Portals offer gateway to infotainment
The dot-com phenomenon is spreading. A growing number of bilingual Internet portals is providing infotainment targeted at young computer fans.
Portal is a new term, similar to gateway. There are general portals and specialised or niche portals. Some major general portals include Yahoo!, Excite, Netscape, Lycos, CNET, Microsoft Network, and America Online's AOL.com.
Examples of niche portals are Garden.com for gardeners, Fool.com for investors, and SearchNT.com for Windows NT administrators.
Typical services offered by portals include a directory of Web sites, a facility to search for other sites, news, weather infor mation, e-mail, stock quotes, phone and map information, and a community forum.
The portal's 18 channels cover topics ranging from entertainment, technology, travel and sport, to romance, business, education and job-hunting.
On the technology site, you can find out about the latest computer products and download links to popular wallpapers and screen savers, game reviews and multimedia development.
There are also opinion polls, chat rooms and public forums to help Internet fans exchange views on current issues or selected topics.
The cityguide (http:// cityguide.hongkong.com/) introduces surfers to the latest Web sites and community events.
The portal will carry items on news, travel, culture and the arts, among others.
Unlike other portals, Tom.com is a more personalised site.
You will have to download a personalised broadcast system, Tomcast, to receive the infotainment you want.
Sina.com and renren.com are two bilingual portals covering Southeast Asia, China and North America.
These major portal sites not only provide free e-mail accounts, but also homepage space and electronic greeting cards at no cost.