
          O N L I N E   S E R V I C E S
          
          Some of the best and most popular online services are
          listed below. To find out much more about them, call the
          appropriate toll-free 800 number and ask them to send you
          free information. Some of the information you can receive
          is quite amazing. For example, Dialog has a wonderful
          catalog of all their databases with excellent
          descriptions. CompuServe has a really good catalog of
          IQuest databases that they will sell to you for $4.00
          plus shipping. You may want to send for these catalogs
          just to be aware of the vast information accessible to
          modem users. Who wants to get on an information highway
          without a road map?

          
          America Online
          8619 Westwood Center Dr.
          #200
          Vienna, VA 22182-2285
          800-827-6364
          703-448-8700
          FAX 703-883-1509
          
          America Online (known as AOL) costs $9.95 per month and
          requires special software that they will send to you for
          free. America Online will give you the first month free
          (with 10 hours of free connect time). Services include
          multi-player games, stock quotes, travel reservations,
          shareware libraries, sports news, as well as
          international e-mail. 
          
          
          BIX (Byte Information eXchange)
          One Phoenix Mill Lane
          Peterborough, NH 03458
          800-695-4775
          603-354-4137
          
          BIX was originally operated by Byte magazine and McGraw-
          Hill, Inc. However, General Videotex Corporation (whose
          parent company is DELPHI) bought BIX in 1992. This online
          service has plenty of technical information and offers
          three principal services: electronic mail, computer
          conferencing, and file databases. Standard BIX membership
          is $13.00 per month plus an hourly charge. 

          
          CompuServe Inc.
          P.O. Box 20212
          Columbus, OH 43220
          800-848-8199
          614-457-0802
          
          CompuServe is owned by H&R Block and is the largest
          consumer online service. It has about 2,000,000
          subscribers. With CompuServe, you have access to hundreds
          of databases and publications including full text to back
          issues of many newspapers. It also offers hundreds of
          SIGs (Special Interest Groups) forums on all sorts of
          topics. IQuest is a gateway service (available for an
          additional charge) on CompuServe that provides access to
          hundreds of special databases and news services.
          Knowledge Index is an assortment of over 100 databases
          that are now available on CompuServe. The Knowledge Index
          was purchased from Dialog. There is an additional charge
          for accessing the Knowledge Index databases. 
          
          Available from CompuServe are programs to give you a
          front-end or menu to make it easier. These are CIM
          (for DOS), WinCIM (for Windows), and MacCIM (for Macintosh
          computers).

          "Standard" pricing for CompuServe starts at $8.95 per month.
          Services not covered in the standard pricing carry additional
          charges including hourly charges: $4.80 per hour for 1200 or
          2400 baud access and $9.60 an hour for 9600 and 14,400 baud
          access.

          
          Delphi Internet Services
          1030 Massachusetts Ave.
          Cambridge, MA 02138
          800-695-4005

          617-491-3342
          FAX 617-491-6642
          
          Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation owns Delphi. Delphi has
          over 150 services with categories like: finance, news,
          travel, education, entertainment, computer support, e-
          mail, and a shareware software library of downloadable
          files. Delphi offers full access to Internet and a 5-hour
          free trial period. It should be noted that Delphi is one
          of the least expensive online services, with rates as low
          as one dollar an hour.  

          
          Dialog
          Dialog Information Services, Inc.
          3460 Hillview Ave.
          Palo Alto, CA 94304
          800-334-2564
          415-858-3785
          FAX 415-858-7069
          
          Dialog is considered to be "the mother of all database
          gateway services." Dialog has access to over 450
          databases and 329 million records. If you want to do
          serious research, then you need to know about Dialog. The
          costs of accessing these databases vary with different
          databases. The search costs usually range from $1.00 to
          $5.00 per minute. Dialog offers training courses with a
          number of half-day and full-day seminars.
          
