From: Gene Mascoli, ScienceIQ.com

SAN JOSE, CA -- ScienceIQ, a web-based start-up, today announced the launch of its unique subscription email service for science and technology learning. At the same time it features an equally unique way of doing business that may set the stage for future dealings among entrepreneurs---never meeting face to face! How did a physicist, originally from Yugoslavia, who immigrated to Long Beach, California via Canada meet up with a musician turned attorney and science aficionado in San Jose, California? Keep reading and find out.

ScienceIQ is a collaboration between Anton Skorucak, creator of the PhysLink.com, a comprehensive physics and astronomy web site, and Gene Mascoli, producer of ScienceMaster.com, an online learning resource for middle and high school. Both are multiple award-winning sites. "About 4 years ago I was introduced to ScienceMaster through one of its science CD-ROMs, which I reviewed on my web site. Gene and I started emailing and talking by phone, and one thing lead to another", reminisced Skorucak. "ScienceIQ was a natural evolution of our common goals. We are almost superstitious to meet in person now." Mascoli added to the story, "Our sites are very complimentary and it made sense to collaborate. We saw the online market for subscription-based services gaining acceptance and a need for unique means to engage people in learning. ScienceIQ is a way to get the answers to all of those WHY questions that people have."

Although it's common place for people to conduct business via email, faxes and the telephone, it is not often that a new business is launched without the principals even meeting face to face. Mascoli says, "By now, I'm so used to doing business this way, that I don't even think about it. Our main editor, Rochelle Treister lives in Israel. Several of our writers live in various other parts of the world, England, etc. The emails fly back and forth, round the clock on a daily basis, and we all get our job done as a team. It's a learning experience for all of us in other ways. I get to email co-workers in Australia, and Europe and learn about what's going on there first hand."

Several of the tools that keep ScienceIQ running were programmed by Skorucak, a database expert. By using the latest in database technology, the site nearly runs itself. "From writer to editor, to scheduling to beta, to subscribing, it's really 100% automated," says Skorucak. "In the future we will be able to key facts directly to a person's particular interests and reading level, from the youngest reader to graduate students and even offer foreign language versions."

Science IQ has been put to the test for a 3-month beta test with over 300 people. The subscription service was also offered on a trial basis to the combined databases of ScienceMaster and Physlink, over 30,000 names. The conversion rate from trying out the service to paid subscriber is running 80%, a clear thumbs up for the service. Collaboration is the key. Mascoli noted "Our site is an ongoing process. We are building the most robust, most engaging science encyclopedia ever and our subscribers have a direct hand in making it better and better. Anton and I will meet soon---maybe after our 10,000 subscriber! I'm not superstitious, but just in case..."

About ScienceIQ.com

ScienceIQ.com is a new collaboration between two leading science-education web sites, Physlink.com and ScienceMaster.com. The company uses innovative database-driven technology to deliver fresh, timely science content to teachers, students, media centers and corporate intranets. The service is subscription-based and offers a Science Fact of the Day each weekday to subscribers throughout the world as well as an extensive online archive of science facts. Based in California, ScienceIQ.com can be found on the Web at www.ScienceIQ.com.

For more information on ScienceIQ call 408.266.1428

Gene Mascoli
Publisher
ScienceIQ.com
1702-H Meridian Ave., #103
San Jose, CA 95125
Phone/Fax 408/266-1428

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