TELECOMMUTING
Eleven million Americans now telecommute to work, up from 8.1 million in 1995. Estimates vary, but the number of telecommuters is expected to increase to 14 million over the next two years. Jack Nilles, the creator of the term "telecommuting" believes that 40% of the workforce could become part-time telecommuters in the future.

Who is a telecommuter? The average telecommuter is 40 years old, works approximately 19 hours a week from home and averages nine days of business travel per month. Seventy-six percent are married and 46% have children living with them. Seventy-five percent use personal computers and 31% have access to the Internet. Telecommuters have an annual income of US$51,000.

The benefits of telecommuting include a reduction in the number of sick days taken and reduced costs to the business in terms of office and parking space. Some workers find that they are more productive working at home as they are away from the distractions of the office. (Sources: www.att.com/press/0797/970702.bsa.html, ZDNET at www.anchordesk.com and LANTIMES, 7/7/1997)

PCs ON THE INTERNET
According to Computer Intelligence, there are 31 million personal computers in the United States connected to the Internet. Approximately 20 million are connected at the workplace, 4 million are described as self-employed and 7 million PCs are connected from home. Online service was the most often cited method of Internet access although the growth in a direct connection to the Internet makes me wonder if this will be the preferred method in the future. (Source: PC WEEK, 7/14/1997).

WEB SITE OF THE MONTH
Looking for a way to conduct a risk analysis on the stocks in your portfolio? If so, Riskview www.riskview.com may be a site for you. At Riskview, you will be able to conduct six different financial and risk analysis on over 3,000 equities from 29 countries. This new web site is a partnership between Dow Jones & Co., IBM and Infinity Financial Technology. Users will need to download software from the site the first time they want to run the analysis. Access and the software are free and Netscape 3.01 is the recommended browser. (Sources: Wall Street Journal, 7/23/1997 and www.riskview.com, 8/31/1997).

______________________________________________________________
Technology Tidbits is published monthly by Jerry Price, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
© 1997 Jerry W. Price

Return to Archives.