"We're proud to introduce Babynamer to our online customers," said Ken Doctor, vice president/editorial of Knight Ridder New Media. "It's a leading-edge product, one that uses Web capabilities to go beyond what the dozens of baby-naming books can do. It serves an important and potentially lucrative niche ã expectant parents and those who care about them ã in a way that is both editorially rich and innovative in its business model."

"Mercury Center and other Knight Ridder sites are pointing the way toward the future," said Peter Rinearson, president of Alki Software Corporation. "Knight Ridder demonstrates its vision, leadership and flexibility every day, and it has an admirable tradition of journalistic excellence. We're eager to work with the people of Knight Ridder."

The next-generation newsroom technologies initiative is a joint research-and-development project that will incorporate InType technology from Alki. It will move Knight Ridder toward the goal of creating a single digital publishing system that drives all print and electronic publications.

Babynamer.com, the first Alki Web application to go public, is the world's most comprehensive source of information about names and their implications. "It is a unique addition to our Real Cities network," Doctor said.

It offers well-researched insights on the origin, meaning, and changing worldwide popularity of more than 18,000 names. It contains essays by thousands of people about what it was like to grow up with their first names; reviews of names by a multi-racial panel; lists of teasing nicknames, and mini-biographies on more than 40,000 namesakes.

Babynamer.com also offers audio pronunciations of thousands of names, and lets users rate and comment on names. It includes more than 2,000 lists of names, and offers rich, interesting ways to search for the perfect name.

A forthcoming version will add significant editorial, advertising, and technical enhancements designed to extend and enrich the interaction between the consumers and advertisers who use Babynamer.com.

Knight Ridder and Alki announced their partnership at Interactive Newspapers '98 in Seattle, a conference sponsored by Editor &Knight; Ridder New Media, located in San Jose, Calif., is a division of Knight Ridder. Real Cities is Knight Ridder's national online network consisting of 33 Web sites and Internet products. Knight Ridder is the nation's second largest newspaper publisher, with products in print and online. The company publishes 33 daily newspapers in 34 U.S. markets, reaching 9.3 million readers daily and 12.9 million on Sunday. Knight Ridder has investments in two newsprint mills and is headquartered in Miami, Florida. Publisher magazine.

Alki Software Corporation was founded in Seattle in 1988 in the belief that a little-used word processor, Microsoft Word, would someday be the world's leading productivity application. Alki remains a major producer of enhancements to Word and Office. In 1995, Alki began developing Babynamer.com and the InType Web-applications platform. Today, Alki develops vertical applications for distribution on newspaper and other media Web sites. Alki's apps are designed with strong revenue models for local distributors, and they focus on meeting the needs of people who face transitions or major decisions.

Alki's management team includes Rinearson, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and Steve Wainwright, former news editor and systems editor of The Seattle Times. Perry Evans, the founder and former president of MapQuest, the Web's leading source of interactive maps, is a member of the Alki Board of Directors and is very active in Alki's management.

Knight Ridder Real Cities is a trademark of Knight Ridder New Media.

Contacts:

Cynthia Funnell National Communications Manager Knight Ridder New Media (408) 938-6076 cfunnell@realcities.com