ST Report: 17-Jul-98 #1426
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 08/14/98-10:19:44 PM Z
From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 17-Jul-98 #1426
Date: Fri Aug 14 22:19:44 1998
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July 17, 1998 No.1426
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>From the Editor's Desk...
We're back... Next issue is in mid August and then back to our regular
schedule. In the meantime, here in Jacksonville, we are in the midst of
the great Annual Kingfish Tournament. It runs for a week every year and
spawns so much excitement for sport fishing and boating in general that
its a given this spectacular event will continue for years. This year,
its being held at the Sister's Creek Marina on Hecksher Drive. With over
900 entrant boats and a Willie Daniels Concert.. this is going to be the
July event in the southeast for boaters and sportfishermen. Hecksher
Drive is right on the Intracoastal and only minutes from the jetties.
One thing is certain, the interest this event generates is only rivaled by
the large annual Southern Boat Shows.
We are not in this year's Tournament. You can bet we will be next year.
Also, count on us entering a number of lesser tournaments up and down the
SE coast. We wish to exhibit various computing applications (both
hardware and software in the course of our activities) We have, however,
been in daily attendance meeting folks and "glad-handing" at every
opportunity. One item that is seemingly taking BOTH the fishing and
boating people by storm are the many GPS navigational systems available
today. An interesting sidebar is, some of the hand held units are capable
of being connected to a laptop thus affording the user a magnanimous
viewing area for both the charts and real time navigation. Stay tuned, we
will be doing some extensive reviews of these puppies and their
application to both the fisherman and mariner.
Just this week we received two wonderful software packages for review.
* Fishnet
* Florida Fishing & Tide Guide
One is aimed primarily at Floridians (both resident and vacationers) and
the other is for sportfishing 'round the world. These packages will be
reviewed in our next issue. For a preliminary glance... both of these
software programs offer untold power in the analyzing of fishing data and
records keeping. Including specific GPS entries. We have also made the
arrangements to review a number of the hardware entries, Northstar,
Trimble and Garmin for openers, into the GPS/Chart/plot arena. Stay Tuned
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LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Gates Calls Win98 A 'Milestone'
The only thing missing from [the] launch of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 98
was the dog. For the San Francisco debut of its long-awaited software,
Microsoft recruited a cast of admirers that included cute kids, feisty
seniors, down-home country music singer Reba McEntire and a valiant
disabled Chicago police officer. All extolled Windows 98 in testimonial
videos designed to help Chairman Bill Gates and Vice President Brad Chase
introduce the world to the new operating system, which makes Microsoft's
Internet Explorer browser for the first time a unified part of the
monopoly-making software.
"It is a milestone - an early milestone, but an important milestone,"
Gates said of Windows 98, which has been described by early reviewers as a
useful, but modest upgrade to the system software used on more than 90
percent of PC systems. "Although it has a lot of innovations to be proud
of, the majority of what we're going to do is still in front of us."
Basing his remarks around the theme of the event, which was called "Route
98," Gates compared the evolution of the personal computer industry to
that of the automobile industry. But he noted that while "it took almost a
century from the time when [the automobile] first appeared to the time
when 75 percent of all the people in the U.S. were able to use a car and
thought of it as part of their normal activities," the rate at which the
PC is being embraced is much faster.
That progress, Gates said, is possible in large part because of the
Windows operating system (OS), which he called the "foundation" for the PC
hardware and software industry. "Over the next three years, the PC OEMs
[original equipment manufacturers] . . . will take Windows 98 as the given
and build on top of it," Gates told the gathering of press, analysts,
employees, independent software vendors and users. "This is the time frame
when Windows 98 will be the consumer platform."
Chase, meanwhile, started out introducing Windows 98, at an event
broadcast live to an audience of about 100,000 viewers at 91 locations, by
talking about two "cool" new features the operating system will deliver to
PC users - but not until later this fall.
They include a Task Center that will be available off the Windows Update
Web site, an online extension to the OS that allows registered users to
receive software updates along with information on new features. The Task
Center enables Windows users to customize their desktops, choosing, for
instance, from a palette of desktop patterns that will be available in an
online gallery, Chase said.
Windows 98 also will include, starting this fall, a technology, code-named
"chrome," that gives Windows users advanced graphics display capabilities,
including the ability to view multiple Web pages on-screen at once.
Chase said Microsoft has received 120,000 preorders for Windows 98 - a
"really nice" number. But he, like Gates, acknowledged that the new OS is
a stepping stone to a future major release of the OS - due in three years.
"People ask me: 'Why did you choose the theme Route 98?" Chase said.
"There is something magical about the open road. It symbolizes that we've
come a long way down the road in just a short time in this industry. . . .
But the road still has a long way to go."
Microsoft Pays For Right to Internet Explorer Name
Microsoft Corp. settled an embarrassing trademark lawsuit [last week],
agreeing to pay $5 million for the right to continue using the name
Internet Explorer for its strategically important browser software. On the
second day of a jury trial in a Chicago federal courtroom, Microsoft
reached a settlement with lawyers for SyNet Inc., a defunct Illinois
software company that claimed the right to the Internet Explorer
trademark. As part of the settlement, Microsoft takes over SyNet's pending
application to register Internet Explorer as a trademark with the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office, but Microsoft spokesman Mark Murray said he
was not sure whether the software giant would complete the registration.
Intel Denies FTC Charges, Says Does Not Monopolize Market
Semiconductor giant Intel denied many of the charges leveled against it by
the Federal Trade Commission last month, saying it has not monopolized any
market, used unfair methods of competition or violated any antitrust laws.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company also said the current lawsuit filed
against it is not an appropriate matter for action by the FTC.
Intel's response was its formal answer to the complaint that was filed in
early June by the FTC. In its lawsuit against the chip giant, the FTC
alleges that Intel used its dominant market position and withheld key
information from three companies in an attempt to stifle competition and
impede innovation. "The allegations in this matter arise out of
intellectual property disputes between Intel and three other major high-
technology companies," Intel said in its answer to the FTC's complaint
filed in Washington.
Intel said two of those disputes have been settled on mutually agreeable
terms among the parties. Its third dispute, with workstation maker
Intergraph Corp., is currently in litigation in Alabama, where Intergraph
is based. "In none of these cases did Intel deny anyone a supply of
microprocessors or any product," Intel said in its answer to the
complaint. Intel's actions did not and could not harm competition in any
relevant market, it said.
In its lawsuit against Intel, Intergraph alleges Intel cut off its supply
of microprocessors, semiconductors and advance samples of future chip
products. Intergraph buys Intel's chips for its workstation products. An
Intergraph spokesman in Huntsville, Ala., did not have any immediate
comment on Intel's answer to the FTC complaint. Intel said it has an
absolute right to refuse to license or share its intellectual property,
including confidential information, and that its products, intellectual
property and proprietary information are not essential facilities in any
relevant market.
Intel also said it did not infringe any valid patent belonging to the
companies named in the complaint. Intergraph is suing Intel for patent
infringement, as one of many counts in its separate lawsuit filed last
November against Intel. Intel said one or more of such companies infringed
valid patents belonging to Intel but its own conduct did not adversely
affect competition.
AOL's CompuServe Unveils Software Upgrade
CompuServe Interactive Services Inc., a unit of America Online Inc., on
Monday launched its upgraded online service software, offering its
customers a new "look" and enhanced features, as well as simplified
navigation to the areas they seek. CompuServe 4.0, unveiled in the United
States, streamlines navigation by using Internet browser-style features,
the company said. It still features content aimed at adult users by
offering services like a securities database, business research and patent
searches. The upgrade also includes CompuServe Instant Messenger, which
enables CompuServe members to send and respond to private, personalized
electronic text messages, and to know when colleagues, friends and family
are online.
Economist Sees Severe Year 2000 Recession Probable
As the clock ticks toward the start of the year 2000, a leading Wall
Street economist says the odds have risen that computer malfunctions will
send the world into a severe recession. "The fact is, there are only 550
days, and only 377 business days, until Judgment Day for our computers on
Jan. 1, 2000," said Edward Yardeni, chief economist at Deutsche Bank
Securities. "Progress is occurring, but not as fast as the year 2000 is
approaching." Yardeni said the probability of a recession had increased to
70% from his previous forecast of 60%, and he said inaction on the part of
global leaders and slow progress by the U.S. government had increased the
likelihood of a crisis.
Biology for the Squeamish: A 'Virtual Frog'
Researchers at Stanford University said Tuesday they have developed a new
and improved "virtual frog" so that squeamish students can dissect it over
the Internet without the blood and gore associated with an actual lab. The
so-called "Frog Island" Web site lets users view the computer-simulated
frog from any angle, or hit a command that turns its skin transparent so
that its internal organs and skeleton are visible. Other commands will
peel back the frog's muscles to expose more of the inner anatomy. The frog
is the first creation of the Virtual Creatures project at the Stanford
University Medical Media and Information Technologies Group.
Study Explains Junk E-Mail Problems
A government report describes the hours wasted by people reading junk
e-mail and the financial burden of sending it, but stops short of
recommending strong measures to relieve clogged e-mail boxes and ban
unwanted get-rich-quick offers. The study, released today by the Federal
Trade Commission, recommends that companies sending unsolicited messages
be prohibited from trying to disguise the content or origin of their
e-mail, which would allow people to better filter their incoming messages.
But citing free-speech issues, the report stops short of proposing an
outright ban on unsolicited commercial e-mail, commonly called ``spam."
The study was put together by an ad hoc group that included major Internet
companies, such as America Online and AT&T, and organizations whose
members send junk e-mail. Because the different groups couldn't agree, the
report doesn't specify whether there ought to be new federal laws
controlling junk e-mail.
"It's a burden and an irritation, but it's the threat of being so overrun
that I can't use e-mail anymore is what bothers and worries me," said
George Crissman, an Internet user in Oceanside, Calif., who receives a
couple dozen e-mails a day. He said one-fourth of them typically are
unwanted junk messages promoting moneymaking schemes or pornography. The
FTC's report describes hours wasted by people downloading and reading junk
messages. The process can be costly for Internet users who pay hourly
connection fees, and it's expensive for Internet providers to store and
transmit those unwanted messages across their networks.
``If every business that was sending out unsolicited commercial e-mail had
to hear back from all the 300,000 people they ... (made angry), and they
had to bear the cost of that, folks would realize it's not the most
effective means of getting your message out," said Deirdre Mulligan of the
Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology, which coordinated
the report. Bill Hamill of Sarasota, Fla., estimated that roughly
two-thirds of the 50 e-mail messages he receives weekly are unsolicited
junk. ``Without anyone's consent, they decide to inflict these nifty sales
pitches on you," he said.
Legislation isn't going to take care of the problem," he added. A computer
user should educate himself, learn how to configure their e-mail
(software) to filter out undesirable garbage." For example, a person can
set up the latest software to automatically delete any message it finds
containing specific words or phrases, or sent from certain companies. But
if a company disguises its information, the filter is useless.
It tends to be a cat-and-mouse game," said Jill Lesser, director of law
and public policy for America Online. ``Spammers do have mechanisms to
allow them to get around our filters." Filters ... will really never be
perfect," said Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters Corp., a New Jersey
company that fights unwanted e-mail. "If you're taking your laptop to
Paris and you have to download your e-mail over an expensive long-distance
phone call, you still have to download that stuff even if it's junked
before you see it. It's really sweeping the cost under the carpet."
Lesser called the problem of junk e-mail "the single most widely received
complaint from customers" at AOL, with more than 12 million subscribers.
"People are furious about it," she said. The FTC report's lack of a
general condemnation of junk e-mail was upsetting to the Coalition Against
Unsolicited Commercial E-mail, which supports a ban on the practice and
participated in the study. The recommendations and conclusions in the
report, we find are somewhat misleading in the way they seem to represent
a consensus among the participants," said Ray Everett-Church, who
co-founded the coalition. "The implication there was a broad consensus ...
is just not correct." AOL's Lesser said her company is "very comfortable"
with the recommendations. "When you look at the breadth of the group -
there were consumer advocates, Internet service providers, spammers - I
think the recommendations went about as far as they could go in a group
with such divergent interests," she said.
FTC Tackles the Bane of the Internet: Spam
Federal Trade Commission officials Tuesday morning gave words of
encouragement to opponents of unsolicited e-mail, but left details of
their larger investigation of the practice hanging. In a morning gathering
focused on results of a year-long, private-sector probe of spam artists,
FTC, representatives of the online industry and public interest groups all
agreed that consumers need better ways tocontrol the flood of junk e-mail
that regularly pours into their boxes. More contentious, however, were
proposals to produce new laws and regulations to control the practice.
"The report is clear that regulatory and legislative action must work in
tandem with actions by the Internet community to stop the problems
associated with unsolicited commercial e-mail," said Ray Everett-Church,
Counsel to the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail, also known
as CAUCE. Jill Lesser, deputy director law and public policy at America
Online Inc., however, shied away from strong action in the short term. "I
wish we could be saying there was a silver-bullet solution. Unfortunately,
there isn't," she said.
Representatives of the Direct Marketing Association and other groups
interested in legitimizing spam through wiser use of the widely
discredited practice also opposed legislation. Bogus addresses hinder
blocking The private sector report said that spammers' repeated use of
forged return addresses remains a serious problem, since forged addresses
make it difficult to block millions of junk e-mails that routinely surge
through Internet service providers' systems, disrupting service and, in
some cases, crashing Internet mail servers altogether. To fix the problem,
the report concedes new legislation banning forged addresses in the
context of bulk e-mail may be necessary. The Senate, in fact, passed such
legislation last May as part of the Consumer Anti-slamming Act; the House
has yet to take up the issue in earnest.
Authors stopped short of endorsing a bill by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.),
however, that would require companies to get permission from recipients
before sending them spam. Instead, they recommended further studies on the
economic costs imposed by spammers on ISPs. CAUCE's Church estimated some
three or four dollars of most ISPs' $20 monthly fees go to fighting the
scourge. The dirty dozen The FTC Tuesday morning also released its list of
12 of the most common consumer scams perpetrated through spamming
operations. For the most part, the scams are no different from confidence
games played outside of cyberspace, said Jodie Bernstein, Director of the
FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Man Collects Under 'Anti-Spam' Law
A Seattle man has collected $200 from a company that sent him unsolicited
commercial e-mail, apparently the first to collect under Washington
state's "anti-spam" law. "I'm sure people will be very happy to see
somebody claim a victory for the Net," said Bruce Miller, a contributor to
computer publications. The law, which took effect June 11, bans
unsolicited commercial e-mail that misrepresents its source so consumers
cannot respond by simply hitting the reply button, Assistant Attorney
General Paula Selis said Wednesday.
It also targets "spam" containing misleading header information that
suggests the material comes from someone else, she said. The law allows
recipients to collect $500 and Internet service providers to collect up to
$1,000 or actual damages for each item of unwanted spam. It applies only
to e-mail received in or sent from Washington state, Selis said. Miller
had complained about Stan Smith, a Salem, Ore., distributor of Tahitian
Noni Juice who used spam to pitch the product. He called the 800-number
provided and received a packet in the mail that included an address for
ordering.
Miller printed out the original spam and wrote to Smith. He basically
threatened legal action and said, "p.s., I'm willing to settle for $200,"
Selis said. Nevada has a law under which consumers who receive spam can
ask not to be sent any more and senders must comply or face penalties.
While anti-spam legislation is under consideration in Congress, "to my
knowledge, Washington is the only state other than Nevada that has
anything on its books right now," Selis said.
Yahoo, AOL Top List of Most Visited Web Sites
Here are the top 10 Web sites for the week ending June 20, 1998, according
to NetRatings Inc., a Web audience research firm. Rankings are based on
measurement of Web activity by a representative panel of about 2,000
Internet users age 18 and older who access the Web from home.
* Yahoo!
* AOL.com +
* GeoCities
* The Excite Network
* MSN
* Netscape
* Microsoft
* Infoseek
* Tripod
* ZDNet +
NetRatings tracks America Online Web usage only and does not track Web
usage of AOL members who use AOL's 16-bit integrated browser.
