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Imagine broadcasting on-demand product demonstrations or late-breaking corporate news via your own international TV network. How about conducting roundtable discussions with overseas partners as you sit in your office? Fantasized about delivering hands-on support to customers two time zones away -- using service reps seated in your back room.
Pipe dreams? Not any more. The Internet could soon make many of your business dreams come true.
Technologies are finally arriving that will transform the Net into a two-way marketing, support and communications powerhouse. In recent months, interactive multimedia applications, conferencing and broadcast technologies, and even 3-D have hit the Net, promising productivity gains, cost savings and new sales opportunities to forward-thinking entrepreneurs willing to put them to work.
True, some of the latest technologies aren't yet ready for widespread and mission-critical use. But today's "bleeding edge" applications are tomorrow's must-have tools. Learn about them now, put your imagination to work, and maybe figure out how your company can leverage these resources before your competitors do.
INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA
Bringing the Web to life
How's this for a business opportunity: establishing aa chain of virtual video arcades on the Web. People around the world could conveniently log in to your 1,000-game service, effectively the largest arcade in the world. As players from Boston to Bali click on their games of choice, 50 cents is transferred to your virtual bank account, and they play till the screen reads "game over". Not into games? Modify the system to deliver pay-per-use training modules to businesses and schools. You already have a thriving business? Why not supercharge your website and boost online sales with your own interactive applications?
Let the flags fly at half-mast: the dull, static Internet is on the brink of extinction as new tools are being used across cyberspace to bring the Web to life. Before you know it, the Web will duplicate the power and immediacy of customized desktop applications, meaning you can offer sophisticated marketing, sales and training applications on demand and over long distances. Tomorrow's websites will blow away today's "brochureware" with animation, sound and interactivity never before seen on the Net -- or any other medium. And new Web-based businesses will emerge, delivering entertainment, education and services to consumers far and near.
It's been...