Internet might disrupt economics By DEAN VISSER Associated Press Writer SINGAPORE The wildfire growth of the Internet could have unintended and possibly disruptive economic consequences, particu larly for financial assets, experts said yesterday. The value of a stock or a curren cy is based on trust and accuracy of information which are easy to manipulate on the Internet, said Geoffrey Baehr, chief network officer for Sun Microsystems, the American maker of business and network computers. People put too much trust in the Internet and don't have the "facul ties right now to accurately mis trust what they see or what they read," Baehr told some 700 econo mists, business executives and gov ernment officials at the eighth annual East Asia Economic sum mit. The Internet has the ability "to really transcend the traditional definitions of the stock market, or the traditional definitions of a cur rency," he said. "Anyone can now create a stock market." The growth of Internet com merce could also undermine the value of the world's most estab lished brand names, said Ramesh Vangal, president of Seagram Asia Pacific. "Recent statistical results sug gest that all brand names are some- X , „ - ENTIRE STOCK BED-IN-A-BAG WITH 200-THREAD COUNT SHEETS ENTIRE STOCK PFALTZGRAFF NATUREVVOOD° ACCESSORIES Shown, Naturewood: Reg. $l5O-$lBO. 8-pc. king, queen, full; 6-pc. twin. Reg. 9.50-143.25 ea. 30°. OFF 1 6 65-99 99 35% OFF 2, 6.17-93.11. Cotton/polyester sheets. BED-IN-A-BAG INCLUDES: 40% OFF 3, 5.70-85.95. 5-pc place set reg. S5O. SALE 34.99.8E5T COMFORTER • SHEET SET • PILLOW SHAM(S) • BED SKIRT. BUYS! Teakettle. reg. $34. SALE 19.99.0 val baker, reg. $5O. SALE 29.99 - IZ.! SAri i•N EX s 11;11 -( FiKnl SUPPORT PTILCkI 7 sagt Ari.117,3r ^CI= 50% OFF ENTIRE STOCK PILLOWS, MATTRESS PADS AND FEATHERBEDS SALE 7.99-159.99, reg. $l6-$320. From Royal Velvet. Comforel, Famous American Designer, more. Down. feather/down, fiber fills. Shown: Royal Velvet Sateen. China in selected stores. No bonus coupon discount on Royal Velvet US', import Regina' and Original prices are uttering prices only and m a , , jr may not have resulted me ;hand se may at sale paces in upcoming sale events ins in progress **Deferred Billing available on your Kaufmann s charge for purchases of S5O or more with no finance charge guying geterreo period See caie , issoLiatis c e rm tees e ‘n,me ma; r y end at any time e PR vdt be tn 0% FINANCE CHARGE. BUY NOW, NO PAYMENT UNTIL FEBRUARY** "Anyone can now create a stock market." what anathema to the newish Inter net users," Vangal said. "They are almost irritated when big brand names come onto the Net, which could mean that the valuation of huge, massive brand companies, both image-wise and trust-wise, are under a significant threat." Vangal said the Internet would give Asian entrepreneurs better opportunities to compete with major corporations. Sachio Semmoto, a professor at the graduate school of business administration at Japan's Keio Uni versity, was much more upbeat about the potential of the Internet, especially in countries where gov ernments are less democratic. "In the coming years, in the Asian countries, Internet penetra tion will bring ... disclosure and transparency," Semmoto said. "In traditional societies, some very few people grasped that power. But with Internet, more than 90 per cent of the people can have equal access to information." A top World Bank official told the conference that it was too early to claim that East Asia had tri umphed over the crippling finan cial crisis that began in 1997. SALE 99.99 ANY SIZE, EVEN KING Geoffrey Baehr chief network officer for Sun Microsystems "I agree with the general consen sus that East Asia is in the process of recovery, but I think it is a little too early to declare victory," World Bank Senior Vice President Joseph Stiglitz said. Stiglitz said he was worried that "wrong lessons will be drawn from the fact that recovery has occurred," warning that some gov ernment policies used to combat the crisis might not always work. "The question is not whether the economy recovered, but what hap pened between the time of the cri sis and the recovery," he said, call ing for careful assessment of what policies need to be put in place for the region to move forward. A high-ranking Chinese govern ment official said China has no need to devalue its currency, the yuan. A possible devaluation of the yuan has been the subject of enor mous speculation over the last few months. Wang Chunzhen, a leading eco nomic planner, told reporters China's growing foreign reserves and its floating exchange rate sys tem made a devaluation, or inten tional weakening of the currency, unnecessary. 