SURFER CENSUS
How many people are on-line? No one really knows for sure. Depending on which of the market research services your listen to, the number of people who use the Internet ranges from 43.1 million to 70.5 million.

This is a result of the lack of a standard definition of an on-line person. Some firms consider a person accessing the Internet at least once in a three-month period as being on-line while other firms only count those who are on-line at least once a month. Age is another inconsistency. Some market research firms include persons as young as 12. Other firms begin at age 16 or limit their surveys to adults (18+).

Help is on the way. The Advertising Research Foundation has set up a work group to help decipher the market research. This will help advertisers in setting their rates for on-line ads and provide valid Internet market information for a business developing their or marketing plan. (Source: Computerworld, 9/21/1998)

E-BILLS
By the year 2005, up to 40% of the bills sent by businesses may be delivered electronically. At the same time, it is anticipated we will be paying 45% to 50% of our bills through electronic means.

Businesses are beginning to see the economic benefits that can be realized in switching from paper to electronic billings. Processing paper is expensive. Currently, it costs between US$ .60 to US$1.40 to process and send a paper bill. This would drop to US$ .50 or less, if the bill was delivered electronically.

CheckFree and TransPoint are among the largest vendors in this field. CheckFree has signed up 27 of the largest U.S. banks whom electronically send 2.4 billion bills a year. TransPoint has reached agreement with two dozen large corporations including Shell Oil, JC Penney and a number of public utilities. TransPoint is a joint venture of Microsoft and First Data Corporation. (Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press, 9/21/1998)

WEB SITE OF THE MONTH
Autumn is a wonderful time of the year to take a vacation. To help promote fall tourism, the State of Pennsylvania has added web cameras at six state parks so you can view some of the State's fall foliage. The Fall Foliage site www.fallin.state.pa.us provides information about the six parks, maps and updated images from the web cams every half-hour. (Source: Wall Street Journal, 9/1/1998)
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Technology Tidbits is published monthly by Jerry Price, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
© 1998 Jerry W. Price

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