Weddings: Click Here If You're Attending

Weddings are so much work. You gotta order a cake, get a band, and set up your Web-based guest-interaction program...well, in Silicon Valley, anyway. In June, friends of Chris Holten, 30, and Hugh Hempel, 41, sweethearts who met at Netscape Communications Corp., weren't quite so much invited to the couple's October wedding in Hawaii as alerted by E-mail. Holten now has her own PR firm, and a client, Responsys.com, makes software to help companies create online marketing campaigns. She offered to use her nuptials to test the technology. ''We will send out 'formal' invitations via 'snail mail' in the coming weeks,'' her E-missive to friends warned, barely concealing her contempt.

Friends were directed to a Web site for the wedding schedule, activities, and soon, even a guest list. The system instantly sorts responses--so the yesses get added to the future bulletin list, and the noes get sorry-sounding ''thanks-anyways.'' ''It's very personal,'' Holten says. What most impressed the couple: Invitations went out at 11:30 p.m. on June 28. In five minutes, they had three replies.

By Joan O'C. Hamilton

Car 9076B, Where Are You?

Drivers who swear they're little old ladies from Pasadena may get a chance to prove that they drive their buggies only to church. The catch? You have to let your insurance company track your car everywhere you drive it.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., based in a Cleveland suburb, is trying to live up to its name. It's preparing to test consumers' willingness to swap privacy for discounts. The offering: a global positioning device that transmits occasional reports of where the car is. That way, your premium can be based on the actual risk of where and when you travel. A pilot program is under way in Houston. If successful, that could mean lower rates. Now, insurers base rates on where customers live and on statistics telling how much they are apt to drive--and where.

Of course, Progressive can keep a very close eye on you. But the company insists the point isn't to monitor policyholders but to justify cheaper rates. All the data is protected by encryption. Besides, if you happen to get lost in the wrong part of town, at least your global positioning device can help get you home.

By Peter Galuszka

Ask Jeeves: Very Good, Sir, I'll Find Out at Once

File this under ''What the prospectus doesn't tell you.'' Before venture-capitalist Geoffrey Y. Yang made a call on BUSINESS WEEK in June, we thought it was only polite to read up a little bit on him first. We decided to use Ask Jeeves, the Net search engine that lets Web surfers ask questions instead of using keywords. After all, Yang is on the board of Ask Jeeves Inc., which was set to have an initial public offering on June 30.

What happens when you Ask Jeeves: ''Who is Geoff Yang?'' The first answer: ''I think you may have misspelled something.'' We didn't. Click on the link that suggests that we fouled up, and Jeeves then ventures: ''Did you mean: 'Who is Goof Yang?''' We didn't, really. Yang admits that Jeeves is weak at recognizing proper names, but he says that upgrades are in the works. ''I'll ask them to put in a few sentences for officers and board members,'' he laughs.

The good news: Ask Jeeves has backup systems that get you to the right stuff. In addition to its distinctive method of answering questions with questions in order to zero-in on what users want, it taps search engines such as AltaVista and Infoseek, which let Ask Jeeves turn up profiles on Yang. Of course, Ask Jeeves (courtesy of WebCrawler) also headlined the Official Geoff Billington Fan Club as celebrating ''an international show jumper and his many horses.'' Now that's a group that makes a whole different kind of hay from venture capitalists.

By Timothy J. Mullaney

As I Was Surfing That Ribbon of Highway

Can the PC replace the CB, good buddy? Officials at PNV.net say: Forget the stereotypes. Of the 1.5 million long-haul truckers in the U.S., 50% have home PCs, and 25% of drivers keep a machine with them. So on July 1, PNV.net (formerly Park 'N View Inc.) launched an Internet service provider, and it plans a portal by this fall. So far, PNV.net has wired 220 truck stops so drivers can plug into a jack next to their rig. The ISP charge: Up to $15 per month.

The company has high hopes for its portal. PNV.net envisions electronic debit cards so truckers can order merchandise such as books and truck parts online and have it sent to their home or to the next stop on their route. Truckers will be able to E-mail friends and family. They will find a digital log book on the site to track mileage and a listing of loads to haul.

PNV.net isn't the portal equivalent of a honking 18-wheeler, but it should grab a few of America Online Inc.'s (AOL) customers. Troy Snyder, a 29-year-old trucker from Robinson, Ill., has switched, slashing his bill from $32 a month with AOL to $10. With the service, Snyder can keep track of weather conditions and friends. So who needs a CB radio?

By Ira Sager

Drugstores: Where to Find Relief Online

The TV spot features a jumpy guy standing in a drugstore aisle. A ninny clerk just can't understand the poor guy's pleas that he needs something because the ''general is having trouble deploying the troops.'' The message: Tap in ''laxatives'' at www.drugstore.com, and your discomfort will soon be over.

It's part of a side-splitting campaign taking aim at your worst drugstore nightmares. Ad agency McCann-Erickson Worldwide has crafted the spots for Seattle upstart drugstore.com Inc., which filed for a public offering in May and is at the forefront of the Internet's latest attack on brick-and-mortar retailers.

There's just one problem: Even with a $17.95 overnight-shipping charge, you have to wait one day for your remedy. The company insists the ad stresses the discomfort of seeking information in a store, not the countdown to relief. But at that rate, ''the general'' could very well surrender his privacy for some more immediate relief.

By Joan O'C. Hamilton

TABLE: The Eight-Second Rule

Tired of poky Web action? Zona Research says surfers may bail out if the information they request doesn't pop up within eight seconds. With the majority of modems at 56kb level, violating the eight-second rule inflicts more losses than slow modems. All told, slow downloads could clip as much as $4.35 billion from U.S. E-commerce sales each year. Ouch!

The Monthly Loss From Sluggish Web Downloads...

SPEED            LOST SALES
                  MILLIONS


14.4kb              $73
28.8kb              $97
56kb                $100
ISDN                $14
T1                  $38

INDUSTRY                  LOST SALES
                           MILLIONS


SECURITIES TRADING           $40
TRAVEL & TOURISM             $34
PUBLISHING                   $14
GROCERIES                    $9
PERSONAL FINANCE             $5
MUSIC                        $4
BOX OFFICE RECEIPTS          $3
TEXTILES/APPAREL             $3