Actioneer Inc. Introduces New Method for Web Access; `Unbrowser' Offers Easier Access to Popular Web Services.SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 1999-- Actioneer, Inc. today announced the Actioneer(R) Smart Portal(TM) service, a whole new way to access Web services (1) Loosely, any online service delivered over the Web. Such usage appears in articles from non-technical sources, but not in IT-oriented publications, because definition #2 below describes the correct use of the term. from the desktop. The Actioneer Smart Portal eliminates time-consuming "point and click" navigation for connecting with online merchants, Web-based information sources and electronic organizers See PDA. . Software needed to use the service can be downloaded free of charge from the company at www.actioneer.com. The Actioneer Smart Portal is the first new method for accessing the Web since the introduction of the browser. With one click of the mouse, you can quickly and easily access selected Web services, including online stock quote services, ticket agencies, book and CD merchants, local movie times, TV listings, concert schedules and more. "Actioneer gives users the easiest access to e-services on the Web and the desktop," said Tom Hagan, chief executive officer. "It's really an 'unbrowser' -- an easy-to-use interface that saves time when looking up information or buying things on the Web, or for capturing information to send to desktop or handheld organizers." The new capability for easing access to Web services builds on Actioneer's success with providing easy access to electronic organizers, including Palm(TM) handheld organizers and Palm Desktop, Microsoft Outlook For the e-mail and news client bundled with certain versions of Microsoft Windows, see . Microsoft Outlook or Outlook (full name Microsoft Office Outlook (R) and Lotus Notes Messaging and groupware software from IBM Lotus that was introduced in 1989 for OS/2 and later expanded to Windows, Mac, Unix, NetWare, AS/400 and S/390. Notes provides e-mail, document sharing, workflow, group discussions and calendaring and scheduling. (R) desktop organizers. Lotus Notes and Domino Advisor magazine granted Actioneer its Gold-level "Cool New Product" award; ZDNet and PC Magazine named Actioneer for Palm handhelds "Product of the Year", saying "Actioneer is one of the most innovative products to arrive this year for any platform." The Actioneer Smart Portal service comes pre-built with a starter set of connectors providing access to useful online information services See Information Systems. , Web merchants and electronic organizers. The connectors are "pipelines" for transferring information to and from electronic services -- on the desktop or on the Web. The company maintains a growing catalog of Actioneer connectors to services of all kinds, almost all available for download free of charge, on their Web site at www.actioneer.com. Using Actioneer Using Actioneer is simple. To fetch a current stock quote for IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , for example, you need only click open Actioneer and type the keyword "sq" and the company symbol "IBM" in Actioneer's note-like window. Actioneer goes to the Web and requests the current stock quote for IBM from an online service, which performs the search and presents the results. To access services available through Actioneer, you never need to open your browser or navigate to any site -- Actioneer detects user-defined keywords in the message to dispatch the request to the proper Web destination. Actioneer also streamlines access to electronic organizers. To capture an item for entry into the Lotus Notes Calendar, for instance, you simply click open the Actioneer window and type "Sales meeting sales meeting n → reunión f de ventas Fri 4 pm." Actioneer automatically interprets the text and presents for verification a display showing that the action message is to be sent to your Friday Calendar page as a 4:00 p.m. appointment. One click then enters the information instantly into your Notes Calendar, whether Notes is open or not. The initial release of the Actioneer Smart Portal Service includes connectors providing access to over 25 e-services on the Web, including the Information Please online dictionary, almanac almanac, originally, a calendar with notations of astronomical and other data. Almanacs have been known in simple form almost since the invention of writing, for they served to record religious feasts, seasonal changes, and the like. , and encyclopedia services; online retailers such as Amazon.com, eBay, eToys and 1-800-Flowers; search and reference services for white and yellow pages, news headlines and weather; entertainment services such as Musi-Cal.com, USA Today USA Today National U.S. daily general-interest newspaper, the first of its kind. Launched in 1982 by Allen Neuharth, head of the Gannett newspaper chain, it reached a circulation of one million within a year and surpassed two million in the 1990s. Sports, Tickets.com and Hollywood Online; and travel services such as Travelocity.com. Connectors are also available for the Lotus Notes R5 calendar and ToDo lists and, as of July 1, for Microsoft Outlook and Palm Desktop electronic organizers and for Lotus Notes 4.6. Not all Smart Portal connectors will be free. In third quarter 1999, Actioneer will release Actioneer 3.0 Pro, upgrade connector sets providing enhanced Calendar, ToDo list, Journal and messaging functionality for Lotus Notes, Palm Desktop and Microsoft Outlook users. The Actioneer Pro upgrade connector sets will be priced at under $30. Actioneer Inc. provides products and services that simplify access to online information services, electronic organizers and Web-based merchants. The Actioneer 3.0 Smart Portal service provides the first new Web access method since the introduction of the browser. Actioneer is bundled with Lotus Notes R5, and with various IBM and Palm Computing platform See platform. products. Recently, Actioneer was chosen as the top-rated product for the Palm Platform by PC Computing, Fast Company, Fortune, ZDNet, and others. Red Herring Red Herring A preliminary registration statement that must be filed with the SEC describing a new issue of stock (IPO) and the prospects of the issuing company. Notes: and Upside Magazine have listed Actioneer as one of the top private Internet companies, and Computerworld chose Actioneer as one of its "100 Hot Emerging Companies". Actioneer, Inc. has offices in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden and Cambridge, Mass. Note to Editors: Actioneer is a registered trademark and Smart Portal is a trademark of Actioneer, Inc. PalmPilot and Palm III The Palm III was the first PDA in the Palm III lineup and is also Palm Computing's first handheld to support infrared file transfer and a Flash ROM capable operating system. The first Palm IIIs went on sale in 1998. are trademarks of 3Com Corp. or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks belong to their respective holders. |
|
||||||||||||

Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion