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On Tue, 25 Apr 1995, Margie Wylie wrote:

> >Anyone who has used "NewsCast" knows that news from an hour ago is "Old
> >News".  It might be worth something for historical purposes or for
> >research :-).  Like yesterday's newspaper.
> 
> Well, yes, BUT...Does everyone REALLY feel the same need to jack
> straight-into the absolutelty latest details every second of every day? I'd
> say: probably not, unless they are news junkies or professional
> journalists. Unless a news event captures the morbid collective imagination
> of the nation (the O.J. Simpsom trial; the Oklahoma City bombing) I doubt
> there will be many people who will crave the by-the-second update on a town
> council meeting or a Congressional hearing on streamlining the FDA.

With the hyped up speed of communication, do you want to go into a 
sales presentation only to be handed a "bomb" that someone is holding 
onto until the price conversation starts?  Wouldn't you like to KNOW that 
there you are going to brind some new information to the party, simply 
because what you are giving is only an hour old.   I've been getting 
timely tidbits from marketing people for years now.  They can be very 
unsettling to negotiations.

> I'm not saying we don't need up-to-the-minute news in some cases, I'm just
> saying that like any business, you have to pick your battles. For instance,
> there's a Web page (Starwave, I think) that offers minute-by-minute updates
> on sporting events across the country.

> For sports fans, it's utterly
> addictive and it gives them info they can't get anywhere else. They've
> picked the right battle. The rest of us should follow suit.

Dow Jones has "Sports Ticker".  If you know minor stats (how many points 
will some minor player make) 15 minutes before anyone else, you can turn 
long-shots into sucker-bets

	When you negotiate a $650K contract with a vendor, inside 
information revealed at the right momemt can get you a major discount.

	Rex Ballard


From rballard@cnj.digex.net Wed May  3 02:46:59 1995