(Posted to alt.online-service and alt.internet.services ) In and Around Online- Issue 2, Week Ending 9/16 VAPORWARE ONLINE SERVICE NEWS ============================= Ziff Davis Interactive, the online publishing division of Ziff Davis announced 15 additional partners for its Interchange service. Joining The Washington Post, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, Starwave Corporation, and Cowles Business Media among others will be, Broderbund Software, Campbell Services, Cisco Systems, Colorado Memory Systems, Hewlett-Packard Company, McAfee Associates, Micrografx, NetManage, NeXT Computer, ON Technology Corporation, Pinnacle Micro, Quarterdeck Office Systems, The Software Toolworks, Texas Instruments and Xircom. Scheduled for wide release by the end of this year, these partners along with a solid line-up of Ziff Davis computer publications could bring early success to Interchange. Rumors abound that the highly graphical, multimedia interface will require at least a 486 and a 9600 baud modem. I've not seen any word on a Mac version. Speaking of Macs... E-WORLD ======= Apple Computers announced this week that it has launched its online service, E-World in Canada and plans to expand overseas soon. In the Reuters story, Apple V.P. of Online Services, Peter Friedman would not reveal the current subscriber base for E-World but said that they expected to have "so many hundreds of thousands of users, but less than a million" by the end of 1995. E-World, which runs on a modified version of the America Online software took another clue from AOL this week and announced that they would be offering 10 free hours for new members to explore the service. It seems Apple took an elitist attitude initially by thinking that they wouldn't need to hand out any freebies to get new subscribers. Now they are wising up! Along with the 10 free hours of trial time, they are reportedly offering one month free to new subscribers (the monthly fees of 8.95 is waived for the first month). Additional hours cost $4.95. Apple is waving the $2.95/hr. surcharge for usage during business hours for new and existing customers through February 15. Currently only available to those with Apple computers, an IBM compatible version is planned for sometime in 1995. E-World has been plagued early by lack of content and a higher price tag than AOL. Going forward, if they want to charge more than AOL they're going to have to offer some unique content. Apple maintains that they are bringing up 4 to 5 new services per week. BIG VAPORWARE STORY OF THE WEEK =============================== TCI (Telecommunications, Inc.) was allegedly seeking to purchase a 9% stake in America Online currently held by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. According to a report in The Washington Post, all the parties were ready to do a deal and then Microsoft jumped into the scene to talk to TCI about investing in the Microsoft Online service (code name: MARVEL). TCI and Microsoft are already partners in an interactive television venture. Paul Allen, who once owned 25% of America Online is now the largest shareholder of Telescan. Telescan is an online service, but it hasn't taken the Aardvarks to Zoology stance that the big consumer online services have. Instead Telescan caters to a specific group of users seeking financial and investment related information. Allen reportedly now owns 13.6 percent of the Houston based Telescan. The Microsoft/TCI story was probably the story of the week. Vaporware jokes aside, going forward I'll refer to all the services by their names or their code names, whether they are available or not. Microsoft will definitely be a player once they get into the business. The rumor is that they will launch Marvel with the release of Windows '95 (the software will be included) sometime next year. Other Interesting Stuff ======================= The big internet story this week was a complaint filed against a Sacramento man that is accused of advertising an illegal "credit repair" scheme on on the Internet*. Hyped as being "100% legal" and "200% Guaranteed", the 40 page booklet distributed by Brian Corzine (who does business as Brian Chase and Chase Consulting in Sacramento) advises users how to obtain a new (and clean) credit history. Corzine, who was not aware of anything illegal is pulling ads he runs in print media, allowing the posting to expire and preparing to refund money to his customers. Corzine, who is not the originator of the plan, but rather a reseller claims the plan was presented to him as perfectly legal. He reportedly feels that he is a victim and something of a scapegoat. A report from the Sacramento Bee supports Corzine's claim. The report from the Bee says that David Medine of the FTC said that the FTC chose the Corzine case as a way of publicizing the potential for abuse on Online Services and the Internet. *Note, I got the report on this story from several sources some that claim Mr. Corzine’s ad ran on the Internet and some that claim the ad ran on America Online. My best guess is that it was on America Online, and not in an one of the Usenet Newsgroups, but anyone with more details should feel free to chime in. SHORT TAKES =========== -Sun Microsystems announced the selection of Netcom as a national strategic service provider for access to the Internet via Sun's reseller channel. -Spry Inc's, "Internet in a Box" was supposed to ship on 9/16. I'm interested in feedback from anyone who uses this software. -Bela Fleck of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones will be this weeks guest on Warner Bros. Records weekly talk show on America Online. Monday, Sept. 19 at 9:30 EDT on America Online. Access the "Cyber-talk" auditorium by using Keyword: Warner . -As of 9/14 Madonna fans can download a soundclip from the first single of her new album (Bedtime Stories) called "Secrets". Available on AOL (Keyword: WARNER ), Compuserve (GO: WBPREVIEW) and the Internet (http://iuma.com/Warner). Hey, I don't make the news, I just summarize it. -An Interactive "Press-Kit" for R.E.M 's new album MONSTER will be available beginning September 19 on both Compuserve and America Online. The press release didn't say anything about the Internet (but it is worth a try), nor did it give specific keywords, but as it is also from Warner, the addresses above (yes, in the Madonna tidbit) should work starting 9/19. -Want to be the drummer for Mercury recording Artist, "Cinderella"? Now's your chance. Complete details on Compuserve (Go: Polygram ). -Prodigy announced that it is working on a Windows '95 compatible software interface. -Advertising on the net hits the big time, brought to you by the "I QUIT MTV!" former veejay Adam Curry's ONRamp brings you, "youwill.com". If you just gotta hear Tom Selleck's voice asking "Have you ever...", check out "http://youwill.com" -Dun & Bradstreet offers FREE information on the net. Okay, okay, it sort of looks like they may be advertising for the pay stuff, but there is some FREE info. Check it out at "http://www.dbisna.com". -The Boston Globe reports that Delphi has changed its software strategy and as a result, a new front end graphical interface will be delayed until next year. Notes ===== That's it for this week. Thanks for all the feedback I got last week! Most of it centered around the lack of any apostrophes in the posting. Let me set the record straight, I don't have a religious aversion to apostrophes! Nobody sent me any pizza's either so I guess I'm going to have to call (yes call!) Pizza Hut. Have a great week! Robert Seidman robert@clark.net