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                   The Daily Brief Update

     Date: July 13, 1997          Direct subscribers: 22,000+


For those of you who have not received a Daily Brief update in
the past, we would like to take this opportunity to welcome you.
Every 3-4 months we put together information about the ongoing
operation of the Brief and send it out to subscribers in order
to answer common questions and give out information concerning
our plans so we can get feedback from subscribers.

June '97 marks the 18th month of Daily Brief publishing, and a
lot has happened since we sent out that first edition to about
20 people in December 1995. Most notably, the Daily Brief has
become a widely used and appreciated service worldwide. Some
103 countries/top-level domains now receive the Brief, and while
we send directly to 22,000+ people, re-distribution agreements
with others bring in an additional readership estimated at
5,000-10,000 every day.

Our cause of collecting, writing, and distributing unbiased
information has taken hold, and while it may be nearly
impossible to be entirely objective in this area, we make
every effort to serve you with information not clouded by the
opinions of either our staff or the traditional news media.
The distillation of news stories down to their essential facts,
while somewhat labor intensive, has proven to be both popular
and effective, and we're glad you've come along with us.


Please take the time to read the information about the Brief
below, and let us know, as always, your thoughts and/or
comments.


         J. Kirby Robinson           Kevin T. Conley
         jkrobin@incinc.net          kconley@incinc.net




CONTENTS

    I. Support and sponsorship
    II. Expansion: the domain, the web, the Med-Brief.
    III. Who's out there: subscriber statistics
    IV. Contacting the Daily Brief, or INC, Inc.
    V. Help! I didn't get my Brief today.


I. Support and sponsorship of the Daily Brief

      SUPPORT

        Over the past year and a half we have made every effort
        to maintain our policy of free subscriptions to the Brief.
        We feel that very strongly about the niche the Brief
        fills and know that there are many people around the world
        for whom the Daily Brief serves as the sole source of
        news. We're proud of our role in this field and hope to
        continue providing the best service we possible can.

        In July, 1996, we began our policy of accepting voluntary
        yearly financial support for the Daily Brief. We'd like
        to thank all of you who felt the Brief was important
        enough for you to help out. Please keep in mind that your
        support is essential to our ongoing operations, because,
        as the Brief grows in content and readership, our costs
        of production and distribution also continue to grow.

        We'd like to issue a gentle reminder to all of you that
        the voluntary "share-mail" support was instituted from
        the beginning as a _yearly_ consideration. Our goal for
        this year (actually, our need) is to raise an average
        of one dollar for every subscriber. That means we need
        to bring in a little over $22,000 to continue our
        operations for the next year. We realize that not all
        Brief subscribers are both willing and able to contribute
        the requested $25 yearly support; some can give much more,
        some less, and some none at all. We welcome your support
        in whatever amount you feel appropriate, from a $1 voicing
        of support from a fifth-grade student, to a $1,000
        contribution from an organization or company. As always,
        financial support for the Brief is *strictly voluntary*.
        No-one will be removed from our subscriber list for not
        contributing, and we don't want you to feel as though you
        need to unsubscribe if your don't. We're here to break
        the mold of mass-produced, re-packaged news, and if you
        can help us do it: great, we need it; if you can't:
        you're welcome along for the ride. There's no one else
        underwriting our efforts, and your help is essential. Thanks.

        Any contribution can be made out to Intelligent Network
        Concepts, and sent to the following (new) address:

                        Intelligent Network Concepts
                        576 Maxfield Road
                        Keswick, Virginia  22947
                        USA

        Contributions can by made credit card either by phone
        (804-984-6452), e-mailing information, or via secure
        web server at:
        https://secure.max.net/cgi-bin/sform/stack.com/inc/secure.html
        (You can use the standard selection for the suggested $25
        contribution of use the "other" space for higher or lower
        amounts.)

      SPONSORSHIP

        As a means of getting the word out about products and
        services, the Daily Brief is an efficient and cost-
        effective means of advertising. You or your company can
        reach all our 22,000+ subscribers for $150 with a message
        at the top of the Daily Brief, with discounts for multi-
        day agreements. This opportunity has been shown to be
        effective in the past though repeat sponsorships and
        through its use for a wide variety of purposes:

                - the announcement of just-published books.
                - offering of financial services.
                - birth announcements/congratulations.
                - sales of food products.
                - offers from direct-order companies.
                - publicity efforts for Internet-based services.
                ...and many others.