40-50% OFF ALL WHITE GOOSE DOWN COMFORTERS - ANY SIZE, ONE PRICE SALE 79.99-299.99, reg. $l4O-$620. Glacier Bay (shown), Vancouver, St. Andrews, Famous Designer. Royal Velvet, Charisma. Twin, full/queen. king. <AU FMANN'S THIS IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD BUY MORE, SAVE MORE 50% OFF 2ND PFALTZGRAFF ALL HOLIDAY SETS & ACCESSORIES - 3040% OFF FIRST 2ND 6.88-S69.IST 9 45-79 99. Reg. 13.50-$l3B. Shown: Winterberry 2nd set or accessory must be of equal or lesser value. Britannica free on the Internet In order to compete, Encyclopedia Britannica will offer its services free on its Web site, along with current news and e-mail. By DAVE CARPENTER AP Business Writer CHICAGO The Encyclopae dia Britannica, afraid of becom ing just a dusty relic of the pre computer age, is making its 32- volume set available for free on the Internet. From a-ak (an ancient East Asian music) to Zywiec (a town in Poland), the Rolls Royce of encyclopedias was there in its entirety starting yesterday at the company's retooled Web site, www.britannica.corn. The 231-year-old company dumped door-to-door sales three years ago and hopes now to make money selling advertising on its site. The move may have been inevitable in an era when stu dents doing homework are more likely to get their information from a computer than from a book. The privately held company won't reveal revenue figures, but sales of its print volumes which cost $1,250 a set and are now sold mostly to schools and other institutions have seen a steep decline, admitted Don Yan nias, chief executive of Britanni ca.com. In an Internet-dominated mar ket, "you have to be free to be relevant," said Jorge Cauz, senior president of Britannica.com Inc., the new company that holds the Chicago encyclopedia publisher's digital properties. Free encyclopedias are only part of the lure. The Web site also will offer current informa tion from newspapers, news agencies and 70 magazines as well as e-mail, weather forecasts and financial market reports. Analysts who follow Britannica say its belated but aggressive moves into the electronic world, including some significant suc cess with CD-ROM sales over the past three years, just may work. "They're clearly not going to be able to recoup their revenues in the short term," said Aram Sinnreich of Jupiter Communica tions Inc. in New York. "But the move just might save them in the long run." The early response was promising. Britannica said the iiiiip7:l--- - --7----- -- -,c,---- , ____ ___4ol. ---7 ' ---, ,:' ,- _______ -- - 1, -4, . .. . l i ft ! , I - - - , • . 4. , ,----''''2'.tc _,),„,„. !_.--, ,4------------,------- wir isto .4 1 0 ...= ' \.. -- - ar- FAREIERWARE CLASSIC OPEN STOCK COOKWARE SALE 19.99-79.99, reg. $4O-$l6O. Teakettles, nonstick frypans, covered saucepots. roasters. stockpots, more. Plus Classic 12-pc. set, reg. 149.99, SALE 99.99. 40% OFF + EXTRA 10-15% OFF ALL ATLANTIC INFINITY NI - BIGGEST SALE 1W THE SEASON! EXTRA 10-15°. OFF 116.99-169.99. Reg. $220-$335 Sale 129.99-199.99. Shown: 29' upright, rolling garment bag, plus our exclusive 20""& 24" uprights. termelate markdov,ns may have been taken Selection varies by store Some sales e same Pate as you are currently billed 21.6% 50 cent minimum The Daily Collegian Wednesday, Oct. 20, 1999 site received millions of hits yes terday, temporarily blocking access for some. The company said it expected to clear up the problems by the end of the day. For generations, Britannica set the standard for encyclopedias. The leather-bound books were sold door-to-door, via direct mail, or at shopping mall kiosks. At its peak in 1989, Britannica had estimated revenue of $650 million and a worldwide sales force of 7,500. But with direct sales abandoned, the staff shrank as low as 280 and is now about 400. The company lost ground badly after it spurned Microsoft, which went on to team up with discount encyclopedia publisher Funk & Wagnalls to produce a colorful, multimedia encyclope dia on CD-ROM in 1993. Britannica's own CD-ROM ver sion, released a year later, was low on graphics and did not fare as well. Britannica became the first encyclopedia available on the Web in 1994, but there was an $B5-a-year subscription fee. Since Swiss investor Jacob Safra bought Britannica in 1996, the company has been making a bigger push for the electronic market. 50% OFF ~ 5r,.:.,_.,t.._, f ,_ ~.-...,,,,,,,, . ~:: . ORDER ANYTIME CALL TOLL-FREE 1-800-927-3986
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