Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Excite [XCIT], an exciting stock to own in 1999! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Wexler who wrote (665)	12/13/1997 12:21:00 AM
From: TLindt	Respond to of 3183

Must be for the 411 purchase..............unbelievable!!!! Truely.......if a Yahoo! Investor wants to know what it's like when the bubble bursts.......they should check out the gold threads on this forum. I wouldn't advise any of them to spend much time on tall buildings...

To: Bill Wexler who wrote (665)	12/13/1997 12:29:00 AM
From: TLindt	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 3183

Hey doc at 3 Billion it's worth nearly as much as INTU/CKFR + XCIT. Want to cash your Shares in and trade'um for Yahoo? hahahahhahahhahhahaha

To: Bill Wexler who wrote (665)	12/13/1997 10:33:00 AM
From: chirodoc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3183

Cable company forges future as poor man's Internet Heard a calif (san mateo company will have a set-top box for $50!! .......that should bring in some more joe sickpacks Reuters Story - December 12, 1997 16:34 %LIF %ENT %BUS TCOMA V%REUTER P%RTR (Fixes typo in fifth graf) By Andrea Orr ANAHEIM, Calif. (Reuters) - Cable companies can bring Internet services to the television screen if they make themselves the Buicks of the information industry and offer a no-frills product for people who can't afford Cadillacs. That is the vision offered by John Malone, chairman of Tele-Communications Inc., one of the country's biggest cable companies, which for years has been trying with little success to make interactive television a reality. In an address this week at The Western Show, the cable industry's annual trade event, Malone said he had refined his vision. The idea is to throw out obscure Internet features that only interest hard-core Webheads and offer a scaled-down package of basic information that even the computer illiterate can use. That would include things such as e-mail, local weather and traffic reports, program listings and home shopping that is made even easier than it is now. The key, Malone said, is to make these services available from a remote control so a viewer can use them all from the comfort of his couch, never knowing he has entered the information superhighway. "You could order a cubic zirconia with the click of a button," he said. Malone hopes such services would bring something that still eludes most online businesses -- profits. "When you have 10 percent market penetration, it is of some interest to advertisers, but a universally deployed platform of services should be of huge economic interest to every merchant," Malone said. "I really think this will be a bombshell on Madison Avenue." If advertisers commit, their investment would offset the cost of the technology investment to the cable companies and bring these additional services to customers at just a few dollars over the basic service rate. Although the popularity of the Internet has surged over the past few years, it is still used by only a minority of Americans. A recent survey said more than one in four adults use the Internet, but not all are regular users. Uncertainty about the ability to reach consumers has prevented advertising on the Internet from really taking off. Malone's promise that certain Internet ads would be seen by all cable subscribers could be enticing. It also could solve the debate over where cable's new high-tech offerings fit into a world already equipped with PCs and other gadgets. Although some companies have talked of building new TVs that can perform all the functions of a PC, Malone's idea is to make it a poor man's PC for people who don't own computers. "I don't think the things PCs are good at are the things you want to sit in your living room and do. Maybe there's a 10 to 20 percent overlap," he said. But to skeptics who have repeatedly seen the cable industry fail to deliver on its promises for new services, Malone's idea is problematic. Asked to pin down a time frame, Malone was evasive, saying part should be in place by 1999, but the full package would not be widely available for a few more years. The problem is that the company wants to line up advertisers before it takes on the big investment, but advertisers will likely want to see the service deployed in mass markets before they commit. And for this to truly become a household product, Englewood, Colo.-based Tele-Communications would have to agree on a standard with all the other big cable operators in the country. Many companies are still debating the best way to go interactive. "I'm not going to guarantee everything," Malone said. "But I have a sense this is where we're headed."