From: rah@shipwright.com (Robert Hettinga)
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 94 20:09:59 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: e$: Spamorama:  Downtown Anywhere
Message-ID: <199407242213.SAA14247@zork.tiac.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


If you're not interested in yet another e-commerce vendor, delete away.

My POP newsgroup just put this up.  Looks like CommerceNet has some
competition.  These folks claim that they're doing something different
from secure mosaic.

I'm going web diving in DA now, and I'll tell you what I find out.

Cheers


> Path: sundog.tiac.net!max.tiac.net!cjwoods
> From: cjwoods@max.tiac.net (Chris Woods)
> Newsgroups: tiac
> Subject: Downtown Anywhere
> Date: 24 Jul 1994 20:27:59 GMT
> Organization: The Internet Access Company
> Lines: 139
> Message-ID: <30uisf$bir@sundog.tiac.net>
> NNTP-Posting-Host: max.tiac.net
> X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
> 
> This is an interesting tidbit you can check out using your WWW browser 
> (Mosaic, Chimera, Cello, Lynx, etc.). IMHO, this is laid out MUCH better 
> than many of the "popular" Web servers, such as NCSA and GNN. Check it out!
> 
> http://www.awa.com/
> 
> Here's a "Press Release" type of document:
> 
> Date: Fri, 22 Jul 1994 00:23:31 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Sandy Bendremer <sandy@awa.COM>
> To: cjwoods@tiac.net
> 
>                                      Contact:   Jonathan Schull
> For Immediate Release                           (716) 242-0348
> 
>                                                 Sanford Bendremer
>                                                 (617) 522-8102
> 
>  
> 
>    DOWNTOWN ANYWHERE BRINGS ONLINE COMMERCE TO THE INTERNET
> 
> Downtown Anywhere Inc. announced its World Wide Web-based online
> environment known as "Downtown Anywhere(sm)."  Laid out like a
> thriving metropolis, Downtown Anywhere's Museums, Libraries, and
> Newsstands provide free and friendly access to global Internet
> resources, while its Main Street allows visitors to browse goods
> and innovative services that can be purchased with a few
> keystrokes.  Downtown Anywhere boasts the first real-time
> consumer-oriented credit card processing on the Internet, and
> its innovative Personal Payment system eliminates the need for
> transmitting sensitive credit card numbers over the Internet.
> 
> The Downtown Anywhere economy integrates the technologies of its
> parent companies.  AnyWare Associates' telecommunications
> technologies, coupled with SoftLock Services' proprietary
> telephone-based purchasing systems and patent-pending password
> technologies, provide the unique capability to offer true
> electronic commerce on the Internet.  In minutes, anyone with a
> credit card and a touch-tone telephone can acquire a Personal
> Payment Password(sm) that can be used easily for online purchases
> in Downtown Anywhere, and at other participating sites.  In
> seconds, information about online purchases of physical goods or
> services is transmitted automatically by electronic mail or fax
> to the merchants offering those products.  And, if the product
> is a SoftLock-secured document or program, the purchase can be
> fulfilled instantly with the online delivery of a SoftLock
> Password, which unlocks the product on the user's system.
> 
> According to company co-founder Jonathan Schull, "We have tried
> to eliminate the technical and financial barriers that have
> tended to leave would-be merchants and consumers hitch-hiking
> beside the information superhighway.  Visitors will find
> themselves in a comfortingly familiar environment that is
> interesting and diverse."
> 
> Sanford Bendremer, co-founder of Downtown Anywhere, said, "We've
> already seen tremendous interest from small and large
> organizations, that will be joining us in Downtown Anywhere. 
> Advertisers and merchants are looking at the dramatic size and
> growth of the Internet, and they are seeing this media as a
> powerful tool to reach customers."
> 
> Bendremer added that setting up shop in Downtown Anywhere can be
> inexpensive because the company has a stake in the success of
> its clients. "We will certainly rent advertising space and prime
> virtual real estate to those who want to pay for it, but since
> we provide the transaction processing and communication services
> that can make virtual businesses succeed, we will accept
> commissions in lieu of up-front payments.  We are also committed
> to offering inexpensive accommodations to people and
> organizations that can help us increase the richness and value
> of our environment." 
> 
> The following are among the early attractions in Downtown Anywhere:    
> 
>  o  Digital Data Express: Complete Internet Training Kit
>  o  Environmentally Sound Products Inc.
>  o  The National Association for the Self-Employed
>  o  The Convention Center:  Site of the ComOnLine consumer trade shows
>  o  W.W. Norton & Company Inc.:  Sponsors of the Psychology Lab at
>        Anywhere University      
>  o  Kroch's and Brentano's Bookstore, with over 80,000 books
>  o  Reiter's Scientific and Professional Books
>  o  Waypoint Technologies Inc.:  Astrophysics and education
>  o  Chapter One Books:  A truly virtual bookstore
>  o  Digital Print Services
>  o  The Virtual Newsroom:  A special exhibit by the San Francisco
>        Examiner and Radius Inc.
>  o  Webster's Weekly:  The web's first weekly magazine of news and views
>  o  John Zakour's The Doomsday Brunette
>  o  Stories of the Virtual City:  A collaborative hypertext novel, set 
>        in Downtown Anywhere
>  o  Tom Jackson's Pro Football Update
>  o  Corinth Video
>  o  Jacobs Publishing Limited
>  o  Education Research Laboratories Inc.:  Knowledge-engineered
>        electronic references 
>  o  Lighthouse Press and the Interactive Yellow Pages
>  o  Nomad Press and Colin Haynes, author of McGraw-Hill's forthcoming 
>        Paperless Publishing
>  o  The Electronic Publishing Association
>  o  Technical Learning Resources 
>  o  Association for Library Information Management
>  o  ElectricSpace Co.:  Sound for cyberspace
>  o  Marrakesh Express: Moroccan rugs, pillows, and edification
>  o  The Downtown Anywhere Souvenir Shop
> 
> SoftLock Services Inc. and AnyWare Associates Inc. are the
> parent companies of Downtown Anywhere Inc.
> 
> SoftLock Services provides Tools and Services for electronic
> publishing, software marketing, and digital commerce.  AnyWare
> Associates provides telecommunications services, including
> FAXiNET(sm), a service that enables Internet electronic mail
> users to send and receive fax messages.
> 
> Downtown Anywhere can be accessed at http://www.awa.com/ on the
> World Wide Web using a browser such as Mosaic, Lynx, or Cello.  
> The World Wide Web is an Internet-based global hypertext network
> that is being widely acclaimed for its versatility and ease of
> use.
> 
> For more information about Downtown Anywhere and how to access
> the service, send E-mail to Downtown@awa.com, or contact
> Downtown Anywhere Inc. at 32 Woodland Road, Boston, MA
> 02130-3018, TEL: 716-242-0348, FAX: 617-522-5734.
> 
>                         - end -
> 
> 
> HAVE FUN ON THE WEB!
> 
> 
> --
>   Chris Woods         TIAC Support     cjwoods@tiac.net       support@tiac.net
>   The Internet Access Company      7 Railroad Ave.       Bedford, MA 01730 USA
>   Affordable Unix Shell, SLIP, PPP, Dedicated, Leased 56 kbps for Metro Boston
>                         email info@tiac.net for details!

-- 
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com)  "There is no difference between  
Shipwright Development Corporation     someone who eats too little
44 Farquhar Street                     and sees Heaven and someone
Boston, MA 02331 USA                   who drinks too much and sees 
(617) 323-7923                         snakes."   -- Bertrand Russell