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Net Gains (Dec 23, 97) |
Christmas is the season of goodwill and giving, and people all
over the world have high expectations of online shopping conducted
during this holiday season. Online holiday sales are predicted
to reach 1.14 billion US$ this year.- that's a lot of moolah
! Sadly enough, sitting here in India, there's not much shopping
you can do over the Net as yet. Unless, of course, you have an
international credit card, or at least friends and relatives who'd
be willing to allow you to use their cards… If you're one
of those lucky few, it would do you good to drop into the LA Times site
(http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/CUTTING/t000113451.html)
where there are some great ideas for "Yule Gifts for the
Nerd on Your List" (if you need a recipient's email address
feel free to use mine : [email protected] ). All gift ideas
listed there are strictly related to computers : computer ties,
computer chocolates, mouse and mouse pads, wrist rest, computer
books and even… get this - a can of air !
As for those of us who'd rather not hurt our pockets while getting
into the "spirit of giving", there are a lot of freebies
available on the Net, tailormade for Christmas. For instance there's
a small program called Xmas Lights (under 30K) that has bulbs
that light up the border of your computer screen when executed.
Then there are cards some great multimedia cards available for
download for free on the Net. One of the bigger card sites is
Greeting-Cards (http://www.greeting-cards.com). A cute card from
this site fills the screen with a countdown, followed by the launch
of a space shuttle in the form of a Christmas Tree. Once it reaches
outer space, you can click on the stars, the moon, planets, or
the shuttle for different responses. This is one of the many free
MIGs (Multimedia Interactive Greeting) available at this site,
so check it out…
Hallmark Connections (http://www.hallmarkconnections.com) is
another site that has some great cards that you can browse through.
The animated greeting sections is split into different categories.
Each category gives you a whole list of cards to choose from -
some that cost but many free ones. You need to register with them,
to be able to send cards. A nice, but tedious shopping experience
awaits you here. The cards are sent via email to your recipient
list, averaging about 250 Kb per animated card. I got some neat
(and naughty) cards from this site.
The Net has something for everyone - for people who think these
cards are childish, there are PG rated Christmas cards too - MessageMates.
There's one with an animated female Santa who jumps out of a gift
box, and does a slow strip tease across your screen (naturally,
she's nowhere close to Demi Moore). And if that doesn't interest
you, there's a male stripper Santa too!
Have yourselves a Happy Christmas !