ST Report: 3-Apr-98 #1413
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 04/14/98-09:10:06 PM Z
From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 3-Apr-98 #1413
Date: Tue Apr 14 21:10:06 1998
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04/03/98 STR 1413 "Often Imitated, Never Surpassed!"
CPU Industry Report Newt "The Beaut!" IBM & Sun do JAVA
Hatch Still Playing Games COREL SINKS DEEPER Lapware for Toddlers
New Intel LC Chip "SLOW" Virtual Museums on Net The Patience of JOBS
Diablo for PlayStation People Talking Classics & Gaming
State Net Laws Shot Down
EarthLink Smacks Spammer
AOL To Launch Bid For Corporate Clients
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From the Editor's Desk...
This is the first week I can say.... Its about time we saw the
Paula Jones soap opera garbage take a hike. Now, the next to go
should be the Joe McCarthy reincarnation, Ken Starr. Starr is the
epitome of obsession at its most nefarious best. Actually, he has
dragged this "crusade" of his on for far too long. The Mellons
ought to give up the ghost. They're not going to get satisfaction
out of the White Water affair nor are they ever going to gain
vindictive justice against Bill Clinton. Its time the entire
"Republican Vendetta" went away.
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Otherwise it might just be time to re-open the investigations of
Newt "The Beaut" Gingrich. Now there's a dilly for you. He stands
next to the President and smiles while he's among the most ardent
of Clinton Haters. Sort of reminds one of Nero's sad story.
Newt kinda sticks in my craw as the slime of slimes.... He's caught
scheming another of his now ever so famous schemes because he's
stupid enough to use a cellphone. A private citizen happened to
listen in and recorded the whole conversation. Guess what came of
it? Newt slides away free and the private citizen gets busted for
eavesdropping and taping. Get this though, they, Newt & Friends,
STILL had the arrogance to go through with their dumb a** plans!
Read this and weep.. this slimer is thinking about running for
President! He's wanted it so bad I'm almost fearful of seeing
another Dallas, November 22, 1963. Now Newt's back with ANOTHER
Book! Talk about nerve!
CONTRITE GINGRICH ADMITS MISTAKES IN NEW BOOK
"Warming up for a possible presidential campaign in 2000, Newt
Gingrich has written a new book in which he admits to making one
mistake after another as speaker of the House. His biggest blunder,
Gingrich acknowledged in the book "Lessons Learned the Hard Way,"
was badly underestimating the political skills and mental
resilience of President Clinton, who he said repeatedly
outmaneuvered him in 1995 and 1996. Discussing the showdown over
the budget in 1995 which twice shut down the federal government,
Gingrich wrote, "We were committed to the idea of Clinton as a weak
president." Gingrich wrote they should have realized they were
dealing with a tough and determined opponent who would not easily
give way."
Dear hearts... this is one Southern Yahoo Politician we DO NOT need
in the Whitehouse. Not under any circumstances. This goof is the
"main man" when it comes to controls freaks who play the "good ole
boy" game. Anybody with a half a brain in their head could outwit
this clown. Anyone including the likes of Saddam Hussein and any
others like him. Its time Newt went home to Georgia and stayed
there like a good "fat cheeked" spoiled brat little boy. One must
ask; hasn't Gingrich done enough harm to this country?? He and his
Republican Cronies have crushed or so heavily modified every major
social bill in Congress that the proposed Bills were rendered
ineffective except for the goodies they tacked on for their own
pork barrel buddies. Gingrich has got to go.
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STReport Headline News
LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
EarthLink Smacks Spammer
Cyber Promotions Inc. has reached a settlement with
EarthLink Networks Inc. that forbids the company from
sending any spam to EarthLink accounts. The deal is the last
settlement in a spate of lawsuits filed against Cyber
Promotions and its CEO Sanford Wallace. It calls for Wallace
to pay $2 million to EarthLink, and holds him personally
liable to an up to $1 million fine if he, or any company he
is associated with, sends spam to EarthLink.
"I can't tell you how happy I am to be rid of one of the
Internet's most notorious spammers," EarthLink CEO Garry
Betty said in a press release. EarthLink has also instituted
several measures to fight spam, the company said. The
measures includes a policy to charge spammers $200 before
canceling their accounts, discontinuing acceptance of
third-party mail relays, and joining ISPSEC, an industry
anti-spam coalition.
EarthLink has also hired Dan Farmer, co-author of SATAN and
COPS software, the company said. Wallace has had numerous
legal and logistical troubles in his attempts to use the
Internet as a method of direct marketing. His company has
been kicked off by at least five hosting companies in four
years, and has been sued by a host of ISPs, who charge that
he was clogging their networks and annoying their customers
with his unsolicited commercial email.
Spam King: I'll Pay to Spam
Coming from the man who used to relish his "King of Spam"
title, it's a pretty startling statement. "We realize that
the spam business model has run into a lot of roadblocks,"
said Sanford Wallace, CEO of bulk e-mail marketer Cyber
Promotions Inc., in an interview following the news that the
company had reached a settlement in a lawsuit against it by
EarthLink Networks Inc. The once-defiant Wallace, saying
he's moving his company in a different direction while still
trying to deliver on the opportunity some see in consumers'
e-mail in-boxes, said next week Cyber Promotions will roll
out its long-rumored "spam backbone" along with a service
for Internet service providers to get paid to accept bulk
e-mail.
"This way, the onus is on the ISP" if consumers feel they're
being bombarded with too much promotional mail, Wallace
said. ISPs can then ask their customers to opt in or out of
the program -- and those that sign up can get price breaks
on their monthly bill, he said. Asked how much ISPs will be
offered to join the program, he said: "We're asking them to
name their price." The amount of savings to the individual
subscriber would be up to the ISP, he said.
The difference between such an advertising model and that of
America Online Inc., "which sues everybody it can get its
hands on but then spams its members with its own ads," is
that this system would give subscribers more control over
the ads they receive, Wallace said. The outcry from Internet
users wanting to stamp out spam has been Wallace's biggest
challenge. His company has been hit with lawsuits from all
sides, and he's been forced into numerous settlements such
as the EarthLink deal that calls for Cyber Promotions to pay
$2 million to the ISP. The settlement also makes Wallace
personally liable, up to a $1 million fine, if he or any
company he is associated with sends spam to EarthLink
members.
In the past four years, Cyber Promotions has also been
kicked off at least five Internet services. He bristles at
the suggestion that the company has lost the lawsuits,
however. "We haven't lost a single case, in spite of what's
been reported," Wallace said. Rumors that the company is in
bankruptcy are also unfounded, he said. "If we are, that's
news to me," Wallace said.
Hatch Seeks Letters From Microsoft, Sun, Netscape
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch asked
Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Netscape Communications to
ease the way for their customers to talk to committee
investigators. In letters to chief executives of the three
companies, who appeared before the committee on March 3,
Hatch and the top Democratic and Republican members of the
panel asked for clarification regarding provisions of
"non-disclosure agreements" the companies use.
The agreements have become a bone of contention because they
require customers and business partners who sign them to
notify the companies before releasing any confidential
business information, even to government investigators. The
letters to Bill Gates of Microsoft, Scott McNealy of Sun and
Jim Barksdale of Netscape ask the companies to provide
clarifying letters freeing their contractual partners to
provide information to the committee without prior
notification.
At the committee hearing, Gates told Hatch he expected to
provide such a letter, as the company already has done for
Justice Department investigators. Microsoft spokesman Mark
Murray said he was surprised by Hatch's letter because the
company had been "working closely" with the committee to
resolve the issue. "We want to make sure the committee has
all the information that it needs," he said. "At the same
time, we need to ensure that our confidential business
information and intellectual property are protected against
inadvertent release to our competitors and others."
A Netscape spokeswoman said the company "absolutely" would
comply with the Senate request. Sun officials could not be
reached for comment. In addition to Hatch, the letter was
signed by Sens. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat; Herb
Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat; and Mike DeWine, an Ohio
Republican. (Can you tell its an election year?)
Intel's Grove Steps Aside As CEO, Remains Chairman
Intel's announced changing of the guard is drawing generally
positive comments from analysts. The world's largest
computer chip maker has announced Andrew Grove, who helped
establish the $500 billion personal computer industry, will
step aside as chief executive in May but remain chairman.
Intel will promote Craig Barrett, its president and chief
operating officer, to be its new chief executive, replacing
Grove.
At this stage in Intel's history, Barrett's operations
expertise will be just as important as Grove's vision, said
Ashok Kumar, analyst at investment bank Piper Jaffrey. "They
need to have the highest-performance, lowest-cost
microprocessor," Kumar said. "The key person who has been
responsible for that is Craig Barrett." Grove, 61, will
concentrate on devising strategy for the world's biggest
chip maker. Barrett, a 58-year-old former Stanford
University professor, will run Intel's day-to-day
operations. "I have no plans of stepping down as chairman,"
Grove said in an interview with Reuters.
State Lawmakers (Control Freaks) Are in a Web-Regulating
Frenzy
The Internet legislation just keeps rolling in. Tennessee
lawmakers are pushing a bill that would tag porn sites with
specific domain names to warn parents. Idaho recently
legislated taxing the Internet. And in Ohio, house lawmakers
have passed an Internet bill so sweeping it tackles
everything from kiddie porn to making ISPs liable for smut.
Every week it seems, another state politician jumps into the
fray with new Internet legislation, even though such laws
often butt heads with the First Amendment or with federal
interstate commerce laws. An estimated 700 Internet-related
bills are brewing at the state level.
"What we saw last year as a rush to regulate the Internet is
turning into a tidal wave of legislation," Paul Russinoff,
who follows interstate issues for the Interactive Services
Association. But industry experts say the bills are often
misguided attempts to exert some influence -- however minor
-- over the burgeoning new field of the Web. "A lot of these
bills are not well-crafted, are not forward-looking,"
Russinoff said. The courts seem to agree. Of the dozen or so
state Internet laws that have been enacted, at least three
have been overturned on the grounds they violate free speech
or restrict interstate commerce.
But such resistance isn't stopping many state lawmakers from
pushing bills that are strikingly similar to those that have
been tossed out. Among the most popular movements is support
for the "mini-CDA," a state version of the federal
Communications Decency Act, which banned transmitting smut
over the Internet if it could be intercepted by minors. That
law was overturned by the Supreme Court last year on grounds
that it violated free speech.
But New Mexico state Sen. Stuart Ingle, the sponsor of one
such bill enacted earlier this month, said he raised the
issue following a case in which a young boy was lured away
from home through e-mail messages. "Certainly the public
needs to be aware these things are going on so they can
act," Ingle said. Still, he acknowledges his law -- which is
under scrutiny from the ACLU -- may follow the path of a
similar law in New York. Last June, that law was struck down
by a federal judge. "This one may be, too," Ingle said.
Other states considering mini-CDAs include Rhode Island,
Illinois and Ohio, as part of its omnibus bill. Internet
policy experts say such actions indicate the states' desire
to do something, anything, to play a role in shaping the
Internet."States feel they have the right to regulate the
morals of their citizenry," said Jerry Kang, a professor at
the UCLA school of law. But he doesn't think they'll have
much luck.
"Over the next 15 years, we'll move toward more national,
and later, international, regulation of cyberspace. States
will have a weakening role," Kang said, adding that federal
laws on the issue will eventually supercede any state laws.
Solveig Singleton, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a
national think tank, said many politicians are just looking
to get their name in the spotlight. "The Internet is a very
hip topic, and the media has paid a tremendous amount of
attention to it. It gets a lot of attention. It gets a lot
of press," she said. Singleton doesn't think state laws can
apply to a medium that doesn't respect physical boundaries.
"In an area where everything is interstate, there is no
sense in having individual state laws," she said. But
clearly, many states don't agree. Kentucky, Kansas,
Mississippi and Tennessee are considering laws that would
require many public agencies to install blocking software,
even though the ACLU and others are challenging a similar
policy in Loudoun County, Va.
Idaho, perhaps the bravest state, recently passed
legislation that would require companies doing business over
the Internet to pay state sales tax when selling to Idaho
residents. The move comes even as the Clinton administration
and industry leaders are pushing a hands-off policy.
Oklahoma is considering legislation that would prohibit
sending obscene material from state computer systems. A
federal judge overturned a similar law in Virginia after
professors and others filed suit.
Spam is another popular topic for Internet laws. Washington
state enacted an anti-spam law last week, following similar
moves in Nevada and New Jersey. Such laws are currently
moving through the legislatures of both California and
Illinois. Some states are also considering laws that would
expand existing child pornography laws to include the
Internet. Still others are seeking to ban computer-generated
images of child pornography, an effort that at least one
federal court has upheld.
State Net Laws Shot Down
The following state Internet laws have been overturned by
federal judges:
In Virginia, a law that banned downloading
"sexually explicit" materials to state computers
was overturned in February on the grounds that it
was overly broad and violated the First Amendment.
In Georgia, a law that criminalized using
pseudonyms on the Internet was struck down in June
1997 on the grounds it violated the First
Amendment.
In New York, a law that prohibited transmitting
indecent materials to minors was overturned in
June 1997 on the grounds it violated interstate
commerce laws.
White House Plans Internet Privacy Forum
The Clinton administration plans to hold a conference
exploring Internet privacy issues in May, officials said.
The gathering, similar to a meeting held last December about
protecting children on the Internet, will include
representatives from industry, government and advocacy
groups. Although the administration has largely favored
private-sector self-regulation to protect privacy, some
advocates argue that with more and more data about
individuals being collected and made available over the
Internet, new laws are needed.
