july 98

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ClubRiada

The Riada Newsletter

Issue 4, July 1998

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INTRODUCTION - from Riada founder, Daniel Adair.
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Welcome to the latest edition of ClubRiada. The last few months have been very hectic at Riada and in this issue we'll be letting you in on some exciting developments.

Riada is thrilled to announce the recent release of the RiadaPartners program and we invite you to share in the success you have helped Riada achieve by actually earning money from Riada products! RiadaPartners is already proving a success with many new and existing customers clamouring to become a RiadaPartner and to spread the word about Riada products - some of the most popular and widely used web design tools on the internet.

In keeping with our reputation for excellent customer support, we're also proud to introduce RiadaWorkshop, the new addition to our web site where you'll not only find everything you ever wanted to know about getting started on the internet, but also advanced web building and marketing assistance for experienced web users, in language we can all understand. You can also win a Riada product of your choice by contributing your expertise to the site.

In another coup for Riada we are honoured to announce that our animated LED tool RiadaCartel, has been selected as a finalist in the prestigious 1998 ZD Shareware Awards. We also ask you to help us romp it in downunder, by nominating Riada in this year's 1998 Australian Internet Awards. See the NEWS section below for more information.

RiadaGallery has again received some excellent submissions, but for the first time we were unable to select a winner - so we chose two instead! This month's competition winners are The History Channel (UK) and The Audio Connection, which will be featured on the FRONT PAGE of the RIADA WEB SITE with a link to those sites, as well as receiving a Riada product of their choice. Our congratulations to all winners of the Riada awards and all RiadaGallery contributors.

On behalf of all the staff at Riada, I thank you for your continued support and positive feedback. Stay tuned for the next issue of ClubRiada for news of exciting new Riada products.


Daniel Adair,
Founder, Riada International.


NEWS
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RiadaPartners Released - Share in the Riada Success Story

Without realizing it many customers already help promote Riada products by recommending them at various sites around the internet. Now, by becoming a RiadaPartner, you can do this, plus earn up to 15% on sales of Riada products - its easy and its free!

When you become a RiadaPartner you are allocated a unique RiadaPartner ID and you can use the Program in a variety of ways to refer visitors to the Riada web site, such as providing text and graphic links on your site, including the RiadaPartner button or banner, or even mentioning our web site address in other non web media such as relevant newsgroups. Any sales attributed to your RiadaPartner ID earn you money while Riada takes care of all order processing, recording and customer support.

RiadaPartners is discreet and non-intrusive. Your efforts to refer others on to the Riada web site need not interfere with your own site or marketing efforts, and spamming is strictly prohibited.

For more details and the on-line application form please see the RiadaPartners page at http://www.riada.com/RiadaPartners/ . Come share in Riada's success!


RiadaWorkshop Released - For Novice and Experienced Web Users

The internet can be overwhelming whether you're a new or experienced web developer, and it is difficult to find useful information in the one place. At the new RiadaWorkshop sections of the Riada web site you'll find useful tips and techniques for using the internet and producing web sites to suit your level of experience.


We'd like you to share your knowledge and help us make the web development process as easy as possible for the novice and experienced web builder alike. If you would like to write an article for RiadaWorkshop please see our submission guidelines at http://www.riada.com/RiadaWorkshop/ . If your article meets our guidelines and we actually publish the article, you will receive a copy of a Riada software title of your choice.

So next time a friend is trying to make sense of a browser for the first time or is agonising over their first web page, refer them to RiadaWorkshop at http://www.riada.com/RiadaWorkshop/ .


1998 ZDNet Shareware Awards

RiadaCartel, the popular animated LED web product, has been selected as one of four finalists in the Web Development Tools category in the 1998 ZD Shareware Awards. These awards honor the best PC based shareware of the last twelve months. Winners will be announced on July 16th 1998 at the annual Shareware Industry Conference in Rhode Island.


1998 Australian Internet Awards - Vote 1 for Riada!

Show your appreciation for Riada's hot software by nominating Riada in the Internet Software category of this year's awards at http://www.webawards.info.au/index.html . You can even vote for Riada in the Most Popular Australian Web Site category. Nominations and voting close on the 5th August and 25th September respectively, so make sure your opinion counts and vote for Riada!


