E-mail can contain both fact, fiction   Nov. 26, 2000   By JIM BROOKS E-mail has become an integral part of life for many of us, both at home and on the job. It's simple to do and cheap to send -- and in most cases, as reliable as regular mail but only faster. The ease of use also makes e-mail an easy tool for sending hoaxes, lies and half-truths that often appear as convincing as the truth. And as you might expect, even a message that sounds like a hoax can be rooted in truth, making it more difficult to separate fact from fiction. Two of the latest e-mails making the rounds fall in this category -- and in fact, one of them is true and the other one is false. 809 AREA CODE. If you received an e-mail warning you to not dial phone numbers that include the 809 area code, it's good advice. If you dial phone numbers with the 809, 284 or 876 area code, then you placing an international telephone call to the Caribbean. Most international calls require dialing "011" to begin the call, but not to certain parts of the Caribbean. These numbers look like domestic long-distance telephone numbers. The hazard is the toll charges that can be added to a callers' bill can be substantial -- and unknown until Ma Bell sends the bill in the mail. BABY FOOD FIASCO. If you've received an e-mail that suggests parents can receive a free savings bond by sending in their child's name, birth certificate and social security number to the Gerber baby food company, you can save your stamp. It's a hoax. This particular hoax has been going around since at least 1997, spread by both e-mail and fax. The story goes that the free savings bonds were part of a settlement for Gerber's false claims about natural ingredients in its baby food. A lawsuit was filed and Gerber lost. Parents were to mail their child's information to a Minnesota post office box. As Gerber is glad to point out, there was never any lawsuit or settlement. To check out these rumors yourself, you can visit one of my favorite urban legend Web sites, www.snopes.com. DOT-COM WAR TALE. Are you a former employee of a dot-com business gone bad? Know an investor who lost his money hoping to jump on the e-train to online wealth and riches? There's a contest now is seeking out the best tale of woe -- and the top prize is something the winner can use to drown his or her sorrows. The most compelling dot-com tale will win a bottle of fine wine in the SecretCellars.com "Dot Bomb Contest." This California e-tailer of rare wine and champagne will present the winner with a $1,500 bottle of 1996 Screaming Eagle cabernet sauvignon. The irony is the prize is said to be a favorite among West Coast dot-com millionaires (or more correctly, the ones left who can afford it). The judging in the contest won't be easy. One of the entrants reported said that his company's downfall started early: "The death spiral of my dot-com began the moment it was conceived." Another entrant said his dot-com employer started off on the wrong foot, with "no vision, no business plan, and no staff." The contest has been going for several weeks, and more than 3,000 entries have been received from all over the world. And from the looks of the business news I've been reading late, SecretCellars.com may have additional entrants any day now. FREE OR NOT? The online shakeout that's hit many dot-com companies has filtered back to a number of the free Internet Service Providers. These company offer dial-up Internet access at no cost; users must view ads in a desktop banner window that can't be closed. Free providers put pressure on the nation's top two Internet providers -- America Online and Earthlink -- and some analysts thought both would be forced to lower their prices. But that's unlikely to happen -- or if it does, it won't be due to the free Internet providers. Free Internet services have hit some problems of their own during these rocky times for most dot-com companies. Freei Networks and WorldSpy both closed their doors; CMGI's 1stUp is up for sale, and wholesale provider ZipLink is suspending its operations. Spinway.com defaulted on payments to ZipLink, which forced ZipLink to shut down. Spinway provided 21 percent of the revenues ZipLink received, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Free Internet providers depend solely on advertising sales to pay for their service, and national advertising sales have dropped enough to cut into the free Internet providers' revenues. BEE BANNER. In a uniquely Guinness way to promote the new Guinness Book of Records' Web site, the company has created the world's smallest advertisement. The ad -- no larger than the diameter of a human hair -- is mounted on the knee of a bee. Since the Guinness folks deal with the extraordinary events, people and places, it's only right they have a record-breaking ad for their Web site, www.guinnessworldrecords.com. The ad can't be seen by the naked eye. It was created with a laser beam, and breaks the record for the smallest ad that appeared in a Brazilian newspaper last year. For more information, visit the Web site at www.guinnessworldrecords.com. Comments and questions about this column may be sent to jbrooks@myoldkentuckyhome.com, or visit www.myoldkentuckyhome.com on the World Wide Web. | HOME |