The goal of the May gathering will be to evaluate the
administration's current self-regulatory policy, Under
Secretary of Commerce David Aaron said at a House Judiciary
subcommittee hearing. Because the Internet "is so rapidly
evolving and so multifaceted, we believe it's best to get
the industry to embark on self-regulation," Aaron told
lawmakers. Aaron conceded that the effort got off to a slow
start, but said "the picture is reasonably encouraging at
this point." The administration would be willing to
"reevaluate" its policy if self-regulation proves
ineffective, he said.
Last year, the administration convinced several industry
groups to promulgate voluntary codes of conduct. Fourteen
leading collectors of personal consumer data agreed in
December to limit the dissemination of some information,
such as social security numbers. he controversy over private
information erupted in 1996 when Reed Elsevier's Lexis-Nexis
unit began a service called P-Trak that sold social security
numbers and other sensitive data.
David Medine, associate director at the Federal Trade
Commission, said his agency was actively monitoring the
voluntary pacts to make sure companies were complying. The
agency is also surveying 1,200 web sites to determine their
privacy practices, Medine said. Privacy advocates testifying
at the hearing, however, said self-regulation was inadequate
and called for new laws. Marc Rotenberg, executive director
of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the
Clinton administration's policy was "exactly backwards."
The administration imposed strict curbs on technology such
as encryption that individuals could use to protect their
own privacy on the Internet, he said, but relied on
companies voluntarily not to misuse personal information
they collected. Deirdre Mulligan, staff counsel at the
Center for Democracy and Technology, advocated establishment
of a federal privacy protection agency.
Mulligan also warned that a host of sensitive data contained
in business records is not protected by the Fourth
Amendment's search warrant requirement. For example,
Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr this week got
access to Monica Lewinsky's book buying records without a
warrant, Mulligan noted.
"We've entered a brave new world," Mulligan said. "Data
itself speaks and the little pieces of data that we leave in
our daily transactions, whether they're at the book store or
an online service provider or at a Web site, can come back
and bite us." Massachusetts Democrats Barney Frank and Marty
Meehan sided with the privacy advocates. Frank said relying
on the FTC as the primary protector of privacy was "a pretty
thin reed." Subcommittee chairman Howard Coble, Republican
of North Carolina, said he was keeping an open mind. But at
the close of the hearing, he said: "it's not likely Congress
will do anything in a tangible way this session."
Group Forms to Push Highly Secure Netcape Browser
A grassroots coalition of Australian researchers and
developers have formed the Mozilla Crypto Group to do what
Netscape Communications itself could not -- bring strong
security coding to Communicator 5.0 browser users worldwide.
The group said in a statement Monday that their goal is to
create a cross-platform Web browser by adding the
full-strength cryptography provided by SSLeay, a free
implementation of Netscape's Secure Socket Layer.
The U.S. government has opposed similar efforts at using
such heavily encoded systems on tech exports, arguing it
would cause security problems. SSL is the encryption
protocol behind the Netscape Secure Server and the Netscape
Navigator browser. The news addresses one of the biggest
questions surrounding Tuesday's much anticipated release of
Netscape 5.0 source code. For legal reasons pertaining to
Netscape's licensing of security code algorithms from RSA
Data Security, the company had stripped out the encryption
from the application's code base.
The 10-member group includes Tim Hudson and Eric Young, who
spearheaded SSLeay, and Farrell McKay, who last year
developed Fortify, a patch that beefed up the
cryptographically weak export version of Netscape to full
128-bit strength. The group said in a statement that the
upgraded Mozilla will support both weak legacy - 56-bit and
less - and modern full-strength cryptographic keys.
"At the moment the development plans and projects are in a
state of flux," the group's FAQ states. "More detail will be
added as we find out more about the Mozilla code base after
it is released. The initial aim is to add HTTPS (Secure
HTTP) support into the browser before tackling the other
interesting areas where crypto is used," continued the
statement.
By developing the crypto support in Australia, without US
technical support, the alliance neatly bypasses US Commerce
Department regulations barring the export of most strong
encryption technologies on the grounds that doing so would
threaten US national security interests. But the Mozilla
Crypto Group demonstrates the shortsightedness of that
scheme, experts said.
"The export policies assume that foreigners can't program,"
said Phil Zimmermann, a fellow with Network Associates and
the creator of Pretty Good Privacy. "I applaud the
publication of source code of any product that can have
cryptography in it," Zimmermann added. "It's another step on
the road to worldwide strong encryption," said Bruce
Schneier, president of Counterpane Systems. "It's a good
step, it's a good idea - SSLeay has been around for a
while," he said.
Different sections of code from the browser, christened
Mozilla, will be stewarded by various developer
organizations. On Friday, a Netscape engineer revealed that
the sections of code pertaining to extensible markup
language (XML) would be turned over to a coalition of XML
developers. Representatives of the Mozilla Crypto Group
could not immediately be reached for comment.
Canadian Software Firm Corel Plunges Deeper Into Losses
Canada's Corel, the little software maker that took on giant
Microsoft in the office suite market, reported it had
slipped much deeper into losses in the year's first quarter.
Corel lost $21.1 million, or $0.36 a share, in the first
quarter ended February 28 against a comparable loss for the
same period a year earlier of $11.3 million, or $0.19 a
share. It was the fifth consecutive quarter of losses for
Corel.
Even so, Chief Executive Michael Cowpland tried to put a
brave face on the result. During the quarter, even though
the numbers were negative, we've made substantial progress
in terms of restructuring the company going forward," he
told reporters on a conference call. Ottawa-based Corel's
sales dropped to $45.5 million from a year-earlier $80.7
million.
Cowpland said the company had cut its advertising budget in
half to deal with the drop in revenue, which resulted partly
from a new sales strategy of lowering office software
prices. Corel hopes a cheaper price for its WordPerfect
product will help it compete more effectively with
Microsoft's software, Word.
"We've received encouraging signs from the marketplace...
and we could get a surge in volume," Cowpland said. Corel,
which formerly viewed Microsoft as its rival, has made
WordPerfect fully compatible with Word, executives said.
Cowpland ruled out cutting any staff as a consequence of the
losses and said the company was an unlikely target for a
takeover. "We haven't had any approaches at all," he said.
However, others are not so sure. "They will likely be having
a lot of vultures coming around seeing if there's anything
... of any value and maybe getting some kind of a bid for
the company," said one analyst, who declined to be
identified. Corel had $18.9 million in cash at the end of
the first quarter versus year-earlier $12.0 million and
company executives described the cash position as "stable."
AOL To Launch Bid For Corporate Clients
America Online is expected today to unveil new plans that
will effectively allow corporations to rent the on-line
service for use by employees when they are out of the
office, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Employees
will be able to dial a local phone number that will link
their laptop computers to AOL's network, which in turn will
connect them with their company's internal computer network,
the Journal said.
The Dulles, Virginia, company also has formed partnerships
with a number of network-security companies to bolster the
service, the paper said. It has struck an agreement with
International Business Machines Corp.'s Lotus Development
unit to give its 20 million Lotus Notes software users the
chance to sign on to AOL. The companies providing AOL with
software and services to ensure the security of corporate
data include Security Dynamics Technologies Inc., Aventail,
Axent Technologies and Check Point Software Technologies,
the Journal said.
Compaq Begins North America Sales of Handheld PC
Compaq Computer said it started selling its new palmtop
personal computer, the C-Series Handheld PC, in North
America. Compaq said the device supported several exclusive
software bundles as well as Microsoft's Windows CE 2.0
operating system for consumer electronics. The C-Series
Model 810, which has a monochrome display, is priced at
$599. Features include an integrated modem with standard
phone jack and a display that offers two levels of
backlighting. The C-Series also offers encrypted multilevel
password protection, automatic information backup and other
features, Compaq said.
Sony Says Licenses Java Technology From Sun
Sony said today it had entered into a licensing agreement
with Sun Microsystems for the use and distribution of Sun's
Java computer programming language technology. The two
companies plan to support development of applications based
on Java technology for digital home entertainment products
and networks, Sony said in a statement. The collaboration
will include Sony incorporating applications based on Java
technology into its advanced digital audiovisual products
and Sun creating Java software development tools for digital
home entertainment products, Sony said.
"Sony is creating an open architecture for the home
entertainment network environment where users will be able
to enjoy the seamless interaction of computers, audiovisual
equipment and digital television," Akikazu Takeuchi,
president of Sony Corp's software platform development
centre, said in a statement. Sony declined to give further
details of possible Java-based products.
Sony Starts Online Entertainment Unit
Drawing on its electronics and entertainment expertise, Sony
will announce today the formation of a new U.S. unit focused
solely on Internet entertainment projects, company
executives said. The new subsidiary, Sony Online
Entertainment, will bring together parts of two Sony
business units in the U.S., Sony Online Ventures and Sony
Pictures Entertainment.
It will also sharpen the focus of Sony's year-old online
network, The Station www.station.sony.com , unit president
Lisa Simpson said. "We feel in the last year we have proved
this concept both with advertisers, consumers and Sony,"
Simpson said. "Now we are evolving our mission and focusing
specifically on games and game shows."
In doing so, Sony hopes to capitalize on the recognition of
a game show library that includes Jeopardy! and Wheel of
Fortune, both of which are already on The Station. The focus
and the format have produced a more sophisticated and
perhaps profitable online venture than most companies have
managed, said analyst Gary Arlen, president of Arlen
Communications.
"Sony has learned a lot from the first year of its
experience," Arlen said. "They've been among the first to
really figure out how advertising works in this venue and
the format lends itself to all kinds of other revenue
streams." Simpson said Sony expected The Station to mirror
other online ventures in that most of its early revenues
would come from advertising. Sony asks "members" of The
Station to complete brief demographic questionnaires at
registration which are used to help target advertising
content, she said.
Also, the game format offers a favorable platform for
advertising, said Executive Vice President Richard Glosser,
because it "has an almost natural TV-like break between
rounds" that can be filled with billboard ads. Slightly more
than half of The Station's nearly one million members -
Simpson expected to hit the milestone by the end of March --
are in the 18-34 age group, typical of an Internet sampling,
but nearly half are female, a population often under-
represented on the Internet.
Simpson said the mix has attracted mainstream names like
Kellogg and Procter & Gamble to the site. Simpson declined
to say whether The Station was profitable yet, but said the
creation of a separate business unit indicated Sony
"absolutely expected" to profit, and not simply to use The
Station as a marketing and promotion tool.
Eventually, Sony plans to add new games and begin charging
user fees for premium games. A new addition slated for this
year is based on the recently resuscitated 1970s television
artifact The Dating Game. Multi-player versions of Jeopardy!
and Wheel, potentially with user fees, are also planned.
Another addition will be a kind of "Coffee Break Jeopardy"
with five-minute rounds and no sound, aimed squarely at the
corner of the office market Sony has apparently tapped into.
According to the company's own usage statistics, peak use of
the site occurs during late mornings across the U.S. and
then again in late afternoon, making the site among those
visited most often at the workplace. "Sometimes I wonder if
we're having a dramatic impact on the productivity of the
American people," Simpson said. "I've heard anecdotally that
we've been banned in some workplaces."
Fujitsu Boosts LifeBook Notebook Line
Fujitsu PC Corp. today introduced three new LifeBook
notebook PCs. The Milpitas, Calif., company is adding two
models to its corporate LifeBook 700 series and one model to
its thin-and-light LifeBook 600 series. Fujitsu's LifeBook
770Tx, priced at $2,799, will offer a 200MHz Intel Corp.
Pentium Processor with MMX Technology, a 12.1-inch super VGA
resolution thin film transistor display, 32MB of synchronous
dynamic RAM, a 3.2GB hard drive, a 20-speed CD-ROM and an
integrated 56K-bps modem.
The new LifeBook 790Tx, priced at $3,499, includes a 266MHz
Pentium MMX processor and a 4GB hard drive, company
officials said. The LifeBook 690Tx, priced at $4,299, offers
a 266MHz Pentium MMX processor, a 12.1-inch XGA resolution
thin film transistor display, 32MB of SDRAM, 4GB hard drive,
20-speed CD-ROM and integrated 56K-bps modem, the officials
said. The notebook, which is 1.5 inches thick and weighs
about 5 pounds, also comes with a second external battery.
All of the models, which will ship in mid-April, offer
manageability features, including DMI (desktop management
interface) 2.0 and WFM (wired for management) 1.1 compliance
as well as support for advanced configuration power
interface, company officials said. Fujitsu can be reached at
www.fujitsu-pc.com.
New Intel Chip For Low-cost PCs Behind Rivals
A new, much-anticipated chip developed by Intel aimed at the
sub-$1,000 PC market is not as fast running applications as
its clone competitors, according to tests performed by
computer magazine PC World. The chip, called Celeron, is
expected to be launched on April 15, but PC World said it
obtained a pre-production PC with a Celeron chip running at
a speed of 266 megahertz.
"PC World completed the first road tests of the processor
which indicate that Intel's rivals are still ahead in both
price and performance," PC World said in a statement. Bill
Snyder, senior news editor at PC World, said that while the
chip runs at its expected speed of 266 megahertz, its
performance running software applications is slower than the
performance of rival chips developed by Advanced Micro
Devices and National Semiconductor unit Cyrix.
"The thing is pretty slow," Snyder said. "There is no doubt
in my mind that ... why it's slow is because of the lack of
secondary cache. Take away the secondary cache and you get a
big hit to performance." Intel has said that Celeron will
have no L2 or level two cache, which is a reserved section
of the chip for storing memory, in order to make a chip that
can address the low-cost computing market.
PC World said it tested the chip running applications such
as Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet program; Microsoft Word,
its word processing program; the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet,
made by Lotus Development's Lotus word processing program
WordPro; and a few other business applications.
"We don't know what the magazine has in terms of a test
system," said Intel spokesman Howard High. "What we have
seen historically, if you look back at other chips like
Klamath and others, a number of publications get
pre-production products and when the real product comes out,
they wind up having to recant and reposition their words."
