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Developments
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 Imaginary Organizations |
This is only the internet part of my presentation. I will make no efforts to keep this page updated. The Internet is in constant flux. Links that this document refers to might have moved, changed or vanished. Still I hope that you will find it useful. Please feel free to comment by e-mail to richard.gatarski@bat.se.
The US version of MS-Encarta ´97 contains links to Encarta at Microsoft Network. Via this service it is possible to supplement the CD-ROM with up-to-date information.
Barbie is on CD-ROM, as well as on the net. The CD-ROM McKenzie & Co. has a supplementary service on the internet. It is run by Her Online at www.her-online.com. Notice: the publishers name indicate that females are their customers. So much for that everything in cyberspace are for boys only.
One option for companies is to open their own shop in the net. These are open 24 hours a day, all year around. Some commonly referred to shopping sites are:
As an example of online shopping I can tell you about when I purchased the "Hunchback of Notre Dame". I wanted to see this Disney movie, because some scenes were produced with synthetic agents. The movie is not released on VHS in Sweden yet, so I had to find it elsewhere. First I surfed to Disnes´s site. They had information about the movie, but no clips from it. Then I tried to purchase the cassette at their Shopping site. But delivery time to Sweden was far too long for me to get it before this conference, which was 7 days away. So I tried some europeean Disney sites, but they only promoted other movies. Finally I went to The Electronic Connection (econnection.com) and ordered it there. They had it on stock, and shipped it the same night. I used FedEx tracking service to follow my package. And if the tracking page is still on the net, you can see that the movie arrived about 4 hours before I had to leave for the presentation..
The idea of online spaces has during the last 10-20 years developed in the online services. They used to build on proprietary technology only. But now they have merged into internet.
In order of magnitude, they largest ones are:
March 1997 I sent an e-mail to Pumatechm, an american producer of Personal Information Management (PIM) software. I asked if they carried any product that would integrate my computer with my Pilot, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). At first they did not reply, but in April the following message showed up in my in-basket:
Subject: IntelliSync for
PalmPilot 1.04 now supports Microsoft Outlook
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 19:33:46 -0700
From: Outlook/Pilot Notify
<OutlookPilotNotify@PUMATECH.COM>
To: OUTLOOKPILOTNOTIFY@WS193.PUMATECH.COM
IntelliSync for PalmPilot 1.04 NOW Supports Microsoft Outlook!
How to buy IntelliSync for PalmPilot v.1.04
* Puma's Web Store: http://www.pumatech.com/tpl/order.tpl
or
* Call Puma Direct: 800-248-2795 or 802-658-8086
Puma's IntelliSync for PalmPilot Premier Upgrade Subscription
Service -The best way to stay in Sync Receive all IntelliSync for
PalmPilot upgrades for a year at the low price of $49.95. We are
continually adding support for more PIMS and making feature
enhancements, making this the best way to stay in sync.
Your subscription begins with access to the IntelliSync for
PalmPilot 1.04 upgrade, then as upgrades are released, we will
send you an email alerting you that the release is ready. You can
go to our Premier Customer page and download the upgrade. It is
that easy. Better yet, order the service when you buy the full
version of IntelliSync for PalmPilot and get the upgrade service
for only $39.95 - a savings of 20%!! Learn more about the Premier
Service -
http://www.pumatech.com/prem_memb.html
IntelliSync for PalmPilot v 1.04 UPGRADE ONLY If you already have
IntelliSync for PalmPilot and only want the 1.04 upgrade, it is
available for download from our site for $34.95.
Best Regards,
Puma Technology
http://www.pumatech.com
Agents are created and researched for different purposes. One is as searcher/browser/shopper agents on the internet. If you are unfamiliar with the different ways content can be found and used on the Internet, you might start with learning about that first. Therefore this part is divided into four sections (or, jump and try agents).
Directories are managed by enterprises that collect and organize links on the net. Some examples are:
Search engines, or Robots as they sometimes are called, automatically search and index everything they can find and access on the net. For an overview see http://www.cnet.com/Content/Reviews/Compare/Search/.
