Logan Daily News

 

Net Watch
by Bob Green

Welcome to Hocking County's state of the art, cutting edge, cool place to be . . . Net Watch. Turn on your computer and get hooked into the Internet and join us in 3D interactive newspaper. We gather information that's of interest to our community from our community and from the world of cyberspace and invite you to join-in through E-mail. To top it all off, this format is great for lining bird cages and swatting unruly pups. This column covers a wide range of issues concerning not only the Internet, but also computers, programs and anything that I deem to be of interest because it's my column.

The first issue that I'd like to address today is memory problems. Several years ago on a business trip into New York City I saw a rather spaced-out looking fellow with a T-shirt that read "If you can remember the 60's, you weren't there". Although not desiring to glamorize any activities that create memory loss, suffice it to say that a number of us have chunks of memory missing from that era. I've been kindly labeled as absent minded, and have had to learn to cope with a seriously flawed memory. It makes me extremely agitated, though, when the machine I've bought to supplement my shortcomings develops a problem with its memory. That's not supposed to happen, but it does. If you've ever experienced a "Not Enough Memory To Execute Program" error message on your computer, you know what I'm talking about. I recently found an easy solution to the problem that you might like to learn about. Several weeks ago, my computer was so low on memory that Windows would barely start up. A friend stopped over and told me about a memory expanding program called Q.E.M.M. which is available at most software stores. It can also be purchased via the Internet at http://quarterdeck.com. After acquiring the software I installed it on my machine. It was extremely simple to load and automatically corrected all my memory problems. The cost of the program is around $70 which is a whole lot cheaper than adding more memory. Too bad they don't have a version out for people as well. If this tip helps you, let me know (mdpine@brutus.bright.net).

It appears that a significant amount of money is being spent by the government to get American businesses involved in the Net. If they can raise the income level of businesses, they can get more taxes. Makes perfect sense, I guess. Anyway, one of our local businesses became aware of a government program that was being funded by the US Department of Agriculture. The program is called ACEnet which stands for Appalachian Center for Economic Networks. Their goal is to open up economic opportunities for people living in rural, southeastern Ohio. They have a certain amount of money to spend and are trying to use it to impact as many people as possible. They are extremely selective about where they spend those limited resources.

Vicki Devol with the Artisan Mall (located here in Logan) approached this organization. She felt that her store would be the perfect candidate for this type of an effort because it represents so many of the Hocking County craftspeople. Anything that would boost interest and sales for her store would have a positive impact throughout our community. In addition, our craftspeople make some very unusual and unique items that would find broad interest in the global marketplace. She pointed out that this would certainly stack the odds in favor of success for ACEnet. It wasn't easy, but they finally chose her establishment as one of five southeastern Ohio businesses they would help to get up and running into the Internet. ACEnet is now in the process of developing a home page for the Mall which will be completed and on the Net hopefully by the end of the week. Be sure to go and check this location out (http://civic.net/webmarket) and give me some feedback. I'm sure the folks at Artisan Mall would appreciate your comments as well (artsmall@hockinghills.net).

You don't have to spend scads of money or wait for a government grant to start your own home page on the Web. You can now download easy to use software that makes designing a web page extremely simple. One of the most popular current programs is called "Hot Dog" and it can be downloaded from (http://www.sausage.com). You can try it out for 30 days before you have to buy it. The home version costs around $30 and the professional version costs $100. You may or may not have the skills to complete the project, but there's no cost to try it out. In addition, the monthly charge to have a homepage on the Web is very inexpensive. Your internet provider can give you the details on cost. A person doesn't even have to own a business to set up a web page. Many friendly people have set up pages about themselves and their families just for the fun of it. Some of those people have discovered other family and friends from around the world, or others that share similar interests. Other people have found jobs by including some of their job skill capabilities in the listing. Let me know if and how you use it (mdpine@brutus.bright.net).

If you own a business and decide to create your own web page, you might be able to benefit greatly by checking out the next location. I read a book several years ago that made quite an impact on the way I looked at marketing. Just for the heck of it I typed the title of that book into an Internet search. To my surprise, the author of the book has an online magazine on the Web that is free of charge. It's called Guerilla Marketing Online (http://www.gmarketing.com/). The small business person that has to compete against firms with Goliath sized marketing budgets will absolutely love the hard hitting tips and advice found at this site. For an example go to the site and bring up the article written by Charles Rubin titled "Eight Steps to a Web Page". If you have any trouble finding it, contact me (mdpine@brutus.bright.net). It's a classic for putting together a strategic Web site that will produce results.

Keep your cards, letters, and E-mail coming in. My enthusiasm for your responses drives my wife nuts because I check my mail numerous times during the day and night. The reason it excites me is because it's such a new method of communicating. Like I mentioned at the beginning of the column, it's interactive newspaper and it's becoming somewhat of a shared community project. I really mean it when I tell you that I want your stories. Let's ride the wave together. Until next week, surf safe and have fun.