PC World notes in its article in its May issue that the chip
was close to the final version, but that sources close to
Intel said the final version of the chip may offer slightly
better performance. Nevertheless, PC vendors privately
express little enthusiasm over the new chip's performance,"
PC World said.
PC World wrote that Celeron fails to live up to its name,
which comes from the Latin word "celer," meaning speed. PC
World, a monthly computer magazine published in San
Francisco, said it has a circulation of over 1.1 million.
TI Unit Unveils "Made in India" Chip
Texas Instruments today announced the successful development
of a new computer chip designed entirely in India. "We are
announcing a new digital signal processor (DSP) called
Ankoor," TIIL's managing director, Srini Rajam, told a news
conference. TIIL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Texas
Instruments.
DSPs are silicon chips used in a range of electronic
appliances, ranging from mobile phones to fax machines to
modems to digital cameras. Many components that go to make a
personal computer, such as a hard drive, also use DSPs.
Ankoor is a Hindi word for seedling.
Rajam said the new DSP's silicon design project, and the
development of software simulators and models were carried
out entirely by the Bangalore DSP team. The project was
started just two years ago, he added. "The new chip shows
that the talent, commitment and design capabilities in India
are second to none. We are on the world map now," Rajam
said. A company statement said the new DSP combines signal
processing and control functions in a single chip, allowing
original equipment manufacturers (of electronics) to replace
two processors with one.
IBM, Sun Finally Unite on JavaOS
After a couple of false starts, IBM and Sun Microsystems
Inc. on Wednesday will announce that they are co-developing
and co-marketing JavaOS for Business. The new operating
system will be available to computer and component
manufacturers, software developers, enterprise customers,
and Sun and IBM channels by mid-year. The two companies are
also planning joint initiatives and training around JavaOS
for Business.
IBM and Sun are positioning the new JavaOS as suitable for
thin clients, Network Computers and remote terminals such as
kiosks and ticket machines. They are targeting vertical
markets such as inventory management, banking and
call-center support. IBM will offer the new operating system
on its high-end Network Stations, which are Java-enabled.
Sun, of Mountain View, Calif., will migrate its JavaStation
customers from JavaOS for NCs (Network Computers), its
current offering, to JavaOS for Business over the next year.
Sources would not speculate on whether JavaOS for NCs will
be phased out.
At the JavaOne conference last week, Sun reintroduced the
JavaOS for Appliances as JavaOS for Consumers. That
operating system--suitable for Web phones and set-top
boxes--is based on PersonalJava 1.0 and the Chorus
architecture and microkernel, which Sun acquired along with
Chorus Systems Inc. last fall. Sources said IBM, of Armonk,
N.Y., will not be supporting Sun's JavaPC, which runs a Java
virtual machine in DOS by hooking to DOS device drivers,
because it appears to be "a transitory technology." Sun and
IBM hammered out a deal over the weekend, sources said.
Spyglass Unveils New Device Mosaic Software
Spyglass said its Device Mosaic 3.0, a redesigned small
World Wide Web browser for everyday devices, is available
immediately. Whereas the previous version could be used only
as an Internet browser, the new one can be a base for
additional services needed by the digital cable and
satellite industries, for example. The software can be
customized to include electronic program guides or pay per
view ordering, among other things.
In addition, the new software requires less memory, the
company said, making it fit more easily on small devices.
Spyglass provides software and services to make devices such
as telephones, set-top boxes and other consumer electronics,
work on the Web.
Netscape Frees Source Code, Big Hopes
Netscape Communications Corp. today unveiled free source
code for its upcoming Communicator 5.0, as promised. The
company also said it would work hard to release by year-end
a final version of its 5.0 browser, which will incorporate
the free source code, some yet-to-be announced features, and
new products created by independent developers working with
the source code.
"This is absolutely an event that's not just a major
milestone for Netscape, but for the industry in general,"
said Jim Barksdale, Netscape CEO, in a press conference.
Netscape officials said thousands of people already have
downloaded the licensing agreement, which requires
developers who create new products to make them available to
Netscape in the future.
The company said the giveaway would create a large team of
developers working on Communicator, a team that Netscape
alone could not afford. "Now it's not just Netscape pushing
the browser forward, but it's really the whole Net," said
Bob Lisbonne, vice president of the client products
division. The source code is an early developer's version of
Communicator 5.0. The company said the release would let
developers create customized browsers, such as a version for
kids.
The company also is betting that the giveaway will increase
Communicator's market share, which has been steadily eroded
by Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser. Netscape
said it's seen a 50 percent increase in browser downloads
since it made the actual browser free in January.
Microsoft's IE already is free. Netscape also hopes to
increase sales of its server products by leveraging the
proliferation of products based on its free source code. The
company said it has the best luck selling its servers to
companies who already use Netscape-based client products.
The source code will include support for Netscape's upcoming
Aurora interface.
Developers: Thumbs Up on Netscape's Freebie
Netscape Communications Corp.'s decision to release free
browser source code on the Internet received high marks from
developers who plan to distribute it with their software.
The company released an early developer's version of its
Communicator 5.0 source code earlier Tuesday on its
mozilla.org Web site. Netscape also said it would release a
final version of the 5.0 browser later this year, which
would incorporate the code, yet-to-be announced features and
new products created by outside developers working with the
code.
"I would expect it to become the most sophisticated, best
browser out there," said Michael Hickman, chief technology
officer of Blue Lobster Software, which may distribute
products based on the source code with its software, which
links browsers to databases. Hickman said the giveaway means
more developers will be working to fix glitches in the
browser and enhance its performance. "You won't have one
person dictating what happens. It's going to be decided by
consensus," he said.
Netscape said today the release would put the code in the
hands of a team of developers it could not otherwise afford,
resulting in more browser-based products and customized
searching software. "This is absolutely an event that's not
just a major milestone for Netscape, but for the industry in
general," said Jim Barksdale, Netscape CEO. Netscape
officials also hope the move will boost server sales as more
Netscape-based client software hits the market.
Richard Buckle, vice president of marketing for Insession, a
developer of transaction processing software, said the
release will let his company integrate Netscape technology
into its transaction processing products. Buckle said
Netscape has been willing to offer its products to Insession
and ask questions about working together in the large
corporate market, unlike Microsoft, which he described as
"pretty closed." Meanwhile, Microsoft launched an offensive
against the source code release Tuesday, saying it had no
plans to use or "Window-ize" the product.
Craig Beilinson, product manager for Microsoft's Internet
Explorer, also accused Netscape of dragging its feet by
delaying its release of the actual Communicator 5.0 browser
until the end of the year. Netscape has struggling to
maintain market share against an aggressive IE team -- which
released the latest version of its browser last fall - and
its stock has fallen steadily since then. Beilinson said
Microsoft already allows developers to build software on top
of its browser by providing developers with specific
components, or pre-packaged chunks of software.
"They don't have to trudge through millions and millions of
lines of source code," he said. But Blue Lobster's Hickman
said the ability to customize the browser from the ground up
is precisely the point of Netscape's giveaway. "If you want
to get in there and hack with the code, you can."
Symantec and Microsoft Tighten Ties
Symantec Corp. today announced that its Act 4.0 contact
manager has been integrated with Microsoft Corp.'s Outlook
98 messaging and collaboration client. The integration
enables users to exchange information--such as contacts,
meetings, to-do lists and activities--as e-mail attachments
that can then be merged directly into the respective
applications.
For example, an Act 4.0 user can attach a contact or a
proposed meeting to an e-mail message sent to an Outlook 98
user, who can then merge the information into Outlook 98's
address book or calendar. Similarly, Outlook 98 users can
e-mail contacts to Act 4.0 users, who can then merge the
information into their Act database.
At present, integration between the two products is based on
the vCard and vCalendar Internet protocols, which enable
users to share calendar and business card information.
Further integration between Act and Outlook is expected over
time, said Symantec officials in Cupertino, Calif. Today's
announcement is part of a strategic partnership that the two
companies announced earlier this year. The first result of
the relationship was the inclusion of Symantec's WinFax
Starter Edition fax software in Outlook 98. Act 4.0, which
runs on Windows 95, is available now for $199 per
useNews.htm (text/html) r.
Through June 30, the Outlook 98 client is available for free
at www.microsoft.com/outlook . Symantec can be reached at
www.symantec.com. Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., is at
www.microsoft.com.
Is Novell the Next Cyber Johnny Appleseed?
When Novell Inc. in late January disclosed plans to
establish a $50 million venture fund for Internet start-ups,
senior management wanted to keep the announcement a low-key
affair. In that respect, the networking company succeeded
beyond its wildest dreams. News of its Novell Internet
equity fund hardly made a ripple in the press. But when
money's available in the computer industry, word travels
through the entrepreneurial grapevine.
"We wanted to make sure we had our ducks in a row because we
anticipated being overrun -- and we have been," said Rob
Hicks, Novell's vice president of strategic investments.
"Somehow someone found out about it. I've been buried (under
business plans)." The move comes as Novell looks to
rejuvenate its networking business and remain relevant in
the aftermath of failed acquisitions, shifting business
strategies and management turnover.
But in recent months, the story line surrounding Novell has
begun to change amid indications that the situation is
stabilizing. Analysts say that NetWare 5, which is the next
major release of its operating system, is on track and
should contribute to the company's revenues by the September
quarter. The company's stock closed Tuesday at $10.72, not
far from its 52-week high of $13.
Novell began thinking about establishing the fund to
compensate for what company executives openly describe as a
poorly resourced and managed developer program. "When I came
here we had exactly one development tool, Watcom, for
[NetWare Loadable Modules] and people had announced that we
were getting out of the applications business, which was
foolish," said Novell's chief executive, Eric Schmidt.
The fund will make equity investments in firms that create
applications and services revolving around Novell's
networking platforms. Novell then hopes to leverage its
sizable distribution infrastructure -- 28,000 resellers,
15,000 authorized Novell education centers and 400,000
certified NetWare engineers -- to help push the products
into the public's eye.
Novell declines to disclose names of companies in line to
receive financing, but says they are usually not bootstrap
operations coming out of the chutes. "They're usually
looking to raise capital -- in the first and second rounds,"
said Hicks, formally the president and chief executive at
Novonyx Inc., a joint venture established with Netscape
Communications Corp. that Novell now runs by itself. "We're
jumping in at a point where they've finished prototyping and
got something that looks real.
"It has to be strategic and it has to be a good fit with
Novell's strategic initiatives," he continued, adding that
the company expects to make about 10 investments over the
remainder of 1998. The fund may also help toward repairing
Novell's sometime rocky relationship with its developers,
according to Frank Gens, an analyst with IDC. "I do know
that one of Novell's great needs is to romance the developer
community that they had really alienated over the years with
restrictive terms," said Gens. "Throwing some seed money out
there to add to the incentive obviously makes some sense --
and they're going to need those developers if they're going
to make a comeback against Microsoft and establish a
position in the Internet space, which is the core of their
strategic thrust these days."
This isn't the first time a major company in the computer
industry has assumed the role of cyber Johnny Appleseed.
Intel Corp., for example, has made several seed investments
in a variety of companies in the last several years. The
common theme: Create products and services that will
ultimately expand the number of people using computers
(which presumably would increase the number of machines
using microprocessors sold by Intel.)
WorldGate, Nielsen To Track Net Surfers On TV
WorldGate Communications and Nielsen Media Research Thursday
announced a partnership for tracking viewers surfing the
Internet on their TVs. WorldGate offers a technology that
allows viewers to access the Internet from a TV using a
standard cable TV set-top box. It will roll out the service
in St. Louis with Charter Communications in coming months,
and it is working with several other providers to begin
offering its system elsewhere.
The technology, called Channel Hyperlinking, allows users to
switch from a TV station to a Web site. WorldGate is working
with some 30 broadcasters to incorporate it in their
signals. Nielsen, a provider of audience information and
ratings, will measure viewers as they go from TV to specific
Web sites. "Nielsen's role will be to manage the flow of
measurement information between the advertisers and the
service providers," said said David Harkness, senior vice
president of planning and development at Nielsen.
WorldGate also unveiled a deal with The Weather Channel on
Thursday to develop 24-hour links from programming and
advertising to related web content like weather forecasts,
travel information and advertising.
Gates States U.S. Internet Use Hampered By Slow Access
Many Americans were awaiting faster, cheaper Internet access
before going online from their homes, Microsoft Chairman
Bill Gates said. "If there's any area I have a concern with
in the industry ... it's in the area of high-speed
connection to the Internet," Gates told computer hardware
engineers at the annual WinHEC conference in Orlando.
"Although I see very good progress in connecting up
businesses at high speeds, at reasonable prices, in order to
connect the homes and have a connection that is very, very
fast, the only progress we've made is somewhat of an
increase in cable modems," Gates said.
Gates said only low prices and quick speeds, such those
offer by the superfast connections sold by some cable
television companies, would drive the Internet into a high
percentage of U.S. homes. According to London research firm
Datamonitor, 20 percent of U.S. households had paid
subscriptions to the Internet at the end of 1997. The
percentage of wired U.S. households is expected to reach 30
percent by 2002, Datamonitor says.
Microsoft, as well as many computer hardware manufacturers
and retailers, will grow increasingly dependent on
high-speed connections, he said. Windows 98, the next
generation of Microsoft's operating system due out at
mid-year, will automatically connect to the Internet to
download changes in software and to allow users seek help.
Gates said the Internet link would allow Windows upgrades
without stepping up demands on individual computer systems
and that such features were only the start of Internet
usefulness. "We'll go even further," Gates said. "We'll get
down to a shell that can take you anywhere."
Gates said he saw no end in sight for increased demands for
speed and power for computers as the machines, from desktops
to palmtops, learn to read handwriting, recognize speech and
anticipate their users' needs.
