================================================================ ******** B O A R D W A T C H M A G A Z I N E *************** The Leading Monthly Printed Magazine Covering Online Information Services and Electronic Bulletin Board Systems ================================================================ (303)973-6038 voice (303)973-4222 data ================================================================ BOARDWATCH MAGAZINE has earned a reputation as the pre-eminent print media publication covering the online information services and electronic bulletin board system industry since our first monthly issue in March 1987. Providing news, insight, and reviews of interesting and creative new information systems across the country, along with notes on data storage technologies, modems, BBS software and utilities, legislation affecting the national telecomputing network, ISDN, RBOC Gateway services, calling party identification, and reviews of innovative and useful new shareware software titles, Boardwatch pulls together a world of information of interest to system operators and users alike into one concise, comprehensive, and fascinating monthly summary. We alert you to new and fascinating information services springing up around the country sponsored by Universities, Government Agencies, Libraries, Corporations, and individuals to bring you information on subjects as varied as botany and herpetology to filling out your IRS tax form. We've found library card catalogs storing citations to MILLIONS of titles, a free time service you can use to synchronize your PC clock to within a hundredth of a second automatically, where to get weather information, file general aviation flight plans, and how to find Grolliers encyclopedia online at NO CHARGE. We've come across a massive FREE hazardous materials database, sources for information on smoking cessation, UFOs, model trains, used aircraft sales, legislative services, educational networks, daily newspapers online, and the specialized services of literally thousands of hobbyists across the country. We list product support BBS systems for Word Perfect, Seagate, Microsoft, Borland, Quarterdeck, Maxtor, Adaptec, ATI, Intel, Western Digital, Ashton-Tate, eSoft, PCBoard, Wildcat, AST, AT&T Hayes, U.S. Robotics, Microrim, Zenith, XyQuest and a host of shareware support systems for such popular titles as PKZIP, QModem, ARC, Telix and more. We cover U.S. Government BBS systems for NASA, NOAA Solar Flare data, DOE, EPA, Census Bureau, FCC, GAO, Federal Reserve Bankinterest rates, Dept of Commerce, NIST online time mark, U.S. Naval Observatory, and The USGS Quick Epicenter Determination Center for earthquake data as well as online bibliographies maintained by libraries across the country. We list the first BBS ever to go online - Ward Christensen/Randy Suess CBBS in Chicago! Most of all, we follow information: who's got it, what they're doing with it, how you can get it, and what it's worth. We've found a booming cottage industry of "infopreneurs" abandoning their positions in corporate America to found an entire new industry in online information largely operated from their homes. They are proving to be the real powerhouse behind the creative innovations in how this information is handled, delivered, and priced to the American consumer. In our January 1991 issue, we list over 400 services you can dial up via modem offering everything from solar flare data to where to find the best price on hay and straw. Additionally in the January issue: 1. Cover photo of BBS software authors including Jim Harrer (Wildcat) Fred Clark/David Terry (PCBoard), Ken Goosen (RBBS), Wynn Wagner III (Opus), Phil Becker (TBBS) and Vince Perriello (BinkleyTerm) 2. Details of the new U.S. Robotics HST Dual Standard V.32bis modem introduced at COMDEX in November. The inside story on why it abandoned the earlier motherboard design in favor of a new in-house design code-named Everest. The new modem provides a true, full duplex 14,400 bps connection to the new CCITT V.32bis recommendation NOT the previous proprietary HST technology. 3. Details on a U.S. Postal Service proposal to administer a national e-mail address database. 4. A simple, cheap solution to prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - skeptics flex your fingers. This problem is REAL but it is preventable. If you spend more than casual time at the keyboard - check this out. 5. List of Modem Vendors who maintain product support BBS systems and offer 9600 bps V.32/V.42bis modems at a discount to BBS system operators 6. Report on 1990 Census data availability on CD-ROM from U.S. Department of Commerce, when it will be available, what it will contain, pricing, ordering information. 7. Telephone activated power switch device - incoming calls cause it to switch on fax/PC - switch it back off when call is completed. 8. New stats and methodology for determining how many BBS are operating in the U.S. - our guestimate revised to 23,000 - here's how we arrived at that number - A METHOD TO OUR MATHNESS. 9. Riggs, Grant, Darden sentenced in Atlanta. Details on the 14-month prison sentencing of three Atlantan's involved in breakin to BellSouth computer system. 10. Prodigy E-Mail Scandal and the Yellow T-Shirts. Our feature article this month examines the e-mail fiasco Prodigy has set off, details the counter protest movement. 11. A guest editorial by Mitch Kapor of the Electronic Frontier Foundation on "Why Defend Hackers". 12. Special section on Dialing Saudi Arabia detailing how to make the international connection, list of BBS operating in Saudi, details on the FIDO SAUDI echomail delivery of messages to U.S. Troops. 13. Completely FREE GEnie service to send e-mail to U.S. Troops in Saudi - as easy as dialing a toll-free 800 number and entering the address and message - you don't even need a GEnie account. 14. Lyndon LaRouche BBS - Jailed politiwhacko announces candidacy for presidency via BBS. 15. George Matyaszeks's Chicago Syslink BBS 16. Compact Audio Disk Exchange BBS - buy, sell, trade CDs on this unique BBS. 17. Resolution Trust Corporation online database of 37,000 real estate properties going at firesale prices as a result of the S&L fiasco. 18. Tax-Net BBS. Upload your tax return to submit electronically. 19. COMMUNICATIONS BASICS by Alan Applegate - this month DATA COMPRESSION What MNP and V.42bis are and how you can use them. 20. DIALTHAT - elegantly tiny (less than 2K) TSR shareware program that lets you use your modem to dial ANY telephone number on your screen at any time with a simple key stroke. 21. DR. FILE FINDER takes a look at Contact Plus - very full featured call and contact management shareware program with dialer, calendar, interface to YOUR word processor, notepads, ticklers, bells, and whistles. 22. This month's featured city list - ATLANTA - a listing of 217 excellent systems operating out of the red clay of Georgia. And of course our own National Select List of BBS systems from around the nation as well as our new Boardwatch Keepers of the Lists list of BBS systems that themselves maintain verified BBS lists on a variety of topics and locales. Boardwatch magazine is published monthly at an annual subscription rate of $28. Send check or money order to: Boardwatch Magazine 5970 South Vivian Street Littleton, CO 80127 Or charge your subscription to Master Card or Visa by calling (303)973-6038 voice or subscribing online at (303)973-4222. Single copies available at WaldenSoft, Tower Books, Software Etc., Soft Warehouse and independent computer/book stores nationwide at $3.95 Jack Rickard, Editor.