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Question mark over future of Bermuda websites directory -- Co-founder of

Confusion surrounds the management and the future of talkingmice.com, the heavily publicised directory of Bermuda websites and e-mail addresses.

Telephone numbers of the company have been disconnected in Bermuda and Teresa Cameron -- one of the two founders -- has confirmed she resigned as of yesterday as a director. She refused to elaborate on the future of the company.

The paper directory of names, promised in January 2001, is still to appear.

The site at www.talkingmice.com, is up and running with website listings but appears unfinished, but the listed Bermuda telephone numbers are no longer working.

The telephone number for Creative Concepts, Mrs. Cameron's Bermuda company, has also been disconnected.

Mrs. Cameron, speaking from the UK yesterday, said the phones were not necessary as they all communicated by e-mail. Her home number in Scotland is listed as a contact number on the website.

The Royal Gazette also understands that representatives from talkingmice.com have been looking for additional funding in Bermuda.

talkingmice.com launched in January this year after two years of work and collecting more than 3,000 listings.

Up to 150,000 copies of the paper directory were supposed to be printed, and every Bermuda household receive a copy on January 23 by mail. To the knowledge of The Royal Gazette this mail drop never happened.

The company planned to distribute the remainder of the directories to tourists so they could continue to visit Bermuda websites to shop or plan future trips.

The company's searchable website was also due to be launched and CD-ROM versions of the directory were supposed to go on sale for $12.50.

The company launched its data collection campaign in April 2000 with a series of print and radio advertisements, in addition to television spots featuring footballer Shaun Goater.

The company accepted listings for free before closing submissions for the print version of the directory in July 2000.

The "yellow pages'' of Bermuda websites was a pilot programme for more ambitious endeavours overseas. The company had established offices in the United Kingdom -- the home telephone number of Mrs. Cameron in Scotland is listed for this office -- and a directory launch was due in August.

"The pilot (in Bermuda) has been excellent and it has helped us to establish business in (the UK) because you learn what works and what doesn't'' said Mrs.

Cameron in January this year.

She also said that talkingmice.com would continue its expansion in the United States when it opens offices in April, either in North Carolina or California.

No further information is available about this venture.

Question mark over company's future talkingmice.com said it had teamed up with major Internet service providers to promote and distribute its product.

In the UK, the company said it had chosen UK Online and altodigital.com.

adding EarthLink Network, one of the world's largest ISP, expressed so much interest in the scheme that it offered to buy the concept outright.

Mrs. Cameron said in January she hoped talkingmice.com would eventually become the most useful Internet search tool in the world.

Unlike search engines like Yahoo!, talkingmice.com does not use an automated web crawler to scour the web for new web pages, which can sometimes lead to confusing results. Users would instead search the directory's manually-compiled database, which will be organised categorically and alphabetically.

talkingmice.com's operations were to be funded by advertising within the book and on the company web site, but Mrs. Cameron admitted in January that recouping costs would take longer in Bermuda than in the UK, where registrars will be charged a fee to list with the directory.

In January Mrs. Cameron also said the company employs in Bermuda four sales staff and one administrative administrator, while in the UK there are said to be 11 staff, with plans to expand after the initial launch. The company's web server, including the directory Bermuda listings, will be located in the UK.

Mrs. Cameron was the main stake holder in talkingmice.com and the scheme received further backing from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Globenet, Marshall & Company, TeleBermuda International and some local investors totaling several million dollars.