"We're increasing our development quite dramatically. We've
revved up very quickly," Gates said. The things that will
really open this market are language understanding, speech
understanding and writing recognition." Microsoft would
spend $2.6 billion on research and development in 1998,
Gates said.
PC Week Commentary: Microsoft's Mixed Messages about Quality
ORLANDO, Fla. -- In keynote speeches and seminars at this
week's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, Microsoft
officials made the bold assertion that the company's
operating systems are not at a high enough level of quality.
Pardon the sarcasm, but imagine that. The fact that Windows
95 and Windows NT 4.0 have a few bugs probably isn't news to
anyone who has ever used a Microsoft OS, although it's
doubtful the company has ever made this assertion to an
auditorium filled with customers. It didn't in this case,
either. Instead, Microsoft was addressing an auditorium
filled with engineers from independent hardware vendors that
make products such as graphics cards and scanners.
The IHVs probably weren't surprised either, since they spend
about as much time developing for an OS as many customers
spend using it. Some IHVs, notably the graphics card vendors
notorious for writing buggy drivers, probably weren't
surprised when Microsoft's finger of blame also wagged in
their direction. Clearly Microsoft is proposing, humbly,
that things in the PC world can be a lot better. As the
keynote speeches rolled on, the company outlined a number of
initiatives to encourage, and possibly enforce, a high level
of quality from the hardware community to eliminate bad
drivers and software. The initiatives include rigorous
testing by Microsoft and driver signing to enforce its
reliability. Officials also outlined new hardware
initiatives that will make the PC a better platform than
ever before, which is the purpose of the WinHEC conference.
There are two issues here. The first, of course, is: Why the
sudden concern? Well, because the consumer represents the
next big opportunity, and at WinHEC the push is to make the
PC more appealing to users who think PCs should be as
reliable and easy to use as a toaster or TV. If they pull it
off, corporate customers will reap the benefits, but the
WinHEC message never mentioned rewarding the loyal repeat
customer. We all know why that is: People buying computers
today have learned to live with PCs and software that, to
the industry's credit, make us more productive, with some
noticeable caveats.
The second issue is: How can Microsoft and IHVs get mundane,
commodity devices to work while making sure all this new
technology--such as USB, 1394 and DVD--works at the same
time? Based on track record and product plans, this is a big
task. Microsoft and the IHVs have had eight years to make
the Windows-based PC an information toaster and haven't been
able to do it.
The plans discussed at WinHEC don't inspire confidence. NT
5.0, for example, includes a considerable number of new
features to make the PC an easier platform to manage. These
features come at the cost of an additional 250,000 lines of
code. Reducing, not adding, lines of code would make
debugging easier. Windows 98 provides another example. One
of the benefits of the Windows 98 architecture is the
ability to download new software and driver fixes easily
over the Web. Talk about a mixed message: Microsoft is so
concerned about quality, it's adding a feature to reduce the
user burden of fixing its product. Will Microsoft win the
Malcolm A. Baldrige Award? Let me know at
michael_caton@zd.com .
U.S. Expands Internet Sports Gambling Prosecution
The government expanded its prosecution of Internet sports
gambling Thursday by filing charges against seven owners,
managers and employees of five betting companies
headquartered in the Caribbean. The action follows the first
federal Internet sports betting cases filed against 14
people earlier this month. The new charges filed in
Manhattan federal court allege the defendants, all who are
U.S. citizens and own or operate sports betting businesses
that illegally accepted wagers on sporting events over the
Internet and telephones. All of the companies advertise and
promote their sports betting operations to U.S. customers on
Web sites on the Internet.
Securities Group Names Top 10 Investor Scams
The North American Securities Administrators Association
identified the top 10 frauds to which investors easily fall
prey, pointing to Internet fraud as the second most common.
"Wall Street can be a mean street for people who aren't
careful with their money," Denise Voigt Crawford, NASAA
president, said in a statement. "Uninformed, unsophisticated
investors make tempting targets for crooks."
NASAA estimates unwary investors lose $10 billion a year, or
more than $1 million every hour, to investment fraud. State
regulators said the top investment fraud issues range from
bogus franchise offerings and high-pressure telephone sales
of speculative stocks to "affinity group fraud: and scams
promoted on the Internet. From March 29 through April 4,
state securities regulators, the Securities and Exchange
Commission, financial industry and consumer groups plan a
series of investor education events under the "Facts on
Savings and Investing Campaign."
The top 10 issues are:
Affinity group fraud - fraud on religious, ethnic
and professional groups by members of the same
groups.
Internet fraud - market manipulation, insider
trading and unlicensed broker and investment
adviser activity on the Internet.
Abusive sales practices - sales to unsuitable
investors, fraudulent offerings and market
manipulation.
Investment seminars - state regulators watch for
unlicensed activity, lack of disclosure of
conflicts of interest and hidden fees and
commissions.
Telemarketing fraud - boiler rooms" or
high-pressure telephone sales operations that
peddle illegal or fraudulent investment products.
Municipal bonds - risky bonds secured by
over-valued real estate being marketed as safe"
general obligation bonds.
Immigration investments - investments that
allegedly confer "alien immigration status" on
foreign nationals.
Illegal franchise offerings - inadequate
disclosure and fraud in connection with the
offering of franchise investments, often through
business opportunity and franchise shows.
High-tech products and services - misleading or
illegal offerings of high-tech investments
targeting unsophisticated investors with promises
of high profits and minimal risk.
Entertainment - scams offering opportunities in
movie deals and other entertainment products with
promises of guaranteed profits that minimize or
ignore risks.
New Net Tax Ban Proposed
No new taxes isn't just George Bush's slogan, it seems to be
gaining popularity on the Net as well. A bill proposed in
the Senate Tuesday calls for a three-year moratorium on
state and local taxation of the Internet and
Internet-related activities. The bill, sponsored by Sens.
Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), also calls
for the creation of a 15-member commission to survey
existing law and propose model legislation regarding
transactions on the Internet.
The new bill, dubbed the Internet Fairness and Interstate
Responsibility Act, or Net FAIR, is similar to the Internet
Tax Freedom Act proposed by Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.) and
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The Cox/Wyden bill also calls for a
three-year moratorium on new taxes, but would allow taxes
that went into effect before March 1 to remain. Neither bill
would completely eliminate the power of state and local
governments to levy taxes on Internet sales. The goal is to
prevent new taxes that specially single out the Internet.
For instance, states are prohibited from forcing an
out-of-state company to charge sales tax unless the company
has a "physical presence" in the taxing state. "This law is
used millions of times a day by telemarketers and mail-order
houses throughout the country. And that's what we believe we
will need eventually when it comes to the Internet -- simple
laws based on existing laws an practices," Lieberman said in
a release.
Most industry analysts agree that the bills would help to
foster Internet commerce, saying that applying diverse taxes
now could hinder growth of the emerging e-commerce market.
"It's critical for the future success of the entire
industry," said Mildred Wulff, analyst in the digital
commerce group at Jupiter Communications in New York. The
Cox/Wyden bill has gathered the support of President Clinton
and the National Governors' Association. The latter agreed
to support the act only after a compromise that shortened
the moratorium and added the March 1 grandfather clause.
That clause has stirred up debate in the 'Net community with
many arguing that it offered a considerable loophole for the
states to levy taxes. Ed Amorosi, a spokesman for Sen.
Gregg, says the ITFA relies too heavily on the Governors'
support, and could result in a "national sales tax." "Our
bill is an attempt to limit taxes," he said. "We have a
different priority." Specifically, he faulted the makeup of
the ITFA's commission, and questioned a requirement that
would force Congress to vote on the commission's report. The
Net FAIR bill requires the commission to issue a report, but
does not put votes on the fast track. Government sources
said that having more than one bill out there actually
increases the chances of some sort of legislation being
passed.
Saudis Seize 45,000 Pirated Software CDs
Saudi Arabia has confiscated 45,000 compact discs containing
pirated computer software in raids on more than 40 firms
since August 1997, an industry watchdog said. The Business
Software Alliance (BSA), grouping major software producers,
also said neighboring Gulf state the United Arab Emirates
had seized $7,700 worth of counterfeit computer products.
Gulf Arab states, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have
been working to apply copyright rules and eradicate piracy
as part of efforts to attract foreign investment and
encourage economic diversity.
Strict application of intellectual property rights is also
integral to a bid by Saudi Arabia to join the World Trade
Organization. BSA said Saudi Arabia's drive to combat
widespread copyright piracy included handing out fines for
the first time in the kingdom to two firms for using copied
software. The BSA said Saudi authorities had introduced a
scheme which compensated those companies whose products had
been copied. The scheme forces the copier to pay financial
damages and replace the copied software with original
software.
"Saudi Arabia has moved decisively to combat the problem of
software piracy...Their action is something we see as very
positive indeed for the future of the computer and computer
software market in the kingdom," said BSA Middle East
director Ashok Sharma. The BSA estimates that last year some
$100 million was lost to computer software pirates in Saudi
Arabia, where the watchdog says piracy stands at some 70-75
percent.
The watchdog said the counterfeit computer products seized
by the Information and Culture Ministry on Wednesday in the
UAE had come from a shop in Sharjah, one of the seven
emirates in the federation. The counterfeit products
included fake compact discs, diskettes, personal computer
games and other office software. The BSA said the ministry
has decided it would no longer issue warnings to computer
shops selling illegal software and would impose a mandatory
30-day closure at the first offense.
Convicted Hacker Mitnick Denied Use of Computer
Convicted computer hacker Kevin Mitnick may not use a
computer to review government evidence in his upcoming trial
on computer-fraud and theft charges, a federal judge has
ruled. "We're never in the world going to do that," US
District Court Judge Mariana Pfaelzer said Monday. Pfaelzer
ordered prosecutors to come up with an alternative plan that
would allow Mitnick to review the evidence files. She gave
them until April 13 to submit a proposal.
Government prosecutors argued that because of the nature of
the charges against him, allowing Mitnick unrestricted
access to files containing such things as computer burglar
tools would be unwise. They also called him a flight risk
and argued against bail. The judge agreed. Mitnick was
arrested in February 1995 after a nationwide search by
federal investigators that later became the subject of
several books.
He faces three separate federal indictments: possession of
cellular phone account information, violating the conditions
of a supervised release program relating to a 1989
conviction of computer fraud, and alleged computer fraud
committed between November 1992 and his arrest. Mitnick,
who'd been placed in solitary confinement last year as
punishment for hoarding tuna, is due back in court on April
14. Mitnick, already serving time for charges related to
cellular telephone fraud and a parole violation, faces new
charges resulting from a Federal grand jury.
Cyber TV Shakeout: NetChannel Folds
On the same day that its competitor WebTV Networks raised
prices, Internet TV service provider NetChannel Inc. has
closed its main offices, according to sources. In a Tuesday
morning meeting, the company dismissed most of the staff at
its South San Francisco offices, consisting of about 90
employees. Company CEO Philip Monego denied the report, only
saying, "First I've heard of it."
He declined to answer further questions. Earlier this month,
NetChannel was reported to have been in merger discussions
with America Online Inc. Sources say the collapse of the
talks compounded the company's parlous financial position
and left it with no cash reserves to continue. NetChannel
has failed to attract many subscribers to its services, and
its subscriber base is "well below" 40,000, according to one
source.
Blair Launches Millennium "Bug Busters"
British Prime Minister Tony Blair today launched a plan to
recruit an army of "bug busters" to tackle the problem of
the computer millennium bug which threatens to disrupt major
services, industry and commerce. Blair said the government
will spend 40 million pounds on setting up a network of
centers of excellence in information technology (IT)
training and 30 million pounds on helping small and
medium-sized companies to assess and fix their Year 2000
problems.
"If we don't tackle this problem, the economy will slow as
many companies divert resources to cope with computer
failures and some even go bust," Blair told a conference on
Tackling the Millennium Bug organized by Midland Bank. Blair
also said the government's Action 2000 campaign would
receive more funding, adding that, despite the success of
the campaign, over 25 percent of British businesses have not
yet taken action to combat the effects of the millennium
problem.
The so-called millennium bug" problem arises if computer
systems with two-digit date fields malfunction by
misinterpreting the year 2000 as the year 1900 or another
default date like 1980. Blair also announced a new team to
CO-ordinate the government's work on the millennium,
reporting to trade and industry minister Margaret Bequeath
and public services minister David Clark. He said the cost
to central government alone would be around 400 million
pounds and around 3.0 billion pounds for the whole of the
private sector including the national Health Service and
local government.
"Resources are being found, but we are not complacent,"
Blair said. "Without careful preparation, there could be
major disruption to essential government services." Blair
highlighted the problem faced by many businesses that, even
if their own systems are compliant, they will face
disruption if the systems of their customers or suppliers
are not. While many larger companies are well advanced with
their millennium programs, many small and medium-sized
concerns have still got a lot to do.
Blair presented Reuters Group chief executive Peter Job with
the first "Year 2000 Recognition Award" from the
Confederation of British Industry, set up to recognize
companies which are acting to solve the millennium problem.
Blair said the millennium could be an opportunity for
British business as well as a threat. "Many of our companies
are ahead of the game, and will not only suffer less than
their counterparts, but also improve our reputation as safe
partners to do business with," he added.
WebTV Boosts Monthly Rate, Blaming High Usage
(Is it a rate increase gimmick?)
WebTV Networks will raise the monthly fee for its WebTV Plus
service to $24.95 from $19.95 effective June 1, the company
said Tuesday. WebTV, a unit of Microsoft Corp., introduced
the new Internet television service in December, although
the needed set-top boxes, which retail for about $200, were
in scarce supply until recently. WebTV officials said the
price increase was needed in part because users of the
service remain online an average of 41 hours a month,
compared with about 24 hours for the average user of a
computer-based online service.
Based on similar concerns, AT&T's WorldNet unit Tuesday said
it would eliminate its flat-fee unlimited Internet use plan
and begin charging customers a fee for use after 150 hours
per month. WebTV has grown to about 300,000 subscribers from
250,000 from the end of last year, although company
executives declined to say how many have the new "Plus"
set-top boxes, which provide a "picture in picture" display
and unified remote control, allowing users to switch easily
from television to Internet mode.
Service on the older Web TV Classic units, which provides a
more basic Internet service through the television set, will
continue to cost $19.95 a month. While the price of WebTV
Plus is rising, the company also promised enhancements this
summer, including one-touch videocassette recording,
searchable TV listings and the ability to add multimedia
content to e-mail. "We believe the value provided easily
supports this kind of price point," said Bill Keating, WebTV
senior vice president for worldwide field operations.
WebTV Executives say they remain optimistic they can reach a
goal of 1 million subscribers by the end of the year. In
addition to the United States, the service was launched in
Japan last fall and testing just began in Britain. WebTV was
purchased by Microsoft last year for $425 million as part of
the software giant's strategy of reaching more consumers by
melding the personal computer's capabilities with the
television's ease of use and mass acceptance.
WorldNet Adds Heavy Use Charge
A day before online service behemoth America Online Inc. is
set to raise its monthly fee from the $19.95 industry
standard, AT&T Corp.'s million-member WorldNet service said
it is adding a surcharge for heavy Net users.<P> Starting
May 1, WorldNet subscribers on the monthly $19.95 plan will
pay an additional 99 cents per hour after they pass 150
hours of usage, company officials said. Per month, 150 hours
works out to about five hours of Internet use a day.
But subscribers to the 10-hour plan, who now pay $9.95 per
month plus $2.50 for each additional hour, will pay 99 cents
per added hour after May 1, officials said. "The Internet
has arrived as a mass medium and usage is soaring," said Dan
Schulman, president of AT&T's WorldNet unit, in a statement.
"We're taking these steps so that AT&T WorldNet will
continue to provide industry-leading network performance at
a fair price."
Just 3 percent of the service's users are expected to pay
more under the new plan, WorldNet officials said. The
Basking Ridge, N.J.-based company also offered a guarantee
that it will not raise the $19.95 rate again for the
remainder of the year. AOL, feeling the pressure when usage
soared among its 12 million-strong user base, announced last
month that starting April 1, its $19.95 unlimited-access
plan will go up to $21.95. No changes are to be made in
AOL's $9.95 plan for access to its proprietary content only
and its $4.95 "light usage" plan. AT&T also announced plans
to add modems, lines and access numbers in cities where
customer demand is heaviest.
Letting Users Tell ISP Performance Tales
Sick of sitting and fuming over Internet busy signals at
your ISP? A company specializing in ISP performance tracking
is set to debut a new service that will take user
experiences such as this into account, letting ISPs know
exactly how often users face busy signals, and how long it
takes them to download Web pages. Inverse Network Technology
Inc., formerly just a provider of performance metrics, is
getting into the software business with its announcement
today of a new package called AccessRamp, a diagnostic
system for ISPs that provides real-time user experience
data, said Bobbi Murphy, vice president of marketing at
Inverse, in Sunnyvale, Calif.
The AccessRamp client sits on the user's desktop, sending
connection information including failed connection attempts,
connection speeds, and number of redials, back to the ISP
each time a user dials onto the network, she said. Inverse
links with HP Also today, Inverse will announce that it has
signed a deal with Hewlett-Packard Co. for HP to bundle the
AccessRamp client software with its OpenView Smart Internet
Service Management Suite and into HP OpenView Firehunter,
the company's newly-launched ISP management service, Murphy
said.
The combination with HP's OpenView products will give
AccessRamp an instant install base of 10 million clients,
said Jeff Thiemann, general manager of HP's NetMetrix
Internet division. The bundled products will be available in
the fourth quarter of this year, and will be priced at
$83,000 for a year's license and support for 50,000 clients,
$414,000 for 500,000 clients, and $584,000 for 1 million
clients, Inverse officials said.
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
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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
EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed
[Image] Edupage
Contents
Distance Learning By Nearby I Want My Minitel! Internet Gaming Runs For
Students Cover
Copyright Situation In China Culture-Not Currency-Makes A Have-Not " Spamford" Wallace Agrees
Country To Stop Sending Junk E-Mail
The Patience Of Jobs Encryption Lawsuit "On Fast Track" Bell Atlantic Plans
Mega-Upgrade
Flaw Found In Proposed Encryption Gaming @Home High-Tech Cheap Labor
Standard Shortage
AOL Offers New Service For Goodbye Stamps-Hello Brokerage Execs Fired For
Businesses Information-Based Indicia Transmitting Pornography
IRS Not Happy With "User Error" Sun And IBM To Develop New Java-Based IRS Wants To Delay
Excuse Operating System Restructuring
AT&T Eliminates Flat Fee For Lapware For Toddlers Can Interactive Games Be
Online Service "Literature"?
36 Missing Computers "Does Not Explaining The Customer Paradox Child Porn In The Eye Of The
Suggest Poor Management" At FDA Computer
Qradio Broadens Listeners'
Horizons
DISTANCE LEARNING BY NEARBY STUDENTS
College and university administrators are finding that their
distance learning programs are immensely popular with on-campus
students, who see them as a convenient way to earn credits. In the
State University of New York's online program, 80% of the
participants are full- or part-time students living on a SUNY
campus, and at Arizona State University, only 3% of the distance
education students live in another state. The trend presents
problems for administrators, who face decisions about how to pay
for both online and on-campus education at the same time, and how
to balance teaching loads for professors who teach both. "What
happens to traditional teaching? As universities put so many
resources into online education, are we going to take away from our
efforts in the traditional classroom? That's troubling," says one
administrator. (Chronicle of Higher Education 27 Mar 98)
I WANT MY MINITEL!
Almost 20 years ago, France became the first networked nation with
the deployment of the Minitel, a low-tech terminal that citizens
could use to do everything from check the weather to order a pizza.
Now, the country's 35 million subscribers are loathe to give up
their beloved Minitel and go online with the Internet: "The
Minitel... could end up hindering the development of new and
promising applications of information technology," warned Prime
Minister Jospin last summer, adding that France's technology gap
"could soon have dire repercussions on competitiveness and
employment." To bring the populace up to speed, Minitel owner
France Telecom is planning to deploy next-generation terminals that
will access both Minitel and the Internet, but French
Internet-industry executives say such hybrid solutions merely
encourage users to keep thinking "Minitel," rather than "Internet."
"While we sit and worry about the Minitel and ways to get around
it, we could be throwing our whole future away," says one. (Wall
Street Journal 26 Mar 98)
INTERNET GAMING RUNS FOR COVER
The International Internet Gaming Association, which represents the
owners of Web sites that ponsor online gambling, says it has
established working groups to develop recommendations for wys to
work with various countries' regulations to stay in business.
Earlier this month, U.S. Fderal prosecutors charged several online
sports bookmaking operations with conspiracy to transmit bets via
the Internet and telephone. Some companies say that if the IIGA can
work out deals with other countries to accommodate their
operations, the lion's share of the income will go to those
countries rather than the U.S. Internet gaming brought in an
estimated $500 million last year, and is expected to produce more
this year. (Broadcasting & Cable 16 Mar 98)
COPYRIGHT SITUATION IN CHINA
Pirated videodisks of the movie "Titanic" were available throughout
China last November, a month before its release in U.S. theaters,
and about half a million pirated disks are smuggled into China
every day from Macao. Chinese officials say there is little they
can do about this blatant violation of the intellectual property
rights agreement that China reached with the United States in 1995.
One official explains: "The profits are so great, they will take
any risk. They're like drug dealers. It is very difficult to
arrange a crackdown. You have to coordinate all these different
departments, the copyright publication department, the police, the
Industrial and Commercial Administration. We take copyright
violations very seriously. But when it comes to copying a disk,
most Chinese people don't see what's wrong." And one merchant who
sells pirated material insists: "There's nothing wrong with selling
pirated VCDs. My son loves watching them." (New York Times 28 Mar
98)
CULTURE, NOT CURRENCY, MAKES A HAVE-NOT COUNTRY
Digital guru Don Tapscott says whether a nation remains a
technology "have-not" depends on its mindset, not its bank balance:
"It's not the poor countries that are blocking progress. It's
countries that have a culture that impedes innovation, that cannot
find the national will to go forward with technology. What is it
about a national culture that enhances curiosity? You need
countries to have an environment where companies have the potential
to create wealth." (Upside Apr 98)
"SPAMFORD" WALLACE AGREES TO STOP SENDING JUNK E-MAIL
Sanford Wallace (dubbed "Spamford" for his aggressiveness in
"spamming" the Internet with unsolicited commercial messages) to
pay $2 million to settle the last of several lawsuits brought by
Internet providers against him and his company, Cyber Promotion
Inc. Wallace indicated that legal battles have "put Cyber out of
the spamming business." (New York Times 29 Mar 98)
THE PATIENCE OF JOBS
He's thinking about it. It takes time, and you have to have a lot
of patience when you're making major career decisions. Apple
understands that. One director of the company says that interim CEO
Steve Jobs "is the CEO. Whether we call him interim or not is a
nonissue with us. We hope he will stay a long time." Apple's board
is convinced that the effectiveness of the new management team has
allowed Jobs to maintain a better balance between his various
responsibilities to Apple, Pixar (the other company he runs), and
his family. So call him interim. Or don't call him interim. It's a
nonissue. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 28 Mar 98)
ENCRYPTION LAWSUIT "ON FAST TRACK"
A Case Western Reserve University professor will have his day in
court on April 24, when the hearing for his lawsuit challenging
U.S. government restrictions on the export of encryption software
is scheduled. "We're back on a fast track," says Peter Junger, who
adds, "The basic argument is about to what extent -- if any --
encryption software and other software is entitled to the
protection of the First Amendment." Federal attorneys have called
encryption software a "functional" piece of programming, no more
entitled to First Amendment protection than a car engine. "In the
case of powerful encryption, there are valid uses of hardware and
software in securing communications... But encryption can also
secure the communications of criminals, terrorists, and other
hostile entities overseas, which gives rise to the government's
concern over its uncontrolled export." Junger's case follows on the
heels of another lawsuit filed by University of Illinois at Chicago
professor Daniel Bernstein, which is being decided by an appeals
court in California. (Net Insider 30 Mar 98)
BELL ATLANTIC PLANS MEGA-UPGRADE
In anticipation of rising demand for data applications, Bell
Atlantic is upgrading its local telephone network to the tune of
$1.5 billion over the next five years. The contractors selected for
the work are Lucent Technologies, Fujitsu Ltd., Tellabs Inc., DSC
Communications and Ciena Corp. "I would characterize this as an
aggressive extension of the Bell Atlantic network," says the
president and CEO of BA's Network Group. "The demand for high-speed
access from businesses and residents is out there." (Wall Street
Journal 31 Mar 98)
FLAW FOUND IN PROPOSED ENCRYPTION STANDARD
An ultra-strong version of the proposed U.S. data encryption
standard knows as Triple D.E.S., which is intended for use in
adding protection to the world's electronic financial transactions,
can be weakened because of a flaw discovered by Eli Biham of
Israel's Technion institution and Lars Knudsen at the University of
Norway. Because of the discovery, the adoption of the proposed
standard is being postponed by the American National Standards
Institute. (New York Times 31 Mar 98)
GAMING @HOME
@Home is working together with Release Software to broaden its
appeal with game enthusiasts. The online provider has opened an
electronic shop featuring 20,000 titles, with 3,000 of them
downloadable. The company sees the opportunity to build its
subscriber base at the same time it can showcase its speed -- a
10-megabyte game takes 17 seconds to download via @Home's cable
connection. "This will appeal to every hard-core gamer tired of
dealing with latency," says an online gaming expert at Forrester
Research. "The problem is, there aren't that many gamers willing to
pay $50 or $60 a month to beat the latency. It's a great market,
but it's really tiny." Although gaming revenue is estimated at $280
million this year, the market is expected to swell to up to $1
billion by 2000. (Broadcasting & Cable 23 Mar 98)
HIGH-TECH CHEAP LABOR SHORTAGE
The computer industry has been lobbying Congress to allow more
foreign computer science specialists into the country to fill what
they say is a significant gap between the number of high-tech jobs
and the number of skilled workers available. But University of
California professor Norman Matloff says the real shortage is not
in skilled workers, but in cheap skilled workers: "The simple
answer is they want to save money. They save money by hiring from
two main groups of people. Number one, the new college graduates...
Compared to the midcareer people, they make less in terms of
salary. And they cost less in terms of benefits, because they're
usually single and have no dependents. The second group of cheap
labor is the H1-B (temporary visas for skilled personnel) work visa
people. They, on average, make less than comparable domestic
workers. That doesn't mean that all employers who hire H1-Bs are
exploiting them. But there are an awful lot that do." Matloff says
the industry focus on inexpensive employees has meant a lot of
software engineers in their 30s and 40s looking for new jobs, or
getting out of the business altogether. (Investor's Business Daily
30 Mar 98)
AOL OFFERS NEW SERVICE FOR BUSINESSES
America Online has created a new custom-designed service to provide
corporate users away from the office secure access to their
company's internal computer systems, by connecting through AOL's
worldwide data network via software protected from eavesdropping by
encryption techniques. AOL's first large customer will be Oracle,
the database software company. (Washington Post 30 Mar 98)
GOODBYE STAMPS, HELLO INFORMATION-BASED INDICIA
The U.S. Postal Service has unveiled the first electronic stamps,
which it refers to as "information-based indicia." With this
system, a personal computer prints the stamp (sorry,
information-based indicia) directly on the envelope at the same
time it prints the address. Customers will pay an
as-yet-to-be-determined transaction fee to download postage. (AP 31
Mar 98)
BROKERAGE EXECS FIRED FOR TRANSMITTING PORNOGRAPHY
Two managing directors in the equity research department of the
Salomon Smith Barney brokerage firm have been fired for using
company equipment to transmit pornography. A company memo
explaining the dismissals said the men were fired "for violating
the policy prohibiting the electronic transmission of offensive
images or text such as pornography," and that "using firm
facilities to communicate such offensive material is totally
unacceptable and inconsistent with our insistence on
professionalism and the mutually respectful environment we seek to
promote. Anyone engaging in such activity should assume that he or
she will be terminated." (New York Times 31 Mar 98)
IRS NOT HAPPY WITH "USER ERROR" EXCUSE
Bill and Karen Bergen, an Iowa couple charged with failing to
report $530,000 to the Internal Revenue Service over a five-year
period, say that the underreporting was partly due to their
incomplete understanding of the Quicken software they were using.
