(Posted to alt.online-service, alt.internet.services and alt.business) In, Around and Online- Issue 8, Week Ending 10/28/94 ===================================================== Copyright (C) 1994 Robert Seidman. All rights reserved. May be reproduced in any medium for noncommercial purposes. What's New ========== Since I'm sure some folks never make it to the end of this newsletter, here is some info about this newsletter: - I don't have an automated mailing list, but if you want to be on the list, send Email to me at: robert@clark.net. Even though it is not automated, if you put the word: SUBSCRIBE in the SUBJECT field, it will be appreciated. - Back issues are available via FTP at: ftp.clark.net in the pub/robert directory. The text versions of the issues are dated. The current issue will be labeled current.txt . All other issues will have a date such as: 101594.txt . Log in as anonymous and use your e-mail address for the password. If you have access to FTP, please do not send me requests for back issues. - I have a page on the World Wide Web available for those of you with access to a WWW browser. The address is: http://www.clark.net:80/pub/robert/home.html - I comb information from a variety of sources that include, Reuters, Associated Press, PR Newswire and Business Wire. If you have a press release that has just been issued, there's a high probability that I'll get it from the PR Newswire. If you want to be sure that I get the release, you can send it to me directly; I don't mind at all. Please keep in mind that I consider this newsletter to be a current awareness product. As such, if you've already sent me a press release, please don't send it again unless there have been changes to the release. I've noticed lately that some services and their partners distribute press releases in such a fashion that I don't receive them early enough to put notice in the newsletter. Example- Woody Allen appeared in an interactive conference on America Online last night. I didn't get the notification until the day before, so I could not include the information in the newsletter. I'm considering doing two things- I could post this information on my web page and I could send out e-mail to all of those on the mailing list. I'm interested on any feedback you, the readers, may have on receiving this sort of information. And finally for personal reasons, this has been an especially difficult week for me. I'd like to thank all that took the time to write in with comments, etc., they helped take my mind off things and kept some focus on my love for online services! On with the news... Now It's Officially Vaporware! ============================== Up to this point, the much rumored Microsoft online service project (code name: MARVEL) was largely conjecture. Until recently, nobody from Microsoft had released a statement on this service. This week, we got it directly from Mr. Big. Or is that Mr. Bill? At the annual shareholders meeting Mr. Gates confirmed ongoing speculation that Microsoft was developing an online service. According to the story by Reuters, while confirming the online project, Gates expressed uncertainty about exactly what the content would be. Gates said that some of the features of the online service would be available in the next major beta release of Windows '95 that is scheduled for distribution within the next 2 weeks. Gate's said that initially the service would be unlike other services available, but he did not give any details on how or why. Ziff-Davis Sale =============== As some of you may know, the Ziff family put the Ziff-Davis publication powerhouse on the sales block earlier this year. In a surprise move, the company was sold to a private investment firm, Forstmann Little & Co. for $1.4 billion dollars CASH. It had been expected that one of the other big publishing conglomerates would wind up acquiring Ziff-Davis. So how does this effect the online services industry? It is sort of confusing, but I'll give this a shot. Included in the sale of Ziff-Davis, was Ziff-Davis Interactive (ZDI). Recently, ZDI was spun into two separate organizations: Ziff-Davis Interactive and Interchange Network Co. (INC). ZDI is responsible for providing content while INC is responsible for developing the hardware and software platform for the Interchange online service that is in testing. INC was not included in the sale to Forstmann Little. Nor was a separate Ziff-Davis company- Information Access Co. IAC, is a provider of publications databases. To clarify, both IAC and INC. will be sold, but they were not a part of the sale to Forstmann Little. Bidding closed at 5 p.m. on Thursday on INC and other properties not included in the sale to Forstmann Little. The affect of this sale on Interchange (scheduled for wide release later this year) remains unclear. For now, according to everything I've read, there will be no impact. There is apparently a 10 year deal between ZDI and INC. Resources at Ziff-Davis Interactive have already been committed to working with Interchange and there are no plans to change this. Rumor mill speculation lists CompuServe, Knight-Ridder and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (Delphi is a part of News Corp.) as potential suitors for Interchange. Hmmmm...Delphi needs a new look FAST. Stay tuned... America Online Updates ====================== America Online continues its hold on the "fastest growing on-line service" title. This week, America Online announced that it has surpassed the 1,250,000 customer mark. Seems like only 2 months ago they were announcing that that they'd just hit the one million mark. That's because it WAS only two months ago. Wow. Here's a snippet of what Steve Case, President and CEO of America Online had to say in the press release: "As we indicated in last week's announcement, America Online is the most actively used consumer online service and the most popular provider of Internet services. A year ago we were a distant third and now we are poised to move into the lead." I think he means it. I just hope that continued growth does not plague them with system problems as they have in the past. They've had two minor problems recently, that have had major impact. One is a glitch a few weeks ago that caused Internet mail not to be delivered in some cases. According to AOL, this problem has been identified and fixed. The downside here is that e-mail to and from AOL over the internet often takes a few hours. With the volume of mail they're dealing with, I can understand the issue, but I've been spoiled. I hope they're working on fine tuning this down so it is virtually instantaneous again. The other problem has to do with stuck mail flags. If you're on AOL and think that you SHOULD have mail but don't see any, do this: - Windows and PC version users should just select "read new mail" under the MAIL menu. If you have mail, it will display and reset the mail flag. NOTE: I'm not sure if this problem is impacting any customers other than MAC users, but I'm putting this here just in case! - If you're on a MAC, try keyword: POSTOFFICE . If you're on the newest (just released version), you'll go to a separate mail area where you can click on "Read New Mail". This will allow you to read mail but it will NOT reset your mail flag. To reset your mail flag or if you're not on the newest version go to keyword: TECHLIVE (in the free area) and enter row 11, 12, or 13 (these are the proper rows for mail flag issues) and request that they reset your mail flag. Also, if you haven't received the latest version, you can pick it up on the AOL BBS at 1-800-827-5808. The BBS is not related to your AOL account, and both the phone call and time spent on the BBS is free. I realize that the people who receive my newsletter via e-mail on AOL will not see this if they were impacted by this problem. Sort of like the "No Dogs Allowed- Except Seeing Eye Dogs" signs. Until this problem is fully repaired, one thing you can do to keep your mail flag from getting stuck again is keep one piece of new mail in your mailbox. This will keep the mail flow open. To do this, simply choose a piece of mail, and mark it as unread. I love AOL, but depending on the magnitude of this problem, I think they may have been grossly negligent in informing the customer base. This could have been done easily enough on the welcome screen. I guess it is difficult to admit there are problems when you're a publicly held company whose stock price can be impacted by admitting problems. Speaking of which... America Online's stock soared on speculation of a stock split. Once the 2 for 1 split was announced, the stock settled down a to a little over $68. As recently as two weeks ago, the stock was around $60- it got as high as $72.50 amid all the speculation. Prodigy Notes ============= Alert Prodigy members who read this newsletter were quick to point out that my summary of the new rates was just as confusing as the real rates- in other words, darn confusing. I'm not going to try to clarify here, however. Several alert readers noted that while the "Save to disk" option would incur byte charges, the Print function, which allows you to print to a file (effectively doing the same thing as "save to disk") does NOT incur any byte charges. Summary: Confusing billing methods and per character charges and the minimums associated with them (i.e., a 200 byte message will still count as 1,000 bytes) are dumb. This week Prodigy also announced two new newspapers online, the Los Angeles Times and New York's Newsday. Newspaper articles, information pertinent to the local areas, links to AP Online and more... Prodigy members can subscribe to these services for $4.95 per month. I have some definite opinions of these endeavors, but need to do some more research. Look for a feature story on the online newspapers soon. Just when you thought it was safe to hang out on Prodigy, this week, they officially announced their CHAT feature. Note to Women: no longer do you have to rely on AOL to be asked: "Are you horny? What do you look like? What are you wearing? Do you want to go private?" Note to Men: There are women on Prodigy too. Give the gals on AOL a break and check it out! Seriously though, as a former "chat meister" the chat rooms and game rooms can be a lot of fun and you can meet a lot of really nice and interesting people. WHOOOPS! ======== Several weeks back I wrote about IBM's new OS/2 operating system WARP. During final manufacturing, a significant bug in the install program was caught. The bug centers around problems caused if a user has a file called "config.bak" already in existence on their hard drive. IBM had unfortunately shipped a few "pre-release" versions to the media. The media hasn't been all that kind. IBM assures that versions being shipped to retailers will not be affected. Some catalog retailers announced that they were dropping the product from availability. IBM was looking to take advantage of Microsoft's delays in releasing Windows '95. This is an unfortunate embarrassment for IBM. Last Week I said... =================== ... that I didn't think I should necessarily play judeg and jury for what content went into the newsletter. This was a significant overstatement on my part. There is a lot of stuff that doesn't get in because I say so, and whatever does get in, gets in because, well, I think it should be in. I was really responding to letters I'd received saying, "I don't care about World Wide Web sites," or "I don't care about Prodigy," and the like. On a related note: Joseph L. Dionne, Chairman and Chief Executive of McGraw-Hill, Inc. while addressing the annual meeting of the Information Industry Association called information the strategic weapon of our age, but warned of dangers along the road to creating the Information Highway. He said a lot of things that really caught my eye, but his quote referencing "shovelware, the endless supply of raw and extraneous data being dumped on the Information Highway at breakneck speed," jumped out at me. "The editorial role -- to ensure editorial quality -- will be a critical component in the ultimate success of the Information Highway." Amen. Your continued comments are critical for seeing to it that this newsletter does not become shovelware. This Weeks Feature: The Big Three TV Networks are Online ======================================================== In recent months, the big three (ABC, NBC and CBS) have all shown up in Cyberspace with online areas. CBS is available on Prodigy (jump: CBS) and ABC and NBC are available on America Online (Keywords: ABC and NBC). They all have common ground in offering users information about shows, photos of the stars and other multimedia, feedback areas and message boards. Each has its own useful tidbits. Unlike the newspapers, where I could express some unfavorable opinions, each of the TV areas is well thought out, fairly well organized and easy to use. All offer useful information that can further your television viewing enjoyment. In a nutshell, I liked them all. However, I am sort of a content freak and to that end, they rank as follows: First Place: ABC. The newcomer offers the most. There is so much information here you could fill hours going through it. Something for everyone. It is also the most stunning visually. Value added services like interactive conferences with your favorite soap stars, college game score update ticker in the auditorium on Saturdays and more, make this a winner. Links to message board area for local affiliates. Second Place: NBC. Similar to ABC. Just not as much of it. But, you can't get a GIF of Michael Richards "Kramer" from Seinfeld on ABC, so this is the place to come for Seinfeld fans. Okay, okay, so I was more interested in Julia Louis-Dreyfus' GIF. Third Place: CBS. Similar to ABC and NBC, but still less content. But, CBS has David Letterman and this is an easy way for Prodigy subscribers to get access to Dave's Top Ten lists. Just as with real TV, all the networks are worth a look for different reasons. SHORT TAKES =========== VOTERS MEET IN CYBERSPACE is how Capital Connection, a new area on AOL was billed in its press release. Kind of an aggregate of a lot of different areas of the system that were already available in a "one stop shopping" format. Worth a look at Keyword: CAPITAL . LIVE ON THE NET you'll soon be able to talk to authors, visionaries and policy makers during the "Internet Roundtable" Officially starting on November 2nd on the IRC at #Podium . For more information by web: http://www.IRsociety.com, by e-mail: staff@fununiv.com , by FTP: Irsociety.com , and by GOPHER at: IRsociety.com 150 . REUTERS announces a monthly magazine especially for users of online services. Reuters Photojournalism (TM) is available online via CompuServe by typing GO NEWSPIX then choosing the Photojournalism Magazine library section. Online users can view the magazine with the Farallon Computer Inc. document-viewing program called Replica. Users may download both the magazine, available in Windows and Macintosh formats, and the viewer utility. HORSE RACING enthusiasts can get information about November's Breeders' Cup races on the World Wide Web at: http://iglou.com/breeders-cup.html . NOVALINK ANNOUNCES SUPERNOVA software that gives you a Mosaic browser for the NovaLink Online service. I'll be honest, I'd never even heard of these guys. But looks like they're first with Mosaic. Any NovaLink users, please let me know what this service is all about. For information on subscribing to NovaLink, call 800-274-2814 MOSAIC COMMUNICATIONS CORP. (the guys and gals who gave us NetScape for FREE) announced that it has become a founding member of the W3 Consortium, the World Wide Web organization created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in October of this year. The consortium is aimed at establishing international standards for client and server protocols that enable online commerce and communications on the Internet. LAURIE ANDERSON is set to host the Halloween edition of Warner Records' CYBERTALK. On America Online, this Halloween at 9:30 p.m. eastern. THE FAST-forward world of advertising and marketing is easy to stay on top of now that Ad Age/Creativity Online has joined Apple Computer, Inc.'s eWorld. HALL OF HAUNTS is available to GEnie members at Gallery 44, an exhibit of original artwork by Genie member artists. Check it out at keyword: GALLERY . GET AWAY FROM IT ALL by going to CLUB MED. Brochure available now via the World Wide Web via Wired Magazine's HOTWIRED Service. You'll have to register for HOTWIRED first (it is free) at: http://www.hotwired.com JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT the world didn't have enough lawyers: When it comes to managing the common legal issues of wills, bankruptcy, divorce and personal injury claims, consumers and small business owners can now get help online through the Nolo Press self-help law center on Apple Computer, Inc's eWorld . See you next week. --------------------------------------------------------------------- "In, Around and Online"-A Weekly Summary of Consumer Online Services Robert Seidman http://www.clark.net:80/pub/robert/home.html robert@clark.net Anon FTP: ftp.clark.net pub/robert ---------------------------------------------------------------------