Already known as a great Internet search engine, Alta Vista recently expanded its offerings to include free email and translation services. The latter allows you to convert text or entire web pages from English to French, German, Italian, Portugese, Spanish, and vice versa. Not only are the translation capabilities something of a marvel, they can also be downright entertaining. Try translating your favorite web page into a foreign language and then back into English; the results are inevitably strewn with bits of found poetry.

Harold Check