Their attorney said: "It might not be unfair to classify this as
user error. But programs such as Quicken are designed to be
user-friendly for the mass market. The difficulty is, their
simplicity and ease-of-use permits people to pick up a program like
this and use it for business, even though perhaps it shouldn't be
used in this type of a business situation. In this kind of setting,
almost any kind of program canbe dangerous, especially when used by
someone such as Mrs. Bergan who has no computer or accounting
background. This is not an indictment of Quicken. The Bergans chose
to use this program and use it in this manner." (Newsbytes 30 Mar
98)
SUN AND IBM TO DEVELOP NEW JAVA-BASED OPERATING SYSTEM
Sun and IBM have agreed to work together to develop a new operating
system based on Java, the popular computer language that was
developed by Sun. The new system would be targeted for use in the
world's many millions of terminals (a large percentage of which are
connected to IBM mainframe computers devoted to such applications
as airline reservation systems). The two computer makers also plan
to license the new Java OS to other companies. (Wall Street Journal
1 Apr 98)
IRS WANTS TO DELAY RESTRUCTURING
Four months into his term, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner
Charles Rossotti says that if the agency doesn't address the Year
2000 problem immediately, "there will be 90 million people21 months
from now who won't get refunds. He wants to delay a massive
restructuring of his agency until after 2000. "The whole financial
system of the United States will come to a halt. It's very
serious," he says. Rossotti has set a Jan. 31, 1999 deadline for
fixing the Y2K glitch, a project that he estimates will cost close
to $1 billion. And if it doesn't work? "There's no Plan B." (USA
Today 2 Apr 98)
AT&T ELIMINATES FLAT FEE FOR ONLINE SERVICE
The 1.2 million customers of AT&T's Internet access service will
soon be charged an extra 99 cents for every hour spent online
beyond the 150 hours of monthly use which will come with the $19.95
fee that has, up until now, bought unlimited usage from that
company. (New York Times 1 Apr 98)
LAPWARE FOR TODDLERS
Children's software maker Knowledge Adventure is introducing
JumpStart Baby, described as "lapware" for infants aged nine months
to two years. The program features an animated teddy bear that
plays hide-and-seek to teach word recognition and is designed to
give children "a great sense of satisfaction to do something and
see a reaction," says Knowledge Adventure president Larry Gross.
Gross notes that the product was created in response to numerous
requests from parents who wanted to give their children a
technological head start in life, but some early childhood experts
warn that exposing children to the fast-moving images of computers
and television is "the most likely culprit" in the rising number of
attention disorders. Whether computer use by toddlers is beneficial
or detrimental to their development has yet to proven by
researchers, but as one industry executive puts it: "Parents think
computers will help their kids get into Harvard." (Wall Street
Journal 2 Apr 98)
CAN INTERACTIVE GAMES BE "LITERATURE"?
When the two brothers who created Myst, the most successful of any
CD-ROM computer game, were asked whether interactive games are
"literature," their answers were these. Robyn Miller: "Interactive
is an incredible medium, but I don't necessarily believe it's a
storytelling medium. It focuses on environment. People are not what
it portrays best. I think interactive games are more like
Disneyland." Rand Miller: "I look at it a bit differently. In
interactive, I can't lead a person from Point A to Point B, but
linear stories in a lot of cases are just a revelation of someone's
experiences. What I can give people is a chance to experience
things on their own. The story forms in their mind; it's unique to
them. Whether that can be effective in having any emotional impact
remains to be seen." (US News & World Report 6 Apr 98)
36 MISSING COMPUTERS "DOES NOT SUGGEST POOR MANAGEMENT" AT FDA
An internal review of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for
Biological Evaluation Research is criticizing that agency for
amassing a computer inventory twice the size of its staff and for
being unable to account for 36 systems that are missing and may
have been stolen. In response to the charge that "Management
doesn't always know who is doing what," a deputy FDA commissioners
says: "While we take the issue of missing equipment seriously, 36
missing computers does not suggest poor management or detract from
the remarkable efforts that are made each day to promote, protect
and enhance public health." (Washington Post 31 Mar 98)
EXPLAINING THE CUSTOMER PARADOX
Mark Evans, managing director of Deloitte & Touche's high-tech
industry practice, has a theory for why consumers are increasingly
unhappy with technology goods at the same time that they are
increasingly higher in quality: "There's a customer paradox
underway... I think the reason is that the expectations of the
customers have risen rapidly because of information that's
available on a real-time basis. Also, they're getting better
service from all their vendors, (which raises the bar for
everyone). Information is a great thing, but it also results in
people expecting to get more. There's an idea of getting services
along with the product itself. Customers were less hard on the
manufacturers maybe three years ago. They were more willing to go
off and contract with one company for products and another one for
services. Goods are more complex now. They're more integrated and
more important to running the business... Customers now want to be
able to get an answer to a question, not just a product or a
service." (Investor's Business Daily 2 Apr 98)
CHILD PORN IN THE EYE OF THE COMPUTER
Ruling that the use of computer technology to alter images of
children to make them sexually explicit cannot be treated as
criminal behavior, a federal judge in Maine has declared that a
1996 law defining pornography defining child pornography as a
visual depiction which "appears" to be a minor engaging in sex was
unconstitutionally vague. Kathy Fondacaro of the National Coalition
Against Pornography says: "Whether it's simulated technologically
or it's the real stuff, it arms a pedophile. It arms a pedophile so
it's easier to find children and molest them." (AP 2 Apr 98)
QRADIO BROADENS LISTENERS' HORIZONS
Qradio, the brainchild of musician Quincy Jones, offers online
listeners the opportunity to hear music from "great but
underappreciated musical cultures around the world," says Jones,
who believes that in the long run, music from South Africa will
represent an export valuable "far beyond diamonds and gold" for
that country. "They don't get the chance for the exposure and
economic success," without such an opportunity adds Jones. < >
(Broadcasting & Cable 23 Mar 98)
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March 1998
"Virtual Museums on the Internet"
Salzburg, May 8-10, 1998
A Symposium organised by the ARCH Foundation in collaboration with
the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, (United States) ; the ZKM -
Center for Art and Mediatechnology, (Germany) ; Illuminations ,
(Great Britain) ; the Universtiy of Applied Arts, (Austria ) and
Techno-Z, (Austria).
The proposed symposium on virtual museums is aiming to define the
dimensions of new a museum space which has no real world
manifestation. These definitions will form the core of the ARCH
Virtual Museum, within which all appropriate artworks dedicated to
STATE OF THE ART project can be experienced.
The ARCH Foundation's mission is to communicate an awareness
initiative for the preservation of the world's cultural heritage
through the intervention of contemporary artists.
ARCH is trying to define how artworks created through the use of
new media can become an important and effective communicator of the
intrinsic value of cultural heritage. New forms of creative
interactive dialogue and visual interpretation using ever evolving
technology offer a provocative dimension to artistic expression. We
hope that the challenge of multiple contexts will generate results
that will stir the artistic community, as well as stimulate
participation of a new audience into communities of interest. We
want to put people in front of cultural heritage, and to bring the
values it symbolizes to life.
The speakers of this symposium are :
James Boyle, Prof. of Law at American University, Washington (US)
Peter A. Bruck, Managing Director, Techno-Z R&D (Austria)
Graham Defries, Attorney, Bird & Bird, London (UK)
Matthew Drutt, Associate Curator for Research, Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum (US)
Volker Grassmuck, Sociologist (Germany)
John Handardt, Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (US)
Lynn Hershman Leeson,Media Artist and Professor for "Electronic
Art" at the University of California, Davis (US)
Tom Krens, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, US
Michael Naimark,Artist, Interval Research Corporation, Palo Alto
(US)
Hans Peter Schwarz, Director ZKM, Media Museum (Germany)
Jeffrey Shaw, Director, ZKM, Institute for Visual Media (Germany)
Charles Symonyi, Chief Architect, Microsoft Cooperation (US)
Peter Weibel,Media Artist and Curator (Austria)
John Wyver, Chairman, Illuminations, UK, and the list is not closed
yet
A little background information :
The ARCH Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1991 by
Francesca von Habsburg and its international headquarters are
located in Salzburg, Austria. The foundation dedicates itself to
the preservation and restoration of cultural heritage. Its focus
was to promote and restore cultural heritage from Central and
Eastern European countries. ARCH's latest project is a global
awareness campaign which seeks to generate support for global
cultural conservation.
ARCH has turned to the medium of new media art, and has begun
asking the most influential as well as emerging artists to
articulate this mission so as to engage a young and captive
audience to this cause. Our aim is to combine the future with our
past in a compelling and imaginative way.
Titled STATE OF THE ART, the project was inaugurated in Salzburg in
the summer of 1997 to great critical acclaim. Each of the
participating artists have dedicated works of art corresponding to
chosen restoration sites. As a first step, both the artworks and
panoramic photographs of the sites themselves were then mounted
onto larger than life size projections onto the famous Mvnchsberg
rock in the center of Salzburg. The sensational projections were
approximately 8000m 2 in size and were projected from an impressive
Communications Tower. The problem on how to store these "light
sculptures" and to exhibit them in the alternative world of
cyberspace in an innovative way was the initiating spark behind
this symposium. Being experts in conservation rather than in new
media, we seek to define, with the help of international experts,
how the combination of man's greatest achievements of the past can
be brought successfully into the future and be experienced under
new and exciting conditions and environments.
In concordance with the foundation's motto: ,,Engaging the past
into the present is synonymous with participating in the future"
ARCH will be inaugurating this summer in Salzburg, a Communications
Center with its own New Media exhibition space, as well as "The
Station", an artist-in-residence studio.
For more information about the ARCH Foundation, STATE OF THE ART
and the ,,Virtual Museums Symposium", check our homepage at :
http://www.arch.at
or contact :
Pierre Collet - Executive Director
Verein ARCH Foundation - Gstdttengasse 29 - A-5020 Salzburg
TEL: +43 662 84 26 16 0 - FAX: +43 662 84 26 15
e-mail: pc@arch.co.at
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Classics & Gaming Section
Editor Dana P. Jacobson
dpj@streport.com
From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
Well, Summer has come and gone! What, you say...what
happened to Spring? Beats me! This past weekend, and a few
days more, the weather was excellent. Temperature in the
80's and 90's, and then BANG - dropping 50 degrees in a
single day and Winter is here again. Only in New England,
folks! Y'know something, I wouldn't want to be anywhere
else!
So naturally, with the nice weather that we had, it was
difficult spending much time behind the keyboard. I spent
lots of time outside in the yard getting it ready for Spring
- our first in the new house. It should be fun getting
everything in shape outdoors, even if we're still working on
getting things together inside the house! Heck, we still
have a good number of boxes still packed from the move...six
months ago! But, we're looking forward to the house-warming,
the first BBQ, the first swim in the pool, and many
enjoyable firsts in the Spring, in the new house.
Well, let's forget about Spring Fever for the moment and
concentrate on the real reason we're here - Atari computing!
Until next time...
Free JPEG software version 6b Atari binaries available
From: Guido Vollbeding < guivol@esc.de >
I have placed at http://www.esc.de/homes/guivol/jpeg-bin
the following files:
jpg6btos.txt (221 Bytes)
jpg6btos.zip (163528 Bytes)
The zip archive contains generic Pure-C compilations for all
Atari TOS compatible systems (68K code), following the
public IJG source update announcement attached below.
I have also uploaded the files to
ftp://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/atari/incoming , expecting a
final move
to /pub/atari/Graphic/. I would like to provide this ftp
pointer for the Atari section of the JPEG FAQ, when this
happens, because I don't know another actively maintained,
accessible and stable public Atari archive. You are also
invited to spread the code to other appropriate locations
and update older versions, if possible.
You may also grab the source and compile the code yourself.
Please let me know of any problems when doing this, since I
have taken over the provided Atari port. Note that besides
providing some new features, stability of the code has also
increased, so I would recommend to update your software
anyway.
Regards,
Guido
Subject: ANNOUNCE: Free JPEG software version 6b released
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 18:44:18 GMT
From: Tom Lane < tgl@netcom.com >
Reply-To: jpeg-info@uunet.uu.net
Organization: Independent JPEG Group
Newsgroups: comp.compression, comp.graphics.misc,
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.images, alt.graphics.pixutils
Followup-To: comp.compression
The Independent JPEG Group is pleased to announce a new
public release of our free JPEG image compression software.
The primary user-visible improvement in this new release is
that the "jpegtran" sample program is now able to perform
lossless rotation and flipping of JPEG images. Although
there are some restrictions on the dimensions of images that
can be transformed cleanly, this facility may be of
considerable use to digital camera users. (My thanks to
Guido Vollbeding for doing most of the work to provide this
feature.) In the two years since our last public release,
we've accumulated quite a number of small improvements in
functionality, robustness, and portability. For example, the
code should now build out-of-the-box under Microsoft Visual
C++ on Windows and under Metrowerks CodeWarrior on Apple
Macintosh. There is also support for building libjpeg as a
shared library on many flavors of Unix. Although
individually these improvements are minor, there are enough
to justify a new public release.
