The Glossbrenners’ New Cyber-Guide
Corrections or additions?
These articles were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on March 18, 1998. All rights reserved.
Directory Days
Someday all the banks will figure out that their clients
don’t like to call 800 numbers, that they want to speak to an actual
person at their very own branch. Summit Bank learned that. In years
past it provided only a standard number but now if you look in the
telephone book, specific branch numbers are printed as well. PNC has
not learned this lesson.
So look in the U.S. 1 Business Directory, one of the few places
you will find the branch numbers of many banks. But for complete
information
statewide turn to a directory distributed by the New Jersey Bankers
Association, the New Jersey Financial Institutions Directory,
by Thomson Financial Publishing. The 1998 edition is 248 pages and
costs $23.32 postpaid. Call 609-924-5550.
In addition to a town-by-town listing of all the banks, plus an
alphabetical
index, the directory has officers for a multitude of banking
organizations,
reams of regulatory agency information, and pages of affiliate members
with everything from investment banking firms and attorneys to armored
car services. Plus the branch numbers of all the PNC Banks.
A list of manufacturing firms, say the sellers of the
New Jersey Manufacturers Register, can help you analyze trends in
the New Jersey industrial community, establish statewide sales and
distribution areas, and serve as a supplier source for your purchasing
department. Not to mention the primary use: as a lead source for sales
calls and mailings.
The New Jersey Manufacturers Register costs $105 in the 672
paper version and is available on diskettes and CD-ROM. Published
annually in Evanston, Illinois, by Manufacturers News’ Inc.
(https://www.manufacturersnews.com),
it profiles 10,957 industrial firms in New Jersey and lists 17,070
executives of which 7,745 are presidents.
Checking the zip code for Mercerville, the Register had two firms,
Congoleum and Creative Machining Systems. The Register had the SIC
codes “vinyl tile” and “precision machining job shop”
while the more loquacious U.S. 1 directory told how many employees
Congoleum had in Trenton and nationwide. Information on revenues and
employee numbers and square feet was slightly different in the U.S.
1 Directory.
The Register did not have four manufacturing companies listed with
Mercerville addresses: Tech Mate, East West Service Company, Princeton
Microwave Technology, and Laser Energetics.
The Register depends on SIC categories. At U.S. 1 the directory
editors
think the SIC categories are outdated, and they devise their own
categories
pertinent to the mix of Princeton businesses.
Different books, different information gathering methods, different
purposes. But the biggest difference is the categories.
It will raise the hair on the back of your neck to read
Princeton’s listings in the Hill Donnelly cross reference
directory.
If political boundaries are important to you will be taken aback to
learn that Hill Donnelly thinks all of the 08540 zip code belongs
to Princeton, including Princeton Forrestal Village and MarketFair.
What’s really interesting though, to both the marketer and the casual
observer, is the way Hill Donnelly denotes income levels. Do you live
in a one star or a four star neighborhood, with four being the most
affluent? Park Place in Princeton merits just two stars but Alexander
Street gets four. It’s detailed: the university side of Nassau Street
gets four, the other (even side) gets two. Some of the newer areas,
such as Canal Pointe and Fox Run, are not defined by income levels.
What you really use this book for is for telephone marketing. Street
by street it gives the name of the telephone listing and whether the
listing is a business. It also has “reverse numbers,” so you
can look up who called you and left the number. It indicates new
listings
and the year that each listing first appeared.
The directory can also be used, its promoters suggest, to reduce
credit
losses. Merely ask a new customer “to confirm identification by
providing names of neighbors or business establishments near the
address
he gives.” Or contact former neighbors of clients that skipped
town in the hope they will tell you where to find them.
Call 813-837-1009 or fax 813-839-8420 for a $121.55 copy of
Hill-Donnelly’s
Trenton/Trenton Suburban Directory. For $183 you can buy a CD with
up to 500 labels that can be printed.
