ST Report: 25-Apr-97 #1317
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 05/11/97-09:16:04 AM Z
From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 25-Apr-97 #1317
Date: Sun May 11 09:16:04 1997
Silicon Times Report
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April 25, 1997 No.1317
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04/25/97 STR 1317 Celebrating Our Tenth Anniversary 1987-97!
- CPU Industry Report - E-Stamps Online - HP Buys Verifone
- Frankie's Corner - Fraud on the Net - Shareware Listings
- No AOL/CIS Merger? - STR Mailcall - 3Com cuts $$$
- UnAbashed Atariophile - People Talking - Classics & Gaming
Feds Warn of 'AOL4FREE' Ruse
Intel Readies 300MHz Chip
Symantec, McAfee Going to Court
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>From the Editor's Desk...
This week's issue is running late. I know it. Its my fault for
allowing some company to tie me for most of the afternoon. They were
lovely people though, so believe me it was worth it. Check out this week's
news boards as there is a great deal going on.
I'm still evaluating Word Perfect vs Word 7 and so far, Word 7 is
still on top. Primarily because the PDF generator doesn't like Word
Perfect at all. <sigh> Yet. I must admit however, that this week's issue
had certain articles come in that were in what appeared to be 40 col.
Format. It took forever to re-format that thing. I thought forty column
`putes were all in the grave yard. Changing all that was a real time
killer.
Ralph....
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STReport Headline News
LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Clinton, Gore Join NetDay
Characterizing it as the 21st century version of an old-fashioned barn
raising, President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore joined yesterday's
volunteer "NetDay" efforts to connect schools to the Internet and ponied up
$11.8 million to help. Also, the president urged the Federal
Communications Commission to give schools and libraries $2 billion in
annual discounts for Internet service, notes Associated Press writer Sandra
Sobieraj. The FCC is expected to vote on the discount May 6.
In his weekly radio address, Clinton commented, "This can make all the
difference for communities struggling to make sure their students are ready
for the 21st century. Now more than ever we can't afford to let our
children be priced out of cyberspace." Clinton and Gore used video and
computer equipment to link from the Oval Office to NetDay activities around
the country, as parents, teachers, corporate officials, communications
workers and retirees ran high-capacity cable through classrooms to connect
them to the global computer network.
Notes AP, "Since the first NetDay last spring, which Clinton and Gore
incorporated into their re-election campaign, about a quarter million
volunteers have wired 50,000 classrooms." Clinton yesterday called the
effort "a great example of how America works best when we all work together
... like an old-fashioned barn raising."
In addition, Gore announced $11.8 million in technology literacy grants for
classroom computer equipment and teacher training were being awarded to
seven states: Alaska, Connecticut, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota
and Tennessee. Also sharing the Education Department funds were schools in
the U.S. territories of Northern Mariana and American Samoa and schools
administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The department awarded $57
million to 14 other states earlier this year.
The wire service quotes research from Market Data Retrieval as estimating
27,000 to 40,000 public schools -- about one-third to one-half of the
national total -- use the Internet. Other surveys indicate that the
connection reaches less than 10 percent of the classrooms, computer labs
and libraries where students actually sit. As reported, Clinton made a
campaign promise to help wire every American classroom and library to the
Internet by 2000 and has included a request in this year's budget for an
additional $2 billion in technology literacy grants over the next five
years.
President to Surf the Net
As part of NetDay celebrations today, a computer terminal is being
temporarily installed in President Clinton's Oval Office and even will
venture into cyberspace. White House press secretary Mike McCurry told
United Press International the president is "going to try to get computer
literate." UPI notes Vice President Al Gore, whose cyber knowledge is
extensive, plans to join the president in the Oval Office event and both
will chat with schoolchildren around the country. The White House says
Clinton already has a laptop computer with Internet capabilities in the
Oval Office.
Rebates Set in Screen Settlement
Practically every computer maker, from IBM and Compaq to Apple Computer
Inc., and 11 retail chains, including Tandy and CompUSA, have agreed to a
settlement of a class-action lawsuit alleging buyers were misled about the
size of computer monitors. The settlement of the suit -- filed in San
Francisco Superior Court and covering purchases between May 1, 1991, and
May 1, 1995 -- means major computer makers and retailers will offer rebates
to literally millions of consumers.
The Associated Press reports consumers taking advantage of the settlement
can get a $13 cash rebate on new purchases of $250 or more. The rebates
will be available between Sept. 8, 1997, and Sept. 8, 2000. And people who
make new purchases between September 2000 and March 2001 can receive a $6
rebate. AP notes the complaint alleged the manufacturers and merchants
confused consumers about the size of the screens by not setting a standard
for measurements.
"Monitor makers often advertised the diagonal size of the glass that covers
a screen, the same way television screens are measured," AP comments, "but
since a portion of the glass on a PC monitor is framed by plastic, the
viewing area was smaller. The settlement requires a measurement of the
monitor's viewable screen area from now on." Attorney Robert Green, who
represented consumers, estimates some 45 million PC sales are covered in
the lawsuit, but told the wire service that not that many buyers will
qualify for the rebates because bulk purchases are excluded. He and other
lawyers involved declined to estimate the settlement's value. For further
information on the settlement or to receive a copy of rebate coupons, call
1-800-789-0311 or visit the Web site at http://www.computermonitorcases.
com.
Web Directories Hit Newspapers
A Eugene, Oregon, company company called WebLink Express plans to publish a
Web directory in both Parade and USA Weekend magazines in Sunday newspapers
nationwide for 13 weeks beginning in May. A weekly online electronic
publication called NetCetera notes that "given that the combined
circulation of the two publications is nearly 90 million households (about
200 million people), the effort could reach millions of potential new users
of the Internet."
The newsletter reports the business model of the one-page directory is
based on charging more than 300 site owners $4,000 to have their site
listed in the guide, adding, "The print guide will be supplemented by an
online site with easy access to the advertised sites using four-digit
numbers rather than URLs." On the Internet, WebLink Express is reached at
Web address http://www.weblinkexpress.com.
Feds Warn of 'AOL4FREE' Ruse
A strong warning has been issued by the U.S. Energy Department's Computer
Incident Advisory Capability team about a new Trojan horse called
"AOL4FREE." Interactive Week Online says the rogue program -- downloadable
from various Internet sites and sometimes sent as an attached binary file
in electronic mail -- is 993 bytes in length and will erase a PC hard drive
if run. CIAC officials tell the publication that downloading the program
will not cause harm -- as some reports have said -- but that running the
application will. An advisory on CAIC's Web page (http://ciac.llnl.gov)
says, "If you are e-mailed this file, or if you have downloaded it from an
online service, do not attempt to run it. If the program was received as an
attachment to an e-mail message, do not double click open it."
Dial-Around Codes Alert Issued
A consumer organization is warning telephone users to study closely the
advertisements for those five-digit codes filling their mailboxes to make
sure the strings attached don't unravel the savings. The so-called
"dial-around" offers try to lure customers with promises of reduced long
distance rates. The companies' marketing places a heavy emphasis on the
calling code, a five digit number starting with "1-0," (i.e., 10XXX) which
connects the consumer to a different long distance company for that call
only, bypassing their primary long distance carrier, (the company that
completes their 1+ calls). The calling method is not new, but it is being
promoted to consumers in new and aggressive ways.
"Consumers need to be careful shoppers when choosing their long distance
carriers -- and they should be especially careful with the dial-around
codes," says Angela Ledford, executive director of Tele-Consumer Hotline,
an independent consumer education service founded by the Consumer
Federation of America and the Telecommunications Research and Action Center
(TRAC). "With some dial-around offers, the strings attached can unravel
potential savings." Tele-Consumer Hotline warns that consumers need to
consider carefully the special fees and requirements that can be associated
with dial-around codes. VarTec Telecom, for example, advertises its "Dime
Line" at a rate of ten cents per minute on all calls over three minutes but
also charges a $5 monthly fee. On that plan, if you make only one call a
month that lasts only 2.5 minutes, it will cost $5.30 -- not a quarter.
Telecom USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of MCI, advertises 50 percent off
AT&T's non-calling plan rates, but if you talk for at least 20 minutes. If
the call is shorter than 20 minutes, the call is billed at rates that are
one penny per minute less than AT&T's non-calling plan rates. The
Tele-Consumer Hotline offers these tips for using dial-around codes:
z Read the Fine Print. Beware of the monthly minimums, time requirements
and fees.
z Compare with Your Long Distance Company's Rates. If you are not on a
calling plan with your long distance carrier, ask about one before choosing
dial-around. If you are already on a calling plan, check those
z rates against the dial-around rates.
z Don't Use Dial-Around for Local Calls. Some local calls require you to
dial the area code. If you have any doubt about whether a call is a toll
call, call the operator. If you use a dial-around code on a local call, you
will be billed at the toll rate, even though you could have dialed for free
if you have flat-rate local service.
z Be Careful of Using Dial-Around on Nights and Weekends. When you
consider the surcharges and minimums, the per minute rate offered by
dial-around codes may not be much, if any, cheaper than your regular long
distance company if you are on a calling plan.
California Passes Net Child Law
State legislation to make it a crime to use the Internet to seduce or
distribute harmful material to a child has been passed by the California
Assembly and sent the state Senate for consideration. In Sacramento, GOP
Assemblyman Steve Kuykendall told United Press International his bill would
close a loophole that allows pedophiles to exploit minors on the Internet
because the medium isn't covered by current law.
UPI reports, "The bill would add e-mail or any other Internet source to
categories identified under child protection law, but it stops short of
addressing Internet censorship issues. Supporters cite more than a dozen
U.S. cases of pedophiles seducing minors on-line, including a 14-year-old
Livermore girl who was raped by a Vacaville man. He met her at an online
chat room." The measure is opposed on the Assembly floor by Public Safety
Committee Chairman Robert Hertzberg, a Democrat, who suggested "a more
thoughtful approach," adding the bill needs work to deal with the
complexity of a global communications tool that gives users anonymity.
Symantec, McAfee Going to Court
Escalating what observers call one of the software industry's bitterest
rivalries, Symantec Corp. has sued McAfee Associates Inc., alleging
copyright infringement. Reporting this morning in The Wall Street Journal,
writer Don Clark notes the suit, filed in federal court in San Jose,
California, alleges McAfee illegally copied Symantec software that allows
PC users to save their data when their machine crashes. "The complaint,"
says Clark, "asks for an injunction to stop McAfee from selling a program
called PC Medic, and seeks damages that include all of McAfee's profits
from the product. McAfee said it was studying Symantec's complaint and had
no comment." Clark notes Symantec, based in Cupertino, California, in
September introduced a crash-recovery program called CrashGuard that it
incorporates in products called PC Handyman and Norton Utilities. The
company estimates it has sold 500,000 copies of products incorporating
CrashGuard since then.
