As I live in a small village in France with very few chances to watch movies in English I'm anxiously awaiting the time when I'll be able to download videos whenever I want across the Internet.

For a glimpse of how far along the technology is for most folks go to Yahoo's election site at http:/dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/US/P residential--Election--2000. Scroll down to the video section and click on "Presidential Debate''. Right now, while I'm writing this article, I've got the rerun of the first debate between Vice-President Al Gore and George W.

Bush.

Sure the screen is small, but across my ISDN line this streaming video is good and the sound is clear. The only problem is the player doesn't allow me to skip the boring parts and move ahead in the re-run.

Of course if this technology is going to give consumers good quality movies then there's going to have to be higher capacity lines put in for the industry to develop. Such technology is currently being tested in the US and elsewhere, but until then the rest of us will have to depend on relatively slow downloads and small clips. It's great for watching news you may have missed, for example.

Most Yahoo! and CNN news coverage now include a link to videos you can watch for major stories. To view the main types of video available over the Internet you'll need to download the main three types of video players: Microsoft Media Player (http://windowsmedia.com), Real Player (http://www.realplayer.com), and Quick Time (http://www.apple.com uicktime).

Here are a few sites to start you off. At http://winetoday.com/harvestwatch2000 you can view live webcams of wine makers at work. The site was especially active during the wine-harvesting season in France where the site creators had four webcams installed at four wine producers. Viewers were able to see wine production through all the stages.

And at http://www.ifilm.com you can view entire video clips, ranging in length from six to 50 minutes, that filmmakers have created especially for web viewing. In addition you can see trailers to movies that have just been released.

My favourite is http://www.adcritic.com where you can see some of the most innovative, and often funny, advertising clips from sources around the world.

Try the www.beer.com "Pull my finger'' ad (which spoofs all those serious hi-tech commercials), and the Breast Cam exam from the Cancer Society which makes its point effectively. By the way if you want to save the files for future replay go to your "temporary Internet'' files folder or do a search of your system. The files are stored by your browser in your cache. Simply move them to another storage folder.

If you think the business you're working for is on top of technology make a submission to the PC Magazine's Trailblazer Awards. The winners will be announced for 11 categories in the April 2001 issue of the magazine.

There's even an award for the Tech Horror Story which I imagine certain employees may want to make a submission for -- go on, it's only a job.

The categories are collaboration, customer relations, high-speed communications, human resources/benefits/payroll, knowledge management, sales management, security, wireless communication, and tech horror story.

You can fill out a nomination form at http:/www.zdnet.com/pcmag/trailblazers.

Entries must be received by October 15.

The issue over creating new top level domains (like .com, .org, .net and .gov) has reached new heights of ridiculousness. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has released the list of applicants who'd like to sponsor new top level domains to ease the congestion over the creation of new names. Many have applied to offer the much-coveted .biz, .web, .kids, and .sex domain names. In all there are about 100 suggested names ranging from .ads to .zone. One company has asked for control over the suggested .dot top-level domain. Go to http:/www.icann.org to see the list. Perhaps now I soon have a chance to secure my name once some of the suggestions are approved.

I guess Cable & Wireless does listen! Only weeks after this column criticised the company for blocking Internet telephone services in the Caymans and suggested the "boys in the backroom'' come up with one of their own, they went out and did it.

On October 2 Cable & Wireless announced it was transforming its entire network in what will be the telecommunications industry's largest global voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) programme during the next three years.

Wow! And I gave them the advice for free.

Tech Tattle deals with topics relating to technology. Contact Ahmed at ahmedelamin yhotmail.com or (33) 467901474.