I don't want hyperactive content, I want MY content, at MY speed. Anyone who
gets their news from a screensaver deserves to have it reamed into him or her
by Rush, Donaldson, or some other fleeting prick.
Jeez, as if MTV weren't a lower bound.
Rohit Khare
) Free Custom News Service Delivers Via Screen Saver
PointCast Inc. in Cupertino, Calif., unveiled a new concept in Internet news
delivery yesterday--a free, advertiser-supported service that delivers
customized news headlines and stories over the Web to your PC at idle times
when you'd otherwise be watching a screen saver.
The PointCast Network, available now for downloading at
http://www.pointcast.com , has set the ambitious goal of 1 million users by
the end of this year. PointCast, trumpeting a partnership with Netscape that
will make PointCast Network a Navigator 2.0 plug-in application by April, even
trotted out Netscape chief technology officer Marc Andreessen to say a few
words at its press conference in San Francisco.
PointCast Network delivers a rather hyperactive, rapidly changing screen
filled with news headlines and capsules, a ticker with stock quotes or sports
scores running across the bottom, and an ad with moving copy and graphics on
every screen. PointCast CEO Chris Hassett said initial sponsorships are
already sold out; advertisers include EDS, Fidelity, Saturn, Prodigy and
Quarterdeck. Initial content providers include the Los Angeles Times, Boston
Globe and CMP Publications (the publisher of InformationWeek).
--Clinton Wilder