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Contents
Elsevier Changes Policy On FCC Puts Qwest Deal On Hold
E-Journals
FTC Doesn't Have To Clarify Charges Microsoft To Pay $5-Million For
Against Intel Internet Explorer Name
Vendors Unite Against Bad Applets Europe - U.S. Clash Over Internet
Privacy Issues
Bennet Is Paul Revere - Not Chicken Funny Business - With An "E"
Little..On Y2k Problem
Accused Of Child Porn On The Court Says First Amendment
Net-Reporter Plans Appeal Doesn't Cover Source Code
Is Y2K Bug A Date Problem Or A Math California State U. Drops Plans
Problem? For Vendor Partnership
Palm's Pilots Want To Pilot PSINet Says "Auf Wiedersehen"
Something New
Shaky Voice Mail W3C Okays Netscape's Web
Technology
The State Of The Apple Internet Groups Agree On Interim
Solution
Lexis-Nexis Cuts Deal With 600 Single-Electron Transistors Make
University Libraries Quantum Leap
E-Rate Supporters Eye Block Grants IBM To Avoid Deals With Latin
Warily American Governments
CPA Seal Of Approval For Web Return Of The Honorary Subscriber
Businesses
Administrations Relents (A Little) European Net Community Stalemates
On Encryption Exports On Domain Name Plan
Community Colleges Tout New Senate Targets Set-Top Market
Distance-Learning Network
Fingerprint I.D. System Online Coupons Used Offline
No More Media Elite EDS And Hachette Swap Technology
For "Content"
Cadence Claims New Evidence In Suit CIA Warns Against "Information
Against Avant Warfare"
Information Age Haves And Have-Nots Amazon Means Books
Chemical Society Teams With Tiny Turbines To Power Laptops
Libraries On Low-Cost Journal
The Wireless Revolution Group Offers Compromise On
Encryption Technology
New Study Estimates Cost Of Campus FCC Looking For A Way To Lift
Computer Attacks Some Regulations
Long-Distance Bid Is Not A Microsoft Hopes To Show Real
Popularity Contest Estate
Real Networks Wants You To Smile Big Ad Agency Enters Digital Fray
Phone Security Sun Dreams Of Jini To Provide
Magic Computing Fabric
MCI Sells Internet Assets-Merger FGCU Faculty Voice Concerns Over
With WorldCom Approved Distance Learning
Is Web-Posting "Prior Publication"? ISPs Haggle For Cash Up-Front
Linux Rising McCain Skeptical Of School
Internet Program
Time Warner Wants A Phone Deal Make Big $$$$ On Internet
Collecting From Spammers
ELSEVIER CHANGES POLICY ON E-JOURNALS
Elsevier Science, the largest publisher of scholarly scientific journals,
will now allow libraries to make paper copies of requested articles
appearing in electronic journals and share them with scholars at other
institutions. Librarians have long lobbied publishers to treat electronic
journal articles the same way print articles are treated for interlibrary
loan purposes. Elsevier's new policy still prohibits libraries from
sharing the electronic version of the article, but is seen as a positive
step toward equal treatment of the two media for scholarly purposes. Yale
University associate librarian Ann Okerson says, "This will send a signal
to the rest of the publishers." (Chronicle of Higher Education 3 Jul 98)
FCC PUTS QWEST DEAL ON HOLD
The Federal Communications Commission told Ameritech Tuesday to
temporarily stop marketing long distance service on behalf of Qwest
Communications. The directive comes as the FCC considers whether the
arrangement between Ameritech and Qwest, and a similar one between U S
West and Qwest, violate the 1996 Telecommunications Act. The deals call
for Qwest to pay a fee for each subscriber signed up by Ameritech and U S
West. Long distance carriers AT&T and MCI have sued in federal court to
block the arrangement, and the courts havedeferred judgment to the FCC.
The FCC is expected to issue a final decision within 90 days. (Reuters 1
Jul 98)
FTC DOESN'T HAVE TO CLARIFY CHARGES AGAINST INTEL
The Federal Trade Commission will not have to redefine its charges of
unfair competition against Intel Corp., as the chipmaker had requested. An
administrative law judge denied Intel's request without comment, but at
the same time granted Intel more time to file a response to the FTC's
initial charges. Intel had complained that the FTC's charge of unfair
competition were too vague, and had hoped to narrow it through further
clarification. (Wall Street Journal 30 Jun 98)
MICROSOFT TO PAY $5-MILLION FOR INTERNET EXPLORER NAME
Microsoft has agreed to pay a small Chicago-area software company $5
million for use of the "Internet Explorer" name. SyNet Inc., which is
undergoing bankruptcy reorganization, owned the trademark on the name
Microsoft was using for its popular Web browser. Microsoft had argued that
SyNet did not deserve the trademark because it wasn't the first to use it,
and because the words "Internet Explorer" are merely descriptive. "We are
confident we would have won this case on the merits but we are pleased to
put this issue behind us," says Microsoft in a statement. (Los Angeles
Times 2 Jul 98)
VENDORS UNITE AGAINST BAD APPLETS
A group of vendors has teamed up with the International Computer Security
Association (ICSA) to form a Malicious Mobile Code Consortium, aimed at
combating the threat of malicious or corrupt Java applets and ActiveX
controls. Malicious applets are capable of freezing a user's screen,
slowing PC performance to a crawl, or even scrambling a hard drive.
Charter members include Advanced Computer Research, Computer Associates,
Cybermedia, Digitivity, Dr Solomon's Software International, eSafe
Technologies, Finjan, Internet Security Systems, Quarterdeck, Security-7,
Symantec and Trend Micro. The consortium will focus on educating companies
and consumers, developing product-certification standards and testing, and
providing a venue for information exchange. "The threat by mobile
malicious code has been established," says ICSA's malicious mobile code
program manager. "We have the benefit of anticipating these attacks and
preventing them." (Information Week 1 Jul 98)
EUROPE, U.S. CLASH OVER INTERNET PRIVACY ISSUES
Disagreement between European and U.S. government officials over how
online consumers divulge information about themselves and how that
information is used has led to a stalemate over technical standards now
under consideration by the World Wide Web Consortium. The Privacy
Preferences Project (P3P) and the Open Profiling Standard (OPS) both
enable computer users to determine how much personal information they are
willing to make available to Web sites, but are not stringent enough in
their controls to comply with the European Privacy Directive, which
restricts the ability of businesses to collect information from
individuals without their permission. A European Union technical committee
issued a draft opinion June 16 criticizing the technologies, and saying
that "a technical platform for privacy protection will not in itself be
sufficient to protect privacy on the Web." The EU is pushing for a new set
of laws protecting privacy and worries that if either standard is adopted,
it will mislead European companies and individuals into thinking that they
have adequate privacy protection on the Web. (New York Times 2 Jul 98)
BENNET IS PAUL REVERE, NOT CHICKEN LITTLE, ON Y2K PROBLEM
Referring to alarmists who are stockpiling food and guns to protect
themselves against the chaos they think the "Y2K problem" will cause when
the year turns from 1999 to 2000, Senator Robert Bennet (R-Utah) says: "I
have to be Paul Revere, but I have not yet become Chicken Little. If Y2K
were this weekend, all of the doomsdayers would be right. But when
somebody says to me, 'Should I start stockpiling food and take my money
out of the bank?' I'd say it's a little early. We have 18 months to see
how some of these (fixes) are going to work out." Bennet heads a special
U.S. Senate subcommittee on the Y2K problem. (USA Today 2 Jul 98)
FUNNY BUSINESS, WITH AN "E"
E Technologies Associates LLC, a two-person consulting company based in
New York and Paris, is suing IBM over the right to use the "e" mark
signifying "electronic" (as in the phrase "e-business,") which is at the
heart of a $200-million IBM ad campaign. The smaller company says it has
been using the trademark since April 1997; IBM claims it has acquired
prior rights to the trademark from other companies that it has not
identified because of the legal battle. (Wall Street Journal 2 Jul 98)
INTERNET GROUPS AGREE ON INTERIM SOLUTION
Some 200 representatives of companies, organizations and individuals
attending the Global Incorporation Alliance Workshop held in Virginia last
week agreed to form an interim group that will decide how to select the
new international board responsible for overseeing Internet domain name
registrations. The Clinton administration's plan calls for a 15-member
board that will deal with such thorny issues as expanding the number of
domain names and handling trademark disputes. The meeting in Virginia was
the first of three international conferences on the topic the others are
slated for July 24-25 in Geneva and August 11-12 in Singapore. "We are
beginning to build a real trust and dependence on each other," says
conference chair Tamar Frankel of Boston U. School of Law. "The cultures
of the Internet -- the corporate and service provider cultures -- are
slowly merging. (TechWeb 3 July 98)
LEXIS-NEXIS CUTS DEAL WITH 600 UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
The popular database Lexis-Nexis will be available in a limited version to
patrons of more than 600 university libraries in a deal said to be worth
more than $4 million. Twenty-three library consortia and three
individualslibraries teamed up to work out the arrangement. The Academic
Universe version of Lexis-Nexis, which is offered by the company's
Congressional Information Service Inc., contains fewer sources than the
parent database, but is available via the Web and requires no special
training to use. Following a challenge by Mark Capaldini, president of
Congressional Information Service, to the academic community to work out a
new kind of contract based on the combined number of users, the libraries
were able to build their coalition in just three months, offering
Lexis-Nexis 3.7 million users at a cost of $1.52 per person. "There's
never been a deal like this before," says a spokesman for the
International Coalition of Library Consortia, noting that the scale of the
Lexis-Nexis deal is "unprecedented." The one catch -- Lexis-Nexis plans to
sell advertising on the service. The company has pledged to form an
advisory council of librarians and company representatives to set
guidelines for the advertising. "We've specifically excluded alcohol and
tobacco," says Capaldini. (Chronicle of Higher Education 3 Jul 98)
SINGLE-ELECTRON TRANSISTORS MAKE QUANTUM LEAP
Researchers at Yale University have created an ultrafast, single-electron
transistor that could lead to the development of "quantum" computers the
size of a thumbtack with supercomputer powers. The breakthrough involves
inducing a tiny part of the transistor to "resonate" with the arrival of
each electron. That resonance creates a way to track each electron and
also gives an extra push to the electrons as they're moving through the
switch, making it 1,000 times faster than any previous device. The first
applications of the device will likely be in astronomy and microscopy.
(Business Week 6 Jul 98)
E-RATE SUPPORTERS EYE BLOCK GRANTS WARILY
Supporters of the federal government's e-rate program, which will
subsidize the cost of Internet connections for schools and libraries, are
skeptical about Republican plans to turn the program into a block grant to
states.House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) is pushing to have the funds
transferred from the Federal Communications Commission to the states for
distribution. Supporters of the program say too many schools have already
signed contracts for networking services to change the rules now:
"Thirty-thousand schools have already gone through theprocess under one
set of rules," says a legislative consultant to the Consortium for School
Networking. "It would be enormously unfair to change it in the middle of
the program." About 28% of the classrooms nationwide have an Internet
connection, with that percentage falling to 14% of rural and inner-city
schools. (TechWeb 3 Jul 98)
IBM TO AVOID DEALS WITH LATIN AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS
Without giving a reason, IBM says it will no longer make computer
engineering deals with Latin American governments, but will continue
selling computer hardware and software as usual. Some former IBM
executives in Argentina have been implicated in a bribery investigation
conducted by prosecutors in that country. (Reuters/New York Times 4 Jul
98)
CPA SEAL OF APPROVAL FOR WEB BUSINESSES
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has developed a
certification program called CPA WebTrust, which is a seal of approval for
vendors who are doing business on the World Wide Web. Three of the biggest
U.S. accounting firms have already begun offering the seal, which can be
carried on the vendor's Web site, and which can be obtained for a fee by
firms that pass a review of their business practices. An executive of the
AICPA says: "The WebTrust seal ensures transaction integrity. It tells you
that if you order five blue ties, you'll receive five blue ties, and not
something else you didn't order. It also ensures that your credit card
number will be safe, and you'll know what they're going to do with your
information from a privacy point of view." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 4
Jul 98)
ACCUSED OF CHILD PORN ON THE NET, REPORTER PLANS APPEAL
Freelance journalist Larry Matthews, who works for National Public Radio
and public television in Maryland, has pleaded guilty to a child
pornography charge only so that he can speed up the appeal process.
Charged with 15 counts of using his computer to trade images of underage
girls in sexual acts, Matthews says he was merely acting as a journalist
hoping to expose child pornography trading on the Internet. However, he
lost of hope of acquittal at the trial level when the judge in the case
ruled that "a press pass is not a license to break the law." (New York
Times 7 Jul 98)
COURT SAYS FIRST AMENDMENT DOESN'T COVER SOURCE CODE
A U.S. district court judge turned down Case Western Reserve professor
Peter Junger's argument that he should be allowed to publish several
encryption programs on the Web because the underlying software code should
be treated as free speech. The ruling conflicts with a decision last
summer in a case involving mathematics professor Daniel Bernstein that
said distribution of software code over the Internet was constitutionally
protected. "Source code is 'purely functional' in a way that the Bernstein
Court's examples of instructions, manuals and recipes are not," said Judge
James Gwin in the Junger case. "Unlike instructions, a manual, or a
recipe, source code actually performs the functions it describes. While a
recipe provides instructions to a cook, source code is a device, like
embedded circuitry in a telephone, that actually does the function of
encryption." Mr. Junger plans to appeal Judge Gwin's decision. (Wall
Street Journal 7 Jul 98)
IS Y2K BUG A DATE PROBLEM OR A MATH PROBLEM?
Although his solution doesn't work on every system menaced by the "Year
2000 problem" (in which software coded with 2-digit dates in the year
fields will cause incorrect calculations when the 20th century yields to
the new one), entrepreneur Allen Burgess had a breakthrough insight: "I
woke up in the middle of the night and had the idea. It's not a date
problem. It's a math problem. We had to find and fix the math." So
Waltham, Massachusetts company Data Integrity developed a Y2K tool (called
the Millennium Solution) that is being used by Citibank, Credit Suisse,
First Boston, NationsBank, and the U.S. Interior Department. One part of
the Millennium Solution searches for math in a software program; if a
two-digit date is found to be part of the math calculation, the Millennium
Solution uses a trick of addition to get the calculation to work
correctly. For example, to calculate age in 01 (i.e., 2001) of a person
born in 67 (i.e., 1967): 01 - 67 = minus 66. Add 50. Add 50 again. Correct
answer: 34 years old. (USA Today 7 Jul 98)
CALIFORNIA STATE U. DROPS PLANS FOR VENDOR PARTNERSHIP
California State University is abandoning plans for a controversial
proposed partnership, known as the California Educational Technology
Initiative (CETI), which would have teamed the university system with
technology companies for networking upgrades and services. The original
four companies involved were Fujitsu, GTE, Hughes Electronics and
Microsoft, but Hughes and Microsoft dropped out of the plan in April,
saying the deal didn't make good business sense. The companies would have
managed CSU's computer networking system, in exchange for upgrades to
campus networks and technology, and would have been able to sell unused
network capacity to outside users. Richard West, the CSU system's senior
vice-president for business and finance, says the university will now
"reduce the scope of any proposed follow-on CETI-like deal, both from a
revenue and risk-of-debt point of view. Our discussions with private
companies will be more in the form of traditional vendor/customer
relationships, most likely." (Chronicle of Higher Education 10 Jul 98)
PALM'S PILOTS WANT TO PILOT SOMETHING NEW
Palm Computing president Donna Dubinsky and chief technology officer Jeff
Hawkins are departing amicably but abruptly from that company to develop
their own devices based on the operating system used in the PalmPilot, the
tiny keyboard-less computer that has become one of the fastest-selling
computer devices in history. In contrast to the PalmPilot, their new
product will be aimed at the consumer rather than the business market.
