COLE'S NEWSWIRE, Dec. 2, 1998

Dec. 2, 1998
Vol. 4, No. 48

The NEWSWIRE is a weekly distribution of information about the sales and installations of publishing technology and the latest news on new products developed by suppliers to the industry.

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APPLIED GRAPHICS TECHNOLOGIES INC.
New York-based Applied Graphics has announced the recent purchase of Electronic Color Imaging LLC of New Jersey for $6.4 million in cash plus the assumption of debt. AGT provides pre-press, new media and multimedia services, including its Digital Link outsourcing service for newspaper ad archiving and distribution.

AGT is on the World-Wide Web at http://www.agt.com/.

BITSTREAM INC.
Bitstream, a supplier of digital tools for the graphic arts industry based in Cambridge, Mass., has announced the recent acquisition of certain assets of Alaras Corp. of Durham, N.C., for $1.3 million.

Alaras brings to Bitstream three products: Tropix, a digital workflow management package; Mixxer, a color correction filter for Adobe Photoshop, and Apertura, a tool for using Photoshop to edit small areas of full-resolution image files saved in such native formats as Scitex CT.

Bitstream is on the Web at http://www.bitstream.com/.

THE COLE PAPERS
Grammar school -- back to basics -- is sometimes necessary, writes Editor & Publisher David M. Cole in the December issue of THE COLE PAPERS. Much has changed since the days colleges could prepare aspiring newspaper people by sharpening a limited number of skills; now, the skills are greater in number and complexity, Cole notes, and the burdens are greater.

Grammar, in this case, is the developing communications structure used on the World-Wide Web; long-time editor T.J. "Tom" Johnson attends an eclectic series of sessions on the grammar of the Web at the American Press Institute.

Also inside the December issue, Correspondent Marion J. Love visits the on-line enterprise of Community Newspaper Co. of Needham, Mass., exploring the community-level effort that uses cutting-edge technology to bring local news on-line. And Correspondent L. Carol Christopher examines two ongoing issues, newsroom reorganizations (the good, the bad and the silly) and color management (the good, the bad and the possible).

For more about the December issue of THE COLE PAPERS, visit The Cole Group on the Web at http://colegroup.com/.

CTEXT INC.
CText, a publishing systems supplier based in Ann Arbor, Mich., has announced that its Dateline editorial system is now in use by the HERALD & REVIEW (38k, morning) of Decatur, Ill.

The Windows NT-based system includes 35 editorial and 10 ExpressLine pagination workstations. It went live at the end of September, joining other CText products at the paper, including the CText AdVision and ALPS advertising content management system.

CText is on the Web at http://www.ctext.com/.

DIGITAL ART EXCHANGE INC.
DAX, a Boston-based provider of connectivity services to the graphic arts industry, has announced it now providing digital asset management solutions. DAX will provide network services to users of DeltaBase, a database marketed by Heidelberg GmbH of Germany, as well as the MediaBank web-based connectivity product from Inso. Corp. of Boston.

DAX is on the Web at http://www.dax-it.com/.

HARRIS PUBLISHING SYSTEMS CORP.
Harris, a supplier of publishing solutions and integration services based in Melbourne, Fla., has announced recent sales to newspapers and other businesses in August, September and October.

Among the newspaper customers are the GREENVILLE (S.C.) NEWS (97k morning), which is installing a 50-seat, Windows-based CASH classified advertising system, and the PLAIN DEALER of Cleveland (383k, morning), which is upgrading its existing Harris pagination and display advertising systems.

Harris is on the Web at http://www.harris.com/.

JURIFAX INC.
Jurifax, a Canadian legal publisher based in Montreal, has introduced seven models for establishing a company's policies concerning technology-related issues. Jurifax offers models for writing company-specific guidelines on proper use of company e-mail and the Internet, as well as company computers, telephones, faxes, photocopiers and intranet.

Each model describes the company's rights, whether it permits personal use of company resources, and applicable sanctions should policies be violated. The models are available through the Jurifax web site, http://www.jurifax.com/.

NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
The NAA, a trade group based in Vienna, Va., has announced that 36 newspapers from the United States and overseas will be honored during a luncheon Jan. 11 for those attending the pre-press sessions of the fourth annual Newspaper Operations SuperConference Jan. 10-15 in Orlando, Fla.

The newspapers will be saluted for having attained membership in the NAA/IFRA International Color Quality Club by meeting strict standards for newspaper color reproduction. The pre-press sessions on Jan. 10-12 will address pagination, computer-to-plate technology, digital asset managements and other issues.

For registration information, visit the NAA on-line at http://www.naa.orgr/conferences/super99.

TRENDWATCH
TrendWatch, a monitor of trends in the graphic arts industry based in Harrisville, R.I., has released a new report, "Creatives and the Internet." The report details how designers, publishers and illustrators are using the Internet in their production and business routines.

The report, which runs more than 100 pages, examines such things as how businesses are using web sites and services, what the creative services provide in the way of help to their clients, and how web sites are used to promote and advertise businesses. A statistically representative sample of more than 750 firms were surveyed to produce the report.

The Cole Group, publishers of this newswire, is working with TrendWatch to prepare the TrendWatch/Cole Newspaper Report, an analysis of newspaper buying patterns, which will be released early next year.

TrendWatch is on the Web at http://www.trendwatch.com/.

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COLE'S NEWSWIRE is compiled by Pete Wetmore and distributed by The Cole Group, publishers of THE COLE PAPERS and NEWSINC., and consultants to newspapers and magazines worldwide. To receive more information about The Cole Group, send e-mail to: info@colegroup.com.

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