LIBRARIES - GHETTOS OF THE PAST  

In the age of the "know" and "know-nots", the speed and cost at which data can be accessed is becoming more valuable. A traditional library has to be physically accessed geographically. That takes time, a commodity of constantly increasing value. It usually costs money to travel there usually during restrictive hours when your time may be more valuable elsewhere than when less valuable time can't be utilized because libraries adhere to old, industrial age, non-user friendly hours.

Consider the miniaturization trend in computer storage during the past two decades. It is about to accelerate. In 10 years we have moved from microfiche to computer discs ... discs now capable of holding more than an entire computer could hold just five years earlier. Standard computer discs can now hold more than one megabyte -- and sell for as little as 19 cents; about 35 cents for the stiffer 3.5-inch units that hold 1.4 Mgb. -- on each side! The computer world is being flooded with CD-ROMs, 4.5-inch plastic, aluminum-looking discs (same size as the common musical disc) that can hold up to 700 Mgb. of data -- in multi-media. Quantity production cost (not counting cost of formatting content) is down to $1.50 each. Each disc can hold a thousand 300-page books (Editor's note: see release on "Dr. Tomorrow's Eclectic Bookstore" at end of this column). What does this mean to companies renting space at $30 to $50 a square foot in tall office towers? Towers that contain on two floors out of every 13, nothing but manila file folders! Companies that store on disc don't need all that space. With 10,000 square feet per floor in some office buildings costing half-a-million dollars a year, that's a substantial saving that will allow some companies to survive.

But the trend towards miniaturization goes beyond saving space. Just over the horizon is S.E.R.O.D.S., Surface-Enhanced Raman Optical Data Storage. One 12-inch disc can hold an entire city library. Now it is possible to eliminate most of the building!

Optical disc storage (and the sugar-cube-size crystals yet to come) provide instant access, from anywhere in the world, at costs cheaper than parking your car to enter a Gutenberg-style library. Watch for even the dictionary description of the word to change.

We have all seen what wide-spread implementation of the low-cost fax machine has done for business and even the home. Wait until the library-on-a-disc and factory-in-a-box moves in.

The standard size office desk of today maybe too large for the future. Computer "footprints" are shrinking. Fax machines now come on cards insertable into computers or in a small box that plugs into your Mac or PC. Using computer "brains" they both send and receive in higher resolution. You also can scan them on your computer screen first, thereby eliminating up to 80 percent of the printing required with old flatbed fax machines. Some load can also be taken off the overburdened office photocopier when the computer can print out E-mail or faxes, if required. All these technologies are entering into relationships and merging. Why have a TV and a computer when you can just as easily route your satellite dish feeds into your computer and watch it while you work. E-merging technologies reduce desk space and equipment cost. Consider this when you think about setting up your home office. Have you considered the tax advantages of instead of having a home with an office in it, having an office with a "home" in it? Dr. Tomorrow's "Eclectic Bookstore" follows on next page.

Product Description: Dr. Tomorrow's Eclectic Bookstore Apr.26/92 Contact: Greg Tjosvold Polar 7 Enterprises 604/944-8001

Photon Press Announces a Bookstore on CD-ROM VANCOUVER, B.C.-(November 11, 1991)-Photon Press today announced "Dr. Tomorrow's Eclectic Bookstore", the first CD ROM disc to offer individual works of literature for sale directly to the end user. The user can tour the "shelves" of the bookstore and select from hundreds of hard-to-find and unique titles as well as several standard reference works.

Many of the titles on the disc are available at no extra charge and may be read immediately from the disc. The full text of the King James version of the Bible, the "1991 Motorsports Review" and "The Cat's Meow (a collection of beer recipes) are just a few of the diverse titles available to all owners of the disc.

However, what makes Dr. Tomorrow's Eclectic Bookstore unique is the wide selection of titles available for sale from the disc. Sample chapters are provided from each book that is for sale on the CD ROM. If after reading the sample, the user wants to purchase the complete book, it is a simple matter of calling an 800 number, providing credit card information and requesting a user specific "key". This key, actually a large number, is entered and the full text of the book becomes available on the user's desktop. Individuals purchasing $20 or more worth of titles from the disc will receive the next edition of Dr. Tomorrow's Eclectic Bookstore free of charge.

One of the titles available for sale from the disc is "LESSONS FROM THE FUTURE", VOL. X By Frank Ogden. Frank Ogden, the disc's namesake, is better known around the world as "Dr. Tomorrow" and is Canada's most frequently quoted futurist. Mr. Ogden refuses to publish his own books in print. "After Gutenberg came out with print" he remarks "no one went back to the chisel". This CD ROM is an extension of that vision.

All titles on the disc are provided in several standard formats, including MS-Word, MacWrite, ASCII, and as HyperCard stacks. A custom HyperCard stack, as well as Polar 7's unique System 7.0 compatible InfoBubble technology, are used to facilitate browsing the disc.

U.S. suggested retail price is $79. Shipments will begin in 1992. Additional information about Photon Press, Dr. Tomorrow's Eclectic Bookstore and InfoBubble technology is available from Polar Seven Enterprises, 1237 Nestor Street, Coquitlam, B.C., Canada V3E 1H4. The company can be reached at 604/944-8001. The Photon Press label is a cooperative venture of 21st Century Media Communications and Polar 7 Enterprises. # Dr. Tomorrow's Eclectic Bookstore, Photon Press and InfoBubble are trademarks of Polar 7 Enterprises. "LESSONS FROM THE FUTURE" VOL. X and Dr. Tomorrow are trademarks of Frank Ogden. All other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders.

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