TAKING A FLIER ON TNE WEB.

(Executives left Corporate America for the unknown).

 

Internet start-ups aren't just for kids; executives at the top of their game in established businesses are chucking security for a piece of the Net. Below are a few of the big names that have recently struck out for cyberspace

A. GERALDINE LAYBOURNE. Oxygen Media.

For nearly two decades, Gerry Laybourne was the queen of Kids' TV, building the Nickelodeon brand and later heading up the Disney/ABC Cable Networks. Now she's aiming for the women's market. Oxygen produces Web content on topics ranging from personal finance to child care and will launch a cable network next February. The women's on-line field is crowded, with tenacious competitors like Candice Carpenter of i--village. But Laybourne has powerful partners - Oprah Winfrey and Carsey-Werner's Marcy Carsey. "Oxygen is one of the sites that will still be around in three to five years," says Jupiter Communications' Anya Sacharow.

B. JAY CHIAT. ScreamingMedia.

When he ran the advertising firm Chiat/Day, Jay Chiat was known for his funky office space and brisque business style. He gave up the offices, but Chiat's still in the business of moving fast. His Screaming Media pulls real-time content from sources like AP and The New York Times and delivers it in customized packages to clients like AOL (America On-Line) and Microsoft.

C. C.EVERETT KOOP. drkoop.com

Dr. Koop quit his job as U.S. surgeon general a decade ago, but he's still one of the most recognizable names in medicine. In 1998 he launched a site featuring news and advice on health topics from flu shots to the Ebola virus. The site is a huge hit; more than 1 million people visited it in August. And Koop has joined the ranks of the paper million-aires (his options are worth about $46 million). Koop recently came under fire for receiving a percentage of sales of services and products on the site. But an aide says his contract has been changed to eliminate these fees.

D. RICH FRANK. Food.com

Like Laybourne, Frank is a former Disney executive who wanted a taste of the Net. His site features point-and-click ordering from 10,000 restaurants nationwide. Frank says he loves his youthful staff's enthusiam. But getting people to return calls can be tough. "When I was at Disney, I'd certainly get someone on the phone," he says. "Now it's 'Rich from where?'

E. LOU DOBBS. space.com

After two decades at CNN, the former host of "Moneyline News Hour" and "Business Unusual" struck out for the wilds of the cyberworld. Space.com, a new and entertainment site about outer space, was launched in July, and analysts say it has star potential. "It's well put together and has an easy name," says Datamonitor analyst Robert Shavell. "If we send somebody to Mars or find little critter in thge water of asteroids, everybody's going to go there."

 

Comprehension check.

 

Ex. Answer the following questions.

a/ GERALDINE LAYBOURNE

1. What was her former job?

2. How long did she work there?

3. What are her recent activities connected with?

4. 4 Who are her partners nowadays?

 

b/ JAY CHIAT

1. What firm did he run earlier?

2. What was he famous for?

3. What are the content sources of his current business "Screaming Media"?

4. Who are his customers?

 

 

c/ C. EVERETT KOOP

1. What job did he quit?

2. When did he do it?

3. Is he still recognizable in medicine?

4. What site did he launch?

5. What topics does his site feature?

6. Is his site popular?

7. Is Dr. Koop a rich person?

 

d/ RICH FRANK

1. What was his former position?

2. What topic does his site feature?

3. What does Frank love about his young staff?

4. Is it easy to get a feedback from his audience?

 

 

e/ LOU DOBBS

1. What was his former job?

2. What are his current activities?

3. Is his site popular?

4. What is the analyst's opinion like?

 

 

Topics to discuss.

Speak about yourself as if you were:

a/ Geraldine;

b/ Jay;

c/ C. Everett;

d/ Rich;

e/ Lou.

 

QUATATIONS AND JOKES

 

FAME AND CELEBRITIES.

- One of the drawbacks of Fame is that one can never escape from it. Nellie Melba.

- What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.

- Voltaire.

- Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

- A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn't know.

- H.I.Mencken.

HUMAN RELATIONS.

Acquaintance, n.: a person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to.

Ambrose Bierce.

- Only person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others.

Erich Fromm.

INTELLECT.

- The job of intellectuals is to come up with ideas, and all we've been producing is footnotes.

- Theodore H.White.

- Will and intellect are one and the same thing.

- Spinoza.

- Intuition is a spiritual faculty and does not explain, but simply points the way.

- Florence Scovel Shinn.

- An intellectula is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.

- Dwight D.Eisenhover.

- The common sense is that which judges the things given to it by other senses.

- Leonardo da Vinci.

LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP.

- It is much safer to obey than to rule.

- Thomas a Kempis.

- Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious. than to be able to decide.

- Napoleon Bonaparte.

- There are two levers for moving men - interest and fear.

- Napoleon Bonaparte.

JOKES

- The most important of my discoveries have been suggested to me by my failures.

- Sir Humpfrey Davy.

- - Basic research is when I'm doing what I don't know what I'm doing

-. Wernher von Braun.

- - I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I'm right.

- Albert Einstein.

- - In science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.

- William Osler.

- - Reason, observation, and experience - the Holy Trinity of Science.

- Robert G.Ingersoll.

- - Science is built odd facts the way a house is built of bricks; but an accumulation of facts is no more science than a pile of bricks in a house.

- Henri Poincare.

- GENIUS.

- - The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.

- Anonymous.

- - It takes immense genius to represent, simply and sincerely, what we

- see in front of us.

- Edmond Duranty.

- SCHOLARS AND SCHOLARSHIP.

- *- What is research, but not a blind date with knowledge?

- Will Henry.

 

 

UNIT VII