Let the Telegraph serve you!

UNHAPPY with your current Internet Service Provider? Or want to get online but need to find a provider? Then we can help.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph is now offering access for just £7.50 a month plus VAT, or £75 plus VAT if you sighn for a whole year.

The service is being provided for Newsquest Lancashire by VIP Ltd and includes unlimited usage, local dial access, 10 free e-mail accounts and 10Mb of web space, plus access to a help desk 24 hours a day.

PC users will need Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows NT4, a CD-ROM drive and a modem connected to a telephone line. Minimum system requirements are a 486 DX processor, 16Mb of RAM, 33Mb (48Mb during installation) free hard disc space. Mac users will be connected over the telephone by our help desk.

For more details, visit our site: www.thisislancashire.co.uk

French missing; survey on Net use in Europe

THE Internet seems to be single-handedly keeping market research companies in business.

Every week brings news of another survey on net usage, often contradicting the findings of the last one.

And still no-one has ever asked for my opinion!

Anyway, the latest survey claims Britain is becoming a nation of technology whizzkids and out-clicking its European counterparts when it comes to the Internet.

The survey found a third of respondents currently use the Internet. In Britain, use has more than doubled over past two years.

In contrast, Internet-phobia is rife in France, where only 17 per cent of people use the Internet, with most feeling it is irrelevant to them. But France does also have the well-established Minitel electronic information system.

The survey also says Europeans favour an independent body to regulate the Internet, while US respondents do not. Britain, America and Sweden are extremely interested in voting via PC or television. Germany and France would be happier banking this way.

And Britain is the only country where a majority feel safe purchasing over the Internet.

John Hughes film fans' fun

JOHN Hughes has been associated with some of the most popular movies of the last 20 years.

His teen classics of the 1980s - including Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club - made stars of the "Brat Pack" actors (although with the exceptions of Matthew Broderick and Matt Dillon, most have returned to obscurity).

Other movies like Uncle Buck, starring John Candy (pictured), and the Home Alone series brought his work to family audiences.

There's a guide to the man and his work in The John Hughes File at:

http://www.riverblue.com/hughes. As well as the usual film lists, biography and trivia, there's a "goofs" section which will make you want to watch all the films again to see where the continuity fell to pieces.

Band names bonanza

YOU'VE got the songs, you've got the look - all you need is a name and you'll be set for stardom.

Bands in search of an identity could do worse than check out Gorby, the Generator of Random Bandnames.

The site - featuring a pic of the former Russian leader with headphones on - does exactly what its name suggests.

My personal favourite? Mozart and the Lumpy Flippers...

http://www.irz.com/robin/bandnameprogram/

Warped humour and problems

IF like me you always turn to the problem page first in magazines you'll like Miss Abigail's Time Warp Advice page. It offers advice from old books on etiquette, relationships and household matters as solutions to modern day problems. You can submit questions of your own, browse through other people's problems or take a look at Miss Abigail's own personal favourites.

Her latest gem is on how to cope with an errant husband. Maybe Hillary C should log on!

http://www.kreative.net/timewarp/

Technical stuff

HOW Stuff Works is another site with a name that says it all.

It explains, well, how stuff works, from car engines and CDs to refrigerators and air conditioning systems.

It could prove invaluable for anyone wanting to bluff their way through conversations of a technical nature!

Website: http://www.howstuffworks.com/

Talk to Val

IF you have seen anything interesting on the Internet, send me an e-mail at vcowan@lancashire.newsquest.co.uk.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.