B>New Jersey Directory — the Insider Guide to
New Jersey Leaders, by Don Linky of Joshua Communications, costs
$95.16 including shipping and tax. Due out this month it includes
updates on the new area code, home pages, and E-mail addresses. The
full-text disk is $295 and the mailing list is $150 on a floppy.
Linky identifies the movers and shakers and their public and private
roles, including the insider networks and family relationships. Other
chapters are on higher education (college presidents), the arts,
science
and technology (scientists and research leaders), government and
politics,
and minority leaders.
The Insider Guide to New Jersey Movers and Shakers, another
Linky publication, lists over 1,000 of the state’s top government,
education, and industry leaders. The 1998 edition will come out in
May. Cost: $45.
This summer Linky will also publish The Insider Guide to New Jersey
Healthcare, with hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care
services and facilities for everyone from consumers to industry
suppliers.
Cost: $65.
For a copy of any Linky book, call 609-452-7799; fax 609-452-2803.
The mailing address is: Joshua Communications, Box 7183, Princeton
08543-7183. E-mail: njlink@aol.com.
New Jersey Grants Guide 1998-’99, just published byDenver-basedGrants Guide in cooperation with the Center for NonProfit Corporationsat 15 Roszel Road, costs $149 plus $6.95 shipping. In 738 pages itoffers profiles of foundations and corporations with examples of whomthey give to and what their giving policies are. It also listsgovernmentfunding sources for nonprofits.Indexed in 129 ways, including areas of interest, geographic location,and officers and trustees, it includes such details as financial dataon assets, examples of recent grants, application deadlines, contactnames, and how much to apply for. It also has “step by stepadvice,from that first call to the grantmaker through turning in a winningproposal.” All book purchasers receive free updates six monthsafter publication, but an additional quarterly newsletter and faxservice costs $29 to book owners.The founder of the Denver-based company, Rich Male, is a former1960s civil rights worker. Call 888-247-2689 or fax to 888-248-4339.Rutgers’ Experts Reference & Faculty Directory: a resourcefor business, was released in January by the Rutgers Faculty ofManagement. It’s nicely done and nicely indexed, with about 120facultyprofiles complete with photos, resumes, and areas of interest. Topicsrange from artificial intelligence to women and business. Need anexpert on downsizing? Choose from James Bailey, who cares about howindividuals understand and adapt to organizational change, or EricGedajlovic, who is interested in the effect of ownership on profitsand firm performance. Call 973-353-5177.New York Publicity Outlets, published every six monthsfor an annual subscription of $230 including shipping, is a 562-pagevolume that seems to compare favorably with its competitors,Burrelle’sand Bacon’s. It’s strictly for public relations purposes and has noad rates.Of course any directory is only as good as the response it gets, but,says Steven Gubernick, his seven-person firm follows up everyunanswered request for information by phone. In addition, saysGubernick,”We call every phone number every six months.”We checked the most recent edition and it seems pretty accurate. Itdid not show that, at Dow Jones, Jennifer Fron Mauer has movedfrom the transportation beat to the medical/pharmaceutical beat (Mauerwas on a panel last week for the Biotechnology Council of New Jerseylast week, that’s how we know). They’ll catch up with her in theeditiondue this month.NYPO takes 13 pages to list all the contacts at the New York Times.It tells which people are writers only and not editors, which arecritics, and so on, and it specifies when someone prefers snail mailto faxes or E-mail.The U.S. 1 Business Directory is particularly pertinentfor the greater Princeton area because it includes more than 5,000company listings from all three area codes, including contact names,fax numbers, number of employees, E-mail and URL addresses, andrevenueswhere available. It’s particularly useful for jobhunters, sales reps,and small business owners. The 1998 edition is available now and sellsfor $15.95, including postage. Send check payable to U.S. 1 Directory,12 Roszel Road, Princeton 08540. Or stop by the office and pick itup in person for $12.95. Or get it from a bookstore.Corfacts guides include the 1998 New Jersey Business toBusiness