The Internet, Intranets, and Extranets - Principles of Information Systems - page 298

medical information can be transmitted over the Internet. People wanting to consolidate
their credit card debt or to obtain lower payments on their existing home mortgages have
turned to sites such as Quicken Loan, E-Loan, and LendingTree for help.
The Internet can also be used to translate words, sentences, or complete documents from
one language into another. For example, Babel Fish Translation ( www.world.altavista.com )
and Free Translation ( www.freetranslation.com ) can translate a block of text from one lan-
guage into another. Some search engines can translate Web pages and allow you to search
for Web sites published in certain languages or countries. Clicking Language Tools on the
home page of Google, for example, provides these capabilities.
The Internet also facilitates distance learning, which has dramatically increased in the last
several years. Many colleges and universities now allow students to take courses without
visiting campus. In fact, you might be taking this course online. MIT is offering all of its
1,800 courses free online. 37 Businesses are also taking advantage of distance learning through
the Internet. Video cameras can be attached to computers and connected to the Internet.
These Internet cameras can be used to conduct job interviews, hold group meetings with
people around the world, monitor young children at daycare centers, check rental properties
and second homes from a distance, and more.