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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1984)
\ r & Bill Hi e Battalion M 6C®t'I'Miu 0 RlG^t NOw j- W£ SOUKjDcfj .comcidS" ewe^s. w Thursday, March 2f, 1984/The Battalion/Page 1b omputer ads a ‘step’ into videotex industry ion s >x-game eating a spli 'Blue Jays, winner, weni: allowed run while siij er pitched oi Jck out two. ciorek beltdi run homer ol top of the the Chicago over the Pit rekhad hit to clay in the pi ttsburgh relitf) t to cut the Greg Walltf e ninth to titi Jnited Press International OKLAHOMA CITY — jrica’s first metro-area pub- Jformation computer system m will begin operation in lahoma City and investors say only their first entry in he lion-dollar “videotex” indus- j race. founders of info Vision Inc. I their system will give them fad start in the heated corn- ion for the expected billion- Ir computer information |tet. k view this as a first step,” id Mike Farnham, president :hiefexecutive officer of in- iion. Farnham, previously an ■st and planner for TG&Y |es, spent more than two researching the videotex pt, which he describes as “a Iricname for a user-friendly lo retrieve information.” lyMay 15, the group of Okla- (aCity investors will place 40 o-way terminals at high- jcareas such as airpots, con- ion centers and shopping The screens, up to 100 by ber, will allow users to get and descriptions of the city’s iping centers, motels, enler- nentand restaurants free of ^ _ ■vertisers will pay fees of up Byo a "page” per year to be ■ded in the system, j |nfoVision investors are bel- rOllG | the ' r ^ irsl v ^ eolex system will set the stage for an intense assault on the grassroots con sumer market. “There’s profitability in the public access environment, but obviously the billion-dollar in dustry that all the experts refer to is in the home,” Farnham said. “We have to acclimate the consumes and get them used to interacting with the computer.” Within months, InfoVision plans to introduce “closecf’ sub scription computer services that could offer exclusive informa tion for the legal, medical, finan cial and real estate industries. Next could come a computer catalog shopping service. Ulti mately — perhaps within five years — infoVision officials hope to offer an affordable full- service in-home computer infor mation subscription service. “The third phase would be to allow you to sit in your recliner and shop, bank and read the Wall Street Journal and transact business through your televi sion,” Farnham said. InfoVision investors, who have spent less than $ 1 million so far, say they expect to reach the “break-even” level of about 2,800 pages of advertising for their system in about eight months. Larry Lucas, a principal shareholder, said videotex sys tems are nothing new in other countries, especially in Europe. “The states have kind of lag ged behind,” he said. He said videotex systems are operating in France, where an “electronic Yellow Pages” is offered, and in Switzerland. Florida’s Disneyworld has a videotex system as does a mall in Dallas, but Lucas said his will be the first in the United States to offer a citywide public access videotex system. Farnham said other Amer ican investors previously spent some $50 million to promote in- home videotex systems, but sub scription prices were too high for residents and the computer boom had not taken hold. He says experts estimate some 30 million homes will have compu ters by 1990. Sears and CBS recently formed a $50 million partner ship to establish videotex sys tems around the country, Lucas said. “It’s a very hot subject — the videotex business — right now,” he said. In the next year, various com panies probably will install about 20 metro-area videotex systems across the country, he said, with commitments already having been made for San Francisco, Phoenix and Honolulu. He said thousands of inves tors are expected to attend a videotex conference in Chicago April 17. InfoVision’s video advertis ing plan is based on a program being operated successfully in Toronto by Genesys Group Inc., of Ottawa, Canada. Users of the Toronto system dial up some 4 million pages of advertising each week. InfoVision has purchased Genesys software, which in cludes capabilities for intricate color graphics, and has rights for it in seven southwestern states. The company will be looking at other cities — particularly those with high tourist traffic, like Denver — for possible ex pansion. Advertisements in the system can be updated almost immedi ately. Eventually, users will be able to read a restaurant menu, find a motel, get a football score or the weather forecast or even see who’s performing at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Farnham is confident the public will adopt the infoVision concept, but studies have shown it may be the young who will lead the way. “In fact, the first people to walk up and use them are the kids, but they lose their interest fairly quickly because there aren’t any aliens to zap,” he said. “Computer technology does not frighten them like it does some adults.” CHANELLO’S PIZZA $1 off PARKWAY SQUARE 696-0234 Two Item Chanello’s Pizza Or More ONE COUPON PER PIZZA EX- , PIPES ^ NORTHGATE 846-3768 adrlime to think of budgeting ;ss Intrrnatioa r ANSAS — : |0nited Press International some fronul ornia andHpILMINGTON, Del. — eting todailp did the money go? As ize moneyimwicans begin to look at the imateursanllhr while completing their >adre Island | onit tax returns, this may be jmmissiom; fir most common question, e surfing cosjPeisonal finance advisers say ; kind in T fis the time to take stock of produces'jllS's expenditures before c impact foipng your 1984 budget, to ,ort area. Upset this year’s priorities, about 10,00)1 pated to attf r ceremony ng pier. Theii constructed ii| on the islat Fracking last year’s dollars is difficult, particularly if the financial records are kept in a shoebox, to be pulled out only at tax time. "My feeling is that the best way to prepare is to go through the checkbook and detail the ex penditures. But often, what you get in the end is a dollar amount that cannot be accounted for,” said Frank Albero of Wilming ton, who is with the New York City-based Deloitte Haskins & Sells accounting firm. To reconcile the account, Albero said, approximate mis cellaneous expenditures by figuring average daily expenses. To establish a budget, esti mate monthly net income and then subtract fixed expenses such as housing and credit pay ments, and set estimated spend ing limits on other categories — food, utilities, clothing and fun. 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