McAfee, based in nearby Santa Clara, began offering crash-recovery
capability with PC Medic in March. Symantec says in its suit that major
sections of the McAfee program had computer code containing instructions
identical to the Symantec product, and the company said the copying was
verified by an independent consulting firm. "Most software-copyright
battles are far from clear-cut," Clark comments. "In some cases, juries
have concluded that the products of companies accused of infringement
didn't meet a test of being 'substantially similar' to rival programs. In
other cases, courts ruled that there are limited number of ways for
programmers to accomplish certain functions, so similarities are
permissible." Symantec suit also accuses McAfee of copyright infringement
for distributing PC Medic through its Web site. Because of this, San
Francisco copyright attorney Ronald Laurie told the paper the case may test
whether courts will view electronic distribution of copyrighted software as
a potential infringement.
Apple MessagePad Sales Brisk
Initial sales of Apple Computer Inc.'s newest mobile computer, the
MessagePad 2000, have been brisk since the product was launched a month
ago. Reporting from Apple's Cupertino, California, headquarters, the
Reuter News Service quotes Vice President Sandy Bennett of the Newton
Systems Group as saying, "The sales we have achieved in our first 30 days
and customer response validate our claim that the MessagePad 2000 is a
compelling business machine." Reuters notes the MessagePad 2000 is a
member of the line of handheld Newton computers. Some of its features
include e-mail, fax and Internet access, and it weighs only 1.4 pounds.
Intel Readies 300MHz Chip
Intel Corp. will launch a 300MHz microprocessor early next month, reports
Computer Reseller News Online (www.crn.com). Intel plans to roll out its
first Pentium II microprocessors with internal clock speeds of 233MHz,
266MHz and 300MHz on May 7, says the webzine, which adds that pricing of
the fastest chip has been set at $1,980. A November price cut will bring
the chip's cost down to $1,870.
Computer Reseller News Online states that "Intel plans to position Pentium
II so that over time it will be considered the best chip for use in
desktop machines -- a kind of super-successor to today's mass market
Pentium chips." Intel's other high-end chip, the Pentium Pro, will continue
to be used in powerful workstations and servers, eventually narrowing its
market to high-end servers.
First DVD-RAM Drive Set to Ship
Hitachi America, Ltd. plans to begin shipping sample verisons of the
GF-1000, the industry's first announced PC DVD-RAM drive, on June 20. The
Brisbane, California, company notes that the new drive, which allows
both the recording and playback of data, complies with the DVD-RAM format
announced last week by the DVD Forum. DVD-RAM is a rewritable DVD format
that offers a storage capacity of 5.2GB using both sides of a 5-inch disk.
The technology offers full compatibility with other DVD formats.
The Hitachi GF-1000 family consists of three members: the GF-1000, which
has an ATAPI interface, and the GF-1050 and GF-1055, both of which have a
SCSI interface. The GF-1000 and GF-1050 are internal drives while the
GF-1055 is an external device. Internal versions of the sample units will
be priced at $794, while the external models will sell for $953. Maxell
Corporation of America, based in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, will offer DVD-RAM
sample disks.
"Hitachi was the first manufacturer to ship samples of single-speed DVD-ROM
drives, in June 1996, and in March this year was the first to ship samples
of a double-speed DVD-ROM drive," says Werner Glinka, director of
marketing for Hitachi America's storage products group. "As the chair of
the DVD-RAM Working Group of the DVD Consortium, we played a central role
in the process of reaching agreement on a single format, and will now be
the first supplier to ship drives implementing that standard. This
represents a further strengthening of our lineup of DVD drive products."
Companies Want to Offer E-Stamps
At least two companies -- postage meter giant Pitney Bowes and tiny firm
called E-Stamp -- wants to make it possible for you to log into a Web
site, buy postage and then have any laser printer run it out on envelopes
along with an address. Both are waiting for the U.S. Postal Service to
authorize the plan, saying they could be up and running by the end of the
year, says Associated Press writer Elizabeth Weise.
"In the E-Stamp Corp. vision of the future, putting postage on a letter
would be as easy a printing it out," Weise reports. "The Palo Alto,
Calif.-based company has developed a small adaptor about half the size of a
pack of cigarettes that plugs into a computer's printer port at one end and
the printer at the other. Users will be able to go to the E-Stamp Web site
and, using secret codes, buy postage with a credit card. The amount would
then be downloaded onto their computer."
AP says the E-Stamp software would integrate with the user's word
processing and printer programs so that with a simple click on a menu, a
bar code would be printed on the upper right hand corner of an envelope --
after giving the computer a secret number so that no one can "borrow"
stamps from your PC. E-Stamp has also patented a two-window envelope,
which would allow users to print a stamp directly on a letter itself. Fold
it in thirds and the address shows through one window, the stamp through
another.
Adds AP, "With Pitney Bowes' solid hold on the mass-mailing market, E-Stamp
plans on going after home office workers who don't need a postage meter,
but also don't want to run to the post office for stamps. E-Stamp
estimates the printer adaptor and software to run it would cost under
$300." The Stamford, Connecticut-based Pitney Bowes Inc., which introduced
postage meters in 1920, also is eying the online stamp market.
Weise says that last year the firm introduced a product that lets customers
use their own laser printers to produce the traditional postage meter
strip. In addition, Pitney Bowes customers have been able to refill their
postage meters by phone since 1979. "But," she adds, "moving from a
proprietary computer network where users dial directly into a Pitney Bowes
computer and selling postage over the Internet is a leap the company is
still exploring." Pitney Bowes Vice President Mike Stecyk told the wire
service, "When we do PC Metering, we will provide capability either over
the public network like the Internet or a private network."
Teens Value Computer Over TV?
A new Gallup Organization survey conducted for the National Science
Foundation suggests teenagers today are more likely to give up their
televisions than their computers. The poll, also backed by USA Today and
CNN, reports teenagers embrace technology much more readily than their
parents and grandparents do, "not surprisingly," adds a statement from
Washington, "since more than half the teens were under 10 the first time
they used a computer." In addition, says the statement, "the kids feel
they won't be able to make a good living without computer skills and an
understanding of other technologies."
Other findings in the poll that surveyed a random sampling of 744 teenagers
across the country included:
z Just two-thirds of the teens have computers at home.
z An overwhelming 99 percent have used computers before.
z While teens from lower income households are less likely to have
computers or Internet access at home, they are just as confident as their
more affluent counterparts about working on computers, and are just as
eager to learn more about computers.
Julia Moore, director of the NSF's Office of Legislative and Public
Affairs, termed the survey results "a wake-up call to parents and
educators," adding, "In fact, our kids could be teaching us."
The survey also segmented respondents into five usage categories:
1. Techno-Whizzes, defined as "high-achievers in everything they do. ...
most likely to be involved in after-school activities, have the highest
educational aspirations after high school and are more likely to rate
themselves as top students." This group last week they spent seven hours on
their computers, about half of that on the Internet, the poll says.
2. Computer Specialists. The group spent less time at the computers (6.4
hours last week), but has "the highest level of confidence in their ability
to do so," says the pollsters' statement. "In addition, they prefer
spending time on computers to other forms of technology included in the
poll, such as VCRs, boom boxes and other stereo equipment and calculators."
3. Moderates, who "do everything in moderation -- except talk on the
telephone, listen to music and use the VCR."
4. The Wary, who "have extremely high educational aspirations, yet the
lowest level of confidence in their ability to use computers (2.9 on a
scale of 1-10)." Still, notes the poll, this group has almost as much
access to home computers as the Techno-Whizzes (76 percent).
5. Low-Techies, who, with the exception of TV, "uses hardly any form of
technology cited in the poll, from computers to VCRs to video games to
answering machines." The poll says this group's access to computers and
educational aspirations are the lowest.
More Juice Found in PC Market
Don't write off the first-time PC buyers market. A new survey by Computer
Retail Week and The Verity Group suggests many non-computer owners are
still just waiting for a bargain. In a statement from Manhasset, N.Y.,
pollsters say:
z About one-third of the respondents from households without a computer
said they had heard of full-featured PCs being introduced at prices around
$1,000.
z And 12 percent of those people said that they were more likely to
purchase a computer if such a system were available.
Roger Lanctot, editorial research director at Computer Retail Week, says
the finding suggests more than just the fact that the first-time buyer
market is not dead, adding, "Here's an indication that the market may well
be stimulated by the availability of new, lower-cost systems." The poll,
which surveyed an even number of men and women, found younger respondents
and those in the 15,000 to $24,900 annual income range most likely to be
more interested in buying a computer if a $1,000 PC were available. Said
Lanctot, "Twelve percent of the 60 percent of U.S. households that do not
currently own a personal computer represents more than six million
potential customers that are test-driving the hard drives of $999 PCs in
the coming weeks."
Other findings:
z More than one-quarter of the respondents in the 26- to 35-year-old age
group said they would be more likely to purchase a PC if it were available
for less than $1,000, and 28.6 percent of the respondents who were under 25
years old indicated a similar inclination.
z Only 7.3 percent of respondents between the ages of 36 and 55
responded that they would be more likely to make such a purchase, as did
5.4 percent of respondents 56 years old or older.
z Awareness of the availability of PCs for less than $1,000 was highest
among younger people.
z One-quarter of respondents in the $15,000 to $24,900 income category
said they would be more likely to buy a computer now that $1,000 computers
were available, while only 6.1 percent of households earning less than
$15,000 annually showed a similar interest.
z About 14 percent of households with between $25,000 and $49,900 in
annual income, and 18.8 percent of households earning $50,000 annually or
more, indicated a greater interest in such a purchase.
z Awareness of PCs for less than $1,000 was greater in higher-income
households than in lower-income households.
A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N
LEXMARK OPTRA C
COLOR
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For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent to
you that demonstrates LEXMARK Optra C SUPERIOR QUALITY 600 dpi Laser Color
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sized envelope please) to:
STReport's LEXMARK Printout Offer
P.O. Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155
Folks, the LEXMARK Optra C has to be the very best yet in its price range.
It is far superior to anything we've seen or used as of yet. It is said
that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. The out put from the Lexmark
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If you would like a sample printout that's suitable for framing. Yes
that's right! Suitable for Framing. Order this package. It'll be on
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A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N
Shareware Treasure Chest STR Feature "The Latest & Greatest"
Shareware Treasure Chest
By Lloyd E. Pulley
lepulley@streport.com
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Stats 97 1.0 4/23/97 380kb Freeware
Disk utility collects numerous disk statistics for Win95 including file
types, file ages, age distribution, and file size distribution. Works over
multiple disk drives. All graphs are 3D.
Home Page Site - http://www.contactplus.com/index.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
NoteBook 32-bit 4.1 4/19/97 .60mb Shareware $15
There is one and only one point to this program - to replace Notepad.