Dubinsky said: "Jeff and I are entrepreneurs. It's always been in the back
of our minds to get back in that environment." (San Jose Mercury News 6
Jul 98)
PSINET SAYS "AUF WIEDERSEHEN"
U.S. Internet service provider PSINet says it's moving part of its
Internet operations out of Germany, following the controversial German
court ruling that held the former head of CompuServe's German operations
responsible for allowing the spread of pornography over the commercial
service's network. PSINet says it plans to maintain a strong presence in
Germany, but will move a part of its business that stores and displays Web
pages for home users and clients to other parts of Europe. "For our
customers and our managing directors... we needed to move some services to
places where the laws are international, and not Bavarian-like," says
PSINet's managing director in Germany. (Wall Street Journal 7 Jul 98)
SHAKY VOICE MAIL
Beth Givens of the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse says: "Voice
mail can be a chink in any corporation's security armor. Every corporation
should have a policy that prescribes what can and cannot be communicated
by voice mail." The latest known case of corporate voice mail invasion
took place in May at the Chiquita company in Cincinnati. The company's
voice mail system was allegedly cracked by a Cincinnati Enquirer
investigative reporter who has been fired over the incident. Chiquita
executive Steven G. Warshaw said: "Our business and my personal privacy
were violated in the most extreme way." He added: "There is not a system
in the world that is foolproof. If there is a record of a communication it
can be obtained by others by surreptitious means." (Washington Post 7 Jul
98)
W3C OKAYS NETSCAPE'S WEB TECHNOLOGY
The World Wide Web Consortium has accepted Netscape's "action sheet"
technology, which provides a way to separate script-based event handling
from the structure of HTML and XML documents. "It looks like it will make
Web pages more maintainable," says an analyst with N.C. Focus. "Good
knowledge engineers can make this happen, allowing XML to produce a lot in
a little bit of text." The "action sheet" technology enables the packaging
of reusable actions, which can then be easily accessed by Web pages as
needed, or cached for quick reuse. Microsoft has proposed a similar
technology for Internet Explorer. (InternetWeek 6 Jul 98)
THE STATE OF THE APPLE
Computer industry analyst Peter H. Lewis of the New York Times says
there's a new sense of optimism among Apple proponents at a large East
Coast meeting of Macintosh fans this week: "Led by co-founder Steven P.
Jobs, Apple appears to have stabilized its management team, halted a
precipitous decline in market share, outlined (at last) a clear path for
its Mac operating system, and streamlined and invigorated its product
lineup." He says the downside is that Apple's decision last year to kill
off its clone market contributed to the overall decline in the Mac
operating system's market share. (New York Times 7 Jul 98)
RETURN OF THE HONORARY SUBSCRIBER
We are gratified (and, frankly, overwhelmed) by the huge number of
messages sent to us asking for the return of our Honorary Subscriber
feature. We appreciate each and every one of the several thousand messages
we received, but please understand if we are unable to answer each message
individually. In any event, we are happy to announce that the Honorary
Subscriber feature will be reinstated, effective immediately. For the next
few weeks we'll do "summer reruns" of some of the Honorary Subscribers who
seem to be among your favorites. We'll reinitiate new programming by
September 1st, about the same time as new programming resumes on "Sixty
Minutes" (one of our competitors). For today's Honorary Subscriber, see
the very end of this issue of Edupage.
ADMINISTRATION RELENTS (A LITTLE) ON ENCRYPTION EXPORTS
Bowing to pressure from the software and banking industries, the Clinton
administration is easing controls over the export of strong encryption
programs, but only for banks and financial institutions in nations that
are deemed to have acceptable money-laundering laws. The announcement was
made Tuesday by Commerce Secretary William Daley, who noted, "This action
gives our nation's financial institutions the flexibility they need to
remain globally competitive. Importantly, it balances those needs with law
enforcement, national security and foreign policy concerns. Through steps
like this we can continue to encourage the development of an electronic
commerce system users can trust." Under the new rules, which will take
effect later this summer, companies will not need to submit a plan for
creating law-enforcement keys before exporting encryption products to
financial institutions headquartered in any of the 45 qualifying nations.
Once they receive approval, the financial institutions will be able to
share the technology with branches worldwide, except those located in
"terrorist" states. (New York Times 9 Jul 98)
EUROPEAN NET COMMUNITY STALEMATES ON DOMAIN NAME PLAN
Representatives from the European Internet community met in Brussels
Tuesday, but were unable to agree on a response to U.S. proposals for the
future management of Internet domain names. "We have failed in the one
thing that we were supposed to talk about, who is actually going to sit on
the new domain name board," said a senior executive at the German Network
Information Centre. "Are we not an appropriate body to suggest some names,
or are we going to let the U.S. decide everything?" U.S. plans call for a
"high calibre, internationally respected" committee to be appointed by
October. The stalemate focused in large part on the question of what the
new board would do -- some participants wanted the primary activity to be
choosing a permanent board, while others favored immediate action on
pressing issues, such as the establishment of new top-level domain names.
(TechWeb 8 Jul 98)
COMMUNITY COLLEGES TOUT NEW DISTANCE-LEARNING NETWORK
The Community College Distance Learning Network is going national,
complete with a media blitz paid for with $30,000 contributions from each
participating college. The first ads will appear next month in Chicago and
Los Angeles, targeted because of their large immigrant populations in the
hope that they can attract international students to the more than 500
courses scheduled for this fall. Courses will be offered via Internet, via
video-based "telecourses," or a combination of the two. Noting that this
latest announcement merely underscores the heated competition for distance
learning dollars among the higher education community, Jim Mingle, head of
the State Higher Education Executive Officers, says, "It's Katie bar the
door everybody's in everybody's business." (Chronicle of Higher
Education 10 Jul 98)
SENATE TARGETS SET-TOP MARKET
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, is
expanding his probe of Microsoft antitrust activities to include the cable
set-top box market. "This is much more of a concern to me than the browser
issue ever was," said Hatch in a hearing Tuesday. "Microsoft already
controls what 20 million eyeballs see. Set-top technology -- if it is
successful -- has the ability to capture 54 million eyeballs." Set-top
boxes contain the operating system for combined video, voice and data
services over cable, providing consumers a way to access information from
the Internet via their television sets. (TechWeb 8 Jul 98)
WHAT'S IN STORE FOR SUN
Janpieter Scheerder, president of Sun Microsystems' storage division, says
his company's future lies in the information storage industry: "Storage is
at the heart of everything we do. I don't know when this business started
to be called the information systems industry. People said a long time ago
that information technology really is memory storage. We took a lot of
turns around it and learned how to build computers... but storage on the
Net has been with us for the past 12 years. At the extreme, storage is our
most important competency. At the minimum, we can say it's one of our key
competencies. It's a flip statement, but you can reboot your computer
you can't reboot your data." (Investor's Business Daily 8 Jul 98)
FINGERPRINT I.D. SYSTEM
Compaq is introducing a Fingerprint Identification Technology. The system,
which is about the size of a deck of cards and plugs into the office
computer, will allow an employee to hold his or her finger to a camera for
matching with a stored print map of the authenticated fingerprint in order
to convince the computer to allow access. The technology was developed in
collaboration with San Bruno, CA.-based Identicator Technology; similar
products are already on the market, but Compaq's is relatively cheap at
$99. (USA Today 8 Jul 98)
ONLINE COUPONS USED OFFLINE
Manufacturers, retailers and direct marketers are increasingly using the
World Wide Web to offer coupons that can be printed out and used in
stores. The advantage of this method of coupon distribution is that it
allows merchants who keep customer purchasing histories to target their
customers with great precision. Marian Salzman of Young & Rubicam says:
"This is going to be very sophisticated consumer-sleuthing. The degree of
intelligence that you can compile this way is really mind-boggling."
(Computerworld 6 Jul 98)
NO MORE MEDIA ELITE
The economist and journalist Robert J. Samuelson says that new
communications and computer technologies threaten the incomes, social
importance and political influence of the so-called "media elite" who run
the TV networks and large newspapers. One evidence for his statement is a
survey from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, showing
a startling eclipse of TV networks' nightly news programs, which were in
1993 were regularly watched by 60% of Americans over 18, compared to only
38% in 1998. Similarly, Internet use has soared: in 1995, 4% of adults
went online to get news once a week, compared to 20% today. (Washington
Post 8 Jul 98)
EDS AND HACHETTE SWAP TECHNOLOGY FOR "CONTENT"
The Dallas, Texas-based C20 Internet consulting and services division of
Electronic Data Systems (EDS) has signed a $30-million deal to develop,
launch and manage Web sites for Hachette Filipacchi New Media, which
produces thirty publications, including "Road & Track," "Travel Holiday,"
and "Eating Well." There will be no up-front transfer of money. Instead,
the consulting firm will get a share of revenue generated from Hachette's
sales of accessories, vacation packages and cookbooks made over the
Internet. Hachette president Jim Docherty says, "We were paying them for
awhile to develop and host our sites, but then a lightbulb went off in
both places. We had the content and advertisements, but not the
technology. And they had no content. This way, they don't pay for content,
and we don't pay for technology. Everybody makes out on the deal. To have
a whole room full of programmers isn't my view of a long-term profitable
picture. This lets us stick to publishing." (Computerworld 6 Jul 98)
CADENCE CLAIMS NEW EVIDENCE IN SUIT AGAINST AVANT
Cadence Design Systems says it has proof that rival Avant directly copied
Cadence's Design Framework II design-automation software to incorporate in
Avant's Aquarius product. "Aquarius would not exist as a workable product
without Avant's misappropriation of Cadence trade secrets, and Aquarius
therefore should be enjoined," says Cadence in its filing. Cadence says it
plans to seek $1.2 billion in damages once the trial begins. Avant says
there is no copied code in its Aquarius product and accuses Cadence of
acting irresponsibly in its lawsuit: "This case is about Cadence trying to
harass Avant in the courtroom because Avant is winning fair and square in
the marketplace," says an Avant spokesman. (Semiconductor Business News 10
Jul 98)
CIA WARNS AGAINST "INFORMATION WARFARE"
CIA Director George Tenet told the Senate Government Affairs Committee
recently that China and several other nations are developing
"extraordinary" information warfare capabilities, and warned that everyone
-- from foreign nations' intelligence and military forces, to industrial
competitors, to everyday citizens -- are at risk. According to Tenet, "It
is clear that national developing these programs recognize the value of
attacking a country's computer systems both on the battlefield and in the
civilian arena." National Security Agency head Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minihan
concurred, saying "We are seeing the tip of the iceberg. Even when attacks
are detected and reported, we rarely know who the attacker was."
(Information Week 6 Jul 98)
INFORMATION AGE HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS
Asked about the impact of computers and the Internet on society,
Vanderbilt University management professor Donna Hoffman says: "Will we
really transform society through the use of computers and the Internet?
Well, the jury is still out. I certainly think the potential is there, but
it will be realized only if we can get access in the hands of everyone.
Otherwise, we are not likely to see revolutionary changes. And we will
still have the schisms and chasms in society where there will be sectors
of society in which people are able to partake of the wonderful riches
online, and at the same time other groups are effectively excluded. I
don't think there will be much evidence of the transforming powers found
in creating new sources of value until we have people online who we never
thought would come online. If we're serious about change, we need to be
thinking of getting entire countries -- the developing countries and
societies -- online. (Exec Sum 98)
AMAZON MEANS BOOKS
Only three years after making its first sale, online bookseller Amazon.com
has become the third-biggest bookseller in the country. Founder Jeff Bezos
says, "To be nine times bigger [on the Web] than your nearest competitor,
you actually only have to be 10 percent better." A principal reason for
Amazon's success has been advertising, and the company was at one point
was spending $36 in marketing for every $100 in sales. But book publisher
Peter Osnos explains: "Amazon brilliantly, and at great expense, has
branded. When people think of ordering a book online, they think of
Amazon. It's like Xerox. It's entered the language." (Washington Post 9
Jul 98)
CHEMICAL SOCIETY TEAMS WITH LIBRARIES ON LOW-COST JOURNAL
A coalition of university libraries and the American Chemical Society will
produce a new organic-chemistry publication that will be considerably less
expensive than its leading competitor, Tetrahedron Letters, published by
Elsevier Science. The coalition plans to start other low-cost journals in
collaboration with other publishers, says Duane Webster, head of the
Association of Research Libraries. The new journal will be available in
both print and online versions, and the 81 libraries in the Scholarly
Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition have already agreed to
subscribe to it. "There's a real market opportunity to provide
high-quality journals at reasonable prices," says Kenneth Frazier,
chairman of the library coalition. Scholarly journal prices rose 169%
between 1986 and 1997. (Chronicle of Higher Education 10 Jul 98)
TINY TURBINES TO POWER LAPTOPS
Scientists at MIT's gas-turbine lab predict that sometime around 2000
engines the size of shirt buttons will begin replacing the batteries now
powering handheld computers, cell phones and camcorders. Lab director Alan
Epstein says a turbine-driven power pack could be made about 25% smaller
than today's lithium batteries and last twice as long between refuelings.
The MIT model resembles a miniature jet engine and runs on butane. The
U.S. Army, which is funding the research, is planning to use the new
engines to power GPS receivers, night-vision goggles and other military
gear. (Business Week 13 Jul 98)
THE WIRELESS REVOLUTION
The Yankee Group telecommunications research staff predict that by 2005
wireless phones will account for 20% of worldwide phone traffic, up from
4% in 1997. Evidence of this trend? BellSouth reports that in Louisiana
15% of its wireless customers don't have a regular phone and 65% use their
wireless phones at home, up 56% from last year. (USA Today 10 Jul 98)
GROUP OFFERS COMPROMISE ON ENCRYPTION TECHNOLOGY
A coalition of computer industry firms, led by Cisco Systems Inc., is
offering a new approach to encryption technology that will keep messages
secure, but also allow government officials to "eavesdrop" if necessary.
"It's not the complete answer, but it's a very positive step," says the VP
of marketing for Network Associates. Other members of the group include
Sun Microsystems, Novell and Hewlett-Packard. The technology enables
messages to be scrambled for privacy, but provides two restricted access
points so-called "private doorbells" -- at the beginning and the end of
each transmission. A Clinton administration representative called the
proposal a "creative and innovative plan" and officials at the Commerce
and Justice Departments will review it in the coming weeks to see how it
meshes with their policies. (Wall Street Journal 13 July 1998)
NEW STUDY ESTIMATES COST OF CAMPUS COMPUTER ATTACKS
A new study of 30 hacker attacks and other computer problems, conducted by
researchers at the University of Michigan, found the cost of the attacks
varied widely, depending on the incident. Most of the attacks affected few
people and cost less than $15,000 each to fix, but in a few severe cases,
repair costs topped $100,000 and service was disrupted for more than 1,000
users. The study was one of the first to attempt to put a price tag on
university computer problems, which include hacker attacks, accidental
data losses, power outages and thefts of computer equipment. The
researchers found that the way an institution dealt with the problem had
as much to do with the final cost as the nature of the attack. For
instance, the more people who were involved in solving the problem, or the
longer a problem was allowed to continue in an effort to nab the
perpetrator, the more expensive the incident was. The study's leader,
Virginia Rezmierski, says the data provide a starting point for more
research that could lead to guidelines on how a university should react to
such threats. (Chronicle of Higher Education 17 Jul 98)
FCC LOOKING FOR A WAY TO LIFT SOME REGULATIONS
Acknowledging the claims of regional Bell phone companies that current
federal regulations discourage them from building high-speed networks for
Internet access by their customers, FCC Chairman William Kennard says he
hopes to find a way to eliminate as many regulations as possible, but
admits he has not yet come up with a plan to do so. (Investor's Business
Daily 13 Jul 98)
LONG-DISTANCE BID IS NOT A POPULARITY CONTEST
Pacific Bell's strategy to take its bid to enter the long-distance market
to the public is riling California state regulators who insist they, not
consumers, should decide PacBell's future. Following a media blitz, the
telco reported last week that more than 140 chambers of commerce, business
councils and other economic groups have passed resolutions or sent letters
in support of PacBell's long-distance application. But the state Public
Utilities Commission isn't swayed: "Whether Pacific, whose parent company
is Southwestern Bell Corp., can enter the long-distance market... is not a
matter of who gets the most consumer votes; federal law decides." In order
to enter the long-distance market, regulators must agree that PacBell has
complied with a 14-point checklist, documenting that they have opened
their local markets to full and open competition. (Los Angeles Times 13
Jul 98)
MICROSOFT HOPES TO SHOW REAL ESTATE
Microsoft is launching a service called HomeAdvisor.com that will allow
consumers to search for homes and mortgages on the World Wide Web. The
service, which expects to derive revenue by charging for advertising and
by assessing fees on each mortgage will be competing with similar services
offered on the Web by the National Association of Realtors (Realtor.com),
Intuit (Quickenmortage.com), and newer companies such as HomeShark.