Riada Moves Up!

As a result of Riada's continued growth and success, this month also saw the relocation of Riada from the Melbourne inner city to larger offices in the Melbourne CBD and a strengthening of our staff base.


Windows 98 - Out at Last

Windows 98 was released recently, but without the fanfare of Windows 95, after action by the US States Attorney Generals who were concerned with Microsoft's business practices, delayed the product's release. This also saw Microsoft's marketing machine play down the internet integration of the desktop and focus on other features of Windows 98, although some in the industry say that the desktop and the internet appear almost inseparable in Windows 98.

Windows 98 has been tipped as the last operating system in the Windows 9x range, with Microsoft's operating system efforts shifting to Windows NT.


Intel to Slash Prices

In response to the recent move by some large computer manufacturers (such as Compaq) to use non-Intel chips, Intel have announced they are slashing prices of their chips over the next few months. That PC you wanted for Christmas (whether it be a workstation, server, or even a portable computer) may be a lot cheaper now. Many MMX processors such as the Pentium 266 MMX are expected to more than halve in price before the end of the year.


COMPETITION
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Winners of Gold awards each receive a free registered copy of any current Riada software title of their choice, and a link to their site and a congratulatory note is also published on the *FRONT PAGE OF THE RIADA WEB SITE*. All winners receive either Gold, Silver or Bronze trophy images to display on their Riada enabled web site, plus the web sites of Silver and Bronze winners are highlighted in the ClubRiada section on the Riada web site. Submissions for both Hints and RiadaGallery are eligible and are assessed in terms of originality, usefulness and style.

The winners for this issue of ClubRiada are The History Channel (UK) and The Audio Connection for their excellent use of RiadaHeadline. Very well done guys! Check out The History Channel (UK) at http://www.sky.co.uk/history/ and The Audio Connection at http://www.audioconnection.com/car_stereo1.htm

For the Silver and Bronze winners, see their RiadaGallery submissions below.


RIADAGALLERY
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A page of links of RiadaGallery submissions will be maintained under the Info section of the Riada web page along with an archive of back issues of ClubRiada. This month's RiadaGallery submissions include:

The History Channel (UK) - Gold trophy winner
Using RiadaHeadline to provide dynamic scrolling (I'll bet Robin Hood wished he had one of these :-)!
http://www.sky.co.uk/history/

The Audio Connection - Gold trophy winner
An extremely cool use of RiadaHeadline as the display panel of a car stereo!
http://www.audioconnection.com/car_stereo1.htm

GEG Enterprises - Silver trophy winner
A colourful site using RiadaBillboard and RiadaHeadline.
http://gegenterprises.com

ScreenConnect - Bronze trophy winner
This site uses RiadaHeadline on a notepad to scroll messages.
http://www.screenconnect.com/index.htm

Planet Nexus
Planet Nexus uses RiadaHeadline to scroll text off into the depths of the universe - kinda like watching the start of "Star Wars" :-)
http://www.nx-world.com/nexus

Australian Hospitality Network
The big guns from oz are rolled out! RiadaForm is used on the "Join" page.
http://www.hospitality.net.au/

VanGargoyle.com
The RiadaBillboard project on this page is used to vertically display and animate a company logo.
http://www.vangargoyle.com/index.html

Mercury Vehicles Billboard
RiadaBillboard is used to display banners for the cars.
http://www.sentrycars.com/slm1.htm

Rocky Fork Muskie Hunters
Uses RiadaForm very well for visitors to register their "catch"!
http://home.fuse.net/rockyfmh/mcform.html

Atlanta West Community Net
This site uses RiadaBillboard and RiadaHeadline.
http://www.awcn.com


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Don't forget to submit your Riada enabled web site to RiadaGallery or Hints for next month's ClubRiada issue by emailing mailto:club@riada.com. Or if you have any suggestions for current/new products, email us at mailto:feedback@riada.com.
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