Notebook is not a word processor. It's sole purpose is to view and edit
text files. Notebook does have 6 major features (and several minor ones)
which make up for Notepad's inadequacies:
1. It will open very large files, and allow you to edit them. People have
successfully opened, edited, and saved files in excess of 5 megabytes!
2. It features complete font control - you can set the font name, style,
size, and color, and your settings will be saved when you exit the program.
It will look better on your screen, and do a much better job of printing.
3. Notebook has a taskbar which keeps track of your cursor position, and a
toolbar, complete with help balloons. The taskbar, toolbar, and the help
balloons can each be turned on and off at will.
4. Notebook features Drag and Drop text editing. If you want to move a
block of text, just use the mouse to select it, and drag it to where you
want it.
5. Notebook supports overtype mode. While the default editing mode is
insert, hitting the INSERT key on your keyboard will change that to
overtype.
6. Notebook can both print and save to a file selected text only, if so
desired.
Home Page Site - http://members.aol.com/ron2222/note95.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Internet-Dial 1.6 4/18/97 1,200kb Shareware $22.00
Intelligently configures your Windows 95 PC for Internet Access.
Automatically installs, Dial-Up networking, TCP/IP & Dial-up adapter Edit,
create or delete Windows95 Dial-up profiles. Built in scripting utility,
edit, create & review custom login scripts. Set Profile specific usernames,
passwords, tel numbers, scripts etc. Connect, disconnect, show terminal,
modem status, line status etc. Maintain many unique profiles for different
ISP's with unique DNS,Ip etc. Pre-define upto 8 Internet apps plus
parameters to launch on connection. Minimize to the sys tray & connect,
login & launch an app from a PopUp menu.
Home Page Site - http://www.legend.co.uk/~andrew/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Plugsy 32-bit 1.00.04e 4/19/97 .62mb Shareware $29.95
Digigami Plugsy is the only solution for eliminating conflicts among
Netscape Navigator plug-ins. Easy to install and simple to use, Plugsy
gives power users and system administrators the unique ability to configure
Netscape Navigator's plug-in configuration. You'll be able to mix and match
third-party multimedia players as well as Navigator's own built-in players
by individually assigning each MIME type (multimedia format) to either a
plug-in or helper application. Note: Only good with Netscape Navigator.
Home Page Site - http://www.digigami.com/plugsy/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
April '97 definition update for Mcafee 4/19/97 1.03mb Freeware
This file is a complete replacement for any previous definitions set for
all of the Mcafee products. Usable by: WebScan (the antivirus helper
app),NetShield, VShield, and VirusScan for DOS,, or Windows (3.x, 95, or
NT)
Home Page Site - http://www.mcafee.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Microsoft Netshow 32-bit Player 2.0 beta 2 4/19/97 1.40mb Freeware
NetShow is the easiest, most cost-effective way to stream audio,
illustrated audio, and video across intranets and the Internet. Normally, a
user has to wait for an entire file to be transferred before using
networked multimedia content. Streaming lets users see or hear the
information as it arrives, without having to wait. Unlike other streaming
products, NetShow lets content providers generate compelling productions in
which audio, graphics, video, URLs and script commands can be synchronized
based on a timeline.
Home Page Site - http://www.microsoft.com/netshow/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
MidiMaster 32-bit 7.0 Official Release 4/19/97 1.00mb Shareware
$20
MidiMaster is a multimedia player for Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 that
supports MID, RMI, AVI, QuickTime and WAV formats. It is not only a media
player but also a media file organizer. It is specially designed for those
who like a desktop media player which brings convenience whenever they play
and manage their beloved media files. Users can either minimize MidiMaster
to taskbar or shrink it to the TaskTray of Windows 95. MidiMaster also
provides library functions for managing or categorizing media files. It
has many extensive functions which make media files playing extremely
simple and controllable. There are many more functions available to make
your life of playing media files easier.
Home Page Site - http://www.cs.ust.hk/~paul/mm/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
The Realm 4/19/97 13.00mb Demo
The Realm is an ever-evolving online world of monsters, magic, and
medieval society. Discover the future of interactive adventure games, and
explore a new world of quests and companionship with thousands of players
from across the world. You play a customized character who explores
different towns, forests, and dungeons while defeating wolves, ogres, and
demons. You have to make friends, battle beasts and earn money to buy
armor, weapons, food, and magic spells.
Home Page Site - http://www.realmserver.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
My Wedding Companion - Wedding Planner 2.0 4/19/97 4.0mb Demo
MWC is commited to ensuring that you succeed in planning your wedding
with this program. Your wedding day will be the most memorable day of your
life. Do not let the wedding planning details interfere with your feelings
of joy, excitement and anticipation! Make sure the memories are good ones
by using My Wedding Companion. Think of this easy-to-use software package
as "aspirin" for your wedding planning headaches.
Home Page Site - http://users.southeast.net/~fivestar/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
MusiFind Pro 1.4a 4/17/97 728kb Shareware $5.00
The ultimate database for your music collection, whether its on vinyl,
cassette, compact disc, or other media! It will help you get organized and
find your music fast! Now with several easy-to-use wizards, and label
creation for CDs (jewel cases) and cassettes (J-labels). Written by a DJ
with over 15 years experience - both in the booth, and in software
creation.
Home Page Site - http://www.dlcwest.com/~sorev/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Business Card Creator for Word 2.0 4/19/97 224kb Shareware $10.00
It has never been so easy to make great looking, professional business
cards. Uses ten card stock. Easy to use -- almost no effort required for a
great looking output. Easy to use and effective. Fast & Simple; Yields
Great Looking Results. Works with all 10 Card Stock including the Avery
Brand. Imagine Printing Your Own Business Cards in Seconds! For Word 97!
Home Page Site - http://www.execpc.com/~amfsoft/index.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Polyview 32-bit 2.90 beta 3 4/20/97 1.40mb Shareware $20
PolyView is a BMP, GIF, JPEG, photo-cd, PNG, and TIFF graphics viewer,
file conversion, and printing utility for Windows NT and Windows 95.
PolyView features fast image rendering, panning, and zooming that is
optimized for Windows 95 and Windows NT. PolyView is a 32 bit application
that uses multithreading to enhance usability and allow time consuming
operations, such as image file reading and writing, to be performed in
parallel with user interface operations. PolyView's multithreaded nature
also allows the reading and writing of multiple image files at the same
time. With its image appearance manipulation, copy and paste facilities,
and DDE execution capabilities, PolyView is an excellent companion to your
favorite Web browser.
Home Page Site - http://www.netins.net/showcase/polybytes/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Snadboy's Revelation 32-bit 1.1 4/20/97 1.20mb Freeware
Windows 95 is great at remembering many of your passwords, e.g. the
password of your dial-in ISP. Unfortunately, this is also a problem - since
you seldom enter the passsword it tends to be forgotten. What are you to do
when you need to know one of the saved passwords? The password is staring
right at you, but is hiding behind a row of asterisks. SnadBoy's Revelation
allows you to see over that wall in order to reclaim your password.
Home Page Site - http://www.snadboy.com/revelation.shtml
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
RAS+ 95 Beta 4 (Build 136) 4/19/97 1.0mb Shareware $29.95
Adds automatic redialing, billing, automatic app-launching, multiple-
phone number and provider dialing, and MORE to your standard Windows Dial-
up Networking.
Home Page Site - http://www.lambsoftware.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Scripture Reminder 1.0 4/19/97 180kb Freeware
Simple program for Christian Win95 users that sits in your startup folder
and presents you with a random scripture each time you start Windows. Comes
with scriptures in a file that can easily be added to.
Home Page Site -
http://homepages.enterprise.net/crimperman/christian/index.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
GolfHand 1.0 4/07/97 4,852kb Shareware 16.00
A complete golf statistics and handicap generation program. It includes
many inquiry, reporting and management features so users can quickly and
accurately determine their golf handicap, see how their complete game is
going, their driving statistics, their putting statisitcs. Users can look
at their stats for individual golf courses or all the golf courses that
they may play for the season. Can keep backups of the database for safe
keeping or to transfer to other machines.
Home Page Site - http://www.stratec.ca/GolfHand/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Head Hunter 2.01 4/20/97 5.0mb Shareware $50.00
Candidate tracking application for Technical Recruiters or Human Resource
departments.
Home Page Site - http://www.pcisys.net/~jason/headhunter.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
DL- The Dive Log 1.5 4/11/97 1,972kb Shareware 30.00
The Dive Log is designed with the regular Scuba Diver in mind. DL is
extremely easy to use with most options right up front--no hard to use
options or setup.DL includes support for multiple divers, starting your log
at any number, photos, printer output, html output, textfile output, and
many more options.
Home Page Site - http://www.pond.net/~bsackett/dl/index.shtml
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
SubSpace 1.24 4/20/97 3.0mb Demo
A truly interactive game that is a cross between Super Astroids and Super
Defender. The best part of Subspace is that you play the game in real time
with not 30-40 players, but, more like 50-70 players in each of 4 Public
zones and One league zone.
Home Page Site - http://www.vie.com/subspace/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
VolleyStat 2.0.4 4/16/97 4.8mg Demo
The fastest, and easiest stat program ever. Enter all of your Teams and
Players and you will be ready to go. Just start up a game and choose the
starting line-up for both teams. It takes only two keystrokes to enter each
stat. It also has a Report Wizard which, after a serious of questions will
produce a report that will have answered all of your questions. This Demo
version is full featured but does delete all of the matches that were
entered on exit of the program.
Home Page Site - http://erlenbaugh.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Dart Trainer 1.5 3/27/97 1,128kb Freeware
A dart training aid. The main purposes of the program are to stimulate
training at home and to give some "interesting" statistics so one can
compare with previous sets played.
Home Page Site - http://home2.swipnet.se/~w-26087/DTeng.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Search 4 32-bit 2.0 4/21/97 .14mb Freeware
Search 4 runs in your System Tray, It serves as a "quick-launch" to four
of the most powerful Search Engines on the web (Alta Vista, Lycos,
WebCrawler, or Yahoo!) in the form of a pop-up menu.In addition to simply
linking you to powerful seach engines, Search4 also allows you to specify a
word, group of words, or phrase to search for - before your browser is even
running. Simply click "Search" and it queries all four search engines and
returns the results from those queries together, in the form of four framed
windows in your browser (Supports Netscape and Internet Explorer)
Home Page Site - http://www.intermania.com/search4/index.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Surfin Shield Xtra 32-bit 2.0 4/23/97 .80mb Shareware $49
SurfinShield Xtra 2.0 protects your desktop from both ActiveX and Java
Internet attacks. Xtra runs on the desktop, monitors both Java and ActiveX
activities, prevents suspicious Java and ActiveX applets from loading, and
kills undesired applets before they can damage your computer resources.
Home Page Site - http://www.finjan.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
EoEdit 32-bit .74 4/23/97 .03mb Shareware $5
EoEdit is a stripped-down text editor with the programmer in mind. It is
a simple, fast text editor.