These engines goes to a number of search engines and then summarizes the findings. Examples are:
The table below is from a feature article about Narrowcasting in the Herring Communications H!ts magazine.
| Help is on the way A sampling of companies with products designed to help Internet content providers reach their audiences. |
||
| DELIVERY MECHANISMS | ||
| COMPANY | PRODUCT | WEB SITE |
| BackWeb Technologies | BackWeb | www.backweb.com |
| IFusion | Arrive | www.arrive.com |
| Intermind | Communicator | www.intermind.com |
| Marimba | Castanet | www.marimba.com |
| NetDelivery | NetDelivery | www.netdelivery.com |
| Netscape | InBox Direct | www.netscape.com* |
| PointCast | PointCast Network | www.pointcast.com |
| OFFLINE BROWSERS | ||
| COMPANY | PRODUCT | WEB SITE |
| Berkeley Systems | Web.Max | www.berksys.com |
| DocuMagix | HotCargo Express | www.documagix.com |
| Folio | Web Retriever 2.1 | www.folio.com |
| The Forefront Group | WebWhacker 2.0 | www.ffg.com |
| FreeLoader | FreeLoader 2.0 | www.freeloader.com |
| Metz Software | Netriever | www.metz.com |
| Surflogic | Surfbot 3.0 | www.surflogic.com |
| Tympani Development | NetAttaché Pro | www.tympani.com |
| * Expect offline browsing software integrated into the Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer browsers soon. | ||
To wet your appetite I would like to quote a few lines from the PAAM conference February 1996. This was presented by researchers at the Ericsson Medialab:
Very briefly intelligent agents are trained to work on behalf of their masters (human user). They can be divided into filter agents and search agents. The former filters incoming content, the latter actively search cyberspace for content. For a richer introduction see:
First comes a link to a CD-music agent. This agent is a search agent. The others are more like filter agents.
Full stream ahead. E.g. see Television Of Tomorrow - a MIT Media Lab research project.
While we in Europe talk about digital television., they have it overseas. In June 1994 DirecTV (http://www.directv.com/) was launched over the US. Within 20 months 1.3 million subscribers started to use their services. March 11, 1996 Microsoft made an agreement which enable personal computers to receive digital video programming entertainment and new interactive data services from DirecTV. Two weeks later AT&T acquired for $137.5 million 2.5 percent of the equity in DirecTV, and options to increase its investment up to 30 percent over five years depending primarily on the number of DirecTV subscribers AT&T enrolls over specific time periods. The subsidiary Hughes Network Systems has a product call DirecPC. If you cannot guess what it does, check at http://www.direcpc.com/docs/home.html . There are currently similar developments in Europe.
One of the interesting things with DirecTV from Hughes Electronics Company is their main owner, General Motors! You can get a financial overview of Hughes from Hoovers listing at http://www.hoovers.com/upside/42070ml.html
A few links are:
Presentation objectives
About the presenter
Free your mind
Trends
We remembered clips from business magazines
We asked about your personal experience in e-media
Experience necessary to anyone who makes decisions
Technology Update
Online
Artificial Life
Avatars
Agent Technology
Agents as:
Ideas that came true
Content Management
- zero copy cost key problem…as well
- …as the lack of payment infrastructure
- product life cycles, alive products
- immaterial prosumtion flow
- old context (mind sets, legacy, etc)
Other views
Sites on the Internet
Books about the subject
Books related to the subject
My Views
Revenue Sources
Organization
Examples: Diabetes forum and Idealab
Marketing re-think
Examples: Amazon, Jango and Doubleclick
Making money
Examples: Filip, Pumatech and ESD
Sidesteps
Conclusions
Featuring the Sun Light Chorus, Kista Sweden
Please see BATs' list of CD-ROM titles
Vänligen se BATs list of On-Line services
Updated 1997-09-25
