'Spying' online

Special delivery. Forget surfing the Web; let the information
come to you. Sign up at Spyonit.com
to have an Instant Spy let you know when your favorite old movie is
going to be rerun on TV in your area, if there's a job listing on the
Web that's exactly what you're looking for, news and comments about a
stock you're following, a recipe you're trying to find, recall of a baby
product you've bought ... well, the possibilities are endless. You can
choose to be notified by Instant Messenger, cell phone, Palm Pilot and
pager, as well as e-mail.

If you'd like to keep up with all the new websites devoted to
something that interests you, ask Axie
to let you know what it finds. It searches the more than 30,000 new
sites that are launched each week and notifies you with URL and
description when it finds sites that match your hobby, profession or
other enthusiasm.

The eyes have it. The premise at Hillary's Eyes is that the reason
so many people don't like Hillary Clinton isn't her views on health-care
reform or any other topic, but her eyes. There's a gallery of more than
50 Hillary photos that feature the first lady with various expressions
and funny (but sometimes R-rated) captions underneath. You can also try
writing your own caption or play kooky games.

College fairs take to cyberspace. In the past, college fairs
traveled from one city to another to let high schoolers around the
country talk with representatives of various colleges. Now 200 colleges
and universities have signed up for a series of national fairs to be held on
the Web -- where many teens feel most at home. College-bound teen-agers
can chat online with students, professors and admissions officers at
schools they're considering. The first Internet college fair takes place
Thursday, Oct. 19, from noon to 3 p.m. EDT (9-noon PDT), and there will
be 10 more between now and April 18, when they end.

Speaking of choosing a college, did you know that students can sign
up for the SAT online and get quick e-mail confirmation of where and
when they'll be taking the test, instead of anxiously waiting for a
letter to arrive? Find out more from the College
Board.

Around the world in 300 days. The BT Challenge has been
called the world's toughest yacht race. Twelve boats set out from
Southhamton, England, with the goal of sailing around the world in 10
months. To make it more difficult, they're going "the wrong way." That
is, they're going west to east. The first of their seven worldwide ports
of call was Boston, the only stop in the U.S. There, I got to see the
yachts and talk with some of the crewmembers before they left yesterday
on their way to Buenos Aires, Argentina. This is pretty much of a
British Empire effort -- lots of English, Scottish and Australian
accents. One crewmember told of hitting the end of a hurricane in the
Atlantic and having the boat lie flat on its side. On the BT Challenge
website you can see pictures and
video of such exploits as well as track the progress of the yachts, read
journals of team members.

Gone fishin'. Ken Schultz, the fishing editor of Field and
Stream, points out that there are more than 50 million recreational
anglers in the U.S. And he aims to help them with every conceivable
aspect of their hobby at his new website, KenSchultz.com. The site is divided
into sections -- species of fish, equipment, techniques, destinations,
new anglers and so forth, with new articles on each topic every week.
Currently, there are more than 500 articles in the Miscellany, ranging
from "What's a lunker?" to all about fish attractors.

I hear voices. Text-to-speech technology is still evolving,
but that doesn't mean you can't have some fun with it, thanks to the
folks at Bell Labs/Lucent. At their Text-to-Speech
Synthesis site, you select a voice from eight choices ranging from
woman to gnat to coffee drinker, type in some text, choose your audio
format, then listen -- and probably laugh. There are also German,
Mandarin, Spanish, French, Italian and Pig Latin(!) text-to-speech
pages, as well as presynthesized files you can listen to, including
songs (you haven't lived until you've heard "Country Road" in Chinese).

Upstairs, Downstairs and beyond. "Masterpiece Theatre"
(actually, it's now "ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre") has launched a website that explores the
long-running TV series' 30-year history. You can get information about
current productions, enter the interactive archives to find out more
about any program aired in the series and even listen to the theme
music.

Spooktacular costumes. If you're interested in making
Halloween costumes instead of buying them, FabricLink's Halloween Costume Closet
offers plenty of ideas. You can even sign up to have 14 easy, no-sew
suggestions e-mailed to you instantly.