Features include:
*Font Style, Size, Color and Background Color Selection
*Multiple Document Interface so you can work on several files at once
without having to open more than one instance of the program and more.
Home Page Site - http://vtg.org/bsmith/eosoft/software/EoEdit.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Cookie Pal 32-bit 1.0a 4/23/97 .18mb Shareware $15
Cookie Pal is a complete internet cookie management system for Windows 95
and Windows NT 4.0. It lets you automatically accept and reject internet
cookies from all or user specified web sites, without having to click on
the web browser's annoying "Cookie Alert" messages all the time. Cookie Pal
works with Internet Explorer 3.0 or later and Netscape Navigator 3.0 or
later as well as Compuserve WinCIM 3.01 to give you complete and
transparent control over the cookies which are accepted by and stored on
your system. You can also view and delete existing cookies on your system.
Home Page Site - http://www.kburra.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
My Yahoo News Ticker 1.6 Build 1601 4/23/97 .30mb Freeware
A new program that delivers news, sports, stocks, weather etc to your
desktop. It resides directly on your Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 task bar
and works with existing applications, including screen savers. It uses the
preferences you've established in your MyYahoo! account to do this.
Home Page Site - http://www.netcontrols.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Norton Anti-Virus Update 95.0B 4/23/97 3,700kb Freeware
Updates your copy of Norton Anti-virus 95 to the Newest Version of 95.0B
which adds FAT-32 Support and Support to the latest virus definitions Apply
only to copies that have your NAVW32.exe is dated earlier than June 1,1996.
Failure to Use this update will cause unexpected detections of non-existant
viruses.
Utilities 95 Patch 2.0 4/23/97 1,382kb Freeware
NU95 2.0 Update.
Norton Anti-Virus Montly Update 4/23/97 1.2mb Freeware
Definition Update for Norton Antivirus
Home Page Site - http://www.symantec.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
McAfee Virus Scan Monthly Update April 4/22/97 1,081kb Freeware
This is the April update for Mcafee VirusScan version 3.0. Note: This
will not work with earlier versions of VirusScan.
Home Page Site - http://www.mcafee.com/down/dat.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
GremlinSoft Organizer 97 1.1 4/23/97 188kb Shareware $7.00
A Personal Information Manager and Notes Organizer. It allows you to
organize notes into groups and automatically saves all text that is copied
to clipboard into a special 'Clipboard' group. This means that you can add
new note to it by simply selecting text and copying it to clipboard. It can
edit notes as well (in fact, each note can be up to 4MB each). It also has
a Tray Icon which allows you to copy favorite notes to clipboard with just
a mouse-click.
Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/4146/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
LaserUp! Simple Calendar 2.0 4/21/97 323kb Shareware $12.50
Really useful calendar, log, and diary program. It allows you more
versatile printing than the Windows 3.1 Calendar and some other nifty
features including: Almost unlimited notes (32K) for every date, mark dates
with any alphanumeric mark or code, record transactions by code and
description for any date including hours, milage, income, and expenses,
report transactions by code and/or description, search calendar by marks
and text, print month at a time or week at a time, select fonts for display
on button and for printing.
Home Page Site - http://www.santhony.com/laserup/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
TreeSize Professional 1.0 beta 4 4/22/97 1,020kb Shareware $30.00
A powerful and flexible harddisk space manager for Windows 95 and Windows
NT4. Find out which folders are the largest on your drives and recover
Megabytes on it.Treesize Professional shows you the size, allocated and
wasted space, the number of files, 3D bar and pie charts and much more
information for several folders or drives you choose. The application has
an intutive Explorer-like GUI and it is fast and multithreaded. You can
print detailed reports or export the collected Data to Excel or an ASCII
file. TreeSize Pro can be started from the context menu of every folder or
drive.
Home Page Site - http://www.informatik.uni-
trier.de/CIP/marder/treesize.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Parallel Port Monitor 1.0 4/22/97 120k Freeware
Utility to spy on the parallel port. Provides a graphical view of the
connector, indicating pin high/low status with different colors. Also has
editable decimal, binary, and hexadecimal fields allowing individual
registers to be viewed and modified.
Home Page Site - http://www.okanagan.net/users/fred/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
CU-SeeMe 32-bit 3.0 beta 4//24/97 5.80mb Shareware $49
Enhanced CU-SeeMe is desktop videoconferencing software for use over the
Internet. Currently, it's one of the most popular. This new version
features: TCP/IP multicast support for LAN/WAN conferencing
* New Phone Book with Graphical Contact Cards
* Directory Services for locating other CU-SeeMe users
* Whiteboard and Chat for multiuser collaboration during conferences
* View up to 12 participant windows simultaneously
* Caller ID for incoming connections
* Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) video codec for high quality video over LANS and
ISDN or higher
connections
Home Page Site - http://www.cuseeme.com/cu-seeme.html
Check This page for the serial number you need -
http://www.cuseeme.com/cu30-download-demo.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Freeloader Gold 2.5 4/24/97 3.0mb Freeware
FreeLoader downloads Web sites for you and saves them on your hard disk.
FreeLoader's caching feature automatically converts downloaded Web page
links from HTTP addresses to paths that work on your hard drive. You choose
how much hard drive space you want to allocate to caching. Downloading goes
on in the background, so you don't waste time waiting on the Web.
Home Page Site - http://www.freeloader.com/
EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed
Edupage
Contents
Apple And Ellison Headed For A
ShowdownProtonic Chips Never
ForgetAirTouch ExpansionNSI Says
FCC Should Assume Internet
Registration FunctionsAT&T Loses
Out To MCI And BT In South American
DealMSN Mail Service Goes Down,
Comes UpBarnstorming At NetDay
Farmer On Computer Security
Rules For Online Ads For
ChildrenAOL, CompuServe Merger In
DoubtThe Fight Over Apple's
SoulComputers Promote "Community Of
Learning"Intel Builds Cheaper
Networking HubCourt Rejects CD-ROM-
Based AppealExponential Misses The
Mark
AST Cuts 25% Of Its Worldwide
Workforce
Windows 97 Delay Meets With Big
Yawn
Overcoming Science Illiteracy
HP Acquires VeriFoneMIT Ranks No. 1
In Wired College CompetitionWeb Ads
Get More PushyPCs Go Postal3Com
Cuts Network Hub Prices
Symantec Says McAfee Copied Its PC-
Crash Program
Immigration & High-Tech Workers In
Canada
Fraud And The Net
Intel Exec Predicts The Future
Net Stats
APPLE AND ELLISON HEADED FOR A SHOWDOWN
Apple Computer has begun taking defensive measures against any possible
hostile takeover bids by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who is considering
turning the ailing computer maker into an NC factory. Apple has retained
investment bankers Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Wall Street PR firm Abernathy
McGregor Group, just in case Ellison decides to make his move. Meanwhile,
Ellison has called on Apple's major institutional shareholders, trying to
enlist their support for his takeover, and reportedly even offering a
modest premium for each Apple share. Ellison's actions have put
considerable pressure on Steve Jobs, a friend of Ellison's, who says,
"He's my best buddy, but there are some things you don't know about your
best buddy. I have made it clear to Gil (Amelio) that Gil doesn't have to
be afraid that I'm trying to help someone else take over the company."
(Wall Street Journal 18 Apr 97)
PROTONIC CHIPS NEVER FORGET
Researchers at the University of New Mexico and Sandia National
Laboratories are investigating the use of protonic memory for making cheap
forget-me-not computer chips. In 1995, they noticed during experiments on
silicon wafers that protons deep within the wafers were responding to
electrical signals on the surface. "Nobody had seen these moving protons
before," says one scientist. Further research showed the protons can be
precisely controlled with standard microcircuits -- and are thus able to
store data. Protonic chips won't need the fancy processing used in
"flash" and other so-called nonvolatile memory chips, and can operate at
very low power levels, thus prolonging battery life in laptops. Protonic
chips currently are being tested at Texas Instruments. (Business Week 21
Apr 97)
AIRTOUCH EXPANSION
If it can survive an effort in Washington to eliminate a tax break it had
expected to receive, AirTouch Communications in San Francisco will buy the
domestic mobile-phone business of U S West Communications for $2.3
billion, making the combined company the nation's 2nd-largest wireless
phone company, smaller only than AT&T. (USA Today 18 Apr 97)
NSI SAYS FCC SHOULD ASSUME
INTERNET REGISTRATION FUNCTIONS
Network Solutions Inc., which currently registers all top-level domain
names under contract to the National Science Foundation, has suggested
that the Federal Communications Commission temporarily assume that
function until an international legal authority can be created to manage
the system. The transition period would allow for public comment on the
plan in order to incorporate any new processes or structures deemed
necessary. The plan is in contrast to an earlier proposal announced by
the Internet International Ad Hoc Commission to create seven new shard
generic top-level domains to be administered by 28 new registrars. NSI's
president says the IAHC plan risks Internet instability, creates "too
much bureaucracy," and will contribute to increased domain name legal
disputes. (BNA Daily Report for Executives 16 Apr 97)
AT&T LOSES OUT TO MCI AND BT IN SOUTH AMERICAN DEAL
Telefonica de Espana S.A. is pulling out of an alliance with AT&T in order
to form a new alliance with MCI and British Telecom. MCI and BT are
proceeding with a merger to form a company called Concert. (New York
Times 19 Apr 97)
MSN MAIL SERVICE GOES DOWN, COMES UP
Microsoft Network's e-mail service, which is used by 2.5 MSN subscribers,
was shut down for one-and-a-half days this week because of technical
difficulties, but service has now been restored. The shutdown period was
used to double MSN's capacity. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 19 Apr 97)
BARNSTORMING AT NETDAY
In a radio broadcast, President Clinton and Vice President Gore praised
"NetDay" activities that involve parents, teachers, business people and
others in the work of wiring the nation's schools to enable access to the
Internet. Clinton called NetDay "a great example of how America works
best when we all work together -- it's like an old-fashioned barn
raising." (Associated Press 19 Apr 97; see also http://www.netday.org )
FARMER ON COMPUTER SECURITY
Internet security guru Dan Farmer, who attained notoriety for inventing
SATAN software that specializes probing (hacking) computer systems for
security holes, has a fatalistic outlook on human nature when it comes to
secure systems: "By and large, people don't really care about security.