To avoid the Unisys LZW patent, djpeg's GIF output
capability has been changed to produce "uncompressed GIFs",
and cjpeg's GIF input capability has been removed
altogether. We're not happy about it either, but there seems
to be no good alternative if the code is to be freely
distributed. The IJG C source code, documentation, and test
files are available by anonymous FTP from The same code will
shortly be available in a more DOS-friendly format (ie, ZIP)
in the SimTel archives,
The IJG code includes a reusable JPEG
compression/decompression library, plus sample applications
"cjpeg" and "djpeg", which perform conversion between JPEG
JFIF format and image files in PPM/PGM (PBMPLUS), BMP, Utah
RLE, and Targa formats. A third application "jpegtran"
provides lossless transcoding between different JPEG formats
--- for example, it can convert a baseline JPEG file to an
equivalent progressive JPEG file. Two small applications
"wrjpgcom" and "rdjpgcom" insert and extract textual
comments in JFIF files. The package is highly portable; it
has been used successfully on many machines ranging from
Apple IIs to Crays. We are releasing this software for both
noncommercial and commercial use. Companies are welcome to
use it as the basis for JPEG-related products. We do not ask
a royalty, although we do ask for an acknowledgement in
product literature (see the README file in the distribution
for details).
We hope to make this software industrial-quality ---
although, as with anything that's free, we offer no warranty
and accept no liability. Please direct any questions about
this software to jpeg-info@uunet.uu.net.
Dr. Thomas G. Lane
organizer, Independent JPEG Group
Gaming Section
"Diablo"!
"Atari Collection 2"!!
PSX - 10 Million Sold!
EA Tops!
And more!
From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is!
There's something to be said for progress. Technology, as it
grows and improves over the years, provides us with wondrous
new things. Ironically, it also provides us with the means
to re-visit our nostalgic past.
Hasbro buys Atari and the first announcements from the new
owners is that some of the classic Atari games will be the
first projects to bear fruit. And just a couple of weeks
later, earlier this week, Midway announces the release of
six Atari classics for the PlayStation. Wherever you turn,
more Atari classics are re-appearing on today's
technological wonders.
No matter how you slice it, Atari managed to make a major
impression on a large number of people. They want to re-live
those "good old days" of gaming. We can only hope that any
"modernizing" of these classics retain the flavor of the
originals.
Until next time...
Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming
News!
Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits -- The Atari
Collection 2
CORSICANA, TEXAS (April 1) ENTERTAINMENT WIRE - April 1,
1998 - Paperboy(R), Gauntlet(R), RoadBlasters(TM),
Millipede(R), Crystal Castles(R), and Marble Madness(TM) -
Six Great Arcade Hits in One Package Now Available Wherever
Video Games are Sold
Midway Home Entertainment announced today the retail
availability of its newest collection of classic arcade
video games, Arcade's Greatest Hits -- The Atari Collection
2. Produced exclusively for the PlayStation(R) game console.
Arcade's Greatest Hits -- The Atari Collection 2 features a
compilation of six of the '80's most popular arcade games:
Gauntlet, Paper Boy, RoadBlasters, Millipede, Crystal
Castles, and Marble Madness and is now available wherever
video games are sold. The announcement was made by Paula
Cook, director of marketing for Midway Home Entertainment.
The classic titles featured on Arcade's Greatest Hits -- The
Atari Collection 2 dominated the market and helped to define
the Golden Age of Arcades. Showcasing six of the finest
titles from this dynamic video game era, Midway Home
Entertainment's new game release faithfully translates all
the non-stop action and entertaining gameplay of the
original arcade releases home to the PlayStation game
console:
Paperboy: Paperboy delivers fast and furious,
high-flying game excitement! The 1985 hit release
challenges gamers to deliver the morning paper
while fending off zany neighborhood characters and
obstacles.
Gauntlet: In Gauntlet, originally released in
1985, gamers seek to fend off ghosts, grunts and
attacking monsters in an all-out heart-stopping
competition to gather the most food, treasure, and
magic potions.
RoadBlasters: High-octane, futuristic warfare
rules in RoadBlasters, the 1987 classic, as you
battle evil opponents in a Specially-equipped,
armored race car. The name of the game says it all
in this "kill or be killed" super-speed,
heavy-ammo challenge.
Millipede: Those pesky bugs are back -- with a
vengeance -- in this hard-core re-release of the
1982 arcade classic. Millipede challenges game
players to ward off endless waves of creepy
creatures that relentlessly hound you as you shoot
them to pieces.
Crystal Castles: 16 distinct and confounding
playfields within a 3D super maze makes Crystal
Castles, originally released in 1983, a
super-challenge for the ages. Make your fortune in
ruby gemstones...if you can avoid the multitude of
murderous monsters!
Marble Madness: An all-out race against time and a
slew of formidable obstacles have made this 1984
release an authentic video game classic. Totally
addictive, gamers hand-eye coordination skills
come into play as they seek to reach the elusive
goal line at the bottom of the playing field.
Arcade's Greatest Hits -- The Atari Collection 2 includes
the line's signature Game History Screens, providing gamers
the "inside scoop" on each individual game. This
comprehensive collection also includes historical "slide
shows" featuring original video game artwork, print ads,
sales sheets, and cabinetry.
According to Cook, "The classic title featured on Arcade's
Greatest Hits -- The Atari Collection 2, Paperboy, Gauntlet
and Millipede in particular, are early video game treasures!
Midway is very pleased to bring this collection of six
extraordinary popular classic titles home to the PlayStation
game console."
10 Million PlayStations Sold
FOSTER CITY, Calif., April 2 (UPI) -- Sony Computer
Entertainment America says it has sold its 10 millionth
PlayStation game console in North America. Sony says
PlayStation hit the 10 million mark less than 2 1-2 years
after its North American launch on Sept. 9, 1995. Kaz Hirai,
COO Sony Computer Enterainment America said "the 10 million
milestone dramatically illustrates PlayStation's overall
dominance and popularity, and strengthens our growing
leadership in the burgeoning $5 billion plus North American
videogame market.
The announcement comes on the heels of another major
milestone from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., the
Tokyo-based parent company of Sony Computer Entertainment
America. The company recently announced that its worldwide
shipments of the PlayStation game console had reached 30
million units.
Electronic Arts Tops Nintendo, Sony
SAN MATEO, CALIF. (April 2) BUSINESS WIRE - April 2, 1998 -
World-Class Creative, Development, Marketing and
Distribution Capabilities Keep Industry's Leading Brands,
Franchises Ahead of All Competitors. Electronic Arts(TM),
the world's largest interactive entertainment software
company, has been named in a major industry study as the top
provider of home interactive entertainment software for
1997.
With 1997 calendar year revenues of $860 million, Electronic
Arts (EA) outpaced a range of competitors including Nintendo
of America, Sony Computer Entertainment, GT Interactive(TM),
Cendant Software and Microsoft Corp. According to Home
Interactive Entertainment Assessment & Outlook 1996 - 2002,
a report just released by the highly regarded market
research firm Access Media International (USA), Inc. (AMI),
U.S. sales for home entertainment software grew by 34
percent to reach $5.8 billion in 1997. Globally, consumers
spent more than $13 billion on home interactive software in
1997, an increase of 52 percent when compared to the
previous year.
Emphasizing that the market continues to consolidate around
major companies that produce and distribute their own
titles, the report stresses that the key requirement for
vendors is to have robust distribution capabilities to
ensure that their titles enjoy substantial retail shelf
space. Specifically, the study states that "retailers are
looking for a steady stream of quality games or evergreen
products."
Electronic Arts markets its products worldwide under six
brand names: Electronic Arts, EA SPORTS(TM), Maxis(TM),
Inc., Origin Systems(TM) Inc., Bullfrog(TM) Productions Ltd.
and Jane's Combat Simulations.
The company is best known for its EA SPORTS brand titles
including John Madden Football(TM), FIFA Soccer, NBA Live,
NHL Hockey, and Triple Play Baseball(TM), as well as
Electronic Arts' brand Road Rash(TM) and Need For Speed(TM),
Origin Systems' Wing Commander(TM) series and Maxis'
SimCity(TM) franchise.
"We're pleased that AMI has confirmed Electronic Arts'
global leadership in the interactive entertainment software
industry," said EA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Larry Probst. "Our mission is to provide players around the
world with the highest caliber sports, action, strategy and
simulation titles for PCs and video game consoles.
"We remain intensely focused on strengthening our existing
brands and franchises while establishing new ones --
complementing those efforts by acquiring high quality
creative organizations like Origin Systems, Bullfrog
Productions, Maxis and Tiburon." "The interactive
entertainment software industry growth is accelerating as
new titles and new genres exhibit more'mass market'
characteristics," said Walter Miao, AMI Senior Vice
President and author of the study and a widely respected
industry authority.
"Fueled by its seasoned management team, high visibility
brand, alignment with popular icons and command of the
distribution network, Electronic Arts is an excellent
example of what it takes to thrive in this competitive
environment."
Electronic Arts Ships "Diablo PlayStation Edition"
SAN MATEO, CALIF. (March 30) BUSINESS WIRE - March 30, 1998
- Top-Selling Role-Playing PC Title Developed on
Next-Generation Console Offers New, Exclusive Features and
Original PC-Based Gameplay Electronic Arts, the world's
largest independent interactive entertainment software
company, announced the shipment of "Diablo PlayStation
Edition," the next-generation console game derived from
Blizzard Entertainment's highly popular role-playing
personal computer (PC) title.
The game incorporates all of the familiar characteristics
found in the PC version, as well as several new features
developed exclusively for the PlayStation game. These
include a two-player single-screen mode which allows for a
two-player cooperative assault and enhanced light sourcing
and special effects including shimmering water reflections
in the town that creates a rich, appealing landscape to
explore.
In addition, the game touts the ability to save a player's
character that can be used to start a new "Diablo
PlayStation" game for added replay value,
25-percent-zoomed-in view which helps to enlarge the
appearance of the graphics (when compared to the PC title)
along with a full-screen display mode; a comfortable,
intuitive interface via the fully reconfigurable Sony
controller, and two different game speeds that players can
set for increased gameplay challenge.
As in the original PC version, "Diablo PlayStation Edition"
immerses players in a dark and mysterious land. The journey
begins when players assume the role of one of three
different character classes -- warrior, rogue, sorcerer --
each with individual abilities and attributes to help create
varied gameplay. Success depends on the player's capacity to
develop character abilities and strengths, master powerful
sorcery, explore the town and underground Labyrinth, and
engage in battle with foes, namely the ultimate enemy ...
Diablo.
"Both PC fans familiar with the original version and console
owners will enjoy the game," said Dennis Hirsch, producer at
Electronic Arts. "We've worked closely with the talent at
Blizzard Entertainment, makers of the PC title, to ensure
that 'Diablo PlayStation Edition' includes all of the
familiar PC-based characteristics alongside the new features
developed exclusively for the console game."
Complementing the new features in the game are all the
familiar PC-based gameplay elements, including more than 20
magical spells, three levels of difficulty to master, 16
randomly generated quests that change each time a game is
started, more than 300 magical items to utilize and 100-plus
mythical monsters to battle against. By combining the new
and existing qualities, "Diablo PlayStation Edition" offers
a highly detailed environment and engaging interactive
experience.
Developed by Climax Enterprises Ltd. and published by
Electronic Arts, "Diablo PlayStation Edition" is available
for a suggested retail price of $49.95 and has an ESRB
rating of "M."
ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
Compiled by Joe Mirando
jmirando@streport.com
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. What a week it's been. Here
in the northeast the weather has been somewhat unsettling.
Yesterday's temperature was just shy of 90 degrees (89.4, to
be exact). Quite a departure from normal. The average
temperature here for this time of year is somewhere in the
mid fifties. While I hesitate to blame this aberration on El
Nino, it is quite tempting, isn't it? I wouldn't have minded
yesterday's high temperature quite so much if today's high
temperature hadn't been sixty degrees! Oh, my aching bones!
There have been a few comments about our recent upgrade to
HTML for STReport. Most of them have been quite positive. A
few have been unhappy with the change (I don't see why,
since the text version is still available), and some have
commented that an index would be a nice addition to the "web
page" version.
I doubt that anyone feels that an index would be a bad
thing. But the implementation might be a bit tricky. You
see, the best way to use an index would be to use the
'frames' option. But there are three problems with this.
First, it would cut down on the available area for the
actual text and graphics that make up the magazine itself.
Second, there are folks out there who cannot view frames in
their web browsers. Not many, to be sure, but a few. The
third problem is one of time. The final composition of
STReport is something of a monumental effort put forth by
just one person. The addition of an index requires that you
take even more time to add the links to the articles and
such. I'm not familiar with the current state-of-the-art for
PC web page creators, but even if it is a simple operation,
it is still take a bit more time to get the issue out to
you, our reader. I don't doubt that we will eventually have
an index, but HTML is still new to us as a magazine format.
We're still finding our sea-legs and stopping up little
leaks. I'm sure that as time goes on we'll see more and more
neat things.
Meanwhile, in the Atari world there really isn't anything
all that exciting to talk about. Now that the news about
Hasbro buying Atari for a mere five million dollars has died
down and folks are beginning to puzzle out what Hasbro might
do with its new acquisition (not much in the way of
computers, unfortunately), things have slowed back down to
their normal slow pace. This isn't a bad thing. There is
much to be gained by having the time to really assess what
you have and where it can actually take you. Perhaps that's
why I have not yet run out of material for this column.