Directory, listing 27,000 companies for $265 plus tax andshipping. The listing includes the same elements that the U.S. 1BusinessDirectory has, but it has the names of additional executives.Order the Mercer County version through the Mercer County Chamberof Commerce for $57 including shipping, handling, and task. On a diskit is $316.70. It has more than 3,250 businesses, service andmanufacturingcompanies only; it won’t have Plainsboro, for instance, which is inMiddlesex. Call 609-393-4143. The Mercer Chamber’s ownRoster/Directoryand Fact Book is available by calling 609-586-2056.Corfacts’ 1998 Human Resources Directory, was published inJanuaryand has 5,000 of the largest companies with human resource contacts;it costs $145. Corfacts also publishes directories for each of NewJersey’s 21 counties, plus the Delaware Valley Business to BusinessDirectory for $195, and the $145 TriState Plus Directory,which lists companies in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut with100 employees or more.To order any of the above directories call 800-331-5076, fax973-326-9188,E-mail rescommgrp@aol.com, or write Corfacts, 39 East HanoverAvenue,Morris Plains 07950.Project Vote Smart: U.S. Government Owner’s Manual isan inexpensive but useful government handbook issued by the Centerfor National Independence in Politics in Oregon, 541-754-2746For more directory listings seehttps://www.princetoninfo.com/sgbooks.html.Top Of PageTax HelpB>The Rapid Finder Weekly Tax Deduction Tables,published by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association inJanuary, providespayroll processing assistance to small businesses that handle theirown weekly payroll and is a handy reference for payroll managers.It covers both state and federal deductions and is $23 for members,$33 for non-members.Top Of PageBankingTeleconferenceFind out how to comply with the law doing internetbanking– and more on the latest in bank regulations — at ateleconferenceon Thursday, March 19, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Marriott,sponsored by the New Jersey Bankers Association on North HarrisonStreet. The live teleconference airs 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 4:30p.m., but registration starts at 9 a.m. Call 609-924-5500 for $260reservations.Additional topics include Y2K liability (credit risks and vendorsupport),electronic benefits transfer, data matching (Welfare Reform Act),Bank Secrecy Act, privacy policies and procedures, common problemsof flood insurance, and more.John Byrne will moderate a symposium that features BobbieJean Norris of the FDIC, Steve Cross of the OCC, RichFischer of Morrison & Foerster, Howard Amer of the FederalReserve Board, Nessa Feddis of the ABA, Richard Smallof the Federal Reserve Board, and Richard Insley, banktechnologyexpert.Top Of PageThe Glossbrenners’ New Cyber-GuideMost cybersurfers would probably frown on a book aboutsearch engines. Why waste the paper? All you need to do, really, istype in a query in plain English, hit return, and you’ll get thousandsof hits, most of which you won’t even need.But the fact is, most cybersurfers probably don’t use one-quarterof the functionality of search engines. Yes, some tricks can bediscoveredby clicking around in help files — if they’re not too carefullyhidden. But the fact is, most cybersurfers don’t even know what theydon’t know.Enter Albert and Emily Grossbrenner’s latest book, “SearchEngines for the World Wide Web.” Published by Peachpit Press (228pages, $16.95, https://www.peachpit.com), this unassuminglittle book manages to put the hum back into search engines. Itrevealsmultitudes of quirks, idiosyncrasies, and innate functionalities foreach of the major search engines — Alta Vista, Excite, HotBot,Infoseek, Lycos, and Yahoo!. Plus, it has tips on how to find theright keyword, how to find legal resources, and how to use Liszt (themailing list directory) and other specialized find-it sites like ArgusClearinghouse, Four11, and the Zip2 Yellow Pages.The Glossbrenners, who live and work in Yardley, co-wrote “TheLittle Web Book,” “The Computer Sourcebook,” and”MakingMore Money on the Internet.” With “Search Engines,” theGlossbrenners again have demonstrated a knack for making cyberspaceseem more fun than it actually is. “The good news is that thingshave improved dramatically since 1995,” they write, “whenClifford Stoll’s lament about the problems of finding usefulinformation on the Internet first appeared — at least in termsof the tools available for dealing with what he referred to