To some degree, even I don't care. I take the standard precautions, but
people still break into my machine. I mean, I don't even lock my door when
I go out at night. If it takes an additional 5 percent of my time to run
a really secure ship, I'd just as soon go see a movie or drink some more
wine." (Scientific American Apr 97)
RULES FOR ONLINE ADS FOR CHILDREN
An advertising industry group called The Children's Advertising Review Unit
has developed new voluntary guidelines on "responsible marketing to
children" over the Internet, and has submitted them to the Federal Trade
Commission. The FTC has already received a different set of guidelines
from a group created by the Consumer Federation of America and the Center
for Media Education. One difference between the two sets of guidelines is
the positions they take on how children might be asked to furnish personal
information about themselves or their families. The industry guidelines
ask advertisers to make "reasonable efforts" to persuade children to get
parental permission before supplying such information; the guidelines from
the Consumer Federation/Media Education group take a harder line, and
specify that no personal information should be solicited from children
unless parental permission has been verified -- even if verification is
difficult to obtain. (New York Times 21 Apr 97)
AOL, COMPUSERVE MERGER IN DOUBT
A proposal in Congress to close a perceived tax loophole known as the
Morris Trust could threaten America Online's proposed $1.2-billion
acquisition of CompuServe. "If the Ways and Means Committee had not come
down the way they came down, this deal would have gone through," says an
executive familiar with the talks. "But now the chances are slim to
none." The Morris Trust provision allows companies to separate their
businesses into two corporations and combine one of them with an acquirer
on a tax-free basis. An AOL- CompuServe merger would have created an
online giant with more than 10 million subscribers and over $2- billion in
revenue. (Wall Street Journal 21 Apr 97)
THE FIGHT OVER APPLE'S SOUL
Stunned that Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison wants to buy Apple not
for its Macintosh technology but as a builder of the stripped-down
"network computers" (NCs) he wants to promote, some Apple loyalists are
calling Ellison "a fool," "a villain" and a man who would "destroy Apple as
a company." Ellison says his vision for Apple includes both Mac NCs and
standard Macs: "I intend to use the Mac OS to build Mac NCs. Big Macs
will continue. I am a Mac user. Have been since 1984. The only way to
save the Mac is to increase unit volume. Big Macs -- like the one you and
I have grown to love -- will continue. Networks of low-cost Mac NCs will
be sold to schools and add to the overall Mac volume. At $500 for a Mac
NC, more people will be able to afford a Mac. Big Macs plus little Mac NCs
make for good business at Apple...and better schools." (San Jose Mercury
News 22 Apr 97)
COMPUTERS PROMOTE "COMMUNITY OF LEARNING"
Seymour Papert, who created the Logo programming language for children,
says that computers should be used to create a "community of learning"
shared by students and teachers: "Socialization is not best done by
segregating children into classrooms with kids of the same age. The
computer is a medium in which what you make lends itself to be modified
and shared. When kids get together on a project, there is abundant
discussion; they show it to other kids, other kids want to see it, kids
learn to share knowledge with other people much more than in the
classroom." (Christian Science Monitor 21 Apr 97)
INTEL BUILDS CHEAPER NETWORKING HUB
Intel is marketing its 10/100 Stackable Hub for as little as $100 per
network connection -- about half what competitors are charging. The new
device moves data through a computer network at speeds ranging from 10
million to 100 million bits per second. Intel also reports it plans to
integrate several older networking chips into a single chip that
manufacturers could use to replace network-interface boards used in many
PCs. Rival 3Com says it plans to cut its stackable-hub prices to compete
with Intel, but scoffs at the network chip news, saying that few customers
really want network chips installed on their motherboards, and that most
who would, would prefer 3Com chips to Intel. "People assume that Intel is
hard to beat in the chip game," says an analyst with Deutsche Morgan
Grenfell. "But 3Com is hard to beat in the networking game." (Wall Street
Journal 22
Apr 97)
COURT REJECTS CD-ROM-BASED APPEAL
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., last week refused to accept a
legal appeal contained on a CD- OM, apparently the first time such
technology has been used to file a case in any U.S. appellate court. While
the judge praised the cyber-brief, he noted that the appeal raised
questions of fairness, as the opposing side didn't have computers that
could read the CD-ROM. The CD-ROM brief was put together by the firm of
Fish & Richardson. (St. Petersburg Times 21 Apr 97)
EXPONENTIAL MISSES THE MARK
Exponential Technology says its first prototype chips, which were predicted
to blaze at 533-MHz, are chugging along at rates below 500-MHz, and a
company VP says Exponential won't hit its target speed until the second
half of the year. The new chips are destined for Apple Computer's
Macintosh and clones. Exponential says it will ship the slower chips this
quarter, as planned, and continue working on the speed problem. (Wall
Street Journal 21 Apr 97)
AST CUTS 25% OF ITS WORLDWIDE WORKFORCE
In the process of being bought by South Korea's Samsung Group and having to
report first-quarter losses of $110 million, computer manufacturer AST
Research is eliminating 1,000 jobs -- a quarter of its worldwide workforce
-- because "our turnaround efforts require more aggressive actions than in
the past." (New York Times 22 Apr 97)
WINDOWS 97 DELAY MEETS WITH BIG YAWN
Computer makers and consumers seem unfazed by Microsoft's announcement that
Windows 97 will probably become Windows 98 instead. "We don't see it as a
big demand issue at all," says a spokesman for Gateway 2000. "Obviously
there's interest in it out there, but there's no rabid interest." For
starters, some PC manufacturers say there are already too many Windows
products on the market -- 3.1, 95 and NT -- which confuses consumers. "I
don't think people are looking for Memphis (Window 97's code name). I
think the financial markets are looking for Memphis," says a spokesman for
Hewlett-Packard. And there's still plenty of room for growth in Windows
95 sales: a Forrester Research survey shows that 71% of corporations are
still using Windows 3.1. Only 13% were using Windows 95, more than a year
after its introduction. (Investor's Business Daily 21 Apr 97)
OVERCOMING SCIENCE ILLITERACY
Nobel-Prize winning physicist Leon Lederman says Americans lack the
"scientific literacy" necessary to make daily decisions about medical
care, diet and exercise, even product purchases, and thinks U.S. science
and math instruction need to be overhauled. He wants all high school
students to study computers, technology and the physical sciences for at
least three years, and wants elementary school teachers retrained so that
they understand science and math well enough to make it exciting for
naturally curious youngsters. (Associated Press 21 Apr 97)
HP ACQUIRES VERIFONE
Hewlett-Packard will pay $1.18 billion to buy VeriFone Inc., the dominant
supplier of machines that merchants use to validate credit-card
transactions and the manufacturer of devices that process smart cards that
store money and other information. The VeriFone acquisition will make HP
a major force in electronic commerce. VeriFone has developed a device --
now being tested by Citibank -- that connects to a personal computer and
allows a consumer to deposit or withdraw money on a smart card.
(Washington Post 24 Apr 97)
MIT RANKS NO. 1 IN WIRED COLLEGE COMPETITION
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology came out on top in rankings that
attempted to measure how well higher education institutions use the
Internet. The survey, conducted by Yahoo! Internet Life magazine, queried
300 schools on how many courses were taught using the Internet for online
homework, research and course home pages; the number of computers
available to students and sufficiency of technical infrastructure; the
number of nonacademic services such as chat rooms, newsgroups and space for
student home pages provided by the institutions; and availability of
online student resources. Numbers two and three on the Yahoo! list were
Northwestern U. and Emerson College, and there were some surprises, such as
Stanford University coming in at No. 84 and Harvard ranking No. 64.
Kenneth Green, who conducts an annual Campus Computing Survey, says the
survey's authors admit that it may not be entirely accurate: "They were
very clear about what they set out to measure." Yahoo! also gave extra
credit for "unique aspects of wired life on campus," such as the computer-
interest floor in a dorm at University of Rochester and Ohio State
University's chat room dedicated to underwater hockey. (Chronicle of
Higher Education 24 Apr 97)
WEB ADS GET MORE PUSHY
Advertisers are moving toward more aggressive advertising methods for the
Web, including "robot" programs designed to deliver animated sales pitches
in chat rooms and full-screen ads that must be downloaded before users can
see the content they've requested. The shift is driven in part by
advertisers' concerns that click- through rates are dropping as Web surfers
tune out the traditional banner-type ads. "It started happening last
spring or summer," says the chief technology officer at SF Interactive,
"when users started figuring out that the flashy banners were ads," rather
than graphics designed as part of the site. The robot ads are the
brainchild of Black Sun Interactive and are designed to pop up in response
to information you divulge about yourself while "chatting" -- for
instance, if you say, "My house is dirty," you might get a response like,
"Hi, I'm Dusty -- would you like to know more about Black & Decker's
Dustbuster?" Dusty is an avatar that looks like a dustbuster with big
eyeballs and is programmed to zero in on words like "messy" or "clean." So
far, only sites that use Black Sun's server can offer them. (Wall Street
Journal 24 Apr 97)
PCs GO POSTAL
Postage meter behemoth Pitney Bowes and a tiny company called E-Stamp both
have plans to sell postage on the Web, which can then be downloaded to a
PC and printed out on envelopes via laser printer. The U.S. Postal
Service is expected to authorize the plan by the end of the year. In E-
Stamp's process, the stamp (which looks something like a bar code and
includes information on the date and time the letter was stamped, as well
as the zip code) would actually be printed out on a patented two-window
envelope, allowing users to print the stamp on the letter itself. The
stamp would show through one window, and the address through the other.
"This means you don't have to run your envelope through the printer," says
E-Stamp's president. (Miami Herald 24 Apr 97)
3COM CUTS NETWORK HUB PRICES
3Com has unveiled a new, inexpensive SuperStack II hub, and has lowered the
price on its older Super Stack II Dual Speed hub. The move evens up the
playing field between 3Com and Intel, which announced a cheaper networking
hub earlier this week. (Investor's Business Daily 24 Apr 97)
SYMANTEC SAYS MCAFEE COPIED ITS PC-CRASH PROGRAM
Symantec has sued McAfee Associates Inc. for copyright infringement,
alleging that McAfee illegally copied its CrashGuard computer crash
recovery program. McAfee's similar product is called PC Medic. Both
programs allow users to save their data before rebooting in the event of a
frozen screen. In its suit, Symantec says that major sections of the
McAfee product are identical to Symantec code. The success of Symantec's
suit will depend on whether the court finds McAfee's PC Medic product to
be "substantially similar" to CrashGuard, and whether there were other
ways that McAfee could have chosen write the code, but didn't. (Wall
Street Journal 24 Apr 97)
IMMIGRATION & HIGH-TECH WORKERS IN CANADA
The Commons immigration committee urged the federal government to reward or
punish firms for their performance in providing high-tech training, and
has endorsed plans to relax immigration barriers to speed the entry of
experienced software experts. The report also suggested that high-tech
industries are devoting insufficient resources to training and retraining
workers, and not working closely enough with educational institutions to
increase the supply of qualified Canadians. (Ottawa Citizen 24 Apr 97 C1)
FRAUD AND THE NET
A Deloitte & Touche report commissioned by the European Union says that
cross-border fraud involving Internet abuse, banking and investment
frauds, and smuggling is costing society $77 billion a year. The report
suggests that perhaps the largest single threat comes from fraud through
the Internet, because encryption technology remains vulnerable to
sophisticated computer vandals. (Financial Times 24 Apr 97)
INTEL EXEC PREDICTS THE FUTURE
Intel chief operating officer Craig Barrett says that the technology now
found in $50,000-75,000 workstations of the kind capable of producing
images such as found in the film "Jurassic Park" will be available in
$2,000 PCs in just a few years. He also predicts that PCs in the year
2011 will use a billion-transistor chip, compared with about 8 million in
the most advanced chip today. (New York Times 23 Apr 97)
NET STATS
Did you know that Chrysler expects that 25% of its sales in 2001 will be
conducted online (only 1.5% are online currently)? Or that the estimated
number of new jobs worldwide created in 1996 by the Internet was 1.1
million? Or that the estimated total Internet advertising revenues in
1996 were $266.9 million? (Internet Index 16 Apr 97)
http://www.openmarket.com/intindex/ .