There is always someone around who comes up with a way to do
something that the rest of us never thought we'd be able to
do with our computers. And there are always those of us who
are eager to find out how WE can do it. So let's take a look
at all the chatter on Delphi in the...
ATARI ADVANTAGE FORUM
One of the mainstays of today's Atari scene, Mille Babic,
posts:
"This about Hasbro is really great news, such as TOS 6 being
developed for the Milan computer. I just feel that this year
might be a start of a new era for Atari. Let Hasbro do what
they want with the Atari and the logo, whatever they do is
far better then what (not) happened the last years."
Dana Jacobson tells Mille:
"Welcome to Delphi, first of all!! Second, I agree that
whatever Hasbro does with their newfound purchase can only
be _better_ than what JTS has done the past two years. My
guess is that Hasbro will do something with the old games
(Frogger, anyone?); and perhaps re-do some of the old games,
or license them out. I don't think anything will come about
with the computer line other than perhaps licensing things
out (which is not a _bad_ thing)."
Since I've been a visitor to Mille's web page...
( http://hem1.passagen.se/atari ) ever since I got on the
web, I add: "Good to see you here! Welcome to the best
online service for us Atari-folk!"
The really cool thing is that you don't need a direct line
to Delphi to access it anymore. You can do it through the
web! And memberships are priced right... they are free! Of
course there are a few restrictions to the free membership,
but you can still visit the message forums and participate
in chats. All you need is web access and a browser that
accepts cookies (C'mon CAB 2.7!).
Anyway, back to the messages...
Bob Trowbridge posts:
"I have lately noticed a problem. I use a 14meg Falcon with
a Cardinal 33.6 modem. When I am on for extended time
periods I will all of a sudden lose my connection. This is
most noticeable when perusing Usenet msgs (because there is
so many of them). This happens both when using the Text side
of Delphi or when using Delphi as an ISP. Incoming calls
wouldn't cause problems unless you have special services
right? I don't have this. I also thought that maybe someone
in the house was picking up one of the other phones. But a
lot of times it is late at night and no one else is awake.
Also I have picked up the phone attached to the modem,
trying to break the connection and it won't fail! Could it
be SprintNet that is shutting me down? I guess I could try
Tymnet to see if it does the same thing!"
"Turbo" Nick tells Bob:
"You're right, incoming calls won't cause any problems
unless you have Call Waiting (a feature available from the
local telco) on your phone line. As far as the telephone
("central office") switch is concerned, if you are on the
phone using your modem OR talking (whether or not any data
or voice is being carried at the moment) the line is busy.
I suppose that it's possible that SprintNet is disconnecting
you for some reason. I don't use SprintNet for text dialup
to Delphi, but I do use it for a SLIP connection, and on
occasion I have lost the connection unexpectedly. (For text
dialup I use a TymNet node that's on the same switch as my
phone line, and it's rock-solid: stable and no noise at
all.) It might be worth while to try TymNet and see if the
disconnections still happen."
Gordie Meyer tells Bob:
"Delphi does have a timeout if it doesn't detect any online
activity. It should be settable in your user profile. It's
been a while since I messed with mine textside, so I'm not
positive this is the way to get to them, but you might want
to try going into USING DELPHI, then entering SETTINGS.
There's a bunch of things you can tweak, and one of them is
TIMEOUT. I do seem to recall getting timed out when I was
reading especially lengthy Usenet posts via the textside.
(It loads in a big wad of them, and by the time you get to
the bottom of it, you've timed out...)"
Michael Burkley of Suzy-B Software asks:
"The sound chip that controls the ST's sound and floppy
drives is by Toshiba, right? I can't remember for sure. Can
anyone tell me the part number on the ST (specifically the
1040ST)? I have a friend with floppy drive troubles and I
need to rummage through some of my broken ST's to find the
chip and see if replacing his will help. I know I can find
it somewhere, but I'm being lazy and just asking here. So,
if you don't know, don't search too hard. Make me do the
work instead!"
Jim Collins of chro_MAGIC Software
(http://www.chromagic.com) tells Michael:
"The sound chip I think you are referring to is the Yamaha
YM2149F. However, most of the floppy disk problems I have
encountered that were caused by a bad chip were due to the
failure of the Western Digital Floppy Disk Controller (
WD1772 ). In fact, I replaced a WD1772 chip today in a
computer a customer sent in for repair. The floppy disk on
that system now works great!"
Michael replies:
"Ah yes, I meant the Yamaha chip (not a Toshiba one!). I had
thought that all of the floppy disk was controlled by the
Yamaha sound chip. Thanks for the new information about the
Western Digital Floppy Disk Controller. I'll check them
out."
"Turbo" Nick posts:
"...You say that STiK (1.12) won't work with compressed SLIP
(CSLIP)? Do you mean that it won't connect, or that it even
if it connects, client programs won't be able to use TCP/IP?
My local ISP provides CSLIP (plain SLIP is supposed to also
be available - controlled by a 1-letter prefix to your login
- but I get CSLIP either way). I followed the comment in the
'template' DEFAULT.CFG file, setting the parameter for
CSLIP. STiK will connect, but then CAB can't resolve any
hosts (which all work fine when I use Delphi instead of my
local ISP for an IP connection), and the CAB.OVL file seems
to be corrupted (CAB won't even work with Delphi after that
- gives a runtime error - until I re-install CAB.OVL). If
CSLIP really is the problem, then I'll probably have to
switch to STiNG and use PPP (or get some other PPP
solution)."
"Swampdog" tells Nick:
"The most common problem we used to have with STiK was that
SLIP accounts would be set up with VJ compression enabled
even though (whoever) had asked for it to be turned off. We
quickly came to realize most "helpline" staff are not
trained well. VJ compression is Van Jacobson compression and
is a method by which a TCP header is compressed so as not to
use as much space and thus speeds up transmission speeds
(very slightly). Ask the helpline person to explain VJ to
you. If they don't state something similar to the above then
it might be a good idea to ask to talk to someone else if
you see what I mean!"
Joe Villarreal adds:
"I could never get Stik 1.12 to work whenever I set it to
CSlip. The comments in the original dial script for Stik
1.12 states that Cslip will not work with that version.
Cslip works with Sting though. Slip and PPP also works.
Setting up the dial script is almost the same as setting the
one for Stik. Make sure you use the latest versions of Sting
and it's associated programs located on the author's web
site. He updates the Sting files regularly. You'll have to
download the main Sting program and also the various
associated files with a newer date. He has updated the
"coretools" and "module" files several times. The latest
version of Sting works much better than the first one did.
Joe Mirando wrote a script for a PPP connection thru
CompuServe. Don't think I would of figured that one out.
Getting a PPP connection on Delphi is relatively easy. Stik
2.0 will support PPP and Cslip. I saw one of the authors of
Stik about to demo it with Cab, showing how to connect using
PPP, at the Dallas Atari show last October. I did not get a
chance to stay and see it though."
Since there is a certain sense of uncertainty about setting
up StinG, I tell Nick:
"I've also written a DIAL.SCRipt for Delhi with PPP, one for
SLIP, and one for CSLIP. I _think_ I uploaded the PPP script
here, but I don't actually remember uploading it so if it's
not here lemme know and I'll upload it. I've found the more
recent versions of STinG to be much more reliable than the
earlier ones, and quite a bit faster than ICONNECT, which is
what comes with CAB 2.5. STinG also allows us to use all of
the STiK compliant programs like NEWSie and AntMail. Being
able to work in single-tasking is also a big plus with
StinG. I've used it with TOS versions 1.04, 1.62, 2.06, and
3.0x, Geneva, MiNT, and MagiC without any problems at all.
I know I keep babbling about how great STinG is, but it's
true. <grin> If I didn't really like the program, I'd
probably just remain silent (it does happen on occasion). It
is true that STinG takes a bit more to configure than
IConnect or STiK, but you really only have to set it up once
then rock and roll, wondering why it took you so long to
switch to STinG. <grin> If you have any questions, feel free
to ask... either here or in email... but ask here if you can
so that others with the same problem can benefit as well.
Greg Evans and Joe Villarreal were a big help to me when I
was getting STiK going, and they've got knowledge that I
don't, so this is probably the BEST place on the internet to
brainstorm setting one of these programs up. Ya wanna hear
something funny? Even though I've got PPP running smooth and
clean on CIS at 28800 baud, I often dial up to Delphi at
14400 with Flash2 and use LYNX. It's faster by a fair margin
and offers some nice options as long as you don't mind not
having graphics."
Bob Trowbridge posts:
" Old docs mention a STIK II. Does anyone have information
about whether such a pgm is still in development?"
Joe Villarreal tells Bob:
"I sent e-mail to one of the developers and got a response
this past weekend. Michael White said they were working on
Stik 2.0 although they all had full time jobs. Michael is
also working on his masters."
"BlackJ" tells us:
"I just got my monitor, I'm looking for a comm program.
Could anyone recommend one?"
I tell BlackJ:
"My first recommendation would be Flash2 from Missionware
Software. It's a commercial program, but it is one of the
two best comm programs out there. There are also several
terminal programs that are shareware and are available here.
STorm and FreezeDried Terminal are just two that are
available here. I've used them both and they're pretty good
(But not as good as Flash2)."
Joe Villarreal adds:
"Stalker and Flash II are two very good commercial terminal
programs. Demos of these two programs are available here in
the database. I use Stalker and Freeze Dried Terminal. I
have also used ST-Term 3.7b, available in the database. This
program supports Zmodem. It doesn't use a Gem interface
though. Other terminal programs are available in the
database including Teddy Term and Storm."
Dana Jacobson adds:
"There are others, but I'd highly recommend Flash II.
There's a demo here in the databases. We also have a "bonus"
here on Delphi - John Trautschold of Missionware Software
(one of the developers for Flash II) is a regular member
here. His Delphi ID is MISSIONWARE."
Bob Matiska tells BlackJ:
"I've been using Stalker for quite a few years now and am
very satisfied with it. There might be a demo of it here in
the databases to try out. All of the programs recommended by
the others are also good, but I'd like to send a word of
caution about Freeze Dried Term: It's shareware and the
author stopped sending out the "key" files years ago, even
though he continued to accept registration fees from users.
So try the program we have here in the telecom database, but
don't send a shareware fee to him. (It's actually a pretty
neat program. Too bad nobody picked up on the rights to make
key files.)"
John Trautschold of Missionware Software jumps in and posts:
"Yes, I still hang around here and am willing to answer any
questions anyone has regarding Flash II."
Greg Evans asks John:
"How about a Flash 3 with Telnet capability and STiK/STinG
support? I like Peter Rottengatter's Telnet program but miss
uploading/downloading, function keys, capture buffer, etc.
Come on, it's easy!"
John replies:
"Well, unfortunately Greg, we're not doing any more Flash II
development. It just isn't worth it. I sold a whole 24
copies last year and that kind of income just won't support
further development. We had planned on telnet and http
support about the time Atari and the marketplace dried up.
Oh well... We're selling Flash II direct for $59.95. You
might also find it discounted at any Atari dealers, assuming
there are any left, such as Toad Computers."
Well folks, that's it for this time around. Tune in again
next week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen
to what they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
EDITORIAL QUICKIES
50 Rules Men Should Live By
Call.
Don't lie.
Never tape any of her body parts together.
If guys' night out is going to be fun, invite the
girls.
If guys' night out is going to involve strippers,
remember the zoo rules: No Petting.
The correct answer to "Do I look fat?" is never,
ever "Yes."
Ditto for "Is she prettier than me?"
Victoria's Secret is good. Frederick's of
Hollywood is bad.
Ordering for her is good. Telling her what she
wants is bad.
Being attentive is good. Stalking is bad.
"Honey", "Darling", and "Sweetheart" are good.
"Nag," "Lardass," and "Bitch" are bad.
Talking is good. Shouting is bad. Slapping is a
felony.
A grunt is seldom an acceptable answer to any
question.
None of your ex-girlfriends were ever nicer,
prettier, or better in bed.
Her cooking is excellent.
That isn't an excuse for you to avoid cooking.
Dish soap is your friend.
Hat does not equal shower, aftershave does not
equal soap, and warm does not equal clean.
Buying her dinner does not equal foreplay.
Answering "Who was that on the phone?" with
"Nobody" is never going to end that conversation.
Ditto for "Whose lipstick is this?"
Two words: clean socks.
Believe it or not, you're probably not more
attractive when you're drunk.
Burping is not sexy.
You're wrong.
You're sorry.
She is probably less impressed by your discourse
on your cool car than you think she is.
Ditto for your discourse on football.
Ditto for your ability to jump up and hit any
awning in a single bound.
"Will you marry me?" is good. "Let's shack up
together" is bad.
Don't assume PMS is the cause for every bad mood.
Don't assume PMS doesn't exist.
No means No. Yes means Yes. Silence could mean
anything she feels like at that particular moment
in time, and it could change without notice.
"But, we kiss..." is not justification for using
her toothbrush. You don't clean plaque with your
tongue.
Never let her walk anywhere alone after 11 p.m.
Chivalry and feminism are NOT mutually exclusive.
Pick her up at the airport. Don't whine about it,
just do it.
If you want to break up with her, break up with
her. Don't act like a complete jerk until she does
it for you.
Don't tell her you love her if you don't.
Tell her you love her if you do. Often.
Always, always suck up to her brother.
Think boxers.
Silk boxers.
Remember Valentine's Day, and any cheesy
"anniversary" she so names.
Don't try to change the way she dresses.
Her haircut is never bad.
Don't let your friends pick on her.
Call.
Don't lie.
The rules are never fair. Accept this without
question. The fact that she has to go through
labor while you sit in the waiting room on your
ass smoking cigars isn't fair either, and it
balances everything out.
Best experienced with
[Microsoft Internet Explorer]
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STReport "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" April 03, 1998
Since 1987 Copyright)1998 All Rights Reserved Issue No. 1413
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