Online Services

Hooking up your computer to the world, or at least to an online service, means making choices and, inevitably, compromises.At the extremes, Compuserve is huge, but it is all too easy to rack up hefty bills. Prodigy is relatively small and inexpensive, but does not offer the full range of services an enthusiast expects.America Online falls between.It is certainly easy enough to get started. Put the installation floppy disk into the drive of most DOS computers, Macintoshes or Apple II's equipped with a modem, type a word, and it guides you the rest of the way.In most parts of the country, you can select a local or nearby telephone number, avoiding running up a big phone bill.

MARC train and commuter bus patrons can purchase tickets online, the Maryland Transit Administration announced Friday. The consolidated ticketing service, http://MTA.CommuterDirect.com , will begin April 1. It will accept SmartBenefits, vouchers and employer-sponsored credit cards as well as split credit card payments and renewable orders. Weekly and monthly passes for MARC and commuter bus service will continue to be accepted for rides on MTA local bus, Metro subway, light rail, express bus and neighborhood shuttle service.

Look at the online consumer service business as the television business 40 years ago.Growth is phenomenal -- annual revenues are up 65 percent. Yet the services still reach only a small percentage of the families with computers -- and nine-tenths of U.S. households don't even own a computer yet.The promise of such a huge, lucrative market has attracted such corporate giants as IBM, Sears, and General Electric and H&R Block to videotex. Together, they have spent more than $2.5 billion to develop the electronic networks, which offer shopping, games, news and education.

Effective this week, the Abingdon Social Security office has new hours. The office is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. – a reduction of 30 minutes each weekday. In addition, beginning January 2, 2013, the office will close to the public at noon every Wednesday. The Abingdon Social Security office is at 3435A Box Hill Corporate Center Drive. While agency employees will continue to work their regular hours, this shorter public window will allow them to complete face-to-face interviews and process claims work without incurring the cost of overtime, the office said in a news release.

SEARS AND IBM finally bailed out of the online service business this month as they sold their interests in the troubled Prodigy Services Co. to International Wireless Inc. and a group of Prodigy executives.The new Prodigy will attempt to claw its way back into competition with CompuServe and America Online at a time when many telecommunications analysts are questioning whether the online industry itself has a future.Much information that used to be available only for a fee through the online services is now available for free to anyone with a connection to the Internet's World Wide Web. Internet access, which helped drive the growth of the online services, is now being offered by powerful telephone companies.

Hooking up your computer to the world, or at least to an online service, means making choices and, inevitably, compromises.At the extremes, Compuserve is huge, but it is all too easy to rack up hefty bills. Prodigy is relatively small and inexpensive, but does not offer the full range of services an enthusiast expects.America Online falls between.It is certainly easy enough to get started. Put the installation floppy disk into the drive of most DOS computers, Macintoshes or Apple II's equipped with a modem, type a word, and it guides you the rest of the way.In most parts of the country, you can select a local or nearby telephone number, avoiding running up a big phone bill.

The last time I let friends stay in my apartment while I was away, I left a two-page memo on the kitchen table (typed, single-spaced) offering not only lots of tips about the neighborhood but also detailed instructions about various appliances and handling my mail. Depending on your perspective, such a thorough approach either makes me a candidate for a home swap (such helpful advice!) or suggests that all ye who consider entering here should book a hotel instead. I'm still on the fence about swapping homes with someone I don't know, but plenty of other people are taking the leap.

Rivals America Online and Microsoft Corp. are unveiling upgraded versions of their online services amid a growing tug of war for Internet customers. AOL 7.0, released this month, includes a variety of mostly subtle changes to the No. 1-ranked Internet service provider, including an online radio, Web-based photo albums, enhancements to e-mail and instant-messaging and more localized content, such as weather, community news and neighborhood entertainment guides. MSN, the online service of Microsoft, has redesigned its Web site and offers new "Net Alerts," which begin by sending users real-time e-mails and instant messages about traffic conditions.

Mary Elizabeth Brown, a retired librarian for the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory who also raised sheep and sheared their wool for weaving projects, died of complications from cancer Saturday at Mercy Medical Center. The Ten Hills resident was 70. Born Mary Elizabeth Bomberger in Washington, she was raised in Alaska while her father served in the Civilian Conservation Corps. She earned a degree in geography from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she also took theater courses.

Effective this week, the Abingdon Social Security office has new hours. The office is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. – a reduction of 30 minutes each weekday. In addition, beginning January 2, 2013, the office will close to the public at noon every Wednesday. The Abingdon Social Security office is at 3435A Box Hill Corporate Center Drive. While agency employees will continue to work their regular hours, this shorter public window will allow them to complete face-to-face interviews and process claims work without incurring the cost of overtime, the office said in a news release.