        For detailed information on sponsoring the Daily Brief you
        can check out [ http://www.incinc.net/db_sponsor.html ], or
        write to sponsor@incinc.net for more information.


II. Expansion: the domain, the web, the Med-Brief.

        Most of you have probably noticed that we switched to our
        own domain name a few months back. Our new home as "incinc.net"
        is our base of operations for the distribution of all our
        information-based products. Come by and check out the new
        website at http://www.incinc.net any time. Our Internet
        services, including the sending of the Brief, is done
        through the service-oriented folks at Cornerstone Networks
        in Charlottesville, Virginia. If you have a need for Internet
        service, keep them in mind [ http://www.cstone.net ].

        When you come by to visit the website, keep in mind that
        we have begun to post the Brief every morning on the web.
        If you can't get to your e-mail account, or if, for some
        reason, you don't get your Brief on a particular day, you can
        find the latest edition at [ http://www.incinc.net/db_today.html ].

        In our efforts to put together the Daily Brief, we noticed
        that the availability of medical information out there was
        lacking, and thus was born the Med-Brief. Originally designed
        for medical professionals, the Med-Brief is written clearly
        and non-technically enough for the general public. It covers
        breaking medical research, news, and drug information, and
        is sent out on a daily basis. The quality and timeliness of
        the publication has led to recognition within the medical
        industry and to a contract with the folks at Mediconsult.com
        [ http://www.mediconsult.com ] to provide them with custom
        medical content. You can get more information about the
        Med-Brief and can sign up for a free one-week trial at
        [ http://www.incinc.net/med.html ].


III. Who's out there: subscriber statistics

        So, just who receives the Daily Brief, and where are they?
        Check out the following statistics:

            Domain   Count  %age    Domain Description

            com  10100  44.515  Commercial, mainly USA
            edu   3258  14.359  Educational, mainly USA
            net   2371  10.450  Network
            mil    905   3.989  USA Military
            org    805   3.548  Non-Profit Organizations
            us     585   2.578  United States
            gov    584   2.574  USA Government
            ca     517   2.279  Canada
            cn     369   1.626  China
            se     363   1.600  Sweden
            au     245   1.080  Australia
            uk     216   0.952  United Kingdom
            za     162   0.714  South Africa
            nl     144   0.635  Netherlands
            jp     136   0.599  Japan
            de     109   0.480  Germany
            no     100   0.441  Norway
            br      99   0.436  Brazil
            il      79   0.348  Israel
            ar      74   0.326  Argentina
            es      71   0.313  Spain
            be      66   0.291  Belgium
            ua      63   0.278  Ukraine
            fr      57   0.251  France
            nz      57   0.251  New Zealand
            sg      54   0.238  Singapore
            sa      51   0.225  Saudi Arabia
            it      49   0.216  Italy
            su      48   0.212  Former USSR
            th      44   0.194  Thailand
            fi      43   0.190  Finland
            my      43   0.190  Malaysia
            in      39   0.172  India
            ru      38   0.167  Russian Federation
            ph      37   0.163  Philippines
            ch      31   0.137  Switzerland
            dk      31   0.137  Denmark
            pl      25   0.110  Poland
            cz      25   0.110  Czech Republic
            tr      25   0.110  Turkey
            pk      24   0.106  Pakistan
            tw      22   0.097  Taiwan
            sk      22   0.097  Slovak Republic
            pt      21   0.093  Portugal
            kr      21   0.093  South Korea
            at      19   0.084  Austria
            cr      19   0.084  Costa Rica
            ro      18   0.079  Romania
            bz      17   0.075  Belize
            zw      17   0.075  Zimbabwe
            gr      17   0.075  Greece
            hk      16   0.071  Hong Kong
            ie      15   0.066  Ireland
            pe      15   0.066  Peru
            mx      14   0.062  Mexico
            cu      14   0.062  Cuba
            id      14   0.062  Indonesia
            lt      13   0.057  Lithuania
            mz      12   0.053  Mozambique
            ee      12   0.053  Estonia
            hu      12   0.053  Hungary
            uy      11   0.048  Uruguay
            ve      10   0.044  Venezuela
            jm       9   0.040  Jamaica
            jo       9   0.040  Jordan
            lv       9   0.040  Latvia
            ae       8   0.035  United Arab Emirates
            cl       8   0.035  Chile
            hr       7   0.031  Croatia
            bh       6   0.026  Bahrain
            gt       6   0.026  Guatemala
            mg       6   0.026  Madagascar
            bg       6   0.026  Bulgaria
            cy       5   0.022  Cyprus
            is       5   0.022  Iceland
            mt       5   0.022  Malta
            mu       5   0.022  Mauritius
            ni       5   0.022  Nicaragua
            eg       5   0.022  Egypt
            bn       5   0.022  Brunei Darussalam
            uz       4   0.018  Uzbekistan
            vn       4   0.018  Vietnam
            kz       4   0.018  Kazakhstan
            ec       4   0.018  Ecuador
            kw       3   0.013  Kuwait
            lb       3   0.013  Lebanon
            az       3   0.013  Azerbaidjan
            md       3   0.013  Moldavia
            co       3   0.013  Colombia
            mn       3   0.013  Mongolia
            ck       3   0.013  Cook Islands
            ge       3   0.013  Georgia
            yu       3   0.013  Yugoslavia
            lk       3   0.013  Sri Lanka
            bm       2   0.009  Bermuda
            fj       2   0.009  Fiji
            si       2   0.009  Slovenia
            do       2   0.009  Dominican Republic
            int      2   0.009  International
            om       2   0.009  Oman
            py       2   0.009  Paraguay
            lc       2   0.009  Saint Lucia
            tt       2   0.009  Trinidad and Tobago
            lu       2   0.009  Luxembourg
            aq       1   0.004  Antarctica
            by       1   0.004  Belarus
            am       1   0.004  Armenia
            ag       1   0.004  Antigua and Barbuda
            gy       1   0.004  Guyana
            gi       1   0.004  Gibraltar
            gh       1   0.004  Ghana
            gf       1   0.004  French Guyana
            vi       1   0.004  Virgin Islands (USA)
            ky       1   0.004  Cayman Islands
            ng       1   0.004  Nigeria
            nc       1   0.004  New Caledonia (French)
            na       1   0.004  Namibia
            ug       1   0.004  Uganda
            Other    7   0.031  Numeric and other unrecognized domain names
            RD   6,700          Persons who receive the Brief through known
                                re-distribution by third parties.
            --------------
            Total    29389
            --------------