as theInternet’s `wasteland of unfiltered data.'”While the publisher rates the book as beginner to intermediate-levelreading, those receiving the maximum benefit from the book areprobablythe advanced cybersearchers, not those who think that a search enginehas something to do with a drive shaft. It’s a must for those whouse search engines often. It also dispels illusions, quellsfavoritism,and creates an appreciation for the fact that there are so many waysto find things on the Web. In quick, easy English, the book revealsthat each engine has its own uniqueness and that keeping a sentimentalfavorite is tantamount to irrationality. Here are some observations:Alta Vista, (https://www.altavista.digital.com) uses apowerful database created by a Web “spider” that exploresthree million Web pages per day and is updated every 24 hours. Itis almost too powerful for the generalized search. “Unless youconstruct your Alta Vista queries carefully, you’re likely to beoverwhelmedwith far too many hits,” they write. “You’ll need to spendsome time learning the rules of simple and advanced searches to takefull advantage.”Excite (https://www.excite.com) uses”concept-basedsearching” that intuitively assumes the searcher’s intention andspits out lots of related sites onto the hit list. “Excite doesn’ttake your query literally as most search engines do,” theGlossbrennerswrite. It seeks out “not just what you asked for but also itsbest guess as to what you really want to know.”Those familiar with the shocking green background of HotBot(https://www.hotbot.com) will probably have a strong opinionabout it, just like most people seem to have a strong opinion of itsparent company’s flagship publication, Wired magazine. But, theGlossbrennerssay, those with Netscape Navigator 3.0 can actually change HotBot’s”bilious” background. To do that, click on options, thengeneralpreferences, then colors; set background to custom and choose a color(the Glossbrenners prefer white).The most remarkable thing about HotBot, though, is its speed. HotBothas the ability to deliver hits within the blink of an eye, with supersimple search syntaxes. “Instead of typing your queries withspecialpunctuations and Boolean operators, you can click on drop-drown menuselections and radio buttons to conduct even the most complexsearches.”Infoseek (https://www.infoseek.com) responds toplain questions with zillions of hits. The Glossbrenners got”hooked”on Infoseek shortly after it was introduced in 1995, when it helpedthem get tickets for the 1996 Summer Olympics. With 50 million pagesin its Web database, searches can be made for Web pages, E-mailaddresses,company profiles, frequently asked questions, and Usenet articles.There is also a Yahoo!-like directory, arguably “the Web’slargest.”The Glossbrenners like Infoseek for its set searches — the abilityto conduct a search within a search. “It’s a great way to zeroin on Web sites containing just what you need.” However, apossibledrawback is that Infoseek does not permit the use of Boolean operators(and, or, not, near).Lycos (Latin for wolf spider) is one of the oldest searchengines,and is quickly becoming one of the most aggressive promoters, saythe Glossbrenners. While its help files for Boolean indicators orsearch terms are buried deep, it is adept at finding multimedia files– graphics, video, and sound files. “With a properly equippedWeb browser, you can even view or listen to the files as they arebeing downloaded to your computer.” The Glossbrenners also adoreLycos’ “Top 5 Percent” directory. a system that rates thehottest websites, per category. (Five percent is probably anunderstatement:Lycos rates only 25 sites per category — compared to thousandsof possible websites, we’re probably talking .25 percent.) The Lycosaddress is https://www.lycos.com.As far as organization goes, the couple reserves the mostsuperlativesfor Yahoo! (https://www.yahoo.com). “From the very beginning,what has set Yahoo apart from other search engines is its hierarchicalapproach to organizing the information on the Internet and the WorldWide Web,” they write. While its database of sites is far smallerthan that of the other search engines and it doesn’t index the fulltext of the Web pages, its classification system is “second tonone,” they write.But perhaps the most endearing aspect of Yahoo! is that is compiledby reviews and recommendations from Web users “instead of relyingon automated search robots or spider programs.”– Peter J. MladineoNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
