SEPTEMBER 13, 1999 VOL. 154 NO. 10

To Our Readers

By ADI IGNATIUS Deputy Editor, TIME Asia

Anyone hanging around our headquarters in Hong Kong recently will have noticed the lights in our offices burning through the wee hours nearly every night. The fact is, TIME Asia has never been busier. Last Monday we launched our new website, AsiaNow, a joint venture with our sister organizations Asiaweek and CNN. AsiaNow (cnn.com/asianow) is the most comprehensive Asian news site out there. Our goal is to provide timely and readable news and analysis on politics, business, sports, weather, entertainment, travel--everything you want to know about the region. We also let users access our magazine archives, and we've launched several Web-exclusive features, including new columns on politics, business, technology and the arts. Plus we post a daily Q&A with market insiders to give users an edge on the trading day. And it's all free.

The TIME team responsible for getting the new site up and running--and who are burning most of the midnight oil--are a trio of young webbies: Dan Erck, Adam Connors and Tim Morrison. Guided by the glowing pink lava lamp that stands between their desks, Adam and Tim have spent the past several months moving and redesigning 30,000 files, among other tasks. When they go to sleep (as if), Dan picks up the process from his new base in New York City. Like news itself, this is a 24-hour operation. "We might not sleep much," says Dan, "but I've heard that's overrated anyway."

For those who are familiar with TIME Asia's existing website, don't worry, it's still there! Our old Internet address still works (time.com/asia); as does a new one (timeasia.com). Both take you to our home page, through which you can access the broad range of news and information from CNN, Asiaweek and TIME at AsiaNow.

We're also working long hours readying one of our biggest special reports ever: a provocative look at China, pegged to the 50th anniversary of the PRC's founding. It's part of Time Warner's "Visions of China" project, in which TIME, Asiaweek, Fortune, Fortune China, CNN and Discovery all are producing special packages. CNN just launched its effort, which includes a series of programs and interviews, plus new online features. At TIME, we're putting the finishing touches on our report, which will hit the newsstands Sept. 20. So if you happen to find yourself in Causeway Bay late some evening, keep the noise down. We're trying to work!