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&BūDun's Electronic Business Directory, D&BūDuns 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. ============================================================