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas
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Editor's MailBag
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 14:10:32 -0400To: "Ralph F. Mariano"
<rmariano@streport.com>From: Laura Shook <lshook@cerious.com>
Subject: Re: ThumbsPlus 3.0f, Network Install guide
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
X-UIDL: 7d9d2d0f30be96897200582d388bcd14
Dear Ralph,
For your information, I'm pleased to let you know...
As reported by WebStar, Cerious Software, Inc. received more hits in the
month of March from STReport's site than from any other site except search
engines.
We know that Ralph loves Microsoft, but we are pleased that he supports the
little guys like us!
Laura Shook
Vice President
Cerious Software, Inc.***
Thanks again for everything Ralph!
Laura
Editor.
Laura!! Thak you ever so much for the report. It does my heart good
to know such fine folks as Cerious Software are getting the action deserved
for such a fine program as Thumbs Plus is. Thanks again for the
encouraging information.
Ralph.
To: rmariano@streport.comSubject: Your Control Freak ArticleX-UIDL:
8919ccfdd6ab69ee211f34ab919313c9
RalphWhere would we have been had the USA not intervened? The dark ages,
and that includes you. The USA had no choice about entering W.W.II, Europe
was crumbling and few nations were able to defend themselves against a
thoroughly efficient and modern army, i.e. the Germans. Had they managed
to conquer the entire
continent and the U.K. then we would have seen various peace treaties being
hastily signed by the Russians, Germans and Americans. We know these would
have been short-lived, as all nations would seek to rebuild their military
machine and go at it again.
It's like saying where would the USA be if it hadn't been for the British,
the Dutch, the Spanish the French and the native Indians who all fought
bitterly over control of the new continent. The USA didn't exist until
people sought to control it, so it was and so it always shall be.
Remember, greed is paramount, Gulf War for oil while looking good at the
same time.
Out of interest, did you know that there was a secret plan drawn up during
W.W.II for the USA to wrest control of Britain?
The German Authorities are trying to create a case out of nothing,
otherwise it would be Joe Public in the stand rather than Mr. Executive.
Rgds
Stuart
Editor.
Stuart. I canot disagree with you. In fact I believe we are in full
agreement. The point I tried to make was that the German Nation, after all
these years hasn't learned a thing. They're trying to act like they must
lead everyone's lives for them. To try to indict and then set up trials
with the trumped up, hairbag charges, the Bavarian DA or whatever its
called "over there" ought to get a real job like ferreting out the
remainder of the war criminals still on the German retirement rolls etc..
About that secret plan.. Care to elaborate?? I bet it would make for
some great reading.
Ralph.
From: jcaser01@fiu.edu (Juan Jose Casero)
>Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Subject: Linux Group For South Florida
Some others, and I want to start a Linux User Group in the South
Florida Area. I am new at this but I will try to get the ball rolling.
Anyone who is interested can email me at the address below. Everyone is
welcome of course but I have in mind a group comprised of members from Palm
Beach, Broward, Dade, and Monroe counties.
Cheers.....
Juan Casero Department of Chemistry
email: jcaser01@fiu.edu Florida International Univ.
__ _ Miami, Florida
/ / (_)__ __ ____ __
/ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / . . . t h e c h o i c e o f a
/____/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\ G N U g e n e r a t i o n . . .
Kids Computing Corner
Frank Sereno, Editor
fsereno@streport.com
The Kids' Computing Corner
Computer news and software reviews
from a parent's point of view
In the News
A New Software Give-Away
As promised, The Kids' Computing Corner and the Silicon Times Report are
sponsoring another software give-away promotion. Thanks to the fine people
at MECC, I have one copy of Storybook Weaver Deluxe to give to a lucky
reader. This excellent program encourages children to develop their
writing skills and to express their creativity with words and pictures.
It's recommended for children ages 6 and up, and the software comes on a
hybrid format CD-ROM for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems.
The rules are very simple. Send an entry by e-mail to Error! Bookmark not
defined. or Error! Bookmark not defined. using the title Storybook. Please
include your correct e-mail address. Entries must be received by 12:01am,
Thursday May 8, 1997. The winner will be announced in the May 9th edition
of the magazine. Winners of any contests held within the last 60 days are
ineligible. Taxes, if any, are the responsibility of the winner. So flood
my mailbox, gang!
Strategy Challenges
Collection II: In the Wild
Windows and Mac hybrid
Street Price: about $40
for ages 9 to adult
Edmark
P.O. Box 97021
Redmond, WA 98073-9721
1-(206)-556-8484
http://www.edmark.com
Program Requirements
IBM Macintosh
OS: Windows 3.1, Windows 95 OS: System 7.0
CPU: 486DX/33 CPU: 68030/25
HD Space: 5 MB HD Space:
N/A
Memory: 8 MB Memory: 8 MB
Graphics: 640 by 480 with 256 colors Graphics:
256 colors, 13" monitor
CD-ROM: Double-speed CD-ROM: Double-speed
Audio: 8-bit Windows compatible sound card
Other: mouse
review by Jason Sereno (jason.sereno@mules-ear.com)
Many programs teach your child information that they can memorize and use,
but few programs make your children think and use logic to solve problems
and plan out courses of action. Edmark designed Strategy Challenges 2 to
teach children to use logic and problem-solving skills while playing games
that appeal to them. Besides the difficulty levels changing, children will
also see many characters and settings while playing the game. If your
child wants to learn about wildlife, this program has text and video about
different predators and their prey in QuickTime video. With the exciting
information and the three great games in Strategy Challenges 2, this
program should be a hit with your kids and you.
Strategy Challenges 2 helps your kids to plan out their courses of action.
It makes your child plan out their moves at least two or three steps in
advance for them to be successful. The same strategy will not work every
time, however, because the computer will change its game plan according to
the moves that the player has made in past games. Each player that plays
the game will save their name for future play. Not only does the computer
save your name, it also saves the strategy it uses against you that was
most successful. This makes every user's experience different in some way.
There are three games in all and each has its own distinct characteristics.
Tablut is a game in which you try to capture your opponent's pieces by
trapping them between two of yours. Like all three of the games you can
have your own defensive or offensive strategy. You can play against six
different people depending on the skill level and type of strategy you have
decided to use. The pieces can only move horizontally and vertically such
as rooks in chess. There are two ways to win the game. You can take all
of the opponent's pieces by capturing them or you can surround an
opponent's king. The king holds the center of the board with four pieces
protecting him when the game starts. If you become anxious and try to
capture a piece with one that is surrounding the king, you may lose your
spot and risk losing the game. There is only one king in the game. When
playing against the computer, you have the king. For a match between two
people, either player can choose to have it. This game is great for
children to play because of its simplicity and high fun factor.
The second game is Jungle Chess. This game is more complex and takes much
more strategy and decision making to win. This game is basically the
legendary board game Stratego but it substitutes the soldiers and tanks for
wild animals and their place on the food chain. Movement is horizontally
and vertically. The game consists of sixteen pieces in all, eight on each
person's side. The pieces rank from one to eight with eight being the most
powerful and one being the weakest. The way to capture a piece is to
jump on it with an equal or greater number of animal. For instance, an
elephant, which is eight, can jump on a cougar that has a lower number and
then capture him. However, the only animal that can capture the elephant
is a rat which is number one. Water holes can really effect the game play.
Certain animals can jump over them and the mouse can swim in them. To win
the game, you must use your pieces wisely, especially when it comes to
using the rat.
Surakarta is the third game. This is the most complicated game of the
three. The object of the game is to slam your pieces into your opponents
and destroy them. When a person has no pieces left, they lose. There is a
track in which you will slide your pieces around. This track consists of
an outer and inner ring. The rings intertwine to form a butterfly shape.
It also resembles two figure-eight's lying perpendicular to each other.
You will have to create a strategy that will let you destroy the other
pieces while salvaging yours. This game is fun to play because of its
originality.
All three of the games possess their own special characteristics that make
the games unique. Each game uses different sounds, music and video that
add depth to the experience. Strategy Challenges 2 uses QuickTime movies
to add neat animation to its games. Each setting is very different and
each game sparks different ideas into your child's imagination.
If your children wish to learn more about the animals in the program, they
can view information about how the animals hunt, survive, and care for
their offspring in the program. This accessory is very interesting and
shows footage that is comparable to nature programs such as National
Geographic. Your child can get information about the animals' hunting
style and the ways that they catch their prey. When utilizing this
accessory, the user can gather many ideas about different strategies.
This is a great program. Strategy Challenges 2 is a great buy for parents
who wish to give knowledge and important thinking skills to their
children. Strategy is necessary in sports and many other aspects of life.
This is a great buy for parents or adults who wish to improve on their
children's' or their own strategy skills.
COREL PHOTO-PAINTT 7 PLUS:
THE OFFICIAL GUIDE (Second Edition)
by David Huss
Reviewed by Donna Lines
This book is officially endorsed by Corelc Corporation as THE guide to
Photo-PaintT 7. David Huss is a Photo-PaintT expert and author of two
previous Photo-PaintT books. He also writes articles for Corel Magazine
and Corel DRAW Journal and maintains an area called Paint Shop on the Web
(www.Corelnet.com). As if that does not keep him busy enough, he also
teaches Photo-PaintT at seminars worldwide.
Although this book was written for Photo-PaintT 7 Plus, Photo-PaintT 7
users will be able to follow the tips and all but two of the hands-on
workshops (lenses are exclusive to the Photo-PaintT 7 Plus). Incidentally,
you can upgrade to the Plus version for $49. The Plus version includes the
lenses mentioned in Chapter 9 and Corelc has recently added the Squizz 1.5
filter for warping effects.
The author covers everything you will need to know -- how to configure the
program, calibrating your equipment, tips on scanning, creating scripts,
right down to creating professional results almost instantly. David also
included a sixteen-page color insert which shows you the results you will
get from many of the hands-on workshops. The examples give you an
excellent idea of what a powerful program Photo-PaintT 7 really is.
