Students undertake online businesses

Freshman Brian Urbanski and graduate student Mike Zabel have jumped onto the Internet bandwagon and are taking advantage of some opportunities available in the 21st century. Urbanski and Zabel are both full time students who create, maintain and sometimes -- if they're lucky -- profit from their own Web sites. \nUrbanksi's Web site, www.Edgereview.com, has articles on new and upcoming technology. He said he feels the site is attractive to people because it is solely concerned with what is new in the technology world. \nUrbanksi and his writers update the site weekly with new products and product reviews. There is a section for visitors to voice their opinions on reviewed products. \nUrbanksi has been running the site for the last four years, averaging about 10 hours of site maintenance per week. \n"The site is completely student run and gets about 5- to 6,000 hits a day," Urbanksi said.\nUrbanksi and his team said they feel their site's information is timely and useful. \nUrbanksi and his team make most of their money from companies wanting to post advertisements on the site, he said. They have just recently started to make a profit.\nThe site has gained such a reputation that companies like Sony will send their latest gadgets to Urbanksi and his writers for a review and a write-up on what they think are the products strengths and faults. \nUrbanksi has aspirations for the site to become a business and reach corporate level in the future. \n"I really want to kick the site up a notch," Urbanksi said.\nFuture plans for the site include obtaining direct sponsorship from companies and increasing the amount of content, Urbanksi said. He is also looking for more writers to work on some of the gadgets he has lying around his room. \nOn the other side of the spectrum, graduate student Mike Zabel has created a Daily Jolt Web site for IU students. Zabel's inspiration to create a Daily Jolt for IU came when he saw a similar site at another university. \nThe Web site, www.indiana.dailyjolt.com, is full of major links to IU Web pages like e-mail and Insite. It also offers a quote of the day from a professor, a daily weather report and movie times. \nOne of Zabel's biggest problems is finding interesting and funny content to add to the site on a daily basis.\nHe said he does not see this site as a moneymaking job, and instead he does it out of pure enjoyment. \n"If I wanted to do something for money then I'd be waiting tables somewhere," Zabel said.\nBut Zabel is looking to break even at the moment. \nHe enjoys the quirkiness of the site and the freedom to express himself. \n"The site has been up since September and has been getting about 800 hits a day and growing," Zabel said. \nZabel's long-term goal is the have the site became a homepage for students. \nHe runs the site by himself now and spends about 10 hours a week maintaining the site.\nIn the future he plans to hire undergraduate students because he feels they are more in touch with student life. \n"I went to Daily Jolt because I saw it in chalk on the side of one the buildings," freshman Nicole Mauser said.\nShe said she found the site interesting and was glad it was dedicated to events at IU and Bloomington.