Seattle real estate broker J. Lennox Scott says that Microsoft has agreed
to give consumers direct access to real estate agents whose names appear
on home listings. "They're not stepping in the way of us and our
customers. That's why this fits. They indicated to us that they are not
interested in being a multiple listing service ... nor are they looking
for a piece of a broker or real estate agent's commission. That is not in
their economic model." (Investor's Business Daily 13 Jul 98)
REAL NETWORKS WANTS YOU TO SMILE
Real Networks Inc., the leader in so-called "streaming software" that
allows music and video to be transmitted over the Internet, is releasing a
beta test-version of its _____ based on a new standard for streaming
technology called Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL,
pronounced "smile"). SMIL is designed to allow programmers to put video,
audio, text and charts into an integrated presentation that can be
broadcast live or on demand via the World Wide Web. (New York Times 13 Jul
98)
BIG AD AGENCY ENTERS DIGITAL FRAY
The international advertising agency, Ammirati Puris Lintas, one of the
high-tech industry's largest and most important firms (with annual
billings estimated at $4 billion) has finally succumbed to the Internet by
deciding to open a division called APL Digital. The new division hopes to
"bring brands closer to consumers" with its decision "to formally set up
an Internet capability and subbrand it as APL Digital." Responding to
suggestions that the established agencies are not as skilled and nimble as
small, independent Web companies are in interactive marketing, APL Digital
president Brian Cauley says, "That's baloney. We all know what the Web is
about: commerce, customer service and a more efficient distribution of
information. Now the game is who's going to do those things better." (New
York Times 13 Jul 98)
PHONE SECURITY
The recent well-publicized case involving a reporter's break-in into the
voice mail system of the Cincinnati-based Chiquita Corporation has called
new attention to a 1998 American Management Association survey that found
fewer than one out of ten of 407 firms polled had policies for
communicating confidential information via telephone. Security consultant
Alan Brill of Kroll Associates in New York says, "Those who assume it can
never happen to them generally end up having the problem." Experts urge
corporate phone system customers to use long passwords and change them
frequently. (USA Today 13 Jul 98)
SUN DREAMS OF JINI TO PROVIDE MAGIC COMPUTING FABRIC
Sun Microsystems has announced a product called Jini, which uses Sun's
Java programming language to allow "distributed computing" across
potentially millions of digital computing devices, including palm-size
computers, mainframes, telephones, TVs, stereos, kitchen appliances,
automobiles, heating and air conditioning systems, etc., etc. University
of Pennsylvania computer scientist David Farber says: "We now have all the
ingredients to build a distributed computing fabric which approaches
science fiction. You will be able to sit with your laptop, and it will be
able to reach out across the network. And for the moments you need the
power, it will become the largest supercomputer in the world." (New York
Times 15 Jul 98)
MCI SELLS INTERNET ASSETS, MERGER WITH WORLDCOM APPROVED
As expected, MCI Communications' announcement that the company will sell
its InternetMCI business to Cable & Wireless has resulted in Justice
Department approval of the company's proposed $37-billion merger with
WorldCom Inc. MCI's acting chief financial officer says he expects the new
MCI-WorldCom entity to replace the revenue generated by MCI's Internet
business quickly, thanks to the explosive growth of the Internet. The
merger still requires approval from the FCC and four states. (Wall Street
Journal 16 Jul 98)
FGCU FACULTY VOICE CONCERNS OVER DISTANCE LEARNING
A recent survey of faculty at Florida Gulf Coast University -- designed
and built as a testing ground for Internet-based distance learning --
found 54% of faculty disagreeing with the statement: "At FGCU, distance
learning is an effective alternative to traditional instruction." "I was
surprised to see that," says the school's dean of instructional
technology. "It surprised me even more... because it was made very clear
to faculty who were hired here that distance learning was going to be a
very important part of the way we conducted courses." Professors'
complaints focused on the extra amount of time teaching a distance
learning class requires, primarily due to voluminous e-mail exchanges, and
their feeling that not all courses, especially those that require hands-on
training, are appropriate for the distance learning format. In addition,
concerns have been voiced that intellectual property rights are less
clear-cut in cases where a course's syllabus and lecture notes are placed
on the Web by the professor with the assistance of university software
designers. "It's a very important issue nationwide, and in particular
here," says one professor. "If (FGCU administrators) are going to fight us
and say, 'This is our stuff,' they're not going to be able to attract
faculty." (Wall Street Journal 15 Jul 98)
IS WEB-POSTING "PRIOR PUBLICATION"?
Scholarly journals have varying policies when it comes to publishing works
that have already appeared in electronic form on the Web -- an issue that
is increasing in importance as scholars post drafts of articles, called
electronic preprints or e-prints, for comment by colleagues around the
world. "We now need to think about what we mean by a finished piece of
writing in ways we didn't have to before," says the editor of American
Historical Review. The proliferation of e-prints could make it difficult
to determine which version of an article is the "authentic" one, say some
editors, but it appears that e-prints are gradually gaining favor, with
more and more journal publishers agreeing to publish articles that
previously appeared in e-print form. "We do think that the preprint-server
concept is very much the wave of the future," says Mark Mandelbaum,
director of publications for the Association for Computing Machinery. ACM
is finalizing plans for its own e-print server, which will serve to speed
up the process of peer review, says Mandelbaum. (Chronicle of Higher
Education 17 Jul 98)
ISPs HAGGLE FOR CASH UP-FRONT
Internet service providers, increasingly dissatisfied with the
all-you-can-eat business model, are beginning to offer customers discounts
for prepaying their Internet bills. BellSouth.net and Mindspring
Enterprises both have recently started offering customers an alternative
plan that reduces the monthly cost of an Internet connection to $17.95 or
less. In both cases, they'll waive the initial set-up fee for new
customers, too. "It's something competitors offer, and we look at it as an
acquisition tool," says BellSouth.net's director of product marketing.
"But more than that, it's a way to reward customers who have proven
they're going to stay with the service for more than a year." (tele.com
Jul 98)
LINUX RISING
The Unix-based, volunteer-supported operating system Linux, created in
1991 by Linus Torvalds, a 28-year-old Finn who now works for a chip-design
firm in Silicon Valley, has been gaining acceptance in mainstream
computing environments, and companies such as Oracle, Sun and IBM have
plans to use the program in some of their products. Linux is free, and the
only way to earn money on it is to provide additional services, such as
offering tested versions of the program along with installation support.
Of the large software firms, only Netscape and Corel have so far pledged
full support, but that situation is expected to change as general
acceptance of Linux spreads. (The Economist 15 Jul 98)
MCCAIN SKEPTICAL OF SCHOOL INTERNET PROGRAM
U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Commerce
Committee, thinks the federal program that provides discounted Internet
access for school and libraries offers too many opportunities for fraud
and abuse. One of his concerns is that some schools that have applied for
federal funds to subsidize items such as carpeting, paint and computers,
none of which is covered by the program. (AP 16 Jul 98)
TIME WARNER WANTS A PHONE DEAL
Time Warner is talking with several long-distance phone companies,
including AT&T, about the idea of using Time Warner's cable systems to let
the long-distance companies offer local phone service in competition with
the Bell operating companies. But industry analyst Dennis McAlphine
wonders why a long-distance company would want to provide local service
via cable when Time Warner's 5,000-home local phone service test in
Rochester, NY was unable to make a profit. (USA Today 16 Jul 98)
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The Linux Advocate
Column #17
July, 1998
by Scott Dowdle
dowdle@icstech.com
LOGIN:
I've been doing a bit of reading lately. I picked up two books this past
week... one new one, and one I've been wanting to read for some time.
[barbarians.jpg (27094 bytes)]
I really enjoyed BARBARIANS LEAD BY BILL GATES: MICROSOFT FROM THE INSIDE
by Marlin Eller and Jennifer Edstrom. I wasn't overly impressed with the
organization nor the presentation style and this book actually seems
rushed to the market. Ah well, no book is perfect. While this book adds to
the collection of books about Microsoft, I think it does so in a
meaningful way since it is written by two, long time Microsoft insiders.
The authors seem to switch back and forth between the roles of a credible
witness and that of a tabloid reporter. What I mean by that last statement
is that some of the more important parts of the book seem entirely
credible while some less important parts seem contrived. They say that
Bill Gates will both love and hate the book and I can see why.
[wizards.jpg (38317 bytes)]
I'm still in the process of reading WHERE WIZARDS STAY UP LATE: THE
ORIGINS OF THE INTERNET by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon. This isn't the
first Katie Hafner book I've read. Wizards is simply amazing although many
non-computer geeks might find this book boring. I found it fascinating.
Katie Hafner has built up a reputation as someone who does a lot of
research and the depth that this book goes to to introduce the reader to
all of the key figures in the birth of the Internet, from a literary
standpoint, is simply beautiful. While I'm a very technical info oriented
person, this book presents so many well crafted analogies that even the
non-geek will understand many of the complex issues involved. If you are
interested in networking technology whatsoever this book is for you. It
breaks through many of the myths that have surrounded the Internet in the
mainstream press. The methods by which the Internet was created seem to
foreshadow the birth of Unix and from my very Linux-centric nature, the
very development of Linux. More than just the facts are presented in this
tome... the reasons behind them are also explained. This is a must read!
:)
NEWS:
Item #1: Solon magazine has been doing a lot of noticeable publishing
lately. One recent article is entitled, "The little operating system that
could: Microsoft, beware: Linux fans are hell-bent on world domination."
This article makes the point that, "Linux is for real," by visiting with a
PC hardware vendor that offers pre-installed Linux machines and who has
been experiencing an overwhelming 10% per month growth rate. This just
happens to be the most in-depth, current article I've read about Linux to
date so check it out. It can be found at the following URL:
http://www.salonmagazine.com/21st/feature/1998/06/cov_26feature.html
Giving equal time is a companion article entitled, "User friendly? Don't
throw Windows away yet, a test of three approaches to installing Linux
suggests," by Andrew Leonard. While I like this article, I have to note
that one of the author's main complaints regards mounting a CD-ROM and all
of the work it took even in the K Desktop Environment (KDE)... which is a
shame... because the machine he was using KDE on was pre-installed and
setup except for, I guess, putting a CD-ROM icon on the desktop for easy
mounting. The process for adding an icon for your CD takes a few steps but
you only have to do it once, and from then on you can single click
mount/unmount disks with a browser directory window automatically popping
up. Ah, well... I'll take his other comments as valid. Yeah, Linux still
is Unix and not automatically natural to the computer newbie that has some
Windows experience and as such it takes a bit of learning, which is good,
because everything you gain with the pain is worth it: Power User
friendly. :) Anyway, I've rambled on way too long so check out the article
I'm referring to at the following
URL: http://www.salonmagazine.com/21st/reviews/1998/06/26review.html
Item #2: John Kirch, a networking consultant and Microsoft Certified
Professional (Windows NT) has written a fabulous white paper (whatever
that is) entitled, "Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX." For
those wanting to investigate the usability of the two OS environments at
an enterprise level scale will find Mr. Kirch pounding Windows NT. Many
people will call this article bias but I think it makes tons of valid
points and is enlightening when such things are mentioned as Microsoft's
attempt to switch Hotmail (a free email service they bought that
supposedly services approx. 10 million users) over to Windows NT, having
it fail, and switching back to Unix. Or how about the fact that
windows95.com is also running a flavor of Unix? These are only two
examples of the fun to be had with this rather lengthy report. I would
present this paper as a SPOTLIGHT here in the column, but... it's just too
large... weighing in at approx. 111K of text with about a hundred (my
guess) or so embedded links. Check it out at the following URL:
http://www.kirch.net/unix-nt.html
Item #3: Video interview with Linus online! - ZDTV's Screensavers show did
a pretty generic interview with Linus. It is fun to see the man in action
and some of the comments he makes are kind of surprising... he advocates
purchasing a commercial Linux distribution over downloading it from the
Internet... unless of course, you have a VERY FAST connection. Check it
out at the following URL:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/cda/index/0,2073,2114654-2102293,00.html
Item #4: Bill says the L word - An article by John Dodge on ZDNet/PC Week
Online gives several quotes from Bill Gates regarding how he thinks the
sales of Windows 98 will go. The interesting quote in the article for
Linux users is actually a reference to Linux by Mr. Bill himself. To the
best of my knowledge, this is the first time Bill has said the word
"Linux" in public.
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0622/25ebill.html
Item #5: Speaking of John Dodge of PC Week Online - In a follow up article
to the one he wrote about Linux a few weeks ago, Mr. Dodge states, "The
response from Linux users to my column was unprecedented in my seven years
of writing This PC Week." He goes on to state that he has read
approximately half of the 1,500 emails he received on the matter and that
he has decided to try out Linux for himself. Read it in its entirety at
the following
URL: http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/opinion/0629/29week.html
Item #6: SVLUG Rally Update - Remember the news item from last week about
the Silicon Valley Linux Users' Group and the rally they held at both a
Fry's store and a CompUSA during the launch of Windows 98? They've updated
their homepage, posting a lot of pictures. as well as links to all of the
press coverage.
[svlug-rally.jpg (21875 bytes)]
Check out the following URLs for more info.
The SVLUG Rally info page including links to pictures:
http://www.penguincomputing.com/svlug-rally.html
A Time magazine article:
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/article/0,2334,13820,00.html
A CNN article: http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9806/25/lefevre/
A Boston Globe affiliate:
http://www.businesstoday.com/techpages/linux26.htm
If you can read Japanese you can check this one out:
http://biztech.nikkeibp.co.jp/wcs/show/leaf?CID=onair/biztech/gen/36529
And lastly, the official SVLUG homepage:
http://www.svlug.org/
LOGOUT:
Sorry there aren't any spotlights this edition but I'm still working on a
couple of articles and my recent reading and keeping up with the news
section have delayed me.
See you next time and thanks for reading!
[Image]
Jasons Jive
[Image]
Jason Sereno, STR Staff
jsereno@streport.com
Compuserve Reaching Out
July, 1998
Dear CompuServe Member:
With this update, I am beginning a new monthly communication to you, our
members. As you may know, CompuServe installed a new management team
earlier this year - along with a far-reaching program to restore our
service's position as one of the truly great brands in cyberspace.
Today, I want to update you on some of the actions we have taken to
achieve that goal, as well as some exciting new aspects of the service.
And in the months to come, we will continue to keep you abreast of new
developments and bring to your attention some of the unique CompuServe
services and features even our most loyal members may not know about.
First, our revitalization plan. In designing this plan, we talked to many
of you. We learned that many of our members are busy people who take your
online service seriously as a tool to find fast solutions for the
challenges in your everyday lives. We were also extraordinarily impressed
with your loyalty to our service ... and the many features, forums and
premium services you can only get on CompuServe.
So while we intend to improve the service and introduce new programming
and features - and even new software for those who want it - we are
determined to maintain your favorite areas and to continue to support the
versions of CompuServe you enjoy today. At the same time, we have done a
lot of testing on how to make CompuServe even more valuable to you as a
source of solutions.
In keeping with this plan, we have acted to stabilize the service and
rebuild its membership base - so that we can attract even more of the
world-class features and services you enjoy. We've taken actions to
improve our organization and the quality of your service, and to provide
you even more of the benefits you've come to expect from CompuServe. For
example:
* A beefed-up technology team has been working to make our service more
dependable than ever, and has realized dramatic improvements in the
reliability of our system.
* We're busy bringing you new programming and services that will add
convenience and value to your daily lives. We've recently signed an
agreement with Tel-Save to offer 9 cent a minute long distance
(that's right, 9 cents) to CompuServe members, starting later this
summer. Plus, we've expanded our agreement with J-Fax, offering
members great savings on individualized voice mail service around the
globe. And more such cost-and time- saving services are on the
horizon.
* And for members who are interested in a faster, even better-organized
version of CompuServe, we have just introduced CompuServe 4.0.
Incorporating Internet Standard Technologies, CompuServe 4.0 offers a
compelling new look and feel, new features, advanced technologies and
enhancements that make exploring CompuServe and the Internet faster,
more useful, convenient and user-friendly than ever before. To order
CompuServe 4.0 on CD or to download the software, GO CISSOFT. For
those of you who like CompuServe just the way it is, we will continue
to support the version you currently use ... and we also make it easy
for members to try CompuServe 4.0 but switch back to their current
version by simply entering GO VIEWCHOICE.
Hot Tips for Summer with CompuServe
In this Update, we'll be highlighting some of the great content, forums
and premium services available on the service that you may not have
experienced yet.
The Executive News Service (ENS) is a news clipping service available
exclusively to CompuServe members that saves you time and keeps you
informed. ENS collects news articles according to your interest, placing
them into one or more Personal Folders that you create. In addition, ENS
allows you to search the most current news, or search for news on a
company by entering it's ticker symbol. ENS provides access to premium
news wires not otherwise available on the Internet or other online
services, and carries a $15 per hour surcharge above base connect rates.
