One of Bermuda's newest electronic ventures has been operating with Internet giants Ask Jeeves' search engine and Virgin Net UK in a bid to make their system the most efficient browser to hit the World Wide Web.

Today, the Bermuda-owned and run web site talkingmice.com is being launched by its creators in Hamilton.

It will become the first `yellow pages' for e-mail and web site addresses which can be accessed either online, through a special publication or on CD rom.

The Bermuda-based registry is to be used as a pilot programme to take the project global. Other pilots will also be used in Massachusetts, Boston and in the UK.

"It is very exciting,'' said Teresa Cameron, the woman behind the project.

"The Internet is the largest library in the world. What we have done is create a filing system for this library.'' The first phase of the ambitious project is to launch in Bermuda. Today adverts and leaflets will be distributed asking for e-mail addresses with signatures which will then be put onto a database. This will be tested in November and launched in December.

From the earliest stages Mrs. Cameron has been taking advice from Larry Fishkin, vice president of development at Ask Jeeves, a well-known search engine which allows the user to ask such questions as `what age am I?' and `when was I born?'. The search engine will then go through many other search engines to try and answer the question.

"When I first spoke to him it was because in Bermuda there was little expertise of this particular kind,'' Mrs. Cameron said. "So Mr. Fishkin has always been there.'' Mrs. Cameron also revealed that talkingmice.com has been in discussions with Virgin Net UK, a company owned by the British entrepreneur Richard Branson.

"So far we have kept the scheme very low scale in Bermuda -- more people outside Bermuda have been aware of the project than on the Island,'' said Mrs.

Cameron at a press conference yesterday.

The web site is to be divided by geographic location and eventually browsers will be able to search firstly by country, state, city and even community.

In Bermuda 150,000 copies of the actual directory will be distributed for free and the CD rom, which will allow the system to be used without being logged on, will cost $12.50 and contain a Bermuda-scape screen saver as a promotional bonus.

The system, when up and running, will, according to the promoters, allow browsers to find family, friends and businesses on the net without any trouble.

"We are aiming the system at the first-time user. Over 350 million alone this year logged on for the first time. It will be a simple way for them to navigate and will stop them switching it off and vowing never to use it again -- and this happens.'' The project's motto is "let your mouse do the talking'' and hopes to make searching an easier task.

Currently talkingmice.com has a team of seven Bermudians working from small offices in Langton Hill.

The scheme has the backing of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Globenet, Marshall & Co, TBI and some local investors worth in total several million dollars.

Mrs. Cameron is the main stakeholder in the privately owned limited liability company, which is 100 percent Bermudian-owned.

They already have the $1.2 million needed to build the search engine, which is to be constructed in Canada.

Forms for Bermudians and companies to register -- for free -- on the site, can either be faxed or left at pink and blue drop-off points in the Bank of Bermuda.