At the heart of the book are fifty (50) hands-on workshops. David begins
by teaching the very basics of the program and then builds upon each lesson
as the techniques become more difficult to master. Unlike some built-in
program tutorials or the ones you find in user manuals, I could imagine a
real-world use for the skills that each workshop was teaching. At times
during the workshops I did have to resort to using Photo-Paint'sT help
feature to locate a command or identify an icon. For the most part I was
able to follow the instructions without any difficulty.
The author has included extensive tips for Photo-PaintT 5 users and even
provides hints for those more familiar with Adobec PhotoshopT. Throughout
the book the author recommends resources to obtain additional information
on specific techniques, tools or plug-in filters. David has included, in
his words, `a short, opinionated list of books' that he has found useful
with using Photo-PaintT or with photo-editing in general.
Overall, I found David's writing style very easy to read and comprehend.
He uses humor throughout the book to break up the monotony that usually
accompanies learning a complex program. Whether you are a beginner or an
experienced user looking to tap the newest features, you will benefit from
this book.
Published by: Corel PRESS, a division of Osborne (McGraw-Hill)
Suggested retail: $34.99 (USA)
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rmariano@streport.com
STReport International Online Magazine
Classics & Gaming Section
Editor Dana P. Jacobson
dpj@streport.com
>From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
I don't have a lot to say this week, but thankfully, our good friend
Michael Burkley saved the day with his latest installment of his world-
renown column: The Unabashed Atariophile!
Busy, yes. Not only has work been a madhouse lately, but my wife and I
have added to our "normal" stress by deciding that it's time to do some
serious house-hunting. Most spare time has been devoted to checking out
real estate papers and the like. We're also trying to make appointments to
look at various houses - with our schedule, it's rough! But, it's time. I
want to buy one before I'm too old to enjoy it!
So, as I mentioned, I'll let Michael fill in the gaps this week. I'm
continuing to work on the HTML commands compilation and hope to have that
available in the coming weeks. Let's see what Michael has in store for us
this week!
Until next time...
The Unabashed Atariophile
by Michael R. Burkley
April 24, 1997
Has it been two months now, or more, that I haven't written this article?
Whatever the time, it's been too long! My saga of the horrible PC upgrade
seems to have finally come to an end, temporarily, I assume. I've finally
got my Windoz 95 machine up and running, reliably (but, see below). The
technician at the computer store that has been "fixing" it doesn't really
know why it's working now, but it is, and I guess that's good enough for
me. Every card is in a different place, with a different address, the video
card has been switched - twice, and the SCSI card once, Windoz 95 has been
re-installed six or seven times (I had to order the CD version of the
upgrade because my floppies developed problems and wouldn't work anymore!),
the tech formatted one of my hard drives that he thought was empty (it had
2 gig of compressed files on it - but I had a backup!!!), and many other
things were done. So now, when I turn the computer on, it doesn't crash on
me! I still like my TT better.
~~~~~~~
This is written a week later than the above....
Well, it seems that I've miss-spoken when I said that my Windoz 95 machine
was working reliably again. This time I'm not sure if it is problems with
my machine or with my monitor. Sometimes when I turn on the computer the
monitor stays blank, while other times the display pops right up. I took it
back to the computer store and the dealer removed the card and replaced it
with a new one...no display. He moved the card to a new slot...no display.
He tried a different type of card...no display. Then he started really
shifting things around! Finally, he switched the position of two banks of
RAM and the display popped on. The interesting thing is that I was having
this trouble before that second bank of RAM had been added to the computer
the week before. So, he came to the conclusion that it was my monitor
causing the trouble (huh? My monitor was at home at the time! But, once it
didn't work for my TT after it didn't work for the clone--who knows!).
Anyway, since then I haven't had any trouble, with the monitor, that is.
He also sold me (inexpensively) a used 4X speed IDE CD ROM drive. My SCSI
2X drive had died while the computer was in his shop (let me see, that
makes a 2 gig drive, a SCSI Card, and a CD ROM drive that died while under
his care--geesh!). I was looking forward to the increased speed of the 4X
CD over the 2X, at least. But alas, it is not to be so. The sound skips,
the animations are jumpy, and load times are drastically longer with the 4X
IDE drive as opposed to my 2X SCSI drive. I think something is not right,
but the dealer says "That's normal." Yah.
I guess even though some people say that the Atari platform is dead, it's
still very much alive for many of us (though it's kicking me a lot less
than my Windoz platform!)
Oh well, on with the descriptions, some new, some old....
This first set may be found on Delphi. I'll list files from other locations
later in the article.
I've seen the demo of CAB 2.0, the graphical Web Browser from ASH that's
great. CAB is the original creation of Alexander Claus and has now been
purchased for commercial distribution by Application Systems Heidelberg
(ASH). ASH is the company that brings you MagiC, MagiC-Mac, MagiC-PC, NVDI,
Ease, F/A-18 Hornet, and more. This demo is for all ST-Falcon computers (I
expect that you need at least one meg of RAM to run this, or at least to
make it usable) and for all res other than ST low (which won't allow you to
see all of the dialog boxes). This browser is fast, supports viewing of
online pictures (in Mono and in TT medium the pictures show up quickly and
look pretty good, even though they are dithered down), allows use of
frames, online sound, GIF animations, and more. The demo is limited in that
you can't save your favorite online addresses, but must type them in each
time. I've downloaded two versions of this from Delphi, one which is in
German and contains all the files needed to show you what's in the various
hypertext links on the homepage and another version (considerably smaller)
which has an English resource file (which you need to move from the ENGLISH
folder to the main directory) but which doesn't have all of those extra
files. Either one will show you what this program can do! You can even use
it online if you get STiK v.1.21 and a SLIP or CSLIP connection! With this
and the Internet tools soon coming out of Oregon Research Associates, it
will be much easier for Atari people to browse the Internet!
(note: I am online through Delphi and Genie, but I do most of my Internet
access through AT&T Worldnet Service. Since July of '96 I've not had access
to my account for a total of five months because of all the problems I've
had with my clone computer. I called them up and asked them if there was
any possibility of a refund for part of that time. They refunded it all!
Pretty good!)
Here are some animation related files...
AQT_P096 is a simple Apple QuickTime player v.0.96 for the ST-Falcon
computer (in mono, 16 or 256 colors) by Dieter Fiebelkorn (the author of
that wonderful picture viewer/manipulator GEMView). This program will allow
you to view CVID24, RLE8, RLE16, RLE24, RAW, SMC8 animation formats.
Unfortunately, you can't listen to the sounds as you view the animations. A
utility is included which will allow you to extract the sound information
as a WAV file which you then can play on your computer (On the Falcon, you
can finagle to play the sound at the same time the animation is running,
but you have to work at it). There are versions available for the standard
ST/STE (indeed, all 680x0 Atari's), a version for any 68020/30 based Atari,
a version for computers with a math co-processor, and a version just for
the Falcon. The speed of the 68000 version (on the 8 MHz ST) is quite slow
(one frame ever couple of seconds) but it works fine otherwise. There are
ways of speeding up the display by skipping a set number of frames between
displayed frames. This allows you to see more of the animation more
quickly. German & English docs included. Postcardware.
AVIPL095 is a simple AVI animation player v.0.95 for the ST-Falcon computer
(in mono, 16 or 256 colors) by Dieter Fiebelkorn (the author of that
wonderful picture viewer/manipulator GEMView). This program will allow
you to view CRAM8, CRAM16 and uncompressed, RLE8, RLE4 (untested) and CVID
animation formats. Unfortunately, you can't listen to the sounds as you
view the animations. A utility is included which will allow you to extract
the sound information as a WAV file which you then can play on your
computer (On the Falcon, you can finagle to play the sound at the same
time the animation is running, but you have to work at it). There are
versions available for the standard ST/STE (indeed, all 680x0 Atari's), a
version for any 68020/30 based Atari, a version for computers with a math
co-processor, and a version just for the Falcon. The speed of the 68000
version (on the 8 MHz ST) is quite slow (one frame ever couple of seconds)
but it works fine otherwise. There are ways of speeding up the display by
skipping a set number of frames between displayed frames, in fact there are
lots of keyboard controls to tailor your animation display. German &
English docs included. Postcardware.
CYBERWAR is a true color .FLH animation created on the Falcon using Apex
Media. It shows two warriors battling it out with a skeletoid being. Use
the Falcon Apex viewer to see this animation. By Barry Summer.
MOON is an .MPG animation by Sean O' Hara (?) showing a mischievous alien
landing on the Moon, exiting his saucership, and bounding across the
surface (in an excellent rendition of the Apollo astronaut's "Kangaroo
walk"). The alien comes up to the flag left by the Apollo 11 astronauts,
picks it up and ruturns it to his spaceship, where he stores it with
several other items of interest he shouldn't have either. Check out
PEPSI_ET.MPG for another animation featuring this alien. 1ST_GUIDE will
allow you to view this animation (slowly) on any ST-Falcon computer. There
are other MPG viewers (mostly for the Falcon, such as MPEGDSP viewer) that
might allow you to see this faster and better.
PEPSI_ET is an .MPG animation by Sean O' Hara (?) that shows an alien
landing his saucership at a 24 hour gas station/convenience store. He gets
out and walks into the store, visits the bathroom (!), and checks out the
soda vending machine. He puts in his change and gets out a Pepsi can, pops
it open, takes a swig, and walks back to his spaceship which then takes off
into the unknown. Maybe he was on his way to the Moon. Check out MOON.MPG
for another animation featuring this same alien. 1ST_GUIDE will allow you
to view this animation (slowly) on any ST-Falcon computer. There are
other MPG viewers (mostly for the Falcon, such as MPEGDSP viewer) that
might allow you to see this faster and better.
RIPPLE is an .FLI animation a rock that falls into a pool of water. It was
created using POV Ray v.2. Unfortunately, this animation will not work with
Brainstorm's MoviePlayer. It will work with the FLI players available for
the Falcon or with the SUMMIT player if you have a video card.
SNOWMAN is The Snowman, a Christmas demo brought to you directly from the
Atari Land of Plenty -- (the then) West Germany. This demo was created
using ST Replay 4 to digitize the music and The Grabber to digitize and
animaae the graphics. It requires a color monitor, a D.S. drive and at
least one meg of RAM. I think this is an absolutely WONDERFUL story of a
boy and his snowman, their travels together, and heart-wrenching ending.
Get this one. I've seen this before, but have always had a portion of the
animation messed up. This version, recently uploaded to Delphi, is complete
without that fault.