GO ENS
With the summer approaching, now is a great time to take control of your
travel planning by visiting CompuServe's Travel Channel. Here you can make
reservations, find out about interesting getaways and deals, research
destinations and activities, and ask questions and share travel tips with
experts. GO TRAVEL
Let Me Know
We're working to make CompuServe an even more central part of your lives -
and to keep you informed about the best aspects of our service. But we
don't want all the communication to be one-way. Soon, we'll be informing
you of an email address for you to mail to with suggestions of ways you
think we can make CompuServe great for you. We'll look forward to hearing
from you.
We'll be sure to take your thoughts into account, and to get back to you.
In recent weeks, you may have noticed our new advertising campaign:
"Complete ... Comprehensive ... CompuServe." CompuServe is a pioneering
service with tremendous assets ... and we want to get the word out that
we're growing stronger than ever. But our most important asset is you, our
loyal members. And I look forward to telling you more about new benefits
and features that make CompuServe the even more "Complete and
comprehensive" solution to the challenges you face in your busy lives.
Sincerely,
Mayo Stuntz
President
CompuServe Interactive Services
[102212,1614]
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rmariano@streport.com
STReport International Online Magazine
[Image]
Classics & Gaming Section
Editor Dana P. Jacobson
dpj@streport.com
>From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
Well, it's back to reality for awhile... My vacation from work and
STReport is over for the present, but another is coming in August.
It was a terrific two weeks off from work. Got some work done around the
house and still had plenty of time for relaxation. The swimming pool was a
terrific heat-buster - spent a lot of time there!
Had friends come over and we did a lot of barbecuing. Naturally, the beer
was flowing as well (and other cool refreshments).
It was really difficult waking up this past Monday morning and heading out
to work! But, there's the next vacation to look forward to and I'm
counting the weeks. And, I can still do most of the things that I did
while on vacation, but just later in the day and for less time. I'll
survive. <grin>
Let's get on with this week's issue; a lot has been happening these past
few weeks!
Until next time...
GEMJing 1.30 (1998-06-07)
Hi,
I'd like to announce GEMJing 1.30 (1998-06-07) here because c.s.a.announce
seems to be inactive.
Name: GEMJing 1.30 of June 7th 1998
Type: Sound plugin; sample player. Plays WAV, DVS, HSN,
SMP, AVR and AU/snd (not all subtypes).
GEMJing is Freeware.
Description: Plays samples. Can be operated by other applications (e.g.
CAB) via remote control. Can act as an OLGA server. Supports GEMScript.
Can be controlled via command line parameters or VA_START. Has a GEM
interface. International version: Manuals in German, English and French.
Resource files in German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Fiji,
Japanese, Bishlamaro, Turkey, Esperanto, Swedish, Seeish an Filipino.
Changes: - Bugfixed: WAV, AVR and SMP.
* - no AV_SENDKEY when using Gemini as desktop
* - MagiC-PC 6.0 supported
* - plays on the Hades040
* - new: Swedish, Seeish and Filipino
* - bugfixed: Turkey
* - new command line parameters
Runs on: ST, STE, TT, Falcon, Hades040/060, Hades with
Startrack card, MagiCMac with MSND or
WeirdMac >= 0.64, MagiC-PC 6.0.
Author: Gvtz Hoffart @ FR (MausNet)
gh@fr.maus.de (preferred, no Mail > 16KB)
hoffart@ruf.uni-freiburg.de (binaries)
Archive: GEMJ130.LZH, 89111 Bytes
Downloads: MAUS Freiburg, +49-761-507394 (V34+, ISDN),
(BBS) Download free for guests from 21h till 3h and
8h till 18h (MET).
MAUS Karlsruhe, +49-721-358887 (V34+, ISDN),
MAUS Berlin 3, +49-30-82701143 (V34+, ISDN),
MAUS Ludwigsburg, +49+7141-280479 (V34+, ISDN),
MAUS Ansbach, +49-981-77111 (V34, ISDN).
Downloads: ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de, /pub/atari/incoming, later
(FTP) perhaps /pub/atari/Music
*Not* available on my web site:
http://members.aol.com/hoffart/software.html
*Please* don't rename or change the contents of the archive.
Remarks: There are old beta versions of GEMJing out there. Please delete
them.
Sorry for my bad English, it's not my native language.
Regards
Gvtz
--
Goetz Hoffart, University of Freiburg, Germany
e-mail: gh@fr.maus.de - MausNet, wo sonst?
binaries: hoffart@ruf.uni-freiburg.de
WWW: http://hoffart.home.pages.de/
Gaming Section
* 'Pokemon' Invades U.S.!!
* "Pro-18"!
* "Grand Theft Auto"! Psygnosis
* And much more!
>From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is!
As a longtime Atari user (computers and gaming), the good news is the
upcoming World of Atari show, in August. I'd like to be there, but the
timing (and finances) are not good. Hopefully, we'll have some firsthand
reports of the show. Then again, perhaps Ralph will have a winning lottery
scratch ticket and send us to the show.
I won't repeat the info in the numerous show promotional articles below.
Suffice it to say that it looks like a well-planned show and it's going to
be fun and informative. Lots of old faces will be there!
So let's see what's on tap for this week's issue; it's jam-packed with
lots of gaming news this week!
Until next time...
Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News!
Huge Invasion of Pokemon to Hit U.S. in Sept.
TOKYO, June 27 (Kyodo) -- A huge invasion of monsters will hit the United
States this year, the first stop in a planned takeover of the world. The
monsters, in their millions, have already dominated Japan where they are
multiplying by the day. The monsters are the Pokemon, short for "Pocket
Monsters," the wildly popular Japanese toy, game and entertainment
phenomenon that generated 4 billion dollars in retail sales in its first
18 months on the market.
Introduced to Japan in February 1996, they have now been licensed by their
creator, Japan's Nintendo Co., to the giant toy conglomerate Hasbro Inc.
for distribution in the U.S. starting in September this year. Hasbro
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alan Hassenfeld says of the
craze that has swept Japan, "Pokemon's phenomenal success in Japan
demonstrates the power of this brand. We are incredibly excited to bring a
wide range of Pokemon products to the rest of the world." So what exactly
are the "pocket monsters"? They certainly bear little resemblance to the
simple toys of a generation ago.
The Pokemon are virtual toys that are capturing the imagination of
children through a whole range of mediums simultaneously -- television,
music, products and electronic games. They began as a simple video game
played on Nintendo's Game Boy. The game's complicated story line involves
role playing through raising a virtual pet monster with the objective of
becoming the world's greatest Pokemon trainer.
Players begin with one monster, and raise and train it so it can become
strong enough to weaken and capture other monsters. The virtual monsters,
numbering 150 in total, "evolve" and take on a new appearance and
characteristics by winning battles. And there it gets more complicated.
Players cannot collect all of the monsters without hooking up to their
friends through a Game Boy Game Link connector and going to a virtual
"Pokemon Center" in order to trade with friends or fight and capture their
friends' monsters.
They can also visit a virtual shopping center, the "Pokemon Mart," during
the adventure to purchase necessary battle items, such as magic potions.
One version of the electronic pets sleeps at night and wakes in the
morning. It can be taken for walks -- a must for creating a good rapport
with the monster -- and comes with a built-in meter that tallies the pet's
distance. The tally is then used to buy on-screen presents for the pet.
Parents take note: the monster becomes increasingly (or less) friendly the
more (or less) presents it receives.
"There are five levels of friendliness for owners to discover and
continually nurture," boasts Nintendo of America Inc., the wholly owned
subsidiary of Nintendo. Peter Main, executive vice president of Nintendo
of America, has no doubts that U.S. kids will love Pokemon as much as
their Japanese counterparts. "From the moment the owner...is greeted by
(the pet), they'll immediately want to start moving and fostering the
relationship with this unique companion," he says, "Pokemon has been the
hottest craze in Japan, and we believe it will become the same kind of
cultural phenomenon in North America."
Not everything about Pokemon in Japan has been an unqualified success,
however. In December, hundreds of children were hospitalized with
convulsions after viewing a sequence of red and blue flashing lights in a
Pokemon T.V. show broadcast on Television Tokyo Channel 12. However, the
incident hardly dented the show's ratings. According to Video Research, a
rating company, the show had ratings of 16.9% the day of the incident.
Four months later, when the show recommenced after the television station
had developed guidelines to prevent a similar occurrence, ratings were
right back to 16.2%.
The Pokemon show remains Japan's most popular kids show and there are as
many as 13 different comic books produced around the Pokemon theme. The
tentacles of the Pokemon phenomenon now stretch into every aspect of
children's entertainment -- the virtual monster video game alone has sales
of eight million units. A million kids sing the Pokemon song to the tune
of a million CDs and more than a thousand products featuring the monsters
have swamped the Japanese market.
Nor do the sales stop after the shops shut -- more than 100 million
monsters have been sold out of vending machines. It remains to be seen how
the product will do in the U.S. but there are several areas in which
Nintendo has a foot in the door already -- it is the clear leader in the
U.S. 15 billion dollar worldwide retail video game industry.
And 40% of U.S. households own a Nintendo game system, sold through the
Washington-based Nintendo of America, according to company estimates.
However Hasbro, who will serve as master toy licensee for the products
worldwide, except for Asia, is leaving nothing to chance in facilitating
Pokemon's invasion, and plan to back the multitiered launch with a massive
advertising and marketing campaign.
An accompanying television show, to be licensed by Leisure Concepts Inc.,
a division of 4Kids Entertainment Inc., will debut Sept. 7, airing five
days a week in all of the top 40 markets in the U.S. The monster's makers
are hoping millions of American kids will succumb to the onslaught,
following in the footsteps of 10-year-old Ai Iizuka of Tokyo who can
recite the names of 50 monsters without taking breath. Who owns several
versions of the games and more monsters than she can count.
Who lives and breaths Pokemon while her mother sighs, "If only she applied
as much energy to learning her homework..."
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Releases Grand Theft Auto
NEW YORK (July 1) BUSINESS WIRE - July 1, 1998 - Controversial Title is
Already a Major European Blockbuster Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
(TTWO, TTWOW) announced today that it has shipped its highly anticipated
action-strategy title, Grand Theft Auto for the Sony PlayStation, into the
U.S. retail market. Originally released in December 1997, exclusively for
the European marketplace, by BMG Interactive, Grand Theft Auto has
achieved more than 400,000 units in sell-through in Europe alone.
Take-Two announced Grand Theft Auto's impending U.S. PlayStation release
in March of this year in conjunction with the Company's acquisition of all
of the assets of BMG Interactive, of which the copyright to Grand Theft
Auto was one. Grand Theft Auto, has received press coverage from the likes
of USA Today, Newsweek, CNN and CBS News due to its controversial nature.
Grand Theft Auto gives players the chance to fulfill such primal fantasies
as extreme road rage, big time crime, and the chance to propel the decay
of urban society through generally devious behavior, while always
reminding them all consequences are an off button away from being dealt
with.
Developed by DMA Design Ltd., the creators of video game classic Lemmings,
Grand Theft Auto offers players complete freedom of movement in a fast
paced, exhilarating city atmosphere teaming with gangs, crime, cops,
drive-by-shootings and luckless pedestrians. Players take control of over
twenty different high-speed vehicles, all of which are just a carjacking
away, and are free to roam countless miles of freeways in the quest to
successfully outsmart the cops and please their underworld crime bosses by
completing over 200 missions.
Grand Theft Auto has been critically acclaimed as "uniquely engrossing and
magnificently playable" by Edge magazine. Gamesource proclaimed Grand
Theft Auto a "quite addictive, unique and entertaining game" while PSM
Online declared it "A thrilling experience!". Grand Theft Auto has spawned
legions of game specific and gamer created websites, which collectively
have recorded hundreds of thousands of visitors since the game's release
in Europe. The Grand Theft Auto web ring can be accessed at
www.grandtheftauto.com/webring.htm.
Sam Houser, Vice-President of Worldwide Product Development, stated,
"Based on it's tremendous retail success in Europe, growing worldwide
grassroots following, outstanding play mechanics, and irreverent no holds
barred approach, Grand Theft Auto has the potential to achieve tremendous
retail sell-through in the United States."
Psygnosis to Launch Pro 18 Golf Series -- Pro 18: World Tour Golf
FOSTER CITY, CALIF. (July 7) BUSINESS WIRE - July 7, 1998 - Psygnosis is
driving forward into the world of interactive golf with Pro 18(tm), a
multi-format golf series that will include stand-alone product and data
disks. Pro 18 has been designed to appeal to actual golfers and
interactive fans alike helping players develop and master their game in an
immersive and realistic medium. The series will take the player on a truly
global game of golf including a variety of well-known players and courses.
Pro 18(tm): World Tour Golf(tm) will be the first title to release in
November, 1998 on PC CD-ROM with data disks and further stand-alone titles
to follow. The PlayStation(R) game console version is also scheduled to
release in November.
Players included in Pro 18: World Tour Golf will be Tom Lehman, Colin
Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam, Vijay Singh, Dottie Pepper, Laura Davies, Jesper
Parnevik and Mark O'Meara. There are three courses: Royal County Down
(Northern Ireland), The Lost City Golf Course (Sun City, South Africa) and
Coeur D'Alene Resort and Golf Course (Idaho, U.S.A). All the players have
all been professionally filmed at top class TV and movie facilities
world-wide capturing their true play style and the courses have been
modelled using new survey data techniques and generated in real time with
state of the art photo-realistic rendering techniques. All the details you
would expect to see in the real game are included: course features such as
fluttering flags, weather and time of day effects. No other golf game has
included such painstaking attention to recreating a realistic golfing
experience.
The televised tournament style in which Pro 18: World Tour Golf is
presented adds the excitement of live-action to the game. Expert and
internationally renowned "BBC voice of golf," Peter Alliss, provides a
critique of the play from the commentary box at the course while another
stream of information is delivered by Bobby Clampett of CBS. With
presentation sections by anchorman Jim Nelson (played by Rob Ross) and the
benefits of TV-style playbacks and cuts you'll be forgiven for thinking
you're watching the real thing.
In Pro 18: World Tour Golf you'll have the choice of going it alone or
playing with the pros or even playing against other gamers across a
network or a modem link. It's easy to get into the game as the interface
is designed to take the best of the rest and add several new features. As
well as the traditional three-click interfaces that computer golf players
are already used to, Pro 18: World Tour Golf has a "Pro Swing" interface
with a 4-point click control for higher level of realism and accuracy,
completely new to the world of interactive golf. In order to turn pro in
the game, you must use this interface. The Pro Swing interface coupled
with brand new aiming and putting engines that expand the learning and
playing curves to infinite levels, producing the ideal "easy to learn,
difficult to master" footing, a feature that other golf products have not
achieved.
The Pro 18 series is being developed for Psygnosis by Intelligent Games
Ltd., a London based development house with established credentials in
golf simulations including PGA European Tour and numerous golf course data
disks for EA Sports. Matthew Stibbe, managing director at Intelligent
Games commented, "Pro 18 is a labor of love by a team of golf fanatics.
They have combined their love of real world golf with a passion for
computer games to make a game that is both authentic and great fun."
Midway and Dave Perry Fly R/C Stunt Copter Onto PSX
CORSICANA, TEXAS (July 13) BUSINESS WIRE - July 13, 1998 - Aerial Stunt
Game Takes Advantage of Dual Shock(TM) Analog Controller We all know that
you can't play ball in the house, but how about flying a stunt helicopter
in your living room? Midway Home Entertainment today announced that the
Company, in conjunction with legendary game designer Dave Perry and his
Shiny Entertainment development studio, is creating R/C Stunt Copter(TM).
Expected to be released in November 1998 for the PlayStation(R) game
console, R/C Stunt Copter gives video game players carte blanche to
perform spectacular helicopter stunts in the comfort of their own homes.
In R/C Stunt Copter, gamers are challenged to operate one of five
different remote-controlled stunt helicopters through wild adventures and
challenging missions. Pilots follow 3D aerial tracks and stunt courses
filled with obstacles as well as rewards. Only the most steady hand will
successfully direct the helicopter to fly through hoops, pop hot air
balloons and coast through the sides of barns. Extra points are earned for
performing risky stunts and completing a course in the shortest amount of
time.