          Here are just a few databases offered on Dialog that
          caught my eye: Aerospace Database, Agribusiness U.S.A.,
          the Agrochemical Handbook, Aidsline, American Library
          Directory, American Medical Association Journals Online,
          AP News, Aquaculture, Arab Information Bank, Architecture
          Database, Asia-Pacific, A-V Online, Baltimore Sun,
          Biobusiness, Biotechnology Abstracts, Bond Buyer (full-
          text), Book Review Index, Books In Print, British Books
          In Print, Business Dateline, Business Software Database,
          Buyer's Guide to Micro Software, Cancerlit, Cendata,
          Chemical Business Newsbase, Chemname, Chemsearch,
          Claims/Citation, Claims/U.S., Patent Abstracts,
          Coffeeline, Company Intelligence, Computer Database,
          Computer-Readable Databases, Congressional Record
          Abstracts, Consumer Drug Information (full-text),
          Consumer Reports, Corporate Affiliations, D&BDun's
          Electronic Business Directory, D&BDuns Financial Records
          Plus, Dialog Product Name Finder, Dissertation Abstracts
          Online, The Educational Directory, Encyclopedia of
          Associations, ERIC, Expertnet, Facts on File, Federal
          Acquisition Regulations, Federal News Service, Financial
          Times (full-text), Foundation Grants Index, Gale
          Directory of Publications, Geobase, GPO Monthly Catalog,
          GPO Publications, Reference File, Grants, Health Devices
          Sourcebook, Information Science Abstracts, Insider
          Trading Monitor, Investext, Jane's Defense & Aerospace
          News/Analysis, Japan Technology, Knight-Ridder Financial
          News, Legal Resource Index, Library and Information
          Science Abstracts, Los Angeles Times, Magazine Index,
          Marquis Who's Who, McGraw-Hill Publications Online,
          Medline, Medtext, Miami Herald, Moody's Corporate News,
          The New England Journal of Medicine, Newsearch, Newspaper
          Abstracts, Nonferrous Metals Abstract, Nuclear Science
          Abstracts, OAG Electronic Edition Travel Service,
          Occupational Safety and Health, Packaging Science and
          Technology Abstracts, Papers Full-Text Newspapers (this
          one alone contains 15,000,000 records and is updated
          daily), Peterson's College Database, Petroleum
          Exploration & Production, Pharmaceutical News,
          Philosopher's Index, PR Newswire, PsycINFO, PTS
          Aerospace/Defense Markets & Technology, PTS Newsletter
          Database, PTS U.S. Forecasts, Publishers Distributors and
          Wholesalers, Railroad Research Information Service,
          Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances,
          Religion Index, Reuters, Scisearch, Sociological
          Abstracts, Sport, Standard & Poor's Corporate
          Descriptions plus News, Supertech, Tax Notes Today,
          Teikoku Databank: Japanese Companies, Textile Technology
          Digest, Thomas Register Online, Toxline, Trade Names
          Database, Trademarkscan, Trinet Company Database, TRW
          Business Credit Profiles, Ulrich's International
          Periodicals Directory, UPI News, U.S. Copyrights, U.S.
          Political Science Documents, USA Today, Ward's Business
          Directory, Washington Post Online, Water Resources
          Abstracts, World Aluminum Abstracts, World Patents Index,
          World Textiles, World Translations Index, Zoological
          Record Online.
          
          Dialog represents a wealth of information that is, at
          times, mind boggling. Incidently, quite a few of these
          databases are available on CompuServe via IQuest or the
          Knowledge Index.
            
          
          GEnie
          GEnie Service
          401 N. Washington St.
          Rockville, MD 20850
          800-638-9636
          301-251-6415
          FAX 301-251-6421
          
          GEnie is a General Electric Information Service company.
          GEnie has many of the features found on CompuServe. Basic
          service starts at $8.95 per month. GEnie does have a
          rather complicated menu system. A program that attempts
          to make GEnie easier to use is called ALADDIN. ALADDIN is
          available as a free download on GEnie. You can even
          acquire accredited college courses on GEnie.
          
          
          The Internet 
          
          The Internet was developed by the Defense Department in
          1969 to link research computers. Now it connects millions
          of computers all over the world and includes corporate,
          educational, government, and privately networked
          computers. The Internet has thousands of databases with
          millions of accessible documents and programs. The
          Internet is by far the largest and fastest growing online
          network. Start using the Internet and you will know what
          they mean by "Information Superhighway."

          At the time of this writing, Delphi is the only major online
          service that has full Internet service.  However, others are
          planning full Internet services in the future.

          Today, many smaller companies provide full Internet services
          at the local level. A person should look for an Internet
          provider that can be connected by a local phone call to avoid
          long distance charges.
          

          Lexis and Nexis
          Mead Data Central, Inc.
          P.O. Box 933
          Dayton, OH 45401
          800-543-6862
          800-227-4908
          
          LEXIS/NEXIS is owned by Mead Data Central and has about
          3700 employees worldwide. Lexis is a legal database with
          full text on state and federal laws. Lexis appeals to the
          legal profession. Nexis is a full-text database of 2300+
          newspapers, magazines, newswires, and newsletters. It
          contains dozens of daily newspapers like New York Times,
          London Times, and the Washington Post. Nexis also has
          important magazines like Time, Business Week, New
          Republic, National Review, Forbes, and many trade and
          professional journals. Newswires available on NEXIS
          include Reuter, AP, PR Newswire, Business Wire, UPI, and
          more. When Ross Perot attacked George Bush's policy on
          Iran, he invited viewers to look it up on NEXIS.
          What he failed to mention was the cost. 
          
          Most NEXIS users elect a flat fee rate starting at
          $500.00 per month! Another choice is a monthly
          subscription of $50.00 per month with a connect rate of
          65 cents per minute with a search charge of between $6.00
          and $110.00. If you want to print or download
          information, that will cost an additional fee of $.025
          per line. 
          
          If you are on the Internet and want more information,
          Mead Data Central can be accessed using World Wide Web
          at: http://www.meaddata.com. Once you have an account,
          you can use their Telnet address at nex.meaddata.com. 
          
          
          Prodigy 
          Prodigy Services Co.
          445 Hamiltion Ave.
          White Plains, NY 10601
          800-776-3449
          914-993-8000

          Prodigy is a service which started as a joint venture
          between IBM and Sears. Basic services include: shopping
          (via retailers like Sears, JC Penny, etc.), product
          reviews, transaction services (online banking), travel,
          sports, news, weather, investments, financial planning,
          games, Consumer Reports, and e-mail.
          
          You need special communications software to access
          Prodigy. Ask them for the special starter kit which
          includes the needed software and one-month access time
          for $4.95. The standard monthly charge for Prodigy is
          $9.95.

          For the lastest pricing and service information on any of
          these online services, contact them using their toll-free
          800 number.

          Many services are launching new ventures. Prodigy has just
          launched a new online service called AstraNet, which can
          be accessed via the Internet. If you are on the Internet,
          you can find out more about AstraNet by pointing your World-
          Wide browser to: http://www.astranet.com/homel.html.

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