Web Commerce Fears Are Fading

Mon., May 24, 1999

Compiled By Bill Sallquist

In a new sign that consumers are getting more comfortable shopping on the Internet, online buying is growing faster than online browsing.

The latest Greenfield Online Digital Consumer Shopping Index shows that online buying increased 57 percent between April 1998 and March 1999, while online browsing grew 36 percent.

The survey also showed that nearly three-fourths of people on the Internet today have made purchases and more than half have done so at least three times.

You don’t need to shop, bank or trade online to check out the following new or interesting Web sites:

Picture perfect: If you’re the type who enjoys posing in front of the mirrors found on carnival midways, you’ll probably get a kick out of a Web site that Kodak boasts will “revolutionize the way pictures are seen, manipulated, used and shared on the Internet.”

Special software found at the site enables you to turn ordinary photos into cartoons, make new photos look like heirlooms, morph portraits into one of many animals and perform other feats of photographic magic.

http://www.kodak.com/go/play

Holiday primer: The Memorial Day holiday, observed next Monday is the traditional kickoff for summer activities.

If you’re looking for ways to spend the holiday, pointers on outside dining or just want to get up to speed on Memorial Day history, there’s a wealth of information just a mouse click away.

The site is one of several in a suite that includes others on topics ranging from camping to museums and zoos. They all use the same naming convention.

http://www.4memorialday.com

R is for reading: If “junior” doesn’t show the same enthusiasm for reading as for video games, there’s a new Web site that might help.

The site is brought to you by the Sylvan Learning Foundation, the same folks who developed Sylvan Learning Systems, which operates about 750 learning centers.

Aimed at elementary school students, the Web site is part of a free reading program.

Kids create reading lists from a collection of more than 3,000 titles and then log on to take quizzes on what they’ve read.

http://www.bookadventure.com

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Web Commerce Fears Are Fading

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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