Ion for '95 -- Instant Online News (ion) from NetControls has partnered up with the recently released My Yahoo! web-based service to offer an attractive alternative to The PointCast Network (PCN). Like PCN, My Yahoo! allows you to pick and choose the news feeds that are likely to appeal most to you. Top news, world events, politics, business, technology, sports (more than 16 types including general sports news and a sports score board), entertainment (10 categories), weather (currently limited to United States cities), and Internet news comprise the major categories of news feeds available with My Yahoo! and Instant Online News. In addition to selecting the categories that interest you, you can also choose the number of headlines (from 1 to 10) that each category will present when you access My Yahoo! Users must first register with My Yahoo! in order to use the service as well as to fully utilize the Instant Online News client. Registration is free, but like PCN, you can expect to be inundated with advertisements as you browse through your on-line newspaper. My Yahoo! will also work with the FireFly service to provide additional personal web navigation tools in the future. Instant Online News adds several cool features to the My Yahoo! service. First, ion keeps in sync with My Yahoo! so that you can get all your favorite news on your desktop without even having to run your web browser. Ion also puts a news ticker in the Windows 95 tray bin that scrolls through the day's news feeds. To get additional details on a headline, simply click on the listing and your favorite browser will be launched with the complete article. All versions of Netscape work with ion, as does Internet Explorer 3.0 Beta 2 and higher. One aspect of the news ticker that will appeal to many users is that you lose the advertisements associated with the My Yahoo! service. Ion also works with your screen saver to deliver news to your desktop during periods of inactivity. While the ion and My Yahoo! duo delivers the daily news with ease, the combination doesn't quite measure up to its closest competition, PointCast. PCN sports a more intuitive interface that molds to your thought processes and habits like no other app I have ever seen on the 'net. Ion simply lacks the multitude of configurable options and the almost omnipotent features of PointCast. Still, My Yahoo! has an excellent chance at being as successful as the original Yahoo! and ion makes the innovative new service even better. With a little more attention to the needs of the user, this could be one killer tandem in the future. Pros: News feeds and articles at your fingertips, cool news ticker in the Windows 95 tray bar Cons: Lacks critical features found in its competition, could be more intuitive New: This is the initial review for Instant Online News Version Reviewed: 1.0 Beta 4 Date of Review: 7/16/96 Reviewer: Forrest Stroud apps conference Main Menu