ONE CAN'T WRITE ABOUT THIS TOPIC. It's changing too fast. I have written about, or given a talk about, my experiences with internet-based information every year since 1996. None of the past materials is useful in 2005 nor is this edition likely to be in 2006.

This column is a snapshot of resources and information I find useful. Perhaps you will as well, and will contact me with resources and information you find of value. It's only column space that limits these listings.

R & D for Free
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information provides searchable resources in the physical sciences and areas of interest to DOE. It's the best site I've found for R & D sponsored by the U.S. government—and there is a lot of that. It's all free at: http://www.osti.gov/collections.html

Similar portals are at:
http://www.firstgov.gov/
http://www.science.gov/
http://www.google.com/unclesam

Patents Anyone?
Every few weeks, I take a quick look at what's been recently patented by whom in the U.S. What's significant is that you can also see what patent coverage the competition is applying for—before the patent is granted! The site is:
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

Patents from other countries can be found at the following servers (all free): The UK, European countries, Canada, Japan, and a global patent database (respectively):

http://www.patent.gov.uk/
http://ep.espacenet.com
http://patents1.ic.gc.ca/intro-e.html
http://www.jpo.go.jp/
http://www.wipo.int/ipdl/en/

My preference should be obvious—I like free stuff, if it's any good. There are paid subscription or pay-per-use patent servers. There should be no reason to use them.