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The Online World by Odd De Presno

1. Database producers and information providers.

554 words  |  Chapter 25

------------------------------------------------ I have a bulletin board system in Norway (at +47 370 31378). My BBS is running on a small personal computer, and offers shareware and public domain software. Anybody can call my board to have programs transferred to their personal computers by modem (see appendix 2 for how to do this). When you call this BBS to "download" a free program for to your computer's hard disk, don't expect to find one made by me. I don't write programs. All available programs have been written by others. When you call Data-Star in Switzerland, or CompuServe in the U.S. to read news, you may find some stories authored by these companies. Most of their news, however, are written by others. InfoPro Technologies delivers Russian scientific and technical articles from "Referativnyi Zurnal" through online services like Orbit, Pergamon and BRS. InfoPro is not the originator. The text has been prepared by VINITI (the Institute for scientific and technical information of the xUSSR). My BBS (the "Saltrod Horror Show"), Data-Star, NIFTY-Serve, Orbit, Pergamon, BRS, and CompuServe are online services. We call those who have provided the news and information on these services for information providers or database producers. The American news agency Associated Press is an information provider. They write the news, and sell them to online services like Dialog, CompuServe, Nexis and NewsNet. These online services let you read the news by modem. The information providers sell the right to distribute their news. Your news reading charges may be imbedded in the online service's standard access rates. Some services will ask you to pay a surcharge when reading news. Most subscribers pay US$12.80 per hour (1993) to use CompuServe at 2400 bits per second (bps). At this speed, you typically receive around 240 characters of news per second. If you access at higher speeds, you will have to pay more. CompuServe pays Associated Press part of what they earn each time you read their news. There is no surcharge for reading AP news on this service. Others charge more. To read Mid-East Business Digest through NewsNet, you pay a surcharge of US$72.00 per hour at 2400 bps (1993). Scanning newsletter headlines and conducting keyword searches are cheaper. You pay the the basic connect charge, which is US$90.00 per hour at this speed. Thus, your total cost for reading Mid-East Business Digest amounts to US$2.70 per minute. CompuServe's database service IQuest lets you search NewsNet through a gateway to find and read the same articles. Here, reading will only set you back US$21.50/hour (provided the articles are among the first hits in your search). Many information providers also distribute information through grassroots bulletin boards. The Newsbytes News Network and the USA Today newsletter services (also in full text on Dialog and Nexis) are two examples. The rates for reading the same article may therefore differ considerably depending on what online service you are using. If you are a regular reader, shop around for the best price. Information providers may have subcontractors. The Ziff-Davis service Computer Database Plus, a database with full-text articles from magazines like Datamation and Wall Street Computer Review, depends on them. Datamation pays journalists to write the articles. Ziff-Davis pays Datamation for the right to distribute the articles to CompuServe's subscribers. CompuServe pays Ziff-Davis part of what you pay when reading the text.
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1. Chapter 1 2. 1992. 220 pages. Phone: +47 22 63 61 62. Fax: +47 22 63 60 09. 3. 1. Going online will make me rich, right? 4. 2. The online world 5. 3. How to use online services 6. 4. Hobbies, games, and fun 7. 5. Home, education, and work 8. 6. Your personal healthnet 9. 7. Electronic mail, telex, and fax 10. 8. Free expert assistance 11. 9. Your electronic daily news 12. 10. Looking for a needle in a bottle of hay 13. 11. Getting an edge over your competitor 14. 12. Practical tips 15. 13. Cheaper and better communications 16. 14. Keep what you find. 17. 15. You pay little for a lot! 18. 16. Automatic communication 19. 17. Gazing into the future. 20. 2. How to get started 21. 3. Your first online trip 22. 8. How to register 23. Chapter 1: Going online will make me rich, right? 24. Chapter 2: The online world 25. 1. Database producers and information providers. 26. 2. Online services 27. 3. Gateways and networks 28. 4. The services 29. 1. Menus for novices. The user can select (navigate) by 30. 2. Short menus or lists of commands for the intermediate user. 31. 3. A short prompt (often just a character, like a "!"), which 32. 4. Some services offer automatic access without any menus or 33. 1. Noise on the line, which may result in unreadable text or 34. 2. Expensive long distance calls 35. Chapter 13.) 36. Chapter 3: How to use the online services 37. 15. Federation II, the adult space fantasy........................FED 38. Chapter 4: Hobby, games and fun 39. 2. Mix onions, green peppers, mushrooms, green CHILIES, taco 40. 5. In crock pot or dish, layer meat mixture, cheese, and 41. Chapter 5: Home, education and work 42. 4. What can I do Now to make this come true? 43. Chapter 6: Your personal HealthNet 44. Chapter 7: Electronic mail, telex, and fax 45. 1990. Mail through the Internet and grassroots services on free 46. 105. This node has an automatic gateway to the Internet. 47. 2. The address to his system is: 2:480/10. His user name is Jan 48. Chapter 8: Free expert assistance 49. 1. Learning curve like Mt. Everest. Give me intuitive or give me 50. 4. It may be unsuited for what I wanted (outlining a book). Since 51. Chapter 9: Your electronic daily news 52. Chapter 13). The total cost for seven minutes was US$6.00, which 53. Chapter 10: Looking for a needle in a bottle of hay 54. Chapter 7. If your name is Jens Jensen, and you want to subscribe 55. Chapter 11: Getting an edge over your competitor 56. Chapter 11 Update (FI82) 57. Chapter 12: Practical tips 58. chapter 16 for more about this. 59. 1. Transferring files from a remote data center to your local 60. 2. Transfer from your local mailbox host to your personal 61. 1. Logon to your local email host and enter 'FTP remote- 62. 2. When connected to the remote center, you can request transfer 63. 3. The file will be transferred to your local mailbox computer 64. Chapter 13: Cheaper and better communication 65. Chapter 14: Keep what you find 66. Chapter 15: You pay little for a lot! 67. Chapter 16: Automatic communication 68. Chapter 17: Gazing into the future 69. 9962. In North America: InfoPro Technologies. Tel.: +1-703-442-0900. 70. 8446. Fax: +44-81-390-6561. NUA: 2342 1330 0310. Data: +44-81-390- 71. Chapter 9 for more information. Single-user (individual) prices 72. 7543. In Europe, contact British Telecom. 73. Chapter 4 for more about how to get these files.) 74. 9315. 1200 bps, 8,N,1. Your communications system must be able to 75. 2400. This tells that a connection has been set up at 2400 bps. 76. chapter 16, this chapter may not be that important. Your program 77. 1. Disconnect the phone cable from the telephone. Insert the 78. 2. You may be able to connect the phone to the modem using the 79. 1. Ask the bulletin board to send text only (select U for 80. 2. Set your computer for colors and graphics. This feature is 81. 1. Navigate to the file area. Tell SHS what you want by using 82. 2. Press PgUp, select XMODEM, enter a file name (TEST.TXT), and 83. 3. When the transfer is completed, my board will ask for a 84. 1991. US$24.95. Paperback, 520 pages.

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