The Online World resources handbook

Gazing into the future http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/17.html
The first test version of The de Presno Daily News appeared in 1987. It did not convert
news to sound. It did not appear like a newspaper page on my notebook's screen. Not
because it was impossible at the time. I just did not feel the 'extras' were worth the
effort.
My personal interest profile was taken care of by scripts. If I wanted news, the
"news processor" went to work and "printed" a new edition. On Tuesdays, Thursdays,
and Saturdays, I got an "extended edition."
This is a section from the first historical issue:
"Front page," Thursday, November 21, 1987
Under the headline "News From Tokyo," items like these:
TOSHIBA TO MARKET INEXPENSIVE PORTABLE WORD PROCESSOR
TOHOKU UNIVERSITY CONSTRUCTING SEMICONDUCTOR
RESEARCH LAB
TOSHIBA TO SUPPLY OFFICE EQUIPMENT TO OLIVETTI
NISSAN DEVELOPS PAINT INSPECTION ROBOT
MADE TO ORDER POCKET COMPUTER FROM CASIO
The articles were captured from Kyoto News Service through Down
Jones/News Retrieval.
The column with news from the United States had stories from
NEWSBYTES' newsletters. Hot News From England came from several
sources, including The Financial Times and Reuters +HDGOLQHV UHDG
THE CHRISTMAS SELLING WAR
BIG MACS GOING CHEAP TO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
"Page 2" was dedicated to technology intelligence. "Page 3" had stories about
telecommunications, mainly from Brainwave for NewsNet's newsletters.
"Page 4" covered personal computer applications.
Several years later
The technology is here. We have services "pushing" filtered news to our desktops. We
can subscribe to filtered news in many other ways. Anyone can design personal
"newspapers" using powerful communication programs with extensive script features.
My personal "newspaper" now works as follows:
1.
2.
3.
Daily, article menus are automatically retrieved from NewsLinx (Chapter 9),
Individual.com, and two similar Norwegian services. Retrieval is done by a system
build on use of the Agora Web by email services (Chapter 12).
Upon receipt, my tailormade news system analyzes the menus, and suggests
stories to read based on words or phrases found in the titles. Enter to read, 'n' to
skip. Desired articles are automatically prepared for retrieval by Agora mail. Later
that day, the articles arrive in my mailbox, and I can read them when I get time.
Adding or deleting terms to search for in the menus is easy, and takes seconds.
My system also analyzes my incoming electronic mail for interesting contents,
including those coming from selected clipping systems (Chapter 11). Interesting
finds are highlighted on screen, on my newspaper's front page if you like.
News meta services, like NewsLink, individual, Riksagenten, and Nettvik, are here to
stay. Then there is push. Expect more alternatives.
Having news delivered to your mailbox or screen is the easy part of the equation.
Selecting and reading is the difficult part. Most people do not have time to read the most
interesting articles published each day. I do not even have time for the daily selection
menus. Without automation, I'd be lost.
Enabling Internet users to select articles automatically may well be the next
important battle field.
Some complain it is too difficult to read news on a computer screen. Maybe so, but
pay attention to what is happening in notebook computers. This paragraph was written
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