            NOTE: The percentages do not directly coincide with the
                  grand total because we had to add the re-distribution
                  subscribers ourselves at the end. Our thanks to Anu Garg,
                  of the "A.Word.A.Day" list, for the wonderful Listat
                  [ http://www.wordsmith.org/anu/listat/ ] software which
                  compiled the above statistics.


IV. Contacting the Daily Brief, or INC, Inc.

        Daily Brief

          To write directly to the Daily Brief staff:
                send an e-mail to db@incinc.net
          To comment on an issue or problem, or to make a suggestion, etc:
                send e-mail to db-admin@incinc.net
          To request information on sponsoring the Daily Brief:
                send e-mail to sponsor@incinc.net
          To subscribe to the Daily Brief:
                send e-mail to db-request@incinc.net
                with the subject SUBSCRIBE
          To unsubscribe from the Daily Brief:
                send e-mail to db-request@incinc.net
                with the subject UNSUBSCRIBE


        Med-Brief

          To write directly to the Med-Brief staff:
                 send an e-mail to med@incinc.net
          To comment on an issue or problem, or to make a suggestion, etc:
                send e-mail to med-admin@incinc.net
          To get a free one-week trial subscription to the Med-Brief:
                send e-mail to med-trial@incinc.net
                with the subject SUBSCRIBE


        Mailing Address

          Intelligent Network Concepts
          576 Maxfield Road
          Keswick, Virginia  22947
          USA


        If need be, we can be contacted by phone at 804-984-6452.


V. Help! I didn't get my Brief today.

        On any given weekday, we get between 100 and 200 returned
        Briefs and bounced messages. This is due to any of a variety
        of problems, any one of which may have prevented you from
        receiving your Brief.

        Common problems include:


          - a linked computer leading to your site was down.
          - your site was down when we sent out the Brief.
          - your e-mail address has changed.
          - there was no space on your account to store the Brief.
          - gremlins in our mailing list decided to exclude you
            for the day.


        We can usually accommodate periodic requests for a day's Brief,
        and don't forget, you can always check out the latest edition
        on the web at [ http://www.incinc.net/db_today.html ].

        Don't start to worry unless you have missed 3-4 editions of
        the Brief. After that, you may want to either contact us, or
        re-subscribe.


____________________________________________________________________
This update is (C) 1997 by Intelligent Network Concepts