R/C Stunt Copter has been designed to take advantage of Sony's Dual Shock
Analog Controller's vibration mode. The controller is remarkably similar
to the controls used on actual radio controlled helicopters, and allows
gamers to experience the feeling of flying an R/C copter. The game can
also be played with Sony Computer Entertainment's original joypad for the
PlayStation game console.
"Dave Perry's name is synonymous with gaming excellence, and Midway is
delighted to be working in conjunction with him on his latest invention,
"said Paula Cook, director of marketing at Midway Home Entertainment. "R/C
Stunt Copter packs in originality, addictive gameplay and authentic motion
and physics to appeal to a wide range of PlayStation gamers."
"R/C Stunt Copter started out as a simulator to help me and my friends
practice flying our real remote control helicopters," said Perry,
president of Shiny. "As the project progressed, people loved what they saw
and encouraged us to make a stunt copter game. Midway's enthusiasm for R/C
Stunt Copter was an important factor in moving forward with it."
Next Generation Magazine has hailed R/C Stunt Copter as "one of the 25
breakthrough titles of 1998." With the most complex physics system ever
developed for a PlayStation game, photo-realistic graphics, an interactive
instructor and realistic aerodynamics and sound, R/C Stunt Copter emulates
true flight. Modes of play include single player to practice your skill,
stunt mode in which pilots squeeze in as many stunts as possible for
points, task mode where the player must complete a set of tasks to gain
points, and head-to-head so the player can compare stunt copter techniques
with a rival. The game also includes a wise-cracking flight instructor,
who will provide sarcastic comments on the flights, crashes and stunts.
Founded in 1993, Shiny Entertainment has established itself as one of the
most original, fresh and successful developers in the world. A fully owned
subsidiary of Interplay Productions, Shiny Entertainment is headquartered
in Laguna Beach, California.
'Unreal' Tries Too Hard To Dazzle
"Unreal" isn't.
Eagerly awaited, heavily hyped and overly adored by too many fawning
software game reviewers, the ambitious new first-person 3-D shooter is
actually all too real. It's a complex mix of stunning accomplishments and
near-fatal flaws. Rather than pushing the envelope, it just overstuffs it,
creating a cumbersome, top-heavy game that crashes under its own weight.
Four years in the making, "Unreal" does deliver amazing graphics detail
and game-play speed, but only to lucky owners of the latest high-end
computers. Everyone else is left to waddle along with slow, jerky movement
and mushy, washed-out art. And unfortunately the often-delayed project by
Epic MegaGames and Digital Extremes came out as bug-infested as a
fish-market trash can.
"Unreal" game engine programmer Tim Sweeney says on the game's Web site
that he is receiving 500 e-mails a day seeking solutions to the many
glitches, twice as many as he could respond to even if he spent 24 hours a
day at it. Among the chief problems is that despite a whopping 450
megabyte hard drive installation, load times - even on supercharged
machines - are often agonizingly long, meaning players have to wait and
wait for the game to start up, and then again after finishing one level
for the next to launch.
Worst of all, the game's Internet multiplayer modes are a disaster,
dragging at a snail's pace, even on high bandwidth T1 lines. "Unreal"
makers admit on their Web site they are still baffled by the problem, with
no solution likely in the near future. This flaw comes even though
creators of the $55 game know that multiplayer death-match action is what
fast-twitch 3-D shooter fans crave most.
Another potentially serious problem is overheating, due to the game's
overwhelming system demands. Makers suggest increasing computer
ventilation to prevent a hardware meltdown. Yikes. Looking to more mundane
disappointments, the soundtrack is old hat, trying too hard to be scary
but sounding more like the background to a schlock horror movie than
anything else.
The assorted weapons in the game are nothing special either, packing a
sizable punch at the top of the scale, but lacking oomph in terms of sound
effects or graphic design. On the plus side, most players with Pentium II,
266 Mhz machines equipped with Voodoo 2 graphics acceleration cards will
enjoy awesome high-resolution graphics and smooth game-play unlike
anything else on the market.
The artificial intelligence program guiding enemy monsters in "Unreal" is
also state-of-the-art, pitting players against swift, cunning opponents
armed with devastating firepower. A lot of effort went into the enemy
animations as well, making for a widely varied fighting experience against
truly athletic adversaries whose gymnastics make them incredibly tough to
hit. One monster's bewildered pawing for his lost head after decapitation
is a special treat for players with above-normal blood lust.
The many environments on the beautiful yet immensely dangerous alien
planet where the game takes place encompass another area of great success.
Players have to locate and conquer denizens of ancient ruins, spooky
castles, claustrophobic mine tunnels and fallen space crafts, as well as
to navigate often hostile outdoor expanses where breathtaking scenery
belies hidden perils and stopping to smell the roses can be a deadly
mistake.
Super-realistic fire, lava, waterfalls and streams are among the many
landscape wonders. There is also eerie flowing fog, lots of harmless
wildlife for scintillating ambiance and some of the loveliest sky vistas
in cyberspace. The abundance of outrageously brilliant stuff almost
outweighs the numerous problems with ``Unreal,'' and you hope designers
can remedy the more serious flaws in subsequent updates. But until then,
the mixed bag of good and bad is too much like the real world to be truly
unreal.
THQ And Sony Computer Entertainment Launch 'The Granstream Saga'
CALABASAS, CALIF. (June 29) BUSINESS WIRE - June 29, 1998 - THQ Inc.
announced today it is shipping "The Granstream Saga" to retailers across
North America. The epic, Japanese-style Role Playing Game (RPG) features
the first real-time 3D-fighting engine in a PlayStation RPG, as well as
exquisite animations intertwined in an expansive storyline that embraces a
futuristic world of knights and princesses.
"The Granstream Saga," developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. in
Tokyo, incorporates classic RPG elements - intricate puzzles, intriguing
characters and a unique interactive battle capability that features both
weapons and magic. "What a great opportunity to bring one of Japan's top
RPG games to the millions of PlayStation fans here in the United States,"
said Steve Ryno, vice president, development, THQ. "With the first
real-time 3D fighting engine in a PlayStation RPG, 'The Granstream Saga'
has some unique features that should really appeal to game players."
In "The Granstream Saga," players assume the role of a young warrior named
Eon as he embarks on a dangerous quest to search for the four magic orbs,
which have fallen into the evil hands of the Imperial Wizardry. The orbs
slow the descent of the continents toward the ocean. Only a clever mind, a
skillful sword, and powerful magic can save the world of Granstream from
the brink of doom.
Gamers must explore the vast world spanning four continents, talking to as
many characters as possible. Each may possess important information about
the future or about the area players are searching. Local shops and stores
offer a selection of useful items such as healing herbs and magic potions.
When investigating dungeons and other dangerous areas, saving game
progress is crucial. There are several areas to save during play,
including towns with churches, and dungeons.
Strange menacing creatures lay waiting for battle. Most monsters are
visible and with the game's unique real-time 3D fighting engine, players
can run away if they wish. But other opponents will ambush and attack
without warning. By fighting enemies, enthusiasts will receive special
items, gems and magic points. Adversaries get progressively more difficult
to defeat as the game progresses. Enthusiasts must acquire magic spells as
they journey throughout game. Certain spells can be used as a powerful
offense against monsters, others can be used for healing while some can
help to escape grave situations. Additionally, weapons such as suits of
armor and shields can also aid against enemies.
"The Granstream Saga" is available at all major retail outlets for a
suggested retail price of $49.99. The official strategy guide is also
available from Prima Publishing.
Psygnosis Inks Co-Marketing Deal With Vans
Jul 1, 1998 (MULTIMEDIA WIRE, Vol. 5, No. 126) -- Psygnosis inked a
co-marketing deal with footwear and apparel maker Vans to promote upcoming
PlayStation title Psybadek to 12- to 18-year-old gamers, MMWire has
learned. Vans targets 12- to 18-year-old skateboarders and snowboarders
with shoes and clothing.
Under terms of the deal, the game's characters, who ride hovering
snowboard-like boards, will wear Vans apparel. In return, Psygnosis will
give away as many as 10 PlayStations and 100 demo copies of Psybadek
through packages of Vans trading cards that are given to consumers who try
on a pair of Vans shoes. In addition, Psygnosis signs will hang at 12 of
Vans' sporting events, including three events each of snowboarding,
skateboarding, surfing and wakeboarding. Psygnosis will also be featured
during the Vans Warped Tour, a 35-city US concert tour featuring bands
such as Rancid and Cherry Poppin' Daddies.
Psygnosis moving forward is looking to partner with Vans on a corporate
level, not just for one title. However, details were not divulged.
Psybadek is expected in November.
This Summer Psygnosis Launches Three New Titles
FOSTER CITY, CALIF. (July 13) BUSINESS WIRE - July 13, 1998 - Psygnosis
prepares for summer with the launch of three new titles suitable for the
younger PlayStation game console demographic. Licensed by Sony Computer
Entertainment Europe (SCEE), the three new titles for the PlayStation(R)
game console include Spice World(tm), an interactive musical program based
on the internationally popular Spice Girls group; Rosco McQueen:
Firefighter Extreme(tm), an action-packed 3D fire fighting game and Kula
World (working title), an innovative 3D puzzle game suitable for all ages.
The titles will be available at retail stores nationwide. Spice World will
be released July 28, in concert with the Spice Girls US tour this summer
and has an estimated street price of $29.99. Rosco and Kula World will be
available in September with estimated street prices of $44.99 and $39.99
respectively.
Commenting on the games, vice president of marketing at Psygnosis Harry
Vitelli explained, "Psygnosis U.S. Publishing is introducing a trio of
quality titles for the PlayStation's new younger demographic, children
8-12 years old. This is the fastest growing segment of PlayStation users,
already representing 25% of the installed base. Additionally, the titles
hold interest for both boys and girls in theme and provide a gaming
experience that will be fun for the whole family."
Spice World is a single-user PlayStation game console product based on the
Spice Girls pop group. Designed for girls ages 8-12, players guide 3D
animated models of the real-life Spice Girls, including Ginger Spice,
through sound mixing, and individual and group choreography to produce and
record a finished television performance. The product includes three
number-one hit songs as well as exclusive never-before-seen
behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the real Spice Girls.
A 3D platform game, Rosco McQueen Firefighter Extreme is set against the
gala opening of the world's tallest building. Unfortunately, the
building's owner has gone mad, and is threatening to torch the building
and its occupants. Only Rosco McQueen, action hero and
firefighter-par-excellence can save the day by rescuing civilians and
putting out fires at each level, until he reaches the top of the tower for
a final confrontation with the pyromaniac owner. Designed for players ages
6-10, Rosco McQueen features fifteen levels of dramatic, cartoon-style
action, hidden sections and secret paths, a 70s funk soundtrack, and a
bigger than life hero.
With spectacular 3D graphics and intensely addictive gameplay, Kula World
(working title) turns the puzzle game genre literally on its head as users
control the world's coolest beachball on a mission through 200 fantastic
platform worlds. Kula World allows players to completely flip the playing
perspective a full 360 degrees as they move from level to level for a
mind-bending, puzzle adventure. Designed for gamers of all ages, Kula
World includes a memory-challenging two-player battle mode, 50 bonus
levels and 10 different environments.
Eidos Begins Shipping 1997's Top-Selling PSX Title, for PC
Jun 25, 1998 (MULTIMEDIA WIRE, Vol. 5, No. 122) -- Eidos Interactive
yesterday began shipping the PC version of Square Soft's Final Fantasy VII
($49.95), PlayStation's top-seller of 1997. By the end of 1997, FF7 for
PSX sold-through a projected 1.1m - 1.2m units in the US, according to The
NPD Group. By those lofty standards, however, sales on PSX have slowed. In
the first five months of 1998, FF7 sold-through about 100k-200k units. NPD
projects total US sales at 1.2m - 1.3m from initial shipments in August
1997 through the end of May.
FF7 for PSX was published by Sony Computer Entertainment America. Final
Fantasy VIII will be published by joint ventures created by Electronic
Arts and Square Soft. A sticker on some boxes of the PC version, which
arrived in our offices yesterday, advertises a $10 rebate offer to buyers
of the title and GamePad Pro, a peripheral from Gravis. Eidos today also
will announce shipment of Deathtrap Dungeon ($49.95) for PC.
Midway Mortal Kombat-r 4 for Nintendo-r 64 and PSX
CORSICANA, TEXAS (June 30) BUSINESS WIRE - June 30, 1998 - Retailers
Report First Week Sales Exceed Expectations The fast and furious fighting
action of Mortal Kombat 4 (MK4) is coming home! Midway Home Entertainment,
a subsidiary of Midway Games Inc., one of the industry's leading
entertainment software publishers, has shipped the eagerly anticipated new
installment in the Mortal Kombat series to retailers this week for the
PlayStation game console and Nintendo 64. The PC version is shipping
today. Initial shipments of the game have
already sold through in a number of retail outlets and re-orders are being
processed due to the overwhelming demand for the title. Mortal Kombat 4
represents the first Midway franchise PC title to be published and
distributed by Midway since it regained domestic PC distribution rights in
March 1998.
Commenting on the strength of the franchise and initial sales results,
Byron Cook, President of Midway Home Entertainment said, "Having shipped
strong initial levels of both the PlayStation and N64 versions of MK4, we
are delighted at the initial reports of sell through at several retailers
and are actively processing re-orders. Mortal Kombat is the most famous
fighting series in the history of video games, and MK4 brings the
franchise to a new level of excitement. We are proud to release such a
high quality, action-packed game which is re-energizing the genre."
Mortal Kombat 4 is now available nationally at mass merchants, software
and consumer electronics retailers. "The Mortal Kombat franchise has an
immense fan base, and the tremendous customer reaction has exceeded our
already high level of expectation for this newest installment," said Jim
MacKenzie of Kay Bee Toys. "The outstanding early sales of MK4 are a
reflection of Midway's ability to continuously keep the franchise
exciting, and we look forward to participating in their ongoing success."
MK4's fight-to-the finish slug-fest features fifteen characters including
returning favorites Sub-Zero, Sonya, Reptile, Jax and Scorpion. Seven new
controllable characters have been added to battle in Mortal Kombat's
deadly arenas. MK4 features true weapon combat, where players can use
their weapons at any time, drop their weapons to battle hand-to-hand, or
steal their opponent's weapons to use against them.
Stellar previews of MK4 have appeared in the top industry publications for
months. The game graced the cover of GamePro's June 1998 issue, which
exclaimed, "There's one helluva game coming!" And Nintendo Power
proclaimed "MK4 is yet another dead-on hit." Midway is supporting the
release of MK4 with a multi-million dollar national television advertising
campaign.
Ronaldo to Become Video Game Star
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, July 10 (Kyodo) -- Brazilian striker Ronaldo will
become the star of a series of interactive video games for personal
computers and television designed by a French company, a Brazilian
business daily said Thursday. The games will center on Ronaldo's
performances in matches of the Brazilian squad played in this summer's
World Cup finals in France and are playable on Sony, Nintendo and Sega
platforms, Gazeta Mercantil said.
The French firm Infogrames signed a contract with U.S. sports goods
company Nike Inc. for the exclusive use over five years of Ronaldo's and
the Brazilian team's images in video games designed for personal
computers. Nike has acquired the right to explore the image of the
Brazilian soccer squad in interactive games through a 300 million dollar
sponsorship contract with the Brazilian Soccer Confederation, valid for
the next 10 years.
NFL Xtreme is PlayStation's First Arcade-Style Football Game
FOSTER CITY, CALIF. (July 13) ENTERTAINMENT WIRE - July 13, 1998 - 989
Studios, creators of the number one selling PlayStation(R) football
videogame, NFL GameDay(TM) '98, announced today the availability of NFL
Xtreme(TM). Complete with high-impact, hard-hitting NFL action, NFL Xtreme
is the first NFL and Players Inc.-licensed, five-on-five, arcade-style
football videogame for the PlayStation.
"NFL Xtreme will transcend the traditional football videogamer," said
Jeffrey Fox, vice president, marketing, 989 Studios. "With its
arcade-style gameplay, NFL Xtreme will appeal to hardcore and casual
sports fans, as well as to the millions of fighting and action-adventure
videogamers." With hundreds of marquee NFL Players, NFL Xtreme is
fast-playing and high-scoring, with no out of bounds and no penalties,
allowing videogamers to do things NFL players would get ejected from a
game for doing.
