Matthew Jones
If you made a New Year's resolution this year such as losing weight, eating a balanced diet, and exercising regularly, you are in good company: At the beginning of each year, many people decide to change their unhealthy behaviors once and for all, but most of these people have trouble adhering to their new lifestyle. To help you stick with your New Year's resolution all yearlong, you might want to visit the World-Wide Web sites mentioned in this article. And after you have gathered the latest information about everything from aerobics to zinc supplements, check out this month's network resources and games, as well as the new products I have found. (See "Product Snapshots.")
HealthWorld Online (http://www.healthy.net) is one of the most useful health-related sites: Not only does HealthWorld Online provide in-depth information about a variety of topics, but this site also features a graphical interface that makes it easy to find the information you need. The home page for HealthWorld Online displays an image map depicting a virtual health-care complex. By clicking on this image map, you can visit areas such as the Wellness Center, the Health Clinic, and the Library. In each area, you can find resources such as low-fat recipes, advice from exercise physiologists, and online medical references.
HomeArts: Body and Soul (http://homearts.com/depts/health/00dphec1.htm) is another impressive site that offers a wide range of resources. For example, you can read articles about alternative medicine, discover some smart ways to lose weight, and see the research behind today's health news. You can also get advice from medical experts and chat with other users about health-related topics. You can even visit the People's Pharmacy to find pharmacological information, and you can visit Ask a Doctor to submit your health-care questions.
FitnessLink (http://www.fitnesslink.com) focuses specifically on providing information to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle. At this site, you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about nutrition and fitness, including the functions that various vitamins and minerals perform, the benefits and drawbacks of popular diets, and the aerobic and weight-training activities that can help you stay in shape. You can also get tips on how to stop smoking, and you can take advantage of a comprehensive list of links to other health-related web sites.
At Novell's web site for the United Kingdom and Ireland, you can find a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) for Novell products such as intraNetWare, Novell Directory Services (NDS) and GroupWise (http://www.novell.com/corp/intl/uk/tech/faq.html). For example, the list includes answers to FAQs such as "How do I recover my NDS database after the server crashes?" This list also includes answers to selected FAQs from Novell Support Connection's NETW4 forum on CompuServe and from several networking newsgroups on the Internet.
For more information about Novell products, stop by Marcus Williamson's home page, which offers a variety of intraNetWare and NetWare resources (http://www.connectotel.com/marcus). This home page contains links to the home pages of several NetWire sysops and to Usenet newsgroups that focus on Novell products. The home page also features network-related documents such as Time Synchronization Solutions Guide, Login Script Identifiers, and NetBasic Resources, as well as articles Marcus Williamson has written for Novell Application Notes. In addition, this home page provides shareware and freeware utilities that you can download, including the NetWare Serial Number utility and the NetWare Server Memory Calculator utility.
Monopoly Star Wars from Hasbro Interactive is a new twist on Monopoly, the classic board game. Like the original Monopoly, Monopoly Star Wars requires you to corner the real estate market by buying properties, charging rent, and making improvements that increase your investments. However, instead of offering playing pieces such as a shoe, a dog, and a train, Monopoly Star Wars features characters from the "Star Wars" movie trilogy. For example, you can choose from playing pieces that represent Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Darth Vader.
After you have selected a playing piece, you roll the virtual dice and begin moving around the board, purchasing the properties you land on. Although the original Monopoly includes properties such as Boardwalk and Park Place, Monopoly Star Wars allows you to create a galactic real estate empire by purchasing properties on Tatooine, Endor, and other fictional planets. Instead of building houses and hotels to upgrade the properties you purchase, you accumulate fleets of spaceships, such as X-Wings and Tie Fighters, and ports for these spaceships.
You can play Monopoly Star Wars against the computer or against up to three other people. As you play the game, you can view video clips such as combat scenes between X-Wings and Tie Fighters. You can also listen to audio clips. For example, Anthony Daniels, the actor who portrayed C3PO in the "Star Wars" movie trilogy, makes comments throughout the game.
Monopoly Star Wars is available only for Windows 95. You can purchase Monopoly Star Wars through retail channels at the suggested retail price of U.S. $59.95. For more information about Monopoly Star Wars, visit the official Star Wars web site (http://starwars.hasbro.com). You can also call 1-800-242-7276 or 1-508-927-7600.
Age of Empires is a new strategy game from Microsoft Corp. that requires you to guide a civilization from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. You can choose between the Egyptian, Greek, Japanese, and Persian civilizations. No matter which civilization you select, you must help this civilization survive, and you must try to defeat other civilizations as you strive for world domination (an appropriate goal for a game developed by Microsoft).
You begin the game with a town center and a few peasants. You must instruct these peasants to fulfill their basic needs by hunting for food, gathering wood, and building homes. After these needs have been met, you can create more peasants to perform other tasks, such as quarrying stone and mining gold. Although these resources are less important than food, fuel, and shelter, they help your civilization progress by allowing the peasants to develop advanced technologies.
As your civilization acquires resources, you can instruct the peasants to build various structures, such as temples and docks. In addition, you can form combat units to take over neighboring civilizations.
You can play Age of Empires against the computer or against one other person over a modem, network, or Internet connection. If you want to hone your skills before you play, you can follow several training scenarios that show you how to create a dynasty and crush your foes. (A few tips from Bill Gates, perhaps?)
Age of Empires is available only for Windows 95. You can purchase Age of Empires through retail channels at the suggested retail price of U.S. $49.95, and you can download a demo version of the game from http://www.microsoft.com/games/empires. For more information about Age of Empires, visit Microsoft's web site (http://www.microsoft.com). You can also call 1-800-426-9400 or 1-425-882-8080.
NetWare Connection, February 1998, pp. 49-50