NewsDart Version 1.00a (c) 1999-2000 3D Internet Group

3D Internet Group, LLC
609 Colchester Rd
Middletown, DE 19709
(302) 376-7900

	"3D Internet Group is a privately held company that has been providing
	 innovative products and services to the Internet Community since 1997."
	http://www.3dig.com

Notes:

In order to help defray the high cost of software development and to keep NewsDart free to all users, we have included a special offer of the Netsonic web page caching program.  Downloading Netsonic through our offer will directly benefit you by helping fund future NewsDart enhancements.  Our own testing of Netsonic has shown a remarkable speed increase for people using a dial-up line.

By downloading Netsonic, you will also receive a non-intrusive add-on to your browser that displays small advertisements on the "command bar".  If you are not interested in downloading Netsonic, make sure you click the "don't ask me again" check box.  Nothing will be loaded onto your PC if you are not interested in the Program.

We thank you for your interest in NewsDart!

I.   Introduction

NewsDart is an Internet utility that delivers highly personalized news stories directly to your desktop as they develop.  The only user intervention required is the selection of news sources, and a selection of the criteria used (keywords) to determine which stories will be selected, both of which are easily configured during setup, and can be changed at any time.  This application is valuable to virtually everyone who relies on the internet for their news.

Stock traders will find this application invaluable in its ability to scan multiple news sources for articles related to their portfolio, and present them directly to the desktop, no matter which news source is reporting the story!

NewsDart is the only Internet-based, news tool that allows you to choose ANY news source as a basis for the stories that you see.  NewsDart has an intelligent HTML parsing algorithm that allows it to read virtually any news site and extract news stories.  NewsDart is also the only Internet-based news tool that pops those stories up directly (with optional sound notification) to your desktop as they happen.

NewsDart also interacts well with your browser so you can go directly to the news source if there is additional information you wish to read about, or if there are any associated multi-media attachments as part of the article.

NewsDart operates entirely in the background and is accessible by right-clicking on its icon in the System Tray (area where the volume icon and Clock icon exist in the lower right of the screen).

II.   Updates

Version 1.00a is the official released version of NewsDart after having successfully transitioned through our Alpha testing phase.  We thank all of those people that have helped to improve NewsDart.  This new version has one significant fix that was not present in the previous release (0.01l) - those people having connection detection problems associated with a permanent Internet connection (DSL, Cable, T1, etc) have a new option to select in order to override the dial-up detection logic.  Also, some people with a proxy configurations had troubles with the connection detection as well.  Both of these problems have been fixed.  Previous version 0.01l included the following enhancements:

1. All known crashing bugs fixed
2. Improved search engine
3. Online/Offline detection scheme improved - those with permanent Internet connections have a new option to select.
4. Improved scheme for following re-directed URLs
5. Misc. bugs fixed: Sound file, multiple instances, etc.

III. System Requirements

Windows 95/98/NT
486 Processor or better
2 Mb of Disk space
Internet connection (dial-up, permanent, RAS)

Recommended: OS version that includes the latest internet extensions (Windows 98,
             or IE4 for Windows 95/NT)

IV. Installation/Removal

Both the installation removal process should be very familiar.  Simply click on the NewsDart.exe icon after downloading it and follow the instructions!

Application removal can be accomplished by using the Windows "Add/Remove" programs feature in the Control Panel.

V. Keyword selection

Your news stories are selected by setting up keyword groups.  A keyword group is a set of distinct keywords that must all be found (if a "+" keyword), or not found (if a "-" keyword) in order have a match with any given story.  A keyword group can consist of as few as one keyword, or as many as 6 keywords.

ex.   +clinton-kosovo    Means that you want articles pertaining to the clinton's,
                         but you don't want to hear about kosovo related stories.

ex.   +MSFT              Means that you want articles pertaining to microsoft business
                         issues.

If you are interested in hearing articles on multiple subjects, then you will want to enter two or more keyword groups.  If any keyword group is considered a match for any given story, then the story will be presented to you.

ex.   +china             Will present all articles pertaining to either china or india
      +india

If you prefer, you can enter a single keyword group that "excludes" subjects (an exclusion keyword group is one in which all keywords are "-" minus keywords), and allows all others to pass through.

ex.   -china-clinton-kosovo   Will present all articles found that don't relate to
                              either china, the Clinton's, or kosovo

Keep in mind that any keyword groups you create in addition to the "exclusion" keyword group will not have any affect since they are "or"'d together:
      -china-clinton-kosovo   So including +india will not have any affect since it would
      +india                  have been included in the first keyword group.  And don't
                              expect +india to exclude anything since the exclusion group
                              will allow most things in.

VI.  News Source selection

The news source selection tab allows you to determine the news sources you wish NewsDart to examine for matches to your criteria (keywords).  You should add any source you wish to use to the active list, and then select the categories that you want to include.  It is perfectly reasonable to select the "world" category from one new source, and the "entertainment" from a different one.

It may also be desirable to select the same category for multiple news sources.  For example, a stock trader may want all information available associated with his/her portfolio.  Using NewsDart you can select many different business news sites, and if any of them have a story associated with your portfolio, it will find it.  No other program can do this for you.

If the news sources that come with NewsDart do not include your favorite site for news, don't worry, the Advanced button allows you to add your site directly.  Simply bring up your browser and go to your web-site, go to the advanced screen and click "Browser Import" and then "Add".  Your news site is now included in the list.

VII. Known Bugs

As of 3/1/2000 this release fixes all known critical bugs.

VIII. Possible Future Enhancements

1. Apply keywords to one, or many news sources.  Apply polling rate and archive size limitations
to individual news sources.
2. Automatic pager alerts.
3. Dial-up: automatic on-line scheduling for high-cost connections.


