FEWER DOT-COM ADS THIS YEAR

With the football playoffs in high gear, the Super Bowl can't be far away.

But don't look for the big influx of dot-com companies on this year's commercials.

www.wired.com

There's an interesting story by Jeffrey Terraciano at the Wired Web site that points out 17 of the 36 companies that advertised in the 2000 Super Bowl were Internet companies. And it wasn't cheap. A 30-second advertisement during last year's Super Bowl on ABC cost an average of $2.2 million. It's $2.4 million this year.

Of those 17 companies, seven are defunct or have merged with other companies, including Pets.com with that cute little sock puppet. The volatile market has apparently made Internet companies a little more cautious.

The commercials last year did give a boost for the Internet. I remember one lady called me the week after and asked me exactly what a "dot-com" was.

The name is literal. The addresses of these companies end in a ".com" which indicates a commercial Web site.

This year, CBS is predicting that only 12 percent of the companies advertising for the Super Bowl will be Internet companies as compared to 47 percent last year.

Wired is a great site to read the latest Internet industry news. They've been around for a long time, and they know what they're talking about.

Another interesting story at Wired talks about the improvements at the IRS site.

The IRS is finally making its electronic filing process paperless. In the past, you still had to mail a paper signature form to the IRS. But that's apparently changed this year.

www.irs.gov

Beginning this year, you can file a totally paperless electronic tax return by using a Self-Select PIN that you create at the IRS Web site. There's a good FAQ that will tell you if you're eligible for the electronic filing.

Don't forget to check out the new and improved Frequently Asked Questions section. It won't be too long before businesses hand out the W-2 forms.

Are you the kind that files early or waits until the last minute? My husband and I have filed earlier the last two years with the convenience of online filing. I also like the fact that taxpayers that file electronically get their refunds in less than half the time of paper returns.

Another popular government Web site these days is the Missouri Attorney General. That's where you can sign up for the No-Call Telemarketer list, and it's been getting a lot of attention.

www.ago.state.mo.us/nocalllaw.htm

You can actually register online or if you'd rather, there's a phone number to call. The process takes only a few minutes.

However, make sure to read the FAQs. This law doesn't take effect until July 1, and it won't prevent all telemarketers from calling you.

The biggest loophole is that the law doesn't cover the telephone companies.

How did that happen? The phone companies are a major headache in the telemarketing game.

Signing up won't prevent those who have a current business relationship from calling you either.

Just a word of warning: If you sign up for any contest or give-away, you're probably giving your permission -- read the fine print -- for a company to call you.

It works the same way on e-mail. If you register at a Web site, be prepared for lots of e-mail. And don't be surprised if they sell your e-mail to other companies as well. If I do register, I give a free e-mail account -- not my home e-mail. Save that account for family and friends.

The law doesn't allow business numbers to be included in the list. You can even read the entire Senate Bill from the site. You must sign up by May 1 to be included in the first list sent to telemarketers. After that, the Attorney General's office will send the new list every three months.

I've also found several other government sites that could prove very helpful for surfers.

One is called GovSpot, and it's a collection of many different government Web sites. It's easy to navigate and packed with information.

www.govspot.com

You'll find the information divided into such categories as "Must See Sites," "Related Spots," "Shortcuts," "Lists" and "The Pulse." The latter is links to such information sites as op-ed pages, polls, columnists, talk shows and newswires.

The "You Asked for It" category provides information on such topics as "Where can I learn about the Bush transition?" or "How can I dispute my credit report?" You can also quiz yourself with government trivia. For example, how many people will the new president appoint? According to the site: Of the 6,722 people who work for the executive branch of the government, the president will appoint about 1,200, including cabinet members, ambassadors and U.S.

Attorneys. Interesting.

I also enjoyed glancing at the winners for best state and local Web sites, along with warnings about "Dot Con Artists."

www.hicitizen.com

This Web site boasts that it will make "government easy for you." Now that's a big promise, but there are plenty of government forms and information at your fingertips. I also like the fact the internal search engine is powered by my favorite, Google.

You can find such top government forms as: registering to vote, applying for a Social Security Card or replacing your card or changing your address with the U.S. Postal Service.

Many of these government Web sites provide information in a PDF format. That means you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these documents. This program is free, and takes a short time to download. It's probably worth your while to have the form if you're going to visit many government sites.

The beauty of PDF files is that they look like the original file, but they're searchable.

Of course, the government Web site that I am on most often has nothing to do with complex government forms. It's the United States Postal Service. I look up zip codes nearly every day on this Web site because it's easy.

www.usps.com

Click on the "Find Zip Codes" link on the top red bar to search for zip codes.

I use the bottom part of the link to find zip codes for a city as opposed to the zip-plus four code. Make sure you choose the "Default" code for the one used most often in a city.

You can also find out about the new postal rate from this page. Yes, it's 34 cents as of this past Sunday. The cost of mailing a postcard remains at 20 cents, but the International rates also went up.

There's lot more you can do on this Web site, including tracking your packages, changing your address or calculating rates.

What's your favorite government site? E-mail me at jonia@sehosp.org.

See you in Cyberspace.

Joni Adams is the Webmaster at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau, www.southeastmissourihospital.com