ASK ME MULTIMEDIA CENTER EDITORIAL BACKGROUNDER

September, 1993......Ask Me Multimedia Center is devoted to developing and
marketing new multimedia authoring and presentation software for both DOS
and Windows platforms, as well as related multimedia products and
services. The company is a pioneer in the rapidly growing multimedia
industry.

Ask Me Multimedia Center was founded in 1985 at the University of North
Dakota (UND) by Michael O'Donnell. As a technology transfer project of
UND, the company, with Mike's guidance, developed some of the first
multimedia systems for commercial use. Interactive multimedia systems were
built and tested in hotels, shopping malls, hospitals and other public
locations.

The company' s main competitive advantages are based on products that are
easy-to-use and priced right. Future plans involve producing CD-ROM
titles, the licensing/publishing of third-party products and the creation
of multimedia centers.

In 1991, Ask Me Multimedia Center was selected by the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce and Nation' s Business Magazine as one of the most innovative
companies in the country. For its technical and business accomplishments
as a small business, Ask Me Multimedia Center was awarded the "Blue Chip
Enterprise" award.

LATEST PRODUCT 
SST (SUPER Show & Tell)

Ask Me Multimedia Center previewed SST (SUPER Show & Tell), its latest
multimedia software product for Windows 3.1, at Spring Comdex this year.
SST allows the user to create interactive multimedia presentations in a
free-form environment. It supports all popular graphics, animation, sound
and digital video formats. It is amazingly intuitive and easy to use.
Presentations developed with SST use a slide carousel as a metaphor and
include sound and motion without the use of complex authoring languages.

SST is perfectly suited to the business and home office market. For
example, business people can choose to present pertinent information by
utilizing colorful charts, still-frame pictures and text with the addition
of sound and motion to make presentations more exciting and effective.
Additional major users include: sales and marketing people who want to
make a custom interactive multimedia presentation, the home PC hobbyist
who enjoys the latest technology has to offer and teachers who want to
produce their own interactive educational tools, as well as students who
prefer to dazzle their classmates rather than put them to sleep.

SST's distinguishing features include:

Modeless Importing & Editing of Media
* All creation is done on the same screen in an editing window
* No overlapping dialogue boxes or multiple modules in which 
  to work

Dynamic Slides & Media Objects 
* Each slide in an SST carousel is a mini movie 
* All objects on a slide can be easily given motion 
* Text can scroll on and off or move anywhere on the slide 
* Images can grow from a small icon to a full screen picture
* Fonts and colors can change on the fly 
* Sound and movie clips can be added to each slide 

Time-Based Synchronization of Events
* SST automatically generates a simple "playlist" for each slide,
  as opposed to the object-oriented programming or time-line
  layout

Supported Formats
* Graphics: .BMP, .DIB, .PCX, .GIF, .TIF and .TGA
* Audio: .WAV and MIDI
* Animation: Autodesk .FLI and .FLC Note: Macromedia .MMM 
  and Golddisk .AWI planned for V 1.1
* Video: Video for Windows .AVI

OTHER PRODUCTS 
Ask Me 2000 and Ask Me Professional

The Ask Me 2000 and Ask Me Professional products are DOS based authoring
programs that come complete with a comprehensive, easy-to-use scripting
language. The scripting language allows users to create complex
applications that use data variables and multimedia database features.
Typically, a person with even a limited amount of programming experience
can excel with these products.

The Ask Me Professional product is essentially the same as the Ask Me 2000
product except that the Professional version has live-motion video and
database management capabilities. These additional features allow for
sophisticated applications, but also require some experience or training
in video and/or database development.

THE MARKET

Multimedia has been compared to desktop publishing because of the diversity
of applications it can be used for. The major markets and applications for
multimedia authoring software currently include business presentations and
promotional videos, interactive training and educational courses,
point-of-purchase and product demonstration terminals, electronic building
directories and information kiosks and electronic books and games.

Desktop Presentation, Inc., a market research firm in Mountain View,
California, predicts a $17 billion U.S. market for multimedia products and
services by 1994, while Frost & Sullivan of New York predicts a $25
billion market by 1995. This represents a 47 percent annual growth rate
for the multimedia products and services industry. Dataquest, a PC
industry analyst, predicts a $614 million market by 1995 for authoring and
presentation software of the type made by Ask Me Multimedia Center.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS (US & FOREIGN)

Distribution is through Software Resource, domestically. Additional
American distributors will soon be added. Canadian distribution is handled
by Merisel Canada. Distribution abroad is through a growing worldwide
network of international distributors.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Although the products are easy-to-use and not much help is expected to be
required, unlimited free technical support is available for registered
users.

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 From the 'New Product Information' Electronic News Service
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 This information was processed from data provided by the
 above mentioned company. For additional details, contact 
 the company at the address or telephone number indicated.
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 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ 08080  U.S.A.
 Email:  RBakerPC (AOL/Delphi), rbakerpc@aol.com (Internet)
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