STONEHDG is the Stonehenge .FLC animation created by Barry Summer using
Apex Media and more (see below). This shows two older animations spliced
together. He used the CAMERA movement option of CHRONOS to follow a flying
saucer through a "buzzing" of the ancient Stonehedge ruins, and then fly
off into space to fly across a planet's landscape, before blowing a cargo
ship into pieces. In the upload description Barry goes on to tell that the
original CHRONOS animation were .FLM format, so he used Prism Paint to
convert the .FLM to DELTA, then used Cyberpaint to convert the .DLT to .SEQ
format, then finally, using Apex Media, loaded the .SEQ segments and saved
out as an .FLC animation (Whew!!!). This animation is designed to be viewed
on a Falcon or PC, but if you have a graphics card check out SUMMIT to view
this file on any ST-Falcon computer.
SUMMIT is Summit a fast viewer for 256-color STs, MegaSTes and TTs equipped
with graphics cards by Mike Hill (dated Sept. 9, 1995--my birthday!).
Summit will display the following varieties of files: GIF (the 87a variety
and the newer ones, interlaced or standard), FLI, FLC, and DL animations,
and SAM, SPL and MOD (requires Paula running as well) sound files. Summit
can be configured to display a series of pictures, animations, or sound
files using a simple script. You may run Summit as an installed application
or drag and drop a graphic or sound file on those newer versions of TOS or
alternative desktops that support that feature, or finally, you can just
run it and use the item selector to select the file you wish. As far as I
can tell Summit doesn't work on my TT without a graphics card even in TT
low res (with 256 colors available). It displays a picture or animation,
but with many lines left out of the display and with the colors so mixed
up the ghostly view is useless. I don't know about a Falcon. It was
designed to work with graphic cards (Crazy Dots, Nova, Cyrel) so if you
don't have one of those.... 68000 and 68030 versions are included. Docs
included. E-mailware.
TOP3D is a 3D .FLI animation of a raytraced top spinning on a wood surface.
To view this file in 3D you will need a set of Red/Blue glasses.
VISION1 is an FLC animation created through Apex Media. It shows a view
through a window looking outside from the perspective of control station.
The window shows an old Cyber .SEQ animation of a spacecraft under attack.
That animation was created using Chronos and Cyberpaint and then imported
into Apex. You may view this animation using a Falcon or a PC with a FLC
viewer. By Barry Summer.
WARS is the TT Wars demo by Tony Barker converted for use with an STE or
Falcon (converted by Maennlein of TFM). This is an excellent video capture
and animation demo that shows a lot of cuts from the Star Wars movie where
Luke Skywalker is attacking the Death Star. It shows the scene from many
different viewpoints, allows you to control the animation speed, sound
(stereo), and animation overlays on the video via the keyboard. When run at
the original speed the animation lasts about 1.5 minutes. Directions are
included. Requires at least 2 meg of RAM. Color only. This version includes
the original TT version and the files required to run it on the STE or
Falcon.
XMAS1988 is a Christmas animation in .FLC format by Barry Summer.
Originally a .SEQ animation he converted it into .FLC format for the wider
computer market. It shows Santa riding on a sleigh traveling over the
ground. A Christmas Tree is in the sleigh.
XMASSEQ is a Christmas animation in .SEQ format by Barry Summer (done for
Christmas 1988). It shows Santa riding on a sleigh traveling over the
ground. A Christmas Tree is in the sleigh. See XMAS1988 for a .FLC version
of this file.
Now for some Databases
INTCH152 is the In-Touch Personal Database v.1.5 by Lorne White. In Touch
is a powerful and flexible database system for organizing and managing all
your personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers and
calender events. With a touch of the keyboard or mouse you can easily find
and select records, or search for text and dates, get date reminders,
categorize records, and print a wide variety of envelopes, labels,
addresses, date books, and calendar labels (using SpeedoGDOS). A calendar
window provides a view of any month of any year and provides a listing of
all events in that month. You can also import and export all the data into
and from other programs, making it your "master" database of personal
information. Lots of features! This demo is limited in that you may save
only five records per file and print only five labels per record. Numerous
samples are included. ST-Falcon compatible. Shareware. I had originally
tried to run this program within three nested folders (my hard drive gets a
bit complicated), but I was unable to load the sample files when doing so.
Running from less than three nested folders or from the root directory was
fine. STE and Geneva compatible (at least).
STFINDER is STreet Finder v.1.0 by John Buchanan. STreet finder is an
address book that looks like an address book! Run the program and you find
yourself looking a a spiral ring address book. At the bottom of the book is
a series of "chicklets" with the letters of the alphabet imprinted on them.
Click on the letter beginning the name you are searching for and the book
opens to that page. There's some neat animation of the pages turning, too!
One very nice thing is the cross-referencing of names in STreet Finder.
You may place "Michael Burkley" under the "B" letter, but because "Michael"
begins with "M" the reference will also appear in the "M" page. Now those
names won't get lost, no matter how you file them! The archive contains
both an .ACC and .PRG version (the author recommends that you use the
program for inserting your data and printing it out, but that you use the
.ACC for all the other times. That's because the accessory is always handy,
but it is limited in that you can only add 10 new addresses each session
due to memory limitations). Docs included. ST-TT compatible (at least).
Shareware.
TWSTDEMO is the demo of the Twist 2 database from HiSoft (distributed
through Oregon Research Associates). Twist 2 is a very nice address,
phone, contact, and just about anything you tell it to record "graphical"
database program with GDOS/SpeedoGDOS/NVDI display support, but which uses
your internal printer fonts for printing (it has a built-in printer queue
as well). You can only save your files which have less than ten records in
this demo. ST-Falcon and Geneva compatible.
I always like Games...
3DLAB010 is 3D-Lab v.0.1 by Dirk Hagedorn (dated Aug. 27, 1995). This
awesome program is a GEM-based 3-D maze (Labyrinth) creation and
negotiation program for the ST-Falcon computers. Just run the program and
run with it! You find yourself in a set of corridors and you must find
your way to the exit door (using the arrow keys). At first I thought this
was so easy it was dumb. That was my first try when the maze was only a 4
by 4 grid. When I succeeded in that maze the program redrew it as a 5 by 5
grid, then a 6 by 6, and so on. By the time it was 11 by 11 I was really
struggling! 3D-Lab is TOS, Multi-TOS, MagiC, MagiCMac, and Geneva
compatible in ST mono or higher res. Run this as either a program (.APP)
or as an .ACC (just rename it to suit). Text docs and online ST-Guide help
file included (but they are in German, which doesn't really matter as the
game doesn't really need many instructions.
ALIEN_TH is the Alien Thing game demo. Your mission, and you have no choice
but to try to complete it or die--after all, you did double-click on the
game!), is to repair the two control panels and to exit to the next level
(which is only available in the full game). Along the way you have to
find ammo, weapons, access cards, and something else....Oh yes, you have to
avoid being killed by all those nasty aliens who are out to eat you (or
something worse)! You're on the alien ship which is on its way to crash
into the earth. You have to stop that from happening. Excellent graphics
and gameplay. Docs included. Available as a commercial game. ST/STE
compatible. At least one meg of RAM. Color.
DEADLAND is the ST/STE/Falcon game Deadland by Justin Ward (dated January
6, 1996). It's a lot like Cannon Fodder, but with its differences. Your
ship has crashed on Usula Minor, and you need to get back home. Not only
that you need to take as many crewpersons with you as you can (after all,
they are the ones who have to build the new ship for you. You have to
budget your resources, exploit (in a gentle way, of course) your
environment, defend against the native Ursulan's, and survive. Not only
that, but you need to complete your ship and leave, all in only 31 Ursulan
days. This is a graphically oriented game, controlled by the mouse. Docs
included. At least one meg and a color monitor (ST low res). Shareware.
GENOCIDE is the demo of Genocide - Extermination of a Nation, by Paradise
Software (dated 1995). Genocide is a one or two player game (only one
player in this demo) of a fast 3D Shoot'em up for the Atari STE. This
program uses most of the STE's Hardware capabilities (blitter, DMA sound,
scrolling, etc.) so unfortunately it won't work on an ST(fm). Do you
remember ST Invaders where you have to battle off waves of enemies flooding
down on you from the sky? Well, that might be the great-grandfather of
this graphically oriented, colorful game. The play area is much larger than
your screen (just move to the edge of the screen using your joystick and
the playing area will scroll with you), and you have to defend it all. In
this demo you have to complete 10 waves and destroy the BOSS (well,
actually you don't have to do that, you could lose instead). Docs included.
Check your Atari store for the full game.
MAZECMBT is Maze Combat v. 1.095 by Sean Dougherty of Two Worlds Software
Production (dated August 2, 1994). This shareware game (limited in that
you can only play it five times without either registering or uncompressing
it from archive again and no null-modem option) provides you with a
massive number of realistic looking mazes, robots, missiles, and mines
which you can use to battle things out with friends or enemies. With
another computer using Maze Combat (both equiped with modems or null-modem
cables), you can battle it out, or you can play in single-player mode (not
nearly as much fun!). Chatting windows are provided as well. ST, STe,
Falcon, and TT compatible in ST Low. Keyboard controlled. Docs included.
MAZEWAR is Mazewar ST by Andrei Ellman. The object of this game is to
negotiate your way around a maze and shoot anything blocking the path
between you and your opponents (and, of course, to shoot your opponents as
well!). It will allow you to play with 0 (computer vs. itself) to eight
players (wow! This requires use of a centronics parallel port adaptor and
adaptors for the STE extended joystick ports--docs for both adaptors
included). If you shoot a wall sometimes it will blow up, catching anyone
too close to it in the explosion. Sometimes the wall doesn't blow up and
you have figure out your way through the maze with finese rather than brute
strength. A new maze is generated each time. You may play in teams or
individually. You can even play against the computer, and the computer is
pretty smart! The author says that it will run on "all ST versions", but I
don't know if that means the TT or Falcon. Joystick controlled. Docs
included. Written in STOS basic. Shareware.
MISERMND is Miser Mind v.1.0 by Dennis Miquel (dated August, 1994). This
game, which works on all ST/STE/TT/Falcon computers with either mono or
color monitors is an expanded clone of the game MasterMind. You can choose
four to eight pegs and six through 12 colors (shaded circles are used in
mono or in ST med. res). You get twelve chances to guess the order and
color of the pegs the computer has hidden. It's not too hard to do with
four pegs and six colors, but it gets a lot harder the more pegs and colors
you add! There is both an English and French resource file included. Mouse
controlled. Docs (English and French) included. SHAREWARE.
MUNSIE01 is the first (and last, so far) Munsie Video Newsletter (on Disk).
Run this (on your ST-Falcon with at least one meg of RAM and a color
monitor) and check out the Munsie line of Shareware Games and utilities.
He has included text, screenshots, and more here, all in an excellent
animated interface. Uploaded May, 1995. I haven't heard anything from Dave
for ages, but his games are still excellent, and I recommend them to you
(hey, why not, I'll give you a description of some of them, following).
ASTR_ST is Asteroidia ST for all ST/STe/TT/Mega STe users, by David Munsie.
This is one of those