The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will be holding an Open Access Hearing in Silicon Valley on 5/13/94. They are also organizing a technology demonstration of 8-10 projects using information technology in commercial entertainment, education, tourism, public services, health care, and environmental protection. To participate, contact Lisa Leidig (lleidig@ntia.doc.gov) by 4/15/94. [cfranz@ntia.doc.gov, net-hap, 4/12/94.]

CommerceNet is asking $25K in cash or services from companies who want to participate in network governance. California has put in $500K, and NIST's TRP is adding $6M in matching funds over three years. Users and vendors need pay only for their own hardware. Contact info@commerce.net or (415) 617-8790 for free starter software and technical assistance. The chief asset so far is a version of Mosaic with built-in public-key encryption licensed from RSA Data Security Inc. [David Bank, SJM, 4/10/94.] "This is the first industrial park in Cyberspace." [Daniel Dern, WSJ, 4/8/94. EDUPAGE.]

Forrester Research predicts a $3B online-service market by 1998, from $.5B this year. [WSJ, 2/3/94. Bits & Bytes, 4/4/94.]

Applelink with 60K subscribers, has estimated revenues of $40M/year. At least 70 information publishers have signed up for its reincarnation as eWorld. Ziff-Davis is putting together a similar information service centered around its own publications. Both will compete with CompuServe, AOL, etc. [dot.COM, 4/94.] IDG is also planning an online shopping service, for 1995. [Folio, 4/1/94. EDUPAGE.] I expect nearly identical information sources to appear on each. The battle for US homes will be won through alliances, geographic availability, platform availability, marketing, pricing, chat/newsgroup support, and interface quality -- not commercial information content.)

The Internet Business Journal (3/94) features Mosaic as a marketing tool. Digital Corp. offers the best example, with product, service, and performance information, online support, software archives, and online ordering. Free test use of the Alpha has also been available over the Internet. [net-hap, 4/7/94.] (A sample IBJ issue [in hardcopy] is available from Michael Strangelove (mstrange@fonorola.net). Include your postal address, company name, and title.)

A few new businesses have been hiring shills (or are they touts?) to mention products in newsgroups and BBS forums. [dot.COM, 4/94.] (Once they are discovered, self-appointed watchdogs will likely reply publicly to every posting.)

Database vendor Borland International Inc. is putting free product information, utilities, and technical information on ftp.borland.com. For help, call 1-800-523-7070. [EDUCOM UPDATE, 3/28/94. net-hap.] (Borland has been having serious financial problems, and could be a takeover target. It recently sold one of its two database products.)

Software Publishing Corp. is laying off half its 480 employees (down from a peak of 700). The company's Harvard Graphics presentation software has lost ground to MS Windows software and to integrated suites. "The industry's consolidation is making it really tough for companies with a single stand-alone product." Alliances are necessary for survival. [Lee Gomes, SJM, 4/7/94.]

WordPerfect Corp. -- a business world success, now merging with Novell -- has released 25 "Main Street" applications for the home market: educational games, reference guides, personal organizers, productivity tools, music programs, etc. WordPerfect, Microsoft, and Softkey are selling through stores, and are finding consumers willing to drop in and browse what's new. It's an impulse business, dependent on packaging, product positioning, shelf space, and fresh inventory. [AP. SJM, 4/12/94.] (That implies a continuing market for new software, as in the book and music industries.)

Austin is booming while San Jose continues to lose jobs. (Average home price is $115K in Austin, $252K in San Jose.) Most of Austin's growth is in electronics and computer-related manufacturing, but the biggest increase last year was in software development and other engineering services (8,500 jobs). It is expected that Austin will continue to grow faster then Texas and Texas faster than the rest of the US. [Steve Kaufman, SJM, 4/4/94.]

Silicon Valley is also booming, with sales for the 150 largest companies up 19% in 1993 and profits up 50% (to $4.63B). (Sales for the Fortune 500 were up only 0.2%, profits 15%.) There's little hiring yet, but further profits cannot be achieved through restructuring or staff cuts. 20 SV companies now exceed $1B in sales. 50 of the top 150 went public within the past three years, along with 67 smaller SV companies. The number of [surviving] public companies has gone from 175 to 300 since the late 1980s. Profits from the IPOs have brought investors and venture capital, and most of the pain from defense cuts is over. Intel and the semiconductor manufacturers accounted for 64% of the total profit; computers for 9% (with profits down at Apple and $1B in losses by Amdahl and Tandem); and software for only 3%. The large software companies are Borland, Ask, Informix, Adobe, Electronic Arts, Symantec, Santa Cruz Operation, Intuit, Boole & Babbage, Synopsis, Software Publishing, Ross Systems, Gupta, Frame Technology, Zycad, and Trinzic. (Of course, all large companies need in-house software these days.) One interesting company is Resound Corp., which is using AT&T signal-processing technology to make hearing aids. [Ron Wolf, SJM, 4/11/94.]

A new car contains about $675 in steel and $782 in microelectronics. [Fortune, 4/4/94. EDUPAGE.]