COLE'S NEWSWIRE, Dec. 8, 1999

Dec. 8, 1999
Vol. 5, No. 51

COLE'S 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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ATEX MEDIA SOLUTIONS INC.
Atex, an international publishing systems supplier based in Bedford, Mass., has announced that its Architect for Microsoft Windows NT for publication planning and display ad layout will be installed at the WALL STREET JOURNAL, flagship paper of Dow Jones & Co. of New York.

Atex Architect automates the placement of display ads based on business rules, zoning conditions, available color webs and sales of premium ad positions. The JOURNAL's 20 Architect licenses will be used to design 17 regional editions at four locations, starting in early 2000.

Atex is on the World-Wide Web at http://www.atex.com/.

THE COLE PAPERS
The first decade of The Cole Group's existence and the last decade of the 20th century coincide, so Editor & Publisher David M. Cole distills the "greatest hits of the '90s" in the newsletter's December issue.

From digital images to computer-to-plate, from mainframes to web sites, the hot issues in newspaper publishing flamed and cooled as computers fueled change, driving the fate of well-known suppliers as well as newspaper businesses.

Cole identifies Adobe Acrobat and its Portable Document Format as the newspaper technology of the decade and Adobe Systems Inc. of San Jose as the publishing systems supplier of the decade.

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

CTEXT INC.
The Ann Arbor-based publishing systems supplier has forged an alliance with Belo Interactive Inc., the Internet subsidiary of media owner A.H. Belo Corp. of Dallas, to develop a new web-integrated product. The fully integrated, searchable classified advertising product, called Adcommerce, will debut at Belo's newspaper web sites, with the flagship DALLAS MORNING NEWS scheduled to go live in early 2000, the PRESS-ENTERPRISE in Riverside, Calif., later in 2000 and the PROVIDENCE (R.I.) JOURNAL in 2001.

According to the companies, Adcommerce will allow Internet users to search Belo's classified database by such content as the color of a car or number of bedrooms in a home. The technology will allow consumers to purchase and place print and Internet ads with graphics or photographs, set up e-mail notification when seeking specific goods and services and offer goods for auction.

Belo uses CText's AdVision classified advertising software for print at the MORNING NEWS and PRESS-ENTERPRISE.

For details, visit CText on the Web at http://www.ctext.com/.

IFRA
The world association of newspaper and new media technology has announced that it has devised an "early warning" system for newspapers dealing with Year 2000 problems.

Participating newspapers will send experience reports to IFRA as soon as possible after midnight, Dec. 31-Jan. 1. Participants who have not yet experienced the transition will automatically receive all experience reports and thus can prepare themselves even more effectively for the event on the basis of the advance information. The experience reports will use a common form, enabling those reading them to find relevant information quickly.

IFRA is on the Web at http://www.ifra.com/.

NEWSINC.
Great profit-earning ratios and good Internet standings don't guarantee higher stock prices for newspaper companies, writes NEWSINC. Editor-Publisher David M. Cole in the Dec. 6 issue of the newsletter about the business of the newspaper business. But they are catching the attention of Wall Street analysts.

Inside the issue, Senior Editor Pete Wetmore reports on whether Y2K jitters are altering production managers' New Year's Eve party plans. Correspondent L. Carol Christopher checks the pulse of the Newspaper Guild, under pressure from a changing labor climate and changing business realities. The Newspaper Association of America is taking a stand on the single-injury threshold for scrutiny under the proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards, reports Wetmore.

And you think it's hard to recruit writers and editors now? What have you got to compete with web enterprise profit-sharing and dot-com stock options, challenges New(s) Media Columnist Steven E. Brier. Maybe more than you think.

For more about the Dec. 6 issue of NEWSINC., visit The Cole Group on the Web at http://colegroup.com/.

POWERADZ.COM
PowerAdz, an Internet hosting provider and software developer based in Renssalaer, N.Y., has announced that its on-line newspaper network has topped 1000 local affiliates, with a combined affiliate circulation of more than 20 million.

Newspaper affiliates feed the network with regional and community news, classifieds and local advertising, while PowerAdz provides a turnkey Internet advertising and commerce structure.

Interest in a PowerAdz product launched in June has hit a fifth of the newspaper base, with more than 200 affiliates adopting Zwire!, which provides on-line editorial, community, classifieds, business directories and auctions.

PowerAdz is on the Web at http://www.poweradz.com/.

QUARK INC.
Denver-based Quark, a supplier of publishing tools that include Quark XPress, has announced the release of QuarkXPress 4.1, with new features, including better HTML conversions and PDF handling, and improved stability.

Quark also introduced QuarkLink, a QuarkXTension designed to facilitate communications between customers and Quark's customer service and technical support.

QuarkXPress 4.1 is free to all registered users of QuarkXPress 4.0 and can be downloaded at the company's web site.

Quark is on the Web at http://www.quark.com/.

TERA U.S.
Tera S.p.A., a developer of newspaper front-end publishing systems, has announced the opening of its U.S. customer service and sales office, based in Bedford, N.H.

Tera U.S. is located at 40 South River Rd., Bedford Place No. 57, Bedford, N.H. 03110. Its telephone number is (603) 624-9160 and fax number is (603) 624-9157.

Tera is creator of the GoodNews system, which the company said provides dynamic updating between the various layout, editing and writing applications, allowing concurrent users to edit copy and pages and see the results immediately across the system.

Other products in the line include the Tera Archiving Solution (Tark) for automatic text, picture and page storage in a browser-based environment, and the TOPIC OPI server, all of which operate under Microsoft's Windows 95 and Windows NT.

Among 150 GoodNews sites worldwide are the FREE LANCE-STAR in Fredericksburg, Va., the FAYETTEVILLE (N.C.) OBSERVER-TIMES; the DESERT SUN in Palm Springs, Calif., and the DAILY TIMES-CALL in Longmont, Colo.

Tera is on the World-Wide Web at http://www.tera-us.com/.

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This issue of COLE'S NEWSWIRE was compiled by Marion J. Love. It is 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.

Copyright (c) 1999, The Cole Group. All Rights Reserved. This transmission may not be copied, archived or retransmitted without the express written permission of The Cole Group. If you are not a subscriber to COLE'S NEWSWIRE, you have received this transmission illegally.

The Cole Group, P.O. Box 3426, Daly City, Calif. USA 94015-0426. V: (650) 994-2100; F: (650) 994-2108; I: info@colegroup.com.