GLEN ROCK, N.J. -- Corporations were the first inspiration for Jerry Salvi's and Michael DenBlaker's online tracking technology. Kids, however, soon became the focus of a broader vision. The brothers-in-law and co-founders of uVee Technologies LLC initially set out to create a product that would allow companies to archive and retrieve employee e-mails, an important technological feature after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which was passed after several corporate accounting scandals.

I am a writer and public relations flack who works from home. I back up my computer using MozyPro, but also to an external hard disk drive. You've written about the latter option, so I know not to leave it plugged in to my computer or the wall when not in use. My question: For that external hard drive (with my backups on it) and the many CDs of info I have for clients, is it safe to put them in a fireproof home safe? Or will this wreak havoc on the CDs and external hard disk drive? I just worry about being able to retrieve info in case of an emergency.

I want to rent a car next year while visiting Britain, but I'll be 83. Will companies rent to me? Although most major car rental agencies have no maximum age restrictions when renting in the United States, you'll find that countries and franchise owners throughout Europe usually have their own rules. Generally, the age limit in the United Kingdom is 69. However, a spokesman for Vanguard Car Rental, the parent company of National and Alamo, told us those agencies have no age limits in the United Kingdom except in Pembroke, Carmarthen and the Isle of Man, where the maximum age is 70. Auto Europe (autoeurope.

Maureen Sorenson Customer relations manager, Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, Glen Burnie Salary --$45,000 Age --45 Years on the job --10 years in June. How she got started --Sorenson began at the MVA as an administrative secretary. She started her current job in 1998. Typical day --Sorenson works Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. but is unofficially on-call if needed. About 75 percent of her work is dealing with customer complaints, either by telephone, e-mail or walk-ins.

Time Warner Inc. announced yesterday that it would make more than 100 old television series - including Falcon Crest, Kung Fu and Welcome Back, Kotter, the 1970s sitcom that made John Travolta a star - available free in the first major archive of TV shows on the Web. When it starts in January, the joint venture between Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution and America Online could help TV, Internet and advertising executives gauge the appetite for longer entertainment programs on the Web, which is dominated by shorter bits typically lasting no more than a few minutes.

Convenience costs Americans big-time, from bagged salad at the grocery store to automatic car washes to house-cleaning services. Another convenience is dialing directory assistance whenever you need a phone number. It can be incredibly expensive for what you get. Some directory-assistance services cost nearly $2.50 per request. And many Americans are using the services, according to research firm TNS Telecoms. A survey found that 41 percent of customers used some kind of directory assistance on their home or wireless phones during the past month.

I want to rent a car next year while visiting Britain, but I'll be 83. Will companies rent to me? Although most major car rental agencies have no maximum age restrictions when renting in the United States, you'll find that countries and franchise owners throughout Europe usually have their own rules. Generally, the age limit in the United Kingdom is 69. However, a spokesman for Vanguard Car Rental, the parent company of National and Alamo, told us those agencies have no age limits in the United Kingdom except in Pembroke, Carmarthen and the Isle of Man, where the maximum age is 70. Auto Europe (autoeurope.

Maureen Sorenson Customer relations manager, Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, Glen Burnie Salary --$45,000 Age --45 Years on the job --10 years in June. How she got started --Sorenson began at the MVA as an administrative secretary. She started her current job in 1998. Typical day --Sorenson works Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. but is unofficially on-call if needed. About 75 percent of her work is dealing with customer complaints, either by telephone, e-mail or walk-ins.

Wendy Peikes was tired of dating guys who would vanish when they met her housemates - three hairy, energetic dogs. So she took to her computer keyboard and found an online dating site where pet aversion is not tolerated. Now, she's one of many who have found happiness with dating services that won't tell you whether you should expect your prospective mother-in-law for dinner every night but will let you know whether a potential mate will cringe at sharing sofa space with a cat, dog or cockroach.

This year's electoral divide has some tech-savvy singles turning the search for Ms. Right into the search for Ms. Right Wing. By adding a partisan tilt to the Internet's dating options, a spate of new Web sites allows singles to scout for soul mates of nearly every political stripe. Take Kenny Opsal, 31, of Appleton, Minn. The self-described conservative Christian is looking for a like-minded woman who "can maybe even beat me at a game of hoops." Not a tall order, but his town is about 70 percent Democratic, and his job at the local prison doesn't help him meet women.