"Forget sportsman-like conduct, NFL Xtreme is all about taunting,
trash-talking, helmet flying hits and countless player celebrations; 50
plus touchdown dances, linebackers flexing their muscles after delivering
a harsh blow and defensive linemen 'raising the roof,'" added Fox.
Complimenting 989 Studios' strong heritage in delivering exceptional
gameplay excitement will be NFL Xtreme's stunning graphical presentation.
Incorporating a 400 polygonal player model (four times the amount of
polygons used to create the award-winning NFL GameDay '98 player models),
NFL Xtreme players are re-created in exceptional detail, including large
biceps, thunderous thigh pads and individual player scaling, including
personal height and weight.
NFL Xtreme also incorporates actual NFL player movements, which were
"motion captured" to enhance the gameplay realism. Players "motion
captured" for NFL Xtreme include a virtual who's-who of All-Pros, like
Pittsburgh Steelers' RB Jerome Bettis; Oakland Raiders' WR Tim Brown;
Tampa Bay Buccaneers' FB Mike Alstott and LB Hardy Nickerson; New York
Giants' CB Jason Sehorn; Seattle Seahawks' LB Chad Brown; and top NFL
QB-to-be Ryan Leaf. NFL Xtreme Key Features
* -- Five-on-five, open eligibility, arcade-style, hard-hitting
football videogame action
* -- All 30 NFL teams
* -- All 30 NFL stadiums with banners
* -- Individual scaling, weight and height on each player
* -- More than 50 endzone dances
* -- Players celebrate after touchdowns, sacks, big hits or getting a
first down
* -- Ball carrier does high-step, spin move, hurdle, stiff arms,
shoulder charge, dive over the pile
* -- Large python biceps and thunderous thigh pads on each player
* -- Trash talking on big plays; players taunting opponents
* -- 400 polygons per player (3-D graphics)
* -- Real zone and man coverage with the latest NFL defensive schemes
* -- High resolution game presentation, including player shadows
* -- Play in rain, snow, wind, blizzards and the dark
* -- Water/snow/grass splashes with every stride of the players
* -- Play as any position on offense or defense
* -- Injuries (players limp when injured)
* -- Automatic instant replay after big plays
989 Studios, formerly known as Sony Interactive Studios America, is a
wholly-owned division of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. and the
third-largest PlayStation(R) software publisher in North America.
Gaming Online STR InfoFile - Online Users Growl & Purr!
World of Atari '98
Copyright 1998 Donald A. Thomas, Jr.
may be reprinted in its entirety including copyright and byline.
What promises to be one of the most exciting events for die-hard gamers
will take place in Las Vegas on Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23.
The World of Atari '98 will reunite many of the industry's most seasoned
gaming fanatics and promise to fulfill the tasks to entertain and educate
visitors young and old.
The show itself is hosted by a group of people who consider classic
videogaming as one of life's basic rites of passage. To them, a special
focus has always been dedicated to Atari. They favor Atari not just for an
appreciation of an endless stream of exceptional products over the years,
but moreover for the role Atari has played in the industry.
Unlike any other company in the home computer and video game industries,A
tari is often named the hub to the industry's true roots. Atari has
directly spawned or inspired virtually every major name related to
sprites, pixels, RAM and ROM. But the show is not just about Atari. The
promoters promise activities of interest to all gaming aficionados who
consider classic gaming more appealing than a vat of ripened grapes in a
Napa Valley winery.
The show will take place directly on the Vegas strip in the Holiday Inn
Boardwalk Hotel and Casino. A special reception will be held on Friday
evening for the venders and guests. On Saturday and Sunday, World of Atari
'98 will host the first-ever, licensed, bonded game collectors auction
conducted by U.S.A.Auctions. Visitors are encouraged to bring collectibles
for an ongoing swap meet. Demonstrations and displays will offer attendees
a rare look at prototypes and hard-to-find vintage products in rare mint
condition. Gaming celebrities will mingle with the crowd and offer an
autograph, a handshake or an answer to that question you always wanted to
ask.
Las Vegas offers an atmosphere of celebration that will blend perfectly
with the excitement of the World of Atari '98 show. Night and day, there
will be something to do for all those who attend. For more information,
e-mail woa98@jps.net or call (916) 422-7424 Tell them ICWHEN.COM sent you!
I'll see you there,
Donald A. Thomas, Jr., Curator
curator@icwhen.com
http://www.icwhen.com
ANNOUNCEMENT: World of Atari '98 Show in Las Vegas
From: Keita Iida keita@mindspring.com
A once in a lifetime gathering to pay homage the legacy of Atari and its
products will be held at the Holiday Inn Casino Boardwalk in Las Vegas,
Nevada from August 21-23, 1998. Although World of Atari '98 is geared
toward the celebration of the historic videogame and computer company, it
is far from just Atari. In fact, WOA'98 could just as easily be called
"World of Classic Videogames And Computers." Practically any classic
console and computer will be represented there.
Keita Iida, Atari Gaming Headquarters (www.atarihq.com) co-editor
explains. "World of Atari '98 is an event for all Atari aficionados to
honor and celebrate the contributions made to the videogame and computer
community by Atari and other pioneering companies and individuals. Atari's
products have provided hours of enjoyment, and the company literally
defined the concept of electronic entertainment. It was high-time to set a
stage for its fans to gather and pay tribute to Atari's influence on the
world of technology and leisure."
While the show is still two months away, World of Atari '98 is already
attracting serious attention from both the industry and press. Videogame
authorities such as Gamepro, Game Informer and Electronic Gaming Monthly
(videogames.com) have ran stories about the event, and others are sure to
follow. A large number of fan sites have also helped to support the cause
by publicizing World of Atari '98 on their web pages.
The event promises to offer something for everyone. Many of the industry
legends, old and new, will be on hand including Don Thomas (customer
support manager at Atari), Rob Fulop of Imagic fame (Demon Attack), Doug
Engel and Stephanie Wukovitz of 4-Play (BattleSphere), Howard Scott
Warshaw (2600 Yar's Revenge, E.T. and others), Jerry Jessop (hardware
development for home consoles and computers), Dennis Koble (co-founder of
Imagic), John "Jawbreaker" Harris (formerly of Tigervision), Dan Kramer
(5200 Trak-ball) and Andrew Soderberg (product manager for the Atari
Computer Division). These guests of honor and several others will be
giving speeches and providing workshops, as well as taking part in Q&A
sessions. Many other surprise guests are slated to be in attendance and
will be announced as they are confirmed.
Vendors of Atari, classic videogame and computer products will also be in
full force. Dealers such as Best Electronics, B&C Computervisions,
Telegames, 16/32 Bits, chro_Magic Software, Emulators, Inc., Centek,
O'Shea, ICD, Video 61 and Wizztronics Soundpool, Steve's Computer
Technology, Systems for Tomorrow will be have a wide array of products for
sale, as well as many private collectors who have secured dealer space to
offer their items for sale or trade. In addition, an official auction will
be held with a professional auctioneer, and you can expect that some
valuable items will be exchanging hands when it's all said and done. Other
show features you will not want to miss include gaming tournaments (with
prizes!), an exhibit with rare and historic items and a welcome reception
on Friday before the offical opening of the show. A French TV crew will be
at World of Atari '98 filming the event.
The show will also be the place where many developers show off their
wares. Darek Mihoca of Emulators, Inc. will be displaying (and selling)
his latest Atari 8-bit and ST emulators. An individual from France has
completed Alfred's Challenge for the Atari 2600 and will be selling
cartridges of his game for the first time at World of Atari '98. Bob
Colbert of Retroware will be unveiling his latest creation for the Atari
2600. BattleSphere, the highly anticipated tour-de-force for the Jaguar,
will be shown by the folks at 4-Play. And several European design houses
are set to show off their latest creations for the Atari 8-bit and ST
computers.
The event is promoted by Richard Tsukiji, who had previously been
responsible for staging the wildly successful World of Atari shows which
catered to the Atari 8-bit and ST computer crowd. Atari Gaming
Headquarters (www.atarihq.com) is the offical website of World of Atari
'98, and is actively working with Mr. Tsukiji to help organize the event.
For up-to-the-details on the event, as well as information on show
discounts and details on how to purchase tickets, please visit Atari
Gaming Headquarters at www.atarihq.com.
WHERE: The Holiday Inn Casino
Boardwalk, Las Vegas
WHEN: August 21-23, 1998.
WHO: Well, you for one, but the
list of attendees is over 400
names long at present.
Keita Iida
keita@mindspring.com
www.atarihq.com - Atari Gaming Headquarters
Fygar on #RGVC and #turbolist
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Mr. Keita Iida, keita@mindspring.com
or Mr. Rich Tsukiji, woa98@jps.net
CLASSIC GAME SHOW CELEBRATES ATARI
By Donald A. Thomas, Jr. (permission to edit and reprint with byline)
What started it all is starting all over again. On Saturday, August 21,
and Sunday August, 22, some of the computer and gaming industry's most
innovative pioneers will gather in Las Vegas to attend the first annual
World of Classic Gaming Show and Auction. The event has been inspired by
the resurgent interest in classic game re-releases and updates such as
"Pitfall 3D" by Activision, "Williams Arcade Classics" by Williams and
"Namco Museum" by Namco Hometek as well as the recent acquisition of
Atari's intellectual assets by Hasbro Interactive. Veteran show promoter,
Mr. Richard Tsukiji, has teamed up with the gurus at Atari Gaming
Headquarters (http://www.atarihq.com), a frequented Internet Web Domain
appealing to classic gamers the world over, to host the first-of-its-kind
celebration.
"Atari was once the nucleus while the industry evolved around it,"
explained Mr. Keita Iida of Atari Gaming Headquarters. "We expect to find
the same interest we have in classic Atari products in a plethora of other
popular names from yesteryear. On display will be mint-condition
restorations of products once produced by Magnavox, Coleco, Mattel, Apple,
TI and many more."
Besides the competitions, displays and auctions held throughout the
two-days in the Holiday Inn Boardwalk Hotel and Casino, will be a number
of noted programmers, developers and spokespersons. All of them are
expected to make themselves available to trade smiles, answer questions
and fulfill occasional requests for autographs. Among those who have
announced plans to attend include:
* -- Mr. Rob Fulop is best known for cutting-edge graphics and sound
design in "Demon Attack" for the Atari VCS (2600) also designed
"Space Invaders" (Atari 400/800), "Night Driver" (VCS), "Missile
Command" (VCS), "Cosmic Ark" (VCS), "Fathom" (VCS) and "Cubicolor"
(VCS).
* -- Mr. John Harris is the Sierra On-Line mastermind behind
"Jawbreaker", "Frogger" and "Mousekattack" for the Atari 8-bit
computers.
* -- Mr. Jerry Jessop worked at Atari from 1977-1985 and was involved
with the testing and repair of pinball machines. Later, he worked on
hardwaredevelopment for home videogame consoles and computers as a
Senior Technical Associate in consumer hardware design.
* -- Mr. Arnie Katz, co-founded "Electronic Games Magazine", the first
and immensely popular publication devoted to electronic
entertainment. Katz is now the Editor of "Inside Games", an online
interactive games magazine.
* -- Mr. Dan Kramer is best known for designing the Atari 2600 and 5200
Trak-Ball controllers. He is currently the President (and founder) of
DK Enterprises, where he specializes in restoring classic coin-op
machines.
* -- Mr. Scott LeGrand is the grand wizard and creator of
"BattleSphere", a soon-to-be-released new Jaguar game by 4-Play. A
complete "BattleSphere" setup will be on display at the show, and
will be playable and linked for multiplayer action.
* -- Mr. Andrew Soderberg was one of the hardware product managers for
the Atari Computer Division from 1980 thru 1983. He was involved in
the development of the first computer and laserdisc-based interactive
information kiosks used in retail (E.R.I.C. - Electronic Retail
Information Center), among many other projects. Soderberg was the
Production Manager for many of Atari's award-winning television
commercials and was responsible for training Mr. Alan Alda on the use
of Atari computers for his role as spokesman for Atari.
* -- Mr. Donald A. Thomas, Jr. joined Tramiel's Atari in November 1989
and worked as a Marketing Manager and, later, as the Director of
Customer Support Marketing. Don is often referenced as Atari's
Spokesperson throughout Atari's final days. Don currently holds a
prestigious position in the industry and hosts a website domain which
offers a comprehensive chronological history of video games and
computers (
* -- Mr. Howard Scott Warshaw designed "Yar's Revenge", "Raiders of the
Lost Ark" and "E.T." for the Atari VCS (2600). Howard will debut a
new volume of his "Once Upon Atari" episode at the show.
* --Mr. Steve Woita is best known for creating "Taz" and "Quadrun" for
the Atari VCS (2600). He also has "Kid Chameleon" (Genesis), "Sonic
Spinball" (Genesis) and "Waterworld" (Virtual Boy) to his list of
impressive credits. Mr. Woita is currently active in Java game
design.
* -- Ms. Joyce Worley co-founded "Electronic Games Magazine".
Currently, she is the News Editor for "Inside Games", an online
interactive games magazine.
* -- Stephanie Wukovitz is the musician, mathematician, and computer
voice effects artist for "BattleSphere".
"We are not surprised by the interest in this event, but we are surprised
how fast it has grown in just the first year," concluded Mr. Iida with a
smile. "We are consistently urged to plan this as an annual event. I
suspect we will have to."
For more information regarding World of Atari '98 visit
http://www.atarihq.com/atari98 or e-mail woa98@jps.net .
AtariNews: On The Prowl--July 2, 1998: New Jaguar Cheats
LATEST HEADLINES:
NEW JAGUAR CHEATS ARE OUT!
* - Blue Lightning Instant Repair
* - Breakout 2000 Banish Robots
* - Fight For Life Character Codes
* - Fight For Life Shorter Junior Battle
* - Kasumi Ninja Codes
* - Supercross 3D Crash Replay
* - Worms Codes and Landscapes
* - Zero 5 Codes
Drop by the JI2 page below and click on the "Jag Cheats" link.
http://atarihq.com/interactive/
2600 VCS RESURGENCE
Been wanting some new blood for your Atari 2600? Stop by the Hozer Video
Games page and check out all the new 2600 games available for purchase.
Includes screenshots and game summaries.
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/hozervideo/
DON THOMAS TO APPEAR AT WORLD OF ATARI
Don Thomas, former well-known Atari spokesman, will be attending the 1998
World of Atari convention being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August
21-23. Drop by the site hosted by Atari Gaming Headquarters to get all the
latest news surrounding this event.
http://www.atarihq.com/atari98/
See the article released by Don Thomas about the convention at:
http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/arcade/8063/worldofatari98.html
NEW STARPATH SUPERCHARGER CD
Glenn Saunders recently confirmed in a newsgroup posting that another
Starpath Supercharger CD will be released in some form for the 2600 VCS.
The first CD, "Stella Gets a New Brain", was a sellout hit among
collectors and hobby developers alike.
Stay tuned to AtariNews for details as they become available.
WANT TO PLAY YOUR LYNX ON A BIGGER SCREEN?
Wizztronics ( www.wizztronics.com ) has announced that they are
developing an adapter to connect the Atari Lynx to any TV! It will be on
display at The World of Atari Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
http://www.wizztronics.com/lynx.htm
ARCHIVE OF ATARINEWS: ON THE PROWL
AtariNews: On The Prowl is now archived, so if you want to see the earlier
issues that came out before you subscribed, or you want to get one back,
go to:
http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/arcade/8063/atarinews.html
Send any comments or submissions for "AtariNews: On The Prowl" to:
Brian Gudzevich (Editor) at: Brionhold@aol.com
Sponsoring web sites:
-The Atarian Atmosphere: http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/arcade/8063
-The Jaguar's Domain: http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/jaguar.html
ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
Compiled by Joe Mirando
jmirando@streport.com
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Yes, it's been a while since you've seen us
around and I've missed bringing you all the news, hints, tips, and info
every week, but it's also been nice to take a break for a while and gain
some perspective.
I've been on vacation the past couple of weeks, and it's been great to be
able to just kick back and relax. I've also done a few of the things I've
been saying I was going to do for a while and just never gotten around to.
I've updated my web pages and set up some new (and old) things on my TT030
and gotten the system ALMOST the way I want it. Since I'm not one of those
people who gets right to work on getting things exactly they way they want
them right from the start, there are lots of little things that I could
have configured right from the start. But I've usually found that by
leaving things so that they've got to be tinkered with every once in a
while, I get more of a feel for the way the program or accessory works.
