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Irish Picks: July 2000

Welcome to Irish Picks for July! If you know of a site we should cover, don't keep it a secret.
Just contact our Editor, Sheila McDonald, and one of our reviewers will check it out.

It's big, it's healthy, and it might just help you live longer. VHI Health-e is the new encyclopaedic health information web site for Ireland, courtesy of the Voluntary Health Insurance board. These people take their portal title seriously: the site is bursting with useful information on things healthy and unhealthy, including a disease database and interactive resources on men's and women's health, such as helpful guides to tell whether a friend is anorexic or bulimic. Clickable maps let you track down doctors in your area, and a special feature lets you receive personalised health info by email and online, tailored to your health interests - all without any particular pressure to purchase VHI insurance services. If you're seeking one of the best health sites Ireland has produced, stop looking.
If a family holiday is in your future, you could do worse than check out Parsons Green, a self-catering group of holiday homes tucked into the Tipperary countryside. The web site is as bright and happily chaotic as the family vacation itself: blinking buttons and children's games are thrown together with a nice gallery of the accommodation, countryside, pet farm, and more. Parsons' "free stuff" bin includes an equally eclectic set of goodies: download a Euro converter, quiz questions on Ireland, or the all-important Dancing Leprechaun Screensaver, complete with hillbilly banjo music. Go figure.
For anyone braving the wilds of the Irish property market, Mortgages Online gives you a quick estimate of just how punishing your home repayments will be. Taking mortgage information from all the top lenders - including AIB, ICS, First Active and Irish Permanent - the site lets homebuyers enter house and mortgage amounts and select from a wide variety of repayment periods and options. A detailed form then lets you request 24-hour approval (in principle). A currency converter is also featured, plus a handy link to DNG estate agents for the latest residential property listings.
Looking for an online computer goods shop on Ireland? This attractive new shop from Avida Online might have the goods you need. Office and graphics software, consumables like disks and backup tapes, plus essentials like antivirus software are also featured, along with a small selection of computer games. The site is also building up a group of Ask the Expert tutorials, including a guide to replacing the RAM in a computer. For all its fetching design and layout, though, the site at times feels like less of a shop and more of a showcase for the InCommerce software powering it. It's not clear whether Avida's real motive is to sell the shop's products or to sell its own core e-commerce software.
Nothing says "my web site won an award" like an award, and this year's National Internet Business Awards are giving Irish sites a chance to do just that. Hosted by Web Ireland magazine and Ireland's Domain Registry, the awards accept paid nominations online in categories like Best Financial Web site, Best Online Advertising Campaign and Best Use of WAP Technology, plus free nominations in its E-lection people's choice awards. For a blast from the last century, check out the archived webcast from the 1999 awards from Dublin's Burlington Hotel.

Sites Featured in Irish Picks:

VHI Health-e - new health portal for Ireland.
Parsons Green - family holidays in Tipperary, leprechauns not included.
Mortgages Online - home truths about home mortgages.
Avida Online - Ireland's new online computer and software.
National Internet Business Awards - recognising excellence in the Irish Internet.

Previous Irish Picks of the Month:

[ June 00 | May 00 | April 00 | March 00 ]