The media giant, which has in the past got into conflict with News Corp Big Boss Rupert Murdoch in some acquisition battle or the other, reported revenues of $6 billion last year. It has more than 55 dailies and 75 non-dailies circulated mostly in the US and Canada. The company is holding on to its Globe & Mail newspaper. Some 50% of its revenues are generated through its electronic information services currently. The company expects to take this up to 80 per cent in the next five years. It hopes to raise $2.6 billion from the sale of its newspapers. And use it to further its prospects in online information services. The group says the Globe & Mail has a fit with financial information group because of its Internet operations, broadcast assets, and "renowned business-to-business content." Wonder whether any other Indian media houses will jettison their print media operations for the e-World?

Wireless Internet catching up
Wireless is the way to go. At least that's the message that market research firm IDC is giving through its latest survey: Wireless Access to the Internet, 1999: Everybody's doing it. The report points out that the number of wireless device users rose to 7.4 million in US in 1999. And they will boom to 61.5 million by 2003. IDC believes that a majority of access to the Internet will be through wireless devices and the leaders delivering this will be content providers like CNN, CNBC and Reuters and their like. What is driving wireless Internet access is the involvement of Microsoft in the Wireless Application Protocol Forum and the introduction of mobile specific portals. These portals give users access to information at the touch of their mobile button. More information about the report can be made available by email to batlas@idc.com.

Will wireless data transfers take off in India? It's quite likely though the number of handsets are limited. A lot more portals will have to make efforts to strike alliances with mobile phone companies.

Gap between virtual, real world widens
The Internet alienates human beings from society right? We have heard this plaint before. Now, two researchers from Stanford have said that the more time people spend online the less time they spend with real people. The survey covered 4,113 US adults.

But the fact is that a majority of those surveyed said that the Internet had not really affected their life to that great an extent nor has it affected the way they spend their time. Almost 66 per cent of those surveyed said that they spend less than five hours a week on the WWW. A minority - 13 percent of ``regular'' Internet users (those spending five or more hours per week online) - said that they spend less time with friends and family.

Eight per cent said they were attending fewer social events. And 26 percent said they were talking less to friends and family on the phone.

Additionally, sixty per cent of regular Internet users disclosed that they had reduced the time they spend in front of the idiot-box. One third added that they spend less time reading newspapers every morning. However they added that they are working more. A small fraction - about four per cent - of those surveyed - said that they had chopped the time they spend in the office after gaining Net access, 16 percent said they were working more hours at home without cutting back at the office. Another eight per cent reported that they were were working more at home and at the office. The honourable professors however added that more and more people are becoming addicts and heavy users of the net and that the phenomenon will spread.

Thelonger the duration that a consumer has spent on the Net in terms of years he has been accessing it, the more the time he is likely to surf.

The author is developing a vertical portal http://www.indiantelevision.com. He can be reached at television@vsnl.com and television@hotmail.com