Heck, way back when I first got Flash II I waited for about three months
before I even set up macros to dial into the three online services I used.
It wasn't for lack of interest... I just wanted to get the feel of not
only they way that Flash worked, but also the way each online service and
dial-up provider (SprintNet or TymNet) worked. I know, it sounds silly,
but it made me much more comfortable with the way things work.
Several years ago, when I worked part time at a friend's computer store
during the Christmas season, I carried this philosophy over to getting
OTHER PEOPLE used to their new machines. "Get a game that looks
interesting and play the heck out of it for a week or so", I'd tell them.
"That'll help you get used to the way the computer works". And more often
than not, the next time I saw those people, they'd have adjusted to their
purchase quite well.
So I guess the moral of the story is "don't keep your nose to the
grindstone, look around and enjoy a bit too". Oh, another interesting
thing I've discovered over the past few weeks is that there is an email
list, or "loop" dedicated to the MagiC operating system. It's composed of
a bunch of MagiC users, but it's not limited to just discussions about
MagiC. We've talked about everything from configuring STinG for different
dial-up numbers to memory add-on boards for the Falcon, to under-powered
power supplies. To join up you can do one of two things: You can either
use a browser like CAB and go to
gic_oshttp://www.onelist.com/viewarchive.cgi?listname=ma or send email to
magic_os@onelist.com and introduce yourself. I would recommend the first
way, since you then get to look around and see what other email lists are
available. That's how I did it, but the online documentation states that
simply sending email to the address will sign you up on the list. If you
sign up, don't be surprised if you run into some old friends there.
I have only encountered one problem with email lists. Because of the high
incidence of SPAM on the internet email system, many services have
installed 'spam-blockers'. Usually, these consist of a list of servers
that they will not accept email from. Evidently Delphi is on many of these
lists, because I have had to use other accounts even to simply get signed
on to email loops. So if you want to sign up for one of these cool email
lists, I recommend using a service other than Delphi. That's a real shame,
because Delphi is my email server of choice.
Well, let's get a start on what's being said on the UseNet... there's a
lot of info this time around.
>From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
James Smith asks for help in locating a long-time Atari supporter:
"Can anyone tell me a Web address for the above ? (I'm looking for a
download area to update my Diamond Edge & Diamond Back disks.)"
Bud Connolly tells James:
"Well it was www.orres.com but I get a DNS error, stating that the host
does not exist. Try calling 503/620-4919 (voice) or 503/624-2940 (FAX).
Those numbers were on my last invoice. You might also try
Using Dogpile to search the net turned up the following bit of bad news.
Oregon Research has gone out of business as of June 30, 1998. See Bob
Luneski's farewell message here s/980522_oregon.html"
http://soporte.databasedm.es/amiga/sau/english/new
Martin-Eric Racine adds:
"Michael White bought the sources, if you read between the lines in this
thread. We should eventually have new releases."
Derryck Croker talks about waiting for the latest version of MagiC to come
out:
"We're all looking forward to MagiC 6 in the UK, is it available yet in
Germany, System Solutions last claimed that it was only in Beta?"
Micha Knorpp tells Derryck:
"I got a message directly from ash in germany which offered the new magic
6.0 two or three weeks ago - and surely that won't be a beta !!!! Sadly i
didn't have time yet to order an update..."
Derryck gives voice to one of my own thoughts:
"...[It] Seems odd that System Solutions don't know what's going on. I've
got my money ready here! <grin> Anyone got any comments about MagiC 6, or
is all the traffic only on that new mailing list??"
Micha tells Derryck:
"I ordered my magic 6 update today, after I got NVDI5 to work over the
weekend. so I will know more soon... wdialog is still mysterious to me. I
thought I wouldn't need it if I used magic (>5.0). isn't that right?
(sorry, i didn't follow the discussion about that theme... but there seems
to be a lot confusion about it!)"
Peter Rottengatter, the author of STinG, explains a bit about Wdialog, the
'system extension':
"My understanding is that MagiC provides a fair bit of extra system calls
for things like dialogs in windows etc. In order to make these things
available to singleTOS machines the Behnes did WDIALOG. However, they
added things to WDIALOG that cannot be found in MagiC, if I recall
correctly, related to printing for instance, that is why installing it
even under MagiC still makes sense."
Derryck agrees with Peter's assessment:
"As far as I can tell it was written to add some of MagiC's features to
ordinary TOS, but in the process a few extras were added, which means that
if you want to have access to those then you have to run Wdialog with
MagiC. In any case there are few if any progs that use these extra bells
and whistles as far as I know, in fact it can interfere, for example Texel
loses all of its print output dialogue in favour of a more-or-less useless
replacement from Wdial That's my understanding of the situation anyway!"
On the subject of installing STinG (the ST Internet Next Generation)
TCP/IP and dialer from Peter Rottengatter, Terry May asks about problems
he's having:
"What do "Dropped" counts in the STinG dialer mean for TCP and Modem 2?
These are the only two places where I've seen dropped counts. Also, what's
happening when the modem's send light is very active? Lately I've had
times where the receive light is almost solid, normally indicating a very
fast connection. However, the send light is almost as active, with my
actual received data (according to the CAB display) slowing to a crawl or
even stopping altogether. At times it almost looks like the two sides are
fighting."
Kerstin Hoef-Emden tells Terry:
"Transmission errors of single data packets are counted, but don't ask me
for details. When the connection is rotten, the received/sent data packets
come with CRC-errors. The modems or ISDN-adaptors exchange information
about it. If a packet is identified to be defective, its transmission is
repeated. So, a dialogue between the two sides is necessary."
Terry asks:
"Wouldn't the modem's error correction stop those errors, or are you
talking about errors that occur before they get to modem transmission?"
Kerstin tells Terry:
"The communication between the modems and the dropped packets in the STinG
counter are something different, as far as I know. The CRC-errors are
corrected by the modems simply by repeating the transfer until CRC-sum is
OK. But I don't know exactly for the counter in STinG. It must have to do
with the further passing on in the system."
Clive Gordon asks for help with an old hard drive:
"I have an Atari that has not been used for about 2 years. I am having
problems getting the hard drive to go. I know the hard drive is about 20
Meg with partitions. The Hard Drive Unit was Custom built so I don't know
what type it is. I have had the Hard Drive unit working with AHDI Driver
about 2 Years ago I have AHDI/SHDRIVER v5.00 & HDX v5.00 When I boot I get
the following message ACSI Devices : Unit 0 Identification unavailable I
have created an icon for the d drive. But I get an error saying the drive
does not exist."
Nick Bales tells Clive:
"Have you tried booting AHDI from floppy ? Shouldn't the drive letter be C
(capital C, not c which is the cartridge port) rather than D ? Old HDs
usually end their life "sticking", the heads stick to the disk surface
which cannot spin. Is your disk spinning ? Not the fan, the drive itself ?
When this occurs, one remedy is to disassemble the unit and take out the
drive mechanism. Hold the drive in your hand horizontally, switch the
drive on, and give it a circular horizontal shake, just to unstick the
head and get it spinning again. This works sometimes. If it does work,
backup all your data and never switch the drive off again."
Roger Cain adds:
"Sometimes the spindle itself will stick in the bearing. This can be
cleared by the sharp twist you describe .... OR ... with some drives you
can access the lower spindle bearing through (or under) the PCB. With
power applied you can attempt to ease the spindle by pressing with a
rubber pad (eraser, rubber band etc.) and turning. If this works apply a
VERY SMALL amount of machine oil (as much as you can pick up on the head
of a pin) to the bearing. I have managed this twice with old Seagates and
they have continued working for YEARS.!"
Clive comes back and tells us:
"I have fixed the problem by dropping the hard drive unit 1cm from the
table"
Roger Cain reminisces:
"Ha! A rubber-hammer job. Must have been something sticking."
Terry May asks:
"Anyone know of a source for a good, free web hit counter? Also, why do
GeoCities counters always display 0000? Is that a CAB problem or a
GeoCities problem?"
David Ridder tells Terry:
"www.pagecount.com ; used to be good. I cannot tell how they're doing
now..." **For what it's worth, I use a pagecount hit counter on my page,
and I'm fairly happy with it. jm
Colin Polonowski tells Terry:
"Try Showstat at http://www.showstat.com
It's not a conventional counter but I reckon it's pretty good."
Martin Byttebier tells Terry:
"Try It's for free and you have also a free guestbook. if you want to know
how it looks like go to my webpage Don't know [what the problem is with
GeoCities' counters] but I've noticed this too."
One of the 'big names' in the Atari NewsGroups, Hallvard Tangeraas, asks
for help with configuring STinG:
"I'm having problems with StiNG.. I've had it working before, but don't
use it very often since I've been quite happy with my terminal emulation
connection. But sometimes I need to get a PPP connection and STiNG comes
in handy. I don't know what I've messed up, but something has apparently
changed since things don't work like they should (I guess I've messed
things up even more by changing parameters here and there as well). I'm
able to get a connection, but none of seem to respond. Like the "Infitra"
email program says something like "making a connection to 193.212.1.34"
(which is my mailserver -"mail.online.no), but nothing seems to happen and
finally I get a timeout. Normally a mail connection with this program
takes a couple of seconds.
I've also tried "Newsie", "Finger", "Telnet", "Cab" and other programs but
it seems that I get no response. I've also tried using the tools that are
found within the StiNG dialler -"ping" for example, to my mailserver and
my provider tells me that the same amount of packets sent are received, so
I guess the actual connection is OK. So what am I doing wrong?"
Louis Holleman asks Hallvard:
"what does your ISP says is (if I'm getting this right): packets are
received. What does the tools say? Packets being returned??? You can see
that easily, they're coming back with a small delay. If not, your set upis
stinking."
Hallvard does what I have done so many times, and tells us:
"I got it working!! I found out that I had wasted so much money connecting
again and again that I might as well just download the whole archive
again, so I did, spent a while reconfiguring things and got it to work! I
don't know why I've had these problems, but I don't want them to happen
again as I occasionally need PPP, though I normally use terminal
emulation. I also use my machine with "Notator SL" which is very picky
about several programs, among them STiNG, so most of the time I will have
it disabled (simply by disabling it in the AUTO folder), but to be on the
safe side with the whole package -which files can I write protect (i.e.
"read only")? I really don't know which files are written to when
connecting, so I'm hoping you or someone else will know. By the way, has
anyone successfully been able to FTP files to/from their own disk area
with their provider? I've been trying the various FTP programs for the ST,
and although anonymous FTP works fine I can't in the world get
non-anonymous FTP to work properly. I'm able to enter, but listing the
files just show something like
---drwx---
---drwx---
---drwx---
----rw----
(just taken from memory, so don't take the above representation
literally). The point is that I'm not able to show the filenames at all.
Should I use a specific "port" number or something else?"
Terry May tells Hallvard:
"Yeah, aFTP works fine for me in this area. The only thing I haven't been
able to do is create a directory, but that might be a GeoCities limitation
rather than an aFTP problem."
Hallvard tells Terry:
"Yes, that's right! I tried to do this a while ago in UNIX, but was told
that they didn't have this "feature" for their customers. Is "aFTP" the
one which needs MiNT? Or perhaps I'm confusing it with other FTP
programs... I guess I'll have a look at Husita's web page. I currently
have CAB-FTP and MG-FTP as well as NEWSie which has FTP built-in. None of
them have allowed me to successfully connect to my user-area... Well, I
just tried doing FTP with some new programs I haven't tried with before:
Newsie 0.90 as mentioned above and aFTP 1.4b2, both of them giving me the
same results as before. It seems that I'm able to access my provider using
my username/password, but no file/folder names show up, just the
previously mentioned file-rights in NEWSie and folder/file icons in aFTP.
What am I doing wrong? Other (anonymous) FTP sites work fine. Could there
be a setting with STiNG perhaps?"
Roger Cain posts:
"I use CAB v2.5 in TT med. res. mode as my usual browser and have become
used to the poor image display quality in this mode. Just as an experiment
I downloaded the demo version of Jens Heitmann's Adamas and displayed some
graphics from the CAB cache. The image display quality is AMAZING. Try it.
How does Jens manage it? And why can't CAB do similar?"
Eric Hayes tells Roger:
"Even in 256 color Falcon mode, the picture dithering is slightly better
in Adamas then in CAB, things look sharper and brighter. I'm not sure
exactly what is done differently. But there is a downside in that it takes
a bit longer for pages to display. On the other hand, because Adamas saves
the *dithered* image in its cache, going back to the page is almost
instantaneous. Somehow these cached images contain all the image data too,
so I can download in 16 colors, and review later in 256 colors (the image
will have to redither because of the new graphic mode, but it will have
all the color information). Its all very nice. I just wish it worked with
STiNG. Draconis works well enough, but after noodling with STiNG until I
got it just the way I want it, I don't fancy going through all that again
with another IP stack. I know there were once plans to make a bridge
module for Adamas to use STiNG, but I don't know what has come of that."
After hearing that, Terry May asks:
"Where can I get the demo of Adamas?"
Eric tells Terry:
"From: http://dc2.uni-bielefeld.de/atari/edracon.htm
Terry tells Eric:
"Thanks, I had that link in my Hotlist, but didn't make the connection
between Draconis-Adamas.
In any case, I downloaded the latest version and tried it out in ST-Med.
The interface looks decent (I like the % counter when loading pics). As
expected, I didn't see any improvement in picture quality (what can you do
with 640x200x2?). If anything, it's worse, because it doesn't (as far as I
know) ofter half-height image display. That probably makes for a slightly
cleaner image, but it throws the scale out of whack. I'll have to check it
out again when my Falcon gets its wings back."
William Platt asks:
"On the NVRAM settings on my F030, there is an option for boot preference
which allows either TOS, or Unix. What is this for?"
Carsten Krumnow tells William:
"This option refers to a nearly unused feature of TOS 3.0x and higher
which should allow to preselect your favourite OS. Unfortunately a wrong
setting will cause your computer not to boot fromhard disk any more. So be
careful. Usually you can only boot with either "TOS" or "none", "MagiC"
does not work. There are rumours that "TT/SVR", "Unix", "Linux" or
"NetBSD" should work but I've never seen this..."
William replies:
"I guess I'm gonna have to get an FPU and and another Jazz cartridge so I
can install Linux. Does anyone know if the F030 vers. of linux utilizes
the DSP. It's a shame more applications don't use the DSP chip. I got a
32mhz chip in my computer that gets no use. After some of the things I've
seen programmers do with a 16 color 8mhz ST, It would be amazing what they
could do with a machine 4 times as powerful. I am still amazed at
Photochrome3 on my STe, and the 50hz mod player.......the list goes on and
on......at least we still have some of the best utilities available on any
platform."
Paul Nurminen asks:
"Is there a viewer for the Falcon that displays Windows bitmap (.BMP)
pictures?"
Terry May tells Paul:
"The commercial program Imagecopy will. I believe the shareware program
Gem-View also will."
Neil Roughley posts:
"I've noticed MagxDesk doesn't update the directory after a file is saved.
Example: I'm in qed and save a file with MagxDesk's target directory in
the background -- the directory window doesn't get updated. Under the Ease
desktop there's no such problem, which has a setting called 'Refresh
window contents automatically'. Is there a way to make MagxDesk do the
same?"
Mark Simpson tells Neil:
"I run MagiC4/Ease4 on both my falcon and my TT. Ease is run as a shell
for MagiC. I would love for my windows to refresh automatically but I must
hit the escape key (manual refresh). After seeing your post, I looked in
the Options menu of Ease and found the "refresh windows automatically"
selection (Window 1 settings), but it was grayed out, and the box was
selected. Being as it was grayed out, I'm not able to select or deselect
it. How are you getting ease to do this? Or are you referring to running
ease under TOS as opposed to Ease w/MagiC?"
Neil explains it to Mark:
"You need to run the bundled changes.prg to enable automatic window
updates in Ease 4. Install it from the auto folder or desktop and Ease
will make that function available (it won't be grayed out). Note that
you'll get different 'refresh' results depending on the actual program
saving the file. Like writing a new file, some programs will refresh the
background directory but the file will show as 0 bytes; other programs
will do a complete 'refresh' (file size and time stamp)."
Well folks, that's about it for this time around. Our next edition is
scheduled for August 14th, so make sure you don't have other plans!
<grin>. Enjoy the summer folks. Just don't get swimmers' ear, because
that'll make it hard to understand what they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
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