send details
to <bookshelf@freepint.co.uk>.
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>>> HELP FOR STUDENTS ON INFORMATION COURSES <<<
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FEATURE ARTICLE
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/141200.htm#feature
"Horseracing on the Web"
by Christopher Webber
With its global popularity and strong ties to a broad range of
commercial enterprises, the Sport of Kings has been keen to embrace
the Internet. Multinational breeding and betting operations; national
organisations and publications; racecourses, trainers and owners; even
specialist local equine dentists and fencemakers - all have latched
onto the information and advertising opportunities the web provides.
As expected, there is a plethora of information out there. The
difficulty is sorting out the wheat from huge quantities of chaff.
Several high profile attempts to develop effective catch-all Racing
Portals - such as "kickon.com", which classically tried and failed to
be all things to all horsy men and women - have spent huge amounts of
money backing their horses at the start, only to fall spectacularly at
the first fence. The best and most useful sites in the UK thus far
have been those which have limited themselves to one area of expertise
only.
Links
-----
The most useful starting points for exploration of Racing's diverse
Internet resources are the collected links pages. On the international
scene, Cindy Pierson at The Mining Co.
<http://horseracing.miningco.com> leads the field by many lengths. She
has some quirks - Scotland and Ireland are gratuitously lumped
together, although Scottish Racing is administratively a part of the
UK scene - but her links are easy to navigate and regularly revised.
For Britain and Ireland, my own Nashwan's UK Racing Links
<http://www.race-horses.com/links/index.htm> are organised into
logical sections and feature descriptive comments and a search
facility. As racing-related sites are almost all national rather than
international in scope, I will confine the rest of this guide to the
UK and the Republic of Ireland. Other countries have a similar pattern
of sites, which Cindy Pierson's links cover comprehensively.
News
----
The Sporting Life is defunct as a newspaper, but its all-sports
website <http://www.sporting-life.com> survives. It is centred on
racing, and features full racecards, instant news and results and
considered editorial content. The Racing Post
<http://www.racingpost.co.uk> has superior in-depth form details. Both
are invaluable, and both are free. Racetips365
<http://www.racetips365.com> is the British arm of an Italian
conglomerate, and offers lively features and comment which are less
apt to toe the establishment line.
Organisations and Clubs
---------------------
Most ruling bodies of the Sport in Britain have bald, anodyne sites.
An exception is the Racecourse Association
<http://www.comeracing.co.uk> which offers practical information on
Britain's 59 Courses, with fixtures, contacts and maps to supplement
their individual websites. Most of those are pretty poor, and very few
offer live audio links on race days, something which is commonplace
now in the USA - though Ascot
<http://www.sporting-life.com/racing/ascot> is a notable exception.
Many Racing Clubs such as Yorkshire Racing
<http://www.yorkshire-racing-club.co.uk> have informative and eye-
catching sites advertising their activities and offers.
Breeding
--------
Breeders come in all shapes and sizes, from global concerns housing
high-price stallions, the pampered Monarchs of the Equine World, down
to small farmers with a couple of mares in the back of the stable
yard. All are keen to advertise their services and/or produce, and
certain Big Players with more money than sense provide some of the
best - or worst - examples of flashturbation on the web. Still,
there's no doubt that graphics as well as hard information can be
effectively wielded to advertise the services of those stallions. The
powerful Coolmore Stud <http://www.coolmore.com> in Ireland and Darley
Stud <http://www.darley.co.uk> in England are leading global players,
and both employ their websites to good effect with online booking
forms and data as well as tasteful eye-candy.
Betting
-------
All the major bookmakers, such as Ladbrokes <http://www.bet.co.uk> and
William Hill <http://www.willhill.com> now have betting online.
Specialist Internet firms such as BlueSquare
have led where the majors were initially cautious to follow. Tipsters
proliferate horribly, and specialist companies offering aid to form
analysts, such as the well-established Timeform
<http://www.timeform.com>, have a solid web presence.
Books, Prints and Publications
------------------------------
Browsers Books <http://www.browzersbooks.co.uk> is the best site for
new and second hand horseracing books, though Weatherby-Allen
<http://www.weatherbys-group.com/turf> is a good online source for
prints and memorabilia as well as expensive official annual
publications.
Trainers, owners
----------------
Many of the "Old Guard" stable masters have been resistant, but
younger trainers such as Ed Dunlop <http://www.edunlop.com> and Mark
Johnson <http://www.markjohnstonracing.com> have spotted the value-
added benefits of swift and effective web communications. They are
expert at presenting daily updated bulletins about the horses in
elegant and swift-loading format. Mark Wilkinson
<http://www.markwilkinsonracing.co.uk> even uploads videos of training
sessions, so that any owners stuck in City Stockbroking parlours can
see how their beloved beasts fared on the gallops that very morning.
Some major owners, such as the all-powerful Arab Oil Sheikhs of the
Godolphin partnership <http://www.godolphin.com> have elegant and
informative advertisement sites. Jockeys have been notably slow off
the mark to self-advertise over the web, although the popular Frankie
Dettori has a neat fan page <http://www.tote.co.uk/frankie.htm> all to
himself.
Horses
------
Surprisingly, anyone needing comprehensive web listings of such things
as champion trainers and jockeys will be out of luck, but at least the
famous Legends of the Turf themselves are well served. Two sites in
particular are beautifully presented, with textual and graphic
illustrations of heroic equine endeavours. Both Famous Racehorses
<http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~sjp22/frames.htm> and Thoroughbred
Heritage <http://www.tbheritage.com/TurfHallmarks/clwinners.htm>
should be marked on everyone's racing Internet cards, and the latter
at least has winner listings of several of the world's great races,
such as The Derby, Kentucky Derby and Grand National.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Christopher Webber is an actor, writer and stage director as well as
Racing enthusiast. His Bluff Your Way at the Races has been a best-
seller since its publication in 1989 and he has written plays and
adaptations for performance at Nottingham Playhouse, Glasgow Citizens'
Theatre, Santa Fe Opera as well as London. As an actor he is noted for
his work in Alan Bennett's plays, and with Sir Alan Ayckbourn at
Scarborough and the Chichester Festival. His Nashwan's UK Racing Links
has been written up in that peerless trade journal Racing Post as "the
best place to start on the Web". He is also the leading British expert
on zarzuela, the Spanish national form of opera or music theatre, and
has written or revised the articles on Hispanic composers for the
upcoming new edition of the Oxford Companion to Music.
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This time two years ago, being that time of year, we also had a review
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About this Newsletter
- Publication Date: 14th December 2000
- Plain text
- Link: https://www.jinfo.com/go/newsletter/77
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