Charles Ardai

SAY you started an Internet company back in 1995 that really took off. Then you sold it and found yourself floating in enough dough to fulfill your heart's desire. What would you do? Charles Ardai, founder of Juno Online Services Inc., started a publishing company. Not some online media venture, mind you, but about the most old-school throwback you could imagine.

SAY you started an Internet company back in 1995 that really took off. Then you sold it and found yourself floating in enough dough to fulfill your heart's desire. What would you do? Charles Ardai, founder of Juno Online Services Inc., started a publishing company. Not some online media venture, mind you, but about the most old-school throwback you could imagine.

NetZero Inc. sued rival free Internet access provider Juno Online Services Inc. for allegedly infringing on technology used to display messages or advertisements in a window for as long as a user stays online. NetZero accuses Juno of infringing on its patented on-screen window that constantly displays links, buttons or advertisements, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The patent was issued Dec. 5.

Richard S. Prather, whose mystery stories about Shell Scott, a former Marine turned private investigator, were set in Southern California, died at his home in Sedona, Ariz., on Feb. 14. He was 85. The cause was complications from pulmonary disease, author Linda Pendleton, a friend of Prather, said this week. Prather, who also wrote several novels under the pseudonyms David Knight and Douglas Ring, won a lifetime achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America in 1986.

The last two companies offering free Internet access--NetZero and Juno Online Services--agreed to merge Thursday, in a deal that would create the nation's second-largest Net service provider. But analysts were skeptical that the new company would be able to turn a profit in the face of a steep downturn in online advertising. NetZero, the first company to offer free Net access to customers willing to share personal information and look at ads, would pay $70.7 million in stock for Juno.

The growing ranks of free Internet service providers are mostly marketing tools rather than potential revenue or profit sources, experts say, although they are gaining interest and forcing some changes in the "dot-com" field. The free ISPs appeal to bargain-conscious consumers, often drawing new Internet users from among those who might otherwise be only "thinking" of trying the Internet without actually taking the plunge.

WITH the distance of time, pulp fiction acquires a burnished glow. What was once considered lurid, sensational and vulgar now feels bold, direct and street-smart. Reviving and redefining these guilty pleasures of decades past has now become something of a tradition in the American publishing industry.

People whose lives are tied up with books, as writers, critics, booksellers or readers, are always -- always -- looking for something new. But in the last few years, they've been turning to something old. The publishers specializing in reprints have become increasingly important to the people who haunt bookstores searching for the next great read. For some, these reintroduced books are as eagerly awaited as any mainstream house's seasonal list. In the U.S.

Juno Online Services Inc. may require subscribers of its free Internet service to give up more control of their computers, prompting complaints about privacy and security risks. Juno, which now compels those users to view ads and share marketing data in exchange for free Internet service, wants to raise additional revenue by selling unused processing power from subscribers' computers to research institutions and corporations.

It's the end of the beginning, the end of the very hyped, very heady first wave of the commercial Internet revolution. Gone are the days when a good idea, slick business plan and a couple bright grad-student programmers were all it took to catch the eye--and pocketbook--of some Silicon Valley financier willing to gamble on an unknown for the chance to make a fortune. Next year, reality bites the Internet business--and bites hard.